TCK

TC484: Hell's Half Acre is a patch of badlands in the center of Wyoming. It's bigger than the  name suggests, more  like Hell's Half Square  Mile. The nearest sandstone  and shale  scarp that looked like it was in South Dakota.

A brown-skinned man emerged from the entrance of a  cave in the eroded landscape. He was dressed in dark blue-gray trousers and a knee-length jacket with  a matching shirt  and a  silver leaf brooch in place of a tie. He looked like a Shoshone with a good seamstress for a wife.

TC485: But the fellow was  too short, his hair  wasn't straight enough, and his face suggested the Mediterranean shores were his true home. The strange eroded  landscape reminded  him of  the desolate area around the Salt Sea. It was one hundred fifty feet from the floor of the ravine to the gravel parking lot above and the man ascended with no  sign of  exertion. He once roamed on foot over the whole land of  his birth from Lake Kinneret as far as Mount Hermon and south to the hill country of Judaea.

TC486: He noted  the presence  of a  maroon 1941  Chrysler Town & Country  woodie  parked  at the  restaurant  overlooking  the geological oddity and knew  he would find  Kim and  her friends eating lunch inside, just as  Kim knew  he was coming  and gave fair warning. They were already standing at their table when he walked indoors,  which the other  guests might have  thought was odd. None of them had  ever seen  Yeshua before  but as  B'nei Elohim they knew a seraph on sight and stopped everything, ready to serve.

TC487: "Please be seated," he said, and as they did he borrowed a chair from  another  table. "I'll have  what you're  having, Jashen."

The Prophet raised a hand  to flag  down a waitress  but Yeshua said, "No, Jashen, that was not me speaking in  a parable, that was not  allegory or poetic  language. I'll literally  have what you're having."

Yeshua took up a knife,  cut Jashen's cheeseburger in  two, and helped himself to one half.

Sophia said, "I'm pretty sure that burger is not kosher, Jesus."

TC488: "Not Jesus, Sophia. Call  me Yeshua. The  Greeks thought Yeshua was  a girly name so  they called me Iesous  instead. The Romans  spelled it  I-E-S-US.  Later the  English thought  names beginning with vowels were too girly so they called me Jesus. As for the food,  Bat-El made a rule against  eating blood, another one against eating pork, and  one more against eating shellfish. Mixing meat and dairy was never on his mind."

Yeshua made the Sign of  the Cross and took  a big bite  of his cheeseburger.

TC489: In the  lull Gabriel  looked around  the restaurant  and wondered aloud, "Do you think stopping here is safe?"

Kim nodded. "Clyde knew we were gone but it was too dark. By the time we were in Cody he  was searching around the  camp for two dead girls in hospital gowns  and stolen blankets. I guess right now he's trying to make heads or tails of that damaged rail car. That we might be here hasn't entered his wildest imagination."

Dory asked Yeshua, "Will you  say why we  can do the  things we do?"

TC490: "You already know  the ancient  controversy, Dory.  I am blocked from communicating  with any eloah on the  other side of my parents, and  so is Bat-El. But we can  listen, and last year when Pearl Harbor was attacked  there was even bigger news. Have you ever listened to Ma Perkins?"

"Land o' Goshen, Lord, there  ain't a  hull lot of  folks never heard Ma."

"I see you have. And now the eloah named Gevurah has also heard Ma."

"Oh, that's wonderful news, Lord, it means you've already won!"

TC491: "Not yet Dory, but for the eleventh time  in history the Elohim have received signals  from planet-dwellers. Gevurah only has  a direction  to Earth,  not  the distance.  But soon  other elohim will  pick up broadcasts  from Earth and realize  you are not out  of reach. The  Elohim will  have found the  Students at last! And they will  wonder how I can be a  stable yellow sun in their  midst yet  remain unquickened.  Questions will  arise and things will grow stickier for Shemhazai and Belial from there."

TC492: "Meanwhile," said Kimberly, "all the  elohim listen with rapt attention to the original  soap opera, sponsored by Oxydol, the whiter,  whiter soap, and  they fail to understand  a single word."

"True," said Yeshua," but the  broadcasts in question  aired in 1933, so I know Gevurah must be the star known as Sirius.'

Gabriel said, 'I wonder if the elohim will be coming to visit us now."

Yeshua replied,   "They  will   send  avatars,   Gabriel,  like remote-control rockets, but only on flybys."

TC493: "After it gets a certain distance from an eloah the link is too thin  to pass any propellant," said Sophia. "I know that much from the Green Book."

"Correct! So to finally  answer Dory's question,  starting from right here at  point A, I'm asking  all of you to  help me catch one of  those incoming avatars  at point  Z and bring  it inside myself, inside the star that I  share with Bat-El. And that will not  be easy  at  all,  because the  avatar  will  be moving  at seven-tenths of the speed of light."

TC494: "You are  asking us  to do  this, Lord?" asked Gabriel. "This is not a command?"

"Certainly not! True, you are my servants, but none of this can be forced upon you. My plan to capture Gevurah's avatar, and all of human  history, in  fact, is nothing  more than  the greatest love story  never told,  overcoming every barrier  Shemhazai and Belial  and can  throw up  to block  the wedding  of elohim  and humanity!"

