The left half of the chamber, sealed behind a transparent barrier, was a sealed environment in which a handful of Jzeks shuffled about, in sulfurous clouds that reduced the visibility beyond about ten feet to zero. They were big quadrupeds the approximate size of terrestrial water buffalo, except that what limbs they possessed remained hidden behind the slabs of hanging fat at their sides. Their faces were recognizable as faces only because that’s where they kept the anal puckered sphincter they used for a mouth.
A brief consultation with one of the human attendants, a charming and radiant young woman in ankle-length white robe, and he was ushered to one of a row of seats bolted in place, facing the Jzek habitat.
The last remnants of his dignity rose up in protest. “Do I need to speak to one of them in order to get food?”
The young acolyte flashed a compassionate smile. “Why? Don’t you want to?”
“Not if I can avoid it.”
“May I ask why? I promise you. They don’t bite.”
He refrained from pointing out that they didn’t seem to have teeth, either. “It‘s just that, well…I know this is their church, right?”
“Something along those lines, yes.”
“And, well…I’ve seen more than my share of churches, of late. I’m kind of tired of being told I sinned my way into my situation.”
He half-expected her to take offense. Once, he’d said something similar at a faith-based food bank and the woman behind the counter had snarled at him, well, you can just go hungry then, and ordered him ejected.
Instead, she twinkled. “You’ve been listening to too many human churches.”
“Haven’t you?”
“Nope,” she said. “I was never religious at all, before I came here. I just didn’t see the point in it. I especially didn’t like all that blather about sin.”
“You don’t believe in sin?”
“In the secular sense, yes. I believe in cruelty. I believe in theft. I believe there are evil things people can do to one another. I believe that some of them are criminal and should be punished. The Jzek believe in all of that, too. They just don’t believe in the human ecumenical meaning of the term. They won’t try to make you believe you deserve what’s happened to you. They’re better than that.”
“Are you saying they won’t try to convert me?”
“Oh, they’ll try to convert you, all right. But I promise, they won’t try to shame you into it. They won’t make you sing songs you don’t believe in and they won’t force you into a monotonous prayer regimen designed to lower your resistance through sheer repetition. They’ll simply tell you the deal they’re offering, and let you decide one way or the other. That’s fair.”
(For more, check out the November 2015 ANALOG!)
Comment By: What Are the Best Stories of the Year So Far? (September 2015 Edition) - FunaGram
September 30th, 2015 at 4:28 pm
[…] Evangelist[34] by Adam-Troy Castro ǀ AnalogA discussion of faith and brain chemistry, this story really hit me hard with the last sentence. If I say much more, I’ll give it away, so just go read it. Castro says this is part of his AIsource Infection future history, but it stands alone just fine. […]