“This is news at the top of the hour,” she said. “NASA scientists at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center have confirmed that an asteroid sighted over two billion miles away may come a little closer to the earth than was originally thought. Dr. Carl Waddington, shown here visiting the Baikonur Cosmodrome Kazakhstan launch site, assures us that there is absolutely no danger of the asteroid actually hitting the earth, but we might be able to catch a pretty close glimpse as it passes by—a mere thirty million miles away.” She quickly turned to a new camera angle. “We’ll return with Spencer Roark and news from around the world in a minute, as all-night news continues after these messages.”
“Unbelievable,” Brian grunted, shaking his head, “another damn commercial.” He took the moment to freshen up his drink before returning to the TV. The techno music swelled and softened.
“A mountain lion, spotted up a tree in a Los Angeles suburb, spends time in the hoosegow as it recovers from a dart filled with tranquilizer, courtesy of the California Fish and Game.” The TV screen filled with a caged cougar stalking back and forth. The happy sounding male voice continued. “The animal was taken back to the wild and released unharmed.”
The TV geared up for another quick news snippet.
“The small Chicago subdivision of Westmire, Illinois, unearthed a trio of wacky pranksters this morning.”
Brian held his breath and quickly put his drink down on the table. Did he say Westmire, Illinois? He pulled his feet from the coffee table and moved closer to the TV.
“Three men showed up this morning and proceeded to dig a hole in the street right in front of Joan Dorning’s house and then,” the announcer paused for effect, “they just drove away, leaving Mrs. Dorning and the rest of her neighbors with this gaping hole in the street.” Brian jumped to the screen as a middle-aged woman appeared standing in front of his childhood friend Tyler’s house. It was old now, but he recognized it immediately.
“Yeah,” she said, “they came in here with a city truck and tractor. They were dressed in water company coveralls so when they dug the street up, nobody thought anything about it and then…they just left. Now I have a big hole in the street right in front of my house.”
“The water company told CNR News that there was no work planned for this area,” the announcer said as the camera panned around the familiar neighborhood and back to Joan Dorning, pointing at the large hole in the street. “And they told us they didn’t have any idea who it was digging up the roads or, for that matter, why. However, they do promise to have a crew out here first thing in the morning to clean up the mess. And that’s the news from around the world in a minute. Now, a word from our sponsors.”
Brian stared into the TV, not hearing or seeing.
“He did it. I can’t believe it. He really did it. He made her go away just like he said he would.”
~~~
“Father Jenkins,” Maria said. “We want you to marry us.”
Blaze smiled and glanced at Todd. “That’s wonderful. I’d be honored to marry you. When are you planning this grand occasion?”
“How about right now?” Todd said, looking around the room. He had been surprised to see how well Father Jenkins appeared to be living.
The priest’s office on the fourth floor of the Patch Rankin building opened up into a small private lobby decorated lavishly with leafy, living plants. A cheerful secretary named KaLee was sitting behind a broad desk bearing nothing but a wide, flat screened computer monitor, a phone and a half-full cup of coffee. She had sent them directly into father Jenkins’ office the moment they arrived.
“We want to get married right away,” Maria said. “Todd wants to go back to school. We’re hoping he could start here at Vanderbilt right after the baby is born.”
Blaze paused, obviously collecting his thoughts. “Yes,” he said finally, “that would be good.” He walked behind his desk and sat down. “You know in all the turmoil of the last few weeks, we’ve never really been able to discuss your relationship with each other, with the child, and for that matter, your relationship with the Vinces.”
Todd glanced at Maria. This was the first time he had considered the implications of having to live under the scrutiny of the Vinces. He wouldn’t be the child’s father. Maria wouldn’t be his mother. Technically, the Vinces would be both mother and father. He felt uneasy.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk much about what it will be like to be the parents of such a…unique child," Blaze continued.
“I thought the Vinces wanted the baby raised in as normal an environment as possible,” Maria said.
Blaze nodded. “Yes, that is true, and for that reason you must never tell anyone who the child is.”
Maria glanced at Todd before looking back at Blaze. “They covered that when I was being interviewed, but I never really understood why.”
Blaze stood, walked around his desk and sat on the corner. “Ok—a hypothetical situation—we go right to the media and tell them about the baby—”
“I know we can’t go to the media,” Maria said. “Human cloning is illegal.”
Blaze held up his hand. “Please hear me out.”
“The whole damn world would be camped in our front yard,” Todd said, breaking his silence, “That’s what would happen.”
Blaze pointed at Todd. “Yes, and imagine what it would be like for the child.”
“So, we can’t tell anyone at all?” Maria said.
Blaze ignored her question. “Ok, say you tell your neighbors, parents, friends, that your little boy is the clone of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. First of all, they’re gonna think you’re crazy, or maybe they just might believe you. Imagine how they would then react to the child.
“Think of it this way,” Blaze continued, rearranging himself on the corner of his desk, “there are roughly around—oh, let’s see—seven billion people in the world today. About a billion of those people are gonna’ believe your little boy is God’s own clone, and some of those folks can be pretty radical. There will be the crazy fringe bunch, those who will look upon the child as an abomination, or maybe a threat to their particular belief system. What I’m telling you now is not hypothetical. We know for a fact these people exist.”
