Christ Clone (37 page)

Genesis thought of how Wainright had manipulated him: the lies and the stories. He thought of the way he'd been treated, poked, prodded, tested, and examined. Living most of his life in a Hollywood set with Las Vegas almost next door. He thought about the other clones, and in particular, Aloysha. Although the lives of all three had been similar, Aloysha at least had spent some time in the real world, free of the tests, free of the prying eyes, just free. He thought about
Wainright again: how could a man like that control his life? Genesis had no idea what was real and what wasn't. With all the hand-picked information fed to him, there had been no room to work out whether his dreams had been his own or an extension of what Wainright wanted him to think. And all of this had been for what? Wainright's own pleasure? His ego? Or was it for this guy Travis? What did he want with them, and in particular with Jesus? Thoughts of freedom began to flood Genesis' mind.

Wainright interrupted the clones' silence. 'Grab your things and follow me. Time to get ready.'

They reluctantly picked up their bags and followed him into the barn. He led them to the stage behind the tarpaulin curtain and told them to start unpacking their bags while he went to get some additional props.

As they rounded the curtain they saw, standing proud in the centre of the stage, three large wooden crosses. Mesmerized, the clones dropped their bags and stared up at the crosses. Their significance was obvious: three roughly built, upstanding crosses, one for each of them. The thoughts of all three clones returned to the distant past and a confusion of feelings shook them: fear, pain, anger, humiliation, contempt, and ultimately, peace.

They looked at each other, trembling. The sight of the crosses seemed to solve the mystery; it explained the glint of recognition when they'd first met. As they looked at the ominous shapes, feelings of nausea caught at their throats; they knew only too well what these constructions represented.

'Don't just stand there! I told you to get ready . . .' Wainright had reappeared with a bottle of champagne and glasses. Frustrated that the clones had not started to unpack, he was about to bark orders when he noticed with what alarm they were staring at the crosses.
'Oh them,' he said dismissively. 'They're just for show. Don't worry, we won't be nailing you to them.' His reassuring smile was met with looks of total disbelief.

'Look, this isn't the time to get sentimental. There'll be plenty of opportunities for counselling and the like once this is all over.
Especially for one of you! Now come on, get over it and get ready
— we've all got places we need to be.'

Hearing the low rumble of a vehicle arriving, Wainright left the clones alone once more. As they began reluctantly to dress in preparation for the unveiling, thoughts of despair — and of vengeance
— passed through their minds.

***

'Sorry I'm late, had a bitch of a job ditching the Feds,' Alex Cornwell told Wainwright. He began to unpack equipment from the trunk.
'And the wind out there is kicking up something fierce — it really slowed me down. Looks like a storm coming.'

'Come and meet the others,' Wainright said. He opened the door to the RV. 'Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet Mr Alex Cornwell from
CNN.' Handshakes were exchanged as Wainright introduced each of them by name.

'I'm so very pleased to meet you all — for my sanity's sake especially!' In response to some questioning looks he went on, 'I was going mad last year when no one would confirm my missing artefacts story!'

Over the past few days, Alex had been brought up to speed with most of the details about the challenge, but the addition of Probandi had put an entirely new slant on the story. Pulling out his notepad,
Alex began to ask questions.

'So, Mr Travis, I understand from Mr Wainright that this challenge is a joint project between Travicom and Stemtex. What I can't work out is
why
?' Travis favoured Wainright with a malevolent stare. Alex continued, 'I mean to say, it's well known you two are intense rivals, so why would you choose to work together on a project like this?'

Wainright had his answer ready. 'As I've told you, Alex, the original idea was mine but there were certain parts of the experiment that needed Mr Travis' expertise. And as you can see, he has a very valuable friend.' Wainright nodded towards Probandi.

Travis was unusually quiet as he struggled with the situation. On the one hand he wanted to set the record straight about the whole challenge, whose idea it was, whose science was used, and ultimately, what an absolute fraud Wainright was; on the other hand was his overwhelming need to simply disappear with his prize and leave
Wainright to it.

