“I see we have a question from Oscar in Oregon, please go ahead.”
“So you’re saying everyone’s religious beliefs were bought off by prosperity?”
I hear a couple of giggles in the live audience.
“Dr. Holt might protest your choice of words, but that is the basis of the Holt Theorem.”
Martha’s desk has been activated, probably by Janet, but she still raises her hand to ask a question.
“At the end of the last class you posed the question that if the whole world is now ‘Man’s Eden’, why are some people still practicing Christianity. Do you have an answer?”
My screen flashes with a message from Janet “You’re right, she’s good.”
“Professor Holt theorized that even in a world where there is no poverty there’ll always be a segment of the population that looks to external forces to find answers. He postulated that they’re just too lazy to search out the answers to life’s questions for themselves. A more contemporary view comes from the well-known religious abolitionist Dr. Thomas who once theorized tongue in cheek that religion is a form of insanity.”
There are more giggles.
Now my screen flashes with a message from Henry, “Good work recognizing Dr. Thomas as a colleague. He’s been watching and I’m patching him in as a guest speaker right now.”
“Dr. Thomas doesn’t say whether or not religious belief is a curable form of insanity,” I add.
This comment sparks outright laughter.
The screens split and I’m suddenly sharing my podium with the well-known face of Dr. Thomas. Like me, he made a mark in his field early in life so he’s probably only in his mid-thirties. Estimating his true age is difficult because the skin on his face has been artificially tightened but he’s let his hair go gray at the temples.
“And here he is now. Welcome Dr. Thomas.”
“I’m curious, Cephas. If religion is a form of insanity, what does that make someone like you who studies ancient religions?”
“I suppose the leading choices would be historian, psychologist or a fellow madman.”
“And where do you believe you fall on that scale Cephas?”
“The jury’s still out on that one Dr. Thomas. But for today’s lecture let’s stick to the Holt Theorem. I posed the question to the class that if our world represents a man-made Garden of Eden, why are there still practicing Christians in the world. I think the class would love to hear your perspective.”
“As much as I’d like to go with the insanity theory, I did indeed offer it as a tongue in cheek answer once at a press conference. I think Dr. Holt’s original suggestion that religion is simply a lazy way to define the universe is closer to the truth. People made up myths and gods to describe why the sun rose and set each day or why we have seasons. Christianity is just a more refined version of the same thing.”
“Okay. Although you don’t believe in him either, allow me to play devil’s advocate,” I say and the class laughs. “If religion is a lazy way to define the universe, doesn’t it logically follow that what man has achieved is something less than perfection. Or to frame it as I believe a Christian would, ‘Man’s Eden” must fall short of ‘God’s Eden’ because in God’s Eden everyone is happy.”
I’m walking a fine line here considering Henry’s watching but I need to keep Martha guessing.
“I love that argument because it’s so easy to turn on its head,” Thomas replies. “Of course our world isn’t perfect, but what some would say is man’s yearning for the perfection of God I would say is really man’s yearning to achieve perfection on his own.”
“Careful Thomas. What you just said sounds remarkably like the Christian principle that man is fallen.”
“When used in the Christian sense the word ‘fallen’ is short for ‘fallen from grace’,” he replies. “It’s just as easy for me to say that we’re not fallen, we’re in fact rising from our evolutionary roots and we’ll eventually evolve to the point of achieving a perfect world solely through human ingenuity. In effect, we will be gods.”
“Wow. So would you agree that we’re currently stuck in a period where we’ve ceased evolving or perhaps may even be devolving a bit? There have been no major scientific breakthroughs in several generations now. Where’s the ‘yearning of man to achieve perfection’ you spoke about?”
“Evolution has been known to move in great leaps, though perhaps instead of saying we’re stuck I would say we’re just resting for a while before the next great leap.”
As much as I dislike his arrogance, I have great respect for Thomas’ intellect and enjoy sparring with him like this for the next twenty minutes. As you would expect no conclusions are reached, but we have a lot of fun poking at each other.
***
After class Martha meets me at the podium.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she says. “What I meant is do you have an answer? As a teacher you expound on the beliefs and theories of others without revealing your own beliefs.”
I wish I could kiss her. She was one step ahead and knows I want to explore faith.
I don’t have a chance to answer before Janet bustles in.
“Cephas, you are so right. This girl is fantastic!”
“I’m glad you feel that way, I’ve invited her to visit me on the book tour if it fits her schedule.”
Martha blushes and I realize the implication is we’ll be sharing a room.
“I’ll arrange a room for her at my own expense.”
I turn to Martha.
“Do you remember the other day when you were telling me about your mother’s rose garden? I saw this on my walk to campus and thought of you.”
I hand her the rose.
“That’s very thoughtful. Thanks for letting me come to class, I should get going to my next one,” she says and escapes before Janet can draw her into a conversation.
