The War in Heaven (39 page)

“They are closer to the blast than we will be,” noted Abaddon.

“Yes,” confirmed Nikola, “fourteen miles. But they will not be in a direct line of sight of the blast, far from it. There are two high mountain ranges between them and ground zero. I didn’t want Lenar to have to fly very far to his extraction point. Don’t worry, they’ll be just fine. In a little less than two hours, Sheol will cease to exist.”

Lenar and Kurt gated unto a high mesa a few hundred feet down from the western summit of the westernmost of two ridges that separated the great Sea of Fire from the interior of the Dark Continent. A near freezing breeze swept down from the ridge as they carefully scanned their surroundings. It took several minutes to confirm that they were indeed alone.

“I don’t like this wind,” noted Kurt. “It will move the fallout from the detonation in our direction.”

“We will be out of here long before that happens,” assured Lenar.

Kurt helped Lenar prepare for his flight, as he had for all of the test flights. They got the weapon secured to the harness and calibrated the small digital altimeter and compass that Lenar would wear on his wrist. As expected, the compass pointed directly toward Sheol. Last, they tested the small radio communications device that Nikola had fabricated.

“It’s not too powerful as two-way radios go,” said Kurt, pulling his own unit from his belt. “In that you will have a straight line of sight, you should be able to stay in contact with both Nikola and me … but the mountains will
prevent me from contacting Nikola and visa versa. You may need to relay messages.”

“We’ve gone over all of this before,” noted Lenar, wearily. “I’ll take off to the west, gain altitude, then swing east. I’ll release the bomb on Nikola’s signal. You’ll hear my release announcement. Just be ready to depart on my return.”

“We’ve gone over this before,” replied Kurt.

Lenar smiled, though slightly. “I think we’re ready.”

“May the Father guide and protect you,” said Kurt.

“And you,” replied Lenar. “Remember, if any demons show up, just get out of here, I’ll get back myself.”

Kurt nodded and stepped back as Lenar bolted skyward, heading out across the rolling hills to the west. It would take well over an hour for him to reach the proper altitude. Now it would be a waiting game. There were a bunch of things that could go wrong in the meantime. They would pray for the best.

The displayed figures before David had long ago become a blur. He now sat asleep before his computer. In his sleep he dreamed. He dreamed of lightning and thunder; against the backdrop of a black starless sky, a mighty whirlwind swept up everything in its path. The whirlwind was consuming the entire world like some insatiable dragon. The portion of the world that was being devoured was being swept away into some netherworld realm, scattered to the ethereal winds. Yet, it didn’t end there. Even as the world was being destroyed, the ethereal realm was being poisoned by the shattered world’s very essence. He was watching it all from a hill that stood above
the whirlwind. From the hill, he could see all of these things and the dire consequences of this terrible event. It was horrifying.

Then the very Earth shook beneath him, as if in a terrible earthquake. It knocked David to his knees. The whirlwind that was consuming the world around him expanded, threatening to draw the hill on which he stood into the maelstrom as well. The roaring wind was nearly deafening. Then fire erupted from the whirlpool of chaos before him. He fell on his face, terrified.

“Oh Lord, save me!” cried David, covering his head and closing his eyes.

Then there was total silence. It was half a minute before David looked up to see only a bright glowing star in the darkness.

“There was an earthquake, but I was not in it,” said a quiet voice. “Then came the mighty wind, but I was not there either. Nor was I in the raging fire that followed it.”

David rose slowly to his knees, looking into the brilliant light. He knew that voice, knew it well. It quieted his fears. “Father, what have I just seen? I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do,” said the Father.

David thought back to the incredible tragedy he had just witnessed. He tried to clear his mind, see deeper into its symbolism. The world he saw being ripped asunder was not just any world; it lay at the very heart of outer darkness; it was Hell. And this was no normal whirlwind of air shaped by the clashing of contrasting air masses. It was something far more primal—a rip in space time itself, a wormhole.

David had dealt with wormholes before, many times, everyone in Heaven did. The saints used them routinely to cover vast distances in seconds. Jesus had used one on Earth when He entered the locked room where His disciples hid in fear from the authorities after His resurrection. But this
one was different. Those wormholes were a bending of the fabric of space and hyperspace. This one was not so subtle. It was an actual rip, punched in the fabric of space, like a black hole.

Everything was falling into place. In that moment, he understood a great mystery—the real secret of Sheol. In a hyperspherical universe, it was the south magnetic pole.

“Of course,” he whispered. “Why didn’t I see it earlier?”

“Because it wasn’t time,” replied the Father.

“Sheol—it was built at the confluence of the magnetic lines of force. It is the south magnetic pole of the universe. I don’t know how else to describe it, but I understand. I know why Satan built Sheol where he did. From there a spirit could ride the field lines effortlessly to anywhere in the universe he desired. It’s how demons ride to Earth and back again, expending practically no energy.”

“Yes, continue,” urged the Father.

“But he’s not sending demons to Earth this time. He’s sending gravitons, gravitons that are making the barriers between dimensions more difficult to cross, preventing angels from returning to Heaven from Earth.”

“But there is a danger in this,” said the Father.

