The War in Heaven (27 page)

“You guys were running a bit late so I made a second one while we were waiting,” said David. He handed it to his mother. “Here Mom, you might need this.”

June took the rifle in hand, tried to get the feel of it. “My own father taught me how to fire a rifle. I’m a pretty good shot, really. This thing is really light.”

“David, how long does it take you to build a rifle?” asked Johann.

“About forty-five minutes,” replied David. “If I got more practice, I’m sure I could do it quite a bit faster.”

“We really need to get going,” said Nikola.

“I wonder if we could gate out from here,” pondered David. “It would save us a lot of time.”

“You’re not supposed to gate out from inside the city,” said June.

“This is war,” said David. “Anyway … look around, this city is dying. I believe that the Father established that rule due to the shear number of people in the city. If they were constantly gating here and there, it would undermine the space time of this region. That would be a bad thing. The city, beyond the Holy Place, is nearly deserted. It should be fine.”

“That seems reasonable to me,” said Nikola. “If it can be done, we really should do it.”

David turned to the center of the room. “To your lab, right Dr. Kepler?” Johann nodded. “Yes, go ahead and try.”

Almost instantly, the misty field of stars appeared before him. David proceeded in and the others followed. They emerged in the middle of Johann’s study.

“Our friends at Refuge need to be appraised of our situation,” said Johann, walking over to the telesphere setting on the middle of the table. He stood there for several minutes before turning back toward the others. I can’t make contact … and I’m not sure why.”

“Let me try,” said David, walking over to the telesphere. He examined it carefully. To its left a cryptic display appeared floating in midair. He examined it stretching out his hand to page through several different displays. The sphere began to glow, then was transformed into a much larger sphere that displayed video static in three dimensions. Slowly an image began to materialize out of the static. It was the dark angel Lenar. The image swayed and rippled and was full of snow. “That is the maximum power I dare use.
I don’t dare open the wormhole wider. I’ve never seen the density of the dimensional barrier between Heaven and Hell so high.”

“It’s good to see you, David,” said Lenar. His voice was very distorted barely readable. He made another comment, but it was indistinguishable.

“I’ll try to clean up the audio,” said David, making additional adjustments.

By now, a second dark angel had joined Lenar; it was Abaddon. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours, but without success,” said Abaddon, his voice faint and distorted, but understandable.

“Satan’s forces have invaded Heaven,” said Johann, stepping up to the sphere. “The angels were taken by complete surprise and are in full retreat.”

“So it finally happened,” lamented Abaddon. “What’s wrong with the telesphere?”

“It must be the work of Satan, directly or indirectly,” said Johann. “He is sending millions of his demons through the portal and into Heaven. That open gate might be the cause of our problem, we’re just not sure.”

“I can hear you, Dr. Kepler…but just barely,” said Abaddon. “I do have some good news to report here. Victoria van Voth is already making dynamic strides using that machine. She didn’t even take time to rest after her ordeal; she got right to work. Tom and Bill taught her the basics, but she needs a good tutor to master the more advanced techniques.”

“I can’t hold this wormhole open much longer,” warned David. “I’m running way more amps through this circuit than it was designed to withstand. For the moment, I don’t see how we can communicate with our allies at Refuge for more than a few minutes at a time.”

“I’m afraid your people will have to manage on your own for now,” said Johann. “Communications problems won’t allow us to do tutoring sessions
by telesphere, and travel to outer darkness is impossible for the time being, so we won’t be able to supply you. I’m sorry, my friend.”

“We will manage, my friend,” said Abaddon, his image rapidly fading. Then the image faded completely. The sphere returned to its normal size, then went dark.

“We’re going to have to get as many of our people here as we can,” said Johann. “We’ll have to work with the angels. They won’t be able to move from one level of Heaven to another, and nearly a third of them are trapped on Earth. We can’t transport the angels on Earth back to Heaven, but we can act as pilots, ferrying angelic forces from one level of Heaven to another. That might be a good job for you, June.”

June nodded. “I’ll be glad to. I just can’t sit around when all this is going on. Captain June Bonner at your service sir.”

Johann nodded. Now he knew the source of David’s off-beat humor.

As if an answer to prayer, a starry mist appeared near the corner of the room. From it stepped three men and a woman. One of the men held one of Tesla’s particle beam rifles.

David took his mother by the hand and walked over to the man with the rifle. “Mom, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Niels Bohr, the father of the science of quantum mechanics. Doctor Bohr, this is my mom, June.”

The dark-haired man smiled broadly and extended his hand. “You have a brilliant son, Mrs. Bonner, you must be very proud.”

“And I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you, Dr. Bohr,” said June. “Thank you for tutoring my son. I’m glad to finally meet you in person.”

“My pleasure,” replied Niels.

“And these are students of Dr. Bohr,” continued David. “This is Don, Karen, and Hari.”

“We’ll have time for introductions later,” said Johann. “Right now we have to come up with a plan…and we have to develop it fast. Within the
hour I need to meet with Michael, assuming I can find him. We have to figure out what we’re up against. We have to know how the other levels of Heaven are faring. That means that we are going to need to open the gate to allow the angels to go there, perhaps, even go there ourselves. The days ahead will neither be easy nor safe. We may be putting our eternities on the line.”

“I think we all realize that,” said Niels. “Fill us in on what’s happened up to this point. All my students and I know is that there are demons loose in Heaven. They were going door to door in our village. One of them actually walked right up to my door and advised me not to interfere. It was more a thinly veiled threat, really. Stay in your homes, he warned us. He said we wouldn’t be harmed if we didn’t interfere. I didn’t openly confront him at the time, not with my wife and students in the house; but there is no way we are going to cooperate with his kind. I sent my wife off to the Holy Place; and we came here. We are ready to do whatever needs to be done.”