“But, what about the baby?” Maria said. “How can we expect a little child to keep such a secret?”
“Easy, we don’t tell him.”
“So you’re saying we’re supposed to raise up this child as our own and never tell him we’re not his folks?” Todd said. “Don’t you think that’ll mess with him when he finally figures it all out?”
“We will tell him…when he’s eighteen years old.”
Todd glanced at Maria and looked back at Blaze. “Wait, I don’t get it. Why have you people done this…gone to all of this trouble if the boy won’t even know who he is?”
“Because this is a child, not a specimen. We’re bringing him into the world and we are responsible. The child must be free to find his own way, to choose his own path, just like any other child.”
“I thought you were calling this the second coming of Christ,” Todd said, shuffling in his chair.
“We do believe this is the second coming of Christ as foretold in the Bible, but if he is who we think he is, he won’t need us to introduce him. That’s another thing Todd. You’re an atheist aren’t you? That’s what your bio said.”
Todd frowned. “Oh, now wait a minute, are you telling me I have to be religious?”
“No, no, to the contrary, we don’t want you to instill any religious bias whatsoever onto the child.”
“That’s good,” Todd said, feeling a little violated. “Yeah, I’m an atheist.”
Maria looked up at him.
He glanced back at Maria and shrugged “Or at least I…think I’m an atheist.”
“This is a decision the Vinces made early on in the project,” Blaze said. “It does have scientific merit, and it shouldn’t be intrusive for the child. They don’t want to contaminate any possible precognitiv
e genetic traits that might arise.”
“You mean they think he might actually carry over some of Jesus’ traits?” Todd said.
Blaze shrugged. “We just don’t know. These are such unique circumstances, we simply have no idea what to expect.”
“So, if he walks across the water in the wading pool we shouldn’t be overly concerned?”
Blaze chuckled.
“Is this what we have to look forward to Father Jenkins?” Maria said. “Are the Vinces gonna’ micromanage our daily lives from here on?”
Todd realized she was upset and moved towards her.
She turned and pushed him away. “This isn’t gonna’ be our baby is it Todd? Ever.” She jumped to her feet.
“Maria,” Blaze said, “wait, I didn’t mean—”
Maria turned towards Todd “Don’t you see? The Vinces are gonna tell us where to live, where to work—”
“No Maria,” Blaze said, “please sit down. I didn’t mean to give you that impression. Believe me, the Vinces sympathize with you on this issue. We completely understand how intrusive all of this must be for you. What I’ve been talking about today are conditions the Vinces insisted upon before we can even begin. The truth is, I thought I was only repeating this for Todd’s benefit. It was my understanding that you had fully understood and accepted the ground rules during the screening process.” Blaze paused for a moment and continued. “Trust me, we have no interest in micromanaging the way you raise the baby. We know if we tried it would only damage the child.”
Maria looked at Todd.
“Don’t worry,” Todd said. “Everything will be fine.”
She dropped her face in her hands, sat silent for a time and glanced back up at Blaze. “You’re right,” she said softly, “I guess I’m being a little paranoid.”
“Well,” Blaze said, “I admit, I did sound a little pushy.”
The room became uncomfortably quiet. Blaze finally slapped his hands together. “So, about that wedding?”
Maria sniffed and wiped a tear from her face. “We’re ready right now.”
“Already? — do you have the license?”
She pulled a license out of her bag and pushed it towards him.
“Blood tests?”
“Uh huh, here they are.”
Blaze looked the documents over and smiled. “Looks like everything’s in order.” He leaned and hit the COM button on his phone. “KaLee, would you come in here for a moment?”
Within moments, Blaze’s secretary appeared at the door. “We’re gonna’ have a wedding,” Blaze said.
“Great. When?”
“Right now,” Maria said grinning. “What do we need?”
“Traditionally or legally?”
“Legally.”
“Well, let’s see — we’ll need a license, blood tests, Father Jenkins and me. That’s about it.”
“We’re set,” Blaze said, shaking the documents in his hand.
The secretary looked the couple over and smiled. “I guess all that’s left is for you two to stand up and face Father Jenkins.”
Maria quickly stood and moved forward.
Todd took a moment to adjust his tie, stood and joined Maria.
“Face each other please,” Blaze said softly.
Todd turned and looked into Maria’s stunning eyes. Maria smiled pleasantly at Todd before shifting her eyes back to Father Jenkins who was pulling a Bible out of his desk drawer. The big man pulled several papers from the pages of his bible and began.
“The story goes like this,” he said. “The beautiful princess finds a toad in the forest. She kisses the toad. The toad turns into a prince, and the couple lives happily ever after. Another story goes something like this: The beautiful princess finds a toad in the forest. She kisses the toad. The princess becomes a toad, and they both live out the rest of their miserable lives as a couple of old toads.”
Maria smiled.
