and that I can't say more without revealing the process.'
'Good,' Decker responded. 'I'd like to spend some more time looking over your notes, but I promised Elizabeth we wouldn't be late.'
'I'm way ahead of you,' interrupted Goodman. 'I've already made copies. Just make sure you keep them under lock and key and call me if you have any questions.' Goodman gathered his papers and the conversation soon turned to small talk.
Decker told Goodman that after visiting with Elizabeth's sister for a few days, he'd be going to Israel for six weeks to relieve the News World reporter covering the recent Palestinian protests. 'By the way, do you remember Dr. Rosen from the Turin expedition?' Decker asked.
'Joshua Rosen?' Goodman asked. 'Of course. Seems I read something about him somewhere a couple years back.'
'That was my story in NewsWorld' Decker responded. 'I sent you a copy.'
'I remember it now. It was something about him leaving the U. S. and going to Israel after they cut his program from the defense budget.'
'Right. Well, he's still there. They finally granted him citizenship. I'll be staying with him for a couple days.'
'That's right, I had forgotten about that. He wanted to become an Israeli citizen but they wouldn't let him,' Goodman recalled.
At that moment Martha Goodman, Hope, and Christopher came in the front door from a long walk. 'Would you and Hope like to stay for supper?' she asked Decker.
'I'm sorry, we really can't,' Decker answered.
'Are you sure? I know that Christopher would enjoy Hope's company for a while longer.'
'Thanks, but Elizabeth and Louisa are expecting us,' Decker explained.
As the miles rolled by and the highway scenery grew redundant, Hope told her father about her visit with Christopher and Martha Goodman. 'We had a lot of fun,' she said. 'He's really a nice kid. It's a shame he'll be thirteen in a couple years.'
'Why's that?' Decker asked.
'Because thirteen-year-old boys are so obnoxious,' she answered.
'Obnoxious?' Decker said. 'I thought you saved that term for your little sister.'
Hope didn't answer but her father's comment reminded her of something. 'Mrs. Goodman said that it's tough on Christopher because he doesn't have any brothers or sisters to play with and there's no one else his age in the neighborhood. She said that she and Professor Goodman were both only children, too, and that I was really lucky to have a little sister. I told her I didn't think so. So, anyway, if it's all right with you and Mom, I told her she could have Louisa to keep Christopher company.'
Decker rolled his eyes. 'Real funny,' he responded.
'Yeah, Mrs. Goodman didn't think you'd go for it, either.'
As they continued their trip Decker's thoughts went back and forth between his discussion with Goodman and his planned trip to Israel. He looked forward to visiting with the Rosens and he especially looked forward to spending some time with his old friend Tom Donafin who had joined News World magazine a few weeks earlier. He was not, however, looking forward to being away from Elizabeth, Hope, and Louisa for so long, although they would be joining him in Israel for Christmas.
They were now about a hundred and twenty miles from Los Angeles. The temperature was near perfect. The sun would be setting soon. Suddenly Decker took his foot off the gas pedal and let the car drift to a stop on the shoulder of the road. 'What's the matter, Dad?' Hope asked. But Decker didn't answer. For a long moment he just stared as if in shock. 'How could I have missed it?' he asked himself out loud. 'What?' Hope asked.
'We're going back,' he said finally. Hope tried to object but it was fruitless. Decker forgot all about his promise to Elizabeth not to be late. Two hours later they were back where they had started at Goodman's house, with Hope, who was still operating on Eastern time, asleep in the back seat. Decker went up to the front door and knocked.
Goodman and Christopher opened the door together. No one spoke for a moment; Goodman just stared at Decker in confusion. Christopher stood beside him dressed in pajamas, his hair still damp and freshly combed after his bath.
'Did you forget something?' Goodman asked finally. But Decker had already stooped down to Christopher's level and was closely examining his facial features.
'Hi, Mr. Hawthorne,' Christopher said. 'It's so nice to see you again. Can Hope come in and play some more?' The intensity in Decker's eyes began to melt away, until he looked back up at Goodman, who was staring down at him.
'What on earth is the matter with you?' Goodman asked. Decker stood up again. 'You did it. Didn't you?' 'What are you talking about?' Goodman said, trying to appear calm and in control.
'You know damn well what I'm talking about!' Decker answered without hesitation. Goodman felt like a rabbit in a snare. Dozens of thoughts suddenly raced through his head: short and pointed thoughts. All of them colored by fear. Could Decker have meant something else? he asked himself.
'The cloning!' Decker blurted
'Christopher,' Goodman said as calmly as he could, 'Mr. Hawthorne and I need to talk for a while. Go back in the house. Tell your Aunt Martha I'm on the front porch.'
Decker waited until Christopher closed the door before speaking again. 'You cloned the cells from the Shroud!' Decker said in a whisper so loud and emphatic he may as well have been shouting. 'Christopher isn't your brother's grandson! You don't even have a brother! You were an only child!' he said out loud, abandoning any pretense of discretion.
The night was warm and the moonlight shone on Mrs. Goodman's flowers; their fragrance filled the air, but it went totally unnoticed by the two men. Goodman looked closely into Decker's eyes and examined his face for any sign of a twitch which might signal that Decker was bluffing. He found none.
Decker hadn't flinched, but he had been bluffing, at least a little. While he now knew that Christopher could not be Goodman's grandnephew, that certainly was not conclusive evidence that he was the clone of the man on the Shroud. The story about Goodman's brother might have been created for dozens of other reasons that had nothing at all to do with the Shroud.
'Decker, you can't tell anyone. You can't,' Goodman pleaded. 'They'll make him a zoo specimen. He's just a little boy!'
Decker shook his head, stunned that he had been right. 'That's why you named him Christopher, isn't it?'
'Yes,' Goodman answered, realizing that the damage had already been done and hoping to inspire a cooperative spirit in Decker.
'After Christ!'
For a moment Goodman honestly didn't understand what Decker meant, then it hit him. 'Christ!… Hell, no!' he said. 'Columbus… I named him after Christopher Columbus.'
'Why in the world would you name him after Columbus?'
The question surprised Goodman, who thought that the answer was obvious.
'I told you I had made the greatest discovery since Columbus discovered the New World. I wasn't just talking about finding the cells or the possible medical benefits. I was talking about Christopher. I had already successfully implanted the cloned embryo in the surrogate mother, and she was several months into an otherwise normal pregnancy. The C-cells proved so resilient that transfer of the genetic material to the surrogate's egg was greatly simplified. I was going to tell you about it then, but you got so damned bent out of shape when I mentioned cloning that I didn't dare tell you.
'Damn it, Decker, I've proven that somewhere out there in our galaxy there's life! The man in the Shroud may have come from the same race of people who first planted life on this planet four billion years ago. I thought if I could clone the man on the Shroud, I could learn more about them. I hoped it might lead us to that master race. I hoped that like Columbus, Christopher might help lead us to a new world: a better world.
'After Christopher was born I studied him. I watched him. I tested him. And you know what I found?… Not an alien; not a god. What I found was a little boy.'
'He's not just a little boy, though. He's the clone of a man who lived nearly two thousand years ago.'
