The Children of Eternity (39 page)

“Look, Jerry, Abaddon is a real nice guy. I like him a lot, OK? Any bad blood between us has been gone for a long time. But he fears the demons way too much. He has stopped reaching out to the lost beyond those who are loved ones of his own people in Refuge. But I’m different—I take risks.”

Jerry listened carefully to Tim’s words. Actually, it was more the way he said them than what he said. Could there be a trace of madness hidden deep within them? He realized that he would have to exercise great care in dealing with this guy.

“People in Heaven pleaded with Abaddon to rescue their loved ones,” continued Tim, “but he wouldn’t. He was unwilling to take the risk. Then they found out about me. When I was first approached about freeing these poor souls, I jumped at the chance. But like any good entrepreneur, I had a price. It was a very reasonable one really. I rescued their loved ones, saw that they were well-cared for, and they provided me with things that I needed. It is all done very much on the q.t. of course, but there are no losers here. It’s a win-win situation.”

Jerry was stunned. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

“Of course it is,” continued Tim. “Everyone who comes here to Monrovia is very grateful to be here. You can understand that. First, we see them over the initial shock that comes with their release. Bedillia explained it all to me—something about the mind’s response to being in such great pain for so long and then suddenly having that pain removed. It creates a sort of vacuum in their souls. They get over it, but it takes time.”

“I’ve seen it firsthand,” interjected Megan. “It’s one of my jobs to help people get over that horrible hump. It’s a rough job, but it’s very rewarding to see them finally get up, free at last.”

“Megan is a real angel of mercy,” said Tim, taking her hand. “I’m very proud of her.”

“Tim saw me through my rough days,” said Megan. “He was wonderful.”

There was a moment’s silence. Tim and Megan gazed into each other’s eyes. They seemed so serene.

A moment later, Tim refocused his thoughts. “Well, as you may imagine, our new citizens dread the prospects of returning to the torments that had driven them to the edge of insanity. They really want to make it here. Consequently, they are great workers and soldiers. This is the perfect society.”

Jerry nodded in approval. “Offhand, do you know just how many souls you’ve rescued?”

“Over twelve thousand,” was the reply. “By the way, our population is about four times that of Refuge.”

“I know that Abaddon takes great care in getting each soul out of Satan’s hands,” said Jerry. “He generally relies on stealth to free them. How have you taken so many and not gotten caught?”

Tim laughed openly. “Because, my friend, I don’t use stealth; I use deception. Years ago Abaddon released millions of his tiny children into Hell to prey upon the demons.”

He turned to the creature on his shoulder. He stroked him gently. “Goliath here was the eldest of Abaddon’s children. My biology teacher back in high school used to call such a creature of a family grouping an alpha male. And make no mistake about it, the ACs are collectively one large family. As the alpha male, he has considerable authority. When I found him out there in the canyon, he had been injured by a demon in battle and was dying. I hid him away, nursed him back to health.

“As fortune would have it, we share a telepathic link. Abaddon could never understand why he was unable to control over a third of the children he sent out into Hell. That was because I controlled them. Now most of the ones he controls are on Earth, doing battle with the allies of Satan. Most of the ones I control are still here. They usually travel in packs and obey my commands.

“When I get a contract to rescue a specific victim of Satan from his or her torments, I first send in a pack of tens of thousands of my little friends. They overwhelm the demons and clear the area for me. Then I use my teleportation ring to go in and rescue that individual, as well as any others in the area who may be of use to me.

“We often leave a scattering of human or demon remains behind. This gives the demons the illusion that the ACs are capable of reducing a damned soul or one of their own kind to bones that do not regenerate, utterly destroying them. It hides what we are really doing and it breeds fear among the demons.” He laughed. “They ought to be afraid, very afraid.”

Jerry nodded. He would never have thought of such a plan. Still, Tim was playing a very dangerous game. If Tim were discovered, the demons would probably declare open war against him.

“The demons can’t be trusted,” interjected Megan. “We all know that here. Eventually they’re going to come after us, no matter what we do. Just last week, one of their emissaries stood before us and demanded that we give them all of our weapons. He gave us two weeks to comply—or else. We didn’t tell him yes or no, but I know this: I’d rather have a large army with real weapons when they come back than to be groveling helplessly in these caverns.”

“Right on!” said Tim. “You just gotta love her.”

“Jerry, things have to change in Hell,” continued Megan. “I don’t believe that God intended for us to be tortured here. I don’t think that’s His way. I think that our punishment was to be separated from Him and His love. It was Satan and his demons who decided to torture us. I accept God’s judgment, but I won’t accept Satan’s.”

“Now you see why I love her so,” said Tim.

Megan smiled but said nothing more.

“So, what are you going to do when they come for your weapons?” asked Jerry.

His question was followed by a long pause. Tim seemed deep in thought. “Yes, I’ll tell you,” he finally said. “Why not? When the demons come back, we’re going to tell them no.”

Again there was silence.

“And then?” asked Jerry.

“I’m moving most of our guardians, our ACs, back to us here. They will reach us in time, over twenty million of them. Come, come with me.”

Tim led Jerry to what appeared to be a black framed table with a sheet of clear glass on the surface. The glass immediately took on a milky appearance and then the form of a three-dimensional map of the area, which showed the boundaries of Tim’s tiny empire. He moved his hand in a circle.

