The Literal Truth

I will suppose, then, not that Deity,
who is sovereignly good and the fountain
of truth, but that some genius malignus, who
is at once exceedingly potent and deceitful,
has employed all his artifice to deceive me.
–Rene Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy



“Pulse holding at 68, blood-pressure 90 over 60 and rising, we’ve got independent circulation.”
“OK, standby defib, what’s the update on molecular restructuring?”
“Genotype is decoded and downloading to nanomedic swarm in three, two, one. Download complete.”
“Inject swarm.”
“I am inserting a .01 gauge needle into the carotid artery.... Molecular restructuring initiated.”
“C’mon people, this is a routine procedure. What’s the hold-up?”
“Carbon restructuring complete. DNA restructuring complete.”
“Damn! These little dudes haul ass.”
“Dr. Goldberg, do you mind?”
“Sorry sir.”
“We have a 93% correlation on the RNA readout and are ready to begin neural tissue resynthesis.”
“Initiating nanomedic auto-cloning procedures.”
“Respiration steady, pulse steady, blood-pressure 95/60 and holding.”
“Dr. Zimmerman, please administer the Deoxy fixing agent.”
“Yessir. I am administering a 10cc injection through the base of the skull and into the hypothalamus.... And now a similar injection at the base of the spine.”
“Dr. Cohen?”
“Um, ATP drip at 100 mls/hr, nutrient drip at 500 mls/hr.”
“Be awake people.”
“Dr. Slavkin, I think the Foley is leaking.”
“Then fix it. What’s on the EEG?”
“Flat line.”
“Who’s doing the nucleic catalyst?”
“I am.”
“You’re up Dr. Berenbaum.”
“Two cc’s, nucleotide reaction stimulator, between C3 and C4.”
“EEG?”
“Still negative.”
“OK, Dr. Goldberg, why don’t you do the honors?”
“Thanks Dr. Slavkin. Nurse, prepare the electronic....”
“Hold it! We’ve got something here. It’s all over the graph, eccentric activity on all waves.”
“Well well, this guy may not have been dead as long as I thought. Hold off on stabilization till we know what we’ve got.”
“Theta rhythm stabilizing spontaneously. Delta rhythm stabilizing. Beta and alpha rhythms stabilizing.”
“Welcome back to the living, Mr. Whatever-your-name-is.”
“Godammnit, blood-pressure dropping, heartbeat irregular, we’ve got a hemorrhage somewhere.”
“Packed O positive and normal saline, wide open. Platelets wide open. Stand aside doctor, give me a cerebral scan.”
“Negative on the cerebral hematoma.”
“Thank God for little miracles, we might still be home in time for dinner. Coronary scan.”
“Respiration declining and irregular.”
“Got the bugger. Positive on the coronary scan. Hematocele in the pericardium.”
“I was afraid of that.... That knife wound, or whatever it was. How’s the heart?”
“Looks OK.”
“Good, that’s one less Suidae[1] that’ll have to die. Let me see that scan. Hm... We’re going to have to replace the pericardial tissue. Nurse, would you prepare the artificial pericardium? Thank you. Let’s go back in. Who wants to show their stuff? Dr. Zimmerman, your turn.”
“Thank you sir. I am reopening the previous chest incision. Suction please, rib spreader. Looks like the pulmonary suture couldn’t take the pressure.”
“Dr. Berenbaum, those sutures are yours, aren’t they?”
“Yes sir.”
“Take note. Don’t repeat this error when you’re a Resident.”
“I won’t sir.”
“The Suidae heart seems in good condition, but, yes, the pericardium is partially detached.”
“All right, don’t fool with it. Pull it out and we’ll replace it. Phase out the platelets and packed cells, begin whole blood wide open.”
“O positive?”
“Read the damn bag. Always read the bag.”
“EEG rhythms holding steady.”
“Good, good. Minor setback. We’ll have this guy up and doing whatever it was he did in no time.”
**********
The crowds had swollen the arena till the hull of the gigantic iron structure seemed to strain outwardly. A murmur filled the air, but the environs were surprisingly quiet for a crowd that must have exceeded 100,000 people. The sense of anticipation was palpable, almost electric. Soon Reverend Leroy would address the crowd; his words would be simulcast around the globe, and, with some time-delay, across the colonized solar system. Soon Reverend Leroy would make the announcement. The announcement.
