The Christ Clone Trilogy 03 - Acts Of God
By
James Beau Seigneur
The Great City
October 24 (United Nations Day), 1 N.A. (2023 A.D.) York
City
New
A crowd of nearly half a million people listened, some swaying, some tapping
their toes in time as the lilting music of Divination, a New Age band from
Miami, poured from the speakers on a massive stage and drifted like falling
leaves through the trees and fields of New York's Central Park. They had
gathered there to celebrate the seventy-eighth anniversary of the founding of
the United Nations. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the
mid-seventies and just a few scattered white billowy clouds in the sky. It
hardly seemed possible that only seven months earlier the human race had been
threatened with the possibility of complete extinction. Now, not only was it
apparent that the world would survive, there was undeniable evidence that
Humankind was on the brink of both its biggest evolutionary step and its
greatest adventure. The psychic occurrences that had begun a few weeks earlier
grew more and more frequent, though at this early stage no one held onto their
powers for more than about twenty-four hours. Among those in the park this
afternoon, hundreds or perhaps thousands had experienced such abilities in the
past few weeks, and scores were having such experiences at this very moment.
Under a tree at the edge of the crowd, two women — strangers moments before —
sat reminiscing of lives long past when they, as men, had fought and died side
by side in the second Battle of Bull Run. Elsewhere, a group of about thirty
people listened intently as a fifteen-year-old girl told of the knowledge and
wisdom she had gained in her previous life as a eunuch in the court of the
ancient Babylonian king and law-giver, Hammurabi. Not far away, a homeless man
suddenly found himself very popular when it was discovered that, for the time
being at least, he possessed the power to heal.
On the stage the band completed its set and the mayor of New York, who was
serving as master of ceremonies, announced the arrival of United Nations
Secretary-General Christopher Goodman. Christopher's United Nations Day address
to the world would be his first major public appearance since the strange
psychic powers began appearing, so the world was particularly interested in what
he had to say.
At the very moment Christopher came to the microphone, the attention of the
crowd was suddenly drawn to the sky above him. In the nearly cloudless sky there
appeared a small point of pulsating white light that grew so quickly it soon
dwarfed the entire stage. News crews trained their television cameras on the
spectacle as millions marveled at what new wonder Christopher was about to
reveal. Had the cameras caught the pique on Christopher's face they would have
realized that this was none of his doing.
Somehow — no one was sure exactly when it happened — the shimmering light took
on a familiar form. It was a man; that is, it had the appearance of a man,
though it most definitely was not. It was far too large, as tall as any building
in the city, and it appeared attired in a long flowing robe of purest white
light. Later some swore that it had wings, though far more were certain that it
did not, and the film of the event could neither confirm nor deny it.
Not wasting another moment, Christopher took the microphone. "People of the
world, do not fear this apparition!" he declared. "It is a messenger of Yahweh,
come to frighten and distract you from your rightful destiny."
It was all Christopher had time to say before the entity spoke.
"Fear God and give him glory," it began, "because the hour of his judgment has
come." Its voice was like thunder and it spoke in the same universal language
that Christopher himself had used in Jerusalem. "Worship him who has made the
heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water."
With that the light vanished even more quickly than it had appeared. And though
most of the world had seen it on television, the strange being apparently wanted
to convey its message personally to the people of earth, with the full impact of
its awesome size and voice. In the course of the day it appeared and repeated
its message in nearly two thousand cities around the world.
In New York, Christopher reassured the world that there was nothing to fear. "In
this act, Yahweh has revealed his desperation." he told them. "In his demand
that we fear him and worship him, he has shown his true nature. We must not fear
him for he is not our god. Humankind does not need a god, for we ourselves shall
become as gods — bowing to and fearing no one. We must not yield to Yahweh's
threats, whether they come from the mouth of an angel or the mouths of the Koum
Damah Tatare." This latter reference was to recently stepped-up efforts by the
KDT. Though a few KDT had remained in Petra with the tens of thousands of other
Israelis, most had returned to the outside world. And despite the best efforts
of numerous police organizations, KDT members had become as elusive as their
masters, John and Cohen.
