Heaven and Hell (49 page)

“It doesn’t sound like much of a life,” noted Chris.

“From our perspective, no, but you have to understand how angels think. To them it is totally adequate.”

“So, where do we meet him? At the Hall of Angels?” asked David, who had heard all of this before and was anxious to move on.

Johann shook his head as he turned toward his student. “No, we wouldn’t want to do that. For one thing, he doesn’t need to rest that often, and he doesn’t always rest in the same place. I can’t be certain as to when he will return there. Second, human beings really aren’t that welcome in the hall; it is a place intended for the angelic beings of Heaven. It would be considered impolite to invade their space. We need to respect their privacy, what little they have. Anyway, it has no entrance from the street, only from the sky.”

“So, where?” repeated David.

“I’ve located a forest glade, far to the north. Aaron visits it with uncanny regularity, although I’m not certain why. It is not uncommon for angels to, as you might put it, ‘hang out’ at one location.”

Chris laughed. This physicist from the past just didn’t seem the type to use modern slang.

Johann ignored Chris’s little outburst. “We will try to intercept him tomorrow evening. Let us all meet at my home at the noon hour tomorrow. There we can make our final plans and prepare to contact the angel.”

“What should I do until then?” Chris asked, very unhappy with having to wait another day.

“Well, for one thing, you had best compose your letter,” said Johann, smiling slightly. “But, go home, Chris. I am sure, from what you have told me, that your mother is most concerned by now. Get some rest, whether you think you need it or not.” Johann turned to David. “The same goes for you.”

David nodded. He would be at Professor Kepler’s home especially early tomorrow. This whole affair promised to be interesting. David parted company with Johann and Chris on the Hall of Records stairway. The two men walked on toward the city gate.

“He’s an interesting student,” Chris said as he and Johann continued on down the busy avenue.

“One of my most gifted,” replied Johann. “It is hard indeed to say what he might have accomplished in the world of mortal men. He is remarkably perceptive, both mentally and spiritually.”

“Doesn’t it seem strange to you that we ran into him this morning? And the way he seemed to know what we were doing and where we were going. Well…it’s just too weird.”

“That is David’s way,” was the reply. “His mother once told me that he had a gift for uncanny timing during his lifetime as well. What he did this morning is far from unusual for him. I will indeed contemplate what he said about a temporal paradox. Perhaps the student does have something to teach his mentor.”

Johann paused before changing the topic. “You understand that what has happened today is a most unique event, but I must caution you that this fortuitous situation in which your wife finds herself cannot last. She has found but a temporary reprieve from her torments, you must realize that. In the end, she will be discovered and matters are likely to be worse.”

“I can’t think that way,” objected Chris. “Don’t you see? My remembering my lost wife, Serena’s escape from the sea, David’s appearance today, it’s all part of a plan—it has to be.”

“There is one way to know for certain,” replied Johann. “But you won’t go to Him, will you?”

“I can’t,” Chris said.

“I thought as much,” said Johann. “Very well; we shall do it your way, for now. But when I say it’s over, it is over.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” asked Johann. “I wonder.”

There was not much more to say. At the gates of Zion, the two men went their separate ways. Already Chris was thinking of what he might include in his letter to Serena. Certainly it would be the most remarkable letter of all times.

A
MID a white fog and a shower of glimmering stars, Chris stepped onto the lawn in front of the mansion. Ebbie was sitting on the porch waiting for him. An unusually loud meow greeted Chris, as Ebbie scampered down the three steps and to her master’s feet. Chris leaned over and scratched her gently on the head.

“I’m sorry I’m so late,” he said.

A few seconds later his mother opened the front door. Her face lit up with surprise and relief. “Oh Chris, I’ve been so worried.” She rushed to hug him. “You’ve been gone four days, where have you been?”

Chris shook his head. “Has it been that long? I’m sorry I worried you, Mom. I’ve been a real heel. But where I’ve been…that’s going to be a bit of a long story. I think you’d better be sitting down when I tell it.”

They sat on the porch swing and Chris told his mother all of the details of his adventure. This story had twists and turns that Jennifer had been completely unprepared for. Perhaps she should have read more of Serena’s book. The gruesome details of Serena’s journey through Hell and her tragic plunge into the sea of fire was a bit too much for Jennifer. She had assumed that Serena’s story was all but over. A letter from Heaven to Hell? Was such a thing really possible? Apparently Chris and his new friends seemed to think so.

With her son’s story told, Jennifer, in turn, told Chris of her incredible personal encounter with God. Even Moses on Mount Sinai had not experienced such a thing. To have actually touched the hand of God, to be granted such a personal audience with the Creator of the universe, was nothing short of miraculous. She told her son everything that God had related to her. She did her best to try and convince Chris to speak to Him personally.

Chris nodded, though reluctantly. “Maybe you’re right. I guess I really need to go to God with this, but I want to get this letter off first. Mom, I have to do this. I don’t have much time to pull it together. We’re going to meet with this angel tomorrow afternoon, and the letter needs to be ready to go by then.”

Jennifer wasn’t quite prepared for that response. She smiled slightly. “All right, dear, I understand. I don’t see that God would mind your doing this thing. I’m sure your letter will lift Serena’s spirits. But promise me that you will go to God once you get this thing done. Do it for me.”

“OK, Mom, I promise.”