**********
“EEG steady. It’s held for some time now Dr. Slavkin, I think it’s solid.”
“Heart functions?”
“Normal. No abnormal readings anywhere.”
“Gentlemen, and lady, I believe we have a resuscitation. But we’ll wait for a few more minutes. Any questions?”
“Yes doctor, when will he regain consciousness?”
“Generally the recovery period is the same as any major thoracic procedure, but the length of the decedence does have some effect. I’d say this guy was dead between 24 and 30 hours when we got him. Excuse me Drs. Cohen and Berenbaum, what’s so important that you can’t listen during your practical?”
“Sorry Doctor, it’s nothing.”
“Nothing? Nothing is more important than resuscitation surgery?”
“We were just wondering who he is....”
“Haven’t the foggiest. He was submitted as a John Doe.”
“Could he have been a suicide?”
“No, definitely not. Suicides are submitted with a notification to arrest and restrain upon resuscitation. More likely a homicide victim. See these pre-mortem wounds on his extremities? I think they would have made it impossible for him to inflict that wound in his lateral abdomen. And the upward vector of the wound suggests that the assailant was standing below him. By the way Dr. Zimmerman, how did the ligament repairs go?”
“I assisted Dr. Spinoza, the one from microsurgery. It went quite well.”
“Uh, Doctor Slavkin...?”
“Yes?”
“If this man was a homicide victim, won’t his recovery be rather traumatic? I mean, the last thing he’ll remember is being murdered!”
“Dr. Cohen, I’m surprised at you. Are you telling me that you haven’t read the material on resuscitation psychosis?”
“No sir, I’ve read it.”
“Then answer your own question.”
“Acute, possibly violent psychological disorientation, likely to be exacerbated in those who die violently, and especially in victims of violence who, prior to death, were aware that they were dying. He could be dangerous to himself and others.”
“He’ll be placed in restraints when they get him to recovery.”
“Doctor, if I may, I have an ethical question.”
“Of course.”
“How do we justify the resuscitation of an anonymous, potentially dangerous person who has given no known consent to the procedure?”
“We don’t. Giving life is not a crime, nor is it a tort, nor is it an ethical or moral wrong of any kind. Those who think otherwise are full of shit, pardon my French. The AMA does not require any justification or defense for the restoration of life. Besides, how else do you suggest that we go about teaching technique in resuscitation surgery?”
“Excuse me Dr. Slavkin, but there is one instance in which resuscitation is regulated.”
“Yes, of course, in cases of capital punishment.”
**********
At last Reverend Leroy makes his appearance. A roar begins to stir from the crowd as if some sleeping beast had been roused. But Reverend Leroy raises his hands and quells the beast. His look is stern. Tonight is serious business; no applause, no chanting, no cheering. The mood should be appropriately somber, for at last the time is upon us. And tonight the announcement must be made.
**********
“Hm, it sounds middle-eastern, Semitic, but it’s not Hebrew or Arabic. Damn strange. I think we’re going to need a linguist.”
“I already took the liberty....”
“Good thinking Cantor. How’s he doing?”
“No confusion, no panic, no apparent delusions or disorientation, no sign of violence. This situation has to be strange for him, especially considering the way he died, but he seems completely placid. By the way doctor, what was the exact cause of death?”
“That’s hard to say. He was beaten badly, stabbed with full penetration through the feet and wrists, asphyxiated, dehydrated and stabbed in the lower lateral abdomen. I think the guy was tortured and then murdered. Officially, the cause of death is listed as exsanguination.”
“Torture? How can he be so calm?”
“Maybe he prayed for a miracle, and he figures this is it.”
“Excuse me....”
“Yes?”
“I’m Professor Miller, from the University. The hospital called and said you needed a linguist?”
“Yes Professor, come in. I’m Dr. Slavkin, senior attending in resuscitation surgery, and this is Nurse Cantor.”
“Pleased to meet you. How can I help?”
“This gentleman here is a patient of ours, a John Doe. We’ve been trying to ascertain his identity so we can contact his next of kin, but apparently he doesn’t speak English, and we can’t seem to figure out what language he’s speaking. It sounds Middle Eastern to me. I’m Jewish and fluent in Hebrew, and I detect some phonetic similarities, but it’s not Hebrew and it’s not Arabic.”