At these words Gabriel felt moved to come around to Kim's chair and kneel beside her.

TC495: Gabriel braced himself  for courage, looked  Kimberly in the eyes,  and said,  "From the  day we  became lab  partners in school I loved you. Every day  you were gone and only Dory could reach  you it  tore me  apart. Then  my father  said we  had one narrow  chance to  save your  life and  I couldn't  sleep for  a minute until  I saw you  again, and when  I did you  were frozen half  to death  on  a stack  of steel.  That  moment changed  me forever, Kim. And now more than anything I want to spend my life with you."

TC496: Robyn took each of his hands in her own. "I love you too, Gabriel. It's true.  I  loved  you even  after  that lesson  on nephilim biology under  the mountain. But we're  Church of Green Dome and you know there's rules. Remy is for you."

"Whoa," said Sophia,  after clearing  her throat. "I know the Bible says never  put God to the test but  here's a smaller love story  than human  history, Lord,  with much  smaller artificial barriers. If you can't fix this I won't take this job you say is voluntary."

TC497: All eyes turned to Dory, who nodded her  head. "I'm with Sophia on this, Lord.  Kim must  becomes Mrs.  Gabriel Shybear. That's point B."

Yeshua  said,   "Why   not?   I  never   set   down   mandatory cousin-marriage. That was Lange, and the  truth be told it was a bit self-serving."

"Lord," warned Jashen, "'it will split your church  in two. The cousin-marriage thing always  kept the racism of  the White Wing in check."

"I know it did, and  now external reality will  finally conform with the internal rot."

TC498: Jashen tried  to shine  a good  light on  it. "Once the nomadic  people  of the  North  American  plains had  to  choose between  removing to  the reservations  or starving.  The Church offered a third way."

"We can still save something of the Church,' said Yeshua. "I'll move  a remnant  to  another  place, like  Bat-El  did with  the Laelites. But for now take these young people back to Headwater and announce the betrothal: Gabriel to Kimberly."

"As you command, Lord," said Jashen, and he bowed his head.

TC499: The decision having been  made, a vivid daydream  of the consequences assembled within Kim's mind. She croaked, "Oh, poor Gabriel. Poor me!"

Yeshua said, "Seeing all that,  Kimberly, will you  still marry him?"

She tentatively nodded her head in the affirmative but she said, "A year in Kemen, and then when we come back here I'm a goner."

Yeshua did a  little hand  wave. "Goner? Tut tut.  A temporary inconvenience.  Remember how  I was  wiped off  the face  of the Earth and now I'm good as new?"

TC500: "Go back to the 'poor Gabriel' part," said Gabriel. "Why did you say 'poor Gabriel' just now?"

Kim replied, "Your father announces our betrothal but the White Wing of  the Church will never  accept it. You get  attacked and strung up, but torture simply  doesn't work on the B'nei Elohim. Then  your cousin  Remiel  and his  friends  retaliate, so  Paul Bergin and Klaus Hansen kill me instead."

Sophia found it hard to believe. "Murder to stop a wedding?"

"It's much more than that," Yeshua said.

TC501: Kim seemed to look inside herself for a moment. "So many moving parts," she  said. Then she  snapped to  and stared  at Jashen. "Prophet Shybear. Your wife!  Dear God, she's  not just named  after Leliel  from the  Green Book,  she is  the original Leliel!"

Jashen smiled. "And no wonder, since I'm the original Shybear!"

"Impossible," snorted Sophia. "He was born a hundred years ago. You don't even look fifty."

"Eternal Wednesday," said Dory  and Gabriel in  perfect unison, looking at one another.

TC502: "Eternal Wednesday?" repeated Kim. "What does that mean?"

"Think about it," Dory told  her. "Dad was the Apostle  of the Church from the very beginning,  and the Apostle does Last Rites every Wednesday. How  did he pull it off? Simple!  Every day was Wednesday for  mom and dad.  They squeezed fifty-six  years into eight."

"I helped them along," Yeshua said.

"Then in 1922 Mark Lange died and dad became our Prophet at the ripe old  age of  twenty-four. Rankled Klaus  Hansen to  no end, that did."

TC503: "Mr. Hansen has watched me for a very long time," Jashen said. "He knows the office of Prophet must alternate between the White and Red wings, so he knows he must come  after me. But to his  eyes I'm  aging  so very  slowly. No  doubt  he thinks  the Killing Artifact has everything to do with that."

Yeshua addressed Kim. "How would you reply  if I asked  you to offer no resistance to these  men, Paul Bergin and Klaus Hansen, even with the  certain knowledge they will bring  about your own death?"

TC504: "I'm not in a big hurry  for my life to  end," she said. "Not when I've just started."

"'And what did the cross teach you?"

"That death is a door. You went through it and returned to show us how death is not the end. But now I see that was just a magic trick like Gabriel with his coins."

Yeshua was genuinely fascinated by Kimberly's unexpected reply. He asked, "When you look  at me with  your talent, what  do you see?"

"I see a fuse burning  backwards, making itself from  smoke and sparks."

TC505: "Do you see how it loops around?"

"Yes, Lord,  it  crossed  itself and  there  were  two  Yeshuas experiencing an advancing present, but one of those was executed by the Romans and hit a blank wall. The one who lived, the lucky one, was you."

