"Holy Father, what is that?" cried Saavedra.
"What I should have done long ago but held off doing because of politics, or rather, fear of meddling in politics. Also, I was afraid. I was afraid that the Church might be crushed, and I sinned in thinking that, for the Church will live as long as God decrees, and we know how long that is. Worse, I feared for my sheep. If I denounced Howards and I were imprisoned, who then would protect them from the wolves? I should have known Whom that Person would be."
Broward hesitated. What if the Angels seized the Pope as a hostage? Well, what if they seized anybody as such? That which must be done would be done, no matter who got hurt '
Father Ignacio said, "Holy Father, he will kill you! He is a vile and evil man!"
The Pope held up his hand in remonstration. "Do not try to stop me. I have delayed too long now. Do as I said."
Ignacio dropped to his knees and said, "Father, bless me!"
"And you, young man, bless me. And do not forget to tell the others that, if I do not return, Father Mendoza should succeed me."
The young priest wept. Siricio said, "Compose yourself and come with me. You must hear my confession."
Broward paid them no attention, for he was carefully instructing the other two in the plan of attack. They objected several times, and he answered them. They had some good points which he accepted and thus changed the course of the assault.
By then, Father Ignacio had come back outdoors. With him was another priest, a man about the pontiffs age. Broward was surprised, for be had seen nobody else while he was in the house.
"Father Gomez was at his prayers," said Father Ignacio, as if that explained his nonappearance. "He will go the opposite direction I'll take; he'll try to head off the troops stationed nearby."
Broward wondered why the troops had not appeared if they were so near. The young priest, answering, said, "I'm puzzled. I do not know. But His Holiness wishes to see you."
Broward went into the house just in time to see the pontiff coming out of a room near the front door. He was wearing a small plastic box which hung from a cord around his neck and lay on his chest.
"I want everybody in the plaza to hear my voice," he said. He smiled at Broward."Tell me, my son, why have you, a Soviet and an atheist, placed your life in jeopardy to save your enemy?"
"I do not believe in the Soviet ideology," Broward said. "As for my so-called atheism, I am not so sure now about it.
I have seen some strange things recently. I mentioned the man Moshe Yamanuchi. But I did not have time to tell you that he felt that Something, a Voice, was urging him."
"Ah, yes, the Jew. God would not allow the Chosen Race to die out. It is not time yet."
"Moshe would not agree with your view of that, I'm sure. But he does agree with you that there is a God. However, you do not have to be a Christian or a Moslem or a Hindu to love mankind, to want to see them happy. I did not want to be a mass murderer. By killing the people of Mars, I drive another nail into Man's coffin. Too many nails have been hammered in lately; a few more, and Man will be buried forever."
"You could not love Man unless you also loved God," replied Siricio. "You may deny it, but I am sure that you do, somewhere in your being."
"Perhaps," Broward replied. "But let's get on with what we have to do. You wanted to talk to Howards and his men first, right? I can give you a minute or two. That is, if the troops don't show. When they do, I have to move."
"Good bye, my son," said the Pope. "I hope I will see you again in a place we both will like."
"I doubt it," said Broward. "But nobody's ever disproved that there is such a place."
"I would not believe them if they did."
He blessed Broward and then stepped out. Broward watched him cross the great plaza, stepping around the corpses, stopping once to examine a man, apparently to determine whether or not he was alive. Broward also glanced at the two entrances to the plaza. Both were still deserted.
The erect and lonely figure of the priest became smaller as he neared the neo-Gothic front of the building. This had its back placed solidly against the rock wall of the huge cavern, and it extended for about 20 meters outwards. The front reared up straight like a cliff carved with the heads of men, gargoyles, animals and various religious and secular symbols. It was the only one of its kind that Broward had seen here, though such buildings were numerous on Earth. There were no steps to the main entrance, which lay flush with the plaza floor. The entrance itself was wide enough for six men to go in shoulder to shoulder and high enough that a man standing on another's shoulders could not reach the top. It had two plastic gates of open grillework.
The Pope halted, only a few meters from the gates. Suddenly, a great voice spoke. It bounced off the front of the house and the plaza walls behind it and came as a thunderous echo to Broward.
"Howards! And those who serve Howards! Mars is doomed!"
And the voice told of the ship that waited somewhere above the red planet and of the weapon of total destruction and death that it carried. It told what would happen if Howards was not unseated at once and a new government formed. It went on to describe graphically what would result.
Broward looked at the tunnels. No one yet. Then, he saw a jeep drive along the front of the buildings and cut across at top speed and enter the tunnel that led to the elevators. Father Ignacio was driving it.
So far, so good. No one behind the windows of the president's house had fixed at the young priest.
"You are an evil man," the voice boomed. "You, Howards, are guilty of spilling the blood of countless men, women, and children. I am not talking of the murders you had committed on Earth for your vile political purposes. I accuse you of exploding the cobalt bombs on Earth so that all life would perish there. I accuse you of planning to do so to the end that you might then come to Mars and be sole ruler of all mankind. I accuse you of the murder of eight billion people and of all the life that God created to flourish on the face of His green Earth, green no longer.
"I could accuse you of many other evil and monstrous deeds, such as the adultery you are now contemplating forcing on a virtuous wife and the fornication you are now forcing on the daughter of General Mier."
"But these, evil though they may be, are as nothing to the murder of Earth!"
The scream that came from the man by the gates could be heard even across the plaza. The white figure pointed at the Pope, its head turned towards those behind him. Obviously, he was ordering them to fire.
But nobody obeyed. Even these men hesitated.
Then, the white figure pulled a weapon from the white holster on its white belt. There was a spurt of flame which Broward could see because his angle of vision was between the two men on the opposite sides of the gate. Another followed the first, and another.
Siricio II fell backward and lay on the rock floor, his arms spread out.
Broward cast another look at the tunnel but saw no one. Then he turned and sprinted down the hall, burst through the door, and cried, "Let's go!"
Quiroga and Saavedra were sitting in the jeep that had the other jeep placed on its hood, "We heard him," said Quiroga. He was white and shaking. "We heard the shots, too. Was the Holy Father... ?"
Broward nodded and climbed into the jeep behind Quiroga, who was in the driver's seat. "Howards murdered him."
"Holy Mother of Mary!" said Saavedra. Both Argentineans crossed themselves.
"Howards' men will be stunned," said Broward. "They can't help it. Let's go!"