"Christopher Hinz - Paratwa 03 - The Paratwa" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hinz Christopher)

Earth drowning under the fury of the Apocalypse, some of us began to learn the real secrets of the Ash
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Ock. And that juncture marked the beginning of a cynicism that spread through our ranks with the
swiftness of a biological plague. By the time the Star-Edge fleet had cleared the boundaries of the solar
system, Sappho and Theophrastus were almost faced with open revolt, for many of the Paratwa had
trouble adjusting to the indignity of these ultimate truths.

But Ash Ock patience helped all of us persevere. The crisis passed. An even greater vista of
conceptualization was now open to us, and we were invited to perceive the universe from new and
dizzying heights. Most of us lost our cynicism. Those few who did not kept their doubts to them-

Theophrastus proclaimed: "Never forget that you represent the vanguard of the second coming."

"And never forget that you serve the true Paratwa," Sappho added. "Your lives now intertwine with the
destiny of the chosen.

History texts were subtly altered; the roles of the other three Ash OckтАФCodrus, Aristotle, and
EmpedoclesтАФwere lessened to those of supporting players.

Codrus was really the first of the royal Caste to fall from Ash Ock grace. His tways, like the tways of
Empedocles, were of mixed sexesтАФmale and female. Even in those early days, when we were still
emerging from tie landscape of humans, when Theophrastus had not yet infiltrated the Star-Edge project,
bending it to his own designs, Sappho had begun to suggestтАФsubtlyтАФthat dual-gendered Paratwa were
inherently flawed. For a while, even I Jell for her elegant craftiness, though eventually I came to see such
illogic as a refraction of my own male/male prejudice.

Still, I understood some of Sappho's negativity toward the others of her breed. Codrus often displayed
the most blatant weaknesses, misconstruing Ash Ock formulations for precise truths, falling into that
intellectual trap of regarding the mind as the ruler of the body. Those facets of reality that Codrus failed to
grasp became data to be processed, information that simply remained undigested by his networks.
Eventually, Codrus's inability to fathom the depths led Sappho to regard him like the child of her royal
family, his tways forever loyal and anxious to please, yet his monarchial consciousness incapable of
reaching its destined maturity. He was ultimately precluded from all Ash Ock intricacies, and it was
arranged that he be left behind when the Star-Edge fleet departed. Until his death at the hands of the
Costeaus, centuries later, Codrus remained blissfully ignorant, a true intellectual pauper.

Aristotle, for a time, also remained unaware of the greater concerns, although Aristotle's ignorance was
not of his own making, for in many ways, he was the equal of Sappho: shrewd and cunning, with a natural
aptitude for the intricate methodology of politics. Aristotle's male/male interlace seemed to
knowтАФinstinctivelyтАФhow to utilize others to amplify his own desires; he played the human race as a
preinformation-age grandmaster played chess.

In tile earliest years of Ash Ock ascendancy, I was the servant of Aristotle, and I grew to admire and
respect the sophistication of his agile mind. For a time, I actually came to like him, especially after he had
introduced me to Empedocles, youngest of the five, male/female tways whose infectious lust for all
manner of experience rivaled even my own. In truth, I loved those years that we spent training