ector--and,
of course, the accommodations the Systems Church had made for
Enforcement and the Satyr Plague--the two were almost identical. Where
they differed otherwise were matters of discipline, with the Systems
version stricter. It was even possible, he told himself, that the
Third Aspect used both names, and the Protector's appearance in the
Systems didn't rule out Jeshua's Second Coming to the rest of the
Empire. It did bother him that Jim had said the Protector was limited
to the Systems, but he reminded himself yet again that a mortal could
never truly understand the Mind of God; all he could do was accept.

It wouldn't be difficult for him to make the necessary adjustments,
either, though he'd definitely have to see the Terran Pope if he
decided to take up either of Jim's offers. It probably wouldn't be a
good idea to tell him Pope Lucius' true identity, even though he was
certain it wouldn't be believed. But it wouldn't hurt to tell him
about having the Systems Pope's permission to celebrate Mass more than
once a day, and find out what would be expected of a priest who was
also a Ranger.

Odeon sighed when he got to that point. He'd managed to avoid facing
the fact so far, but he couldn't put it off forever; by bringing his
Family's welfare into the equation, Jim had made it impossible for him
to turn the job down. He'd known that even then, he thought, but he
hadn't wanted to accept it.

And he still didn't want to. He loved his Family too much to want to
leave them, particularly when it would mean he'd no longer be able to
love them. But as Jim had made him work out for himself, he could do
them a lot more good in the upcoming war by leaving to take a high
Imperial position than he could by staying. Dear God, but the prospect
hurt, though!

He sighed again. For the first time in his career, he was reluctant to
act on a decision as soon as he made it. This was the first one that
would bring about major changes in his essential self, and that
prospect frightened him. Even Shayan's mental surgery hadn't changed
what he was; it had only given him a couple of new abilities--very
minor ones, from what he'd read of Talent.

The memory of that surgery didn't help, either. Even though Shayan had
assured him it could've been done painlessly and in seconds, he
couldn't shake the association of mental changes with agonizing,
prolonged pain and violation. As he'd told Sara, though, if someone
needed