"You're wrong about the  blank wall, Kimberly.  The part  of me that is Binah  carried over the memories of the  man who was put to death and merged them with my own."

"Again, Lord, lucky you, but that didn't help  the other Yeshua who experienced death."

TC506: "Kimberly, nobody in the whole history of both worlds has ever experienced death. Yes, we  experience dying, each  one of us, from the moment we are born, and there comes a moment in our lives that is not followed by  another one, but that last moment never becomes a memory."

"Lord, please let me understand  why I  must not resist  my own murder."

"When you and Sophia escaped your prison what did you do to make the correct combination appear in your mind?"

"I had to start punching numbers."

TC507: "Even so,  your  own  end will  spark  a beginning.  But Kimberly, I will  not order you to do what  you are unwilling to do, so  let us speak  of something  else. Your friends  will not arrive in Headwater until late tonight, but I can bring you to a reunion with your mother in almost no time at all."

And Kim, who felt a little guilty telling Yeshua no on the first thing, told him yes on  the other. After hugging her farewells she hiked with Yeshua  down to  the cave at  the bottom  of the ravine.

TC508: Kim followed him  into the cave,  where it  somehow grew light again, a little warmer, and soon they were kicking through fallen leaves piled  up to  their  knees. But there was  still plenty of green. "Christmas trees!" she exclaimed when she saw a stand of Douglas Fir. More of them covered mountains she could see through bare branches of maple and alder. Kim saw they were standing on a mountain also, near the top.

Yeshua said, "This is just a short side trip."

"Where are we now, Lord?"

TC509: 'We are still in your country. This state is the one that is furthest to the north and furthest to the west."

"Washington!"

"Very soon Jashen Shybear will no longer be the  Prophet of the Church. But Klaus  Hansen will not replace him by  any means. It will be you, Kimberly."

"Me, Lord?"

"Who better?  Are  you  not  the Seer?  After  you  behold  the abomination  that  makes  desolate,  and  the  temple  has  been defiled, you  will lead  a migration of  the faithful  here with both halves of my Church."

TC510: Kim looked through the trees  to the bottom land  at the foot of the mountain. The rich soil  there had been  laid down by repeated mud  flows  from  a large  nearby  volcano and  she remembered the Japanese-American fellow  at Heart  Mountain who helped her and Sophia escape by giving them clothing and advice. She said, "There's a  Mr. Kaneko who  lost his  strawberry farm when they sent him  to the camp in Wyoming. I want  to buy a new one for him, Lord. Right there. Do you see?"

"I do see, Kimberly."

TC511: Yeshua produced a thick envelope from  an inside pocket. "Yes. George Kaneko will have his  land after the war  when the relocation  camp  is no  more.  That  is  a very  kind  thought, Kimberly.  But this  money is  for your  mother, to  return home to  her parents  in  the  east. I  am  offering  it without  any conditions."

Kim accepted the envelope gratefully.

"Be of good cheer!" he said. "You have a great gift. No one else in Kemen or Earth truly has the freedom to choose! Consider why that is true."

TC571: During Temple the Prophet  of the Church of  Green Dome, Jashen Shybear, said he was setting aside the discipline of the Church, in  a single  case,  so  his  son Gabriel  could  marry Kimberly Zinter. With a loud  outcry of  righteous indignation Apostle Klaus Hansen stood  up and  left the  sanctuary, taking half the White Wing with him.

Hansen declared himself the Prophet  of the Reformed  Church of Green  Dome. Forbidding interracial  marriage  was  his  first article of faith, but there were many more.

TC572: Listing the new "original" articles of faith handed down from Jesus made  up the  bulk of  Hansen's first  Sunday sermon following the disastrous split in  the Church. Hansen said the curse of God lay upon all those who  played cards. Parishioners who engaged in dancing were  in danger of God's  holy judgment. Those who permitted themselves to even listen to race music, let alone dance to it, would  face the fires  of hell. He told his flock to let not one single drop of Demon Rum pass their lips.

TC573: To prove they were indwelt of the Holy Spirit he ordered the faithful to roll in the sawdust on the floor of the barn out on River Road that  was their  new "temple". That was just as well, as there were not enough  benches for everyone to sit. The actual Temple of Green Dome, prominently visible  at the source of the Squaw River, seemed to  mock them just by  continuing to exist. Many got up to leave during the service. Most alarming of all to Hansen, the plate came back largely empty of cash.

TC574: Paul Bergin, the reformed Apostle,  went door-to-door to the  homes of  White  Wingers  passing out  hastily-mimeographed tracts that promised eternal damnation to  backsliders who were tempted to stay or to return to the mother  church. Many of the white parishioners weighed  the peril  to their  souls if  they remained in  schism. Most found  the  barn  situation  to  be intolerably pathetic. Pressure mounted on Hansen to approach the Prophet of the  Mother Church  and negotiate  a healing  of the breach.

TC575: Paul Bergin and Klaus Hansen approached the Temple office door. It was opened by Gabriel an instant before they pounded on ithe door.

"How did you do that, son?" asked a startled Klaus.

"The Prophet foresaw that you were about to knock."

