Project Pope

Twenty-seven

Mary struggled to sit up.

'They threw me out, she cried. 'They threw me out of Heaven! The struggle ceased and she fell back onto the pillow. Finespun, foamy spittle clung and bubbled at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes stared wildly, with the look of seeing nothing.

The nurse handed Tennyson the syringe, and he jabbed the needle into Mary's arm, pushed the plunger slowly home. He handed the syringe back to the nurse.

Mary lifted a hand and clawed feebly at the air. She mumbled and after a time words came from the mumble. 'Big and black. He shook a finger at me.

Her head sank back more tightly on the pillow. The lids came down across the manic eyes. She tried to lift a hand, fingers flexed for clawing, but then the hand fell down onto the sheet and the fingers lost their hooklike attitude.

Tennyson looked across the bed at Ecuyer. 'Tell me what happened. Exactly how it happened.

'She came out of the experience, said Ecuyer. 'I know that's an awkward way to say it, but the only way that fits — she came out of the experience raving. I think raving with fright.

'Does this happen sometimes? Does it happen to other Listeners?

'At times, said Ecuyer. 'Not often. Very seldom, in fact. Sometimes they do come back upset from a particularly bad scene, but ordinarily it's only surface fright, superficial fright. They realize the experience no longer obtains, that they are safely home and there's nothing now to harm them — there never was anything to harm them. In particularly bad instances, an experience may leave a mark upon them. They may dream about it. But the effect is transitory; in a short time it goes away. I have never seen anything as bad as this. Mary's reaction is the worst I have ever seen.

'She'll be all right now, said Tennyson. 'The sedation is fairly heavy. She won't come out of it for several hours, and when she does, she should be fairly woozy. Her sensory centers will be dulled. Even if she remembers, the impact of her memory should not be violent. After that, we'll see.

'She still thinks that she found Heaven, said Ecuyer. 'Even thrown out, she still thinks it's Heaven. That's what hit her so hard. You can imagine the emotional repercussions. To find Heaven and then be thrown out.

'Did she say more? I mean earlier. More than she said just now.

Ecuyer shook his head. 'A few details, is all. There was this man — black and huge. He threw her down the stairs. Down the Golden Stairs. She rolled all the way to the bottom. She is convinced she is black and blue from bruises.

'There's not a mark upon her.

'Of course not, but she thinks there is. This experience, Jason, was very real to her. Vivid in its cruelty and rejection.

'You haven't looked at the crystal yet.

'Not yet. To tell you the truth, I'm reluctant to. Even knowing what it is….

'I understand, said Tennyson.

'What worries me, what really worries me, is that Heaven, or the things in Heaven, or whatever may be out there, has detected our spying. That they can trace Mary back to us. We should have-

'I think you're letting your fears run away with you. I don't see how they can trace her back. I can't imagine how they could have detected her. She wasn't really there, not in her corporeal being.

'God, I don't know, said Ecuyer. 'I don't know anything anymore. We never should have let her go; we should have recognized the danger.

'I can't think there is any possibility she was detected, that the project was detected.

'This black man-this devil of hers — chased her down the stairs.

'All right, said Tennyson. 'All right, maybe he did. Although I don't think he had anything to chase. Mary wasn't there. But even if, through the wildest of possibilities, she was and he chased her, you can't blame yourself. There was no way to know, no way that you could know.

'Almost never is there any direct reaction to any of our Listeners in those other worlds, said Ecuyer. 'Ordinarily our people are no more than observers. When they are more than observers, they become involved by becoming one of the residents of these other worlds — by forming some link with one of them or by somehow programming their minds so they become one of them or — Jason, I just don't know… I have never known. I don't know what our Listeners do when they arrive someplace or how they go about handling the situation. I can't figure it out, and they're no help; they can't tell me how they do it. What happened to Mary has never happened before. When our people get really involved, when they enter into the physical aspects of some other place, they become involved as something other than themselves. But Mary got involved as Mary. She was in Heaven, so far as she was concerned, she herself actually was in Heaven and she met this man and he chased her down the stairs…

'That's what she says.

'I'll tell you something, said Ecuyer. 'I'll bet you that it happened that way. I'm convinced that the crystal will show-

'Of course it will, said Tennyson. 'If that's what she thinks happened, that is what will be on the record. It's not what happened, but what she thinks happened, that will show up in the crystal. But even if the record is accurate as to what really happened, even if this creature she thinks chased her down the stairs did exactly that, how can you be so sure he or his fellows could trace her back to us?

