A time to seek: The Word of God comes to Pern

In a previous article for this blog, I mentioned that I’ve been making my way through The Dragonriders of Pern, Anne McCaffrey’s expansive series of science-fantasy novels. The planet of Pern is a meticulously crafted setting with a detailed geography, flora, and fauna; a true sub-creation in the vein of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Pern was colonized by humans from Earth 2,500 years before the series opens. In that time, despite the loss of much of their advanced technology and scientific knowledge, the settlers have developed their own unique society. However, one aspect of Pern’s culture that struck me as rather odd was the absence of any form of religion or spirituality among the people. Neither Christianity nor any of the other religions of their Earthling ancestors seem to have survived down the centuries. Furthermore, no indigenous religions have arisen in their place. Given this, I was surprised to find that the ending of the novel All the Weyrs of Pern seems to leave hope for the possibility that the Pernese people will recover their lost Judeo-Christian heritage.

In previous books, the Dragonriders and the Harper Hall spearheaded an archaeological excavation of Landing, the original human settlement located on Pern’s massive southern continent. As All the Weyrs of Pern begins, the excavation uncovers a facility that houses the colonists’ Artificial Intelligence Voice-Address System, or “Aivas,” a powerful supercomputer programmed to educate and serve the needs of its human creators. Upon meeting the Pernese descendants of its original masters, Aivas quickly sets about instructing the people in their lost history: they are the heirs of humans from Earth who arrived on three spaceships and later genetically engineered the first dragons to help combat the virulent alien spores known as Thread.

With the cooperation of the preeminent Dragonriders F’lar and Lessa, and of Robinton, the elderly and retired Masterharper of Pern, Aivas launches an ambitious planetwide project to reeducate the Pernese in many forgotten sciences and technologies with the goal of eradicating the menace of Thread forever.

Years of hard work and ceaseless dedication follow, despite the obstruction and sabotage of those who mistrust the marvelous AI. Thanks to the pivotal contributions of the young Lord Jaxom and his white dragon Ruth, the project succeeds, and Thread is forever banished from the skies of Pern.

Meanwhile, the aged harper Robinton, the most steadfast proponent of the Aivas plan, has seen a steady decline in health. In the wake of Jaxom’s successful mission, the harper has one final meeting with the benevolent computer.

The Pernese no longer require the assistance of the AI; the time has come for the humans to chart their own way forward. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,” Aivas says. Robinton is unfamiliar with the reference, but Aivas explains that it is a quotation from “from the greatest book ever written by Mankind.”

As Aivas shuts down for the last time, Robinton also begins to slip away. Before he dies, the Harper ponders the words of Scripture proclaimed by Aivas: “‘And a time to every purpose under heaven’…Yes, how very true. How splendidly true. And what a wonderful time it has been!”

The quotation Aivas cited is indeed from the Holy Bible, specifically third chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The famous passage runs thus in the Revised Standard translation:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

 — Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Pern has been bereft of two great teachers, mentors, and friends – one human, the other a machine. For the people of Pern, it is certainly a time to weep and a time to mourn. It is a time to lose, but it is also a time to seek. Robinton and Aivas have left legacies that will benefit Pern for countless generations to come. As the Dragonrider F’lar observes, the knowledge Aivas has given Pern will never die. Among the accumulated wisdom stored in the surviving Aivas files is the entire text of the Sacred Scriptures.

Aivas called the Bible “the greatest book ever written by Mankind,” and that is true enough, but Christians also believe that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his saving truth.” (CCC 136)

As a Catholic, I couldn’t help but hope that the Aivas files also contained the indispensable writings of the saints and doctors of the Church (St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.) as well as the Papal encyclicals and other great magisterial documents. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ established his Church on Peter and the other Apostles and that, after his Ascension to the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit to guide the Church in, among other things, interpreting Sacred Scripture. Furthermore, this teaching office has been perpetuated down the centuries in the Apostles’ successors: The Pope and the bishops of the Church. Referring again to the Catechism: “The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.” (CCC 100)

Still, All the Weyrs of Pern ends on a hopeful note. The Word of God has returned to Pern.