The Source

'Is that you speaking now, Marco, or the Scourge of God? It's getting hard to tell the difference.'

The geologist's refusal to understand him, and his arrogant assumption that only he was right, incensed Bazin. He had been justified in betraying Kelly and the others. Having seen the garden, and experienced its power, he knew it was too important to be left in the hands of men like him. Or those who had betrayed Rome, like Sister Chantal. Even Hackett would let the drug companies exploit it for money. Only the Holy Mother Church could and should channel its power. Only his half-brother, the Black Pope, was qualified to know how best to use it. Bazin reassured himself that he had served the Church well, and that his redemption was certain.

As he pushed Kelly and the nun through the entrance to the forbidden caves, he saw his half-brother emerge from the dark recesses of the antechamber. The Superior General held a folder in his right hand and was smiling.

'Look,' Torino said, as he walked closer. 'No limp. This place is truly miraculous. I want you both to tell me all about it.' He waved the folder towards the glowing tunnel. 'I especially want to know what's up there.'

'Why should we tell you anything?' Kelly asked.

Bazin frowned at him, unwrapped the crystal and handed it to Torino. 'Ross, the Superior General holds the fate of your wife in his hands. If I were you I'd tell him whatever he wants to know.'

Torino studied the shard. 'Have you the notebook?'

Bazin passed it to him. 'It's damaged, but most of it's still legible. The part you asked about is at the end.'

'Thank you, Marco. Please wait outside. I'll call if I need you.'

62

Torino had never felt so empowered and sure of his destiny. When he had woken this morning, cured of his limp, it was as if God's own blood flowed in his veins. And now, when he opened Father Orlando's notebook and scanned the last section, he knew he was close to exceeding even his most lofty ambitions.

'When did the Catholic Church start employing thieving, deceitful murderers?' said Kelly.

Torino glanced up from the notebook and watched his half-brother leave the cave. 'Marco has proved himself a loyal servant of the Church.' He smiled. 'Please, Dr Kelly, let us put any unpleasantness behind us. It was never my intention to harm your wife and unborn child, and if this crystal is as powerful as Sister Chantal believes, the damage can be reversed. There's no reason for any more animosity between us.'

'No reason for any animosity?' Kelly held up his bound wrists. 'You're holding us captive.'

'That's a precaution. To make sure we all understand each other before I let you return home.' Torino turned to Sister Chantal. 'Sister, you need feel no anger either. Father Orlando Falcon's original intention was to tell the pope of his discovery. He believed only the Holy Mother Church could be trusted with his garden.' He frowned. 'Regretfully, Rome didn't appreciate his discovery then, but now the Holy Father himself wants to embrace it within the bosom of the Church.'

'He's sanctioned all you've done?' she said incredulously.

Torino ignored her question. 'Sister, Father Orlando wanted the garden to be in safe hands, and now it will be. You should be satisfied.'

'What the hell are you going to do with it?' demanded Kelly. 'Turn it into a miraculous theme park? A Lourdes that genuinely cures people? Grant admission to people if they convert to Catholicism?'

'He won't do that,' said Sister Chantal. She spat the words. 'He can't let the world know about this place. It doesn't fit with Rome's doctrine.'

Torino's eyes narrowed. 'What do you know or care about Rome's doctrine, Sister? You betrayed the Holy Mother Church.'

'I betrayed no one,' she replied, with venom. 'If I've learnt anything over my long life it's that the Church should serve faith, not be its rigid master. I don't need this miraculous garden to fit with doctrine to know it's a place of God. Everything here contradicts the biblical Garden of Eden and the scriptures. Not only is it thousands of miles away from the Holy Land but it's also nowhere near the geographical origins of any major religion. The creatures and plants here prove that miraculous life can be created and evolve in parallel with humanity, independent of mankind and God's Church.

'And yet there are miracles in this godless place. How can that be? Are there perhaps alternative ways to interpret God's word, which go against the pope's infallible doctrine? Father Orlando thought so. And I do, too. I don't fear the strange creatures here, or the questions they raise about creation and evolution. Nothing here challenges my faith, only my understanding of it. This place might even be the Garden of Eden for all I know.' She laughed bitterly. 'But you, Father General, are a slave to your infallible doctrine. You put it before everything. You'd rather change the truth to fit what you believe than change what you believe to fit the truth.'

For a moment Torino said nothing. He had only contempt for the nun. She spoke of vows, but she had broken hers to the Church. 'You're right,' he said eventually. 'The Church does need to treat a discovery like this carefully. There are those who could misinterpret the garden and its creatures.' He gestured to the nymphs in the shadows. 'They might see them as contradicting the scriptures and the pope's recent decrees denying evolution. And, yes, I can't allow anything here to play into the hands of those who would destroy the Holy Mother Church, which embodies the hopes and dreams of millions of believers worldwide. I make no apologies for protecting their faith. But the truth is, I don't care about this miraculous so-called Garden of God or its exotic creatures.' He pointed up the tunnel. 'Not nearly as much as what's up there.'

He turned to Kelly and smiled at his surprise. 'And I suspect you don't either, Dr Kelly. As an atheist and a scientist, how do you explain this miraculous garden? Is it the cradle of evolution, the origin of life on Earth, a scientific Eden? Or are the garden and its creatures merely a sideshow to the main attraction?'

Kelly said nothing.

'Come on, Dr Kelly. We both know that the garden and its creatures are an irrelevant aberration, a distraction.' He raised the shard of crystal. 'Even this is a peripheral by-product of the real power behind this place.' He gestured to the glowing tunnel and tapped the notebook. 'Father Orlando wrote about it in the section of the Voynich your wife couldn't translate. He called it el origen.' He opened his manila folder and showed Kelly the relevant passage. 'His testimony in the Inquisition Archives records it by its Latin name: radix. Both mean 'the source'. Neither document explains what it is, instead describing it in philosophical and spiritual terms. In his notebook he mentions El Arbol de la Vida y de la Muerte, the Tree of Life and Death, which in the Inquisition testimony the Latin scribes record as vita quod mors arbor. Was this a reference to the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis? Was it meant to be taken literally or figuratively? What do you think the source is, Dr Kelly? What do you think we'll find up that tunnel? The source of all miracles?'

'Just one,' said Kelly. 'The planet's greatest miracle: life. And it's got nothing to do with God or religion.'

Torino smiled. 'We'll have to agree to disagree on who or what's behind it. The point is, we both want to discover what it is.' He turned to Sister Chantal. 'Sister, is whatever butchered the conquistadors in the Voynich still in the tunnel?'

'I've never been up there. No one has and lived. Except Father Orlando.'

'That's not strictly true. Is it, Dr Kelly? Marco saw you coming out of the tunnel when I arrived with the soldiers.'

Sister Chantal glared at Kelly. 'You went up it?'

Torino smiled. 'Dr Kelly told Marco he wouldn't believe what he'd seen up there. What did you see, Dr Kelly? Tell me, and after you sign a confidentiality agreement, I'll let you all leave here with the blessing of the Church.' He held out the crystal. 'I'll even let you take this with you. You can save your family, Dr Kelly. Isn't that what you came here for?'

'Whatever you saw, tell him nothing,' said Sister Chantal. 'He won't let you go, whatever legal forms he makes you sign. He can't risk anyone else knowing about this place. It raises too many questions.'

'Ignore her, Dr Kelly. I've already told you I don't care about the garden or its creatures. Just radix, the source. We both want to uncover this mystery. Tell me what you know and save your family.'

Kelly sighed. 'I turned back when I heard your soldiers shooting so I didn't reach the end. I got close,