"Yahweh makes his demands, but they are hollow," Christopher said. "Test me and
see if my words are not true: wait a week, a month, a year, and you will see
that Yahweh will do nothing to enforce his demand for worship. He will not,
because he cannot! His demands are empty, his threats are hollow! Yahweh knows
that his days are numbered," Christopher continued. "He has seen the evidence in
your lives as you approach the beginning of your own self-realized godhood.
Humankind does not need Yahweh or any other god. Our only god must be
ourselves!"
March 11 (New Years Day), 2 N.A. (2024 A.D.) — Jerusalem
As Christopher predicted, Yahweh did nothing to enforce his demand for worship.
For a while there was some anxiety as members of the KDT and their allies in a
few fundamentalist Christian churches continued their entreaties for worship of
Yahweh. If they had the power to do any more than that, they did not use it.
Now, on the first New Year's Day of the New Age, nearly five months since the
entity appeared in New York, the world was learning to trust what Christopher
said.
Great celebrations were scheduled throughout the world to commemorate this first
new year. More than simply offering an adequate replacement for the New Year's
celebrations of the old era, this New Year's Day festivities were designed to
underscore the reality of the New Age to those who were resistant to change.
Television documentaries recounted everything that was known of Christopher's
life, and reminded the world of the terrible destruction and death that preceded
Christopher's rise to power a year earlier.
Nowhere was the celebration larger or more enthusiastic than in Jerusalem, the
incubator of so much of the world's history and the city from which Christopher
had made his declaration of Humankind's independence from Yahweh. It was fitting
then, that Jerusalem, and particularly the Temple, should be at the center of
the New Year's Day celebration.
Many things had changed in the year that had passed. Despite pleas by Prime
Minister Golda Reiner, the exodus of Jews to Petra in Jordan continued, and
although none who went could be convinced to return, at least the flow had
dwindled to a mere trickle. Reiner had noticed one rather ironic advantage to
their departure in that she found it much less difficult to work with a Knesset
void of militant religious partisans. With a more accommodating Israeli
government, Jerusalem had become a truly international city, overseen in part by
a United Nations administrator and open to all races and nationalities. The same
was true of the Temple. No longer was access denied based on nationality or
race. All were now free to enter into all parts of the Temple, including the
Holy of Holies. The Ark, which remained in its place, was preserved just as
Christopher had left it, with its lid askew to remind the world that Christopher
had removed the tablets and replaced the laws of Yahweh with a new covenant — a
decree that Humankind must pass from the age of adolescence into a New Age of
maturity and self-reliance from which would come true justice and freedom for
all peoples.
Christopher, Decker, and Robert Milner arrived in Jerusalem together by
helicopter, reminding all of the events of one year ago. But it was more than
the celebration of the new year that had brought them to Jerusalem. They had
come also to participate in the official dedication of a statue of Christopher
which had been commissioned by Robert Milner, paid for by the U.N., and approved
by the Israeli government. Although the statue had actually been erected just
thirty days after Christopher's Jerusalem address, on the sixth day of the
Passover week, Christopher had not been present, so in typical political style,
an 'official dedication' had been suggested to both mark the New Year's
celebration in a symbolic way and to give a boost to Israel's flagging tourist
trade.
The statue was a slightly-larger-than-life re-creation of Christopher,
appropriately placed on the spot where he delivered his Jerusalem address from
the Temple's pinnacle, making it clearly visible to all. So that visitors could,
in some small way, experience what it was like for those who had actually been
in Jerusalem on that day, speakers near the statue broadcast Christopher's
Jerusalem address three times a day, at sunrise, noon, and sunset.
