Hellboy: The God Machine (20 page)

"I believe I've concocted an alternative to the missing items of power," he said, his pencil pausing upon the paper momentarily, as he continued to formulate. "Yes, yes, I have," he said, his excitement starting to grow. "It will take some additional time but..."

"Begin at once," his god ordered.

"Yes," he agreed, a smile snaking across his face as he studied what he had just drawn. "The power of the spirits will give us the last of what is needed."

On wobbly legs, he made his way to the exit, pulling back the flap, to be hit by a blast of icy wind. Wickham and Udell were waiting outside for him, obviously eavesdropping on all that had occurred between him and their god.

"The dead," Absolom said to them, holding out the design for his latest invention. "The restless dead will give him life."

Chapter 14

A
be Sapien's body felt strange--different.

Sally would never have possessed the fish man without his permission, but she'd had no choice. If she had not acted that very instant, the communication device would have been destroyed in the quickly spreading fire.

But the amphibian had not escaped exposure to the fire unscathed. That close to the withering heat of the blaze, Abe Sapien had become dehydrated, his skin parched and rough. Now she could feel its growing need for water. The snow had helped, but he would need to immerse himself shortly.

The ghost could feel the oddness of Abe's body, the inhumanity of it. His hairless skin was slick and cool, and his gills fluttered, eagerly awaiting the caress of water. It was truly a unique sensation to be inside this unusual form, but there was little time for her to appreciate it.

"How's it coming?" Liz asked, kneeling on the frozen lawn beside her.

Sally moved Abe's hands over the various knobs and dials, trying desperately to remember how it was operated.

"This was one of many devices Absolom constructed," she said through Abe. "He'd been hearing the call--the voice of the god--since he was just a little boy, and wanted to build something so that they could speak across realities."

Inside the box she found two rolled lengths of copper wire and remembered that this was how he had made the necessary connection.

"This was the machine that gave him his first taste of success," Sally continued, unrolling the wire and attaching two clips to each of Abe's ears. "Devices he built later were stronger, but with this machine, he was able to establish the first communication."

She looked at Liz Sherman through Abe Sapien's eyes. "Right now I am going to attempt something similar."

"Will it hurt Abe?" Although Sally had explained what she was doing, and whom she would be contacting, doubt was evident in the woman's eyes.

"I don't know," Sally said with a slight shake of his head. "I'll be as careful as I can."

Sally checked and double-checked the controls on the strange device. It seemed to be taking its power from the very air around them.

"Is there anything you'd like me to do?" Liz asked.

"You can pray," Sally said, bringing Abe's hand to the one switch that had yet to be touched.

And without any hesitation...

Sally's spiritual essence rippled with fear.

Still anchored to the physical world within the body of Abe Sapien, her mind rushed away from Abe's flesh, from the substance of her own spirit. She peered now into
elsewhere.
A place she had been before, when she was the sacrifice. A place darker than the deepest night.

A place where angels dreamed.

She sensed them there in the eldritch darkness, deep in the clutches of sleep. Gifted with this insight into their world, in their shadows, she could see into their dreams.

They dreamed of a time when they would awaken--when the Creator of all things would call upon them--and their purpose would be realized.

Sally recoiled with the vision as she saw all life on Earth wiped away by searing white light, leaving behind a world clean of blemishes, a planet as fresh and pure as the day it was first birthed in the cosmic upheaval called Creation.

But she could see into their unconscious minds and perceived that they understood it was not yet time for this, despite what Absolom and his followers believed and what Qemu'el--the wayward brother of the two sleeping angels--desired.

It was not yet time for the world to die.

She told them as much, reaching out with her own puny mind, probing the ocean of darkness before her for their attention. Sally cried out to them, begging them to awaken and hear her pleas, but still they slept; still they dreamed.

Please,
she begged them.
Please, listen. Your dreams will never be reality. Your brother will see to that. Selfish thing, he's going to destroy it all, and you'll never have the chance to perform the task for which you were created.

Sally waited and listened, squinting into the undulating void of black, desperate to know if they had heard. Frustrated, she lashed out at the somnolent beings.
You're useless,
her mind shrieked.
And your brother will prove it when he destroys the world all by himself. Useless.

