The War in Heaven (14 page)

The object was traveling fast, but it would take a while for it to reach Earth—over four years if their calculations were correct. If things went badly, was that enough time to deflect an object this size? How big was it? He wasn’t sure. He smiled; he was just being overly cautious. The odds of this thing hitting Earth were ten thousand to one, at best. All he had done was discover an object that would light up the night sky when it passed
by in another 54 months, that’s all. He turned to pack away the rest of his things.

Quite abruptly Leslie was awake. She found herself driving a car down a dark country road amid tall pine trees. Where was she? How could she possibly have driven so far in her sleep?

“Good morning, sleepy head,” she said. But it wasn’t her speaking. It was her voice all right, but she wasn’t in control. “It is so much easier driving when you are asleep. Still, it isn’t much farther.”

“Where are we going?” asked Leslie, yet not making a sound.

“Just outside of Happy Jack, to the Discovery Channel Telescope. We have an appointment with a man, no, two men, who know too much. The master would have them silenced…and that is just what we, I mean, you, are going to do.”

Leslie glanced over at the 9 millimeter pistol on the passenger’s seat beside her. Now she was frightened.

“The master has big plans for your world,” said the demon, whose possession of Leslie was so profound. “Like the dinosaurs before you, you humans are going to become extinct. It was a comet that finished them off … so it shall be with you. We have worked so hard, hundreds of years orchestrating this event. It has taken much careful planning and nearly all of our spare resources to make this possible. A ball of ice and rock over twenty miles across is now hurtling toward your pathetic world. We had hoped that you and your kind would not have had time to develop the means to thwart our plans. However, your progress as a species has exceeded our expectations.”

Leslie was horrified. What had she done?

“There are those of your people whose eyes scan the skies,” continued the demon. “They are vigilant watchmen seeking to defend your Earth. Even now, two men have learned our secret. And it is our job to see that the master’s plans remain a secret for a while longer, until it is too late for humankind to do anything to stop it.”

Leslie was petrified. This had to be a dream; she had to wake up. But as the first light of dawn started to break in the east, she realized that what she was experiencing was only too real.

“At first we tried subtle things to thwart their efforts by screwing around with their circuitry. We might have delayed detection of our death blow had they not appealed to the Father. Imagine, two scientists praying over an electronic circuit blocked by the cold hand of a demonic spirit. The spirit was forced to flee, and their enterprise succeeded. Now we’ll have to be more heavy-handed. That is where you come in, wench. You’ll need to eliminate them and destroy all of the evidence of their find. It might take years before others realize the danger. But then it will be too late.”

Leslie was about to become part of the most terrible tragedy in the history of humankind. She tried to regain control of her body but to no avail.

“A deal is a deal,” replied the demon. “This body is mine now, and you’re not getting it back. Still, you could have taken better care of it…you’re a wreck. Who knows, I might return your body to you when I’m done with it.” There was a pause. “No, I don’t think so. You know too much. When we are finished at the observatory, I’ll have to deal with you. Perhaps a final overdose will do the trick. How does that sound—one last syringe of the good stuff before you burn in Hell. Maybe we could come up with something a little more creative, more original. Well, we still have time to think about it, don’t we?”

It was about half an hour before sunrise when Leslie pulled off the main road and onto the narrow drive that led to the observatory. A few minutes
later she parked the car along the side of the road, just beyond the observatory grounds, and stepped out with pistol in hand.

“We’ll walk from here. You don’t get enough exercise.” She started toward the observatory.

Deep within, the real Leslie wept silently. What had she done?

The observatory sat in the midst of the tall trees of the national forest on a gently sloping ridge. Only a fence separated it from the public lands. Leslie stopped along the side of the road.

“You are indeed fair of face,” said the demon. “They’ll never suspect your true intentions until it’s too late. When they stop to open and close that gate, we’ll pop ’em.” She looked to the sky, The sun was almost up. “I doubt that we’ll have to wait long.”

It was less than ten minutes later when Leslie heard the sound of a metal door open and close. They were leaving the observatory. They would be here in a minute or so. She checked the gun one last time—she was ready. “It’s show time,” she said.

“Do you have a permit for that?” said a voice from behind her.

Leslie swung around to see a tall, uniformed forest ranger standing behind her. He stood with his arms folded in front of him. She evaluated the situation. He was clearly unarmed. Perhaps she would have to do him first. She started to raise the gun, but she couldn’t. An unseen force stayed her hand.

“You’ve exceeded your authority here,” said the ranger, a scowl appearing on his face. “This isn’t your world, it was granted to man. It is not your place to interfere with his destiny.”

“Who are you?” demanded Leslie.

“You know,” replied the ranger, glancing into the distance to see the jeep pull away from the observatory. “Now go, and don’t return. I won’t warn you again.”

