4.

Within a long, quiet and golden lit corridor of the Vatican, Cardinal Makai is joined by Father Jason Alveron. Father Alveron is an investigative priest. His duty of investigating and validating any religious phenomenon the Vatican picks up on takes him all around the globe.

'Your Eminence.'

'Father Alveron, jet is ready. We have a location. This one is it.'

'I don't mean to question anything but are we certain?'

'Not one hundred percent but no one can be one hundred percent sure. We are as good as can be.'

'As it is told, isn't he supposed to be returning? How is there a girl? Can we be sure this girl is a child of God?'

'You're the investigator. It is what it is ... and as I said we are as sure as sure can be.'

'So, my trip is to confirm? Am I to bring her here?'

'No on both questions. The child has been separated from those who brought her into this world; you are to ensure she returns to them. She must return to her ... parents. If we know of her then we can be sure that others do too. You go "investigate" and announce to those who may question you that she is a child just like any other child.'

'Really?'

'Yes ... really. As far as we are concerned, she is the real deal and she is here for a reason. The child must be free to accomplish her purpose. The people she has been born to will give her the start in life she needs.'

'Alright, and I have my purpose to accomplish. Will I be going it alone?'

'You will have company, a psychologist and a lawyer. All three of you can get to know one another on the plane.'

'Is that necessary? I don't really work well with others.'

'Don't complain Father. This is a privilege case; you should count yourself lucky.'

'I do ... your eminence.'

'Good, remember to document nothing. In many ways this is not the second coming that most devouts are expecting. If anything, in some cases the very suggestion of a daughter and not a son might even offend. Anyhow, there are gifts are on the plane. Those who will accompany you will aid with seeing the girl home safely.'

'Gifts?'

Father Alveron is left standing as the Cardinal begins to pick up speed as he continues to move along the corridor, he in thus is indicating that Father Alveron should get a move on. The plane is waiting, and Father Alveron has an hour to get on it. What he knows and what he has been told is limited so how he is supposed to act and exactly how he is to move forward is unclear. For the moment he can only take things as they come and react to them accordingly.

Fifty-seven minutes after parting company with Cardinal Makai, Father Jason Alveron arrives at an air strip. He is immediately escorted from his vehicle directly towards and onto that waiting plane. He is, so he is told, the last passenger to arrive. He is also told to strap himself in as the plane is about to take off. Introductions can be made in the air.

In all his forty-six years of life, Father Alveron thought he'd seen it all. All the miracles he has disproved, the ones even he is unsure of, the lengths some people go to so they can become famous. There are the odd unexplainable moments but nothing so great that certain proof of an afterlife or anything else that may go with it can be categorically proven.

There was one nine-year-old

boy a few years back who died for three minutes while being operated on who, having regained consciousness some hours after the operation, was able to describe the room he had been in with great detail that it could only be explained by the possibility that he may actually have had an out of body experience and saw the whole of those three minutes for himself.

A young girl at another point in time was able to heal cuts and slight wounds in others from when she was eight years of age right up to the point that when she was thirteen years old, she brought a boy back to life after he had been struck by a car. After healing this boy, the girl passed out and from that point on was unable to heal anything thereafter.

In the here and now, an apparent second child of God has come into the world, a girl no less and not the second coming of Christ? Cardinal Makai has told that this is true, this is the real deal, though at the same time he did instruct Father Alveron to be and do what he does best, be the investigator and at that an investigation was to be made with the determination to be put to the public or whomever may come calling that the girl, the infant child that Alveron is to reunite with her parents, is not any such thing as a direct child of God.

At this point in his life Father Jason Alveron is tired, his faith has maybe run its course and surly someone else could or would be a better choice to go on this sister of Christ mission. One thing that just might get him through this particular job is the thought that if the parents are good people then reuniting them with their daughter may be the last good thing he does before he calls it a day at the Vatican and perhaps calling it a day too with the priesthood, so when this is done he can move away to somewhere quiet where he can live alone and maybe get himself a puppy, a dog that could be obedient, easy to look after and all the company he would be willing to live with.

Despite being told that this girl is the daughter of God and having seen all possible reasoning and signs and proof related information during the few years prior to getting on that plane, there is no way Father Alveron could have known that this job he is going on will change his life in a massive way.

Prophecies read, interpreted and watched out for, state that two thousand years would pass when a second coming would be seen. Father Alveron expected if such a thing were to prove true then he would be involved somehow, sent out perhaps on behalf of the Vatican only he never thought the day would actually come.

No matter what he ever had been told, he believed this job to be something no more than routine even though there is nothing routine about a child of God, and he also believed he will be done with it in a relatively short amount of time. Perhaps he doubted he would see a child of God in his lifetime or perhaps he doubted such a thing could ever be possible though a personal retreat will not be coming to him any time soon; neither will a dog with which he could call his own ... well not for some years yet at least.

First things first, the plane is up in the air, no longer climbing. Father Alveron is not going it alone on this job. There are at least two others, two others with whom the Father has no prior acquaintance. Jason, not particularly wanting to be a priest in this moment, unbuckles his seat belt and makes a move towards his new associates. In his moment of not wanting to be a priest he introduces himself as such.

'Hello ... I'm Father Alveron ... call me Jason.'

His offered hand is shook by both of two men sitting next to one another, both of whom sit more than a few feet away from Jason's seat, with the first of the two men to accept his hand speaking first.

'Good to meet you Father. We've heard a lot about you.'

'Jason, please ... I would say I hope what you have heard about me is good though honestly I do hope over the course of this trip, you both with come to make you own assessments of me.'

'Don't worry, I am sure we all will work well together, the job ahead is more important than any of us.'

'Forgive me, I have only been told that I am to meet two men and of your professions but nothing more than that ...'

'I am Professor Patrick Dunne ...'

'Ah an Irishman? ...'

'Actually, I am from Idaho in the U.S however both my parents are Irish ... and our legal associate next to me here is Jeremy Flynn.'

'Another Irish surname.'

'Yes, it is however if I have an Irish background then I am unfortunately unaware of it' speaks the presumable honourable Mister Flynn.

This is the extent of the first conversation between Father Alveron and other two men for there is a bell like sound followed by a request for all to buckle back into the seats and this then is followed by a slight tremor. A stewardess asks Father Alveron to take his seat. The chief pilot's voice comes over the announce system saying that there currently is nothing to worry about and that the upcoming turbulence is also nothing to worry about ...

'Should we have told him?' Jeremy asks of Patrick.

'No, I think it best that we get sorted first. We can always tell him in time.'