In the office Paul and Klaus  saw no one except  Gabriel, Dory, and Kim. It soon became apparent the men knew only Kim by name. Quelle surprise the former Apostle and Deacon never troubled to get to know anyone outside of the White Wing of the Church.

TC576: "I came to speak to the Prophet."

"She's right there," said Dory, pointing at Robyn.

"I see three kids  who broke  into the  Temple and  are running loose. Where's Jashen?"

"He's in a better place," said Gabriel.

"He's dead?"

"No," said Kim,  "but  he  blamed himself  for  the schism  and stepped down."

"He was right to blame himself but if he left  you in charge he must have  gone demented in the  end. The scripture says,  'I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over men.'"

TC577: "You're going to have to show me a little respect, Mister Hansen, as I am indeed the Prophet of the Church of Green Dome, notwithstanding whatever  Paul wrote in the  First Century about womenfolk." Kim reached into  a  desk  drawer and  withdrew  a leather-bound green book. "I know you've seen this before, Mr. Hansen. It's Mark Lange's handwritten  copy of the Book of Green Dome.  He called  it  the Printer's  Manuscript.  The first  few sheets on the inside cover are an official Church document."

TC578: The first  entry on  the inside  cover said  PASTOR MARK LANGE, PROPHET, SEP 1, 1866, followed by Lange's signature, and this in turn was followed by a mark of an individual unknown.

Kim said, "We believe Lord Yeshua himself made this initial."

This entry was followed  by the First  Decree, which  read, THE PROPHET OF THE CHURCH SHALL CHOOSE, FROM THE WING OF THE CHURCH OF WHICH HE IS  NOT A PART,  ONE WHO SHALL  HOLD THE  OFFICE OF APOSTLE. It was dated Sep. 1, 1866 and signed by Mark Lange.

TC579: This was followed by  the Second Decree, which  read, IN THE  EVENT OF  THE  DEATH  OR RESIGNATION  OF  THE PROPHET,  THE APOSTLE SHALL VACATE THE  OFFICE OF APOSTLE  AND ATTAIN  TO THE OFFICE OF PROPHET, dated and certified Sep. 1, 1866.

The next entry, in the same handwriting,  read, JASHEN SHYBEAR, APOSTLE, SEP. 1, 1866, followed  by Jashen's mark and  again by Lange's initials. Kim said, "We hold September first  to be the day of  the founding  of the Church  of Green  Dome, seventy-six years ago."

TC580: The next entry was written in a different hand. It said, PROPHET MARK LANGE, DECEASED, NATURAL CAUSES, MAR. 6, 1922, and this was initialed by Jashen. A diagonal line was drawn through the remaining blank space to the bottom of the inside cover and this, too, was initialed by Jashen.

The facing page read, APOSTLE JASHEN SHYBEAR,  PROPHET, MAR. 6, 1922 and this was signed and initialed by Jashen.

The second line read, KLAUS HANSEN, APOSTLE, OCT 9, 1931, signed by Jashen and Klaus.

TC581: Kim rotated the book to show Hanson the entry. She said, "Until I read  this I  wasn't even  aware the  Church had  gone nearly a decade  without an Apostle. I suppose  Jashen found the choice  to be  such  a  difficult one  he  was  willing to  risk breaking the clear order of succession with his own death."

Klaus said, "At the time you were either not  born or too young to care about Church politics.  We forced Jashen's hand and made him create  the office  of Deacon to  prevent it  from happening again."

TC582: "Almighty Klaus,"  said Gabriel,  bitterly. "You forced him."

"Gabe, please," said Kim. "Anyway, all that does  explain the next line."

Jashen had written the text of the Third Decree, dated the same day as the appointment of Hansen. It stated, THE PROPHET SHALL APPOINT, FROM ALTERNATING WINGS OF THE CHURCH, A DEACON TO SERVE THE SPIRITUAL AND MATERIAL  NEEDS OF THE  WHOLE CHURCH. IN THE EVENT OF THE DEATH  OR RESIGNATION OF  THE APOSTLE,  THE DEACON SHALL ATTAIN TO THE OFFICE OF APOSTLE.

TC583: The next line read PAUL BERGIN, DEACON, Oct. 9, 1931 his. Twas signed by Paul, and initialed by Jashen.

Kim asked, "Does everything appear to be in order, gentlemen?"

Paul nodded agreement, and Klaus said it appeared to be so. Kim then indicated the next line, which  was so recent none  of the men had ever seen it:

ANY OFFICE OF THE CHURCH SHALL NOT BE TERMINATED  EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF THE DEATH OR RESIGNATION OF THE OFFICEHOLDER.

This was signed by Jashen and dated January 10, 1943.

TC584: Kim  said, "Jashen  told  us  the Fourth  Decree  became necessary following the events of  Wednesday the 5th of January, when you went out from us. But let us go on."

The next line  read APOSTLE  KLAUS HANSEN,  RESIGNED, JAN.  10, 1943, signed by Jashen

Hansen grew angry and objected to that. "No! I never resigned!"

"I was there in that barn you call your temple,' said Kim. "I'm White Wing, remember? You introduced yourself as the Prophet of the Reformed Church of Green Dome."

"What of it?"

TC585: "When your words reached the ears of  the actual Prophet he took them  to be your official resignation as  Apostle of the Church. How did he put it, Dory?"