The stories told, Chris wasted no time composing his letter. He sat at his desk for hours into the night writing.

“How’s it coming?” asked Jennifer.

“Fine,” he said, glancing over momentarily. “I’m almost done.”

Jennifer handed her son two handwritten pages and a small package. “I decided to write to her too. I wanted to get to know her better. She was…no, she
is
my daughter-in-law. I wanted her to know that she’s in my prayers.”

Chris rose to his feet and hugged his mother. “Thanks, Mom. I’m sure Serena will appreciate it.”

“You’ll be sending your letter off tomorrow, with this angel, Aaron?”

“If we can find him,” replied Chris. “Johann has a pretty good idea where he might be, but it could take a few days before we track him down.”

Jennifer hesitated before continuing. “Chris, just be careful, OK?”

Chris moved back slightly to see a tear in his mother’s eye. “What’s this now?”

“I don’t know,” admitted his mother. “I don’t know if they’re tears of joy or of fear. I’m so thankful that Serena has found a safe haven; but I have a bad feeling, like something terrible is about to happen. I don’t want to lose you. Please, just be careful.”

Chris was speechless. All he could do was nod.

Jennifer quickly wiped away her tears. “Look, you get that letter finished and get to bed, OK? You have a big day tomorrow.”

There was nothing more to say. Jennifer retired to her room for the night and Chris got back to his letter. Amid the joy of the moment, he hadn’t given much thought to the future. He most certainly had one, but what about Serena? She had been very fortunate, had found a comfortable hiding place, but it wouldn’t last, it couldn’t. In the end, satan or one of his minions would discover her. It might be many years, but what were ten, even a hundred years compared to eternity? He needed to come up with a more permanent solution to Serena’s dilemma. He wondered if one existed.

Jennifer and Ebbie watched from the front porch as Chris stepped into the starry mist, his small care package for Serena in his hand. It took only a few seconds to transcend the distance between the mansion and the forest home of Johann Kepler, yet Chris suspected that the actual physical distance was vast.

Though it had been morning at his point of departure, it felt much later at his destination.

It was quiet at Johann’s modest home. The air was completely still, and only the faintest songs of birds echoed from the mighty forest. Chris had almost expected to find Johann and David awaiting his arrival. Walking toward the house, he noticed that many of the window shutters were closed. Yesterday they had all been open. It seemed strange that they should be drawn on such a crystal-clear day.

He walked to the front door, still not a sound. He knocked; nothing. After a moment, he cautiously ventured in. It was strangely dark in the hallway that led to Johann’s study, yet the study itself was aglow in harsh amber light. Chris saw Johann and David standing transfixed before a glistening orange luminary, which hovered near the center of the room, several faintly glowing spheres gathered about it. It was very unlike the three-dimensional image of creation that had been displayed in this very spot yesterday.

“A hidden corner of creation,” said Johann, obviously sensing Chris’s arrival, “a world hitherto unseen by anyone, save God.”

“What is it?” asked Chris, drawing closer.

“It’s a star,” replied Johann, who still had not turned toward his guest. “About two-thirds as luminous as the sun. Yet it is no ordinary star, not one of a hundred quadrillion in the universe of our birth. No, this one is in outer darkness.”

“The star that Hell circles?” deduced Chris.

“Oh no, not this baby,” said David, turning to Chris, his eyes full of wonder. “Professor Kepler has found another star in outer darkness.”

“Wait a minute, I thought that there were no other stars in outer darkness,” Chris said, drawing still closer.

“And so has everyone else for millennia,” said Johann. “We were all wrong. In the past I’ve conducted extensive searches of outer darkness, utilizing every resource at my disposal, yet all I ever found was cold, endless nothingness.”

“Until now,” Chris said.

Johann rubbed his eyes. “Until now. Last night I decided to take another look. I don’t know why, really. You might call it a hunch, intuition perhaps; I really don’t know. I just started scanning; there was no rhyme or reason to it. It took less than ten minutes to locate this thing you see before you.”

“How far is it from Hell?” asked Chris.

“About 780 parsecs,” replied Johann, who stepped closer to the phantasmal luminary. “My records show that I’d scanned this region before, but with negative results…now this.”

Chris wasn’t at all certain of the implications of Johann’s discovery. He wasn’t sure just how far 780 parsecs was either. From his perspective, it was all a waste of time. They had other more important things to concentrate on.

Johann turned toward Chris. “Perhaps it was the Spirit of God that led me to it. Perhaps the Father wanted me to find it.” Johann hesitated. “Or maybe I just got lucky. Throughout history, many of the great scientific discoveries were made by chance. Perhaps this was one of them.”

“Show Chris the planets,” said David excitedly.

“Oh yes,” replied Johann. He pointed toward the tiny objects, almost lost in the glare of the star. “These are planets, two of them, as far as I can tell.”

Then quite abruptly the entire scene whirled about. They seemed to be traveling; though there was no actual sense of motion beyond a visual one. They were zooming in on the inner planet of this mysterious sun. It loomed larger, becoming a glistening red ball of fury.

“It is a primordial world of molten rock,” Johann said. “It is not the heat of its sun that makes it so. The condition of its surface and its primitive atmosphere indicate it is a world that is still cooling down from the heat of its own formation. But if that is the case, if this system is so young, then there should be fantastic quantities of dust and rock tumbling around the star, the afterbirth of creation. So, where is it?”