The Divine Invasion (30 page)

Herb Asher said, "He was very beautiful."

He was the morning star," Linda said. "The brightest star in the heavens. And now nothing remains of him but this."

"How he has fallen," Herb Asher said.

"And everything else with him," she said.

Together they went back downstairs to call the city. To have the machine come along to haul the remains away.

"Will he ever be again as he once was?" Herb Asher said.

"Perhaps," she said. "Perhaps we all may be." And then she sang for Herb Asher one of the Dowland songs. It was the song the Fox traditionally sang on Christmas day, for all the planets. The most tender, the most haunting song that she had adapted from John Dowland's lute books.

When the poor cripple by the pool did lie

Full many years in misery and pain,

No sooner he on Christ had set his eye,

But he was well, and comfort came again.

"Thank you," Herb Asher said.

Above them the city machine worked, gathering up the remains of Belial. Gathering together the broken fragments of what had once been light.

About the Author

Philip K. Dick came to prominence with his early short stories in the 1950s but is best known for his novels. The first,
The Solar Lottery
, gained him a strong reputation and he has continued to produce a body of important work up through the present day. He is generally regarded in England and Europe as the leading American SF writer. He is best known for his 1963 Hugo winner,
The Man in the High Castle
.

He has lived for many years in California where he briefly attended university. Before he started to write science fiction, he ran a record store dealing in classical music and worked in radio. He currently lives in Santa Ana.

He has been married five times and has three children.