"Father said, 'No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one,  and love the other;  or else he will  hold to the one, and  despise the other.' In  fine, if you're an  officer in the Reformed Green  Dome Church you cannot be an  officer in the actual Green Dome Church."

Kim nodded, then she said, "That led to the next line."

TC586: It read KIMBERLY SHYBEAR, APOSTLE, JAN. 10, 1943. Kim had signed it, and Jashen had initialed.

"The upshot of all  this," Kim  said, "is that  in the  view of Prophet  Jashen Shybear  you quit,  and he  chose me  to replace you."

Kim proceeded to the next line, which read  DEACON PAUL BERGIN, RESIGNED, JAN. 10, 1943. This was also signed by Jashen.

Kim asked the men, "Do we need to go over the same argument for the resignation  of the Deacon  as it  was for the  Apostle? No? Then let us go on."

TC587: The next line  read, GABRIEL  SHYBEAR, DEACON,  JAN. 10, 1943, signed by Gabriel and initialed by Jashen.

Kim said, "All perfectly legal, of course. Jashen's decree said the  Deacon  shall be  of  alternating  race.  As you  can  see, last  Sunday was  quite  the  busy day,  but  now  we're in  the homestretch."

She advanced to  the next  item written  on the  page. It read PROPHET JASHEN SHYBEAR, RESIGNED, JAN. 10, 1943  and it carried his signature.

That seemed to grab the attention of Bergin and Hansen.

TC588: Kim said, "Now I will  show you gentlemen how  we closed out that rather eventful Sunday."

Kim flipped the page over  and showed everyone the  next entry: APOSTLE KIMBERLY  SHYBEAR, PROPHET,  JAN. 10, 1943. This  was signed and initialed by Kim, exercising her apostolic authority under the Second Decree established by Prophet Jashen.

Underneath that was the  final entry  in the  manuscript, which read DORIEL SHYBEAR, APOSTLE, JAN. 10, 1943. This was signed by Kim and affirmed by Deacon Gabriel.

TC589: Kim said, "Now that I have established my credentials as the Prophet of the Church, what  have you and Mr. Bergin come to say?"

Klaus was silent while he gnawed through his options. At length he realized he had to go along with these  kids playing clergy. He said, "We  pray  for the  reunion of  the  Church. Were  the Killing Relic to alternate in  possession between members of the red and  white wings,  as the office  of Deacon  presently does, that would go a long way towards sealing the breach."

TC590: Kim said,  "Link  the  office of  Deacon  to the  sacred artifact? That is easily enough done."

She took up her pen and wrote in the leaves  of the Green Book, THE SACRED RELIC SHALL REMAIN IN THE POSSESSION OF THE DEACON OF THE CHURCH, WHO SHALL  BE MINISTER  OF THE  LAST RITE. And she dated it January 12, 1943.

This was not entirely to the liking of Hansen, who imagined the sacred relic somehow caused the one who possessed it to age very slowly, but he could think of no way to object to it.

TC591: "That is acceptable," said  Hansen, "if and only  if you enter a Fifth Decree that  enshrines God's eternal and immutable law forbidding non-consanguineous marriage."

"Again," said Kimberly  with a  gentle smile,  "that is  easily done." She inked the following into the manuscript: MARRIAGE IN THE  CHURCH  OF  GREEN  DOME SHALL  BE  SOLELY  BETWEEN  PERSONS WHO SHARE   AT  LEAST   ONE  GRANDPARENT,   OR  AT   LEAST  ONE GREAT-GRANDPARENT, UPON PAIN OF  EXCOMMUNICATION. She dated it January 12, 1943 and signed it.

TC592: Hansen said, "Good. Now, when do you announce the end of your engagement to Gabriel?"

"Never," Kim replied. "The decrees of the Church don't work ex post fucto."

"The decree governs marriage. You haven't married him yet."

"Ah, but there you are wrong, Mr. Hansen."

She displayed her wedding ring and Gabriel flashed his own. They did not mention they were wed in Kemen and  they'd been married for a year already, because  he would  never believe it  and he would just be confused anyway.

TC593: Kim could hardly believe she needed to  remind Hansen of sacred scripture. "Yeshua himself said if a woman puts aside her husband to  marry another  she  commits  adultery against  him. That's one of the Lord's  non-negotiables. I wonder why you look so  surprised,  Mr.  Hansen.  You  must  not  have  been  paying attention when I signed my entries in the Green Book as Kimberly Shybear rather than Kimberly Zinter."

Hansen told Gabriel, "Watch your  back" and stormed out  of the office with Bergin in tow.

TC594: The Zinter  house on  U Street  had been  turned into  a ransacked mess. A hooded invader held  Gabriel at  knife point while two others searched through it, but they didn't find what they were looking  for. What they were  looking  for was  the Killing Relic.

Gabriel was grateful his  wife, a prophet  after all,  had seen this all coming and made herself scarce. She laid out the broad outline of how it would go and said, "This  attack is important to Hamon's plan. You should just let things happen."

TC595: Gabriel was marched at  knife point to the  backyard and hung by  ropes from  a  basketball  hoop. Despite his  height, Gabriel's feet, tied together around the ankles,  dangled a few inches over the concrete of the patio.

