"John Meaney - Sanctification" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

indication of which type of Wish she might make. The civic authorities
responsible for organization had been told of her reputation and
abilities, however, and had organized a greater ship than usual, and had
overloaded their comms systems with outgoing data pending transmission.
She hoped they would not be disappointed if their preparations came to
naught.
She bowed to Teacher before accepting the goblet which was brought to her.
It was an unnecessary gesture of humility, the more so since Teacher, as
one of the ceremony's archers, was not allowed to respond in any way.
Nevertheless, he was the one person here for whom Zenshara felt a real
affection, a true bond. The others she loved, but in the same way she felt
love for all humanity.
The drink was heavenly, an exquisite blend of flavours bursting upon her
tongue. The taste of death was sweet. She marvelled at the sense of
well-being, the relaxation of her body and the sharpening of her mind. She
seemed to slip from her body, to merge with the universe, sensing the
energies beneath her as she prepared to direct the monastery's machines,
to draw them into her trance state.
"I Wish," she said, "for prosperity and equality for all."
A soft gasp arose from the watchers. Many of them rocked back on their
heels. A Metaphysical Wish of the highest order! No-one knew of a Wish of
such magnitude in living memory. Who could say what benefits such a Wish
might bring to their world, maybe even to their neighbours' worlds?
From words to thought. Holding the image in her mind, Zenshara began to
crystallize the concept. Among the joyful onlookers, only Teacher sensed
the danger.
Eyes closed, with a peaceful beginner's mind, Teacher loosed the arrow. In
a sense, its velocity was infinite. At the speed of intuition, the arrow
crossed the hall and ripped through Zenshara's body. Blood was torn from
the exit wound, spurting from her back.
Too late. The concept already lay in the time between possibility and
actuality. Wave functions collapsed. More than anyone could have imagined,
the power of Zenshara's sending reached across all the inhabited worlds of
humankind, through every monastery in the galaxy.
There were no flames, no explosions. The most sensitive had time to notice
that the universe was entering a new order. The molecular structures
comprising the buildings and their inhabitants dissipated. Like ghosts,
the monasteries gently dissolved into free atoms, mixing with and becoming
part of the worlds they inhabited, but free of repressive, inhibiting
structure. Zenshara and the monasteries died together, in the moment of
her greatest love for all her species.

й John Meaney 1993, 1999
This story first appeared in Interzone (1993).