anthony stephens

Sister Mary Gerald is a successful middle aged Doctor of Theology and nun in a convent in France. She is well respected but courts controversy with the Vatican when she debates the rights of women to celebrate Mass. Her research leads her to discover a secret text which links meditation to levitation. She follows instructions in the text and develops the ability to levitate. However, conflict with the Vatican escalates to the point where she is forbidden to publish any further academic papers and is sent to Africa to do missionary teaching work with her fellow nun, Sister Margaret. In Africa, the nuns arrive at a school where there is a scandalous history. Some time ago a teacher started a riot by tearing a page from the Koran. In the riot she was hacked to death and the body burned by religious fundamentalists led by an African terrorist called Amama Bigombe.
Soon after arriving at the school, Sister Mary shows Sister Margaret how she too can levitate and also develop her own spiritual powers through meditation. However when Sister Mary reveals that to do so means the nuns have to abandon their faith and deny the existence of God, they are overheard by Bigombe. Bigombe is incensed and gathers his acolytes to give chase to the heretical nuns. Fearful for their lives Sister Mary and Sister Margaret flee, but once Sister Margaret has got Sister Mary to safety and returns to the school Bigombe captures and tortures her until she tells where Sister Mary has gone. Before putting Sister Margaret to death, Bigombe discovers a diary that Sister Mary had entrusted her with. It contains her notes on how to develop super natural powers. Bigombe goes to London to show the diary to his leader Sheikh Mas Selamat. The Sheikh becomes worried that Sister Mary’s revelations could demoralize his followers and impact his secret plans to establish terrorist training camps in the UK. Sister Mary goes to London as a guest speaker at a theology conference and Bigombe takes the Sheikh there to listen to her. When Sister Mary declares that that any religious group which seeks to impose their beliefs on the rest of the world must be actively resisted by the secular world – the audience erupt in uproar. The Sheikh is livid and orders Bigombe to destroy her by any means possible.