Impossible Journey, A Tale of Times and Truth

The sculptor/philosopher scratches his head in puzzlement. "And who might you people be, if I may ask?"

"Travelers from distant places--and times, if you can believe that."

He thinks for a moment and answers slowly: "I guess I can. I know that anything is possible, given the full development of the human potential. In fact, I was just thinking about this earlier today. It’s somewhat amazing how far we’ve come. But even more exciting is our potential. There’s no telling what can be accomplished through the full development of human reason, now lying neglected."

"But,” interjects Daniel, "aren’t you forgetting one thing?"

"And what might that be?"

"The fact of sin. Your concept would be perfect if it weren't for original sin, which taints all of human nature."

"That," blurts out Kerry, excitedly, "is what we’re going to eliminate!"

"But," insists Leonardo, holding one finger pedantically in the air, "human reason, properly nourished and developed, can overcome any obstacle, hindrance or malignant force--even this 'sin' as you call it."

"Impossible!" insists Walt. "As long as the sin is there, it will taint everything and never allow human reason its proper chance."

"I disagree!" asserts Alex.

"What?!" queries Walt, turning in astonishment to Alex. "With all of the debauchery and misery you’ve seen in your time--the terrible war and everything? Are you crazy?"

"But," insists the stowaway, "perhaps Leonardo's concept wasn’t really given a fair chance. Maybe if everyone would have embraced his concept,--"

"Oh, don’t talk nonsense!" Walt starts walking back towards the ship. "Come on, guys! We’re wasting our time here. Let’s go and see if we can repair the damage to the ship."

They all start walking towards the cylinder--all, that is, except Alex.

"I want to talk more about this with Leonardo here. Call me when you’re ready to leave, will y'!" He turns to the sculptor. "Ah, Leonardo--I may call you Leonardo?"

"Of course."

"Well, tell me, Leonardo, do you think that by the concentrated development of human reason, war could be completely eliminated?”

"War is the end result of the neglect of human reason and the resultant illogical upsurge of certain of those evil tendencies within man, which your friends called 'sin'. My concept is that if enough people catch the vision of the potential of human reason and concentrate on its development, not only war, but many other evils as well, could be eliminated. You see, if human reason were brought to its fullest potential, mankind would realize the utter foolishness of war, for example, and--" The sculptor’s voice trails off behind the three as they walk briskly toward the ship.