Chapter 3

Dr. Julius Hansen told his friend everything he had done to carry out the "assignment", which was to achieve a clone of Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, his first reaction when he was made the proposal was flatly refuse the idea, because human cloning is strictly prohibited, but his scientific curiosity and attraction to the unknown made him change his mind, and he agreed to do so secretly, thinking that he might not achieve his purpose because of the complex of the process and because had never been attempted before. For this, he needed to disguise his actions with those of an ethically possible research related to the topic. He told him that he obtained the support of his laboratory located in Berkeley, California, introducing to the board the beginning of a research related to the duplication or cloning of human organs, with the intention of eliminating those factors that cause somehow they fail or sick, and achieve transplant them to the affected patient, eliminating the damaged one and thus avoiding the painful and long process of finding compatible donors for each case. In his research he followed the cloning patterns established by the Roslin Institute of Scotland when it was cloned Dolly the sheep, but he needed the product or organ obtained had the required and necessary functional capacity to last for many years, since the first results somehow "died" a few days of its achievement. He manipulated genetic samples from various animals to determine the factor in the DNA chain that made the life of the product obtained so short. He couldn’t find a satisfactory answer to the problem when he decided to manipulate a sample of his own DNA, a human DNA, and then managed to clone one of his own kidneys, which looked healthy and perfectly functional. However, he had reached half of his mission, since none of his kidneys were ill, and he needed to justify his research with a patient who urgently needed a transplant. He managed to get a volunteer in need of a new heart and resumed his research. He had time against it, since on the one hand the patient was entering a critical condition, and on the other those of the Second Coming pressed him, and were not willing to keep waiting for his assignment. After several months of intense work, he managed to find genetic factors that made the volunteer patient’s heart sick, and with the reconstruction of the DNA chain with samples of his relatives achieves his main objective: a healthy heart and without predisposition to get sick in the future. The growth of the new heart was slow, and when the patient was already in critical condition, he did the transplant, saving his life. Enthusiastic, and seeing that he had taken a great step towards the cloning of human organs, he gave the great news to the world and opened the doors for the salvation of millions of people around the planet. Organ cloning was a reality, but above all, an opportunity to continue living for the terminally ill patients, eliminating those factors that somehow affected those organs, guaranteeing the proper functioning of the cloned. With this triumph of science, he poked the possibility of cloning human beings in the immediate future, to which the international scientific community raised its voice of protest alleging that the human being cannot play to be God, and reminding him that human cloning was strictly prohibited. In later statements he assumed that he had said that in a moment of excessive enthusiasm and apologized for his overwhelmed optimism. He almost revealed his intentions to clone a human being, and decided he was ready to carry out the assignment he had been made.

He never knew how or when they obtained it, but those of The Second Coming provided him the genetic material they claimed was from Jesus of Nazareth, which consisted of a very small piece of cloth that looked very old. Days later he learned of an attempted robbery of the sudarium kept in the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo, Spain, and apparently that attempt could have “lost” an almost imperceptible part of it. He investigated a little about it, and found that according to the forensic tests performed at the time to the sudarium, it was used to wrap the head of Jesus, and the blood and fluids samples of pulmonary edemas in it coincided with those of the sacred Mantle from Turin, so there was confirmation that both had been used in the same body, and therefore the DNA was that of Jesus of Nazareth. With that information he proceeded to extract the genetic material from the piece of cloth and, once obtained, he contacted the group again, who took him to a young virgin member of the same, who proudly agreed to be fertilized and carry the next messiah in her womb. It was nine months of emotional conflict for Dr. Hansen, who was torn between ethics and the emotion of cloning Jesus. The members of the group isolated the pregnant woman, and didn’t allow him to see her until the moment she was about to give birth and to attend childbirth, since they didn’t want to take her to a hospital to avoid questions about the child’s parents.

