"Visit him where? And when?" asked Harrison.
"In a week at his research facility in the forest. We can transport you there in an ambulance-copter and of course he has full medical facilities at the laboratory so you'd be safe and secure."
Harrison looked at Helene for her reactions and saw her studying the President's bland face. Beneath the smooth exterior she thought she detected a tightening of his jaw line which she interpreted as a strong desire for the visit to take place. She nodded at Harrison who said, "I'd love to. Just to see what he's working on would be a privilege."
The President's features relaxed and Helene noted his relief.
"Excellent. I'll have a liaison officer visit later this week to make preparations and to accompany you. But please, tell no one. We will have a suitable story to explain your absence if need be. If that's all right with you?"
When the President had gone they discussed what had happened. Helene focused on their desire to be part of the network and Harrison speculated on what the secret project could be.
"I'll contact Lucas and have him prepare what you'll need to plug them in," said Helene. "That way a call will be all it takes to start the process."
Harrison looked thoughtful, "I'd better re-read his book on directed evolution. I'll be surprised if it's not something to do with that."
"Does he want to play God?" asked Helene.
"I wouldn't be surprised. Part of his thesis, if I remember correctly, is that humanity is in an evolutionary bind right now and natural evolution is too slow to fix it and that we have the tools to speed it up."
"Ugh," said Helene distastefully, "the arrogance of eugenics rears its ugly head once more."
"It certainly could be something like that," said Harrison.
"I don't know how much of that we could keep secret," mused Helene.
"Well, we can decide that when I've seen what's what."
For a long while they sat together sunk in their own thoughts.
"There is no ideal human," muttered Helene eventually. "None at all."
CHAPTER 3
Lucas sat behind his desk idly musing over the message to prepare the ground for a group in Brasil. Exoticism colored everything that came out of that country from Carnival to sex change surgery and he wondered where on the spectrum the new group would fall. He hoped it would be toward the lighter end.
The network he had so carefully built over the past years had introduced him to more heavy secrets than he cared for. The weight of the knowledge he carried needed to be set down occasionally and his mind relieved of their pressure; otherwise he wouldn't be able to function at all. A lightweight secret would be very welcome.
He was keeping an eye on a screen showing the Reception Room at the complex where Maeve was still at her station greeting the line of important visitors who wanted a personal visit with the High Priestess. She met them in her High Priestess gown seated in an ornate chair. Cindy, who had grown from her personal bodyguard to a trusted confidante and the head of her guard detail, stood beside her naming the visitors, handing her information on them and generally stage-managing the sessions.
Lucas glanced at the clock and saw with relief that she was with the last visitor of the day. He could see from subtle signs in her posture that she was tired. At last the final visit ended and Cindy signaled to close the Reception Room door.
In a moment the door to Lucas' office opened and Maeve and Cindy came in. Maeve collapsed on the sofa and began to strip off the heavy gown.
"Gaia, that was a long day. I'm beat."
Cindy had gone to the Food and Beverage robot and ordered up two cups of hot tea for Maeve and herself. "I thought that last woman would never leave," she said. "I thought she was going to kneel in front of you."
"She was," said Maeve embarrassed. "As it is she managed to kiss my hand."
Beneath the gown Maeve wore a tee shirt and shorts and Lucas found himself admiring her body. "Three kids and twelve years on and she still makes my heart race," he thought.
Maeve caught his look and smiled at him in appreciation. That visual exchange took only a few seconds and then she asked, "What's the schedule for this evening?"
Cindy consulted her calendar. "Nothing. See the kids, have dinner, get some rest. We'll shoot the sermon in the morning."
Maeve nodded and sipped her tea.
"How about you, dear?" she asked Lucas.
He had checked his calendar and quickly decided to cancel a meeting with staff in favor of family.
"Let's see," he said, "I've got to see the kids, eat dinner, relax a little and have a date with my wife."
Maeve grinned, "I'll add that last bit to my schedule."
"Seeing the kids meant moving from the offices to the living quarters, a matter of a hundred yards walk that included Cindy and the two other guards and two assistants for Lucas. Once in the living quarters the assistants faded into the background, the guards checked the premises and then joined Lucas' aides in the break room which featured screens showing every room.
The kids came bursting through the door to the living room to bombard their parents with stories of the day. Eleven year old fraternal twins, Jack and Robbie, and their nine year old sister Miriam. The boys were sturdy and energetic and came tumbling in full of anecdotes about the games they'd been playing at school. They were boisterous with Lucas, leaning on him and twining their arms through his and generally pulling him two ways at once. They were much gentler around their mother and left her when Miriam climbed into her lap.
Lucas fended them off as best he could and for a while they were as close to a normal family as they could manage. The boys wrestled with their father and called out to Maeve to "watch this Mom" and tried to get as much physical contact as they could.
Miriam sat quietly on her mother with one arm around her neck and their heads touching. They were growing more similar in appearance every day and Lucas worried that his daughter would be caught up in the family business, so to speak, and be groomed to eventually replace her mother.
He shook his head at the thought. By nature a retiring behind the scenes sort, he keenly felt the price Maeve paid for being the face of Gaia to the world. He didn't want to sacrifice his daughter on that same altar.
Cindy joined them for dinner and as usual grilled the children on their day asking questions the parents wouldn't and getting honest responses. She checked on their schoolwork and their friends and their relationships in general. They had known Cindy all their young lives and considered her a part of the family. Jack in particular called her Auntie Cindy and showed off some of the fighting moves she had taught them every chance he got. He had once famously announced to a schoolmate, "My Auntie Cindy could beat up anybody!"
When Cindy heard about it she took the three children aside and taught them how secretive they had to be about the household.
"But you can beat up anybody," complained Jack.
"Perhaps. But that has to be our secret. Like a secret power, okay?"
"Yes Auntie."
After the meal the children were taken in charge by their nanny and the adults were left in the sort of peace that descends when childish voices are silent.
"Have you heard from Helene?" asked Maeve.
Lucas told her about the message he'd received.
"How does she sound? Rejuvenated?"
"Can't tell, but she's working away so that must say something."
"Do you think we'll do that someday?" she asked.
`Lucas snorted. "I don't know if I'd want to if it meant just going back to work for another thirty years. Now if it meant you and I got youthenized and go off together for thirty years of fun I'd be all for it."
Maeve looked thoughtful, "I don't know how one drops a lifetime commitment..."
Lucas was rueful. "Well, we're not there yet. We'll have to wait and see."
Maeve said, "I wish I had Helene's dedication. She wants to keep working on Gaia forever but I'm the one who should have that fervor."
Lu
cas shook his head, "One zealot is enough for any organization. The Gaians take up enough of your life already."
In the moment of silence that followed they reached for each other's hand. The reality of their lives was starkly imprisoning. Their roles were key to the religion, the work they did had global implications and tired or not they were far from laying their burdens down.
"Well, let's have fun tonight, shall we?" said Maeve. "Let's make the most of the hours we have free, okay?"
Lucas jumped to his feet and pulled her up and into his arms.
"In you I forget the world," he said.
"Who said that?"
"I just did."
"Very poetic."
"Did it work?"
"Yes. Let's go to bed."
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