"THE CONVENT" "Who is it?" "Yes, is this the way into the monastery?" "Yes, it is." "Is that Professor Padovic?" " Yes." " Just a moment." "You who enter this convent neither hear nor see nor speak" "You were wrong, my dear..." " this is not it." " I know, I know." "Let's go." " Baltar." " I'm Michael Padovic." "Nice to meet you." "This is my wife, Helene." "Pleased to meet you." "I'm glad you could come." "You're very kind." "I'm the guardian of the monastery." "My name is Baltar." "Baltar." "At your service, madame." "If you won't mind following my car?" "Yes, with pleasure." "This is Berta, the housekeeper." "At your service, madame." "And this is my trusted assistant Baltazar." "Mr. Padovic would like you to show him the caves of the first monks." "Oh, I beg your pardon." "I was asking him to show you the caves where the first monks established theirselves... tomorrow." "That... that would be interesting, but we don't want to cause you any trouble." "It's no trouble." " Of course not." " Of course not." "Of course not." "And madame too, of course." "But now I'm sure you need some rest." "Shall I show you to your rooms?" "I'm sure, Professor, that there is a particular purpose to your journey." "Research." "That's right." "I'm looking for some documents." "They're absolutely essential for my research." " Essential." " Darling." "He wants to be immortalized." "You know how important this work is." "More important than I am?" "Darling." "My wife pretends not to understand, but I believe your archives might contain documents that would help establish Shakespeare's true identity." "He was a Spaniard..." "you know, not English at all." "The evidence for my thesis lies in a marriage contract between Isabel of Aviz and Philip of Burgundy." "My husband thinks that Shakespeare was of Spanish-Jewish origin." "He believes his parents fled the Inquisition, first to Portugal, then to Florence, and that is why we're here." "How very fortunate for us." "It gives us the benefit of your presence." "Really?" "I have an idea." "What is that, Mr. Baltar?" "Our new curator, Ms. Piedade... she already knows the archives far better than anyone else." " She could help you." " Hmm, very good, Mr. Baltar." " What do you think?" " Me?" "You." "I think it's a very good idea." "I'll have your bags brought along." "Thank you very much." "Well, this is where the sacred space begins." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I was saying, this is where the sacred space begins." "Here an Englishman took refuge." "Oh, yes, Hildebrand the merchant, in the 13th century, when..." "when his ship was wrecked." "That's right." "Do you know the story?" "Yes, he's done his homework all right." "There was a statue of Our Lady onboard, wasn't there, Michael?" "Yes, and he... he went down into his cabin where the statue was to beg for protection and then when he reappeared on the deck, there was a bright light shining from the top of the mountain." "Up there." "Yes." "And then he went back down into the cabin to give thanks for the miracle, but the statue was gone, though the light was still shining." "Still there, shining bright." "And then the story goes that, uh... at dawn the sailors climbed up the mountain and the statue was in the exact spot where the light had been." "The first monks established their cells... in these caves." "They lived like animals, with nothing but their faith to sustenance." "Their habits were short, the winter was cold, all they had for protection was a hook." "They battled against the elements and they fought hunger with prayers." "Idiots." "Sir, what did you say?" "Oh, I was saying, I was saying, uh... such holy men!" "Now let's visit the hermitage of remembrance." "So here we are ...at the chapel of Our Lady of Remembrance." "There used to be a very beautiful and historical statue of the Virgin Mary here." "The locals claim that the monks wanted to put it in the convent's main church... but that each time it was put there, it would disappear, as if by magic, to be found again here in its original habitat." " Is it possible to see it?" " Unfortunately not." "It was stolen a long time ago." "I say "unfortunately" because it was said to be of great beauty." "It was called "The Blonde Madonna."" "Blonde, just like me." "I've never seen it." "Look!" "Nothing!" "No saints, no tiles." "After the 25th April revolution, vandals came and stripped the place bare." "They even ripped the tiles off the wall." "That's all that's left." "I can't believe it." "Unbelievable." "This is... the last of the chapels." "Piedade... this is Professor Michael Padovic." "With Piedade's invaluable assistance, you'll discover here, Professor, wisdom comparable to..." "Comparable to what?" "To what indeed?" "To knowledge of God!" "Yes... comparable only to the knowledge of God." "Knowledge of good and evil." "You will find here everything you need for your supremely ambitious project, Professor." "I wouldn't go that far." "Perhaps not... not for now, at any rate." "I am quite serious, sir." "Don't think that my notion that the English playwright may be of Spanish-Jewish origin is based on fantasy." "On the contrary, it's based on fact." "The marriage contract of Isabel of Aviz was witnessed by three people, all of whom had Florentine-sounding