Jesus The Extraterrestrial Trilogy (Vol. I - Origins) Page 5

  ‘Hallo, Thomas here,’ he answered the phone sleepily.

  ‘Thomas, son, it’s Dad.’

  ‘Dad? Is this a decent hour to make phone calls?’

  ‘It’s gone eleven, son. I´m sorry if I woke you up, but it’s serious.’

  ‘Hah, everything’s serious for you. Tell me.’

  Thomas was used to his father’s idea of what was serious. Everything was serious for George, whether he called to talk about some chemical product discovered in some foodstuff, or about politics - a serious matter for a senator, but of no importance to a scientist like Thomas.

  ‘Son, it’s urgent. I need you to come to Washington at once.’

  This worried George and at once he was fully awake.

  ‘Is something wrong with Mummy? How is she?’

  ‘Don´t worry, it’s not about your mother. But I need you to come here, today if possible.’

  ‘OK, OK! I´ll have a bath and be on my way. I just hope it really is important.’

  Thomas knew that if his father required his presence on a Sunday, it must really be something serious or he’d have discussed it over the phone. But George wouldn´t say anything about it in advance. So Thomas took a shower to wake himself up while the machine made coffee. He put on comfortable clothes, drank his coffee, ate a piece of cake that someone had left in the refrigerator, then went down to the building’s parking lot to get his car and drive to the capital. Thomas was very curious to know what his father had to say, and wouldn´t have been able to sleep until he knew. When he got to the car he remembered that his daughter Sarah might like to visit her grandparents. Inside the car, he called her on his cell phone.

  ‘Hallo!’ Sarah picked up at once. She had a pleasant voice.

  ‘Hi, princess, it’s Dad.’

  ‘Hi Dad, it’s great you called. But what are you doing awake at this hour on a Sunday?’ she asked sarcastically.

  ‘Yes, well, your grandfather phoned and woke me up. He needs to talk to me in person. I´m just leaving for Washington, I´m actually in the car, and I remembered you´ve been wanting to visit them. How about going with me?’

  ‘Ah, Dad, it’s Monday tomorrow. Some of us have got to work, you know …’

  ‘Ah, yes, I’d forgotten that little detail. You know how it is … Working for myself I sometimes forget there are people who are slaves to schedules. But, look, I´m going today and I´ll come back early tomorrow. It’s a five-hour drive: you´ll be back early tomorrow, you´ll only miss half a day’s work.’

  ‘OK, then, fine, I´ll go. It’s ages since I’ve seen grandpa and grandma. They´re always busy. And I’ve got plenty of credit at work, they must owe me a year’s time off!’

  ‘Right, that’s agreed. I´ll drop by and pick you up in twenty minutes. Get yourself ready.’

  ‘OK, great, big kiss!’

  Thomas drove his BMW out of the parking lot and turned towards West Broadway. When he was close to his daughter’s building he could see her waiting for him in front of it.

  Sarah was a red-head, with long wavy hair, blue eyes and a figure which drew looks wherever she went. She worked in a multinational company as a trainee in the financial department. She had graduated in Economics from Harvard, and as one of the best students she had been offered the job during her final year. Luckily it was only after her first day at work that they discovered she was the granddaughter of one of the US’ most popular senators; otherwise her colleagues at university or at work might have suspected favoritism or some such thing. Sarah always tried to prove the worth of her intellect, since usually things came easily to her because of her looks. However she wanted to believe that she achieved things because of her competence, not because of her beauty. Which was why, on the day she went for the interview for the job at the multinational which now was hers, she had gone dressed in a very dull suit, hair straight and bound up, with glasses and no makeup - doing her best to minimize her looks so that no one could say she was hired because of her pretty face.

  Thomas drew his car up beside her. Sarah got in and they set off for the capital.

  ‘How’s your mother? She didn´t want to come too?’

  ‘No, Dad, she’s got something on this afternoon,’ said Sarah, without looking directly at her father.

