This time Stephen meets us in the tunnels.
“Where have you two been? The elders are calling every five minutes and Zip sent a message directly to Martha.”
He hands a tablet to Martha; then looks at me. Blood ran down my face and shirt and I can feel more dried on the back of my head, but it’s the blood draining out of Martha’s face that concerns me more.
“What happened to you?” Stephen asks me.
“Tickle fight gone wrong.”
Martha can’t even manage to shoot me an annoyed look. She turns to Stephen.
“Who’s seen this?” she asks Stephen.
“Just me.”
“Share it with the House. They deserve to know.”
“It gets worse,” he replies. “You’d better get up to the command center.”
Stephen heads for the command center, but Martha gets a damp towel to clean me up; then steers me into her room.
“What was in Zip’s message?” I ask.
“Confirmation of what you said about prophets. Zip got the votes and they sentenced you to death as a war criminal. She’s demanding that I turn you over.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
Martha’s answer is to look into my eyes; then pull me into her for a long kiss.
****
The entire staff is in the command center and the large screen tells us what Stephen thought was worse than my death sentence. The Cult Hunter Corps is back in business, and the first order of the kill teams is to make sure the world knows that raising your arms into a cross is now an unofficial act of treason in their eyes.
The overly enhanced news anchor happily announces a new worldwide initiative to “enlighten” those who were “confused” by my speech. The official feed shows Bibles being turned in by smiling school children, who were induced to spy on their parents. Inset on the screen, around the official news, we’re seeing private footage taken around the world. In those shots, government “enlightenment” comes down the barrel of a stun gun or through a rifle butt to the head.
The worst of all is footage stolen from a government film crew. Eight people are in a line, and when they’re asked to deny Christ, they raise their arms up into crosses. Their leader says: “You can never take this cross away from me,” and they’re all shot with something the world hasn’t witnessed in several generations - bullets.
Four isn’t allowing the government to keep their actions secret from the public, like they did when I broke the final code. Every bit of footage is being hacked into the most popular programs worldwide.
The scenes continue to flash past until I can’t take anymore and turn to find Martha seated at a terminal. She’s looking at the map of Four houses.
“Zip couldn’t get the votes on her own, but the Corps got them for her,” Martha says.
I step to where I can see the map and there’s now only one green dot.
“Bethany House stands alone,” Martha says.
“What will she do next?”
“I’m not sure, but I know the best person to ask her.”
“What would I say to her?” I ask.
“Whatever you think she needs to hear.”
We go to the conference room and Martha puts in a call to Zip.
“The Cult Hunter, right on cue,” Zip says when her face comes onto the screen. “If you’re hoping you can still join me and beg for a pardon, it’s a little late. As a matter of fact, it’s a little late for all of your old friends. They’ve received the same sentence.”
I again find my eye drawn to the fractal tattoo on Zip’s neck.
“You can’t win a war with the Cult Hunter Corps, Zip. I don’t care how well trained you are. You’ll be out-manned and out-gunned and even if you could win, it’s not Christ’s way. People won’t come to Him when you hold them gunpoint. Stick to Austin’s way, with peaceful resistance.”
“Austin’s time leading Four is over. He’s disappeared.”
I look at Martha and she nods.
“And I don’t plan to start a war. Martha’s idea of painting the number four all over the world made me realize all we need to do is jump in and out of shadows and make the cult hunters disappear one at a time. Painting was great training though. Thanks for the idea, Martha."
I say nothing.
“You just love my tattoo, don’t you, Cephas? You can’t take your eyes off it.”
She pulls her shirt off her right shoulder to show that it’s much larger than it first appeared.
“It’s a fractal pattern,” I say. “A very complex one. I’ve already identified over a dozen sub-patterns.”
She pulls her shirt back into place.
“We’re not good enough friends for you to count all of the patterns. Let’s just say it goes very far down.”
“God’s creation is like a fractal, Zip. I guarantee that you can’t see all of the patterns He’s woven into your life. Don’t do this. Wait for more of His plan to be revealed before you make decisions that could affect us all.”
“You have no idea how hypocritical that statement is, coming from you.”
She involuntarily glances at the tattoo on her shoulder.
“Zip? Who created that fractal?” I ask.
“Someone you sentenced to death with your decisions.”
Zip ends the call and Martha comes out of the control booth.
“It was Zach who created that fractal, wasn’t it?” I ask. “I should have figured it out the first time I saw it. He was a brilliant Christian code master; so he loved fractals, just like me.”
“Zach was Zip’s brother.”
“And I killed him. I wish you’d told me.”
“I never thought she’d take control of Four. Austin believed in you, even when you were The Cult Hunter. I thought you’d lead us someday.”
“Instead I destroyed it. My testimony is what set everything in motion. Everything Austin worked so hard to build is gone, and he’s in hiding - thanks to me.”
