Free Pathspace: The Space of Paths by Matthew Kennedy Page B

a decisive advantage. Which means, naturally, that we
need our fuel as soon as we can get it.”
    The car slowed to negotiate a turn onto
Church Lane. This was facilitated by the fact that the driver had
tied the reins to the steering wheel. As he hauled the wheel around
to his left, this pulled in the reins for the left-hand horses,
slowing them, and permitting the right-hand horses more time to
cover their longer arc of the turn.
    “ Which is why you are
proposing to make an exception and use swizzles and everflames to
extract the oil and distill your gasoline,” said the
Runt.
    “ Yes. His Holiness,
however, will try to argue us out of it. He's perfectly happy to
accept a more gradual expansion, if it means we can avoid what he
is not willing to accept as a necessary evil.”
    Jeffrey craned his neck to look at the sky.
Peter could guess what he was thinking. Probably hoping there would
be no rain to force them to use the leather cover, which would
spoil their unobstructed view. For his part, he wasn't worried. His
Meteorologist, whom the Runt referred to as the court Astrologer,
had assured him there would be no rain for at least two days. He
made no mention of this, however. His holiness had the same opinion
of the man as Jeffrey, and it would not make their audience any
smoother if the man's name were mentioned.
    “ I suppose,” Jeffrey said,
upon reflection, “that he might make an exception should we require
extra large fires for the conversion of all those Protestants and Mormons.”
    Peter had to smile at that. Sometimes his
son surprised him. “Probably not, unless we pointed out that the
available wood might be better employed for the building of more
churches in the soon-to-be conquered lands.”
    He did not speak of what they both knew:
that the Church had done well in the reduced circumstances Humanity
faced after the Fall. What His Holiness called “the arrogance of
scientific atheism” has suffered greatly when the civilization that
appeared to promote it collapsed. Yes, the Church had done well
after that. The problem was, other religions had, also. Many had
seized upon prayer for their emotional support, once the loss of
technological medicine and industrial food distribution had made
survival harder. One only had to look at the Kingdom of New Israel
in the Northeast and the Muslim Emirates of Dixie to see that the
Church faced stiff competition for the hearts and minds of
humanity.
    Peter's late grandfather had made
Catholicism the official religion of the Lone Star Empire, which
had endeared him to His Holiness's predecessor. It was a real coup
that the old dog had gotten the Pontiff of the Americas to relocate
his New Vatican to Texas. There would, perhaps, be the devil to pay
when contact with Europe was reestablished. If the papacy had
survived the Fall there, it might mean another war. But that,
thankfully, was a long way off. No one that he knew of was spending
their resources building navies.
    “Try not to make mention of the other
religions today,” he advised his son. “This audience could be
difficult enough without reminding His Holiness of his competition.
And let me do most of the talking. I shouldn't need to remind you
that and sign of disagreement between us will be looked upon by the
Pontiff as a weakness to exploit for further concessions to the
Church.”
    “Further concession?” Jeffrey dropped his
pretense of boredom. “Does he truly believe that we need his
permission for anything? Could he actually think that Grandfather
gave him asylum here because he needed him?”
    Peter eyed him. “I see you have your own
opinions on the matter,” he said.
    The Runt pretended interest in something
outside the window. “I've made no secret of them,” he muttered.
    No, you haven't have you? You still have
a lot to learn about governing before you're ready to assume the
mantle. “You said often enough that you think the Church a
quaint establishment, outdated and meaningless.” He