The Silent Apostle

Extract ‘This vellum feels as if it is sweating, you know, like, still breathing, not dry and brittle like most samples of this age are, but alive.’ Hastings nodded his head. ‘Yep, an Incorruptible Epistula or IE for the studious types, I haven’t touched it myself. I keep thinking that dead skin contains little virus things that make you sick.’ Darlene really smiled for the first time, and Kemp stared at her longer than he should have. ‘Miss Gammay there’s something else you should know about this manuscript which is very interesting. This document was once contained in a wooden box held in the vault of the London Bond building waiting to be exported to Italy. It was there in 1666 which, I am sure you are aware, was the year that the Great fire of London occurred. Well, this little artefact actually survived an intensity of heat that incinerated everything else in the casket and of course the casket itself, along with half of London’s inner city. It appears that this vellum is quite impervious to heat or direct flame.’ She stopped reading and raised her head. ‘“Incorruptible Letters” Mr Hastings? Now let’s be serious here, all animal flesh eventually dies, tissue does not live for more than a few hours after death, it decays and dies. I suppose you could argue that during putrefaction one could add an oil or something into the stripping mix to preserve the parchment, but to make it flame proof? I would certainly have my reservations. But this parchment, by my reckoning, is easily 2nd or 3rd century, and is of a greater quality than most I have seen. In fact, if I did not know any better, I would say this was written as recently as yesterday given the quality of the colours. Kemp found himself staring again. ‘Actually Miss Gammay it is indeed second century or even first, we think it was scribed about the same time as the Apostle John’s other work, just after the crucifixion, if you go for that sort of thing.’ Darlene leaned forward and tutted. ‘Mr Hastings I teach biblical studies, I do go for that kind of thing, but this is not the work of the Apostle John. This author is left handed, and more adept in this type of subtle script, look at the flow of the handwriting: it is not heavy but light and matter of fact. I almost get the inclination to go as far as to say that this was written by a woman.’ Hastings was trapped. The quick-witted Doctor had captured his sense of adventure, and her academic standing attracted his desire for knowledge. ‘If you can help us authenticate parts of the script, we could perhaps even discover that Mary Magdalene may have even pushed the quill over this vellum herself. As for the vellum, it is as fresh today as it was two thousand years ago. I suppose you could take the body of Bernadette Soubirous in comparison - an example of an incorruptible entity - dead for over a hundred and thirty years and yet still smells sweet as newly cut roses. A hundred and thirty years, and as yet no decomposition, why do you think that is Miss Gammay?’ The Doctor was turning the page upside down and trying all angles of light to scrutinise the epistula. ‘Impossible.’ She said. ‘Can you see here, here, and there, these larger letters appear to be made up of other tiny lettering.’ Hastings flicked the page by one of the corners. ‘Imagine your scholarly career chums’ reactions when they find out that you have deciphered the handwritten work of one of the most famous women that ever existed: Mary Magdalene, a female of the species way up there with Joan of Arc, Helen of Troy, the Queen of Sheba, Mary Queen of Scots and of course Marge and Lisa Simpson from the telly.’ Darlene Gammay gave out an uncontrolled giggle nearly knocking over her latte in the process. ‘I don’t think I would place the Simpsons on the same pedestal as Mary Queen of Scots Mr Hastings, there are approximately five million Scots men and women who would say otherwise too!’ she said, shaking her head. ‘So, let us be serious here, this manuscript requires lab testing and an acute detailed analysis should be undertaken. We will have to conduct gamma correction OCR overlay, there will be classification of text that must be applied, and the biblical studies group will have to assemble to determine the potential political dispute that may arise as to custody. The origin of such a page must be sourced, you know there are eminent boffins who would take to murder just to view this document.’ The Doctor was getting excited again as she ran through the series of processes and protocols that it would take to authenticate this page legally. Kemp Hastings clicked his fingers several times; it had the desired effect and got her undivided attention. Doctor Gammay was clearly agitated. ‘You’re rambling Darlene, excuse the fingers, but that is exactly what we do not want to happen. What I mean is this whole thing must remain our secret until such time as we are ready to release this to the world at large. Will you help us or not? Do we have put this piece of historical archive data back inside the Vatican’s vault for no one to see until the next millennium?’ The challenge was incredible for Darlene Gammay; she had never got this close to any such document, one that carried this amount of biblical importance. Once or twice she had handled a few snippets of manuscript from the older church records, but nothing so colourful or powerful and exquisitely detailed, and of such potential significance.