When Martha is gone Janet turns to me.
“A rose Cephas? Don’t tell me you believe in outdated notions like love or romance.”
That’s the sadness in Janet’s eyes. She once believed in love and wants to again.
“Just call it another form of insanity I guess.”
“Still, she could be very useful to me on the tour,” Janet says. “Having a groupie or two would be very good for your new image. Now come on, we need to get to the tube station. Henry’s car should be arriving soon.”
***
When we get to the station we go to a private elevator. The doors won’t even close until the system has checked our identities against a list of people who are currently authorized. Janet’s name comes up on a screen in red and a moment later mine comes up in blue, both with the words “authorized user” next to them.
The elevator takes us to a level below the one where the public gets on and off the tube. There are six bays for the luxury cars that the very wealthy can use to charter private rides. The bureau car is huge, about ten times the length of a normal car. When we get inside I can see why it’s so big. The back of the car is filled with various electronic gadgets, the middle has a full kitchen and dining room and the front has sleeping accommodations.
The first course is already being set on the table when Janet and I join Henry, Raymond and Riemann.
“Great lecture today Cephas,” Henry says.
“Thanks, but I’d prefer you and Janet stop flashing messages to my podium. It’s very distracting.”
“There were some important people in the audience you know. We already have pre-orders for thousands of copies of your new book.”
“You didn’t come all this way just to tell me that.”
“Straight to the point as always I see. Okay, dig into some food and we’ll brief you as you eat.”
“Some strange things have happened since your visit to D.C. and we don’t think they’re a coincidence.”
Riemann stops eating and calls up images of the number “4” painted like graffiti on various objects.
/> “We think a new pagan cult has been growing right under our noses while we’ve been chasing the fish heads. They seem to call themselves Four.”
“Just the number four?” I ask. “That’s not consistent with the trinity of Christianity.”
“Our assumption is they have some sort of a four god system, like north, south, east and west,” Raymond says. “The paint attacks started in D.C. the night you were in town. It can’t be a coincidence. We kept it pretty hushed up but they hit eleven other cities the next night. Cameras got nothing but people dressed in black so we don’t have any suspects.”
“So you think they communicate electronically and you want me to look for their codes?”
“We’re not interested in shutting them down, they’ve come at just the right time to be useful to us,” Henry says. “We’ll cast this group as being at odds with the Christians and looking for a fight. Give us a couple of months to shape public opinion and the world will be living in fear of another Holy War.”
I last heard that tone in his voice the day he used the final code to slaughter thousands of Christians. He’s overjoyed to be the cause of fear.
“So what do you need from me?”
“You’re still the knockout punch,” Henry says. “Once the world is living in fear of religion you’ll knock the pins out from under all of them. We’re here because we’re accelerating the schedule of your trip to the crucifixion. You’ve got a week to push the book and then we go public on the plan. The week after that we announce the identities of the time travelers and the big event happens in December. Hell, I might even send you on December twenty-fifth just to make it sting that much more.”
He knows the date people used to celebrate the birth of Christ?
“Mission control is at a NASA lab in Michigan, you report there for training on December first. The techies running the show are having a fit over the new timetable but it has to be done. Our people still think that knocking out the roots of Christianity is the key to taking out other cults like this new one.”
“Okay. December it is then, but I still don’t understand why you came all the way here to tell me.”
Henry looks back and forth at the faces around the table.
“We think our security has been compromised by this new group. The computer security protocols we’re using have been the gold standard for decades so it doesn’t seem likely they can intercept our communications. We assume they must have someone on the inside. We have no idea how much they know about the time travel project and we didn’t want to risk it. Speaking of which, I’m increasing the security detail on you while you’re on the book tour and no more walking around in public. You now have a private car and driver.”
“Do you have a guy watching me go to the bathroom and listening to me snore at night too?”
“Just let us fade into the background and forget we’re there,” he replies.
So in other words, ‘yes you do’.
“What most people call the background is where I focus my attention. It’s where I find interesting things most people miss. Can I assume then you’ve done security checks on all of my students?”
“All of them? Or just Martha McLeod?”
Betray nothing with your face. If they suspect anything they’ll kill her… and you need her.
“She’s a special student to me. I’d like to be able to spend time with her without your guys breathing down my neck.”
“She was the first one Janet cleared.” Henry gives me an oily smile. “Enjoy some special time with her.”
***
A private hover bus picks me and Janet up at the station and heads straight for my house. Janet insists on seeing me all the way to the door. As we reach the front walk I tell my com to unlock the front door and turn on the walkway lights but only one of the five bulbs comes on. I hold up my arm to stop Janet but she looks confused since she doesn’t know that I have more than one.
“I have five lights on the front of the house.”
Janet still looks confused.
“Four lights are out.”