In one of those visits he managed to hear in one of the rooms next to a heated discussion between the group leader and two others, apparently because they couldn’t agree on the education and upbringing of the child, already born. It was there that he realized that the boy was not going to have a good future with all those fans, and planned to get him out of there by any means. He thought about going to the authorities, but then all his illegal activities of cloning a human being would be exposed, and he thought that as with those he was, with the government also didn’t expect a good life for the child, so he decided to devise a plan to take him away and disappear with him.

That was how a year later, after checking the health status of the mother and the child, he convinced those who cared for them that the mother needed to go to a hospital to better control her health and that of the child, since he was not an obstetrician, much less a pediatrician, and they hadn’t had adequate monitoring to date. Reluctantly the group leader agreed, but on condition that he accompany them and present them as his wife and son. They did so, and they convinced the doctors that it had been an emergency home birth, which is why they had no medical records of them. Once they had been placed in a room, a nurse took the child to weigh and measure him, but what the group leader and the child’s mother didn’t know, was that the day before Dr. Hansen had hired a woman to posing as a nurse, and thus removes the child from them with any excuse. A few minutes later, and on the pretext of going to smoke a cigarette (they didn’t know he didn’t smoke), he left the room and met the fake nurse at the back of the hospital, where he took the boy and disappeared in cars separated. Only four years could he remain hidden, and now he needed to disappear again, once they managed to find him and the child.

John looked thoughtful.

“Yes, I followed closely your achievements through the press”, he said. “You rushed to say that human beings could already be cloned, and at least you retracted in time before the disciplinary committee sanctioned you. I will not deny that your disappearance affected me greatly, but somehow I thought you would be fine wherever you were. I assumed you didn’t want more publicity or being public figure of the moment, and that calmed me a bit.”

“Well, partly it was so”, Hansen said. “I already had what I wanted and reflected a bit before abandoning the boy to his fate.”

“And how did the Brothers of the Averno find out, or whatever the sect you mentioned is called?”

“I don’t know. I was careful to the leave, and I took with me all files and documents that could give an idea that I had cloned a human being if someone delve into my research. Perhaps those of the Second Coming have said something, I don’t know...”

“But then it’s a suspicion, not a fact that they know about the child.”

“They know”, Hansen said. “With my false identity I managed to get a job as a professor of genetics at the University of London, and yesterday afternoon, when I went to my house, I received a call on my cell phone where a guy said: ‘we already located you, Dr. Hansen, and those of the Second Coming are also not very happy. If you really believe in a God, pray for the Brothers of the Averno not to reach you before them and The Blessed Ones. Your ‘product’ is an abomination to being created by man and not by God, and must be destroyed."

John sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“Do you think they dare to hurt the child?” Hansen asked, with a worried expression on his face.

“Many of people have done horrible things in the name of religion over the centuries”, he replied. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they take some actions in that regard. And satanic sects have also done horrible things. If I were you, I would take that threat seriously.”

Hansen looked at the floor for a few seconds, rubbing his hands nervously.

“And what am I going to do, then?” 

“I have some acquaintances in Manhattan”, Robert said after thinking for a while and sitting up. “They have family in South America and they could help you. With me here you aren’t safe because I am related to you, and sooner or later they will find out about it, if they haven’t already done so.”

He searched into a small drawer of a makeshift desk with a laptop and a lamp on it, and after few seconds he pulled out a business card. He gave it to Hansen.

“They have that small business in Manhattan, tell them you’re going from me and ask them what you need. They owe me a few favors and will not ask, but if they hesitate, tell them to remember their cousin Debbie and what I did for her. That’ll suffice.”

“I won’t ask what was that you did for them because I know you won’t tell me. Am I right?”

“That’s right”, John smiled. “All I can tell you is that it had nothing to do with my work.”

Margaret was already returning from the kitchen with Joseph.

“This little gentleman is very sleepy”, she said, “and so am I. We are going to sleep.”

“It’s better that we all go to sleep”, said John. “Tomorrow will be another day.”

Everyone went up to the rooms and Margaret laid the child and Dr. Hansen in the guest room. A few minutes later everyone slept, except John, who watched the empty street through the living room window. He thought of everything his friend told him and decided to stand guard in case those people appeared there. He had his old shotgun with him.