“Yes,” replied David, who had now forgotten his fear. “The injection of gravitons is further weakening the fabric of space time at the point where space time is already very tenuous.” Then the reality hit him. “And we’re going to detonate a sixty kiloton bomb right there. Space time will breach! That is what I saw in the vision! I can’t allow it to happen.”

Instantly, David was awake. He looked around … the lab was empty.

“Time?” he asked the computer.

“1411 hours,” said a synthetic female voice.

“Oh no,” gasped David.

There was no time to contact Johann, no time to explain what he had just witnessed to anyone. He rushed to the telesphere at the far end of the room and opened a channel to Refuge. He prayed that he got an answer. It took only a few seconds to make contact. Within the sphere of light, he saw Bedillia.

“Hi David,” she said smiling. Then she saw his grave expression. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got to call off the bombing of Sheol,” said David, his tone frantic. “If that bomb goes off, it will rip a hole in space time that will wreak who knows how much havoc. It could destroy all of Hell, or even worse; it will scatter a huge cloud of highly ionized plasma, right in the direction of Earth.”

Clearly Bedillia didn’t understand all that David was talking about, but she did get the picture—it was really bad. “How long do we have?”

“Less than half an hour,” replied David.

“Did you discuss this with Dr. Kepler?” asked Bedillia. “Does he agree with you on this?”

“There isn’t time,” replied David. “Look, you’ve just got to trust me on this. I had a vision. I know how crazy that sounds, but you’ve got to help me.”

Bedillia paused for just a few seconds. “No, it doesn’t sound crazy, David, I believe you. Look, I’ll try to reach Nikola, stop him if I can. I’m heading to the ring room right now. I only hope there’s time.”

The sphere went clear. David looked back to the computer, which now displayed the time—1413.

David ran off to locate Johann and the others. He knew pretty much what they would say. He might find himself in a good bit of trouble. Right now, that didn’t matter. He just hoped that he hadn’t acted too late.

O
n the way to the ring room, Bedillia had more than a few misgivings about what she was doing. Suppose David was wrong? He was little more than a kid, certainly not a senior member of Kepler’s science team. They had discussed the importance of this mission. If something wasn’t done, and done soon, Heaven might well fall to the forces of Satan. Then she encountered Julie. Someone else had to know what had happened. She filled Julie in on her encounter with David and what she had been told as they rushed toward a secure storage room, which housed spheres that were used to power return trips to the ring room.

The dark angelic sentry at the door to the room that held this most precious commodity in Refuge also insisted on being told why a sphere was being requisitioned without prior approval. All the while, the clock kept ticking. Bedillia was almost tempted to go through the gate without a sphere, hoping that she gated to the exact location to which Abaddon and Nikola had gated several hours before. Eventually, the sentry yielded to this highest ranking human, and Bedillia and Julie were on their way to the ring room.

“Won’t you need a heavy coat?” asked Julie.

“No time,” replied Bedillia. “It isn’t that cold where I’m going. My only concerns are getting there in time, and hoping that I gate in at the right point. Since I wasn’t going on this mission, I wasn’t paying that close of attention to the coordinates. I think I remember them, but I’m not sure.”

“But if you’re wrong, you might freeze or be captured,” objected Julie.

“I’ll just have to take that chance,” replied Bedillia. “I’ll give you the coordinates before I leave. Anyway, if worse comes to worse, I have my ticket back.” Bedillia held up the small sphere. “I’ll make sure not to lose it this time.”

In a couple minutes, Bedillia stood before the ring. She took a deep breath. “Lord, let my memory be sharp on this one.” Then she stepped through the ring, into the misty stars, and vanished.

A few seconds later, she was on a windy mountain ridge. She could see the city of Sheol far to the south. There was a strange sound in the air, almost like static electricity. To the east, she saw the dreaded Sea of Fire glowing brightly in the night. Far off on the eastern horizon, she saw the blue lightning of a distant brimstone and sulfuric acid storm. Her mind wandered back to stories of her daughter, adrift on that awful sea.

She looked around the ridge. Abaddon and Nikola were nowhere to be seen. No, she had to be close. She scanned the ridge again. It was a full minute before she picked out two figures, a good 300 yards farther up the ridge. Yes, she was fairly certain it was them. Should she yell out to them? Suppose she was wrong? She started to run in their direction.

The aurora that arched up from the city and scattered out into the sky overhead added illumination to the scene, still, depth was hard to determine, and the ridge was very rocky indeed. After several minutes, she had scarcely covered a third of the distance. Still, she couldn’t be sure it was them. She looked to the sky; there were no demon sentries, not this far out from the city. She would have to take the chance.

Bedillia cupped her hands around her mouth and cried out in her loudest voice. There was no response. Maybe it was just an oddly shaped rock formation that she was seeing, and not Abaddon and Nikola. She called out again; still nothing. She quickened her pace.

“I’m at altitude,” announced Lenar, into the two-way radio. His wings beat erratically. He seemed to be in difficulty. “This climb has been the
hardest of all. I don’t understand why. I’m right at the edge of this thin glowing mist. It is cold, and there is a strangeness here, like electricity all around me. That couldn’t make this thing blow up, could it?”

“Absolutely not,” replied Nikola. His voice was full of static. It had gotten worse and worse as Lenar had approached the rising mists. “You’ve got eight minutes to release.”

“Eight minutes,” confirmed Lenar. “I hope I can make it.”