names." "One was called Heitore Saquespi." "Now, allowing for a variation in phonetic practices," ""Saquespi" could easily be Jacques Perez or Jacques Pires." "Fine start, Professor." "You have at your disposal not only all the weapons we can provide here, but also our lovely Piedade." "Helene?" "Helene?" "This Helene is a mysterious woman." "And Piedade no less." "Both are way off all the astral patterns." "Hadn't you told me they were Gemini?" "Well, they seemed to be, but they refuse to give us more details... hour, birthplace." "All that is very enigmatic about them." "I don't know." "There even seems to be a strange overlap of astrological charts." "Um, I don't know." "Piedade, Helene..." "Helene is very dangerous." "Very dangerous." "What about Baltar?" "What do you tell me about Baltar?" "He shouldn't trust Helene." "He's under her spell... completely under her spell." "He's being completely manipulated." "And, strange as it may seem, that devilish Baltar..." "that dissimulator... he does not even realize it." "Did you know the old monks' bodies have been buried here?" "And their souls burn like logs in our bonfires." "Poor friars... they wanted to deprive themselves of the good things simply to bring suffering upon their own sad lives." "But desire, my dear... desire is always stronger than any virtue." "Satan, "ora pro nobis"!" " Piedade... innocent?" " I think so." "Don't you know she was once married and unhappy?" "She also has a daughter who studies in England, you know?" "No, I didn't know any of that." "Who told you about it?" " Baltar did." " Baltar?" "Poor thing... she surrenders so deeply into angelical sleep." "She's so beautiful, so innocent." "These days one does not see innocent young women." "Berta, open it." "Oh, my little devil, you can't resist my fire." " I can't, Berta." " Come in, my dear." "Come in." "You're my angel, Berta." "Why did you bring me here?" "Just look!" "The wonder of it!" "The whole world at your feet." "Don't you see, Professor, that the glory of your discovery will make you immortal?" "All nature is born to die..." "only the spirit remains, so wise men say." "That's what I call thought." "Only men can think like that... women can't." "Woman is a transfiguration of man's conscience, but she cannot aspire to greatness." "Man alone is godlike." "You talk like the devil." "I'm a humble servant, nothing else." "At your service, Professor." "Immortality... immortal, did you say?" "Of course." "Isn't that what you want?" "Isn't that what every man worthy of the name aspires to?" "It is easier to stimulate the pleasurable activity of the brain by making love or drinking wine or losing oneself in equivocal affairs of the heart than to attain the true pleasures of creativity." "According to Nietzsche, anyway." "And it must be said that it is true for most of us." "Well, come now, Professor, a man of genius like yourself can hardly settle for so little." "You cannot reject the pleasures of anxiety nor the pleasures of suffering as you enter a world of darkness, mother of light, to the full extent of your scientific and creative powers." "Suffering as I enter into darkness, mother of light?" "I like this statue of Mary Magdalene." "I like the way it is damaged." "It ought to be restored." "It's a terrible shame." "Yes, of course, it should." ""The nature of you... doubtful gentlemen... nomenclature may help to recognize."" "I have no German, but you seem to speak it reasonably well." "Thank you, Professor." "What a strange creature." "Do you know who you remind me of?" "Penelope." "Penelope?" "Odysseus's faithful wife, who looked after his interests as conscientiously as you look after mine." "I'm only doing my duty." "I enjoy it." "I do it willingly." "I'm returning the trust you have placed in me, that's all." ""And that's plainly what we mean when we call you God's enemies, seducers, liars." "Well..."" "Why do you read me Goethe's Faust now?" "I found this book among these papers." "Strange, is it not?" "Listen." ""'Who are you?" "'" "Mephistopheles replies," "'Part of that force which sometimes encourages evil and sometimes acts for the good'." "Faust says, 'What is this mystery?" "'" "Mephisto replies," "'I'm the spirit that always denies and rightly so, for everything is worthy of destruction." "It would better if nothing existed." "So everything you call sin, destruction, everything, in short, which is considered evil, that is my element.'" "Faust answers," "'You say you are a part, but I see you standing whole before me.'" "Mephisto says..." "'I have told you my modest truth." "If man, that tiny universe of folly, usually considers himself to be whole," "I know I'm a part of that part which existed at the beginning of everything, a part of that darkness which gave birth to proud light which now quarrels with the night that mothered it."'" "It's lovely, this bit of Faust." "I know it by heart." "I hope I'm not interrupting." "You've been here for days and here you are, still hard at it." "There's no end to research, I know, but perhaps it's time our dear professor had some rest." "Don't you think so, Piedade?" "Of course." "Yes, of course." " Good morning." " Good morning." "Good morning, Mr. Baltar." "It's been a long time since we saw you here." " Too much work at the