'That leads me to my next question. You've been quite thorough in your briefing so far, so how come you didn't tell me about Probandi?'

Wainright didn't miss a beat. 'I didn't want to give all my secrets away. Where would the fun be in that? Anyway, how else did you think we'd be able to prove we'd really cloned Jesus?'

Spotting the inconsistency, the chairman was about to object when
Travis finally spoke up. 'It's been a pleasure working with Mr Wainright on this project. I must admit when he first came to me and suggested we should join forces to basically engineer Jesus, I was sceptical. But after Dr Androna evaluated the science Wainright's team had come up with, and we researched what would be needed, a plan was drawn up to try to include some of the greatest cloning minds in the world.
For Mr Wainright to then turn it into a worldwide challenge was a stroke of genius. It meant we could all collaborate, but still have a goal to aim for — an opportunity to prove who was best. My team managed to liberate Probandi's body and put into practice the science
Mr Wainright had made available. The result has far exceeded our expectations, and Probandi has not only provided an insight about events leading up to and following the crucifixion, but he was actually there at Golgotha at the time of Christ's demise, and remembers it clearly.'

There were so many questions Alex wanted to ask, but all in good time. Prior to his arrival he'd suspected this was no more than an elaborate a publicity stunt, but now he was entertaining fantasies that involved the Pulitzer Prize and royalties by the truckload.

Wainright broke the mood. 'I think it's time we got you set up,
Alex. Best not keep the Son of God waiting.'

Inside the barn, Wainwright helped Alex to set up the camera with attention to the best angle and the best lighting. He didn't want the reporter to miss a thing. When he was satisfied, he left Alex to finish his set-up checks while he ducked behind the tarpaulin curtain to prepare the clones for the unveiling.

The clones were huddled in a small group beside the champagne and glasses and they looked startled when Wainright appeared. Backing away from the table, they formed a line side-by-side, like troops on parade waiting for inspection. They were dressed in long beige robes and leather sandals, and Wainright marvelled at how authentic they looked. One by one, he led each clone to his cross and had him stand on a small platform at its base. First was Stefan. Wainright asked him to stand with his back to the cross. He told him to spread his arms so he could tie his wrists to the wooden frame. Stefan began to cry.

Immediately, Aloysha and Genesis came to his side. 'It's okay,
Stefan,' Aloysha said. 'Be brave, it's just a game. Soon we'll be free of all this.'

'That's right,' Genesis added. 'Remember what we talked about earlier? We'll all be taken care of, all of us.'

Wainright wasn't sure what was going on, but it seemed to have a calming effect on Stefan.

'All right you two, wait your turn please. Now Stefan, this is only going to be for a short time, just for the camera.' Wainright was continuing to tie Stefan's wrists in place. Once he'd finished, he moved a small glass cabinet containing the spear tip into place in front of the clone. He went on to repeat the process with the other two clones, afterwards placing cabinets containing the Shroud of Turin and the ancient piece of the true cross in front of them. He did spend a little extra time fussing over his own clone, Genesis. Then he stood back to admire the tableau.

***

Everyone had gathered in the barn. Travis, Androna, and Probandi were now standing with the European challengers. Wainright and his scientist stood in the middle of the group as the CNN reporter took some still shots. After several pictures were taken under Wainright's artistic direction, the reporter moved back behind his video camera, used his encrypted mobile phone to connect live to the CNN studio, and readied himself for the main event. Still smiling, Wainright went to the huge barn doors and dropped a heavy wooden plank across their steel brackets. No one would be disturbing them.

