Free A Creed for the Third Millennium by Colleen McCullough Page A

origins.
    'Dominic d'Este was an astronaut on the
Phoebus series, speciality solar engineering, but he is now Mayor of Detroit. He
devotes all his time and energy to preserving his city as a spring-summer-autumn
centre of trolley car and omnibus building and other metal engineering. When
contracts are advertised in Washington regarding Phoebus or relocation or any
major project calling for either massive or precision metal engineering, he's right there
lobbying like crazy for Detroit. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his book
entitled Even the Sun Dies in Winter, and he serves on the President's
council for urban preservation. He also hosts the ABC television talk show
"Northern City", very strong indeed on the Sunday ratings. Finally, he is
accounted the finest public speaker in the country after Senator
Hillier.'
    'Objections?' asked Dr
Carriol.
    'Just — too good-looking,' growled
Dr Hemingway.
    Everyone grinned.
    'I agree, I agree!' cried Dr Chasen,
extending his hands in self-exculpation.
    'You haven't mentioned a fact I happen to
know because I know Dominic personally, Moshe,' said Dr Abraham, an ex-NASA data
analyst. 'Mayor d'Este is a serving elder of his church.'
    'I am aware of it,' said Dr Chasen.
'However, after several further looks, we decided — the computer, my chief
researcher and I — that the degree of Mayor d'Este's religious commitment and
involvement was not sufficient to disqualify him from our sample.' Dr Chasen
grunted. 'Or disqualify him from final selection, for that matter.'
    Dr Carriol put the last file on top of
all the others and pushed them to one side; in the space she cleared by so doing
she laid her hands, one folded lightly over the other, the fingers of both
writhing gently.
    'I would like to thank you most
sincerely, and congratulate you on a very long and very demanding job done very,
very well. I trust that all of you have returned your entire samples to the
Federal Human Data Bank and removed all trace of your programs from the
computers?'
    They nodded, Dr Abraham, Dr Hemingway and
Dr Chasen.
    'Of course you will retain your programs
for future use, but filed in such a way that their true meaning is unintelligible to anyone outside this
room. Have any of you any paperwork or tapes or other evidence of Operation
Search left undestroyed?'
    They shook their heads.
    'Good! I will take charge of all copies
of the files here this afternoon. Before we go any further, maybe John will find
some refreshments?'
    She smiled at her secretary, whose pencil
had not paused since the meeting started; he laid down his notebook and rose
immediately.
    Dr Hemingway excused herself to visit the
adjacent toilet facilities, while the other three sat rather limply, not
speaking. But by the time John Wayne had wheeled in his cart bearing coffee and
tea, cakes and sandwiches, wine and beer, and dispensed it with his usual
efficiency unimpaired by the marathon stint of shorthand notation, Dr Hemingway
was back and the other three had regained their vitality.
    'I could kick myself for not working out
a program more skewed towards charisma,' said Dr Hemingway as she nibbled on a
smoked salmon sandwich.
    'I think Moshe read far too much
into the original commission,' said Dr Abraham.
    All three looked to Dr Carriol, who
merely wiggled her eyebrows, andthat helpedelucidate
nothing.
    'It was good fun,' said Dr Chasen, and
sighed. 'I hope phase two is as much fun, Judith?' A fishing statement, but
again Dr Carriol vouchsafed no reply.
    Finally she waved the cart away, and
waited until John Wayne had disposed of it and resumed his seat and his pencil
before getting back to business.
    'I am aware that you're rather in the
dark as to exactly what phase two of Operation Search entails,' she said. 'Until
today I haven't wanted you to know, because I thought you should be devoting all
your energies to phase one, and I didn't want any of you shortcutting because