The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Honored Prophet, by William E. Bentley

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Title: The Honored Prophet

Author: William E. Bentley

Illustrator: Virgil Finlay

Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32316]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction November
1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

THE HONORED PROPHET

BY WILLIAM E. BENTLEY

_Illustrated by Virgil Finlay_

_The black dwarf sun sent its assassin on a mission which
was calculated to erase the threat to its existence. But
prophesies run in strange patterns and, sometimes, an act of
evasion becomes an act of fulfillment...._

* * * * *

[Illustration]

The ruler of a planet with a black dwarf sun had called a meeting of
the council. It was some time before they were assembled, and he
waited patiently without thought.

When the patchwork of mentalities was complete he allowed the
conclusions of the prognosticator to occupy his mind. A wall of
unanimous incredulity sprang up. The statement was that when the
inhabitants of a distant planet achieved space flight they would come
to this planet, and use a weapon invented by an individual to destroy
it. The prognosticator could not lie, and soon the facade dissolved
into individual reactions as acceptance became general. Anger, fear,
resignation, and greedy little thoughts of self-aggrandizement. Those
thoughts were replaced by a quiescent, questioning receptivity. The
questioning grew out of proportion, became hysterical, assumed the
panic shape. Self-preservation demanding that there be a solution.
Minor prophecies had been evaded before. Details of the individual had
been supplied, could not something be done?

The Assassi