He nodded sadly.
“Christopher is correct,” Milner affirmed.
“Faure is also responsible for the murder of Ambassador Lee,” Christopher added. “And he’s planning the assassination of Yuri Kruszkegin.”
While this was a shocking charge, it seemed to Decker to point to a flaw in what Christopher and Milner were saying. “But then why didn’t Faure just kill Gandhi, instead of risking a nuclear war?” Decker argued.
Milner answered. “The death of Ambassador Lee was believed to be an accident,” he said. “If Kruszkegin died, questions would arise, but ultimately most would conclude it was a tragic coincidence. Even those who believed there was a connection would have no reason to accuse Faure. But no one would believe that the death of three primary members was just a fluke. Especially if soon after that, Faure became secretary-general precisely because of the replacement of those three members. Besides, killing Gandhi would still leave Faure the problems in India and Pakistan to deal with.”
Decker was still not convinced, but neither had he gotten an answer to his previous question. “Even assuming all of this is true,” he began, directing his query to Christopher, “what could you possibly have done to stop it?”
“In the third chapter of Ecclesiastes,” Christopher answered, “King Solomon wrote: There is a time for everything: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to reap; a time to heal . . . and a time to kill.”[4]
Decker looked back and forth from Christopher to Milner and then back to the screen. As the camera panned the devastation, in the distance, where the smoke and radioactive cloud had not yet entirely shrouded the Earth, the moon rose above the horizon, glowing blood red through the desecrated sky.[5]
* * * * *
It was another two hours before their plane landed in New York. Immediately, they sped to the United Nations, where the Security Council was meeting in closed session. As night fell in the east, the war continued to spread. Nuclear warheads dropped like overripe fruit, appearing as falling stars in the night sky.[6] The destruction spread six hundred miles into China and to the south, nearly as far as Hyderabad, India. Those who survived took shelter underground, in caves, in crags under rocks, or wherever protection from fallout might be found.[7] West and north of Pakistan, the people of Afghanistan, southeastern Iran, and southern Tajikistan gathered their families and all they could carry on their backs, and beat a hurried path away from the war. In just days the local weather patterns would fill their fields, rivers, and streams with toxic fallout.
Pakistan was now little more than an open grave. India’s arsenal was completely spent. What was left of its army survived in small clusters that were cut off from all command and control. Most would die soon from radiation. China was the only participant still in control of its military and it had no interest in going any further with the war.
In the few hours it took to fly from Israel to New York, the war had begun and ended. The suffering and death, however, had just begun. The final estimate of the number killed would exceed four hundred and twenty million. There were no winners.
* * * * *
Christopher reached the door of the Security Council Chamber and burst through, followed closely by Decker and Milner. For a moment the members just stared at the intruders. Everyone knew Decker, but they had not seen Milner in a year and a half, and the change in Christopher was more than the beard; his whole demeanor had changed. When he recognized Christopher, Gerard Poupardin looked over at another staffer and laughed, “Who does he think he is? Jesus Christ?”
Christopher seized the opportunity provided by the startled silence. “Mr. President,” Christopher said, addressing the Canadian ambassador who was the acting president of the Council. “Though I have no desire to disrupt the urgent business of this body in its goal of providing relief to the peoples of India, Pakistan, China, and the surrounding countries, there is one among us who is not fit to cast his vote among an assembly of thieves, much less this august body!”
“You’re out of order!” Faure shouted as he jumped to his feet. “Mr. President, the alternate from Europe is out of order.” The acting president reached for his gavel, but froze at the sheer power of Christopher’s glance.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Security Council—” Christopher continued.
“You’re out of order!” Faure shouted again. Christopher looked at Faure. Suddenly and inexplicably Faure fell back into his chair, silent.
Christopher continued. “Seldom in history can the cause of a war be traced to one man. On this occasion, it can be. One man sitting among you bears nearly the total burden of guilt for this senseless war. That man is the ambassador from France, Albert Faure.”
Faure struggled to his feet. “That’s a lie!” he shouted.
Christopher quickly stated his charges.
“Lies! All lies!” Faure shouted in reply to each. “Mr. President, this outrage has gone on long enough. Ambassador Goodman has obviously gone completely mad.” Faure could feel his strength returning. “I insist that he be restrained and removed from this chamber and that—” Faure once again fell silent as Christopher turned and pointed at him.
“Confess,” Christopher said in a quiet but powerful voice.
Faure stared for a long moment in disbelief. The Italian ambassador really had gone mad. Suddenly he began to laugh out loud.
“Confess!” Christopher demanded again.
Abruptly, Faure’s laughter ceased. The sudden panic in his eyes couldn’t begin to reveal the magnitude of his torment. Without warning it seemed as though the blood in his veins was turning to acid. His whole body was on fire from the inside.
