Rise of the Beast (35 page)

“Then where did you get it?” asked Abaddon.

“I don’t want to steal Nikola’s thunder.”

Abaddon cocked his head in the way that only angels did. “Bedillia, what are you trying to tell me.”

“You were going to find out at this afternoon’s advisory council meeting anyway.” Again Bedillia hesitated. “I got the spheres from Nikola Tesla, and no, he didn’t take them from your storeroom. Nikola and David formed the first stable wormhole between Heaven and Refuge two days ago. They’ve teleported 800 power spheres through since then. That should just about triple your supply.” By now, Bedillia was beaming. “They all work, Abaddon, every single one of them. Nikola tested them. That’s how we got the spheres to teleport Debbie out of that chamber. In another few days you’ll have to build a second storage facility to hold them all. Now do you see why we need more people here?”

Abaddon looked at Bedillia incredulously. “Yes, I see. That is wonderful news. I will make it a point to seem surprised when Nikola tells us at this afternoon’s meeting.”

“I’m sorry that we did this rescue behind your back,” said Bedillia. “But, beyond the strictly humanitarian grounds, we had to know where we stood. We had to know that the teleported spheres would work in gating as well. They do. Our energy crisis is over. I think it’s time we became a bit more assertive at the bargaining table. We have power in our corner now.”

Abaddon smiled. “It’s all right, Bedillia. Why don’t we head back to the ring room and see how your team fared on their second trip out.”

They arrived just in time to witness a swirling of mists and sparkling stars appear in the midst of the shimmering, metal ring. A few seconds later, the team stepped from the blue fog and into the room. The freckle-faced man, Sean Martinson, held a thin, young woman dressed in gray rags in his arms. She held onto him tightly, like she planned to never let go. Bedillia couldn’t help but notice the condition of her left foot. It was badly scarred, and several toes were missing completely. How dreadful. Still, they would grow back within the next half hour. After all, this wasn’t Earth; it was Hell, and for better or worse, everyone here was immortal.

Bedillia recalled this morning’s briefing from their friends in Heaven who, through the resources of the Hall of Records, could view the current situation of every sentient being in the cosmos, both the living and the dead. This woman, Sue Martinson, had been condemned by Satan to be shackled to a sort of trestle within a chamber infested by hungry rats. Yet the rats had been only one of her
concerns. The other was the large, loaded crossbow directed at her heart. Every few hours, the rats would eat through the cord that held it in check, and the bolt would be propelled into her heart, adding to her suffering. There had been some concern about reaching her before that event was repeated once more. By the looks of it, they had succeeded.

There were so many stories of tragedy in Hell unfolding all around them. Bedillia was anxious to alleviate the suffering of as many as she possibly could. She thought of this afternoon’s meeting. She was certain that her team would have still more surprises for Abaddon. She hoped that he would take them well.

C
HAPTER
14

The governing council of Refuge was gathering about the rectangular, white marble table in Abaddon’s audience chamber. The walls of the large room were adorned with beautiful paintings of forest scenes, beautiful beaches, and a great city with streets of gold. In the far corner of the room, above a black marble stand, a large sphere hovered, seemingly without support. Within it one could see several figures, observers from Heaven, who would also take part in this meeting.

The governing council currently included six dark angels and seven humans. The seventh human was the famous Nikola Tesla, who was actually a citizen of Heaven temporarily marooned on this wasteland of a world in the middle of Outer Darkness. The rest of the committee was waiting for him. He would be the first speaker, and he was late, again.

Nikola Tesla walked into the meeting a full six minutes late. He took his place at the table. “I was unavoidably detained, sorry,” he said.

Abaddon opened the meeting with the old business, specifically giving Tesla the opportunity to report on the progress of his project, allowing him to proclaim his success. But he didn’t. He spoke of very encouraging results. He spoke of having conducted a series of successful transports of power spheres from their allies in Heaven, but he did not proclaim final victory. There were still many tests to run. Yes, he had more than tripled their available energy supply, but he was not as yet satisfied with their results. He would not announce final
success until human transport was a reality. That proclamation brought its share of raised eyebrows among the council.

“Human transport?” confirmed Samiazaz, the original leader of the dark angels.

“Yes,” replied Nikola.

“So that you can return to Heaven,” deduced Samiazaz.

“In part,” replied Nikola, who hesitated some seconds before continuing. He scanned the other human members of the council. “Understand this; I lived the vast majority of my life as you did, beyond God’s grace. In my final years, I was plagued by demons pretending to be J.P. Morgan or George Westinghouse, people I had known in my youth, but who were now long gone. They hounded me, tormented me to the point of madness. I was dying when I finally turned to the Lord and called upon Jesus Christ as my Savior. I lived two more days and then died. In my life, I accomplished nothing for God, nothing. All of you have repented, yes, every one of you. Yet I dwelled in Heaven while you were sent to suffer in Hell. I cannot see the justice in that.”

Tesla paused. He looked around the table at his human and angelic companions alike. He’d lived for two years among them—two years to discover firsthand what it was like to know that the demons might break the truce at any time and storm this fortress.

“What is it that you are implying, Mr. Tesla?” asked Abaddon.