October 24 (United Nations Day), 2 N.A. (2024 A.D.) —
Babylon, Iraq
Little more than nineteen months had passed since the Security Council voted to
build a new headquarters complex in Babylon. And yet, here on a site not far
from the reconstruction of ancient King Nebuchadnezzar's palace, stood the
structurally complete main building of the new headquarters. Much remained to be
done inside, and the rest of the nine buildings in the complex were still under
construction. Still, United Nations Day came only once a year and it seemed the
perfect occasion for dedicating the new structures. The first to move into the
main building would be the World Health Organization (WHO) — a decision which
had never been fully explained since WHO's offices would ultimately be in
another building that was still months from completion. It made little sense to
have WHO move into the main building now, just to have to move again when their
building was completed in January, but for some reason the decision was
important to Christopher, and no one felt it was really worth arguing about.
The city of Babylon, located on the Hilla branch of the Euphrates, just north of
the modern town of Hilla, and 55 miles southwest of Baghdad, is one of the most
famous cities of the ancient world. Depending upon whose account is believed,
the size of the ancient city ranged from as much as 225 square miles to as
little as five square miles. The earliest Greek writings in which Babylon is
described are those of Herodotus, who described Babylon as an exact square, 120
stadia (approximately 14 miles) on each side, located on a broad plain.
Babylon's historic rise to regional importance came in the third millennium B.C.
when the course of the Euphrates river shifted westward away from the ancient
Sumerian city ofKish. Since that time there have been five well-defined periods
of Babylonian history. Old Babylon, the capital city from which Hammurabi and
his successors ruled, was almost entirely destroyed by the Assyrian king
Sennacherib in 689 B.C. Within about a decade Sennacherib's son and successor,
Esarhaddon, built a new city on the same site, but it too was destroyed by
revolution and siege. Later, from 626 to 562 B.C. Nabopolassar and his son
Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon and brought it to its greatest glory. It was
during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar that the city's massive walls and the Hanging
Gardens (two of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) were
constructed. In 275 B.C. the inhabitants of the city were moved to the new city
ofSeleucia on the Tigris River, thus bringing the ancient history of Babylon to
a close.
Beginning in the 1970s, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who considered himself a
twentieth century version of Nebuchadnezzar, spent hundreds of millions of
dollars from the sale of oil to rebuild the city as a monument — ostensibly to
the Iraqi people, but more accurately to himself. Millions of bricks used to
build the city bear his name, and plaques on nearly every corner bear the
silhouetted relief image of both Nebuchadnezzar and Hussein.
Now, a year and a half after the madness decimated the region, the only Iraqis
left to inhabit the city were immigrants returning home from abroad. There was
no shortage of other inhabitants, however, as more than 38,800 engineers and
construction workers poured into the city to work on the many building projects.
Together with the workers' families and another 9200 or so additional support
personnel, the population of Babylon came to nearly 55,000 people, making it a
bustling metropolis compared to the rest of Iraq and the surrounding countries
which, except for Israel, were all but uninhabited. Ironically, considering the
history of hostility between the two countries, nearly a sixth of the people now
in Iraq were Israelis. But this was the new Iraq which, like the new Israel, was
under United Nations control and open to all races and nationalities.
Christopher Goodman, together with an entourage of reporters, had begun the day
with a tour of the city, followed by speeches by a host of dignitaries from
around the world who praised Christopher's leadership and offered accolades for
all who had been involved in the new U.N. headquarters project. Amid great
cheers, Christopher himself praised the human spirit which, by this project "had
proven itself supreme and unyielding to the whims of spiritual oppressors." As
millions listened and watched around the world, he recalled the city's
historical and spiritual significance. Repeating what he had articulated to the
gathering of New Age leaders at the United Nations, he noted, "It was near here
that the first Theatan ship landed more than four billion years ago, and life on
earth began. It was near this spot, in Eden, that Humankind first declared its
independence from Yahweh. It was in this very place," he added, "that Humankind
first came together in peace to work as one united people in the construction of
a great city and the magnificent Tower of Babel, before being dispersed by the
despotic Yahweh. And," Christopher said, completing his brief history lesson,
"tragically, it was not far from here that Yahweh, in perhaps his crudest act
against Humankind, released the madness that led to the brutal slaughter of
one-third of the planet's population." Christopher concluded by noting that the
decision by the United Nations to build its new headquarters in Babylon had
sealed for all time Humankind's emancipation from Yahweh's rule.
