"James Alan Gardner - Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner James Alan)

James Alan Gardner. Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the
Human Bloodstream

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Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream.
Asimov's Science Fiction, Feb 1997
[from LIB.RU]
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1. Concerning an Arrangement of Lenses, So Fashioned
as to Magnify the View of Divers Animacules, Too Tiny to be Seen with
the Unaided Eye:

His Holiness, Supreme Patriarch Septus XXIV, was an expert on chains.
By holy law, chains were required on every defendant brought to the
Court Immaculate. However, my Lord the Jailer could exercise great latitude in
choosing which chains went on which prisoners. A man possessed of a healthy
fortune might buy his way into nothing more than a gold link necklace looped
loosely around his throat; a beautiful woman might visit the Jailer privately
in his chambers and emerge with thin and glittering silver bracelets --
chains, yes, but as delicate as thread. If, on the other hand, the accused
could offer neither riches nor position nor generous physical charms... well
then, the prison had an ample supply of leg-irons, manacles, and other such
fetters, designed to show these vermin the grim weight of God's Justice.
The man currently standing before Patriarch Septus occupied a
seldom-seen middle ground in the quantity of restraints: two solid handcuffs
joined by an iron chain of business-lute gauge, strong enough that the
prisoner had no chance of breaking free, but not so heavy as to strain the
man's shoulders to the point of pain. Clearly, my Lord the Jailer had decided
on a cautious approach to this particular case; and Septus wondered what that
meant. Perhaps the accused was nobody himself but had sufficient connections
to rule out unwarranted indignities... a sculptor or musician, for example,
who had won favor with a few great households in the city. The man certainly
had an artistic look -- fierce eyes in an impractical face, the sort of
high-strung temperament who could express passion but not use it.
"Be it known to the court," cried the First Attendant, "here stands one
Anton Leeuwenhoek, a natural philosopher who is accused of heresy against God
and Our Lady, the Unbetombed Virgin. Kneel, Supplicant, and pray with his
Holiness, that this day shall see justice."
Septus waited to see what Leeuwenhoek would do. When thieves and
murderers came before the court, they dropped to their knees immediately,
making gaudy show of begging God to prove their innocence. A heretic, however,
might spit defiance or hurl curses at the Patriarchal throne -- not a good way
to win mercy, but then, many heretics came to this chamber intent on their own
martyrdom. Leeuwenhoek had the eyes of such a fanatic, but apparently not the
convictions; without so much as a grimace, he got to his knees and hewed his
head. The Patriarch quickly closed his own eyes and intoned the words he had
recited five times previously this morning: "God grant me the wisdom to
perceive the truth. Blessed Virgin, grant me the judgment to serve out meet
justice. Let us all act this day to the greater glory of Thy Divine Union.