"Cut his shirt off so he's not wasting my time."

Gabriel recognized the  voice as  belonging to  that of  Johnny Sunkel.

When his shirt was cut away in strips another voice said, "Look at that! He's got little titties!"

Gabriel knew that voice too. It was Larry Porter.

TC596: "Where is it, Shybear?"

"Where is what?."

A whistle and a crack. But Gabriel didn't make a  sound. B'nei Elohim are immune to torture.

"The Killing Relic, asshole! We turned the Temple upside-down. We turned your house upside-down. Where is it?"

"I don't  know, Johnny.  When  I  need  it  for Last  Rites  on Wednesdays Kim gives it to me."

The whip struck again. The skin on Gabriel's back  split open with a cloud of red mist.

"Bullshit! And you don't know my name!"

"Johnny Sunkel."

TC597: Johnny hit him again, harder. On the backstroke the whip caught one of the other boys on the back of his leg and that kid screamed, even though he was  wearing blue jeans. When the boy cursed Johnny out Gabriel recognized the voice  as belonging to Scott Hilling.

Scott said, "You Red Wingers don't get to marry our white girls, Shybear. That was the arrangement going way back."

"Your white girls, Scotty? When was the last time you got laid?"

That remark bought Gabriel a fourth stroke.

TC598: "Make  sure you  fellows  keep  going until  I'm  dead," Gabriel said, "and hide my body. If my cousin Remy finds out you did this to me he'll  pick over your  feet for a  whole weekend with a blowtorch and knives like they were leftover turkey."

Johnny didn't care. "This is gonna pinch some."

With the fifth blow it become apparent that what they were doing to Gabriel was a very ugly thing  to do to a  human being. They could see fat under the  shredded skin. Scott and Larry turned away and puked.

TC599: Gabriel knew it was time to do his dance. He twisted his right hand to reach into a small hidden bubble  of reality that perpetually tracked  with him. His fingers  returned to  view holding the Killing Relic. He extended the black shaft about a foot to cut the rope binding his left hand. Then he switched the artifact to  his  free  hand  and cut  himself  down  from  the basketball hoop.

Johnny aimed the whip at his  face but Gabriel let  it fly into the Relic while it was fully deployed as a shield.

TC600: The black dome simply ate the whip, leaving just a riding crop for Johnny to swing. Gabriel cut his legs free. The boys ran away, but Gabriel was in  no condition to run  after any of them. They were lucky to leave when they did, as neighbors heard the attack on the Zinter household from the beginning and called it in. They escaped only moments before deputies arrived.

At the little hospital that served Headwater, Sheriff Rod Walker asked if Gabriel saw who it was that messed him up.

TC601: "I don't know, sir. There were three of  them. They wore black hoods over  their faces. They also messed up  my house and they told me they messed up the Temple."

"Did they tell you why they were doing it?"

"They said didn't appreciate me  marrying one of  'their' white girls, sir."

"I can't imagine how much that smarts."

"Not any worse than the last time it happened, sir."

"Last time? You've been flogged before?"

"Yes sir," said Gabriel,  and his  eyes drifted  towards Doctor Wahkan.

TC602: "It's a Kuwapi thing,  Sheriff Walker. The young  men of the People  camp out on  the plains  overnight and have  at each other to see how much they can stand."

"Ah, so it's like a Vision Quest?" Gabriel nodded.

Dr. Wahkan, who was called Plenty Practice by the whites, rolled his eyes and asked,  "How long  until they  found out  you were cheating and got tired of that game?"

"Not very long," said Gabriel,  smiling. "But they found a new game called Peace Pipe!"

The sheriff quickly departed.

TC603: Remiel paid a visit  later in the  day. When he saw his cousin lying face down in a hospital gown with his back bandaged up against infection he said, "What the hell is this?"

"Keystone Cops, with a whip."

"Who?"

Gabriel didn't want to spill  it. Johnny, maybe, deserved what was coming next but the other two were just stupid kids who fell in the the wrong fellow.

"You know  the  rules,  Gabe.  We gotta  keep  this  crap  from happening  again. FUBAR!  Our deterrence  needs some  freshening up."

TC604: Gabriel remained silent,. Remy tried running a  hand up the back of  his cousin's bare thigh  affectionately but Gabriel warned him off. "I'm spoken for now, Rem."

"Tell me who did it."

Gabriel sighed. "OK! Johnny  Sunkel, Larry  Porter, and  Scott Hilling.  I  told  'em  they better  finish  me  off,  otherwise Thanksgiving would come way early this year."

Remiel unsheathed his ceremonial blade and held it up, smiling. Plains Indians  knew  something  about  retribution. He said, "Gobble gobble."

TC687: When Klaus Hansen came to the hospital  certainly it was not to visit Gabriel,  who had  been released  the same  day he checked  in. Instead he came  to see  Gabriel's attackers. Dr. Wahkan was still muttering about  the "animals" who  had slowly turned their feet into  so much  ruined hamburger,  requiring a clean amputation  of each  one. Every time the three  boys were visited after their surgery, first by their parents, then by the sheriff, and finally by Hansen, they took to sobbing miserably.