After his speech, Christopher held up an oversized pair of scissors and prepared
to cut a wide red ribbon which had been stretched across the entrance to the new
headquarters. It may have been the second year of the New Age, but some
traditions would never change and Christopher had accepted the role of
ribbon-cutter with good humor.
Aided by Robert Milner because of his crippled arm, Christopher reached out to
cut the ribbon when suddenly someone in the back of the crowd cried out, "Look!"
It took a moment for the rest of those gathered to understand, but then everyone
saw. Directly above the new structure, a shimmering light was growing and taking
shape, much like the one that appeared a year before over Central Park in New
York.
"Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the
maddening wine of her adulteries!" it said. And then, after repeating its
message, it vanished.
As before, the entire event was captured by television cameras and transmitted
throughout the globe. And again, in order to convey its message to the people of
earth personally, the angel appeared and repeated its message in nearly two
thousand cities around the world.
In Babylon all eyes and cameras shifted back to Christopher. For a brief moment
there was silence and then, very much unlike his reaction to the first angel,
Christopher began to laugh. It was an infectious laugh and though they weren't
sure why, many of those watching began to laugh as well. For what seemed nearly
a minute, Christopher laughed heartily and shook his head as if in disbelief
over what he had just witnessed. "Well, one thing is for certain," Christopher
said, finally, "Yahweh really knows how to steal the spotlight!" Now everyone
laughed.
"But his theatrics will not frighten us," Christopher continued. Then, looking
skyward and shaking his one good fist towards heaven, he shouted at Yahweh, "You
will not succeed in frightening us! Humankind will not bend its knee to you or
any other tyrant ever again!"
Several thousand fists now raised with Christopher's in defiance as a
spontaneous roar of cheers from the crowd resonated through the city.
"Yahweh knows," Christopher said, turning back to the crowd, "that by building a
new U.N. headquarters here in Babylon, Humankind is delivering an unmistakable
slap in his face. With each passing day he grows more and more desperate as he
feels his grip on the earth slipping away." Again the people cheered. "In his
desperation," Christopher continued, "he foolishly attempts to frighten us, even
though by doing so he makes himself a laughingstock.
"Look around," Christopher told them, "Babylon is not fallen as Yahweh's
driveling minion has proclaimed so loudly: Babylon stands! And it will continue
to stand long after Yahweh is forced to abandon his fraudulent claim on this
planet!"
Then, reaching out with the ceremonial scissors, Christopher and Milner cut the
ribbon to thunderous applause and cheers, and the new headquarters building of
the United Nations was officially opened.
As before, the KDT and a small, vocal, and apparently growing number of
fundamentalist Christians attempted to drive a wedge of doubt and fear between
the people and Christopher, claiming that the fall of Babylon spoken of by the
angel referred not to the present, but was a warning about the near future.
10:35 a.m., February 3, 2 N.A. (2025 A.D.) Headquarters,
Babylon, Iraq
U.N.
Decker Hawthorne sat eating a late breakfast at a corner table in the new U.N.
dining room. Looking up from the empty plate where once there had been a Belgian
waffle and lots of bacon, he saw Christopher coming toward him, smiling. Decker
waved and smiled back. "Have you had breakfast?" Decker asked.
"I had a donut in my office," Christopher answered, and then got straight to the
reason he was there. Still standing, he leaned down over the table and spoke
quietly so that no one else could hear. "Would you like to see the secret of
eternal life?" he whispered.
Decker raised his eyebrows. "The communion?" he asked, using Christopher's
terminology from almost two years ago.
Christopher nodded.
"I already know about it," Decker said, feigning disinterest.