convent." " I'm sure that is the case." "I am sure." "How's the fishing?" "It's very well... a lot of fish." "Fish don't go away." ""Why, now your noble plan is plain:" "Your powers of grand annihilation fail and so you traffic on a smaller scale."" "Who is "you"?" "Neither him nor me, just something Faust says to Mephisto." "And what does he answer?" "Who?" "Mephisto?" "Yes, Mephistopheles." "He answers:" ""A modest truth do I declare."" "The truth?" "What truth?" ""Part of the Darkness that gave birth to Light," "The haughty Light that now with Mother Night disputes her ancient rank."" "How come you're back so soon?" "Did you feel "saudades"?" ""Saudade"?" "Yes." "Did you get homesick?" "Homesick?" "What, for you?" "No, not for me..." "for your work." "What about you?" "Did you miss me?" "Yes, I was waiting... waiting to start work." "I wish you weren't so pure." "It's cruel." "Cruel?" "Oh Lord." "What you've told me is quite odd... but what I'm seeing now surprises me even more." "Everything here stirs within us infernal reminiscences." "Indeed." "One could even envision diabolical things." "Actually, we are standing in one of Lucifer's abandoned furnaces." "We are?" "Then what surprises me the most is this." "The chapel?" "Yes." "A chapel for the devil?" "It's a little damaged... and completely abandoned." "All that remains is this rather pious visual." "Interesting fresco." "How about these steps?" "What do they lead to?" "It is said that beautiful sinners, even virtuous queens, princesses and noblewomen tempted by the devil used to secretly come down here..." "looking for new and unknown erotic pleasures." "Pleasures as delicious as those I could give you." "You are Mephistopheles indeed." "Please!" "Stop!" "It's an untamable force." "I'm sorry, Helene." "I'm throwing myself at your feet." "I love you." "Stand up, Baltar." "I'm a sensitive woman." "Very sensitive." "And you are a very attractive man." "Helene..." "Remember you promised to tell me the secret of the forest." "I'm very curious, you know?" "The Jurassic Forest?" "The one you call the "Witches' Garden."" "Anything I'll do for you will always seem too small." "All this makes me think of is a gigantic vulva." "Lucifer's lair." "I like to hear you talk like a witch." "Was it you who left this translation of "Faust" here?" "I hope you enjoy it." "Don't you say anything, Professor?" "It's a present I bought for you." "Thank you, I appreciate it." "As you have no German, after the other day," "I thought you might enjoy rereading Faust, so..." "Is that why you're in such a good mood?" "Oh no, Michael..." "Professor, I mean..." "Professor Padovic." "I'm most embarrassed." "I'm not sure I should be telling you this." "Go ahead, you can trust me." "I had a wonderful dream last night." "There was someone and they..." "Someone?" "What do you mean?" "A man?" "Oh no, an angel." " An angel?" " Yes, an angel." "It was so lifelike." "Tell me about your dream." "It was beautiful." "I know you won't believe this, but..." "I can see him now." "An angel descended and touched me." "He pierced my entrails with an arrow." "My whole body shuddered and I fainted... bright lights through my mind, like a sun bursting in front of my eyes." "It was utterly delightful." "I can't begin to describe how wonderful it was." "When I woke up, it was morning." "There was a sea mist and the sun was shining." "It's strange..." "I felt something similar last night." "It was... painful at first and then it became pure pleasure." "It was..." "Yes." "When I came to, I was in the corridor." "Look at these branches." "They're gigantic arms." "They've been defending the Night from the prehistoric threat of the Light... since the times when there was no difference between Good and Evil." "Just like today." "It's even more beautiful today." "One can deliberately do evil." "How about you?" "Me?" "I just love you, Helene." "Remember you promised to tell me the secret of the forest." "Well, then... listen." "Over there." "The center of the forest... hides some sort of abyss of instincts." "Anyone getting close to it will be cursed." "Look how everything here seems to be calling us." " The attraction can be lethal." " Lethal?" "How so?" " Because of the abyss." " The abyss?" "This abyss is hungry for instincts at their purest state." "No one can get out of it." "Only I know the way." "My whole life, I've never met an attractive and powerful man such as you." "You have touched my heart quite profoundly and I am so attracted to you that I could follow you anywhere you want me to." "Oh, Helene..." "First, I need to know you are truly sincere." "I would do anything for you." "Then I want revenge." "Revenge?" "Yes, revenge on that stupid Piedade." "Piedade?" "Why Piedade?" "She is pure and I'm saving her for the ultimate sin." "What more would you want?" "You're going the wrong direction." "I don't want her falling into my husband's arms." "So you do love him." "No, Baltar." "This isn't about love." "It's about pride." "You know how women are." "Give me the proof I want and I'll be yours entirely." "Say the word and I'll obey." "Bring Piedade here." "May she get lost forever." "Here?" "I will." "For you." "I like to see you excited like that." "It's wonderful." "I don't know what I feel." "There's something