  ‘Something on? With who?’ Thomas asked, feeling indignant but trying to hide the fact that it mattered to him.

  ‘Take it easy, Dad, she’s going to Sherry’s house for a book club thing. This week they´re discussing a book with a weird title, in Latin, I think it’s called “From Eve to Homo Amans”

  by a Portuguese writer called Rosa de Souza. I gather it’s about a woman called Joanna who pretended to be a man, was elected Pope, and managed to deceive the Vatican until she got pregnant and was uncovered. It also talks about the Catholic Church’s repression of women and about human potential. Sounds like a cool book. In fact it’s an audio book - these days Mum only buys books on disc and listens to them while she’s on the treadmill

  or at the gym.’

  ‘She’s going to a gym, is she?’ asked her father, looking incredulous.

  ‘Yes, well, Dad, there is life after marriage, didn´t you know? And she’s getting back into her old shape. So if you don´t try and get back together with her soon, you´re going to miss the boat.’

  ‘And who says I want to get back together with her?’

  ‘Oh, Dad, I know you so well… But, tell me, what does grandpa want you for? Do you think he’s going to resign from the Senate?’

  ‘Resign? Where on earth did you hear such nonsense?’

  ‘I don´t know, I just thought, if he wanted to stand as president, he’s going to have to resign and start campaigning.’

  ‘But the elections are two years away. And from what he told me, he didn´t accept the nomination. He said the president would have to be someone different in the near future, and also that presidents who don´t join a certain group end up dead.’

  ‘Grandpa and his persecution manias and conspiracy theories…’

  Some hours later…

  ‘We’re here, princess, you can wake up,’ said Thomas, resting his hand lightly on his daughter’s shoulder.

  ‘Heavens, I dropped off and missed it all. This classical music of yours is enough to put anyone to sleep.’

  Thomas parked the car in one of the outside parking spaces belonging to the big house on the corner, grabbed their bags and went towards the front door with his daughter. He pressed the interphone and as soon as he took his finger off the button, the door opened. George had seen them coming some time ago. The senator had installed a number of security cameras, covering all the outside of the house, as well as sensors which gave warning if anyone stepped on the pavement in front of the house. Even though he lived in a peaceful neighborhood, and had military training and an arsenal to turn any arms fanatic green with envy, the senator was even more of a security freak; of course, both his political status and his secret identity called for the maximum precautions. If their enemies were capable of killing even presidents who were protected by men of the secret service and a solid security scheme, what chance had a

  mere senator?

  ‘Sarah, my dear, what a nice surprise!’ exclaimed the doting grandfather.

  ‘Hi, grandpa, I’ve missed you!’ said Sarah, planting a noisy kiss on her grandfather’s pink cheek.

  ‘Your father forgot to mention you’d be coming with him. I´ll ask them to set a place for you at table. Please come in and make yourselves at home.’

  ‘Oh, grandpa, you know Daddy. Absent-minded isn’t the word.’

  ‘But it’s good you´ve come, now I can kill two birds with one stone. What I want to talk to your father about concerns you directly.’

  ‘Really? Now you have got me wondering. Tell me at once.’

  ‘Dad, where’s Mum?’ asked Thomas looking worried.

  ‘Don´t worry, son, your mother’s in the bath and will be down in a moment. Please both of you sit down. Help y
ourselves, you must be famished.’

  ‘That´s true, Daddy didn´t want to stop on the way for us to eat, we came right here,’ said Sarah, filling a bowl with fruit salad.

  ‘But tell me, senator, what is it that’s so important that you need to talk about it face to face?’

  ‘Easy, Thomas, wait for your mother to come down and I´ll tell you. Meanwhile, just eat something; it’s bad to get excited on an empty stomach.’

  ‘Excited? Oh, my God!’ exclaimed Sarah, sounding worried, and thinking now that it must be some illness in the family.

