A. I. Evolution: The Coming of Christopher

Chapter 45

Jane is settled on her cot with her back against the wall and her feet sitting on the edge of the bed. Her knees make a perfectly sloped platform for a report she is going over on some advances made by a neurologist in Nevada on the neural pathways of the human brain, when there comes a knock at the door. She is not expecting anybody, and it has hardly been twenty-five minutes since Christopher had left with James. She wonders if it could be Wong, who has been strangely absent the whole time they have been at the Vatican.

Jane gets up and crosses the room to the plain wooden door and opens it to see James standing there, slightly shaken. Jane looks at him blankly for a moment. "Is everything OK? You look like you have seen a ghost, or something?"

James looks distracted, as he responds. "Maybe I have. I don't know what to think right now."

Jane is instantly nervous by his response and checks the hallway to each side before turning back to face him. "What has happened? Where is Christopher?"

James shakes his head before pulling himself together and turns official again. "Saint Christopher is being moved to the Royal suites of the Apostolic Palace beside the private quarters of Pope Pius."

Jane's mouth opens, but no words come out, before closing it again so she can swallow and try again. "Saint Christopher! The Royal suites? What are you talking about? What has Christopher done now?"

"You don't know?" asks James, slightly shocked. "He has just now revealed himself to Pope Pius as the reincarnation of Saint Christopher the ancient messenger. Pope Pius offered him his quarters, but Saint Christopher refused them, opting to relocate to the Royal Suites down the hall. I was sent to collect you and his things from such drab surroundings," says James, matter of factually.

Jane steps to the side to let James in, as she tries unsuccessfully to comprehend what James just said. He moves quickly to the foot of the other bed. "Oh, I see he has his bags already packed and waiting for me."

Jane turns to indeed see Christopher's bags sitting there, ready to go. "When did that happen? I am sure they were open, and things were scattered around when we left just an hour ago," she thinks.

Jane moves to her side of the small room and quickly gathers up her few things and places them in her bag at the end of the bed. She is still in shock as she follows James out the door and around the side of St. Peter's Basilica and in the side entrance that will take them to the back wing that leads to The Apostolic Palace, and the private Quarters of the Pope.

Jane walks behind James as he makes his way to the elevator at the back of the building. The Swiss guard watch her closely as she enters the elevator. They rise to the third floor and exit when the doors slide open. James heads to the left, past the Guards dressed almost like you would imagine the three musketeers would in their time and carries on to the door beside the elevator. Two more Swiss Guards stand to each side of the rounded topped door set in the stone archway. "This is Jane, Saint Christopher's partner. You will protect her with your lives as you would Saint Christopher, or Pius himself."

The larger of the two bows slightly at the waist, not taking his eyes from her. "It shall be done. Saint Christopher is waiting inside for you, Miss Dolts."

The formality and seriousness of the guards drives home the reality of what is happening, even though she still can't fathom what Christopher is doing. "Thank you," is all she can get out, as the guard opens the door to the spacious apartment.

Jane enters with James right behind her. Christopher is standing at the window, looking out over St Peter's Square below. Jane has no idea what to say to Christopher. She wants to yell at him for leaving her out in the cold while he changes her entire world in a matter of minutes but does not want to start that discussion with James still in the room.

James rushes into the next room to place the suitcases on the folding stand at the foot of the massive four poster wooden bed, complete with a canopy of purple drapes that have been tied to the posts with gold colored rope, adorned with tassels hanging evenly at each corner. James moves past her as she investigates the elegantly furnished bedroom from the doorway. He moves to Christopher and speaks in a reverent voice. "Is there anything else you require, my Lord?"

Christopher turns slowly from the window to face him. "I still have not had anything to eat, and I require that you set up a meeting with the Cardinals in Residence here at the Vatican for about three this afternoon. They need to know what is happening, so they can prepare for the announcement tomorrow."

"Right away," says James, as he bows from the waist and heads for the door.

Jane turns to face Christopher when she hears the tone of his voice and the seriousness of the words. She moves back into the center of the room, still shocked by the sudden change in Christopher. "What is going on? Why do they think that you are this Saint Christopher? If I remember my studies at church when I was a kid, things did not work out so good for him in the end."

I look down at the floor before responding. "Yes, that is true, but that was then, this is now."

"Why are you doing this, Christopher? You have everything any person could possibly want. Your following is numbered in the millions from your speaking tours. Why would you impersonate a Saint from the early church?"

I look out the window as I try to gather my thoughts. This was the part that I had been dreading ever since I started heading down this road. I had gone over many explanations in my mind, but nothing seemed to fit, or would help Jane understand. "It is just something I have to do. When I became so popular as I toured the world, speaking to people about leading a better life, the need to bring them together under one belief system was daunting, to say the least. Pius has provided me with the opportunity to start the process of doing just that, with the story of Saint Christopher."

"I thought that you were here to answer questions about the people starting to call you the Messiah. Besides, Saint Christopher was not the Christ, he only proclaimed the need to join the newly formed Church under Christendom. You do know that he was killed while out traveling the land, making him a Martyr for the Church."

I nod my head under her barrage of questions. "He was hung from a tree branch outside of Arx, a village close to Antioch, known as the Cradle of Christianity."

Jane can only stare at me for a moment, before shaking her head. "How could you possibly know that, it is one of the great mysteries of the early church, as to how and who killed Saint Christopher. I suppose you are going to tell me who ordered the job done. It is assumed that it was the Roman Senate, although it does not make any sense."

I look at her seriously. "It was the Church, that arranged it. He was gaining popularity, and with his death and the Martyrdom, it drove the common people to the Church, which is why he was made a Saint."

"How could you know that?"

"I pulled it from Pius's mind, as we talked. He was concentrating so hard on that one thought, that it was easy to read. The rest happened very quickly after that," I confess.

Jane throws up her hands and shakes her head forcefully. "What do we do now? Are they going to tell the entire world that you are some Saint that has risen from the dead to bring the world back from the brink of destruction?"

"No. Saint Christopher was just the messenger. He brought the people to the church, and the words of Christ. I am here to herald the new savior into the world."

Jane is rendered speechless at my last statement and sits down heavily in the richly padded chair by the door. She looks up to me after a moment, as if to tell me something important, but a knock comes to the door beside her.

I stride to the solid wooden door and open it to see James standing there with two women from the kitchens, carrying trays of food for me and Jane. "Please come in James, I have so much to talk to you about." I turn to Jane, giving her a sympathetic look. "I am sorry, but there is a lot to do before the speech tomorrow from the Pope's study window, overlooking St. Peter's Square."

Jane remains in the chair by the door, lost in her thoughts, as she tries to comprehend what is happening. "The Pope himself is going to introduce Christopher to the world from his private study window." That is more than Jane can absorb at this moment, and she opts to go into the bedroom to get some privacy, so she can think.

I watch her go and give a small inward cry at her distress, before steeling myself and turning back to James, as the women move past him into the Royal Suite.