She prepared to withdraw from the shadow realm and return to the safe vessel that had allowed her to make this journey. But as she began the process of willing herself away, she felt a sudden change in the atmosphere of the cold black void in which she floated. She hesitated, waiting--just in case.

And she didn't have long to wait.

Before her, the darkness parted and two sets of enormous eyes--eyes the size of small planets--emerged from the beyond.

"I was correct, brother Duma," one of the Archons spoke, its voice like the tuning of a million orchestras all at once. "A wayward spirit--an insignificant human spirit--has interrupted my slumber."

One of the eyes focused upon her, its pupil contracting to the size of a tiny moon.

It was as if her body was caught in some kind of powerful current, her spirit buffeted violently by the turbulent shadows.

"How dare it, Za'apiel," the ancient angel growled. "How dare it presume that it could do such a thing and not suffer the consequences of its foolish actions?"

"So true, brother Duma," Za'apiel, agreed. "And what of Qemu'el? How does the third of our trinity feel now that our sleep has been disturbed?"

There was silence in the void as the angels waited for their brother to reply.

"How can he still manage to sleep?"

It took all her strength to find her voice again, and Sally shrieked above the swirling maelstrom of black that buffeted her. "He's gone!" she cried out. "It's the reason why I've come...to let you know!"

"Let us know?" Duma questioned. "What is this loathsome gnat going on about? Where is Qemu'el?"

"He isn't here, brother," Za'apiel replied after a moment, and the currents of darkness calmed, and Sally's spirit found itself floating before the audience of eyes.

"Do you know where our brother is, little spirit?" the one called Za'apiel asked.

"Yes, yes, I know," she told them. "He's gone..."

"Gone where?" Duma bellowed. "Where could he have gone without us?"

Sally hesitated, waiting for the anxious Archon to continue his rant, but the angel was silent, so she continued.

"To Earth," she explained. "He's gone to Earth--and I believe he has plans to destroy it."

The eyes were gone, and the void was quiet. Sally began to wonder if she had been left alone, when one of the Archons spoke.

"We have not been called," Za'apiel said. "It is not yet the time for it to be brought to end."

"But he is there," Sally confirmed. "Being worshipped as a god by followers who would sacrifice everything to bring him into the physical world--and allow him to walk the Earth."

"Blasphemy!" the two angels of destruction screamed in unison, and she sensed their movement; beings long dormant at last roused from their hibernation.

They were coming, swimming through the sea of shadow. She could sense them growing closer, but still she could not see them.

And then they were upon her, breaching the ocean of darkness, their screams of fury deafening as she became swept up in their passage, dragged in the wake of angry Archons.

Abe twitched and moaned, his arms dangling limply by his sides. Liz stared at the small beads of dark blood beneath the clips hanging from his ears. If something bad happened to him, she would never be able to forgive herself.

He groaned again, this time much louder, and she moved closer. His arms flopped; his body rocked from side to side. The machine had begun to hum, the glow from inside it seeming to get brighter.

"C'mon, Sally, hurry it up," Liz hissed.

Something was definitely up with the machine, and she debated whether or not to get Abe away from it. The machine was vibrating, its wooden black frame moving across the ground of its on accord.

She glanced at Abe and saw that his eyes were open, his mouth agape. His body suddenly grew rigid, as if an electrical current was being pumped through him.

This can't be good. Not good at all.
Liz's mind raced.

She contemplated breaking the connection, pulling the copper wires from her friend's ears, but was afraid of what might happen. She couldn't risk hurting him--but wasn't she doing the very same thing by just kneeling and watching?

Liz felt the fire stir within her. It was eager to be released again, but she held it back, pushing it down, letting it know who was the boss.

Abe began to scream, and she came very close to joining him. She didn't know what to do. The light thrown from the machine was almost blinding now.

Finally, she couldn't bear the sound of her friend in pain any longer and wrapped her hands around the copper wires. She was about to rip their connections from the machine, when the machine exploded in a flash of searing white light, and she and Abe were tossed backward by a wave of unnatural energy.

Blossoms of white expanded in front of her eyes as she hauled herself up from the ground. Liz rubbed at her eyes, attempting to restore her vision as she went to her friend.

