The Code War (15 page)

One thing was sure. If Jabez didn't come
to Nancy's aid, nobody would.

Painful as it was, Jabez knew that
someone had to take charge of this assignment. And that someone was
he.

He plucked the inch-diameter globe from
his side and held it between both forefingers. Opening his arms
till his hands were twelve inches apart, the globe expanded too,
filling the gap between them. The face of Ruth came up and looked
out at him. The eyes opened.

'Jabez, Luke said y'all might
call,' she greeted with a voice that jangled of pure Texas. 'How
wonderful to meet you. Sounds like you've landed a humdinger of a
project there. I only get asked to join in really boring things,
never anything so swashbuckling. It must be such fun.'

Ruth had blue hair, the colour of
a summer sky and a pale complexion with just the faintest hint of
added colour on her red lips. Her eyes were also blue and she wore
earrings of liquid sapphire whose fluid elements gathered
themselves in ripples that swirled this way and that within their
tear-drop shape and then dashed themselves like waves on a shore.
It was some of the finest micro-engineering Jabez had ever seen.
The feathers at the top of her folded wings were also a pale blue
which gave way at shoulder height to an ivory tone whose softness
you could almost feel just by looking at it.

All angels were beautiful, Jabez
thought, yet all individual. How could beauty be formed in so many
different ways?

'Ruth. Thanks for your welcome. Yes, I'm
having so much fun I just don't know what to do with it all.
Actually the fun is so intense I think I'm going to have to give
some of it away. No, I'm not going to give it away I'm going to
sell it, it's just too good. Ruth what are you going to bid me for
some of this fun I'm having out here all alone, out of hearing of
the Music and just a few paces from the edge of the Abyss?'

'Oh Jabez, come now, it can't be
that bad. You'll look back on this isolation one day and
laugh.'

'Well, I look forward to that day,' said
Jabez forcing himself to put aside his mordant humour.

'Look Ruth, can I come in?
O
r are you busy?'

Ruth looked about her in pretend
surprise, then back at Jabez. 'Why, the place is a mess Jabez but
sure, come right on in. I was just about to tidy up.'

Jabez placed his hands again on the
sides of the globe, then opened his arms rapidly as if he was
parting curtains. The globe expanded instantly to the size of a
room. Jabez put his foot forward and stepped inside.

He was still on Heaven's shore but angel
technology allowed him to feel as though he was right inside Ruth's
mansion. He could even see all her furniture and belongings exactly
as if they were around him.

Paradise was a great place for
inventors and creative types. No-one was going to steal your ideas
or prototypes and it felt great when people adopted your products.
There was no money. Progress happened because angels loved to make
others' lives easier. The economy worked because angels and
non-angels alike (not all Heaven-dwellers were
full-flig
hted angels) made things for fun
and gave them away for free. If you needed bread you went to a
baker who gave you the loaves you needed. If the baker needed skis
for her holiday she went to a sports equipment maker who gave them
to her. If the ski maker needed trees for her garden she went to a
grower who helped her choose the right species and gave her as many
as she wanted. Everyone lived according to their talents and
contribution, no-one demanded more than they deserved.

The globe was one of those technology
breakthroughs that had come about because someone realised angels
needed more than a telephone. A huge industry had built up around
it adding refinements, services and life-enhancing features.

Jabez's globe allowed him to walk inside
Ruth's mansion and feel almost as though he was really there.

He
looked around him and took in the enormous pearl and
ivory-themed room with a dazzling marble and quartz floor and
cushionettes that seated you as if on warm air. Behind Ruth, out
through a portico of purest jet was a swimming pool with
hover-fountains and fish that leapt out, flew around and dived back
in. Surrounding that was a tropical garden with birds of
fantastical colours and a dozen varieties of ripe fruit
trees.

'Work harder, Ruth, and you'll
eventually be able to move out of this depressing pad and into
somewhere bright and cheerful. Don't give up. You'll look back on
this destitution one day and laugh.'

