The Sirens of Titan: Chapter 10: An Age of Miracles Summary & Analysis

Back on Earth, rain falls on a graveyard in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the bodies of dead Earthlings and Martians are buried next to one another. There are many such graveyards all over the world. In death, the men are “brothers.” The graveyard is next to a house of worship which is now part of the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent. Unk stands in the graveyard, finally back on Earth. He is 43, and the only thing keeping him going is the hope of being reunited with Stony.

Meanwhile, Rev. C. Horner Redwine stands in the pulpit of the empty church. Rumfoord has prophesized that a “weary Space Wanderer” will arrive naked, and there is a yellow rubber one-piece outfit waiting in the church for him to wear. Everyone is waiting excitedly for the Space Wanderer to arrive. The door of every church and home belonging to Rumfoord’s religion has a doll hanging on it called a Malachi. The doll is hanged by the neck. During Redwine’s sermons, he identifies himself as no more “a germ on a flea on your [Rumfoord’s] dog,” and the congregation follow suit in identifying themselves as such. 

Redwine walks down from the pulpit and out of the church. Outside, he sees a spaceship, and near it, the naked Space Wanderer. Overjoyed, he runs back into the church and rings the bell to announce the Space Wanderer’s arrival. The sound of the bell petrifies Unk, who retreats into his ship. He doesn’t know that the war with Mars is over, and believes that the bell has something to do with battle. Unk tries to fly away, but the on button doesn’t work. Instead, the cabin fills with yellow smoke, and the spaceship breaks down.

Leaving the spaceship, Unk sees a crowd of people, all of whom have “handicapped” themselves in some way. They are all members of Redwine’s congregation, and like many other people on Earth, they are “happily self-handicapped.” There is a firetruck present, and the firemen turn on the hose in celebration of Unk’s arrival. Unk is baffled, but forces himself not to be afraid. Redwine gives Unk the yellow suit to wear, which fits him perfectly. When Redwine tells him that he is on Earth and Unk exclaims “Thank God!” Redwine is puzzled, noting that thanking God is nonsensical when God doesn’t care about Unk. 

By this point, the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent has three billion followers worldwide, and a formidable “disciplinary arm.” Redwine warns Unk not to say anything that implies he is especially favored by God, because if so “the friendly crowd out there […] could turn ugly quite fast.” When Unk finally greets him, the Congregation ask him his name and what happened to him. Unk says he doesn’t know his real name, and explains that he was “a victim of a series of accidents,” adding, “As are we all.” The crowd erupts in applause. Immediately, a banner is unfurled displaying these words.

The fire engine drives Unk to Newport; on the journey, onlookers throw flowers at the passing truck. Rev. Redwine is also on the truck and sits ringing the bell, which has a Malachi attached to it. Unk is delighted to be back on Earth, breathing oxygen, and surrounded by so many people who love him. People keep asking what happened, and he simply replies, “Accidents!” In Newport, the Rumfoord Estate is surrounded by crowds of people. Bee and Chrono are also in Newport; Bee is sitting in a booth outside the estate, selling “genuwine, authorized, official Malachis” to the crowd. 

Though now relegated to a humble confession stand, it is clear to everyone around that Bee belongs to a “nobler” class. The hawkers must stop selling five minutes before the materialization takes place, and this point in time is announced by a whistle. Chrono tells Bee they have eight minutes left until the whistle blows. Chrono is 11 now, “foul-mouthed,” and officially classified as a juvenile delinquent. However, Rumfoord has told the legal staff of the Church of the Utterly Indifferent to relentlessly defend Chrono, and thus he has escaped serious punishment. Bee lost her front teeth when her Martian spaceship crashed into the Amazon. Both she and Chrono have golden skin, resulting from months spent eating only roots in the rainforest.

Bee and Chrono were inducted into the Amazonian Gumbo tribe before being lifted out by Rumfoord, who then gave Bee the “lucrative” concession stand outside his estate. He also paid for Bee to have gold tooth implants. Next to Bee’s booth is Harry Brackman’s booth. Brackman is the only survivor of the Battle of Boca Raton, in which he received terrible injuries. The whistle comes, telling the hawkers that they must stop selling. All the shutters of the stands close at the same time, such that the stands end up forming a kind of tunnel. Every person running a concession stand is a Martian survivor; being granted these lucrative positions was a gesture of gratitude from Rumfoord.

Chrono cleans his nails with his good-luck piece, which he still has from his time on Mars. Like most of the Martian survivors, Chrono feels pretty unexcited about the Space Wanderer’s arrival. Most of the survivors basically support the Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, but they believe they’ve already done enough to help foster the church’s success. Now, the moment all the believers have been waiting for arrives: the Space Wanderer pulls up to the estate in his firetruck. At the same time, Rumfoord and Kazak materialize.

Even the harshest critics of Rumfoord have to admit that he never claimed to be God, and even announced that he was “so far from being a relative or agent of God” that his presence made it impossible to communicate with God at all. Automatically, Brackman’s hand goes to touch the place where his antenna used to be; he misses receiving the antenna’s signals. Rumfoord’s voice booms out from the estate, requesting that the Space Wanderer be brought to him. Brackman reluctantly suggests they go get a look, but Bee is unsure. Before being conscripted into the Martian Army, Brackman’s name was Francis J. Thompson; he had been a member of the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Bragg.

The International Committee for the Identification and Rehabilitation of Martians had had difficulty finding Bee’s original identity. They made a number of guesses, each of which were wrong. Now, Bee reflects on how Rumfoord abused, manipulated, and used the Martians to his own end. She wonders if any of their lives would have been better without Rumfoord’s interference. She says she hates him, and Brackman comments that it is the “privilege” of Martians to hate Rumfoord. 

Unk waits outside the Rumfoord Estate, communicating with Rumfoord’s voice, which is being blasted through horns positioned on the estate’s walls. Unk admits that he remembers some things about the estate. Rumfoord asks if Unk would be able to recognize his mate and child, then demands that Bee and Chrono be summoned. Now, seeing Rumfoord for the first time, Unk notices that he looks terrible. Rumfoord is a strange color, and his smile is no longer charming, but scary. Unk realizes that he has an important role to play in the ceremony taking place, so he stays quiet and smiles pleasantly. He feels convinced that a positive future awaits hm on Earth. However, he knows he needs a friend, and longs for Stony.  

Rumfoord climbs up onto a catwalk that is part of a scaffold constructed at the front of his mansion. At one end of the catwalk is a large copper beech tree affixed with “gilded rungs.” Rumfoord ties Kazak to the bottom rung and climbs the tree. He addresses the crowd, his voice still being blasted through the horns outside. Bee, Chrono, and the Space Wanderer stand together awkwardly. None of them are particularly happy about their reunion, and Chrono even kisses his good-luck piece and wishes his father would die. Addressing the crowd, Rumfoord suggests they thank the completely apathetic God that none of them are like Malachi Constant. The Space Wanderer looks at the crowd and wonders if Stony is among them.