Declan didn't want to leave the Flux lab. Without realizing it he'd been searching most of his life for this opportunity and now they were trying to guide him out after mere minutes inside. It just wasn't fair.
What did they need a two day break for anyway? They were so close to bringing God forward, too close, he thought, to stop for a rest now. What was wrong with these people? To work so hard to make this happen and then, when they saw it before them, they were walking away.
What if the Seraph warned The Maker? What then? But Declan stopped, realizing God would already know, wouldn't he? He would have known from the outset. It was just that Declan was so excited about everything the project meant, and with that he so impatient.
Parker had to show him twice how to return to the lab before he was confident that this wasn't some elaborate ruse to sneak the clergy out of the project and keep him out. And even in the main lobby of the building, as the rest of the team began to filter past him Declan could hear the room beckon, calling him forward with a voice so strong that he found himself walking back on instinct.
Declan entered the password on the lock and only when the door slid open, allowing him back inside, was he finally convinced that he could return. How different the room looked now, the rows of consoles powered down, the glow of the massive flux thingy a mere ember. He walked into the room, not even aware that the look on his face was identical to the mask he wore as he walked through St James Cathedral some thirty years ago, following his ordination.
“This must be special for you.” The voice came out, startling Declan, peering through the faint light and finally seeing the crippled fluid systems engineer that seemed to be the genius behind this wonder. What was his name again? Daniel, he recalled.
“How long have you been apart of this?” he asked.
“About a month I guess, it seems like less, but it's been about a month now”.
Only a month, Declan thought as he approached the console Daniel was at. “You've made a lot of progress for such a short period of time.”
Daniel whirled around to his monitor, “More timing really, we just happen to be at a stage technologically where the parts were there to come together.”
“Still.” Thought Declan looking around, “its quite impressive.”
"Actually it was Parker and his cronies who brought it together, they've been working on the idea for a couple of years now. There's a long story behind that.” Daniel looked quite happy, as if he was about to regale a wonderful adventure but then 'that look' appeared on his face. The look people have when they realized they're talking to a Priest, someone of the cloth. It's a look they get just before they jump ahead in the story, past the interesting bits that they worry will offend their audience.
Declan hated that. In this day and age you couldn't even turn on the Sat-Radio without hearing all manner of filth. Did people still believe Priests never heard racy language? Did they think he would be hearing such things for the first time? Did they worry they would be banished to hell for all eternity because of it? He hoped not. His ears weren't all that virginal, they couldn't be, not in this society.
“Daniel, if you think you can say anything to me which I have not heard from somewhere else at one point or another than you are truly mistaken.” However despite that statement, the Daniel's uneasiness remained.
“Many times when people tone down the message the story is lost. Say what you will, I am more than able to filter out what offends me.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair, weighing his thoughts, then he came forward reaching for his GRAV-ASSIST bracelets. “Do you like Murr?” he said as he rose.
“Myrrh?”
“Not the oil, Murr, M-U-R-R. The beverage.”
“I've never had it.”
Daniel rose, his GRAV-HARNESS kicked in, helping to support his twisted frame, and for a moment Declan wanted to ask what had led to his infirmity, but he refrained. Daniel removed his jacket from the back of his chair and put it on with an almost dramatic flourish before turning for the door. “Come, Padre, and I shall treat you to the true nectar of the Gods.”
“Padre?”
“Isn't that what they call Priests?”
“I suppose,” Declan replied somewhat flustered at the archaic familiarity.
Declan motioned to the still active console, “shouldn't you power that down first?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. This time we get it right,” then he patted the Priest on the shoulder as they left, while the console ran a full trawl of the region in the ether.