When she hears the emphasis on “four” she gets it and taps her com. In seconds there are armed agents beside us and I’m thrown back into the car. There’s only one corps member standing guard outside the car as the rest storm the house. Behind me I hear a tapping sound and turn to see a dark figure write the number four on the window with a paint stick. The guard hears it too and draws his stunner but as he makes his way around the front a second figure kicks him from behind while a third breaks his grip on the gun with some sort of martial art move. Rather than hurt him, all three of the dark figures then disappear into the darkness.
“The house is clean,” Janet says when she returns.
“Is this glass bulletproof?”
“No, why?”
“If this new group wanted me dead, I’d be dead.”
I point to the paint on the window.
Janet taps her com and says, “Have the safe house ready for a guest.”
“Tell me how it works out, I’m going to bed,” I say and walk up my front walk before she can respond.
When I reach the last of the darkened bulbs I notice it isn’t even broken, it’s just unscrewed so I give it a slight turn and it lights back up. With the light on I see they wrote a tiny number four on the bulb itself so it casts a shadow four on my hand.
“Nice touch,” I yell to the darkness and head inside to bed.
Chapter Eleven
My com has been activated and is buzzing beside my head the next morning. I don’t know how long it’s been going but it’s nothing compared to the buzzing happening inside my head as I pass from dreams to reality. I’m being watched by the cult hunter corps, the Christians and now some group called Four. I don’t know who wants to kill me, protect me or control me.
I reluctantly stick the com into my ear and it tells me that it’s Janet calling.
“Good morning Janet. Sleep well?”
“The only one who slept at all is you. Our new ‘friends’ in the Four group struck all over the country last night.”
“How’s it playing in the news?”
“Henry’s playing it just like he said he would, the talking heads are working the holy war angle. So far though the public hasn’t panicked because there have been no demands, no threats, nothing. Just lots of paint. Now get downstairs and try on your new suit, you leave for the book tour in an hour.”
If my new suit isn’t the ugliest I’ve ever seen, it’s close. It’s light blue with bright purple and pink pin stripes. Janet even provided me with a new purple tie that matches the stripes. Despite Janet’s request, I can’t bring myself to try it on. I find that I already dislike this “new” cult hunter as much as I did the old one.
There’s a knock on my door and my com tells me that it’s Martha. Coms aren’t much for the pleasant surprise of opening a door to find out for yourself who it is.
Open eyes wider to show you’re happy to see her. Wait. Just stop it. No masks with Martha. Just let your face do what your emotions naturally tell it to do.
“I brought you some breakfast to see you off on the book tour.”
She holds up a container.
“Thanks. I’ll set the table.”
“I thought we could walk to the park and eat it there.”
We make small talk on the way to the park then she asks questions about my time at the corps while we eat. It seems like she’s still trying to sort fact from fiction when it comes to my past.
“Martha, it doesn’t take great powers of observation to see you want to ask something. I can’t tell you anything that’s classified, but I think we’ve earned each other’s trust enough for you to just spit it out.”
“There’s no point. I already know it’s a question you can’t answer. I want to know how you did it. I want to know how you broke the final Christian code.”
So I was right.
“I suppose it’s locked in the corps mos
t secure vault and you’d have to kill me if you told me.”
“You won’t even find it at corps headquarters. I never told them either. But then, they never asked.”
The look of surprise on her face is priceless.
“The secret’s only in your head?”
“That’s also a secret.”
That was a stupid thing to admit. It’d be worth it to kill me right here so the secret would die with me. Time to show my ace in the hole.
“You’re right that I can’t tell you, but I’ll tell you a different secret that I never shared with the corps. The Christian code master Zach never told anyone the basis of the code either, so there’s no way for the remaining Christians to duplicate or modify his work.”
Now I’m way too valuable to kill.
“How could you know that? You said you’ve never met a Christian so you couldn’t have asked him.”
“He said so in a private communication to someone named ‘A’”.
The same “A” who ordered me killed.
“Zach thought it was too dangerous for anyone else to have that information if they were captured, so he kept it to himself. It just happened to be a message I decoded by hand instead of using the corps computer so it was never put it into the corps database. Zach died without giving up the basis of his code, but then they never asked him either.”
“I guess it hardly matters now, since there are so few Christian left,” she says.
My plan only requires one Christian…and you’re it.
***
We walk back to my house so I can finish packing and start my life as the new and improved Cult Hunter. A large bureau hover bus is waiting outside.
“Good luck on the tour. I hope this new incarnation of The Cult Hunter is what you’re looking for.”
“Thanks. It seems like a nice change of pace from being a cold-blooded killer, but in the end it’s no less of a lie.”
I’m not sure what to do next to finish saying goodbye. A handshake would be awkward and we agreed there’d be no more kissing so I settle on offering a quick hug, which she accepts but doesn’t let it end quickly. We move to a loose embrace with our hands around each other’s waists and look into each other’s eyes with our faces close.