Antichrist Superstar

[Lord Pounder]

Anti-Christ Superstar

Chapter 1

The Past, ancient Galilee

A wretched figure nail to a cross. Not one inch of his body remained unbruised or split open. Ribs and other bones exposed from his chastisement at the hands of the Romans. Upon his head lay a cruel crown of thorns. The man, the supposed son of god, raised his eyes to the sky. “Father, why has thou forsaken me!” He pleaded in old Hebrew to the sky and whatever lay above.

Near by a roman soldier looked upon the sorry sight. “If the Jews think that is the son of god they have more troubles than they know” he thought contemptuously and spat on the ground. In a sudden wave of pity the soldier took a firm grip of his spear and pierced the man in his side, putting the poor bastard out of his misery.

Suddenly clouds appeared over what had been a unseasonably warm day. On the hill of crosses lightening struck the ground with a thud. As the fork of lightening faded there stood 3 men. Three men dressed in the finest combat suits money could buy in the late 21st century. Each suit a dull gray mesh like material. The red plasteel shoulder amour was colored jet black but with a crimson cross standing out, the mark of the Vatican’s Elite. Each commando wore a black combat helmet giving them the cold anonymity of soldier ants. What few roman soldiers remained ran away in blind panic.

Wordlessly the 3 men set about their task. The first two raising their weapons and covering the third while he set about his grim task. Taking a cutting device from his pack he cut down the cross and proceeded to take various readings and samples from the body of Jesus of Nazareth.

The indicator light on the third commando’s DNA analyzer turned the green of confirmation. He nodded to the first commando, the leader of the expedition. “Good work”, said the leader “Prepare for extraction.”. As one the commando’s returned to the spot where they first appeared. Each commando pressed the red recall button on the belt of their suits. Lightning again struck the spot where they stood. The clouds then disappeared and the sun came out and it was as if it hadn’t happened.

2298

Pope James Ezera sat in his private study reading a prewar Bible. Possession of such an object could cost Ezera the remainder of his life as a prisoner. 50 years ago all religions had been declared illegal unless they went major changes. The scared wasteland that had once been Israel, Palestine, and much of the Middle East was testament that religions in control of governments can cause a wars that destroy planets. Literally. The Middle Eastern Religions has all imploded on each other. Israel was the first to be completely wiped off the map, though not without a fight. Then in the glorious jihad various Muslim sects had decided others weren’t true enough to the teachings of Allah and turned on each other. Pretty soon Christian countries had been sucked in, all in the name of peacekeeping while really being more interested in breaking the countries involved and remaking them in their image. In the end most religious extremes where destroyed.

The politicians where in charge of the masses now truly for the first time since the Greeks had dreamed up democracy and the people had abandoned their god. The same politicians had tried to cripple the churches. The first rule of being a leader is to kill off your closest rivals at the first opportunity. They had almost succeeded too. The Vatican had had it's vast fortune seized. A number of branches of Catholicism had had their entire membership arrested and transported to
political prisons most notably the entire membership of Opus Dei.. So the Vatican went underground. The church has survived worse. Ezera was confident that the church would rise again. They had been crippled but not killed.

Cardinal Benjamin Carrey entered the room, the normally dour man grinning from ear to ear. He knelt down and kissed Ezera ring of office. Ezera regarded Carrey, one raised eyebrow asking and entire sentence. Carrey was an old friend from the harsh times back in New York. “Team 4 has made contact. It has been done and Project Lazarus has been initiated.” “Excellent Ben, this is the beginning of a new dawn my friend. Soon we will be back where we belong and we can continue the Lords work”.

Carrey left the room quietly and Ezera returned to his study of the bible but he no longer read the words, his mind was full of infinite possibilities and infinite opportunities.