The Children of Eternity (30 page)

Jerry nodded but said nothing.

“Then we stick to the plan,” said Christopher. “I truly believe that she’s going to be rescued, but we don’t change the plan now, OK? Give Bedillia a chance.”

Jerry nodded. “Sure, Christopher, we stick to the plan.”

Jerry headed toward the locker room to get out of his flight suit. Christopher watched him leave. Christopher had a bad feeling about this. If Bedillia couldn’t get Abaddon to go along with a rescue, there would be no stopping Jerry. He prayed for guidance.

The snow was falling once more as Bedillia led Jerry and Christopher into the large living room of her home, which took the form of a rather spacious Swiss-type chalet. A small fire burned within her stone fireplace, yet the room was distinctly chilly. Within the room the young men encountered both Chris and Serena. It had been a very long time since Jerry had seen Chris, and they certainly had a lot to discuss, yet right now only one thing weighed on Jerry’s mind.

Everyone but Bedillia sat near the fire for its warmth. Bedillia seemed hesitant to approach it. It didn’t take much deduction for Christopher to figure out why. Her experience in Hell must have been ghastly.

“My daughter and I both talked to Abaddon at length,” began Bedillia. “There was a brief time when the fallen angel Cordon ruled over the demons of Hell. Note that I call him a fallen angel and not a demon. That is the way we all thought of him. He was reasonable, even noble. He ruled over Hell for some time in Satan’s absence. I can tell you that he wouldn’t have been Satan’s first choice.

“After the War in Heaven isolated Satan from his followers in Hell, we of Refuge were able to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Cordon. In those days it was possible to rescue a limited number of loved ones from their torments. Yet, some months ago, Cordon was replaced by a demon by the name of Krell, the former head of Satan’s military. Krell spoke of continuing many of the policies of Cordon. He spoke of allowing even more tormented souls to be released. Krell even appointed Cordon as his liaison between himself and the people of Refuge. We were all hopeful. But things didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped.

“Abaddon speaks of a recent turn for the worse, of a tightening of Krell’s policies. Abaddon is certain that Satan himself is pulling Krell’s strings. It is even rumored that Satan has found a method by which he can travel freely between Earth and Hell. If that is true—and I think it is—he is the true master of Hell once more, and Krell is just a puppet. About a week ago, Cordon was forced to flee into exile. Apparently, he was about to be arrested, and I think Satan was behind it. No one has seen or heard from Cordon since.”

“And this all affects the mission to rescue my mother,” deduced Jerry.

“Very much so,” said Bedillia. “Satan would like nothing better than to wipe Refuge off of the map, but he’d rather not be the first one to break the treaty. The day following Cordon’s disappearance, Krell sent a messenger to Refuge. He stated that under no conditions was Abaddon to free any more of the damned souls from their torment. This point was not negotiable. The rescue of your mother would be seen as a violation of that order. I’m sorry.”

Well, there it was. Silence ruled the room for half a minute. Not surprisingly, Jerry was the one who broke that silence.

“Not if her sarcophagus was assumed to have fallen into the sea,” interjected Jerry. “It is on the threshold of doing just that. Suppose that I rescue her?”

“You rescue her?” asked Bedillia. “How would you do that?”

Jerry told the group the plan by which he would rescue his mother and then lead the demons to believe that her sarcophagus had simply plunged into the sea. He assured them that it would be easy enough to do.

“But what if you were seen?” objected Serena.

“I wouldn’t be,” responded Jerry, describing the new cloaking field that would surround the dagger. Jerry made an impassioned argument. Still, his term
almost invisible
drew some concerns, as did the distance from his landing point to her sarcophagus. It was over 50 yards. There wasn’t any place closer to land. A lot could go wrong in the transit.

“Suppose you were discovered by demons?” asked Chris.

“I would be forced to terminate the demons using my particle rifle and toss the remains over the cliff—what few remains there would be,” replied Jerry.

Chris seemed a bit doubtful. “It would be difficult to remove all of the evidence. A particle rifle makes quite a mess, believe me, I know.” There was a pause. “Look, I know how much this means to you, Jerry, I more than anyone. I’m the last one to lecture you about not going. But it’s just so risky. Would the Father even approve of you doing this?”

“I’ve spoken to Him,” replied Jerry. “He told me that He would allow it, but I would be on my own. If something happened, I couldn’t expect a band of angels to come and rescue me. Still, I know that I could pull this off.”

Again there was an uncomfortable silence.

“I may be able to do something about the almost invisible situation,” said Christopher. “It involves only a small adjustment to the field generator. I’ve thought the problem out, and I proposed the modification yesterday in the engineering meeting. It will take only a few hours to make the adjustments. Actually, they’re being made as I speak. Personally, I’m very optimistic about it.”

“But suppose that you were seen entering Refuge?” asked Bedillia. “The demons have been keeping a close eye on whatever enters and leaves. Can you be sure that this ship of yours would be totally invisible to them, totally quiet?”

“No,” replied Christopher.

“Mom, maybe they don’t need to take Leona to Refuge,” suggested Serena. “Maybe Refuge could come out to meet her. The transfer from Jerry’s ship could be made somewhere else, at some very remote location. From there, representatives from Refuge could gate his mother directly to the ring in Refuge unseen. It would work.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Sounds reasonable,” said Chris.

Bedillia seemed deep in thought. “Maybe, we’ll need to bring this to Abaddon."

“When could you do that?” asked Jerry, who seemed a bit nervous.