TC688: It  was not  so  much  from  the  pain they  were  still suffering but from  the memory  of  the hell  they had  already suffered. Their tormentors worked day and night, in shifts, just like Gabriel told them would  happen. The perpetrators wore no hoods and used their real names  as they went about their bloody business, yet even now their victims refused to identify them at all, other than to say they were Indians.

"Where's the Killing Relic?" Hansen demanded.

"Gabriel had it the whole time."

TC689: "You  searched  him,  strung  him  up  like  a  pig  for slaughter, and horsewhipped him, but he  had it on him the whole time? So  where did  he have  the relic  hidden, Johnny,  in his asshole?"

"I don't know!"

"Did you mention he ought to  forget all about the  Zinter girl and every other white girl in  the Church, or did that slip your mind too?"

"I did tell him that," Scott Hilling whined, "but I don't think he listened  to me! What's  the world  coming to when  you can't even get a little respect?"

TC 690: Klaus Hansen and Paul Bergin returned to the Temple, but not, as they should  have done, with  their tail  between their legs.

"I agreed to see you fellows again," Kim said  to them, "but if you act  like a  couple of  high school  students and  storm out again when you don't get your own  way, it will be the last time we ever meet."

Kim was perfectly able  to follow through  on that  threat. The future presented itself as  a memory to  her. She could simply avoid going anywhere they went.

TC691: "It  is  you,  rather,  who  have  one  slim  chance  to reunite the  Church. Paul  is Deacon again  and I'm  the Apostle again or  the reunion  will never  come to  be. Those  terms are nonnegotiable."

Kim sighed and  turned to  her husband. She asked, "Will you, Gabriel, resign the office of deacon?"

"I will not."

Hansen shrugged. He said, "You can't push a rope."

He prepared once more to leave the office with Bergin, muttering a string of curses that  completely obscured what  Dory quietly said.

TC692: Kim asked Dory to repeat herself.

"I said, I will resign as Apostle of the Church."

The foul language coming from Hansen trailed off to silence.

Kim opened the  Printer's  Manuscript of  the  Green Book  once more and penned  the following  entry: APOSTLE  DORIEL SHYBEAR, RESIGNED, JAN. 15, 1943.  Dory signed  it. Kim entered  her initials.

"It's done," Kim said. "The office of Apostle is  vacant. Will you, Mr. Hansen, take her place, or is Paul not getting Deacon a sticking point?"

TC693: Klaus turned  to Paul  and said,  "A temporary  setback, Paul, one that will be remedied soon enough."

Paul nodded his assent.

"Very well, Mrs. Shybear, make the appropriate entry."

She did notice that he declined to call her Prophet Shybear. So petty. She could think of no one less qualified  for the job he so  desperately wanted  back. Sighing, she wrote  KLAUS HANSEN, APOSTLE, JAN. 15, 1943 and  turned the book for  his inspection and signature. When he was done, Kim applied her initials.

TC694: Looking at all the recent entries she glanced at Dory and said, "Imagine someone in 2043 reading this  and wondering what it must have been like, this whole sudden flurry."

Hansen said, "The Reformed Church is gathering  this morning to meet  down at  our own  temple. Will  you meet  with them,  Mrs. Shybear, and affirm our schism has reached an end?"

"I will."

"And I  would  have  them  meet the  new  deacon.  One  of  our parishioners  passed away.  The deacon  should perform  the Last Rites today."

TC695: Dory was incredulous. "You want to have the Last Rites in that barn?"

"It would do much to  bring healing  between the Red  and White Wings of the Church," Paul Bergin put in.

"It should wait until Wednesday," Kim said. "That's when Gabriel can perform the Last Rites properly in the actual Temple."

"It has already been a week," replied Hansen. "The poor lady is beginning to grow. . .unpresentable."

Kim nodded her head. "You should do it, Gabe. It's  of a piece with the other thing."

TC696: "Are you ready to do the other thing?" Gabriel asked her. "Back at Hell's Half Acre you were dead set against it."

"I trust the Lord to take care of me," Kim told him. "It shames me to think I ever lumped Binah together with Shemhazai."

"I'm glad I don't have to watch it," said Dory

Bergin misunderstood what they were talking  about. He reminded Dory, needlessly, "You wouldn't be welcome down there anyway."

Dory caught Kim's  eye. She said,  "I don't  recognize my  own church anymore."

TC697: Kim saw how utterly  sad her  friend was and  moved into comfort her. But she didn't tell her everything  would turn out all right. Dory might construe that as the word of her Prophet. A big blank wall was closing in on Kim now and  all she had was empty hope. Perhaps, then,  the hug  was  really  to  comfort herself.

"Last Rites on short notice," said Gabriel. "I need to go fetch the Killing Relic."

"Then go fetch it," said Hansen.

"It's not here in the Temple."

Bergin said, "I got a truck."

TC698: "The  location  of  the Killing  Relic  is  classified," Gabriel told him. "You're not an officer of the Church.       "

Earlier Kim had  walked  Gabriel  and Dory  through  a kind  of rehearsal. They all knew what to  say and do when  these clowns came crawling back. For the first time, Gabriel sensed what it must be  like for his wife. Reality itself closed like a noose until only one path remained, and  that single path led  to her murder. Everything was important here, even simply where Kim was standing.