  ‘Oh my dears, how I’ve missed you!’ said Jane as she came down the stairs.

  ‘Hi, grandma!’

  ‘Hi, Mum!’

  They both greeted her at once, while they were giving the Griffin family matriarch a hug.

  ‘Thomas didn´t say you were coming, Sarah, but it’s good

  you did.’

  ‘Dad wanted to surprise you,’ replied Sarah, looking at her father for him to see that she was teasing him, but making him uncomfortable.

  ‘Well, now that all the interested parties are here, I´ll get started. Please listen closely to what I say and trust in the truth of it, because this isn’t a joke or a test.’

  ‘Tell us quickly grandpa, you´re making me nervous.’

  ‘Nervous? You ain’t seen nothing yet!’ replied the senator. ‘This is what I want to show you,’ and he laid the broken chalice on the table, and beside it the cylinder that had been inside the chalice.

  ‘Dad, what is that?’ asked Thomas, intrigued. George had spent all his life telling him stories about the Holy Grail, showing him paintings and diagrams. Thomas had recognized it the moment he set eyes on it.

  ‘It’s exactly what you´re thinking, Thomas. This is the much sought-after and famous Holy Grail.’

  ‘Holy Grail? But grandpa, if Jesus was the King of the Jews, shouldn´t the chalice he used be a lot prettier than this? I think you were had when they sold you this replica. Anyway, everyone knows that the Holy Grail represents the womb of Mary Magdalene and the lineage of Jesus. I read a book about it at University: it said the term Holy Grail comes from a translation of Saint Graal and from the ancient forms San Graal and Sangréal, or Royal Blood, according to a half-baked theory about Jesus having a son with Mary Magdalene.’

  The senator chuckled.

  ‘Not a son, a daughter. What was written in that book and what is known nowadays about the Holy Grail are just some of the stories we invented over the centuries to conceal the true secret of the Grail. Some bits are true, of course, like the bit about Jesus having a daughter, but others are pure fiction.’

  ‘You invented?’ said Thomas with a serious look.

  ‘Yes, son, we invented. Our family, through the centuries, made up these stories and other ones, some caught on, some didn´t. Well, let me get straight to the point. This is the real chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper with his disciples. On the day he died, an angel appeared to Joseph of Arimathaea, gave him this gold and silver cylinder which I have here, and told him to collect the blood of Jesus and save it in the tube. Joseph did as he was told and the cylinder sealed itself and has never been opened: this means that the blood of Jesus has been kept in here for nearly two thousand years. Now you must be wondering why this chalice and this cylinder are here with me. Easy to explain, my dears. Both I and your mother and, therefore, the two of you, are of Sarah’s family.’

  Sarah interrupted the senator the moment she heard her name.

  ‘Sarah? What Sarah, grandpa?’

  ‘Relax, princess, let me explain. Sarah is the name of the earliest member of our family. It was in her honor that I persuaded your parents to give you this name. And she, Sarah, is none other than the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.’

  There was silence in the dining room. Tears rolled down Sarah’s face. The story had touched her deeply and yet she wasn´t sure if she believed it was true. However her grandfather wasn´t one to make up stories and even less likely to lie. So subconsciously at least she knew that she really was a distant descendant of the greatest being ever to have set foot on the face of the earth: Jesus Christ.

  ‘Grandpa, I´m speechless.’

  ‘Dad, are you sure of what you´re saying? And how can Mum be of the same family? She wasn´t called Griffin before you two got married.’

  ‘A good observation. Since the end of the first century, Christ’s descendants have not been allowed to marry outside the family. There are even records of brother and sister marrying. Your mother Jane is the great-granddaughter of my great-grandfather’s brother. Sarah’s mother is the granddaughter of a cousin of mine. I.e. we’re all one family. This was necessary so that the DNA of Jesus shouldn´t be totally diluted and lost in the world.’

