The Messiah Code (51 page)

With hesitant steps he moved toward the burnt remains by the far door. He soon realized it was a man, and when he saw the ruby ring on one of the clenched black fingers he knew who it must be.

Grimacing, he bent down and removed the ring of leadership, rubbing it on his shirt. After removing most of the soot he stared with wonder at the blood--red gemstone, its inner fire glowing like embers. The cross--shaped mounting of white gold had been superficially blackened, but was otherwise undamaged. With trembling hands he placed the ring on his own finger and was gratified when it fit perfectly. A rush of emotion suddenly welled up inside him.

When he had become Champion of the Primary Imperative, he had been briefed on succeeding Ezekiel De La Croix. He had been shown all the mechanisms of leadership: the Brotherhood's numbered accounts, the security boxes containing the ancient maps, the roll call of members, and the original documentation of the rules and objectives of the Brotherhood. But with the chaos four months ago he hadn't really
felt
that his succession had been legitimized, not until this simple act of placing the ruby ring on his finger. This digital coronation symbolized the passing of the mantle of leadership to him, and brought home the full impact of the duty and honor that now rested with him. He removed his thick glasses and rubbed the dusty sleeve of his cotton robe across his eyes before he realized they were filled with tears.

Composing himself, he started to straighten up, preparing to usher in the two Brothers waiting patiently beyond the fractured door. Then he noticed the smaller pile of ash next to Ezekiel's charred body, and an inch square of white cloth beside it.

His mouth went dry.

He had been so engrossed in the ring and his leadership of the Brotherhood of the Second Coming that he had momentarily forgotten the very purpose of that high office. Kneeling on the stone floor, he studied the pile of ash. Composed of black planes and contours, it looked like unraveled folds of charred fabric. He touched it and the pile collapsed into dust, all semblance of structure lost. Then he picked up the inch square of white cloth, one edge browned by flame. With exaggerated calmness he slowly brought the fabric to his nose. It smelled predominantly of smoke, but he immediately recognized another smell: the cloying aroma of the ritual herbs and oils.

This square of cloth was all that remained of the shroud he himself had helped prepare four months ago.

But as for the body that had been wrapped in it, there was no sign.

A
lthough this novel is set in an alternative reality, much of the technology is already possible.

Gene therapy has been around for years, as has the Human Genome Project, which was completed on April 14, 2003 (exactly fifty years after the structure of DNA was first discovered in Cambridge, England), mapping each and every gene that specifies a human being.

Tom Carter's Genescope is a product of my imagination, but similar sequencing machines were instrumental in decoding the human genome. Even as I write this, DNA sequencers are being used to predict certain patients' cancers and likely lifespan.

Similarly, Jasmine Washington's Gene Genie software is an extension of what is already being developed in the United States by law enforcement agencies--the physical depiction of subjects from their DNA.

Science is moving ahead at such a pace that throughout my research I found the most taxing questions rarely related to the future at all, but to the past.

Two questions in particular still keep me wondering:

Could a genuine biological relic of Christ be found today? And if so, what might it reveal?

Originally published in hardcover in 1997 and in paperback in 1998

as The Miracle Strain.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue

are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed

as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead,

is entirely coincidental.

THE MESSIAH CODE. Copyright (c) 1997 by Michael Cordy. All rights

reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted

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