When reading Poul Anderson's Orbit Unlimited, (see here) I thought that the prayer, "'Strengthen me, God...'" might be Biblical. Googling revealed, furthermore, that it was uttered by the Biblical strongman, Samson. (Samson and Hercules are, respectively, the Biblical and Classical precursors of Superman.)
In SM Stirling's and David Drake's The Forge, Raj prays:
"Spirit of Man of the Stars, give me strength!"
-CHAPTER FIVE, p. 58.
- to which Center inwardly replies:
"that is not my function." (ibid.)
Center is what we call a conscious computer mentally linked to Raj although he thinks that it is an angel of his deity, the Spirit of Man of the Stars. Thus, Center's response is not inappropriate. It gives Raj military advice but not personal strength. In polytheism, petitions for multiple gifts have to be addressed to different gods. Raj is on the verge of such a system. Other entities might be designed to give different sorts of help.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I have to admit I found Center's dead pan response to Raj's prayer to his God amusing!
And my recollection of the religion of the Spirit of Man of the Stars is that was monotheistic, despite a Christian or Jew finding much to disagree in it.
Sean
Post a Comment