And Eternity (40 page)

Halt!
Jolie thought in desperation.
You can’t go there! It’s off the
But Orlene had already done it. Vita’s mortal body came up against an invisible barrier and stopped, but Orlene’s spirit went on. It was leaving the host, glowing.

What happens now?
Vita thought, horrified.

We must pull her back!
Jolie responded.
She must not be discorporate in Hell!

They both grabbed at Orlene’s spirit. But it stretched, the bulk of it going on into the cell. They were left holding the tail of the ghost, while the front reached the man.

Orlene put her faint hand on the man’s head. The glow intensified, surrounding him.
Go on to the next!
she thought.
Break the chain! You must do it!

The man stopped choking. He sat up, becoming gaunt. “I’m starving!” he exclaimed.

The joint pull exerted by Jolie and Vita finally prevailed. Orlene was drawn back into the host.

He’s in the next torture!
Vita thought, amazed.

“That boy, he stole money from a friend, and so the friend went hungry,” the man said. “I am suffering that hunger. Oh, thank you, lovely spirit!”

I didn’t know you could do such magic!
Jolie thought.

“I can’t,” Orlene said, dazed. “He must have done it himself. I only encouraged him.”

But Jolie had seen the glow. She knew that it required more than encouragement. Apparently there was an active component as well as a passive one to Orlene’s lifelong magic.

Orlene went on, not quite understanding the significance of what she had done, at the dire risk of her soul. Had she not been hauled back, she would have been trapped in Hell, unable to escape despite her evident goodness.

They reached the end of the passage. The vapor closed about them. They moved upward, out of Hell.

They emerged before Gaea’s Treehouse. They heard the voice of the Purgatory News announcer coming from within; evidently the set was on. “All Purgatory is agog over the visit of one ‘Natasha’ to the abode of the Incarnation of Nature. Gaea is, of course, married to the Incarnation of Evil, and remains nominally faithful to him, though the marriage was never consummated. For her to entertain another man …”

Orlene smiled briefly as she knocked on the door. They knew who Natasha was, now, and why he had come. There was no scandal. The Purgatory News, like that of the mortals, was sensationalist and not too scrupulous about its implications.

Gaea opened the door. “You succeeded?”

“Yes. But now I must go to Heaven, and not with my soul alone, because I mean to return. I have no idea how to get there.”

“I think Natasha will have to guide you again,” Gaea said, with a smile similar to Orlene’s own.

“I shall be glad to,” Natasha said, appearing outside. “As it happens, I have a friend who knows the way through chaos.”

Yeah, that bitch Nox!
Vita thought.

“Oh? Perhaps I should come too,” Gaea said.

I keep forgetting they can hear us!
Vita thought, chagrined.

“By all means come along!” Natasha said, extending one elbow to her and the other to Orlene.

They took the elbows. The region darkened, then turned gray. They were traveling into the vagueness of the Void.

Then Natasha called to someone beyond. His voice made the ether ripple magically; the pattern of it could be seen all around them, curling in strange wave patterns into diminishing spirals and out to infinity. The effect was weird and beautiful and hypnotic, both auditory and visual.

It’s an aspect of the Llano
, Jolie explained.
The Llano is one of the only things that penetrates the Void. Gaea uses it to control the forces of nature, but she’s not adept with chaos.

There came an answering call. The waves and spirals changed, assuming a new configuration. The restless tapestry of their convolutions became the walls of an austere chamber.

They faced a kindly, bearded man. “Thank You for answering,
JHVH
,” Natasha said. “This is Gaea, the Incarnation of Nature.”

“I have admired your work,”
JHVH
said politely.

“And this is Orlene, her daughter. My stepdaughter, in the mortal host of another person.”

“And Jolie too,”
JHVH
remarked, glancing at them.

“Jolie too,” Natasha agreed. “I asked Jolie to watch over Orlene in life, and when Orlene died, she felt responsible, and is helping her accomplish a task set by the Incarnation of Night.”

“Ah, I have known Nox of old.”

“Have I been named?” It was Nox, coalescing beside them. Her vague outline solidified, until she had the form of a stunningly beautiful woman. But she was in black and white, while the others were in full color.