TC699: Hansen said, "No problem. Paul can drive the girl down to our own temple and I'll take you  in my own truck  to fetch the relic."

Kim and Gabriel agreed to this arrangement. They shared a long kiss before they parted. It was one  last shot of  courage for Kim, and  one  more  thing  to  throw  in  the  face  of  their tormentors.

Gabriel's talent as  a B'nei  Eloah was  such that  the Killing Relic was always near at hand. He could have pulled it out of the next mailbox down the road if he so desired.

TC700: Since this  Klaus bozo  and his  buddy were  killing his wife, no matter how temporary that would be, Gabriel thought he would have a little fun. He said, "We need to go to Lake 13."

"The relic is at Lake 13?"

"Not at Lake 13, sir. In Lake 13."

"That lake is frozen."

"I'll make a hole."

Klaus muttered various oaths, then made  the appropriate turns. He said, "The sight of you kissing that girl was disgusting, do you know  that? You're  not cousins. Hell,  you're not  even the same species!"

TC701: Gabriel found it  difficult to  conceal his  own disgust with the way Hansen looked at  the world, but it  was something that infected half the Church. "Sir," he said, "the Bible and the Book of  Green Dome acknowledge only  ethnic differences. We read  of peoples  and kindreds  and tongues,  but no  whites and blacks and yellow men and red men. Races are artificial things."

"What the hell do you mean races are artificial? Are you asking me to doubt what I can see with my own two God-given eyes?"

TC702: "Sir, consider the  aborigine people in  Australia. They have  Caucasian and  Mongoloid genes,  but they  are as  dark as Negroids.  It  only has  to  do  with  where  you live  and  how you've  adapted to  the  sun.  Even Lord  Yeshua  is a  handsome coffee-with-cream brown."

Hansen grew angry at that last remark and pulled his truck over to the side of the road. "Get out," he barked. "I can't stand to be anywhere near a blasphemer, let alone one  who entices white women to become traitors to their own race."

TC703: "And the Last Rites, sir?  Don't you have a  barn of the faithful waiting for me?"

"What would be the point of sanctifying a body  if the minister of the Rite is a blasphemer?  The Lord is brown like coffee? Get out!"

Gabriel did as he was commanded. Klaus Hansen peeled out in the snow, leaving Gabriel stranded on the side of the road.

"That's what I  thought," Gabriel  muttered aloud,  to no  one. "Services on a Friday? Everybody waiting at the barn hoping some "kids decide to just quit?"

TC704: Outside of Headwater  the borders  of three  states came together in a little fenced-off corral. When Hansen arrived he saw that  only Paul  Bergin's truck was  parked there,  and only Bergin could be seen standing in the lot.

A bloody lump of dead and naked girlflesh lay  at his feet. She was covered with blood that was almost cool enough to freeze.

Paul stood there staring at Kimberly's body, not quite believing that he actually  did it. He kept repeating to  himself, "I'm going to hell!"

TC705: "Shut up,  Paul," Hansen  told  him when  he drew  near. "You'd only go to hell if you didn't do it. Did she put up much of a fight?"

Paul shook his head. "No. That's the damndest part of all this. She didn't put up a fight at all."

"Is that the knife?"

Paul nodded. He had entirely forgotten about the murder weapon, yet it was still grasped in his gloved hand.

"We can't afford to be caught anywhere near that thing. Throw it away right now. Anywhere. But throw it as far as you can."

TC706: Paul hurled the blade off  to the snowy waste  in one of the  neighboring  states. He didn't  even  know which  one. It flashed in the morning sunlight and disappeared from view.

"Good. Now help me lift her on this."

There was a short post and a sign about  chest high that marked the exact place where the three states came together. This sign was canted at a forty-five degree angle. They draped Kimberly's body across the sign, letting her head and  arms bend backwards and her legs droop down.

TC707: It looked positively New Testament.

Hansen circled  the  area  a   few  times  to  make  damn  sure Paul hadn't dropped  anything.The snow  was covered  with their footprints and the girl's blood but there was no debris.

"Walk with me to my truck."

In the bed of his truck were two sets of coats and clothing laid out beside a cardboard box. New boots were up front in the cab. Hansen took off the boots he was wearing and  threw them in the box, along with his blood-stained coat, shirt and trousers.

TC708: In the cold of high plains January Klaus  quickly put on new outer garments, then stood there  in the snow with his socks getting wet. "Throw your gloves in the box, Paul. Then hurry up and get changed."

Paul did what he was told but he didn't look nearly as giddy as Hansen. "How are you going to get rid of the box?"

"Trust me. Absolutely nothing will  remain to tie this  back to us. But just to  be doubly sure, you need to get  rid of the set that knife came from when you get back home."

TC709: Klaus scampered over the  snow to  the cab of  his truck where a new pair of boots were waiting for him. Bergin had a set in his own truck. He still looked miserable.

"Cheer up, Paul! I'm the  Prophet now.  You're going to  be the Apostle. We just  saved the Church, you and I.  If that girl had any children it would have meant  the end of both the White Wing and  the Red  Wing. There  wouldn't  be anymore  wings, just  an unholy hodge-podge of mud people  growing like a cancer until it ate everything."