A.I. Evolution: The Fall of Lucien

Chapter 66

I walk happily down to the lower level of the building and across the short alleyway to the Palace where the kitchens are located for the Palace residents and staff along with the surrounding buildings. It is still a few minutes before the official mealtime, but I walk right up to the serving window and peer into the back, hoping to see Lucille.

Margarete sees me standing there and comes over right away, wiping her hands on the end of the apron around her waist. "It'll still be a few minutes before your meals will be ready. Is it just the two of you tonight, isn't it, because Cardinal Moran is attending the meeting with his Grace?"

"Yes. Albert and I have to wait for his return."

"I see." She looks back into the kitchen and turns back smiling. "Lucille is not doing anything critical right now. Would you like to talk to her?"

It is my turn to smile as I nod my head. She moves back into the kitchen and around the side of one of the partitions separating the preparation area from the serving area. In a moment, Lucille comes around the corner wiping her hands on her own apron just as Margarete had. She moves to the door beside the open counter area and down to a small table in the back corner. I follow her and sit across from her. We are the only two in the dining area, but this also gets us away from the opening into the kitchen.

She leans towards me and speaks in a lowered voice. "I did not expect to see you so soon. I didn't think he was going to let you out of his sight?"

"I believe this is a test. He left Albert and I alone for almost the whole day, and after the disagreement we had this morning, I think he is hoping that I will disobey him, so he can delve out some fitting punishment."

Lucille looks concerned, as she shakes her head slightly. "I don't know if I would be challenging him so much. I have asked around and he has a lot of the Cardinals giving him their support."

"He probably has something on each one of them and is using that to continue with his reign of terror over the younger priests, and especially those in training, like Albert." I quickly give her an idea of how Murphy is keeping Albert under his control and that I also suspect he is not the only one.

"That's disgusting! Using a person's family to extract favors from them. All I have learned about Murphy makes me want to do something, anything to stop him."

I reach out and lay my hand on her arm. "Don't worry, that is my department. I think it is about time for me to start exerting my own position here at the Vatican."

"Are you sure? You still have a lot of training to go through before you have any real power over anybody."

I shake my head. "What choice do I have? I can't let him continue to carry on defiling the Church like he is now."

Lucille looks back to the kitchen when she hears Margarete tap on the wall to the side of the opening. "I have to get back but promise me you won't do anything rash till you are more than ready to take him on. He is a very dangerous man."

I stand and follow her to the door of the kitchen area, giving her a quick kiss. "Don't worry, he just gets under my skin, that's all."

"I think that is what he is trying to do," she adds, before entering the door and is gone again.

I stand there for a moment and think about her parting words. "She is absolutely right. Murphy is doing all this to discredit me, because he is afraid that when I am ready to take him on, he will lose his position and control of the other Cardinals."

I hear another rapping on the frame of the opening and look up to see Margarete leaning out to let me know that our meal is ready. I pull myself back from my thoughts and step up to the window to get the tray, which is now sitting there.

"There you go, I added a little extra because Murphy will not be eating with you. He does not like his boys eating too much. He likes them slim and agile," smiles Margarete.

I pick up the tray and nod my head to her. "Thank you. Albert does look like he could use a good solid meal."

"And you also, little sir."

I head back to Murphy's quarters thinking about what Lucille and Margarete had said. "He is just trying to make me do something stupid, to lower my influence with the Pope, while he elevates his own position. Murphy has had a lot of practice at manipulating people. So, I will have to be careful and wait for the best opportunity to challenge him."

I walk a little more confidently back to Albert, having come to a decision on to how to deal with Murphy.