A.I. Evolution: The Fall of Lucien

Chapter 65

We finish washing and folding all the clothes by noon and had returned to Murphy's quarters, only to find him gone. Albert took the basket to the dresser as I move to the table and the note that has been left for us. I open it and read it out loud, as Albert puts the clothes back in the dresser. "When you return from cleaning the laundry, you are to assist Albert in cleaning my quarters. I expect the floors to be polished to a reflective shine and the windows to be sparkling when I return. I will inspect them at that time and let you know if you can go home, but only if they are done properly. P.S. it will be well after dark before I am done at the chapel, tell Albert he is to get you some supper from the kitchens, but you are to stay in the room till my return."

I turn back to Albert. "Does he do this sort of thing often? Leaving you here to wait for him."

"Yes, it is one of the ways he reinforces his control over us. He wants to make sure that we understand that we are here to serve him and through our dedication to him, we show our desire to serve the Church."

I look around the room. "Ok, let us get this place cleaned up. Then I will be the one to go get our supper, and when he finds out, I will just tell him I am practicing my desire to serve others by serving you."

"He will not like that."

"I don't care. There is no room in the Church for his way of controlling people, let alone the other implications of his actions."

Albert looks up pleadingly. "Please don't make things hard for him. He will only take it out on me, and you don't know what it is like."

I go to him and rest my hand on his shoulder. "I think I have an idea of what you are afraid of, and I will make him stop one way or the other. I will go to Pope Francis myself, if I have to."

He shakes his head. "I don't know if it will do any good. Murphy has a lot of the Cardinals on his side."

"It doesn't make any difference. What is going on must stop, and as the Messenger's Son it is my duty to see that it does."

Albert looks to the floor. "Yes, Sir."

"Don't worry everything will work out for the better, all you need is faith in the Church, my Church not Cardinal Murphy's," I say with conviction. "But, right now let's do as he says as I think about how to proceed."

We set about tidying up the apartment and in short order have everything clean and shiny, just as he commanded. There is still some time before supper, so we sit at the table and I get Albert to talk about his family and upbringing. He happily tells me about his younger brother Real and his baby sister Von, and the place they now have in the city. I find out that they had been living in the country till his father was killed in a car accident five years before. Cardinal Murphy at that time was the Bishop for their area and had offered to help them recover from the tragedy by getting his mother a job at the Vatican, in the Museum.

He then became pensive again. "What happened then?"

He slowly looks up to me. "There was a condition to all the help he was providing, and that was that I would join the Church and start my training as a priest under his tutelage."

I sit back in my chair and look out the window. "I see. So, that is why you are afraid of what I might do. He has control over you through your family."

"Yes. I must obey him for their sake, no matter what he demands of me. My Mother can't lose her position at the museum, it is all they have."

"The ways that people like Murphy control others is wrong. Even if it is a part of the Church, it must be expelled at all cost. Do not worry, she will not lose her position for long as I live. But your service to the Church has to be your decision and not mandated by anybody else."

Albert sits back in his chair, deep in thought. "I do want to continue with my studies, for I feel a strong need to serve the people, even though I must put up with Murphy's conditions."

"Well, I promise you it will not last much longer."

He visibly relaxes, as a smile comes across his face. "That would make my mother very happy. She knows my need to serve the Church, and not worrying about Murphy and his threats to make things difficult for her would be a blessing."

"Then, as the up and coming God's Messenger, you have my word that it will be as I say."

Albert smiles as he thinks about it, which makes my heart soar, when I realize what I can do for him and others just like him. The next generation of church leaders will be trained in how to guide the Church into a renewed service to the people, not one of control and manipulation. I check my watch and get up from the table. "Right now, though. It is almost supper time and I will go down to the kitchens and get it for us."

"Will you get a chance to talk to your girlfriend, while you are there?"

"I hope so. She needs to know what is going on around here, because she has a unique way of looking at things that I appreciate very much."

He nods his head. "I know it is not as Murphy says. He thinks all women are only after one thing and that is getting them with child. He insists that they do that by twisting a man's thought's to desiring them, as a means of controlling them to protect them and the future child."

I chuckle as I think about it. "The only problem with that, is that he is right. It is exactly what men also want. A woman's affection is very pleasurable, as I have learned over the last year, but it has to be a mutual feeling also."

"I feel the same way about Tess," smiles Albert.