"What? How?" Christopher gasped in surprise.
"I was once a reporter, you know."
Christopher pulled out a chair and sat down, looking a little deflated. "I
thought it was such a well-kept secret," he said, shaking his head. "We took
every precaution." For a moment Christopher just stared at Decker, and then they
both smiled. "So how much do you know?" he asked.
"Not that much, really," Decker admitted. "I know that there's some big
hush-hush project going on at WHO," he said, referring to the World Health
Organization. "I also know that you've said this 'communion' is supposed to
dramatically extend the human lifespan. My guess," Decker said, studying
Christopher's face for a response that might confirm his suspicion, "is that WHO
has been working on something similar to what your Uncle Harry was doing before
he died."
"You're pretty close," Christopher said, "but that's not exactly it. What Uncle
Harry was working on was actually far more complicated. What he didn't realize
was that there is a much easier way to accomplish what he was after."
"What do you mean?" Decker asked, leaning forward and finally showing how
interested he really was.
"Decker, I know it's been a long time, but do you remember when we were at the
refugee camp in Sahiwdi, Pakistan about five years ago?" Decker nodded. "On our
last day there, I was in my tent and you came looking for me. When you found me,
I told you that I had seen the death of one who sought to avoid death's grip."
Decker nodded as he recalled the events. "That was the day Secretary-General
Hansen was killed in the plane crash."
"But there was also someone else in my vision:" Christopher continued, "one who
sought to accept death's release." Christopher shrugged and shook his head as he
spoke. "I really didn't understand it then. If you had asked me about it at the
time, I'm not sure what I would have said, but I understand it now. It was
John." Decker knew immediately that Christopher referred to Yochanan bar Zebadee,
the Apostle John.
"I told you once that when I was crucified John was the only one of the apostles
who came to see me. At first I thought he came to ask forgiveness for betraying
me, but of course he had not. But he hadn't come just to mock me, either,"
Christopher explained. "Do you remember the legend of the Holy Grail?"
"Sure," Decker answered. "It was supposed to be the cup that you used at the
Last Supper. I remember reading stories when I was a kid about the Knights of
the Round Table going on quests to find the grail. Of course they never found
it."
"One of the legends about the grail," Christopher continued, "says that when
John came to the cross he brought the grail with him."
Decker thought for a second. "I do remember something about that," he said
slowly, trying to awaken any additional recollection of the matter. "The legend
was that John collected some of your blood by letting it drip into the cup." A
long forgotten memory began to make its way into Decker's consciousness. He
started to speak but then paused to be sure his memory was correct. "According
to the legend," Decker continued tentatively; and then suddenly he was struck by
the connection to the current conversation. Had he not already been sitting
down, he would have done so now. Could Christopher really be implying that . . .
"According to the legend," Decker began again, "if anyone drank of the blood
from the grail they would have eternal life!"
Christopher nodded, and it was clear that he was doing more than just confirming
Decker's accurate recollection of the legend. He was also implicitly confirming
Decker's realization of the larger point: there was no need for anything nearly
so complex as the genetic engineering on which Professor Goodman had been
working. Total immunity from all disease and the power of rapid healing — the
secret of eternal life which Harry Goodman had sought — was attainable by simply
ingesting the blood.
"Somehow John knew that by drinking the blood, he would gain eternal life,"
Christopher concluded. "I suppose it was part of his bargain with Yahweh."
"But in Pakistan you said that John 'sought death's release.' That makes it
sound as though he wantedlo die."
"I believe that he did: I'm not sure why. I doubt it was because he felt guilty
for betraying Humankind into Yahweh's hands. I suppose that after two thousand
years, he was simply tired of living."
Decker considered what Christopher said and then returned to the more pressing
topic. "So if the benefits of the blood are gained by drinking it, what about
Milner?" Robert Milner was now in his mid-nineties but appeared far younger than
Decker, who was several months shy of turning seventy-two.