calling me." " What?" " It feels like coming back home after going for a trip..." "a far trip." "What?" "!" "Would all this be familiar to you, Piedade?" "Yes, it is true." "It feels like entering into my childhood's garden." "Why haven't you ever brought me here before?" "You've just arrived here, Piedade." "That is true." "You mean you are not upset for my taking you away from Professor Michael's company, that indefatigable researcher?" "No, I just found it strange that you called me out secretly." "But in face of what I now see," "I can only be grateful to you." "So you don't miss Michael?" "You seemed to be fascinated by him." "Fascinated?" "Fascinated by the professor's work, not by him." "I know..." "I know I should not say that, but if there's somebody who has fascinated me since I first saw him, that is you, Mr. Baltar." "Me?" "A strange fascination... strong, like the fascination of a father over a daughter." "Of a father?" "A respectful fascination." "Otherwise, I would have asked the professor's consent to leave." "Don't you share the professor's arrogant ambition?" "Which ambition?" "That of achieving eternity." "To be honest," "I admire Professor Padovic's enticing ambition, but I do not share it with him at all." "Why shouldn't on want to share it?" "Only that desire provides men with greatness." "Because he is taken by pride." "Do you despise pride?" "Pride stimulates greatness, the only possibility for men to equal God." "You laugh?" "The path is different, Mr. Baltar." "The path of purity?" "Yes, the only path that can lead one to eternal life." "Nevertheless, you are an accomplice of Professor Padovic's research." "It is his work." "I only collaborate with him because I think my contribution might be helpful in enlightening people." "That's all." "Once, Professor Padovic said," ""It is necessary to face the ridicule, defeat it with an arrow so swift it can travel around the world in 40 seconds." "Where has that arrow fallen?" "On an occidental little flower, milk-white yesterday, now red, bleeding like a bruised blackberry, to which virgins refers as thoughts."" "He asked me, "Don't the Portuguese think?"" "What did you say in reply, Mr. Baltar?" "That thought can't defeat the turbulent ocean... as far as I know." "Neither can it turn stones into puns, the favorite activity of the Portuguese." "Why do they like puns so much?" "They fool the devil with them... as well as other men." "What about your beloved professor?" "What did he make of me?" "I don't know." "You don't want to tell me?" "So?" "Prof. Padovic is under the impression you were mocking him." "In fact, that was what he deserved." "Oh, no." "Is there anything more ridicule than a human being, loving, dying, being unfair or rude?" "That is always ridicule." "Do you consider yourself ridicule, Mr. Baltar?" "I am not human." "Even though there are things in you that attract me..." "I'm sorry for being so frank... there are others that I hate." "Nothing better for whoever is in love, Piedade, that is the strongest expression of love." "Come on, don't joke around." "From what I see, the professor is the one you really love." "You continue joking around, don't you?" "Don't be angry." "Just tell me something... what things did he say to you?" "You don't want to talk about him?" "So, Piedade," "I'm serious!" "What things did he say?" "Words of love?" "He said other things to me." "Listen, he said that genius without heart is nothing." "He used to talk about the poet Jacques Perez." "He told me that he was born in 1564, that he was the son of a wool merchant, or of a municipal official." "To summarize, he told me that the name Shakespeare derives from Jacques Perez." "I am not interesting in that type of thing." "I know exactly what you have in mind." "No..." "I do not love him." "I mean, I like him the way I like everybody else." "I want to confess something to you, Mr. Baltar... a deep feeling I have." "Piedade, tell me what the deep feeling is that you have." "I yearn to go back to God." "Did I offend you, Mr. Baltar?" "Did I say any imprudent word?" "Piedade!" "Piedade!" "Piedade." "Of course..." ""Evil always exercises its power over submissive love."" "What does the tarot say?" "However much he searches, he will not find anything." "Helene!" ""Enough." "I come together with my lord, ship-borne, and now his city must I seek, his harbinger." "But what intent his heart has, that I may not guess." "Is it as wife I come?" "And come I as a queen?" "Or am I here a victim of my prince's pangs, and of the evil fates long suffered by the Greeks?"" "Helen of Troy had the gift of ubiquity." "That's it." "Why not?" "Ubiquity... yeah, I think I read something somewhere... the ability to transform oneself." "The fisherman later said that there was a big fire in the forest that day, which destroyed the rare Jurassic remains." "He added that Helene and Michael left immediately, with their books and clothes, and that Piedade and Baltar, missing after the fire, were replaced at the convent by Berta and Baltazar." "The fisherman heard that Helene and Michael were leading a normal life in Paris and that the professor had abandoned his research on Jacques Perez to dedicate himself to occult sciences." "But we shouldn't believe everything the fisherman says."