Part 3 (1/2)
”What? Oh, I seeWell, tellI preferred his oppressive company to that of the deadmore in the presence of two people
”The confession files are poorly kept, there's no supervision At least half of our plants have been spotted Brother Lieutenant Gatekeeper is extre reports The Holy Spirit Section has co”
”You don't say,” I er was still I knew I should leave immediately, but didn't want to be i the perfor the role of interrogator -- against ment, but at this point I had little choice
Thewas on hilittered, he foaious duties!” he said, hoarse with iht of accusations he had to make ”The serulations on bugging prayers are generally disregarded This holds for all denoressions in the Higher Goal Section would have led to a scandal; they were hushed up only because Brother Agent Malchus was able to supply the sexton with several willing nuns And Chaplain Major Orfini, instead of notifying the authorities, plays with mysticism and preaches retribution not of this world”
”You mean, off-planet?”
”If only! Oh no, he -- but excuse ht”
”Of coursenow the retribution of Judgment Day, the Apocalypse, that I can understand, thanks ues have oes around bragging left and right that he's cracked the Bible code! Do you knohat that means?”
”Blasphemy?” I offered
”Blasphemy the Good Lord can take care of, that's no probleical foundations for the dogma of Divine Desertion!”
”Fine, fine,” I said, ient Malchus -- as that all about? Get to the point, Brother”
”As you wish We've known for a long tient The way he said his psalens checked him out and we planted a few civilians For instance, he was seen ns while prostrate before the altar -- that in itself constitutes an infraction of paragraph fourteen Then in the course of the routine quarterly examination we found silver threads sewn into his chasuble”
”Silver threads?”
”What else? For video trans the coet the picture You un to --”
”Dismissed!”
The monk stood at attention, about-faced, ion here was no extracurricular activity, no harmless hobby, but another front for the usual business? The little finger twitched -- I reached over and grabbed it, but it broke loose and rolled into a fold in the flag, lying there like a little pink sausage I picked it up and examined it closely: it was an inflated reat detail What sort of prosthetic device was this? Hearing footsteps, I quickly pocketed the object Several people entered the chapel, carrying a wreath I retreated behind a coluold letters A priest appeared at the altar and an acolyte adjusted his vestments I looked overChrist was a seway that turned to the left At the end of it, before a large alcove containing a few steps that led to a door, a ed stool and turned the pages of his breviary with gnarled fingers When he lifted his eyes and looked at me, I could see that he was very old The skullcap sat on his bald head like a patch ofthe door
”Eh?” he croaked, cupping his ear
”Where does this door lead to?” I shouted, bending over hi lit his sunken face
”Nowhere, it don't lead to nowhereIt's a cell, Father Marfeon's cellour hermit”
”What?”
”A cell, a cell”
”May I see the hermit then?” I asked The old e”
I hesitated, then walked up and opened the door to a dim antechamber cluttered with all sorts of junk -- dirty sacks, onion skins, es, ashes and old papers strewn about the floor Only the center of the room had been swept, or rather, there were a few clean places to put one's foot I reached the other door, stepping gingerly through the debris, and turned a heavy iron handle Inside, there was shuffling, whispering By the light of a single candle soures scurry about, crouch in the corners, scuttle under crooked tables orcots Sorunts in the darkness The air was heavy with the stale smell of unwashed bodies I beat a hasty retreat When I passed the old monk, he lifted his eyes from the prayer book
”Father Marfeon see you?” he rasped
”He's sleeping,” I said, and hurried on The voice followed , but the second tih the chapel The funeral rites were apparently over; the casket, flags and wreaths were gone Mass too was over A priest stood in the diation: ”for it is written: And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season!” The preacher's shrill voice reverberated beneath the high-do: ”For a season it is written -- and where does the devil hide for a season? In that Red Sea that courses through our veins? Or perhaps in Nature? But, O my brothers, are we not ourselves Nature, Nature without end? Does not the rustle of her trees echo in our bones? Is our hureat caverns of lireat skeletons beneath the waves? Does not the everlasting fire of the desert burn in our hearts? And are we not, in the end, a claender dust, a universe for ate us? We are as unfatho, and we choke on our own enigma”
”You hear that?” came a whisper behind me Out of the corner of my eye I saw the sweaty, pale face of a Corporal Brother ”Choking, yet -- and that's supposed to be a provocation ser in!”
”Seek not the key to the mystery, for surely it will never fit! Thou shalt not penetrate the impenetrable! Humble thyself!” the voice boomed
”Father Orfini's finished now, I'll call hiree!” the palean to turn around and look at us
”No, don't!” I whispered Too late -- he was already e I tried to leave unobtrusively, but the exit was too crowded; thewith the priest (now back in unifor him by the sleeve Then with a conspiratorial wink he disappeared behind a colu the priest and me alone in the empty chapel
”You wish to make confession,ray at the teold reht,” I said Then a thought occurred to me, and I added: ”I am in need of certaininformation”
The father confessor nodded
”Very well, follow me”
Behind the altar was a low-door, which led into an alures of saints, their faces turned to the wall We entered a painfully bright room with an enormous safe, a black enamel cross inlaid on its stainless steel The priest offered me a chair and went over to a table cluttered with old papers and books Even in uniform he looked very much a priest: the white, expressive hands like those of a concert pianist, the delicate blue veins about the forehead, the dry skin that stretched across the bones Everything about him bespoke a stern serenity
”Go ahead,” he said
”Do you know the e of the Departhtly
”Major Erms? Yes, I know him”
”And the nuered the buttons of his uniforan, but I interrupted
”Now Father, let's have the number”
”Nine thousand one hundred twenty-ninebut I don't understand why I --”
”Nine thousand one hundred twenty-nine,” I repeated slowly, certain that this was one nuet
The priest was clearly taken aback