"03 - Acts of God" - читать интересную книгу автора (BeauSeigneur James)

A hundred and fifty yards ahead of Christopher and Milner, the buildings of the Inner Court and the Sanctuary within it towered more than 200 feet above them.

Outside the southern entrance and framed on either side by the blood of John and Cohen, Decker waited as the members of the press hurried up the steps to find what light he could shed on what they were witnessing.

Christopher and Milner reached the soreg, the low stone wall which separated the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts of the Temple and which formed a sacred balustrade or enclosure into which no Gentile was permitted to enter. Inscriptions on the soreg warned visitors in more than a dozen languages, "No foreigner may enter the enclosure around the

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Temple. Anyone doing so will bear the responsibility for his own ensuing death." It was convenient that the Temple had been cleared, for the priests and Levites would never have permitted Christopher and Milner passage beyond the balustrade without an altercation.

Intentionally going out of their way to enter from the east, the men walked to the middle opening of the eastern end of the soreg. Quickly spanning the distance between the soreg and the first of three short flights of steps, Christopher and Milner ascended to the Chel or rampart, a flat area 15'/2 feet wide from which the massive stone walls of the Inner Court rose 37!/2 feet above them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Decker raised his hand and shouted above the reporters' questions. "I have a brief prepared statement which I will read and after that, I'll be available for a few minutes for questions."

Someone yelled out another question but Decker ignored it. "Forty-five years ago, in 1978,1 was a part of a scientific team from the United States that went to Turin, Italy, to examine the Shroud of Turin, a piece of cloth bearing the image of a crucified man," Decker began, reading from the statement he had prepared on the plane. In the limited time available, he provided as much detail as he could about the events that had followed the Turin expedition and which had led to this moment. He told them how, eleven years after the expedition, in 1989, he had been contacted by a member of that team, Professor Harold Goodman, who asked him to come to the UCLA to witness a discovery he had made concerning the Shroud.

"Professor Goodman," Decker said, "had discovered that among the samples taken from the Shroud was a microscopic cluster of human dermal skin cells. To my amazement. . ." Decker paused, still awed as he recalled what he had seen those

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many years before, "the cells from the Shroud were still alive." For some in the assembly, that piece of the puzzle and Christopher's resurrection were all that was needed to make sense of the whole incredible picture, but though there was an audible gasp, no one spoke. "Tests of the cells showed them to be incredibly resilient and possessing a number of unique characteristics," Decker continued. "It was from cultures grown of these cells that Professor Goodman conducted his successful cancer research.

"Unknown to me on that occasion, Professor Goodman had already performed a number of experiments with the cells," Decker paused as if to give the reporters a chance to brace themselves, "including implanting the DNA from one of the cells into the embryo of an unfertilized human egg and then replacing that egg into the donor, thus . . . cloning the person whose cells were on the Shroud. From that cloning a male child was born." For those who had not yet figured it out, this revelation provided the missing link; for those who had guessed earlier, it was undeniable confirmation. Christopher Goodman was the clone of Jesus Christ.

It was an incredible story but nothing else could explain what had happened at the U.N. or what they had just witnessed on the Temple steps. "That child was named Christopher," Decker said, adding further confirmation. "He was raised by Professor Harry Goodman and his wife Martha until their untimely deaths in the Disaster. At that time," Decker went on, "Christopher Goodman was fourteen years old and, having been directed by Professor Goodman to turn to me in the case of emergency, Christopher came to live with me. The rest of the story, at least the important parts, you know." The inflection in Decker's voice let it be known that his prepared statement had drawn to a close and as he folded the paper to return it to his pocket he was surprised that no one seemed to have any questions. He needn't have been, for the reporters had plenty; they were all just too dumbstruck. Looking around at their

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blank stares Decker should have realized the problem, but instead started to excuse himself.

His movement was just enough of a stirring of the waters for the dam to break. Someone in the back started to shout a question and then a flurry of questions were suddenly hurled at him. There were no particular arrangements made for handling the questions, so Decker simply answered first the question that had been yelled the loudest.

Yes, Christopher had really been dead and had been restored to life.

Yes, he was indeed saying that Christopher was the clone of Jesus Christ.

Yes, he was saying that Christopher was God's son, just as Jesus was. (This did not set well with the Jewish reporters, but it was not a point that was currently open to argument.) No one had any reason to suspect or ask for the specific details of that relationship Ч which Christopher had revealed to Decker on the plane Ч and Decker had no intention of volunteering them. Christopher would explain all of that soon enough.

"What about his arm and eye?" a reporter called, referring to the injuries Christopher sustained from the assassination.

"Though Christopher has the power to restore his arm and sight," Decker answered, "he has pledged not to do so until his mission is complete."

"What is that mission? Why has Ambassador Goodman come to the Temple?" someone yelled. Most of the rest of the reporters fell silent, also wanting to know the answer to that question.

Decker thought for a moment. "There are a number of reasons, actually," he said. "The first and most important reason was to end the reign of terror of the two prophets of Yahweh, John and Saul Cohen. That, as you have all just witnessed, he has done. Also, he came to the Temple because, I suppose, it is the most appropriate place to make the announcement that he intends to make."

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"What announcement is that?" someone yelled, while someone else called, "Can you tell us what Ambassador Goodman intends to say?"