Editing Zardoz (section)

==Plot==
In the year 2293, the human population is divided into the [[Immortality|immortal]] "Eternals" and mortal "Brutals". The Brutals live in an irradiated wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in "the Vortex," leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country [[Estate (house)|estate]]. The Brutal Exterminators kill and terrorize other "Brutals" at the orders of Zardoz, a flying stone head which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect. Zed, a Brutal Exterminator, hides aboard Zardoz during one trip, temporarily "killing" its Eternal operator-creator Arthur Frayn.

Arriving in the Vortex, Zed meets two Eternals{{snd}} Consuella and her assistant May. Overcoming Zed with [[psychic]] powers, they make him a prisoner and menial worker within their community. Consuella wants Zed destroyed so that the resistance cannot use him to start a revolution; others, led by May and the subversive Eternal Friend, insist on keeping him alive for further study, while secretly planning to overthrow the government and end humanity's suffering.

In time, Zed learns the nature of the Vortex. The Eternals are overseen and protected from death by the Tabernacle, an [[artificial intelligence]]. Given their limitless lifespan, the Eternals have grown bored and corrupt, and are descending into madness. The needlessness of procreation has rendered the men impotent and meditation has replaced sleep. Others fall into [[catatonia]], forming the social stratum the Eternals have named the "Apathetics". The Eternals spend their days stewarding humankind's vast knowledge, baking special bread from the grain deliveries and participating in communal [[Omphaloskepsis|meditation]] rituals. To give life more meaning and in a failed attempt to stop humanity from becoming permanently catatonic, the Vortex developed complex social rules whose violators are punished with artificial aging. The most extreme offenders are condemned to permanent old age. Eternals who have managed to die, usually by accident, are then reborn into another healthy, synthetically reproduced body that is identical to the one they lost.

Zed is less brutal and far more intelligent than the Eternals think he is. Genetic analysis reveals he is the ultimate result of long-running [[eugenics]] experiments devised by Arthur Frayn, who controlled the outlands with the Exterminators. Zardoz's aim was to breed a superman who would penetrate the Vortex and save human-kind from its hopelessly stagnant status quo. In the ruins of the old world, Arthur Frayn encouraged Zed to learn to read and led him to the book ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''. Understanding the origin of the name ''Zardoz''{{snd}}Wi'''zard''' of '''Oz'''{{snd}}brought Zed to a true awareness of Frayn as a manipulator. Infuriated with this realization, Zed decided to further investigate the mystery of Zardoz.

As Zed divines the nature of the Vortex and its problems, the Eternals use him to fight their internecine quarrels. Led by Consuella, the Eternals decide to kill Zed and to age Friend. Zed escapes and, aided by May and Friend, absorbs all the Eternals' knowledge, including that of the Vortex's origin, to destroy the Tabernacle. While absorbing their knowledge Zed impregnates May and a few of her followers as he is transformed from a revenge-seeking Exterminator. Zed shuts down the Tabernacle, thus disabling the force-fields and perception filters surrounding the Vortex. This helps the Exterminators invade the Vortex and kill most of the Eternals, who welcome death as a release from their boring existence. May and several of her followers escape the massacre, heading out to bear their offspring as enlightened but mortal beings among the Brutals.

Consuella, having fallen in love with Zed, gives birth within the remains of the stone head. The baby boy matures as his parents age. When the youth leaves his parents, they keep growing old and eventually die. Nothing remains in the space but painted handprints on the wall and Zed's [[Webley–Fosbery Automatic Revolver|revolver]].