"Abe," she called, falling to her knees by his side.

He seemed okay, raising a hand to his smooth, green skull and giving his head the slightest of shakes.

"I'm all right," he said, blinking rapidly.

"Sally took control of you," Liz started to explain. "I wasn't really sure if I should let her, but she said that the machine could..."

"She did it," Abe said with an eager nod, as if suddenly remembering. "Sally talked to them."

The ghost of the horribly burned woman slowly materialized before them.

"And?" Liz looked from Abe to the charred, ghostly woman, hoping for an answer.

"They're coming," Abe whispered.

From the fear etched upon Abe's face, Liz wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Say that again." Hellboy pressed the headset tighter against his ear. They were in the Chinook again, returning from Gosnolt, and it was difficult to hear Manning over the whine of the chopper's twin rotors.

"Was the mission a success?" Manning asked, raising his voice to be heard.

Hellboy glanced across the hold in the direction of the children. They were wrapped in heavy blankets, wearing BPRD ball caps, and were in the midst of a heated game of rock, paper, scissors with Agent Dexter.

"You could say so," Hellboy replied, glad to see that the kids didn't appear to have been adversely affected by their possession. "We're returning with two former Electricizers--minus the spooks of course. Baxter lent us a pretty neat tool for evicting the body-squatters. Worked like a charm."

"Excellent," Manning replied. "That could help in dealing with the rest of the family."

Hellboy could feel the presence of the Anyroda dagger in the pocket of his jacket. It felt warm, as if alive. It seemed to be content for now, but he knew that the closer they got to their destination, the hungrier it would grow--eager to perform the task for which it was created.

"That's the plan," Hellboy agreed. "We'll be dropping the kids off with our boys in Boston, and then we'll head to Egg Rock. It's a small island about a mile northeast of Nahant, Massachusetts. I think that's where our Electricizers are going to attempt their grand finale."

He could hear Manning passing the information to other agents at the Fairfield office.

"And you came by this information how?"

"A spook passed it on to me just before she vacated the premises," he said, remembering the images that flooded his mind upon the completion of the spirit's exorcism, the fifty-foot-tall metal statue being the standout.

"We'll dispatch a team immediately."

"Negative. Why don't you hold off on that," Hellboy said. He glanced at the tarp-covered body of Agent Holmes. The case had been unpredictable, and it had cost the life of a good agent. He didn't want to take that risk again unless it was absolutely necessary. "We don't know exactly what we're going to be dealing with here. Have the guys on standby, and I'll let you know how the situation is looking as soon as we get there. Who knows, maybe it'll be something I can take care of myself."

Steve's ghost drifted over to him. "Ask how Sally's mission with Liz and Abe went." He sounded like he enjoyed saying the word "mission" quite a bit.

"How did the others do at the house in Lynn?" Hellboy asked over the commlink.

"They ran into a serious threat inside the farmhouse, but it was neutralized," Manning replied.

"Neutralized?" Hellboy rolled the word over in his head. Liz encountered a serious threat, and it had been neutralized. "She burned it to the ground didn't she," Hellboy asked, looking at the ghost.

There was a long pause before Manning replied. "The house
was
destroyed by fire--"

"Knew it."

"But not before the team retrieved a machine that enabled the spirit of Sally Spearz to make contact with two spiritual entities of extraordinary power. They're related to the current crisis, but according to Agent Sherman's report, they may be turned to our purpose."

Hellboy felt a headache coming on. "Great. Spiritual entities of extraordinary power. Always best to have them on our side. Problem is, even if they're playing for the home team, these kinds of things tend to get really messy. Lots of death. Property damage. Should be a barrel of laughs. Just what kind of entities are we talking about here?"

"Liz said that their names are..." He pictured Manning shuffling through his notes. "Duma and Za'apiel."

"Never heard of 'em."

"Research has given us some cursory info. If the two Sally contacted really are Duma and Za'apiel, then the being that's being summoned by the Electricizers is called Qemu'el," Manning explained. "They're Archons."

"What the heck's an Archon?"

"They're world destroyers."

"Aren't they all?" Hellboy grumbled. "Archon is a much nicer term. 'World destroyer' lacks finesse. Got anything else that could be useful?"