"Apparently it can either be ingested or transfused," Christopher answered,
referencing the time fourteen years earlier when Robert Milner, then on his
deathbed, had received a transfusion of Christopher's blood. "It's rather
puzzling why it works at all, but with what we knew about what the blood did for
Robert Milner, we had to pursue it. Originally, it was believed that injections
would be more effective, thus requiring far smaller dosages than with oral
administration. But by adding a new genetically-designed absorption agent to the
blood, WHO found that two average-sized capsules taken orally were as effective
as a 50 cc transfusion."
"Sort of a 'take two capsules and you'll never need to call me in the morning
again' approach," Decker said, unable to resist the joke.
Christopher laughed. "I guess you could say that. A week after taking the
capsules, the human immune system grows incredibly robust and resilient. Within
a month the body is entirely immune to all bacteriological and viral disorders.
Pre-existing illnesses wane and then disappear altogether. And though it's too
soon to tell with the volunteers in the test group, if what we saw with Bob
Milner holds true, it may even reverse the effects of old age.
"You've already begun human testing?!"
Christopher just nodded. "Of course, the communion can't prevent injuries," he
said, continuing his train of thought. "It won't keep you from breaking your leg
or cutting yourself, but the healing of such injuries is vastly accelerated. It
also won't prevent death from an injury, but barring that, it will allow people
to live long enough for the evolution of Humankind to the spirit form to be
completed. Then not even an injury will be able to kill."
"This all sounds fantastic," Decker interjected, "but isn't it going to be a
little hard on you to be draining out all this blood?"
"The blood won't be coming directly from me," Christopher said, "WHO is cloning
the blood from a sample."
"Of course," Decker said, acknowledging his oversight of the obvious. Then
bringing the conversation around to a facet of the subject to which he had been
giving a great deal of thought prior to this conversation, he asked, "Is it your
intention that the communion be given to everyone?"
"Of course," Christopher responded, his tone indicating surprise at the
question.
Decker thought for a moment, choosing his words and tone carefully. "Why should
we provide the communion to our enemies?" he asked, "to the KDT and the
fundamentalists who oppose everything you say and do?"
Christopher thought for a second and then started to speak, but before he had
gotten out the first syllable he stopped again, apparently unable to find a
convincing response.
Decker answered his own question. "You know that ultimately they'll die without
it."
Christopher didn't speak but his expression indicated that Decker's assumption
was correct.
"Christopher, I understand how you feel about this. You hate the thought of
leaving anyone behind. It has cost so much: so many lives uselessly lost over
the centuries because of Yahweh's oppression. You hate to allow more suffering
because of him. But if you allow the KDT and their fundamentalist Christian
supporters to take part in the communion, you'll be giving Yahweh a foothold not
only in this century but in all the centuries to come.
"You've given the KDT every opportunity to turn from their ways and join you in
the battle for Humankind's independence," Decker said, a little surprised at how
much he was sounding like Robert Milner. "You've bent over backward to
accommodate them, but not a single one of them has joined us. What hope is there
that they'll ever change? I think the time has come to let them suffer the
consequences of their own choices. Besides, you told me yourself, when a person
dies they are reincarnated to live again." Clearly Decker had given the subject
of the communion considerable thought. "They're remnants of the old age: why not
allow them to go their own way? When they die they'll be reborn with no memory
of what they were or how the world once was. They'll be born anew into the New
Age, leaving behind all of their prejudices and their learned ignorance.
"If you look at it that way," Decker continued, "it becomes obvious that you're
not helping anyone by giving eternal life to people who are not ready for the
New Age from which that life comes." Decker took a breath, and then concluded
his argument, "Let those who are bound to the old age die with the old age, so
that in their next life they may truly live in the New Age that has come."
Christopher thought for a moment. Decker's logic was indisputable and
Christopher would not deny it. "You've been reading too many of your own
speeches," he said finally.
Decker smiled, but that was not the response he wanted from Christopher.