“Austin doesn’t hide. We received a message that gave us a private com frequency we can use to contact him.”
“Where is he?”
“He didn’t say. He just gave us the frequency and transmitted a coded message for you.”
She hands me a slip of paper with a string of random letters.
“I guess he assumed you could crack his code. How long will it take?” she asks.
“Got it.”
She gives me a look that screams the question: “Are you for real?”
“It’s what I do,” I say with a shrug.
“Can you tell me what it says?”
“Dear Cephas, I started with just Bethany House and I’m happy to hand it to you. I’ll be travelling around the world trying to finish the work that you have yet to begin. A.”
What in the world is that supposed to mean?
****
Aislin and Garai continue to demand a meeting with me. When they come up on the screen, they already look as angry as they were when the last call ended. They don’t bother with pleasantries.
“Dr. Paulson, why are you on the network throwing knives like some circus act? I put inciting this violence on your head,” Garai says.
“Don’t you have a bigger problem on your hands? Zipporah has taken control of the Four network from Austin. She’s also declared me a war criminal and sentenced me to death.”
“You’re not in control of Four?” Aislin asks.
“No. The video was of me learning basic self-defense. It was used without my consent.”
“Then it’s as I’ve said for years: Four is a rogue element,” Garai says. “You are not one of them, Dr. Paulson. You should leave immediately.”
“I agree,” Aislin says. “The members of Four are young and angry. I could offer you a more stable setting.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you’re forgetting one thing.”
“And what is that?” Garai asks.
“I’m young and angry too.”
****
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Martha asks.
“What choice do I have? The world associates me with Christianity and the Four movement. Killing cult hunters will play right into Henry’s propaganda war. If I can remind the world this isn’t what Christians are all about, before Zip goes through with her plan, maybe it’ll change her mind.”
We decide the best way to reach a large audience that includes current members of Four is to keep hacking in on my old lectures. Dr. Talkington starts her lecture at the appointed time and I see there are already over ten thousand people watching her live, waiting to see if I’ll show up and help them make sense of what’s happening. When I break in, the number rapidly climbs even higher.
“Thanks for coming today, Karen. It’s nice to see you’re still a fan.”
I hear Martha snort a laugh in the control booth.
“There’s a question on my mind today that I’m sure I share with millions of people around the world: What should we do in view of today’s attacks and murders by the Cult Hunter Corps? It’s already been suggested that we strike back; but how can someone commit murder and claim to have acted in Christ’s name? I don’t know. What I do know is that it isn’t too late for the Four movement to carefully consider its next action.”
“To try to make sense of what’s happening today, I thought it might help to take a more in-depth look at something I said several lectures ago. I referred to the years between 2000 and 2020 as a period of church decline, even though church membership was rising. My contention was that an increase in church membership isn’t the same thing as an increase in the number of believers. I’d like to explain some things about that time period that are similar to what’s happening in the world today.”
I see Martha get a curious look on her face. In the lower corner of the screen, there’s a series of numbers scrolling rapidly. The first two numbers lock on 40, while the rest keep scrolling.
“The latter half of the 1900’s, say from around 1960 and on - was one of the first great movements away from faith. New technologies, such as computers, were being invented and rapidly advancing. In this era there were large numbers of people who I characterize as ‘seeking truth without God.’ They wanted to know the truth about the purpose of their lives and the universe, and when they couldn’t find it, they tried to make up their own truth. Some relied on science until they found things science couldn’t explain. Others insisted the only real truths were those contained in the human mind; and some even convinced themselves humans could be gods themselves, if they could reach higher levels of enlightenment.”
The strange number counter has locked the numbers 4035061050503. My image starts to fade a little on the screen and Martha works madly until it’s restored. All of the numbers start scrolling again. The first two lock on 45 almost immediately and the next two lock on 46 a moment later.
“If that generation could be characterized as ‘seeking truth without God,’ then their children should be described as ‘seeking God without truth.’ That’s the generation that flooded the churches from 2000 to 2020. They desperately wanted the God that their parents had rejected, but they wanted Him without His truth, because His truth would require them to change their ways. So like their parents, they made up their own version of God. A version they could keep in a box and only take out when it suited them. They didn’t want to hear that the wages of sin is death. So they made up a God who wouldn’t tell them those things; a God who would let them live life on their own terms rather than His. Many preachers were happy to ignore the Bible and “go with the flow,” as they used to say back then, because preaching what people wanted to hear filled the pews and, therefore, the collection plate.
I would suggest to you that many members of the Four movement are seeking God without considering His truth, and His truth still says: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Put another way, I believe the mistake all of these generations has made is easy to see. God said to Moses: ‘I am who I am.’ He didn’t say: ‘I am whoever man thinks I am.’”