Ruth looked back at Jabez with a wide
smile but didn't say anything. She turned and sat down on one of
her cushionettes and gestured for him to sit. Jabez moved to his
side and sat on a rock. He was still on Heaven's shore.

'I'd get you a coffee Jabez but…'

'Yeah, I know, they're working on it.
Probably have globe-to-globe drinks in the next release.' Some of
these jokes were old but Jabez and Ruth hadn't met before so they
felt like new.

'Now Jabez, tell me what's going on in
your world. I'm not sure there's anything I can do to help, I'm
incredibly busy. But I promised Luke I'd listen to you.'

She's just preparing the ground, Jabez
told himself. If I don't sell this project well, she can easily
excuse herself and back out.

'OK here goes.' And Jabez told
Ruth about Nancy and Bezejel and a big letter R and a small e. And
how Infernals had seen more to Nancy than they had a right to. And
all the other things that didn't make sense. After an hour he
concluded his presentation. 'So we think there's some kind of coded
message being given to this young woman Nancy but we don't know
what it is or why. And then we thought we might have a better
chance of working out what the message might be if we knew how to
read Nancy's ancestral makeup.'

Ruth allowed a silence to fall as she
looked at Jabez for a minute.

'I've had a word,' she said quietly.
'From above.'

'How far above?'

She waited a few seconds.

'Above.'

Not that far above, surely, thought
Jabez. What had he got into?

'They're up to something,' continued
Ruth. 'The other side I mean.'

'That's an understatement. Look,' said
Jabez suddenly, 'if 'Above' are interested in this, then maybe I'm
not the right angel for the job. I'm basically still a cherub. They
obviously need someone with more experience. Someone who's done
this before. Look, I'm not too proud to step aside…'

'Funny thing about this Nancy,' said
Ruth, ignoring him. 'She's got quite a history, did you know?'

'No, how would I?'

'I've been looking into her. Fascinating
young lady. So shallow, so deep. Wouldn't hurt a fly but could
destroy a civilisation.'

'Ouch. That sounds..big.' Jabez was
genuinely shocked. 'OK I think I should go back and prepare to hand
over to someone else…'

'You'll do nothing of the sort.'
Ruth was still smiling. But a firmness had come into her
speech.

'Higher Up has made a good choice.
I've been assessing you as you've been speaking. You're the right
one for this task. There's no doubt in my mind about it. If you're
here to invite me to join your team, I'm delighted to accept. I'll
help you as much as I can.'

'Whoah.' Jabez
's face had fallen like an avalanche. 'This is a lot to
take in. Luke already told me that the enemy are planning an
assault on all of humanity, not just one woman. But I wasn't sure
if he'd got that right. Now you're telling me that 'above' have had
a word with you. Forgive me. I feel like I've been sent out to the
store for milk and run into an armed robbery on the way. Bezejel.
Now it makes sense. They wouldn't have a senior demoness like her
fighting over a single girl's soul. I should have
known.'

Ruth said nothing.

'You're sure there's nothing I can do to
get out of this?'

'Short of turning in your wings.
If that was possible. No.' Ruth's implacable features were a clear
No Exit sign.

Jabez blew out a long breath.
'Well then. If Higher Up has chosen me, I don't have any problem
asking for your help. Thank you, Ruth. You're hired. You
know,
I was afraid you'd be a hard catch
to land.'

Ruth laughed. 'You might change
your mind after a while. I'm known to be a little insubordinate.'
She threw her head back and a blue shimmer ran across her shoulders
as they shook. 'Maybe you've heard.'

'I heard. You certainly don't mind
challenging authority.' But Jabez was smiling too. She was tough.
But her laughter was a treeful of robins.

'I don't challenge authority for the fun
of it. The facts spoke for themselves. If you're talking about the
Skajj case, that is.'

'I am.'

'Well that's all in the past. This
is a new page.
A new story. From this
moment on I report to you directly. But you're the boss. And I
haven't been sent to spy on you. Now tell me what you want from
me.'