“Confess!” Christopher thundered.
Faure looked in Christopher’s eyes and fully understood the source of his sudden anguish. He staggered and caught himself on the table. Blood began to trickle from his mouth as he bit through the tender flesh of his lower lip; his jaw clenched uncontrollably like a vice as he moaned in unbearable agony. Gerard Poupardin ran toward him, and those nearby tried to help him to his seat.
There was no way out.
“Yes! Yes!” he cried suddenly, writhing in excruciating pain but pulling free of the grip of those trying to assist him. “It’s all true!” he confirmed. “Everything he has said is true! The war, Ambassador Lee’s death; the plan to kill Kruszkegin, all of it!”
Everyone in the room stared in disbelief. No one understood what was happening, least of all Gerard Poupardin. But everyone heard him — Faure had plainly confessed.
In offering his admission, Faure’s only wish was that it would somehow bring an end to his torment, and in that he was not disappointed. No sooner had he finished, than he fell to the floor, dead.
Someone ran for a doctor and for about fifteen minutes the chamber was filled with confusion, until finally Faure’s lifeless body was taken from the room.
“Mr. President!” came a somber voice from near the spot where Faure had fallen. It was Christopher. “A quarter of the world’s population is dead or at risk.[8] There is so much that must be done, and must be done quickly. As indelicate as it may seem: with the death of Ambassador Faure, until the nations of Europe can elect a new primary, as alternate for that region, I am now its acting representative. Please, let us get to the business at hand!”
* * * * *
The coroner’s report would find that Albert Faure had died of a massive heart attack, brought on, it seemed, by the tremendous burden of guilt for what he had done. For Decker, no explanation was necessary: Christopher had begun to exercise the unexplored powers within him. He could only hope and pray that these powers would be equal to the challenges the world would soon face as Christopher led mankind through the final stage of its evolution and into the glorious dawn of the New Age of humankind.
Chapter 1
Birth Pains
New York
The China-India-Pakistan War lasted only a day, but the dead numbered in the hundreds of million
s. Millions more would yet die from radiation poisoning, disease, and starvation. Nature, too, demanded her toll as wild animals, driven from their natural habitats, attacked weakened human survivors fleeing the holocaust.[9]
For Acting Security Council Primary, Christopher Goodman, the ensuing days were filled with endless meetings aimed at providing assistance to the war’s survivors. His experience with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization put him at the center of discussions concerning food relief, and he showed himself to possess both skill and untiring drive.
Because the fateful meeting that had led to Ambassador Faure’s death had been closed to cameras, there was no video record of the confrontation between Christopher and Faure. The stories that emerged credited Christopher for exposing the French Ambassador’s foul deeds, but the stranger aspects of Faure’s confession and his sudden death, which followed, were downplayed or omitted altogether by those who didn’t want to be taken for fools. So much had happened so quickly, and all was open to interpretation. Besides, dealing with the impact of the war left no time for such silly speculation.
The return of former UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert Milner was celebrated with great excitement at a reception held by the Lucius Trust, which was attended by several hundred members and supporters, including many UN delegates. Milner took advantage of the opportunity to express his sincere approval of Ms. Gaia Love as Alice Bernley’s successor as director, and he encouraged the members to be diligent in advancing the work of the Trust. He concluded his address to thunderous applause by confirming the rumor circulating among the Trust’s supporters that his return from Israel was evidence that “the time” was very near.
* * * * *
“Do you have the article you told me about?” Christopher asked as he sat down with Decker and Milner in his office. It was the first time the three had the opportunity to meet since their return from Israel. Decker nodded and reached into his briefcase to retrieve his tablet and selected the bookmarked page of The New York Times.
“I think you should hear this, Bob,” Christopher told Milner.
“This is from yesterday,” Decker explained as he began reading the article.
While the attention of most of the world focuses on the still unfolding tragedy in the East, in Israel two would-be prophets are predicting far worse tragedy to come. The two men, leaders of a large and very active cult called the Koum Damah Patar or KDP, say that the Earth is about to undergo cataclysmic events including fire falling from the sky, collision with an asteroid, the poisoning of one-third of the Earth’s fresh water, and the darkening of one-third of the sun and stars.
While most Israelis consider the two men simply an annoyance, there are some who take them very seriously and claim that they are responsible for causing the drought that has stricken Israel and the rest of the Middle East for the past 17 months. Their followers believe that one of the men, whom they call Rabbi Yochanan — the Hebrew equivalent of John — is actually the Apostle John of the Christian New Testament, and that though he appears to be in his fifties, he is actually more than 2,000 years old. The second man, who says he comes, “as did John the Baptist, in the spirit and power of Elijah,”[10] is a former Hasidic rabbi named Saul Cohen. Cohen was disowned by the rest of Judaism nearly twenty years ago when he began to teach that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.
