"John Maddox Roberts - Cestus Dei" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)

the day, and the seats around him buzzed with discreet speculation as to
what business the eminent Vatican authority on strayed sheep affairs had
with the Inner Council today. That business resided in the bishop's
briefcase. It was not one of the great problems of his office, like the
Magsaysay controversy, but it concerned strayed sheep and the salvation
of some millions of souls. The archbishop had been known to keep an
episcopal synod in session for three weeks until they agreed to release a
huge sum from Vatican funds to help bring back into the fold the
Christian inhabitants of the planet Courvoisier, some twelve in number,
on the far side of the Judaic Sector.

A barefoot Franciscan friar in a gray habit approached the
archbishop's seat, bent, and spoke. Wordlessly, the archbishop stood,
smoothed his white Dominican habit, picked up his briefcase, and
followed the friar from the Great Hall. The voice of the imam droned on.

In the chamber of the Inner Council, the five humans deemed holiest by
the vast majority of rediscovered humanity sat watching the white-robed
archbishop as he arranged his papers. Around the semicircular table, the
archbishop glanced at the five most powerful beings in the rediscovered
galaxy, whom he had to sway to accomplish his purposes. At one end of
the table sat Krishna Anantanarayanan, crosslegged in a white loincloth,
who had not spoken more than five times in all the years that the
archbishop had been addressing this august body. Next to him was the
grand imam, the Voice of the Prophet, in his green turban and red-dyed
beard. On his left was Pope Innocent LXXII, whose following was
numerically the largest, although the wealth and power of the Church of
Rome were equaled by the others. The senior high priest of the Third
Temple, head of the Great Sanhedrin, sat toying with a scroll. Next to the
high priest sat the lama of Sinkiang, spiritual head of the Buddhists. The
lama's temporal power was not great, but his wisdom and experience
made his advice to the council invaluable. The archbishop rattled his
papers and cleared his throat.

"If it please Your Sanctities," he began, "my business this day concerns
the newly rediscovered Flavian System, adjacent to XV Sector. The
rediscovery of this system was reported to Your Sanctities some seven
years ago, following an expedition by scoutships of the Church Militant.
These ships effected the rediscovery while following hints given by a
captured pirate, and aided by some badly deteriorated chart thimbles
found in a pre-Decadence storeroom of the Vatican Library. The
Franciscans sent a team of missionary friars to one of the outer worlds of
the Flavians on a reconnaissance, and their report was submitted to me
last week."

"I recall the expedition's report." The grand imam's voice was
impatient. "The sector was settled entirely by Christians. Why should the
matter be brought to the attention of the council?"

"I shall come to that presently, Your Sanctity," said Hilarion. "First, let