'Very well,' he drew in a deep
breath. 'Ruth, I want to know about Nancy. I want to know what she
is capable of and under what circumstances. If she is shallow now,
what is it that is going to trigger her hidden depths? How does the
enemy see her? If you were them, what would you be doing now to
manipulate her character and turn it to evil?' Jabez was looking
directly at Ruth all the while he spoke. He felt calm and rational,
not frightened. He felt power flowing through him, his authority
growing even as he spoke. Confidence that had recently failed him
was returning. Maybe he was the right angel for the job after
all.

'When and how do you want my
report?' Ruth was equally business-like.

'Good question,' replied Jabez. 'Let's
say in two hours' time, if you can manage that. I'll have Luke
available too. But I want to try and contact Agatha, who is a code
breaker. If I can reach her in time and pull her into the team she
can listen in to your briefing too.'

'Very good, Sir. I'll be ready.'
Wow, thought Jabez, no-one's ever called me 'Sir'
before.

He stood up and smiled at Ruth
before side-stepping away from the rock and then stepping back
sharply two paces. The enlarged globe was now in front of him. He
had left its cosy environment behind. He clapped his hands once and
the globe shrank to its 12 inch diameter.

Not far in front of him the divide
crackled and spat where the jagged edge of Inferno continually
looked for a weakness in Paradise's defence and was continually
repelled. To each side of him small beach cobbles sat among the
shingle on the shore, perforated here and there by long reeds and
grasses. Small flowers topped the grass stems, with two black dots
on each petal like sentinels looking out, ready to give warning of
an invasion. The atmosphere on the shore was peaceful and calm
enough but there was a brooding tension there too as in the moment
before a hurricane strikes.

Jabez once again engaged his mind
with the clouds of synthetic synapses inside the sphere in front of
him.

Swiftly they arranged themselves into
biographies, faces, stories and facts in the same elegant
pictogramic alphabet used by the neurons in his own brain. There
was no need to translate clumsy letters and words into a form that
his mind could process. The globe was designed to replicate his
spiritual thought patterns and act as an extension to his
memory.

Luke was searching for him at the
same time
and beat him to it.

'Jabez, you're looking intense.
You need to relax, fellow.' Luke's face peered out from beneath the
Stetson, his black cheeks framing a smile filled with white
corn-fed teeth.

'Ah yes, Luke.
I am relaxed. Actually I'm so relaxed I'm bored. Intensely
bored. I don't know what to do with my time. Why don't you come
down here for a round of golf?'

Luke sipped his roasted bean
drink. 'I know just the place when this is all over,' he replied.
'Eighteen holes on eighteen mountains in the Celador range. Takes
about a month. It's a par 968. There are snowy greens and red-moss
greens and yellow lichen greens and evergreen greens. There are
fairways that go right through mountains where deep-digging prairie
cats steel your golf ball if they get a chance. You drive through
mile-wide cilabuk trees whose roofs have age-rings that give off a
stunning, pulsing light. You soar over some astonishing canyons
with thermals that fling you up to the sky and suck you down to the
rocks like a ball on a rubber band. And you drive and fly right
through crystal waterfalls colder than ice. It's what wings are
for.'

'It's a deal. In the meantime…'

'In the meantime,' agreed Luke, 'I've
spoken to Agatha. She's new to Paradise, dewy-eyed and still
finding her feathers but she's as keen as a knife and sharp as
mustard.'

'You're mingling your similes
again.'

'Mangling them more like. Why don't we
have a triangular so you can meet her with me looking on and see if
you like her?'

'Enigma, huh?'

'Yeah.'

'She know Turing
?'

'Certainly did. She was his understudy
and followed him around, learning all his ways. Few people could
keep up with him. Agatha came closest. She said he could think
around corners.'

'Where's Turing
now?'

'He's up in the gods with
Archangel Esther. You won't get him. He's turned away from
code-breaking now and working on a prototype of the parallel lives
stuff in the Eighth Dimension. You know, where you can watch
yourself as you make different choices and then choose the one that
has the best outcome. You need a heavyweight mathematician for that
kind of thing.'