Project Pope

Te

Te

'Jill is back, Ecuyer shouted at him.

The ru

'She said she had been to the equation world. She said… He stopped and gazed in horror at what lay upon the pavement.

'What have we here? he asked.

'Decker dead. The Old One brought him home.

'So that was an Old One, said Ecuyer. 'I could not know. One hears so many stories. Jason, do you know what happened?

Te

Ecuyer walked over to the robot, stood peering down at it.

'Jason, he said haltingly, 'do you know who this is?

'Just a robot. I can't tell…

'It's our boy, Hubert, said Ecuyer. 'The one that cooked your meals and cleaned up the place, that looked after you.

Forty-three

'It seems fairly clear what happened, said Te

'What I can't get straight, said Ecuyer, 'is why the two of them should have been out there, shooting up one another. And Hubert? Why Hubert? He was a scary little creature. He had his faults as a servant, but he did all right. I was really fond of him. He had been with me for years. Decker — hell, I don't think he had ever seen Decker. Knew who he was, of course. Everyone in End of Nothing knew who Decker was.

'The rifle Hubert used, said Jill, 'was the one the doctor had carried when he went out to hunt the Old Ones. It might be interesting to know where and how Hubert got that rifle.

'It might not have been hard for anyone to pick up, said Ecuyer. 'The robots would have made no great fuss about it. They'd just have tucked it away somewhere when it was brought back with the men the Old Ones killed. No one would have attached much importance to the rifle. Robots have no use for rifles.

'One of them had, Te

'I'd go along with you on that, said Ecuyer, 'except I can't believe Hubert would have been mixed up with the theologians. I don't know what he thought about the issue. I never talked with him about it. But he was not the sort of robot-

'He could have heard us talking, said Jill. 'He was always hiding around a corner, listening. He could have heard one of us say that there was a chance Decker could show the way of Heaven.

'Yes, that's true, said Ecuyer. 'He was always listening. He soaked up information. He was hell on gossip, and Vatican is just one great gossip factory. But he had been with me for years before I loaned him to you, Jason, and I would swear that he was harmless.

'You were wrong, said Jill. 'He was far from harmless.

'You have to look at it this way, said Te

'Maybe Mary, said Jill.

'I don't think so, said Te

'Which leaves us empty, said Jill.

'And plays into the hands of the theologians, said Ecuyer. 'Dead, Mary would be more acceptable as a saint than if she kept on living. There's something slightly phoney about a living saint. But once she is dead, they can ram this saint business through to a finish. Vatican will have its first saint and no one arguing about Heaven, for that first saint found it and-

'But the cardinals can block it, can't they? asked Jill. 'I'm sure not many of them are for it. I know Theodosius isn't.

'I suppose they could, said Ecuyer, 'if they were willing to risk a full-scale rebellion. They could oppose it and probably make it stick, but that would leave Vatican in an uproar. That would be unacceptable. Vatican, you understand, must always be a place of perfect tranquility, reeking of sanctity. No matter what else they may do, the cardinals must hold fast to the odor of sanctity.

'If the theologians win, said Te

'In face of that, said Ecuyer, 'your cardinals would take the long view. Always the long view. They'd accept a setback for the moment, then work through succeeding centuries to bring Vatican around again to their point of view. Time doesn't mean a damn thing to a robot. He has all the time there is.

'You must consider, said Te

'I know that, said Ecuyer. 'I've been thinking…. He turned to Jill and said, 'Jason told me something — not much, but something — just a while ago, about this thing called Whisperer and how he went to the equation world. Now I understand you have gone as well. That's where you were when we were looking for you.

'I thought it would be all right to tell him, Te

'I suppose that's the way it is, said Jill. 'Probably there never was good reason for it to be his secret.

'I think he may have had many secrets, said Ecuyer. 'He was a very private man. Since Jason told me, however, I've been wondering.

'If you've been thinking Whisperer could take us to Heaven, said Jill, 'I don't think he could. He took Jason to the equation world because Jason had seen the cube. I'd not seen the cube, but Whisperer could take me because he knew the way, having been there once. Jason showed him the way and he remembered it.

'But he doesn't need coordinates.

'No, that's right. There were no coordinates for the equation world, but once he saw Jason's memory of it, he could go there. He must use something other than what we think of as coordinates. 'Then why not Heaven?

'Because he has to get into the mind of someone who has seen a cube of the place, said Te

'Into the mind — that's the way he does it? 'That's right.

'Then why couldn't he get into Mary's mind? Even if she is in a coma.

'Because in a coma she would retain no memories. Her mind's a blank. More than likely, even if she were alert and well, he couldn't get into her mind.

'You mean he can't-

'Look, Paul, as close as Whisperer was to Decker, he never could get into his mind.