“I suspect your marriage will fall somewhere between these two fairy tales, it’s completely up to you. A marriage is like a garden, it needs constant attention. Like any garden, there will be weeds. Get rid of the weeds before they have a chance to grow and take hold: If you cultivate your garden it will yield a large bounty. If you don’t, your bounty will wilt and die. It’s up to you.
Do you Todd, take Maria to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward, until death do you part?”
Todd shifted his eyes away from Blaze and looked at Maria. “I do,” he said softly.
“And do you Maria take Todd to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do you part?”
“I do,” Maria said, looking up at Todd.
“I pronounce you, husband and wife.”
“Oh, look at me,” KaLee said, wiping a tear from her eye. “I’ve done this a million times and I still cry.”
“Todd, we’re married,” Maria said, smiling.
“Yeah, I guess we are.”
“You don’t seem very happy.”
“Yeah, I’m happy.”
“I guess that makes you two Mr. and Mrs. Todd Riley.” Blaze said.
Todd and Maria exchanged glances. “She’s decided to keep the name Rose,” Todd said, quietly.
Blaze leaned forward and signed the marriage certificate “Oh, I see. Well, a lot of kids are doing that these days.”
“I guess you won’t need me anymore,” the secretary said, moving towards the door.
Blaze waited till she left the room before speaking. “When will you be seeing Dr. Perez?”
“Dr. Perez?”
“Yes, he’s back in the project.”
Maria frowned. “That’s a surprise. Jim- Dr. Donahue said he was really angry.”
Todd looked up. “When did you talk to Donahue?”
“Oh…it was at a… little bar…near the hotel—”
“When were you at a bar with—”
“He was a bit put off,” Blaze said, smiling.
Todd was silent for a moment. “Why did Dr. Perez come back?” he said finally.
Blaze shrugged. “Truthfully, he didn’t say,”
“We just got into Nashville last night,” Maria said. “We’ve been dealing with the movers all morning and haven’t had time to talk to anyone. This is the only place we’ve been so far.”
Blaze reached into a small drawer, pulled out a business card, and handed it to Maria. “You should contact Dr. Perez as soon as you can. I understand this procedure needs to be scheduled very carefully. He’s very anxious to talk to you.”
“Ok,” Maria said, retrieving the card. She sat silently scanning the card and looked up at Blaze. “Who all knows about…you know…all of this?”
“A good many people know about the project, of course, but only a few of them know who the surrogate parents are. Dr. Perez, Dr. Donahue, you folks and I are just about the only ones who know. I think a good policy would be to never talk about the project unless someone talks about it first.”
“That’s a good idea,” Maria said. “That’s what I’ll do.”
Todd and Maria stood and moved towards the door.
“Keep in touch,” Blaze said. “I’m here if you need anything at all.”
Maria returned, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re the best.”
~~~
Blaze watched them walk across the lot from his office window. My Lord, we’ve clearly made a mistake. After all the hoopla, he couldn’t imagine starting all over again. This girl fully understood the rules, otherwise she would have never been chosen. It was obvious she was trying to manipulate someone—the Vinces or that Todd kid. He didn’t know why she was doing it. He decided to let it ride, for now.
~~~
With the exception of the soft sounds produced by shuffling pap
er and the periodical re-adjustment into the opulent chairs that adorned the small oval office, the place had remained virtually silent for over fifteen minutes.
“There is no way that this thing could be a mistake?”
The sudden loud voice startled Carl Waddington. “Uh, no sir. We’ve gone over the numbers a thousand times. The data has been confirmed by every credible source.”
The answer was met with a scowl from the man behind the desk. “First that earthquake, and now this,” the President said.
The Secretary of Homeland Security leaned forward. “Mr. President, there’s no question, this thing is real, and it’s coming in very fast.”
The President looked over his reading glasses. “Well obviously, I’ll need to be made aware of all possible courses of action I have at my disposal.” He slowly looked around the room and was visibly shocked by the lack of response. Finally, he turned towards General Turpin, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Well?”
“We… could send a co-operative multinational nuclear response…but—”
“But what?”
“Well sir, that scenario carries with it a whole new set of problems. Even if we did manage to blow this rock up, chances are, we would wind up powdering the entire earth with nuclear fallout.”
“Could we steer it away using some sort of rocket?” the Secretary of State asked the President, who directed the question back to Carl Waddington.
“Boy…I don’t know. Normally, we probably could. There are a number of ways. But this thing is as big as Vermont and traveling about 60,000 miles per hour. On top of that, we only have a few months.”
“Say the worst happens,” the President said, “and this thing hits us, do we have any idea where?”
Carl Waddington looked up. “North America.”
“Hell’s Bells,” the President said under his breath. He sat silent for a time. “Any other ideas?”
Again, the silence was deafening.
“I need solutions people and I need them fast!”
“We have been in touch with all of our resources Mr. President,” the Director of the CIA said, obviously feeling a need to respond. “They have assured us that we can count on their complete cooperation regarding any decision you might make.”
The President stood and walked to the window. He stared out at the palatial white house lawn before turning back to speak.