Project Pope

Twenty

Jill had left just half an hour before, returning to the library, when Ecuyer showed up. Te

'You're up and about early, Te

'I believe I shall, said Ecuyer, 'although neither of us has too long.

'I have all the time there is, said Te

'This morning you haven't all the time there is. The two of us have been summoned.

Te

'Summoned, explained Ecuyer, 'to an audience with His Holiness.

'Oh?

'Is that all you can say?

'What did you expect me to do? Fall over dead? Be seized by a fit of trembling? Sink down upon my knees?

'You could at least show some respect. It is a signal honor to be summoned by the Pope.

'Sorry, said Te

'I'm not sure. Perhaps the Heaven incident. Theodosius and Roberts will be with us.

'The cardinals?

'Yes, the cardinals.

'I can understand why the Pope might want to see you. If it's about the Heaven incident, you're in it to your knees. But I-

'Mary is our patient. He might have some medical questions about her. I'm not even sure it's about Heaven. It might be just to meet you. Ordinarily a new Vatican staff member will have an audience with the Pope. Certainly he would want to meet the new Vatican physician. I suspect he would have arranged it long before this, but it has been a busy time.

'I have an impression it is always busy here, said Te

'Well, yes. But sometimes more than others.

They sat drinking their coffee. Hubert kept up his clatter in the kitchen.

'Hubert, said Ecuyer, raising his voice.

'Yes, sir?

'Cut it out, said Ecuyer. 'We have a right to sit here and drink our coffee.

'Why, certainly, said Hubert. The clatter subsided.

'He's spoiled, said Ecuyer. 'I spoiled him myself. I don't know what to do with him.

'There's something I have been meaning to ask you.

'Go ahead. Don't take too long.

'I saw this cube — the one with all the equations and diagrams. I think I told you. Have you seen it too?

'Well, yes, I guess I did. A long time ago. It was taped some years ago. Rather a long time ago.

'You told me the Listener went back several times and could make nothing of it.

'That's right, said Ecuyer. 'Are you hung up on it?

Te

'Any idea of what it might be?

'Not at all. That's the hell of it. I know there is something there, but no idea what it is. I find myself imagining all sorts of things, but I know it's none of them.

'Don't worry about it, counseled Ecuyer. 'I can show you things even worse. I had expected you to do more digging into the files than you have done. You are welcome, you know. Anytime you wish, anything you wish.

'There have been other things to do, said Te

Ecuyer finished off his coffee.

'Come, he said. 'Let us see the Pope.

Twenty-one

The Pope was a cross-hatched human face — or the suggestion of a face, for to see it clearly required close attention and some imagination — imposed upon a dull metallic plate set into a bare stone wall. It reminded Te

The small audience room in which they sat was plain as well, with no effort made to conceal the fact that it had been carved out of the granite mass that was the core of the ridge upon which Vatican buildings perched. Just four blank stone walls with a plate set in the center of one of the walls to display the Pope. To reach the room, they had descended a number of stairs, all carved from the solid rock, with galleries ru

More than likely, Te

The Pope spoke now and his voice was flat, while at the same time managing to be smooth and cold. An utterly unhuman voice, and likewise unrobotlike, for while robots did not speak with human intonation, there yet were times when they imparted some human warmth to the words they spoke. But this voice was empty of all emotion; it held no warmth. It was neither a human voice nor a robot voice, nor yet the harsh voice that one might imagine a machine to have. It pronounced its words in precise clarity and the thought behind the words was ruthless and relentless — machine thought, computer thought, naked electronic thought.

'Dr. Te

'I can be of little help, Your Holiness, said Te

'Then what good are you? asked the Pope. 'If we had a robot physician, which has been discussed at times, it would know about her mind.

'Then, Te

'You are aware, Holiness, said Cardinal Theodosius, 'that the humans of Vatican would have no trust in a robotic doctor. As you say, we have discussed it many times….

'All of this is beside the point, said His Holiness. 'You are using a chance remark of mine to evade my question. How about you, Ecuyer? Have you some insight into her mind?

'No insight into her mind, said Ecuyer. 'Neither am I trained, Holiness, to evaluate a human mind. All that I would be able to do is describe her behavior. Up till now, all the time that she has been with us, she has been gentle and devoted to her job, but since she has found Heaven, or thinks she has found Heaven, her personality has changed. She has assumed a haughty importance that makes it difficult for us to work with her.

'Does that not seem strange to you? asked the Pope. 'To me, it would appear inconsistent. If she really had found Heaven, as she claims, would you not think she might become more devout and humble? The haughtiness you talk of does not appear to be the behavior of one who has acquired evidence of Heaven. As a good Christian, you should know.

'Your Holiness, I am not a good Christian, said Ecuyer. 'I'm not sure I'm a good anything at all. Holiness certainly you know that I am not a Christian. You are baiting me.