There is a huge, burnished metal door, erected by the First, that is heavy as sin, three times the height of… — Roger Zelazny
There is a huge, burnished metal door, erected by the First, that is heavy as sin, three times the height of a man and half that distance in width. It is a full cubit thick and bears a head-sized ring of brass, a complicated pressure-plate lock and an inscription that reads, roughly, "Go away. This is not a place to be. If you do try to enter here, you will fail and also be cursed. If somehow you succeed, then do not complain that you entered unwarned, nor bother us with your deathbed prayers." Signed, "The Gods."
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More from this book
I do not have the time to give you more than my contempt.
p. 181
I shall return to being a man, and I shall let the people keep the Buddha who is in their hearts. Whatever the source, the message was pure, believe me. That is the only reason it took root and grew.
"I decided that mankind could live better without gods. If I disposed of them all, people could start having can openers and cans to open again, and things like that, without fearing the wrath of Heaven. We've stepped on these poor fools enough. I wanted to give them a chance to be free, to build what they wanted."
"But they live, and they live and they live."
"Sometimes, and sometimes not. So do the gods."
"You were about the last Accelerationist left in the world, Sam. No one would have thought you were also the deadliest."