“Well, let me try.”
“Have at it. I’ll be doing afternoon rounds, then you can find me in my office.”
**********
“Brothers and sisters in the Lord, I have told you that the time was coming, and that it would be soon. I have told you that I would warn you when the time was at hand. I come to you tonight to fulfill that promise. The time of the Rapture is upon us!” The crowd cannot contain itself; the roar is explosive and continues for nearly fifteen minutes before Reverend Leroy restores order. “Within the next three days, approximately seventy two hours, people will begin to vanish from the face of the Earth. These people are the loyal followers of God, they will be called home to the Lord. These people, the faithful, will vanish in large numbers. It is my hope that they will number in the billions! Praise the Lord!” More cheering. “Do not grieve if your loved ones vanish, for it means only that they are saved. Grieve, rather, if you do not vanish, if you are left behind. For woe to those who are abandoned by the Lord! A time of great tribulation will follow the Rapture, but do not lose hope. It is still possible for those who remain to find salvation, but it will be harder, it will be an onerous task. No longer will the gift of God’s grace come freely, it will have to be earned.” More cheering, marginal mass hysteria contained with considerable effort. “Those who remain behind will be called upon to choose sides, to become warriors, and to fight in the last battle. I have prayed to the Lord that I shall be left behind so that I may become your leader and lead you into battle against the forces of evil. Together we shall destroy the enemies of the Lord, and the righteous shall emerge triumphant!”
The riot started somewhere in the box seats, quickly spread throughout the arena and spilled over into the downtown area. Police and firefighters were still on the scene until well after dawn.
**********
“Ah, Dr. Miller, good to see you again. Please come in, have a seat. So, did you have any success?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Excellent, wonderful. What’s his name?”
“He refers to himself as his father’s son. This may be a lexical peculiarity of his tribe or village. The father’s name seems to be Yusef, so I called him Bar-Yusef.”
“Son of Yusef. Same root as Hebrew. What language is he speaking?”
“Aramaic.”
“Aramaic? I thought that was a dead language.”
“No, not entirely. It’s still spoken as a first language by various small communities throughout the Middle East. However, I think the form spoken by your patient is a dead language.”
“How so?”
“Well, as nearly as I can tell, he seems to be speaking a form of Aramaic that was believed to have disappeared somewhere around 200 C.E. I can’t be sure, of course, but he seems to speak it with the ease and fluency of a native.”
“That’s queer.”
“Yes, it is. If I can figure out where this man comes from, it could be a major academic discovery, possibly the find of the century in my field.”
“Didn’t you ask him where he came from?”
“Yes, but before he could answer, they came in and took him away.”
“They?”
“Reverend Leroy, the televangelist, and several men.”
“Reverend…? What would he want with this vagrant?”
“Some high-profile act of compassion, I suppose.”
“Where’d they take him?”
“That’s what I was going to ask you. I got the impression that they were leaving the hospital.”
“Discharge? Against medical advice? Goddamn meddling do-gooders, the state won’t cover the cost of the procedure if he leaves against advice. Let me call down there. What’s the number for that ward...? Hello? This is Dr. Slavkin in resuscitation surgery. I’d like an update on John Doe in 666. He’s what? In the care of who? Did you speak to anyone? Did you tell him that his church will be liable for all medical expenses? He did? Did you give him some idea of the amount of money involved? Really? You got that in writing? Really. OK, whatever, but if he’s back with complications in the next few days, I’m giving this media prophet a piece of my mind. Yea. OK. Bye.”
“Wait! Don’t hang up!”
“Hold on a second nurse. What?”
“Where did they take him?”
“What did they give as the discharge address? The church? They have housing in the church? What do we Jews know? Thanks. Bye. The discharge address given was the Southern Baptist Church on Rechts Road. Apparently they have him down there.”
“Thank you very much.”