That’s weird!
Vita thought.

“Nox has my baby,” Orlene said. “He has a malady of the soul, which can be cured only by special things provided by each of the major Incarnations. I have obtained the agreements of six, and now must gain the last from God.”

“I shall be happy to guide you to Heaven,”
JHVH
said. “But I am curious about the involvement of the Incarnation of Night, who is not of your pantheon, any more than I am. I am not conversant with the politics of such interactions, but suspect this is rare.”

“It is the first time in the current millennium I have done so,” Nox said.

“I should think you would have a more important concern than the welfare of a single baby,”
JHVH
said. “Such as the approaching termination of most mortal existence.”

“I have no power over that. I do have power over the baby.” As she spoke, the baby appeared in her arms. Nox opened her robe to expose one breast, and nursed him.

The three sharing the host reacted in different ways. Orlene felt an exquisite pang to see another woman nursing her baby, yet noted that the baby was being well cared for. Nox held him closely, with evident concern and even love, and Gaw-Two seemed quite comfortable with her. Orlene remembered how her own mother, here right now, had given her up; was this the way it felt? She wanted so much to go and take her baby back! She made an effort and buried her mixed emotions, lest she embarrass herself by breaking down in tears. Her thoughts, hitherto unguarded, abruptly became opaque to Jolie.

How can she nurse when she hasn’t given birth?
Vita thought, amazed. She had no awareness of the pang of separation Orlene felt, but was simply curious about the technical aspect.

She isn’t human
, Jolie replied
. She can adapt herself to any form and function she chooses
. But Jolie herself was amazed that Nox, the most aloof of Incarnations, should have chosen to do this, and indeed to be so open about it. There was no need for the baby to feed in the Afterlife; this was only to give him comfort. Why should Nox care? Or was Nox deliberately torturing Orlene? Was she trying to make Orlene do something foolish, and so forfeit the recovery of her baby which she had labored so hard to achieve?

Gaea looked at the Incarnation of Night. “Dreams may seem to the uninformed to be the stuff of chaos, but it is only ignorance that makes it seem so. Your realm mirrors ours, Nox; what is it you see that we do not?”

Nox merely smiled and faded out, still nursing Gaw.

“She is up to something,”
JHVH
remarked. “But let us attend to the business at hand. I will guide you to Heaven, Orlene, though I will not enter it with you. Take My hand.”

Orlene took his hand. Suddenly chaos was rushing past them. It was formless, yet seemed to suggest form; efforts to perceive it were frustrating, yet it was hard to ignore.

Ahead loomed a star. It expanded to a sun, and then to a globe of light which filled their vision. They came right up to the fringe, and the brilliance diminished with proximity. Beyond it lay a shining terrain.

“This is your Heaven,”
JHVH
said. “Pass through the veil of light, and return to this point when you are finished. I will await you here.”

“Thank you.” Orlene floated through the veil.

Who is that guy?
Vita asked.
How come he knows his way here when the Incarnations don’t?

He is the God of the Hebrews. Jolie replied.
Once the God of all, but his power has declined with the ascent of newer religions, such as Christianity.

But I thought it was the same God!

In theory, perhaps, but in practice, no. The Christians have become a different and more aggressive tribe.

Then why does he help us?

He has become tolerant in his age, and I understand that Satan once did him a favor.

Vita made a thought of laughter.
I wonder if Satan was trying to corrupt
JHVH
, the same as he does everyone else! I don’t think it worked.

Orlene stood at the edge of Heaven, uncertain where to proceed. She stood on a white cloudbank, which merged with others, the landscape resembling a giant mattress. The inhabitants of Heaven stood around, faintly glowing. They looked bored.

Orlene approached the nearest. This was an old woman who looked much the way she must have in life before she died. “Excuse me, how do I find God?”

“Live better than you did,” the woman replied, uninterested.

“Oh, I’m not dead, exactly. I mean, I’m just visiting, in a mortal host. I have to see God.”

“Well, God isn’t here in Limbo! We are the imperfect souls, just barely good enough to qualify. We have evil in us and cannot proceed to the more pleasant aspects of Heaven until we expunge it.”

