The War in Heaven (44 page)

Power blackouts were already rampant in northern countries including Canada, Russia, and Norway—outages related to high energy charged particles entering the atmosphere. Even far southern countries such as New Zealand and Argentina were beginning to feel the effects.

High above the Earth, the mysterious particles were manifesting themselves in yet another way—one satellite after another experienced catastrophic failure and went silent. These were the satellites in the most vulnerable positions beyond Earth’s protective magnetic field, and the danger was growing as the intensity of the radiation grew.

Radiation at the International Space Station was approaching dangerous levels. Soon, this off-world outpost would have to be abandoned. For the first time in 20 years there would be no human presence in space.

In addition, commercial spacecraft flights had been suspended. Even jet aircraft operations above 40,000 feet were off limits.

“This one isn’t going to work for us either,” complained Sam Florence as he scanned the image from the control room of the Discovery Channel telescope. “I never thought aurora would spoil an observing run for me.”

Ken, the observatory assistant, looked at the image and shook his head. “The comet is getting low in the sky, Sam. You aren’t going to have too many more chances tonight to get an image, and tomorrow there’s a front moving in.”

Sam started the seventh exposure of the comet. “Then we just have to pray for a small break in the aurora.”

Ken smiled. “Yep, I reckon it worked before, didn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Sam, smiling, “it did. New Horizons is taking its second set of images of the comet right now. It would be very good to get an image of it taken from Earth at the same time.”

“Word has it that this particle radiation that has our skies full of aurora is highly localized,” said Ken. “The New Horizons spacecraft is experiencing it too, but not nearly as badly as we are here on Earth. Even the Mars orbiting satellites are recording a somewhat lower level of radiation, although, we lost Mars Odyssey to the radiation yesterday. It’s just creepy. Take that and this potentially doomsday comet together and it almost seems like the end of days.”

Sam just nodded. The same thought had crossed his mind several times during the past several days, though he hadn’t voiced it. It wasn’t the sort of thing that one spoke of too loudly around the professors at the university.

Five minutes later they got their first good image of the comet that night. Amazingly enough, it was followed by one more good image six minutes later before the comet dropped too low in the western horizon.

Other observatories around the world were following the comet as well. Word of the new comet had circulated widely through the professional and amateur astronomical community. It was touted as potentially the comet of the century. Nominally, it would pass well within 2 million miles of the Earth, though the exact distance was still hotly debated. There was even a possibility of impact, though the 1 in 60,000 odds didn’t seem to alarm the general public.

The comet had been spotted while it was still so far out that there was plenty of lead time before its arrival. There was even talk of a robotic mission to study it close up, perhaps even land on it.

Still, others saw it in a different light. To be visible from such a distance, it had to be a very large object, probably larger than the comet that brought the reign of the dinosaurs to an abrupt end 65 million years ago. Might this object be capable of turning humankind into a footnote in the cosmic history of Earth? It seemed a preposterous idea, yet the governments of Earth were taking the threat very seriously. Within the next two weeks, they would have an orbit for the comet that was refined by a factor of 100. They hoped that the observations that were being made now would prove that the Earth was not in the gun sight of Comet Florence.

Slowly, David Bonner was coming around. His eyes opened to see his mother kneeling over him. Her clothes were tattered and singed, but she seemed little the worse for wear.

“Hey,” she said, stroking his cheek with her hand. “We made it, we’re in.”

David looked up to see that the others were here safe and sound. That was a relief.

“Welcome back, my son,” said the Father.

“It is really good to be back,” said David.

“Was your adventure all that you had hoped it would be?” asked the Father.

David nodded. “Father, I’ve had enough adventure for a long time. You know, I thought I wanted something exciting to happen, to live a life full of intrigue, full of danger. I can’t believe I could have been so foolish, so childish.”

“You are being far too harsh on yourself,” replied the Father. “Understand this: your eternity can be an adventure, or simply a long journey … it is totally up to you. You live at the very center of creation, everyone does. Do
your best to take every advantage of the opportunities it affords you. I know that the past days have been difficult for you, but you have learned so much, and you will learn still more.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”

David’s comment elicited a hearty laugh from the Father. “David, you survived these past few days because you place your faith in Me. You handled yourself well in the presence of the deceiver. You displayed courage and wisdom. You became My instrument in delivering Gabriel from the hands of Satan. Furthermore, you must not hold yourself accountable for what has transpired in Hell. I assure you that what is happening there is what must happen, that My plan might be fulfilled.”

“So, what am I to do now?” asked David.

“Nothing, for now,” said the Father. “What you must do now is relax, regain your strength. Spend some time with Me. I’ll try to make it interesting.”

This time it was David and his mother who laughed.

