1 part Complete There is a church in a small town in Germany which contains a relic, a small phial, in which there are said to be a few drops of the blood of Christ. Who knows if it is true? Does it really matter, anyway? Well, maybe it does now, for in this century, so far from the one when the phial first appeared, we are able to clone creatures from just tiny fragments of skin, hair, or, yes, blood. Scientists have cloned a woolly mammoth from fragments found under the frozen tundra. To make a human baby from a drop of ancient blood would be against all the ethical rules of science, but it could be done. Of course, it would take someone fairly crazy to attempt this. To create a person who might, if the stories are true, be a clone of Jesus Christ, would be, frankly, asking for trouble, to say the least. Still, some people are crazy, and some of those are rich too. At which point, let me introduce the characters in this story:
Gabriel - a wealthy recluse for whom the bizarre is a way of making life interesting, and for whom other people's rules are just irritating details. Jane - a somewhat self-destructive young journalist. She has quite some strength of character, and plenty of talent, but she struggles to put the pieces of her life together. All she really needs though is a little direction. Teresa - the elegant Italian playgirl and thief with whom Jane is destined to fall unexpectedly in love. Cool, controlled, and addicted to risks. She tries to keep a professional distance from everything and everyone, but that will be difficult this time. Giuseppe - a policeman, approaching retirement, mildly disillusioned, and generally preferring books to action. He will find a little more adventure than he had expected in his last years of work, but also a chance of redemption. The others you will meet in due course.....
