ON MARS THE LITTLE HUMAN ADVANCE GUARD were building halfburiedpressure domes for the larger male & female party that would arriveby next ship. This work went much faster than originally scheduled as theMartians were uncritically helpful. Part of the time saved was spent inpreparing a preliminary estimate on a very long-distance plan to free thebound oxygen in the sands of Mars to make the planet more friendly to futurehuman generations.
The Old Ones neither helped nor hindered these long-distance human plans;time was not yet. Their own meditations were approaching a violent cusp thatwould control the shape of Martian art for many millennia. On Earth electionscontinued as usual and a very advanced poet published a limited edition ofverse consisting entirely of punctuation marks and spaces; Time magazinereviewed it and suggested that the Federation Assembly Daily Record couldprofitably be translated into the same medium. The poet was invited tolecture at the University of Chicago, which he did, clad in full formal eveningdress lacking only trousers and shoes.
A colossal advertising campaign opened to sell more sexual organs of plantsfor human use and Mrs. Joseph (.Shadow of Greatness“) Douglas wasquoted as saying: .I would no more think of sitting down to eat withoutflowers on my table than without serviettes.“ A Tibetan swami from Palermo,Sicily, announced in Beverly Hills a newly discovered, ancient yoga disciplinefor ripple breathing which greatly increased both pranha and the cosmicattraction between the sexes. His chelas were required to assume thematsyendra posture dressed in hand-woven diapers while he read aloud fromthe Rig-Veda and an assistant guru checked through their purses in anotherroom-nothing was ever stolen from the purses; the purpose was lessimmediate.
The President of the United States, by proclamation, named the first Sundayin November as .National Grandmothers’ Day“ and urged the grandchildrenof America to say it with flowers. A funeral parlor chain was indicted for pricecutting.
The Fosterite bishops, after secret conclave, announced theChurch’s second Major Miracle: Supreme Bishop Digby had been translatedbodily to Heaven and spot-promoted to Archangel, ranking with-but-afterArchangel Foster. The glorious news had been held up pending Heavenlyconfirmation of the elevation of a new Supreme Bishop, Huey Short-acompromise candidate accepted by the Boone faction after the lots had beencast repeatedly.
L .Unita and Hoy published identical doctrinaire denunciations of Short’selevation, L .Osservatore Romano and the Christian Science Monitor ignoredit, Times of India snickered at it editorially, and the Manchester Guardianreported it without comment-the Fbsterite congregation in England was smallbut extremely militant.
Digby was not pleased with his promotion. The Man from Mars hadinterrupted him with his work half finished-and that stupid jackass Short wascertain to louse it up. Foster listened to him with angelic patience until Digbyran down, then said, .Listen, junior, you’re an angel now-so forget it. Eternityis no time for recriminations. You too were a stupid jackass until youpoisoned me. Afterwards you did well enough. Now that Short is SupremeBishop he’ll do all right, too; he can’t help it. Same as with the Popes. Someof them were warts until they got promoted. Check with one of them, goahead-there’s no professional jealousy here.“Digby calmed down a little, but made one request.
Foster shook his halo in negation. .You can’t touch him. You shouldn’t havetried to touch him in the first place. Oh, you can submit a requisition for amiracle if you want to make a bloody fool of yourself. But, I’m telling you, it’llbe turned down-you simply don’t understand the System yet. The Martianshave their own setup, different from ours, and as long as they need him, wecan’t touch him. They run theft own show their own way-the Universe hasvariety, something for everybody-a fact you field workers often miss.“.You mean this punk can brush me aside and I’ve got to hold still for it?“.I held still for the same thing, didn’t I? I’m helping you now, am I not? Nowlook, there’s work to be done and lots of it-before you can expect to bepromoted again. The Boss wants performance, not gripes- If you need a Dayoff to get your nerve back, duck over to the Muslim Paradise and take it.
Otherwise, straighten your halo, square your wings, and dig in. The sooneryou start acting like an angel the quicker you’ll start feeling angelic. GetHappy, junior!“Digby heaved a deep ethereal sigh. .Okay, I’m Happy. Where do I start?“Jubal was not disturbed by Digby’s disappearance because he did not hearof it even as soon as it was announced, and, when he did hear, while he hada fleeting suspicion as to who had performed the miracle, he dismissed itfrom his mind; if Mike had had a finger in it, he had gotten away with it-andwhat happened to supreme bishops worried Jubal not at all as long as hedidn’t have to be bothered with it.
More important, his own household had gone through a considerable upset.
In this case Jubal knew what had happened but did not care............