“Very good,” said Johann. “Please…let us sit together and discuss the situation. I am certain that the Father will give us guidance.”

The discussion had been under way for about 45 minutes, and a course of action had been agreed upon. They would rendezvous with Michael’s forces at the hill called Ceranda in two hours.

As they continued to talk, David proceeded to the transporter ring that linked to the other rings in Heaven. He tried to link to one then another without success. He wasn’t surprised. Satan’s forces had either destroyed them or linked them solely with the great ring in Hell. He was, however, shocked when he got a solid link to the ring in the Hall of the Angels in the City of Elesia, on the second level of Heaven. He could see through the ring clearly. The room on the other side was largely in ruins. He was surprised when he saw half a dozen angels step up to the portal, their swords drawn.

“Dr. Kepler,” he said, turning to his primary mentor.

Johann stepped up to the ring, scanning the scene beyond. His eyes focused on one of the angels. “It’s Marlith…I know him well. He was one of the angels who flew into Hell to support our rescue of Serena.”

Marlith apparently recognized Johann. He sheathed his sword and raised his right hand in greeting.

“I’m going over,” announced Johann. “I need everyone to remain here until I can ascertain what the situation is over there.” Without so much as a second thought he stepped through.

“Greetings my good friend,” said Marlith. “I can’t say that your arrival is a surprise. In very fact, our ring is set to accept transport only from yours. We had prayed that you would come. I suspect that we will need your assistance.”

“My friend, we will help in any way we can,” assured Johann.

“I take it that the forces of Satan have invaded all of the levels of Heaven,” deduced Marlith.

“Apparently,” said Johann. “Surely, they must have hit here too.”

“They did,” confirmed Marlith. “What saved us was our contingency plan. We had suspected that something like this might happen for some time. Our commander, General Moriah, suspected that if such an attack occurred, it would happen during or immediately following a meeting of the angelic council. He had a standing order to place additional forces within the gate room at these times and place our forces on high alert. Several hundred of Satan’s minions, an advanced force, stormed through our gate early this morning. They seemed quite surprised to encounter our forces waiting for them. Initially, they pushed us back, but we inevitably got the upper hand and secured the gate once more. We shut it down to prevent additional troops from arriving and reinforcing their position. Two of Satan’s minions escaped, but we captured the rest. Eventually we will track down those who escaped as well. Currently, darkness is hindering the search, but it will resume come morning.”

“Nice work,” said Johann. “What have you learned from the prisoners you captured?”

“Quite a bit,” replied Marlith. “We discovered that they were an advanced party. Their mission was to secure this gate until additional forces arrived. This was their plan at each of the seven angelic halls throughout Heaven. By controlling the gates, they would be able to isolate our forces, rendering them ineffective. However, as you humans say, we rained on their parade. We have made this level of Heaven a fortress that is, at least for the moment, impenetrable.”

“You have made my day,” said Johann. “This is wonderful news. How many angels are here under your command?”

“Just under three million,” said Marlith. “Many of our angels are on Earth or in Zion.”

“It’s a start,” said Johann. “Your victory here has provided a safe haven for the rest of the angels, a place to mend and regroup. We need to find Michael; his will be the final decision, but for now, I fear we have no option but to retreat before our losses become even greater. Then we shall choose the time and place for the next battle.”

Sister Elizabeth sat quietly by the fire reading a book of poetry—the collected works of E.E. Cummings. She was alone, and the room was dark save the light from the old stone fireplace and that of an oil lamp on the table by her side. She wore a long frilly dress, of a sort that was five centuries out of style, dating from the time when she walked the green Earth. She pushed her long brown hair aside and turned the page.

Beyond the open window, the crickets chirped in the darkness, as they usually did on a summer’s evening. By her soft comfy chair, seven additional
books were arranged in two neat stacks, those that she had read, and those she soon would.

It was late, but she wasn’t tired. After five centuries in Heaven, she had nearly evolved beyond the need for sleep or even food—both of which she partook of only once or twice a week.

Her mansion was not a large one, at least not by heavenly standards. She had a kitchen, this modest study which held all of her books, and a small bedroom, which she rarely used. The house, constructed from local stones, stood in a one-acre-wide clearing in the vast green forest, a truly isolated venue. She liked it that way. It gave her time to reflect, to appreciate the goodness of God. She would have been totally lost in a large mansion.

She received few visitors here. Her encounters with others occurred most often on her biweekly trips to the City of Zion. There, she would commune with the Father and afterward visit one of the city’s many libraries.

Interestingly, her last visitor had passed by this way only two weeks ago—a very special visitor. It had been her Savior—Jesus Himself. Indeed, since her arrival here, He had dropped in to see her frequently. They had even taken walks through the forest together. They discussed matters of the spirit, philosophy, even poetry. How she loved His visits. However, during His last visit, He had spoken of spiritual strength and courage. He had reminded her that He was with her always, even in times of danger. He also spoke of the power she possessed through the Holy Spirit. How strange, what sort of danger was to be found here? He told her to show no fear in the face of that danger, though He declined to tell her what that danger might be.

On Earth she had lived the cloistered existence of a nun. It was a lifestyle ideally suited for her personality. In very fact, she even had two long black habits in her wardrobe, though she seldom wore them anymore. No, she preferred to dress comfortably.