Mercy

I found an early scene from Lord of the World quite powerful and moving, and it essentially lays the groundwork for the ideological battle that develops over the course of the novel.

Lord of the World was written in 1907 and meant to portray English society a hundred years in the future. Therefore, it’s morphed to an alternative reality to our world today. Benson wrote the book just a scant few years after the Wright brothers’ initial flight, so air travel is represented in the book by “volors,” which are, to the best of my imaginative ability, mechanical bird-like things with movable wings that ferry a dozen passengers around at a time.

Somewhere in the second or third chapter we’re following one of the lead characters, the very young wife of a rising English politician, about on her business when – suddenly and surreally – a volor crashes all about her. Walking about in a dazed fog, shell-shocked, she tiptoes through the wreckage past the dead bodies and hears the cries of those mortally wounded mixed in with approaching sirens.

Then, two things happen. A group of men race onto the scene, each with a radio-sized box, and proceed to triage the wounded and help those nearest death complete their journey. They’re officially known as the “Ministers of Euthanasia.” Since the accident happens near one of the few remaining abbeys in England, a priest, who’s actually the protagonist of the story, also appears; only he proceeds to give the Last Rites to the dying and offer what comfort he can to those who are not quite at death’s door.

The unexpected punch is that the woman, a normal, average, unthinking product of her society, views the Ministers with relief and admiration, and the priest with revulsion and non-comprehension.

Very heavy and well-written scene for me. I’m about two-thirds done with the book (a lot of major stuff happens – it does deal with the end-of-the-world), so expect a review in a week or so.