"Okay," Christopher added finally. "I suppose that the clinics could be directed
not to give the communion to members of the KDT — that should be easy enough:
they're pretty hard to miss with the writing on their foreheads. But how could
you prevent the fundamentalists from receiving communion? Unfortunately, they're
not so easy to spot; they look pretty much like everyone else when they're not
beating you over the head with a Bible."
"But that's the answer," Decker declared. "We can use their fundamentalism to
make them not want to take the communion."
"I'm sorry, Decker. I don't follow you," Christopher replied.
"I've been thinking about this," Decker said.
"Yes, I noticed."
Decker brushed Christopher's comment aside and continued. "The book of
Revelation in the Bible says that those who follow the Antichrist will be
required to take a mark on their forehead or on the back of their hand."
"I'm familiar with the passage," Christopher said.
"Well, it seems to me we can use that to our own benefit. If we require anyone
who takes the communion to also take some kind of a mark on either the back of
their hand or on their forehead — though I doubt that anyone would really want
to have something tattooed on their forehead — then the fundamentalists won't
dare do it for fear of angering Yahweh."
Christopher appeared to be giving the proposition some serious thought, but
Decker wanted to drive home his point even more. "Again, it's just my opinion,
but it seems to me that the communion should be given only to those who have
pledged their loyalty to you and what you stand for. Taking the communion
should, therefore, be done only in full recognition and agreement with what it
represents — a declaration of independence from the dictates of a dictatorial
god, a statement of belief in individual self worth and the collective value of
Humankind, a statement of self-determination, a resolution to make one's own
decisions and to live with the consequences, and a commitment to leave the nest
and to declare that Humankind has come of age and has outgrown the need for a
guardian."
"I hope you've written all this down somewhere," Christopher said. Decker
nodded, a little embarrassed by his speechmaking. "So, how exactly do you
propose that we apply this mark?" Christopher asked.
"Well, I don't think we want anything too conspicuous or no else one will want
to get it. It should be as small and unobtrusive as possible on the back of the
right hand. As I said, I don't think anyone is going to want to have it on their
forehead, but we should offer the option so it will match the prophecy and keep
the fundamentalists away. It should be something permanent, but it also should
to be as painless as possible. I've been doing some research on the subject and
it turns out that very few tattoos are done using needles any more; most are
done with permanent dyes that soak deep into the flesh so they don't wear off."
"And I suppose to have the desired effect of keeping the fundamentalists away,
the mark will have to depict either my name or the number 666?" Christopher
asked, cringing a bit.
"Well, the KDT have made a big deal of the fact that when your name is written
phonetically in Hebrew the sum of the letters equals 666, so I guess that makes
it the natural choice," Decker remarked, and then added, "It's a lot shorter
than writing out your whole name."
Christopher took a breath and let out a deep sigh. "Well, let me give it some
thought," he said.
"Great, that's all I'm asking," Decker answered, confident he had presented his
argument with undeniable logic.
"Now," Decker said, as he pushed his chair back from the table, "when you came
in here you asked if I wanted to 'see' the secret of eternal life. Is there
something you were going to show me?"
"Yes, there is," Christopher answered, apparently ready to move on and let
Decker's proposal settle in for a while. "Come with me," he said. Decker
followed Christopher from the dining room and down the hall to the elevator.
Decker quickly guessed that they were headed for the World Health Organization.
Inside the WHO facilities they passed two armed guards and approached a secure
door. Christopher placed his hand on the print reader, spoke his name, and the
door opened. Decker expected to find a laboratory with dozens of WHO personnel
busily running tests or engaged in discussions on the best methods for cloning
Christopher's blood. What he saw instead was immeasurably more striking. Beyond
the door in the secured area was a simple warehouse full of pallets stacked high
with boxes.
Christopher tore open a box and held it open for Decker to see. Inside were
hundreds of blister packs, each bearing two capsules filled with a thick red
liquid. The entire warehouse was filled with Christopher's blood.