Back | Next
Contents

59

Charles Milton, discussion
PBS, May 24 

Milton: . . . When I read the letters pages, I can hardly believe the rancor and intolerance in some of them. But some others show a lot of tolerance, even wisdom. It's as if there are two different tendencies in the world at the same time. The latter toward growth, the evolution of humankind, and the former digging in its heels to prevent it.
 

Dove: That is a perceptive statement. But the coming manifestations—the Infinite Soul incarnate, accompanied by a violent geophysical manifestation—will greatly strengthen the movement toward spiritual growth. Even while triggering a brief explosion of violence. Let me repeat that: even while triggering a brief explosion of violence. It will pass.
 

But the Infinite Soul is not coming to "rescue" humankind. It will only facilitate and strengthen our own efforts. Or to rephrase that: "God" will not "save" humankind. That's up to us. God will help, but the responsibility is ours.
 

Milton: You've been asked this question before, and you've never really answered it. Now, yes or no: Do you believe you are the person who will receive the Infinite Soul or whatever you call it, and be the next avatar? The Second Coming?
 

Dove: You will answer that for yourself when the time comes.  

 

It was only the third all-staff briefing since Lee had been with Millennium. The first had been to announce reductions in pay. The second had followed the missile attack. She no longer fretted about RIFs, but she did wonder what this one was for.

It was Art Knowles who stepped before them in the small auditorium. "Good morning," he said. "This will be short. Dove wants me to update you on the Spokane affair.

"The man who was shot to death was a defrocked Jesuit priest and ex-IRA terrorist named Thomas Corkery. He'd been indicted in both England and Ireland for several shootings and bombings, and was one of the IRA people covered by the amnesty that made the Dublin Agreement possible.

"He has since been tied to the Montreal-based 'Catholic Soldiers in America,' the organization responsible for the assassination attempt on Pope John XXIV. Lor Lu is confident that Corkery was also the man who planted the bomb in the Unitarian Church in Boston.

"More recently, Corkery had been posing as a Father Thomas Glynn. It won't comfort you to know that he spent twenty days here this spring as our guest, supposedly doing research on Dove's theology." He paused, allowing time for the information to sink in. "His motive for the assassination attempt is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, Dove has agreed to new clearance procedures, to avoid anything like it happening again."

Once more Knowles paused. "The upside of the situation is that while Corkery had twice gained proximity to Dove, Dove is still alive and well, while the late Mr. Corkery is no doubt reviewing his most recent life even as I speak."

Again Knowles paused. Lee's eyes were round. That man was here! she thought. The realization shook her. She'd seen him herself, she was sure, a short man with thin red hair and a clerical collar.

"The lead suspect in Corkery's murder is even more of an enigma," Knowles went on. "The evidence on him is considerable, but apparently not conclusive. His name is Luther Koskela, an ex-Ranger and mercenary, one of those who trained Stephen Ogunsanwo's Nigerian guard. Lor Lu is confident that Koskela is also the missing 'fifth man' of the mercenary group that tried to reach the Cote last fall. The recruiter of the infiltrators, one John Sullivan, known as 'Sarge,' was a veteran of the Lagos Rescue, and like Koskela, had trained Ogunsanwo's guard. They must have known one another well.

"Also, Koskela has two uncles in federal prison for criminal conspiracy, and for financing terrorist acts. That much we have from federal authorities. Lor Lu tells me that Koskela had been at the ballpark to assassinate Dove, but saw Corkery draw his pistol, and shot him instead. He states unequivocally that Koskela has no further designs on Dove's life.

"There are, we know, numerous people who'd like to see Dove dead, but Lor Lu insists that at present, the threat is less severe than it has been. At any rate, my job does not include taking things for granted. I'll continue to take such precautions as I can get Dove to agree to."

That ended the briefing. Lee left not at all reassured, though most of the staff seemed cheerful about it.

* * *

It was over dessert that evening that Lee brought up the subject with Ben, while the girls listened. "It frightens me," she finished. "With so many lunatics wanting him killed, I'm really afraid for him."

It was Raquel who answered. "Everyone dies sometime, Mom, but no one will kill Dove till he's ready. The Tao won't let them."

Ben cocked an eyebrow at her. "Whatever became of choice? The assassin's choice, I mean."

Raquel shook her head, while Lee stared at her husband. "People can choose to try," Raquel said, "but something goes wrong. Because someone else chooses to stop them."

"Sure, Dad," Becca added nonchalantly. "It's the usual between-lives agreement thing, but with more backups, and stronger commitments. It's not all right for a messiah to be killed before his time."

Ben shook his head. "You guys are making too much of between-lives agreements. They're important all right, but a lot more things are done without between-lives agreements. And as often as not, between-lives agreements get abrogated by the people involved anyway. This-world choices get in the way."

"Just a minute!" Lee said. "Is this something from school? Something you discussed in class?"

"No, Mom," Becca answered. "It just follows from the Michael teaching, the books. Even our disagreeing, because Dad's right, but so am I. And so is Raquel. There are lots of possibilities, and this just isn't a very predictable world."

The exchange shook Lee, enough that she totally overlooked Becca's improbable maturity. She'd known her husband and daughters had strange ideas, but this? She waited for the girls to leave the table, then led Ben into the kitchen, closing the door behind them. They sat down at the dinette table.

"Ben, I— It spooks me that you—the girls and you—have such strange ideas. I mean, 'between-lives agreements'? And some 'Tao' protects Ngunda from assassins?"

"Those ideas aren't so strange, hon. You've been exposed to them all your life, just differently phrased. You've heard 'it was meant to be'; or 'a match made in heaven.' " He gestured the quotation marks. "That sort of thing. They're just oblique ways of talking about between-lives agreements. And if we call the Tao 'God,' then Christians have believed for two thousand years that the Tao can protect people. The amount of time spent praying, the tons of candles burned . . ."

"All right. I admit that. But it makes no sense!"

"Lots of things don't, sweetheart. Your parents said it made no sense for you to marry me. Your mother told me flat out that you should have stuck it out with Mark—whose dad, she pointed out, is a multimillionaire." He paused. "To her that was the last word, the decisive factor. It made perfect sense."

Lee took a quavering breath. Mark the Asshole. Comparing him with Ben was ludicrous. What would the girls be like if she hadn't left him?

"And Lor Lu—what he said about the man who was shot and the man who shot him . . . How does he know those things? Or was he speculating from the evidence?"

"You'd have to ask him about that."

She didn't say anything more for half a minute, remembering what Dove had told her about bodhisatvas. "Ben," she said quietly, "talk to me more about Millennium's beliefs. Between-life agreements and bodhisatvas—things like that. Maybe I'd feel better about them if I knew more."

"Sure, sweetheart," he said quietly, and began.

* * *

At the end of her hour with the computer, Raquel came into the living room. "Your turn," she said to her sister, then gesturing toward the kitchen, lowered her voice. "Are they still talking in there?"

Becca closed her book. "Yep."

"What about?"

"Dad's making Mom feel better. About what we talked about at dinner: between-life agreements and stuff like that."

"Did you eavesdrop?"

"Of course not."

"How do you know then?"

"I know Mom, and I know Dad. She's coming along all right." Becca paused. "You know what? If the judge makes us go live with Mark, you and I should make his life hell. And his wife's, if she's like him. He'll be glad to send us back here."

Raquel's eyes widened. "Do you think he will? The judge? Make us live with Mark?"

Becca grinned. "It might be kind of fun. I mean, we'd run rings around him, he's so fixated and stupid. I remember him better than you do. You were barely four. But no, we won't have to. I feel sure of it."

 

 

Back | Next
Contents
Framed