Synopsis: From the front flap of the Ace first edition: "The great silver room welcomed him with a pageantry of ideas. Colors flared behind Afonso's lids: pink happiness and orange expectancy. Speaking in colors, God asked, What is your command? Afonso cradled his dagger to his breast. "Please," Afonso said, "If it is all right, Lord, I would like to see Heaven." And from one beat of his heart to the next it was there - a starry void, velvet and wide and deep. He clutched the dagger and cried out, for the walls were gone, and the floor, and nothing was left but a fall into dark Heaven... In Portugal, where the Inquisition protects the true word of God, Father Manoel Pessoa has begun to hear strange confessions from the villagers of Quintas. Glowing lights in the sky. Angels who lie with village women. A virgin birth. Father Pessoa would like to keep all of this quiet, for he loves his simple people, and he knows the path events could take. Afonso, by God's grace King of Portugal, and also by God's grace having the mind of a child, has seen God Himself fall to Earth in a ship, round like an acorn. When Afonso went into the damage ship to explore, God spoke to him there. God told him of the voyages of the acorn through the stars, and assured him that the Earth is round. The inquisitor-general is eager to speak to Afonso about this heresy. Strangest of all, from the ship come three creatures - slight of build, wide-eyed, amazing in their silence. They could be angels, or devils sent to tempt people from the true faith. The inquisitor-general will certainly learn the truth, as is his divine mission. And all the while, the smell of burning grows stronger in the air."