Leslie snarled like some sort of wild animal, then bolted into the pine forests. A minute later the jeep stopped in front of the gate. Ken stepped out to unlock it.

“Good morning,” said the ranger in a pleasant hearty voice.

“Morning,” said Ken. “There isn’t any problem, is there?”

“No sir,” replied the ranger, “just making my morning rounds. It is going to be a beautiful day.”

Ken looked around and smiled as he opened the gate. “Yes, I think so.” Sam pulled the jeep through and Ken locked the gate under the watchful eye of the ranger. Then the two colleagues were on their way to breakfast.

“Friend of yours?” asked Sam, as they headed down the road and around the curve.

“Never seen him before … yet there was something familiar about him. I can’t rightly put my finger on it. I reckon he just had one of those faces, you know, the friendly kind.”

Sam nodded; he had Peg’s pancakes on his mind.

The ranger watched as the jeep disappeared from sight. He turned toward the place where Leslie had bolted into the forest; she was nowhere to be seen. He smiled and shook his head. For a moment his form changed into that of a mighty winged angel in white. Then he vanished into the chilly morning air.

A hundred yards away in the depths of the forest, a pale young woman lay motionless on the ground, an unfired pistol in her hand, a single tear poised to fall from her eye. It would be a day before the stolen car was discovered and another before Leslie’s body would be found, the victim of an apparent methamphetamine overdose.

The demon Wormwood scowled upon learning of the debacle in the forest outside of Happy Jack. It was such a simple mission. How could it possibly have gone so badly? A guardian angel, obviously one of Michael’s brood, had interfered. Now their secret was out.

When the plan had first been devised, man traveled his Earth in horse drawn carriages and his most powerful weapon was a cannon that could hurl rocks a quarter of a mile. In those days, he might have seen this icy messenger of death coming, but would have been powerless to defend his planet from its crushing blow. Now, however, the battlefield looked very differently. As the Nazarene had predicted long ago, man had grown greatly in knowledge and wisdom. Given sufficient warning, he might deflect the thrust of Satan’s sword.

Satan’s sword? That was what everyone in Hell who knew of its existence had come to call it. They had been led to believe that this object’s path had been ordained by the prince of darkness himself. And why should he inform them otherwise?

Still, the problem remained. Man now knew of its existence. Now what should he do? Proceed with the plan, of course, hope that humankind’s own mutual suspicions and distrust would work against them. Satan’s minions on Earth would see to that. No, this plan would still work. Perhaps the panic generated by the knowledge of impending disaster would work in their favor.

However, his more immediate concern would be breaking the news to the master who might not take it well. Wormwood would find a way to turn news of their setback to his advantage. He would play upon the fear and panic angle. Yes, of course. Knowing that his world was imminently coming to a violent end, man would turn upon himself. No, this was even better. Amid the panic, Satan’s kingdom would flourish. And in the end, Hell would gain six billion new inhabitants. Even if a remnant of humanity survived the fiery holocaust, they would be living on a pile of ashes
that had once been their lush green world. They would be sick, weak, and demoralized—ripe for the master.

Yes, Wormwood was prepared for his impending meeting with the master. He was confident that it would go well.

T
om sat quietly in the laboratory, his eyes focused upon a small glowing orb floating about an inch above the smooth, white marble table before him. Across the table, Dr. Bill Wong and their assistant Julie Rodriquez observed his progress. Beside the luminous sphere, a vastly magnified image of the goings on within the glowing orb was displayed. But this was not a display on some monitor; it floated in midair, a ghostly apparition with no visible instrumentation producing it.

Still farther up, three shimmering crystal projections in the shape of cones were pointed at the table below. They in turn were suspended from a radiating network of black tubes that ran along the rocky ceiling. The device produced a low steady hum that filled the entire room.

Behind Bill and to his right was a large glowing telesphere, within which a holographic projection of another man watched their progress carefully. “Looking good so far,” he said in a calm voice. “Bring the trace out just a little bit farther.”

“I’m trying, Mr. Tesla,” said Bill, stress in his voice.

“Calm,” said the holographic apparition. “Don’t try to force it, just relax; you’ve got plenty of time.”

Slowly, wires and components were appearing on the screen, seemingly from out of nowhere. It appeared magical—Bill and Julie were spellbound.

Julie turned to Bill, a hopeful expression on her face. “I think he’s got it. He is really going to do it this time.”

Bill nodded as eight layers of circuitry gradually materialized on the monitor before him. He was becoming ever more hopeful. It was looking good, real good. For six weeks they had been working on this project. Trying to build something out of seemingly nothing, using only human thought, was a daunting task.

Even with the help of this incredible instrument, it had taken days for Tom to at last materialize solid stable matter through the force of his will. Still more days had been required to move it telekinetically.