  ‘But father, how could I marry a cousin? It had to be a huge coincidence.’

  ‘Son, the day that you met Sarah’s mother it had already all been planned. You had been promised to each other since you were born, as your mother and I were. All we’ve done all these years has been to give fate a little help in couples’ finding each other, getting to know each other and, as a result, falling in love. Jessica’s mother knew everything and always encouraged your relationship.’

  ‘I just can´t believe that you manipulated me,’ grumbled Thomas indignantly, showing his disapproval.

  ‘Son, we did nothing except give a little shove. Jessica married you because she loved you, in other words, the two of you truly fell in love.’

  ‘And what if we hadn’t fallen in love, what would you have done? Would you have obliged us to get married?’

  ‘Of course not! You have a number of cousins you don´t know, all very pretty. Let´s not be unduly modest - we have great genes, it’s rare for anyone unattractive to be born in this family. In the old days everything was easier, the parents told their children who they were to marry and that was it, no argument. More recently all that changed, which was unfortunate, and we had to change tactics; but what’s important is that it worked out and here were all are today.’

  ‘Grandpa, just tell the story straight. It’s totally unreal, I can´t believe I´m not dreaming,’ said Sarah, holding her head in both hands and running her fingers through her hair.

  ‘As I was saying, the angel told Joseph of Arimathaea that when the right moment came, Jesus would be born again from his own blood, and that only someone of his line would be able to open the cylinder you see here. Our more distant ancestors didn´t have any very clear idea of what “being reborn through the blood” actually implied. They thought it would be enough to open the cylinder and tip the blood into the chalice, or something like that, for Jesus to return. I was the first one to realize what the angel was really saying to Joseph - that a clone should be born from that blood. That´s the only possible explanation. And that’s why all your life I’ve been encouraging you and pushing you to become a genetic scientist, because you´re the one who’s going to create a clone of Jesus Christ.’

  ‘Dad, you´ve got to be crazy. Cloning humans is illegal and unethical. And even if it was permitted, research on cloning is still in its infancy. Some scientists have tried cloning animals and most of the clones were still-born or deformed, or didn´t live for a month.’

  ‘What about those frogs they cloned in 1952 using tadpole cells? Didn´t you do your master’s thesis on that?’ asked his father.

  ‘Yes, don´t you remember that I managed to clone a frog when I was doing my master’s? I even brought it home for you to see. The difference with amphibians is that the complete regeneration of the tissues is a natural characteristic, which makes it easier to do.’

  ‘Of course I remember. And do you remember who encouraged you to choose this subject for your thesis?’

  ‘Yes, I remember very well that you practically forced me to do it. You even gave me equipment for my laboratory as an incentive, didn´t you?’

  ‘Your thesis was highly praised and drew plenty of comment at Harvard,’ rec
alled his father. ‘I´m quite certain that when we clone Jesus from his own blood he won’t die - after all, he did come back to life once before,’ retorted George confidently, looking quite unworried.

  ‘I´m very sorry, Dad, but don´t count on me to help you on this. I could lose my license or, worse, go to jail. And even if you find someone to do the cloning, you´ll still need a uterus to carry the child.’

  ‘Yes, well, that we already have: I´m looking at it now,’ said George, with his eyes on Sarah.

  ‘Me, grandpa?! It’s… You really have gone crazy!’ Sarah was flabbergasted. ‘Grandma, don´t you have anything to say?’

  ‘Darling, listen to your grandfather. He’s telling the truth and this has got to be done. It’s the mission the two of you have to carry out.’

  ‘Thomas, Sarah, what I´m telling you is of the utmost importance. The existence of the human race as we know it depends on you two. First, as the angel instructed, Jesus will have to be reborn through and by his blood, that is, as we understand it today, he must be cloned and brought to birth in the womb of a woman of his line. If it wasn´t so, why would the cylinder only open for someone with traces of Jesus’ DNA in his blood?’