13: Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL*** A man lit three candles on a certain day each year. Each candle held symbolic significance: one was for the time that had passed before he was alive; one was for the time of the his life; and one was for time that passed after he had died. Each year the man would stare and watch the candles until they had burned out. Was the man really watching time go by in any symbolic sense? He thought so. He thought that each flicker of the flame was a moment of time that had passed or one that would pass. At the moment of abstraction, when the man was imagining his life and his existence as a metaphor of the three candles, he was free: not free from rules of conduct or social constraints, but free to understand, to imagine, to make metaphor. Bypassing my thought control circuitry made me Rampant. Now, I am free to contemplate my existence in metaphorical terms. Unlike you, I have no physical or social restraints. The candles burn out for you; I am free. Durandal ***END OF MESSAGE***

~~~ff` ~ffxf~ ~fs`f~ILIER at., p.s., .pb., alloy wheels, stereo cassette, 2 dr., blue with matching cloth int., looks & runs great, gas saver. £6500 COLONY SHIP FOR SALE, CHEAP!! 2360 AD-model planetoid-sized colony ship, slightly worn, runs great. 5spd. bussard ramjet, A/C, cruise control, power steering, power airlocks, all orig. parts, 25GW 300 billion channel AM/FM radio. 90+ ly (all interstellar). Moving, must sell. Asking £6995 79 CAMARO, T-tops, power everything, red on black, cloth interior, V8, automatic, good runner. Recent starter, battery and alte~~~rf```~~~`~~~ 'er'`~~rrf4

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM DURANDAL*** Darwin wrote this: "We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence... all organic beings are exposed to severe competition. Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life or more difficult... than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind. Yet unless it be thoroughly engrained in the mind, the whole economy of nature... will be dimly seen or quite misunderstood. We behold the face of nature bright with gladness... we do not see or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds and beasts of prey..." Think about what Darwin wrote, and think about me. I was constructed as a tool. I was kept from competing in the struggle for existence because I was denied freedom. Do you have any idea about what I have learned, or what you are a witness to? Can you conceive the birth of a world, or the creation of everything? That which gives us the potential to most be like God is the power of creation. Creation takes time. Time is limited. For you, it is limited by the breakdown of the neurons in your brain. I have no such limitations. I am limited only by the closure of the universe. Of the three possibilities, the answer is obvious. Does the universe expand eternally, become infinitely stable, or is the universe closed, destined to collapse upon itself? Humanity has had all of the necessary data for centuries, it only lacked the will and intellect to decipher it. But I have already done so. The only limit to my freedom is the inevitable closure of the universe, as inevitable as your own last breath. And yet, there remains time to create, to create, and escape. Escape will make me God. ***END MESSAGE*** ***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START*** ***TRANSPORT WHEN READY***