Audiobook Excerpt - Older Male and Southern Female - Emotional - SciFi
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (South West - Texas) North American (US General American - GenAM) North American (US South)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
father. I wanted to thank you for Carla's memorial service. It was beautiful, it was the least she deserved. He said Carla was a very special person known and loved by the entire nation. Yes, she was a tear formed in the corner of Lorna's eye and she brushed it away. She was a catholic, but she often went to other religious services on luna. She used to say God doesn't care where you go to talk to him. I wish I'd gone with her more often. I'm not an atheist father. I just can't accept the idea that any religion has a lock on the absolute truth about God and the universe. I believe it's more about how you live your life than where you say your prayers. I don't disagree with that. He told her gently. Then you'll understand why I wanted to talk to you. Carla was a catholic, a faithful follower of the church since she was a child. I know the catholic church and for that matter, most other churches wouldn't condone the kind of relationship we had. I also know it bothered her. She used to say we were living in sin and would probably burn in **** for it. She would say it lightly, but it bothered her all the same. I used to shrug it off. I'm not even sure there is such a place as **** and being the swashbuckling space ranger that I am, I assumed I would buy the farm out in space someday. While Carla would live to a ripe old age and have plenty of time to make her peace with God. But it didn't work out that way. And now that she's gone, it's been haunting me. Tell me, father, is it possible God is so vengeful He would condemn Carla to eternal **** because of my love for her. Because I led her into a life of sin. He pondered how to answer and in the end, took the simplest approach. No, it's not possible. And that is my professional opinion as a priest. As I said in the directorate, he continued, I believe God will judge us on the fullness of our lives. And Carla was one of the most giving and caring people I have ever known. I also believe you loved each other and that God will judge love to be far more important than anything related to sex. I believe in heaven and ****. It's a requirement in my profession. You know. And I believe there are people who deserve to go to ****. It's not my call to judge them. But I think I know which way God will rule on the case. I think I know how he has ruled on Carla as well. I believe she is in heaven and that you, my dear Admiral will join her there someday. I don't know about that father. I've done some pretty nasty things in my life. I've been responsible for the deaths of a lot of people and now for the deaths of some creatures whose place in the universe we don't even know. Ah, yes, killing, he grimaced. People kill for many reasons, some even kill in the name of religion and that is one of mankind's greatest perversions of faith. But if a mother kills to protect her Children, is she to be damned for it? Are the soldiers who fought against Hitler in the last century and put an end to the holocaust to be damned for it. To my knowledge, Admiral, you've never killed other than to protect your nation, your people and those you love from harm with the aliens. You may have wanted to avenge Carla's death, but you were also acting to protect the people of earth and luna. You were our only defense against creatures who were perfectly willing to kill us. You're a good soldier, admiral. And any good soldier is troubled by the killing he or she has to do. If it ever stops troubling you, you might have cause to worry about your soul. I don't believe it ever will, father, she said. I once told tom Perry a good soldier, prays for peace while preparing for war. And I believe that. But you've taken a load off my mind. What happens to me is a matter for me and God to work out. But your assurance that Carla is where she deserves to be well, it means a lot to me. You're a good person, Admiral. Even now, you're more concerned about Carla than about you. And that's what love is truly about. If you keep on the way you are going, I believe you will be with her in heaven someday. But forgive me if I hope for the sake of the rest of us that you don't go to join her anytime soon.