Chapter 21: The Duration of Participation
While the Plenarians regroup and work on repairing their planetary defenses, Barar wanders off to find his old laboratory. He discovers his metal silly putty is missing, and someone has been working in the lab and leaving log entries. We know from Time to Turn Back that it's just Barar's old A.I. Deborah who has been puttering around for the last few centuries. Barar gathers some supplies to take to the Plenarian fighters.
Back at base camp, the word is that 700 adopted Hamartian children who were living with the Plenarians have banded together under the leadership of Poniross. They want self-governance and are unwilling to live under the leadership of King Wesley.
Once the rebels have taken over two cities, General Steven leads an attack. Once again, the Plenarians haven't considered the concept of prisoners of war, so every adopted Hamartian child is killed. This is where the haunting quote from Last Prophet's Book comes from:
Our mothers wept. Our brothers were our bread of sadness. –LPB 29:161
Before he is executed, Poniross gives perhaps the most true speech in all of the book:
"You are bigots, full of hate, yourselves. You have snuffed out the life of my brethren, the Hamartians. ... Our destruction did not end with our planet that you destroyed, nor with my fellow Hamartians that you have murdered these last days. ... You call on me to repent? It is your time to repent. Your judgement is coming sooner than you think."
Preach it, Poniross! That's some real bread of sadness talk there.
We have to remember that though it seems like the Plenarians are always the good guys, COW shares wisdom in unexpected places. While Wesley is on Earth convincing the Supreme Court to outlaw abortion, Poniross is back home calling out bigotry. Truly inspiring!
And then, of course, he is executed for his beliefs.
Is good allowed to survive anywhere in our universe? Color me a
SKEPTIC
(It may just be time to form a cult.)
Wait, how did I miss the memo that General Steven is a seagull?
ReplyDeleteI too was really feeling Pontiross's bread of sadness talk! That speech made him the most relatable character in the entire trilogy. And then he got the old ant under a magnifying glass execution because there weren't any slipgates available to send him into the sun, Plenarian style.
It was enlightening to revisit Chapter 24 of LPB, especially given current events, where incest victims are being driven underground (gays and college boy are next).