Project Pope

Jill gasped. 'Jason, she said, 'do you remember that memo — the memo that Theodosius wrote? The one I found in the wastebasket in the secret closet?

'My God, yes! said Te

Noise came from the drifting smoke, a grating, scraping noise. The noise went on for some time. In a little while, it became apparent that the noise was the bubble talking to them.

'I can't make out a word of it, said Jill.

— It is trying to communicate, said Whisperer. That is evident. But unintelligible.

— It sounds as if it might be shouting at us. Is it angry, Whisperer?

— I think not, said Whisperer. It projects no sense of anger.

One of the cones came scurrying up and stood before the bubble. The bubble grated at it, and it turned and scurried off. The bubble fell silent. It was still looking at them, although at times the smoke would obscure the face, but even then they felt it still was looking at them.

— I think, although I can not be entirely sure of this, said Whisperer, that it has summoned someone that may be able to translate the conversation it essays with you.

The bubble stayed silent. The cones were silent, too — if, in fact, they ever made a sound. The only sound was the squishy-liver sound of the octopuslike creature that kept hopping back and forth. The eyes of the haystack creature to one side of the dais watched them unblinkingly.

Silence, except for the liver plopping, held the room. Then there was a new sound — the unmistakable sound of someone walking, of bipedal human walking.

Te

Thomas Decker was striding purposefully across the room toward them.

Fifty-three

'Ecuyer, this time I want you to come clean with me, said Cardinal Theodosius.

'Your Eminence, protested Ecuyer, 'I've always come clean with you.

'If by that you mean that you have told me no lies, said the cardinal, 'you may be right. What I'm talking about is that you have not always told me all you know. You've concealed facts from me. For instance, why did you never tell me about Decker's Whisperer?

'Because the subject of the Whisperer never came up in any conversation with you, said Ecuyer. 'That, combined with the fact that I did not hear of it myself until just a few days ago.

'But Te

'Yes, that's true. He was a friend of Decker's.

'How did he get mixed up with the Whisperer?

'The way he told me was that the Whisperer sought him out.

'But when he told you it was considerably after the fact.

'I gather that it was. He had the feeling that he owed it to Decker not to tell me, or anyone. He told me only after Decker had been killed.

'Except for the matter of the Whisperer, you and Te

'That was my impression.

'Did he happen to tell you that he was going to Heaven?

Ecuyer, jerked upright in his chair. He stared at the cardinal for a moment, trying to read his face — but no one ever read a robot face. Then he slumped back again. 'No, he said, 'he didn't. I had no idea.

'Well, it happens that he has. Gone to Heaven, I mean. He's either on his way or already there.

'Eminence, said Ecuyer, 'you can't possibly know that.

'But I can, said Theodosius. 'An Old One told me. I thought about it for a while before I summoned you. We have plans to make.

'Now, wait a, minute, said Ecuyer. 'You say you heard it from an Old One? Where did you find the Old One?

'I went visiting. I found one in the hills above Decker's cabin.

'And he told you Te

'He said he was already on his way. Te

'We talked about it —

'You talked about it? And not a word to me?

'There was no point in saying anything to you. All of us agreed it was impossible.

'Apparently it was not impossible.

'It's true that Te

'Jill has been missing, too. If not to Heaven, where would they have gone? There's no place on End of Nothing that they would be going.

'I don't know, said Ecuyer. 'It seems impossible they could have gone to Heaven. For one thing, no one had the least idea of where to look for it. Maybe if we could have found the Mary cubes…

'The Old One said the people of the equation world had given them some help.

'Well, yes, that might have been possible. Both Te

'There, you see, said Theodosius, 'that's something else that you never told me. Didn't it ever occur to you that I might like to know what is going on?

'How sure are you that the Old One knows what he is talking about? And how come you went visiting an Old One and —

'Ecuyer, all these years we have been wrong about the Old Ones. They are not the ravening horrors that the myths have told. That's what is wrong with myths, they so seldom tell the truth. The Old One I talked with was the one that brought Decker home, and Hubert. Standing on the esplanade, he talked with me and Te

'Then you're fairly sure about the Heaven visit?

'I'm sure, said Theodosius. 'The Old One seemed to have no doubt, and I believe he told me true. It was an act of friendship, his telling it to me.

'Christ, it seems impossible, said Ecuyer. 'Yet, if it was done, Te

'When Te

'You think they will be back?

'I'm certain that they will. They do this for Vatican. Despite the shortness of their stay with us, they — the two of them — have become one with us. Te

'What do you propose to do? If they have gone to Heaven, if they really find it, if they do come back —

'For one thing, I am fairly certain I know now who has been behind all this theological nonsense. John, the gardener in the clinic garden. I have a fairly good idea that he has been working for the Pope, an undercover agent for the Pope, although why the Pope should think he needs an undercover agent is more than I can figure out. But that will make no difference. I'm about to make certain that our friend the gardener becomes a piddling little monk and stays a piddling monk forever. And there are others of them….

'But you have no power structure within which to work.

'Not yet, but I will have. Once I talk with His Holiness and tell him what I've found. Once he knows that I know about his undercover agent, once he knows that Te

'What if this story of yours, Eminence, should prove to be flat wrong? What if —

'In such a case, I will be sunk, said Theodosius, 'and so will you. If we don't act, we'll be sunk anyhow. We have nothing much to lose.

'You're right on that point, said Ecuyer. 'You are absolutely right.

'So will you go with me to see the Pope?

'Yes, said Ecuyer, rising from his chair. 'Let us see the Pope.

The cardinal also rose.

Ecuyer asked another question. 'You said that now Heaven was about to be unmasked. How can you be sure that it will be unmasked?

'Oh, that, said his Eminence. 'Well, that's a gamble too. A calculated risk. If it turns out that I am wrong, I'll probably become a piddling little monk.