“That it might be possible for the people of Refuge, both human and angelic, to escape Hell altogether,” said Tesla. “For some time before my arrival here, Dr. Kepler and I had been scanning the cosmos for habitable planets, places that would offer the people of Refuge a fresh start. They deserve that chance. I don’t believe that it would be possible for me to take them to Heaven, but to another world within the many galaxies that populate the universe, perhaps. Dr. Kepler and I personally know of no less than five good candidates, every bit as nice as the green Earth, but with no indigenous population.”

“But we are still a long way from even considering human transport,” cautioned Dr. Kepler, speaking through the telesphere. “There are still so many problems to overcome. The physical laws that govern Hell are very different from those that govern the rest of the universe or Heaven. Molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, all function under different rules. We must find a way to adapt the particles designed to function in the environment of Outer Darkness
to function in the environments of Heaven or Earth. Right now, we don’t know how to do it.”

“Wait a minute,” observed Bedillia. “Nikola came here from Heaven on the Spirit spaceship or whatever you want to call it. He’s been here among us for nearly two years and has not suffered any ill effects from it.”

“It’s not the same,” insisted Dr. Kepler. “He traveled from a higher plane of existence to a lower one. His body, the atoms and molecules that make it up, were able to adjust. But now we’re talking about going from a lower plane to a higher plane. Each atom must absorb tremendous amounts of energy to be stable at the higher plane. In effect, they must become different types of atoms. It was for that very reason that we couldn’t transport your daughter back to Heaven with us when we came to Hell over eight years ago. If we’d tried, the transition would have reduced her to little more than a ghostly entity, dissipating ever more with each passing minute. It is one of the most basic laws of hyper-dimensional physics.”

“But it’s just a theory, isn’t it?” asked Bedillia.

“I’m afraid not,” replied David Bonner, stepping into view in the telesphere. “Why do you think demons can only come to Earth as spirits? The Father uses this law of physics to keep them trapped in Hell. It also prevents any of you from escaping. I’m sorry to shatter your hopes.” He turned to Tesla. “Sir, what you hope to accomplish is a feat that only the Father can perform using an instrument of His own creation—the great ring on the plains of Hell. It might take us generations to perfect it. We might not be able to make it work at all.”

“That doesn’t sound like the David I’ve come to know,” observed Tesla. “It is possible, and it might take less time than you imagine. Cordon and I have been working on a device that might solve our continuing problem with phase alignment and subatomic particle transition. We have been making good progress.”

There was a general rumbling among the council. This was a very sensitive project. It wasn’t the sort of thing to be discussed in the presence of the ruler of the demons.

“Is Cordon aware of the teleportation project?” asked the dark angel Eleazar.

“He is aware of it,” said Tesla, “though he doesn’t know how far it has proceeded. What he and I have been working on is a separate project. It has Abaddon’s approval. I have abided by all of the prerequisites he established.”

“And what of these rescues earlier today? continued Eleazar. “Did he know of them, too?”

Tesla hesitated. “Yes, he did.” Tesla turned to Kurt. “Cordon made certain that you would encounter no problems on your mission. In fact, he was observing you from the shadows. He did not wish his council to know of it, for they are indeed opposed to the rescue of additional humans. However, he has agreed to allow us to conduct a limited number of rescues.”

Now Abaddon seemed truly annoyed. “And when were you going to tell me about this?”

“I’d planned to inform you at this meeting,” replied Tesla. “If things went badly for one reason or another, I wanted you to have plausible deniability.”

“What?” asked Abaddon.

“I didn’t want it to seem that you had ordered the rescue,” said Tesla. “It needed to look like a rogue operation. Then you could say that you had no knowledge of it. The blame could be shifted to me, a relative outsider.”

“That seems reasonable to me,” said Lenar, another of the dark angels.

“It is not uncommon in the CIA or KGB,” confirmed Kurt. “A leader is not aware of every covert action certain elements of his government are involved in.”

Abaddon just shook his head. “For the record, this is not the CIA or KGB. And, for the record, I am still in command here. If anyone wishes to challenge that leadership, do it now.” Silence followed Abaddon’s challenge for the better part of half a minute. “Very well then, if that is the case, no decisions that impact this place, no matter how beneficial or insignificant you think they might be, are to be made without me. Is that clear Professor Tesla?”

“Abundantly,” confirmed Tesla.

“I know that you consider Cordon to be a friend,” continued Abaddon, his tone less intense. “I can understand why. He saved your eternal existence during the operation to close that rip in space two years ago. You have worked closely together ever since. I can see where you might consider him to be a noble being. Maybe he is, but what I see is a demon, one of Satan’s minions. I have no evidence that he has lied to us in the time since the signing of the treaty. Still, I can ill afford to lower my guard.”

“May I continue to work with Cordon on this project?” asked Tesla.

“You may,” confirmed Abaddon, “so long as you abide by the ground rules I set for you.”

“I will,” confirmed Tesla, “just as I always have in the past.”

The meeting continued. Plans were made to transport the newly acquired power spheres from Tesla’s lab to the central storage area. Plans for the establishment of a second storage area were also discussed. Their power crisis was over. Still, it became obvious that at least one of the demons knew far more about the goings on in Refuge than they would like. Yes, he had never gone back on an agreement with them, and it was clear that he had at least a few friends on the council, still, he kept poor company. He was a demon, plain and simple. Could you really trust a demon? To the dark angels, the answer was only too clear; no. Only time would prove their prejudice to be right or wrong.