Satisfied that everything was in order, Wainright made his way to the makeshift stage to start the proceedings. With the reporter's camera rolling, Wainright looked straight at the lens as he addressed the gathering — and the world. 'To our European associates, a warm welcome: we appreciate your travelling such a long way from your homes, and we ask you to excuse this humble venue. We wanted to make this as authentic as possible, and as Jerusalem, Israel is a little problematic, we thought that Jerusalem, Arkansas would be the next best thing . . . And to all of you viewers on CNN worldwide, welcome.'
He paused to let his words settle. 'For those of you who don't know me, my name is Douglas Wainright. I am the CEO of Stemtex. And for those of you who don't know what's happening, I would urge you to stop whatever you're doing and focus your attention on me. This is going to be one of those life-defining moments — like when you heard
Elvis was dead, or where you were when the news of 9/11 broke. I take it I now have your attention?' Wainright was enjoying himself.
'Over two thousand years ago, a man called Jesus walked this earth. I know you are probably aware of his life story, and indeed his horrific death. This story has been passed down through the centuries via the
Bible, and of course retold daily in sermons, and even in Hollywood re-enactments. Stories, scriptures, films, and plays — all someone else's interpretation of what happened. But I ask you all now to consider: what if you could actually question the man himself? What do you think he would have to say?'

Wainright let the question hang in the air.

'Now, where am I going with all of this? Since time travel is currently unavailable — and believe me, I would know — this could be one of those Mohammed to the mountain moments.' A smug grin seeped onto Wainright's face. 'And now, without further ado, I'd like to present the man who assisted me through this whole thing, Mr
Simon Travis.'

A ripple of applause from the small group echoed around the barn.
Travis nodded to Wainright and stepped up to the stage.

'First, I too would like to thank you for coming all this way, and of course, for participating in this unprecedented project. We have all played our part in changing history! A lot of what I am about to say is directed to you worldwide viewers.

'Behind this curtain are three scientific miracles — three men cloned from biblical artefacts: a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, the tip of the spear used to confirm his death, and the
Shroud of Turin used to wrap his body. I have been informed that all three clones look physically different, but bearing in mind the relics from which they have been created, I have no doubt that one of them will be Jesus Christ.'

Travis paused a moment to let his statement sink in, and then continued, 'When this challenge was first offered, there were so many things we had to consider. Aside from all the technical problems, which
I'm sure Mr Wainright will be happy to share with you in due course, there were the moral issues. With this challenge, we intended to go beyond the here and now, beyond the human issue, to the spiritual level. In cloning Jesus, were we cloning a man? Or were we cloning a holy spirit in a human shell? To be perfectly honest, we had very little idea as to whether this was going to be possible at all, but if it was ever going to happen, we tried to think of as many ideal outcomes as possible. One of these was the chance that the clones would have past life recall. There had been certain cases — and once again Mr
Wainright will be able to give you the supporting data — where clones had somehow managed to retain memories of their past lives stored deep inside them, and even in their new bodies were able to recall these earlier experiences to varying degrees. Knowing this was possible, there were many rules and stipulations that needed to be adhered to.
The main one being that none of the clones was to be exposed to any religious material, and I mean absolutely none. Thus any recollections
— dreams or otherwise — would be untainted.

'I am told that all three of the clones we are about to reveal have had dreams and recall experiences related to a time two thousand years ago. Now, for many people this would be enough to convince them they had found the Son of God. However, it wasn't sufficient for me. I could have developed no end of tests and examinations to try to ascertain which of the three is the true Son of God, and still not have been sure.

'So, with that in mind, I would like to introduce a very special guest. This man was originally born over two thousand years ago, and with the help of Dr Androna and his team, he is with us today to bear witness to an event that happened during his previous life. Please allow me to introduce Probandi.'

As another small ripple of applause petered out, Wainright ducked behind the tarpaulin and returned immediately with a tray of champagne-filled glasses which he passed around among the small group. With this final chore completed, he celebrated by lighting a fat cigar.

Probandi took a bow, and Travis continued.

'As I said, Probandi was there on the fateful day when Jesus was crucified at Golgotha. It is a memory so strongly imprinted on his mind he will be able to tell us without a shadow of doubt whether we have been successful in creating a clone of the true Son of God.
Gentlemen, I ask all of you to raise your glasses as I propose a toast to Probandi.'