**********
Excerpt From: Introduction to Empirical History (Textbook for HIST 101), “Chapter I: Introduction: The Origins and Methods of Empirical History” (pp. 11-13) by D. G. Thompson, PhD. © Europa Lunar University Press 2352:
...Theoretical research in temportation was already highly advanced (albeit very obscure) by the late 20th Century. The primary and seemingly insurmountable problem was the incredible levels of energy which would have to be generated in order to render temporation feasible. However, with the development of nuclear fusion reactors in the mid 21st Century, the requisite magnitudes of energy no longer seemed fantastic. By 2113, Gloria Trillum had produced the first synthetic Temporary Local Singularity (TLS) which permitted time-scanning into the past.[2] This discovery led to the development of empirical history which has almost completely supplanted the practice of interpretive history in contemporary academia.
Time-scanning, of course, permits direct observation of past events from multiple simultaneous perspectives, but it does not permit actual temportation, i.e., physical retrojection of objects or persons into the past. Nevertheless, time-scanning and the academic development of Empirical History have themselves had grave political consequences. After the discovery that the Prophet Mohammed had never frequented any caves in Mt. Hira, the Great Upheaval of 2122-2124 led globally and throughout several of the then-existing colonies to 63 million deaths; in addition, $400 billion in damages were inflicted on academic and scientific establishments. As a result of the Great Upheaval, legislation was passed throughout the solar system prohibiting empirical historical research into the lives of sacred persons. Today, this field remains the primary domain of interpretive history.
The first appearance of temportation came 52 years after the development of time-scanning (2165), and was brought suddenly to public awareness through the infamous “Mberi’s Crime” of February 1, 2169. Antar Mberi was a brilliant physicist who had argued and written for many years that, if time-scanning is possible, then temportation should be likewise. Mberi’s eventual break-though was met with great skepticism, and in order to prove his accomplishment he temported himself to 1963 and prevented Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of U. S. President John F. Kennedy. The result, however, was a catastrophic time-shift in which 1.2 billion people ceased to exist. The time-shift was halted only after a team of Federal Marshals were temported to the same time-coordinates in which Mberi had interfered, and, from a grassy knoll near the assassination site, were tragically compelled to complete Kennedy’s thwarted murder.
Mberi was arrested and was eventually sentenced to capital punishment for the deaths of the one billion-plus who had ceased to exist, a crime we have come to know as “temporal genocide.” He was kept incommunicado from the time of his arrest, and all records of his research were destroyed, so that no one could ever again alter history. Today, research in temportation is a felony throughout the solar system, and temportation (attempted or successful) is a capital crime. In his final days, Mberi reportedly found religion and converted to Baptism. In accordance with legally protected church policy, the contents of Mberi’s conversations with his pastor have never been made public. As a result of this confidentiality, rumors have persisted for over a century that Mberi passed forbidden information concerning his research to his pastor. The Southern Baptist Church has always vehemently denied this rumor....
**********
“Reverend Leroy will see you now.”
“Ah, Dr. Miller. How can I be of service?”
“Thank you for seeing me. I’m here concerning the John Doe, the anonymous patient who was discharged into your care from Gethsemane Hospital yesterday.”
“Oh, yes. I knew I recognized you from somewhere.”
“Yes sir. Are you aware that... this man speaks what is commonly believed to be a dead language?”
“Yes, I know. I happen to be passably competent in Aramaic. It’s an important language in sacred history.”
“Yes, well, I’m a professional linguist and philologist, and research on a community which speaks a language previously believed to be long dead could be an important find.”
“Um hm. I see.”
“I was hoping to speak to Bar-Yusef....”
“Bar-Yusef?”
“He uses a circumlocution to refer to himself, as his ‘father’s son’. The father’s name seems to be Yusef, ergo....”
“I see.”
“Did you happen to get his real name?”
“His name? No, I’m afraid not. I noticed the same circumlocution you did. I think he’s suffering a kind of selective amnesia as a result of his injuries. You know, medicine can work miracles today, resuscitating people who have been dead for weeks, reviving murder victims to testify at the trial of their own killers, but there are still some things the doctors can’t do. There’s been no success restoring his memory.”
“Selective amnesia? Hm. That might explain the circumlocution. Do you know where he comes from?”
“Not really.”
“Could I speak to him?”
“No, I’m afraid that’s not possible. He’s gone.”
“Gone? Where?”
“I don’t know. Apparently he’s run off.”
“Run off?”
“Yes, last night. I left him in the guest room at the rectory. This morning, when I checked on him, the window was open and he was gone.”
