Olde Times

After Global Warming devastates the modern world, life reverts to the conditions of the 12th Century. The time of electric power and computing is remembered as a Golden Age whose glory is to be restored when there is no more sin. Howevcer, it is necessary to prepare for the Restoration. THE PURPOSE, the direct descendant of IBM, plays the role of the Church in cleansing from sin and preparation. The technical manuals of IBM are religious canon. However, within THE PURPOSE are hearts that believe the true nature of IBM has been lost. They believe the Golden Age will be restored only by the search for new knowledge, as did late Renaissance scientists who turned away from the classical theories. But it is a dangerous heresy that could lead to Dismissal that could mean auto-da-fe. escape. Gregory , a Faculty Member at the European Institute, in La Hulpe, Belgium, a Purpose University, is among the dissenters. As is Martin, son of the Duke of York. Gregory makes a heretic mistake in class and must flee into the woods around La Hulpe and finds Magdalene, a farm girl from a farm population that obeyed the "church" but never had high regard for its vision of the world. They become lovers and she joins his mission, undertaken at the risk of his life, to preach the need for new knowledge and change. Gregory despairs and retires alone to suicide in rising tide on a beach. Martin, leaving THE PURPOSE under pressure, finds him, inspires him and saves him.There is tension between the Princes of Europe about their relation with THE PURPOSE, and many meetings and much maneuver that involve the safety of Martin. Then the rains return, unforgiving and unrelenting, as if stored up for a thousand years. Fires begin in thousand-year-old wires setting the world ablaze. There are uprisings, attacks on THE PURPOSE offices and personnel. Gregory, still pursued, preaches to a welcoming crowd in Place.THE PURPOSE survives with new management and Gregory is awarded high position while Martin returns home to be the Duke of York.