“Most of my guardians shall take up positions in the caves around this place, about five miles out on all sides, hidden from the enemy’s sight. When the demons come sufficiently close, we shall open fire on them using our pulse cannons,” Tim said.

“Pulse cannons?” asked Jerry. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Oh,” replied Tim, “you’re in for a real show. A pulse cannon fires a shell through the air, like a cannon. It detonates some distance out with quite a bang. You’ve just gotta love it. It’s like a particle weapon overload. We’ve got hidden pulse cannon batteries surrounding our fortress.

“Then we bring in the guardians and our ground troops. They attack what is left of the demon force after our pulse batteries are finished with them. Then we turn the tide on them; we go on the offensive. By the time this is all over, they’ll do almost anything to get us to stop.”

Jerry looked at Tim skeptically, then at Megan. He could tell that they were serious about this thing. Then a thought hit him. “Why are you telling me all of these things?” he asked.

Tim smiled like a Cheshire cat. “Oh, bravo, I was wondering when you would ask that question. You know that it is very unlikely that your mother will be ready to be moved before the demons attack. She’d be no better off in Refuge—worse actually. In the meantime, you’re sort of stuck here. You want to be here when she wakes up, right? You want to be a good son, right? Well, while you’re waiting, there is something that I need from you.”

Then Jerry got it. How could he have been so dense? “You want the dagger.”

Tim laughed loudly. “Oh no, you’re wrong on that one. You think I would take your ship? You misjudge me, sir…I would never do that.”

“He wouldn’t,” said Megan. “My husband isn’t that sort of man at all. He is a great man, an honorable man, and he will, in the end, change the very face of Hell. People will one day come to call him Tim the Great.”

Tim stretched out his hands, smiling broadly. “Like I said, you gotta love her. But come, my friend, allow me to put your mind to ease.”

The four departed by a side door that led 50 feet through a wide but empty corridor to another door, which was closed and guarded. Beyond that door was another room that housed a silvery, eight-foot ring mounted upon a large, black marble base. Nearby, a sort of control console sat at about waist level atop a crystalline stand. A man in a brown uniform standing before the console bowed slightly before his sovereign.

“To the hangar, Wyatt,” said Tim.

A few entries into the console brought a blue mist filled with sparkling stars into the midst of the ring.

Tim looked toward Jerry. “Follow me, if you please.” Tim stepped into the mists. The others followed.

Only a few steps brought them through another somewhat larger ring near the wall of a huge cavern room that was well over 100 feet across and better than 50 feet high. The clearly subterranean room was almost perfectly dome-shaped. But it was neither the shape nor the size of the room that brought a sense of astonishment to Jerry. Here, illuminated by 12 bright crystal lights in the ceiling, were three dagger fighters virtually identical to the
Hope
. Scattered on the floor about the fighters were tools and maintenance equipment not unlike that used in Heaven.

“How?” asked Jerry. He stepped forward to get a closer look at these marvels of engineering.

“As I said, I have my methods,” said Tim. “Getting the plans and having the parts fabricated was not so tough. One of your own engineers provided us with those plans. In turn, we rescued both his mother and his father. Another man, the head of a materializer’s guild who was highly skilled in the art of materialization, saw to the fabrication of most of the parts. For him, we saved his wife from a…well…I’d rather not say.

“Most of the parts easily fit through the ten-foot ring. Some of the parts were made right here. The problem is that these ships don’t work properly—not one of them. The artisans who built them did their best, but they weren’t up to the challenge. Mechanically, the ships fit together fine; the complex electronics are another matter. Apparently, we’re doing something wrong. We don’t know what.”

“That’s what you need me for,” deduced Jerry.

“Yes,” confirmed Tim. “My people are very good at assembling the parts. They could do the heavy work of repairing your ship. They know how your ship works and where all of the parts go. We need someone to get our electronics right. We also need someone to teach our pilots.”

“How long do we have?” asked Jerry.

“Eight days,” said Megan.

“That’s not enough time,” objected Jerry. “Assuming that I could figure out all of the bugs in these ships in eight days—and I doubt it—we’d still have to train pilots to fly them.”

“We have pilots for you,” replied Tim. “We’ve got the best. We have anything you need—just name it. When it’s all done, we can even teleport you back to Heaven. These teleportation rings can send you safely home, although I and my people would perish if we made the attempt. It has something to do with the nuclear density of our atoms or something like that. I’m not a scientist.”

Jerry looked over at Tim, then at the three ships. He noticed a long, wide tunnel that led toward an opening 100 or so yards away. It looked like a launch tunnel.

“We have thought of everything,” assured Tim. “When the first desperate people of Heaven came to me, I was thinking organization. We organized them so that they could work together to save their loved ones. I am the key element of that organization. I put those people in Heaven in contact with each other. I turned them from individuals with a dream into an organization with a purpose.” Tim paused.

“But your mission, your purpose, still puzzles me, Jerry. Surely you knew what the situation was here and in Refuge when you set out to rescue your mother. Abaddon must have told you that we would soon be under attack. You knew that your mother might only find safety there for a short time, yet you still came. Man, that just doesn’t make any sense. Is there something I’m missing here?”

“No, you’re not missing anything,” said Jerry. “I just knew that I had to come. I acted on faith.”

Karl spoke up: “You knew that we’d be outnumbered ten thousand to one by the demons, yet you came anyway. Jerry, there’s no sense in that unless you know that we can win this.”