The last two numbers lock to reveal the series 4546591083002 and again my image dims before Martha restores it. The numbers once again start scrolling, with the first two locking on 44 and the next two on 04 as quickly as before.
“Can everyone see how naturally this led into the ‘Equalization’ period that followed? Christians had become accustomed to defining God to be what suited their purposes so they could do whatever they wanted, without being held to a higher standard. When the government started Equalization to ensure all religions were equal, man jumped at the chance to have his own personal religion where he answered only to the god of his own making. I believe the Four movement has fallen into that same trap.”
I finish my sentence just as the last two numbers lock to give the series 4404491031351. This time the transmission is cut and doesn’t come back.
“What was up with the scrolling numbers?” I ask as Martha exits the control booth.
“It was some sort of new tracking program; so I cut the transmission. It came from your old studio in Colorado Springs. I was worried about you making an enemy of Zip, but I think Henry is trying to tell you he’s still in this fight.”
Martha’s cousin William bursts through the door.
“I thought you’d never end.”
“William, what’s happened?”
“I knew you’d want to know immediately. We received a message from a source in Israel. The government removed the time travel device from the cave two days ago and replaced it with a fake. They left the arena cage in place to fool everyone, but our people could tell the device was a fake because it’s smaller. They don’t know where the real device has gone.”
“They have a two-day head start. It could be anywhere by now,” Martha says.
“We need to find it, fast,” I say.
“Why? What does it mean?” William asks.
“It means I’ve received two death sentences in the same day.”
****
Although I hate the idea, there’s only one thing I can do. I need to ask Aislin, Garai and even Zip for their help to find and destroy the time machine before Henry can use it again. I can’t help but wonder if such an alliance was also my parents’ undoing.
I expect the news about the time travel device to hit the room like a bombshell, but it doesn’t. The faces of the three Christian leaders are magnified many fold, up on their respective screens, and it’s easy to see the information isn’t a surprise to Aislin or Garai. Zip’s eyes flicker wide with surprise for just a moment; then she gets a satisfied smile - but says nothing.
“The funds needed to move the device crossed my desk weeks ago, as did expenses of personnel from NASA to run it,” Aislin says.
“I learned of the plan just a week ago,” Garai says.
“Then where is it?”
“I don’t know,” Aislin says.
“My people last saw it loaded onto a tube car,” Garai says. “The travel plan was confidential; so I too do not know the location of the device. What do you believe Henry is planning this time? Will he send someone back to kill Jesus as a child? Or maybe kill the Apostle Paul?”
“You already know the answer to that. Henry won’t do anything that might result in a big change to his own life. He’ll want to keep the change to the timeline as small and simple as possible. Namely, he needs to make the Travelers Initiative fail so the world never hears my testimony.”
“So he’ll change the timeline to send someone else in your place?”
“I don’t think so. In his heart, Henry knows the truth; so he won’t risk having someone else come back and give similar testimony. Besides, he’ll still want the force of my celebrity behind the message. The best way to accomplish that is to allow me to complete the mission, but kill me before I can testify. He owns plenty of doctors. All he needs to do is put one on the space plane that brought me back to the states. They can inject me with something lethal and pass it off as an unexpected effect of time travel. Then he’ll bring out the bloody bandage and claim I told him on my deathbed that I saw the apostles steal the body.”
“Then your analysis matches our own,” Garai says. “This is your problem, not ours.”
“My problem? Really? You’d let Henry erase the last six weeks?”
“You’ve been clear that you want no part of any of our organizations; so wouldn’t we also be in the same position as we were before? As I remember it, being associated with us would somehow ‘ruin you.’ We wouldn’t want that,” Aislin says.
I close my eyes and all I can see is Pharisees chanting: “Crucify.”
“Then, don’t do this for me. Do this for all the faithful. The Travelers Initiative sparked a worldwide revival. Don’t let that be erased.”
Zip crosses her arms.
“And if you can’t do it for them, do it for yourselves. Ancient church bells that sat silent for generations have started mysteriously ringing. If I were a betting man, I’d bet every ring of those bells equals more money and people flowing into all of your organizations. None of you want those bells to go silent.”
Modern Pharisees are the same as the ancient ones: flip them a silver coin to get cooperation.
“What would you have us do?” Garai asks.
“Bethany House has been hacking government data and intercepting communications, and we’ve come up with nothing. All I’m asking for is an exchange of information so we can find the time machine and destroy it before any changes are made to the timeline.”
“I have other plans,” Zip says. “I won’t commit resources.”
“You’d have more resources if your plan didn’t include murder,” I reply.
“You should be grateful to have fewer of your old pals around to get in your way.”
“You, of all people, should want the timeline to stay intact. It put you in charge of Four.”
“I thought about what you said about patterns, Cephas. My ascension in Four has always been part of a larger pattern. It was inevitable.”
Yes, but perhaps not for the purpose you think.