Dressed in robes made of burlap or “sackcloth,” John and Cohen walk Israel’s streets proclaiming their message of God’s wrath on the Earth. Adding to their general unkempt appearance, reportedly the two men seldom bathe and cover the tops of their heads with ashes in accordance with ancient religious traditions for those in mourning. They refuse requests for interviews, and when questioned, only repeat their dire warnings.
Though the KDP has a large number of additional followers, actual membership is said to be limited to 144,000, all of whom are unmarried Jewish males and are distinguished by the blood-red Hebrew lettering that each bears on his forehead.[11]
According to the proclamations of the two KDP leaders, the destruction they prophesy will befall the people of Earth because mankind has “refused to follow God’s laws and to accept God’s mercy.” They say the reason that the prophesied punishment will come from the heavens is because instead of worshiping the “true God,” men have instead worshiped the sun, moon and stars — an apparent reference to astrology.
Sources inside the Israeli government report that police have attempted to arrest the cult’s two leaders but have been unable to infiltrate KDP ranks. Even though the two men have now come out into the open, police have been unable to arrest them because of their uncanny ability to quickly slip away whenever police, even undercover police, come near.
As Decker read the last few paragraphs of the article, Christopher rose from his chair and went to one of his bookshelves. “Listen to this,” he said, as he read from a leather-bound book. It was a Bible.
The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the Earth. A third of the Earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water — the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.
The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.[12]
“That sounds frighteningly similar to what John and Cohen are predicting,” Christopher concluded, as he flipped to another page.
“You mean that stuff is in the Bible?” Decker asked.
“The book of Revelation,” Christopher said. “But here’s something else.”
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the Earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the Earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.[13]
“Now I’m really confused,” Decker said. “That makes it sound like God wants John and Cohen to do all do all that stuff.”
“Remember though,” Christopher reminded, “it was John who wrote Revelation. Of course he’s going to claim he’s acting on God’s behalf.”
“And I believe he and Cohen may have the power to cause these things,” Milner warned. “Two thousand years ago John could only foresee these events. Now, with his psychic and telekinetic abilities so greatly advanced, he’s chosen to use what he wrote all those years ago as a blueprint.”
“Okay, hold it a minute,” Decker said. “I admit, I’m a little slow,” he began self-effacingly, “but would somebody please explain to me why these guys have all this power in the first place and why they want to cause all this destruction?”
“I’m sorry, Decker,” Milner responded. “All of this has been happening pretty fast. As I told you in Jerusalem, humankind is about to enter the final phase of its evolution. At the completion of this phase — which we call the New Age — humans will have evolved as far beyond what we are now, as we now are above the insects. The KDP are among the first to enter that phase.
“Haven’t you ever wondered what it is about the Jewish people that allowed them to endure as a culture for nearly nineteen hundred years without a country? They survi
ved dispersion and literally dozens of attempts by bigots and bigoted governments to destroy them. They have flourished despite the cruelest discrimination. And most amazing of all, they have avoided assimilation into the cultures around them. No other nationality in history can claim that. Decker, they really are different from non-Jews. That may sound like a racist statement, but what I’m saying is that they are actually slightly farther along on the evolutionary scale. The difference is small, but it explains why the first concrete manifestations of the New Age are being seen among the Jews. The KDP are the spearhead of the evolutionary changes to come. Within just the next five years these changes will begin to spread throughout the world, to people of every nation and race.”
Decker thought on that a moment. “So how do John and Cohen fit in?”
“Like the biblical Jewish prophets before them,” Milner explained, “both John and Cohen were born with certain psychic abilities. I suspect that Jesus recognized that ability in John and that’s why he chose him to be among his disciples.”
Decker looked at Christopher, who shrugged to indicate he had no recollection of the matter.
Milner continued. “As the New Age approaches, John and Cohen have been catapulted beyond anything the world has previously known. And yet soon the power they have will seem like nothing at all. I cannot begin to tell you the magnitude of what lies ahead for humankind. As the potential of the human mind is realized, we’ll begin to see our fellow humans not only through our physical eyes but also through the mind’s eye. We’ll begin, as the KDP already has begun, to see the innermost part of those around us: their needs and desires; their hopes and fears; their pain and their joy; their true selves! And as this happens, we will be stripped bare of the facade that makes some of us seem beautiful and some of us ugly, some charming and others dull, some attractive and others repulsive. When we can truly see those around us, then we will begin to truly understand.
Birth of an Age Page 2