A Case of Conscience

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**A Case of Conscience**

Cover of first edition.
Author	James Blish
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	After Such Knowledge trilogy
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Ballantine Books
Released	1959
Media Type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	242 pp
ISBN	ISBN 0-345-43835-3 (paperback)
Followed by	Black Easter/The Day After Judgment

A Case of Conscience is a science fiction novel by James Blish, first published in 1959. It is the story of a Jesuit who investigates an alien race that has no religion; they are completely without any concept of God, an afterlife, or the idea of sin; and the species evolves through several forms through the course of its life cycle. The story was originally published as a novella in 1953, and later extended to novel-length, of which the first part is the original novella. The novel is the first part of Blish's thematic "After Such Knowledge" trilogy, followed by Black Easter/The Day After Judgment and Dr Mirabilis.

The story is unusual in several respects. Few science fiction stories of the time attempted religious themes, and still fewer did this with Catholicism. Some of the first part is taken up with the Jesuit's attempt to solve a puzzle, a long description of scandalous intrigue between various pseudonymous characters. As he is about to leave for Earth, he realizes the puzzle is soluble, but also that it was nothing more than a piece of distracting mischief by an author who made a career of attacking Catholicism. The puzzle is contained within the pages of Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce.

Many reacted negatively to the story, but surprisingly few educated Catholics were among them. One even sent James Blish a copy of the actual Church guidelines for dealing with extra-terrestrials. These are not detailed, but merely suggest overall strategy based on whether the beings have souls or not, and if they have them, whether they are fallen like humans, or exist in a state of grace.

1 Plot summary
- 1.1 Part 1
- 1.2 Part 2
2 Awards and nominations
3 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Part 1

Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, of Peru, Clerk Regular of the Society of Jesus, is a member of a four-man team of scientists sent to the planet Lithia to determine if the planet can be opened to contact with the rest of humanity. Ruiz-Sanchez is a biologist, biochemist, the team doctor, and a fair cook besides. However as a Jesuit, he has other concerns as well. The planet is inhabited by a race of intelligent bipedal reptilian-like creatures, the Lithians. Ruiz-Sanchez has learned to speak their language, the better to know them.

As the story begins, he is alone in the house given to them by the Lithians. Two of the others are away on a field trip, and the remaining scientist, the physicist Cleaver, is just returning from a walking survey of the land. He has managed to pick up some poison from a local plant, despite a protective suit, and is in bad shape.

Ruiz-Sanchez treats him, leaves him sleeping, and leaves the house to send a message to the others, Michelis, a chemist, and Agronski, a geologist. To do this he travels to a tree atop a huge underground quartz crystal. Despite having no knowledge of electric current, the Lithians are masters of static electricity and use this crystal as a communicator. He is helped by Chtexa, a Lithian who he has befriended, who then invites him to his house. This is an incredible opportunity for Ruiz-Sanchez, which he cannot afford to pass up. No member of the team has been invited into the Lithian living places before. The Lithians seem to have an ideal society, a Utopia without crime, conflict, ignorance or want. Ruiz-Sanchez is more than a little in awe of them.

While Ruiz-Sanchez is absent, Michelis and Agronski, returning early, find Cleaver asleep with an obvious fever. They give him more anti-fever medicine, a mistake which will endanger his life. Ruiz-Sanchez returns in a state of some distress, but he puts his concerns aside to stabilize Cleaver. Then he and the other two compare notes on the Lithians.

Soon they will have to officially pronounce their verdict. Michelis is open-minded and sympathetic to the Lithians. He also has learned their language and some of their customs. Agronski is more insular in his outlook, but sees no reason to think the planet is dangerous.

Hours pass, and Cleaver revives. He asserts that he's ready to give his vote. He has found enough of the element lithium, comparatively rare on terrestrial planets, to turn the place into a tritium factory that can be used to supply Earth with nuclear fuel. He wants the place exploited, regardless of the Lithians' wishes. Michelis is for open trade. Agronski is indifferent.

Ruiz-Sanchez drops his bombshell - he wants maximum quarantine. The things Chtexa revealed to him, added to what he already knew, convinces him that Lithia is nothing less than the work of Satan, a place deliberately constructed to show peace, logic, and understanding in the complete absence of God or any other deity. Chtexa has shown him how the Lithians raise young, beginning with eggs that hatch in pouches and then are allowed to swim away in the sea, returning as lungfish, then developing through amphibious stages until they mature as warm-blooded reptiles, the Lithians. This is ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, an old (now discredited) theory put forward by a real scientist, Ernst Haeckel.

Point for point, Ruiz-Sanchez lists the facts about Lithia that directly attack Catholic teaching. Michelis is mystified, but does point out that all the Lithian science he has learned is perfectly logical but rests on highly questionable assumptions. It's as if it just came from nowhere.

In the end, the team can come to no agreement. Ruiz-Sanchez concludes that Cleaver will probably get his way, and Lithian society will be wiped out. Despite his conclusions about the planet, he has deep affection for the Lithians themselves.

As the team board their ship to leave, Chtexa gives Ruiz-Sanchez a gift - a sealed jar containing an egg. It is Chtexa's son, and he is to be raised on Earth and learn the ways of humans. Ruiz-Sanchez handles it as if it were a bomb.

[edit] Part 2

The egg hatches and eventually produces the individual Egtverchi. Like all Lithians, he inherits knowledge from Chtexa through his DNA. Earth society is based around the nuclear shelters of the 20th century, with most people living underground. Egtverchi is the proverbial firecracker in an anthill - he upends society and precipitates violence.

Ruiz-Sanchez has to go to Rome to face judgement. His conviction about Lithia is in fact heresy, since he now believes Satan has the power to create a planet. This is close to Manichaeism. He has an audience with the Pope himself to explain his beliefs.

The Pope, a logical and technically aware Norwegian ruling under the name Hadrian VIII, points out two things Ruiz-Sanchez missed. First, Lithia could have been a deception, not a creation. And second, Ruiz-Sanchez had the power to do something about it, namely perform an exorcism. Of course, exorcising a planet is not the first thing that comes to mind, especially if you are standing on it. He dismisses Ruiz-Sanchez to purge his own soul, and return to the Church when he can.

After a violent sequence of events that results in Agronski's death, and Egtverchi fleeing on a ship to Lithia, Michelis and Ruiz-Sanchez are taken to the Moon where a new telescope has been set up. This scope can use the space-drive technology to see Lithia in real-time, bypassing the delay caused by the speed of light. Cleaver is on Lithia setting up his reactors, but the physicist who invented the telescope technology has found a fault in his reasoning. There is a chance that the work will set off a chain reaction in the planet's rocks and destroy it.

As they watch on the screen, Ruiz-Sanchez pronounces an exorcism. The planet explodes, taking Cleaver, Egtverchi, but also Chtexa and all the things Ruiz-Sanchez admired with it. The others leave him alone with his grief.