'I don't think I'm sure, said Ecuyer. 'But I do think the possibility is there. The possibility is that she — how do you say it? — that she has given us away. Our Listeners never can be certain what they'll find out there. The man who chased her may not be the kind of being that she thinks she saw. He may have been something that was incomprehensible, so Mary's human mind translated him into human terms, into the sort of creature, horrible as he may have appeared to her, that she could understand, that would be bearable and that she could accept. Mary is an experienced observer, one of our most valuable. I'm certain she would know what she saw and certain as well that if she ran into some life form too horrible to look upon she'd instinctively protect herself by translation.

'I don't understand your fear, said Tennyson. 'Vatican robots go out in thought-ships, or whatever you call them, to some of the worlds that your people seek out.

'That is true, said Ecuyer, 'but there is a difference. The robots don't go blind. They know what they are getting into. Their shots are picked very carefully.

Mary was resting comfortably, the sedation having taken hold.

'She'll be all right now, said Tennyson. 'The worst is over. She'll remember some of the event when she wakes, but the sharp edges of the experience will be dulled. All she needs is rest for the moment. Later it might be well if she could switch over to something else. Would that be possible? We can't take the chance of letting her go back to Heaven. If we can't be sure that she won't go back, it would be best to take her off the program entirely. In such a case, however, she'd brood over it. It would be preferable if she could go on to something else. New experiences would serve to blur this one. 'It's unlikely she'd run into anything as traumatic as Heaven.

'I don't know, said Ecuyer. 'When she is rational, we'll have to talk with her and try to think it through.

'I have patients waiting for me, said Tennyson. 'I'll drop in later on.

There were only a couple of patients. When he was finished with them, Tennyson did not immediately go back to Mary. She'd still be deep in sedation and the nurse would have sent word if anything was wrong.

It was early afternoon and the day was fine. The mountains stood up a deeper blue against a pale-blue sky. Looking at the mountains, Tennyson knew where he wanted to be, where he needed to be — a place where he could sit alone for a time and think. In the last few days, even in the last few hours, too many things had happened and they needed sorting out. Near at hand was a place made to order for exactly that.

The garden was deserted. Usually a few monks could be found pacing silently along the paths, but none were in evidence. Tennyson headed for the bench that stood near the roses. Only one rose was in bloom — a pale-yellow bloom that was past its prime, the petals already beginning to come loose to be scattered by the wind.

Sitting on the bench, he looked toward the mountains. Strange, he thought, that they should exert so powerful an attraction for him. Someday he'd have to take Decker up on his offer and, with this new friend of his, make an expedition into them. Although more than likely, he told himself, a few days' trip such as Decker had suggested would not carry them far into the mountains, perhaps no farther than the nearer foothills.

Soon, he thought, he'd have to see Decker and talk with him about Whisperer. Whisperer, he thought, what a silly name! And what, for the love of God, was Whisperer? Something that could get inside one's mind? That could become one with him? I am inside of you and can become a part of you. Was that, Tennyson wondered, what Whisperer had said? Or was it no more than imagination?

He tried to brush the entire matter away; it was a disconcerting business to even think about. He'd know more about it when he talked with Decker, and there was no gain by puzzling at it now. Surely by this time Decker had learned considerable about Whisperer.

A foot crunched on the walk and Tennyson looked up. The gardener was standing beside him.

'So it's you again, said Tennyson.

'Who else should it be? asked the gardener. 'Who else has more right to be here? This is where I belong. This place is mine or as close to mine as any place can be.

'I wasn't questioning your right to be here, said Tennyson. 'It seems, however, that each time I come here I run into you.

'The place is small, said the gardener, but did not go on to explain what he meant.

'When will the roses bloom again? asked Tennyson. 'Now only one is left.

'But beautiful. Do you not think that it is beautiful?

'Yes, beautiful, said Tennyson.

'I hear, with much regret, that Mary is ill again.

'Yes, quite ill.

'It has come to my ears she went to Heaven once again.

'I do not know about that, said Tennyson, lying like a trooper. 'I only know she's ill.

It was, he told himself, none of the gardener's damn business.