“How about right now?” replied Bedillia. “Follow me.”

The group followed Bedillia down a short hallway and into a small room on the left. It had the appearance of a bedroom with bookshelves and a few books on the left, a large, finely crafted, wooden desk directly before them, and a nice brass bed on their right. Beyond the desk was a window that gave the group a panoramic view of the snowy valley below the house. But what seemed most peculiar about the room was the small crystal ball sitting on a black base in the middle of the desk.

“A telesphere,” said Serena, surprise in her voice. “Mom, I didn’t know that you had a telesphere in your own home. I mean, when we contacted Abaddon we used the telesphere in Dr. Kepler’s laboratory.”

“Yes dear, I know,” Bedillia replied, walking over to the telesphere and waving her hand across a small panel on the base. “I’ve wanted to keep this a secret. I mean…I have an unlisted number.” She paused.

No one said a word.

“OK, I’m not so good with the jokes,” Bedillia continued. “I use this quite a bit, really, talking to old friends back in Refuge. It allows me to keep up with the goings-on there without tying up someone else’s telesphere.”

“But why didn’t you want me to know about it?” objected Serena.

Bedillia hesitated. “Because I didn’t want you to become upset. I want you to be happy.”

“Upset about what?” asked Serena. “Mother, what’s going on?”

Bedillia heaved a sigh. “OK, Serena. Things aren’t going well in Refuge. In reality, they are going more poorly than I’ve led you to believe. Even if we managed to get Jerry’s mother there, we may only be delaying the inevitable. Four days ago, just before we set off to the arctic, I got a message from Abaddon. Krell had issued to him what amounts to an ultimatum. Krell said that he couldn’t risk having armed humans within his realm. He was willing to extend the treaty between his people and the people of Refuge only if they agreed to turn over every weapon they had to him. He gave them two weeks to comply with his demand.

“If they refused, they would be subject to attack anytime after that. When we left the geyser fields I said that we needed to come here first, remember? I told you that I needed to change clothes, but that was only part of the reason. I contacted Abaddon on the telesphere and asked him not to tell you about these recent developments. He agreed. We knew that it would only upset you.”

Serena nearly went ballistic. “Mother, how could you? I’m not a child anymore!”

“Serena, calm down,” urged Chris, who turned to Bedillia. “How many people know this?”

“Everyone in Refuge, of course,” she answered. “Dr. Kepler and some of his staff know.” Bedillia turned to Chris and Jerry. “I think your Professor Faraday knows.”

“What’s being done?” asked Chris.

“Everything that can be,” replied Bedillia. She turned to Jerry. “With what you now know, do you still want to risk your own eternity to save your mother?”

There was not so much as a second’s hesitation in Jerry’s response. “Yes.”

“OK, then I guess we contact Abaddon,” Bedillia said.

She made an adjustment to the telesphere and the crystal globe vanished. It was replaced by a much larger sphere of static, not unlike the snow seen in an old-style television set, only this static was three-dimensional. Within a few seconds, the static vanished to be replaced by the image of a pretty young woman. She smiled.

“Hi, Bedillia,” she said in a pleasant voice.

“Hi, Julie,” replied Bedillia. “Is Abaddon anywhere nearby?”

Julie nodded. “Yes, he figured that you may be calling.”

The group saw movement in the background. A few seconds later, a being cloaked in black approached the telesphere. He had a well-trimmed, dark beard and dark, piercing eyes; from his shoulders, two great black wings like those of a crow arched to either side. He was very handsome and appeared not unlike a man in his early 40s.

“They already know,” said Bedillia.

“I see,” said Abaddon.

“They still want to go through with the rescue of Leona Stahl,” continued Bedillia. “They have a plan. I personally feel that it has a high probability of success.” Bedillia turned to Jerry. “This is Abaddon, administrator of Refuge. Without him, Serena and I would probably still be in Hell. Tell him about your plan.”

Jerry had heard of this amazing angel many times. He was practically awestruck to at last meet him. He presented his plan as directly and concisely as he could. Abaddon listened in silence. When the plan was told, Abaddon seemed deep in thought.

“You humans have a saying,” began Abaddon. “I don’t know if I can quote it perfectly. It has something to do with jumping from a frying pan into a fire. That may well be what you are subjecting your mother to.”

“I’m taking her from hopelessness to hope,” said Jerry. “I think it’s worth it.”

“Then my answer to you is yes,” said Abaddon. “If you are willing to risk your own eternity, I’m willing to support you. Let us make our plans.”

For the next three hours, those plans were made. Abaddon called in his head of security and even Nikola Tesla, his ambassador from Heaven, to counsel him. In the end, they developed a workable plan.

“I will need to talk to Professor Faraday before I can set off in the dagger,” said Jerry. “I’d thought about just taking it, but I realize that I can’t do that.”

“I seriously doubt that Professor Faraday will oppose your plan,” said Abaddon. “Several days ago he offered me any assistance he could provide. He even spoke of dispatching his starship, the
Intrepid
, to support our cause. We may indeed lose this war, but we will not go down easily.”

“You will have my support,” vowed Jerry.

“And mine,” said Christopher.

“Do you think for one minute that I would abandon you in your hour of need?” asked Serena. “I owe you more than my life. I will stand with you.”

“So will I,” said Chris.

“Make that unanimous,” said Bedillia, smiling. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

Abaddon smiled. “I stand in amazement that I have such wonderful old and new friends.”

“You’re going to win this war,” said Christopher. “You can take that as a prophecy if you wish.”