and the dead body. I saw men putting down their guns and throwing up their hands. I heard shots. I turned and found myself falling into the arms of a young doctor, horrified and staring at me with awe.
I tried to search his soul. "Act fast," I said. "Act fast! The Temple will annihilate the peoples of whole countries. It is poised and ready! That man I killed is a madman. It was all his evil plan. Hurry."
Then I felt myself sinking, not down into the numb indistinct darkness of spirit sleep, but into mortal agony, into a pain that made it impossible for me to talk. I tasted mortal blood in my mouth.
"Call the Rebbe Avram," I said. "Call for Nathan's wife." I begged for the words to come, the names of the community and Court in Brooklyn. Someone said a name for the Rebbe Avram and that was correct, and I said, "Yes, call him to bear witness that I killed the impostor."
I was on the stretcher again blinking at the sky. Is it enough? Will it stop? I closed my eyes. I felt the ambulance rolling, and I felt oxygen pouring into my lungs. I saw above me an innocent face.
I pushed aside the plastic mask. "Connect me now to the people who can stop the Temple."
A phone was thrust at me. I didn't know the person to whom I poured out my last appeal:
"It's the Ebola virus," I said, "a mixture of old and new strains, developed to kill in five minutes. It's in canisters. Hurry. The gas and the virus are in Temples in cities in Asia, the Middle East, Africa. On the ships. The planes are ready to go out. The helicopters. Tell all the good Minders they must cooperate with you. Ninety-nine percent of the cult is innocent! Tell them to turn on their local leaders! Everywhere. You've got to surround and reach them all before it begins. These people mean to kill."
I lost consciousness. I went on speaking, struggling, feeling pain, but I was really unconscious. The human body had broken down, and I was on the brink of death. I was so glad. But had I done enough?
I woke in the emergency room. Again people surrounded me. The Rebbe stood over me. I saw his white beard, the tears in his eyes, I saw Sarah, Nathan's wife. I spoke in Yiddish. "Tell them I speak the truth," I said, "that I am your grandson Gregory, and declare the dead body that of an impostor. You have to. He has arranged for this body, of Nathan, to be verified as his own. .Say only that I am your good grandson if you will. It's- dark. It's tangled. And I think I'm dying." Then Sarah's face flickered before me: "Nathan?" she whispered. I turned close and beckoned for her to come down near my lips. "Nathan walks with God, and Nathan is no more," I said. "I saw him go into the arms of those he loved. Don't fear. Don't fear at all. I'll keep this body alive as long as I can. Help me."
She sobbed and sobbed and her hands stroked my forehead. I heard a voice, "We're losing him! Everyone out! Out!" The world went dim. All things were known to me yet dim, and I felt only the peace I'd known in the light, the memory as fresh as a fragrance. The dimness thickened and then loosened. I knew I was being moved.
I knew we were going up in an elevator. And then all went very dim, and a shadowy figure appeared near me. I wasn't certain whether it was good or bad, and then I recognized its voice and the Greek it spoke.
"The purpose is to love and to understand, to value ..." it whispered.
All was blackness. I think I was thinking, Will the Stairway come now? Will it? Can it do that for me after all I've done? Then nothing. I awoke in a room in what they call Intensive Care. I was hooked to machines. Nurses surrounded me. Great men were waiting to speak to me, heads of armies and heads of state.
I realized that my pain was dulled, and my tongue thick. I was mortal, utterly helplessly mortal! And I had to stay in this body. It was the only body they would continue to listen to.
The Rebbe appeared. I saw the black clothes and white hair and beard before I recognized the face. Then I