Project Pope

Nothing happened. Hours went by and nothing happened.

The crowd that had been noisy with constant chattering grew quieter as the sun went down the western sky. The tension grew.

'Could you have been mistaken? Theodosius asked the Old One. 'Could the message have been wrong?

'The message was as I gave it to you, said the Old One.

'Then something has gone wrong, said Theodosius. 'I just know something has gone wrong.

He had counted too much, he told himself, on everything going right — on his two human friends returning with word that would set Vatican on its proper track again, putting an end to the premature, infantile infatuation with Heaven and with saints.

He tried to console himself. If, in fact, everything went wrong, it would not be forever. He and some other people in the Vatican, perhaps not many, but a few, would keep the flame of hope alive. Vatican would not go down to a saintly darkness that would last forever. It would not dream the remainder of its life away. Sometime, centuries from now, people would weary of the sterile saintliness and would turn back to the search for knowledge which, in time, might lead to the true faith. And if, sometime in the far future, it should be determined that there was no true faith, that in fact it was an uncaring universe, it would be better to learn this and face it than to go on pretending that there had to be a faith.

Thinking all of this, he had bowed his head in a prayerful attitude and now he heard behind him a sudden rustle of attention. Jerking up his head, he saw what the others saw.

Jill and Te

He started to rise from the stool, then sat down again with a weak-kneed knowledge something had gone wrong. For out in front of Jill and Te

Out on the esplanade, Te

— What the hell is going on? he asked. You brought along the Plopper.

— I just sort of grabbed hold of him at the last second, said Whisperer. When he exploded in our faces, I somehow got inside his mind, something I had not been able to do before, although I'd tried. I don't think I pla

— The last time I saw him, said Jill, he was big and fiery.

— Well, said Whisperer, it seems he got over that.

— Do you know what he is? asked Te

— I'm not entirely certain. It becomes slightly complicated. Smoky thinks he is a god, a god that he could use. Worship him and use him, paying for his help with worship, which, after all, is what you humans do as well, but in a slightly different way. Not quite so cynically, perhaps, as Smoky.

— And is he — a god I mean?

— Who's to know? Smoky thinks he is. He figures he has gotten hold of something none of the other Bubblies have and that he can use to achieve his ends. Get the right god, you know, and you can do anything. Near as I can make out, Plopper thinks he is a god as well. Which makes two of them thinking it, and where does that leave us? How many people must think a thing's a god before it truly is?

Plop, plop, plop, went Plopper.

Theodosius had risen from his stool and was walking out to meet them. The Old One spi

Theodosius held out his hand to them, first to Jill, then to Te

'Welcome home, he said, 'and our heartfelt thanks for the journey that you made for us.

Plopper, bouncing madly, hopped an intricate fandango around Theodosius and the Old One.

'You, said Theodosius, speaking to Te

'I am pleased to meet you, sir, said Jill.

The Old One wheezed and hummed and finally he said, 'It is my privilege and pleasure to have met the two of you and to welcome you back to End of Nothing.

The crowd had started slowly edging in, a close-packed semicircle about the four of them — five, if one counted Plopper.

'First of all, said Theodosius, 'Out of sheer curiosity, what is this bouncing horror you brought along with you? Does it have significance?

'Your Eminence, said Te

'Then why is it along?

'You might say it got caught up in a traffic jam.

'Our intelligence is that you reached Mary's Heaven.

'Yes, we did, said Te

A robot elbowed his way through the crowd and came up to stand alongside Theodosius. Te

'Dr. Te

'Why, no proof at all, said Te

'In a situation such as this, said John, 'no unsupported word is good enough. Not even a human's word. It seems to me you humans —

'John, said Theodosius, where is your respect?

'Your Eminence, respect is not a factor. We all are in this together.

'The Te

'You thought, perhaps, said John to Te

'I thought no such thing, said Te

'That I would have done, said John.

The crowd cried out in a single voice and thereupon surged back, still crying out in wonder and in terror.

'For the love of God! exclaimed Theodosius, standing straight and rigid.

Te

— The equation folk must have understood what was going on, said Whisperer. I wondered if they did and felt certain that they didn't. Could this be the proof you need?

Decker II was walking down the esplanade toward them.

'Why, that is Decker, said the cardinal. 'And it ca

'Later, Your Eminence, I'll explain, said Te

They stood and waited for Decker II. Te

'I suppose, said Decker, 'that this is Vatican.

'Yes, it is, said Te

'I don't mind telling you, said Decker, 'that back there, at the end, it was getting very hairy. You damn near got us killed.

'I almost —

'You were dealing with a maniac, said Decker. 'An alien maniac. Aliens alone are bad enough, but —

'Yet you were one with him. You seemed to be his man. What was it you called it — a triad?

'My friend, said Decker, 'in that hornet's nest back there your first thought is survival. To survive you do what you must. You have to be fast on your feet and shifty in your attitude and you must go along.

'I can understand, said Te

'And now I must speak to the man in charge, said Decker. 'You're not the man in charge, are you?