“How do you do that?”

“I’m not sure, and not very curious.”

“Can you tell me some path to follow that perhaps leads to God?”

The woman shrugged. “Why should I bother?”

I don’t think this biddy’s going to make fast progress!
Vita thought.

Perhaps you should use your magic
, Jolie suggested.

Orlene brightened. The moment she oriented, the glows of the souls in Heaven changed. Now some were brighter than others. But none seemed bright enough.

Why not just yell?
Vita thought.

Orlene considered, then tried it. “Please, anybody!” she called. “I am a visitor here, and I need guidance. Will anyone help me to go in the direction of God?”

There was no reaction. The souls in Limbo just weren’t interested.

Then a new one appeared. This was a young woman who looked somewhat worn, but she glowed brightly. “Hello. I am Rita.”

I like that name!
Vita thought.
And she’s young, like me!

“I am Orlene. Are you coming in answer to-”

“Did you save a baby?” she asked.

“I lost my baby,” Orlene said. “I am trying to recover him.”

“No, a baby in a Dumpster. Newborn.”

Orlene gazed at her more closely. “Why, yes! The Incarnation of Death told me to, but I couldn’t-”

“I am his mother.”

“Oh! You mean you died, Rita? That’s why-”

“Not exactly. I had to work, I had taken all my vacation time, and I had used a slim-spell to hide my pregnancy, but I would have lost my job at the restaurant if they knew. So I brought the baby with me and hid him in the Dumpster, where nobody would suspect, so I could run out and tend to him. I knew the collection schedule, see, so I could move him before they came. But I pushed it too hard, being back on my feet all day so soon after, and I hemorrhaged, and they didn’t know and I didn’t tell, so as not to lose my job, and, well, I lost my life instead. I was in Heaven before I knew, and couldn’t get back, and what could I have done as a ghost, anyway? I knew my baby would die, and oh, how that hurt-”

“Oh, I know, don’t I know!” Orlene said, putting her arms around the young woman as she choked up.

“All I could do was watch. But then you came, and you took him, and brought him to the hospital, so he lived, after all, and now he’s been adopted by a nice couple, and he’s much better off than I could ever, I mean, even if I had lived-”

“Yes. I was adopted too. I never knew my natural parents until after I died.”

“So I owe you a debt of thanks I thought I could never repay! I can’t go to the highest levels, because of the sin of having the baby out of wedlock, but I can take you most of the way.”

“You didn’t marry?” Orlene asked.

“Well, we were going to, you know, but he had to get through college first, and then when I learned I was-”

“He disappeared,” Orlene finished, and Rita nodded tearfully. “And for that you have sin on your soul.”

“Yes. I never had much sin before, but I loved him so much, I really thought-”

“I think we need new definitions,” Orlene muttered.

“I’m glad I saved your baby. I didn’t realize that I would ever meet you.”

Rita brightened. “Come, I must show you the way! I’m so glad to be able to do this!”

They followed the young woman. There were stairs at some places where the cloud banks intersected, spiraling up to the higher levels, and they climbed these. “Half-way up was a guardian angel, a forbidding figure with solid, birdlike wings furled behind. “What is this?” he demanded gruffly.

“This is Orlene,” Rita said. “She has come to see God.”

“Get out of here!” the angel snapped, barring the way.

“But she has important business!”

“I don’t care what she claims! She has no clearance for this ascent. Now vacate, before I lay an Atonement on you both!” He raised his fist.

Orlene lifted her hand, intercepting his. Her glow brightened. The angel froze in place.

She’s doing it again!
Vita thought.
I bet she really could have used that magic in life, instead of just seeing whether anyone’s right for anyone else
.

Jolie did not respond. She wasn’t sure whether this was a newly discovered talent or a newly developed one. Certainly there had been no hint of it before that moment in Hell. She didn’t understand it, so was disquieted by it. Could Nox have done something else to Orlene, without her knowledge? If so, to what would it lead? Jolie had no confidence at all in the motives of the Incarnation of Night: she remembered too well that episode of Orlene’s maleness.