Monday, November 25, 2013

The Shape of the Future

Ellory waved a hand as they entered the dome.  Above them, a vertical sea of white rectangles shifted and turned in odd patterns, as if blown by intangible winds.  “Fifty thousand decks of Tarot cards, charged and polarized, coated with our proprietary polymer,” she said.  “The cards are sensitized to the shape of the future, and by watching the patterns approach, we can offer not only the most accurate but the most distant foretellings on the market.  As you can see-“

The gasps of the tour group made her pause.  Overhead, row by row, the cards were turning face down.

2 comments:

Jim Murdoch said...

This reminds me so much of Clarke’s ‘The Nine Billion Names of God’ which ends with: “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

Scattercat said...

It is, I will confess, a line that is not often far from my mind.