God continued. “When the time is right, I’ll tell you exactly what is to be done. Your mother was right when she said that the two of you made a good team. The time will come when I send you out together.”

The dark angel practically stumbled into Abaddon’s audience chamber, interrupting the ongoing meeting between Abaddon, Bedillia, and his four top human scientists.

“Sir, the sentries report that the skies overhead are practically filled with demons, perhaps several legions of them.”

“Might they simply be passing through?” asked Abaddon.

“No,” replied the dark angel. “They are circling, and their numbers increase by the minute.”

“Then, this is it,” announced Abaddon. “Raise the alarm. Get all angels and humans alike ready for battle. Summon the war council. It looks like we’ll have to fight.”

The angel bowed slightly and quickly departed. The silence that followed was indeed ominous.

Abaddon turned to the members of his science team. “How many of those rifles have you produced?”

“There are currently about thirteen hundred,” said Bill, “tested and ready to go. The majority of our people know how to handle them.”

“And how many power cells do you have for them?” asked Abaddon.

“There is the problem,” said Bill. “Even with the extra cells that Nikola brought us, we have fewer than three thousand.”

“Twenty or thirty rounds per rifle,” deduced Nikola. “That’s not much.”

“We also have nearly a million of my children in the lower caverns,” said Abaddon. “Within the close confines of the caverns, they would be formidable adversaries.”

“I think we can beat them,” announced Tom.

Bedillia looked toward Tom and smiled. At last, her positivity had rubbed off on him. “They will regret the day that they came here looking for us,” she said.

“My war council will be here within a few minutes,” announced Abaddon. “I wish for the science committee to remain. I need to know all of my options. Keep in mind, they might not know we’re here. We hide if we can, and we fight only if we have no other choice.”

The group nodded. They knew that they could give the demons a fight they would not soon forget. They would fight as long as they were in one
piece. The consequences of defeat were too horrible to contemplate. Still, they had limited resources. They might drag this thing out for days or even weeks; nonetheless, things weren’t looking bright. They really weren’t ready for this fight, not yet.

In the dark, minus-40-degree air beyond Refuge, Cordon and Rolf had set up headquarters in the midst of a narrow canyon. A series of fireballs had been used to bring the walls to near red heat to lessen the bite of the frigid weather. Overhead, darkness ruled the night. The auroras that often dominated this land were strangely absent.

“The one large cave is several hundred yards in that direction,” said one of the scouts, pointing up the canyon. “Though some effort has been made to mask the tracks, we found evidence that humans or dark angels have been there recently. However, there is currently no one living within. They might already have fled.”

“Take us there,” said Cordon.

Cordon and Rolf were escorted up the narrow canyon and into the mouth of a truly enormous cavern. They made their way through the tunnel cautiously, using the crystal light from their rings.

“A lava tube,” said Cordon. “In some ancient epoch of time, molten rock flowed through this dark tunnel.”

“It seems warmer in here,” noted Rolf.

“Totally normal,” assured Cordon.

It was several minutes before the huge tunnel came to an abrupt end.

“There does not appear to be any side passages,” noted the scout. “We’ve searched thoroughly.”

“Not thoroughly enough,” said Cordon, moving his hand along the walls, slowly and carefully. “They’re here, I know it. See the way this lava tube turns? It’s not natural. By the looks of it, the tube should fork here.”

“But it doesn’t,” replied Rolf.

Cordon looked toward his lieutenant, a slight smile on his face. “Doesn’t it?”

Fifteen minutes of silence passed before Cordon stopped. By now, Rolf stood at his side. Rolf too had his hands on the wall.

Cordon looked to his lieutenant. “Do you sense it, Rolf, the vibration, the sense of power in this wall?”

Rolf’s eyes opened wide. “Yes, I think I do.”

“This wall is an illusion,” announced Cordon. “It is a very good illusion, but it is phantasmal.”

A rock bounced off of the wall not far away, a rock thrown by the scout. “With all due respect, my lord, it seems solid to me.”

“Ah, that is because you believe it to be.” Cordon stood motionless for a few seconds. He seemed deep in thought. Then he stretched forth his hand. It passed right into the wall and back out again. “It is a simple matter of faith, my friends.”

Rolf reached out to the wall. It still seemed solid. “I don’t understand,” he admitted.

“You will,” assured Cordon.

“Are we then to prepare the troops, march them into this cavern?” asked Rolf.

“No,” replied Cordon. “The plan has been changed. As I told you, we need these people as much as they need us.”

Three hours later, Cordon’s entire army was assembled; a demonic force nearly 2 million strong. Within the cavern, before the phantasmal wall, several thousand of those demons were assembled. They looked on with
disbelief as Cordon dropped his sword to the ground and picked up a large white flag.