“Have you called the police?”
“We don’t know his identity, so we can’t file a missing-persons report. What would we say? ‘Some guy who speaks no English, whose name and nationality we do not know, opened the bedroom window last night and climbed out.’ Do you realize how such a report would be received? He’s an adult. He has the right to leave if he wishes.”
“But this man speaks no English, his intelligence and metal competency are unknown, and it’s not like he’s going to stumble across a community of ancient Aramaic speakers.... At least, not around here.”
“Yes, terrible, we’ve placed our parishioners on alert. We fully expect him to turn up. Fully.”
“Let me get this straight. You come to the hospital, take custody of an anonymous revivee who speaks a dead language, assign liability for his rather extensive medical bills to your congregation, bring him back here, he mysteriously vanishes, and you feel no need to contact the police. No offense intended, but what you’re saying makes no sense.”
“Of course it does. You, sir, are apparently ignorant of Church policy on resuscitation surgery.”
“I’m not a Baptist.”
“Yes, of course.... You see, the Church does not approve of resuscitation. We consider it a violation of nature and God’s will. We consider the revivees to be victims of a moral wrong. And yet ours is by far the minority view. Society-at-large seems to think that it is doing these people a great favor. When, through no desire of their own, paupers or other unfortunates are revived, whether as the result of random acts of charity or in the course of research and education, they are returned to miserable lives and left to fend for themselves. Our Church has decided to take upon itself the care of involuntary revivees, especially orphans, the impoverished and the demented. Our goal is to care for them until the end, which is upon us even as we speak. Unfortunately, in this case, I seem to have botched it.”
“I see. Most unfortunate. If you should manage to find him, would you give me a call? I would very much like to talk to him.”
“Certainly.”
“Thank you Reverend Leroy, I’ll see myself out.”
“Dr. Miller….”
“Yes?”
“Have you made your peace with God?”
“I was not aware of having quarreled.”
“I’ll pray for you.”
“You do that…. Reverend Leroy, you do understand that I have to go to the police?”
“You have to do what you think is right.”
“Precisely.”
**********
“Has he been returned?”
“Yes, without incident.”
“Good. I want every piece of the temporter smashed to dust or melted down. I want no trace of it remaining.”
“We’ll take care of it.”
“Any sign of a time-shift?”
“No indication of any time shift. If it were going to happen, it would have happened by now.”
“No sign? None?”
“None, apparently.”
“Impossible.... What has gone wrong?”
“We are not sure. The priest Garibaldi thinks that, perhaps, Mberi’s 17th Principle may be correct.”
“What...?”
“According to Mberi, temportation should have no effect on the course of history if it causes no interference in the time stream.”
“I don’t understand. I thought time-disturbance was essential, unavoidable, in instances of temportation.”
“That has been the received view since Mberi’s time, and the primary legal justification for the prohibitions on temportation. But Mberi himself never accepted it. He argued that, once the temportation unit had been invented, it was inevitable that some events in history were the products of temporal intervention. Temportation could not interfere with events if those events had originally been caused by intervention. In those cases, he reasoned, temporal intervention is the primary historical cause, not an auxiliary or altering cause.”
“So, how does this forestall the time-shift?”
“If, in this case, temporal intervention was the original cause, then we have altered nothing, we have merely caused it. There will be no time-shift, no apocalypse....”
“Changed nothing? Don’t be absurd! We have resurrected Him, we have verified the text of the Gospels, and we have brought about the apocalypse of Revelation!”
“Maybe…. But, if we have changed nothing, it means that the resurrection was always – has always been – the product of temporal intervention.”
“Blasphemy! You speak blasphemy. Never again repeat those words.”
“But how do we explain to the faithful that the world is not ending, as you yourself predicted?”
“We cite Mark 14:30. We point out that even the Lord Jesus can err in such matters. We explain it as we’ve always explained it, as the faithful never weary of hearing. At least we know the literal truth, that He was resurrected.”
“Amen brother.”


[1] Suidae homos: A synthetic animal from the Suidae family (swine) genetically engineered to produce organs for human transplant.
[2]Forward or future-directed time-scanning and temportation are widely held to be impossible for reasons not well understood, but generally believed to pertain to the dimensional structure of the space-time continuum.


S. Dan Warhorse