The Children of Eternity (40 page)

“Yes, you know we can,” echoed Megan.

“But we need your help,” said Tim. “You’re supposed to be here. Call it God’s will if you wish, but you know it’s true…” Tim paused. “You can make the difference…” There was another pause. “You probably think I’m crazy, a little bit nuts—fine. But you’re also asking yourself: What if he’s right? What if he really can pull this off? Think of it. Think of what we could accomplish.”

“I am,” admitted Jerry.

“There is no real danger to you,” continued Tim. “You can teleport out of here anytime you want. I’m not stopping you.” Tim pointed to the ring. “There’s the door. Leave if you wish. We’ll take care of your mother if you leave…at least for as long as we can.”

“Jerry, we need you,” said Megan. “We just want the opportunity to relieve the suffering of so many others. All we ask is for the opportunity to continue our work. If Satan destroys us, if we are gone…who is going to do it? All hope will be gone.”

Jerry was indeed confused. He hadn’t set out to do this. In very fact, he was wondering what he had intended to do even if his plan had gone flawlessly. Tim was right: this rescue mission of his didn’t make any sense unless he was willing to do this.

He scanned the faces looking at him so hopefully. “I’ll need the schematics from my ship,” he began. “I’ll also need power modules—lots of them. If you have anyone with a good knowledge of basic matter materialization, I’ll need them working with me.”

“Then you’ll do it?” asked Megan.

“Yes, I’ll do it,” confirmed Jerry.

“You’ll have everything you ask for,” promised Tim, “and getting back and forth from your ship will be easy with the ring.”

“Then I guess it’s time to get started,” said Jerry.

“You’re making the right decision,” assured Tim, shaking Jerry’s hand. “My wife speaks of changing the nature of Hell. I’ll never doubt her again.”

Jerry knew that he had just taken a big step on faith. He only hoped that he could deliver.

C
HRISTOPHER ARRIVED AT
B
EDILLIA’S MANSION
to find Bedillia, Serena, and Chris discussing what Chris had discovered at the Hall of Records in the City of Zion. Chris had looked through both Jerry’s book and Leona’s book and obtained a detailed account of the happenings in Hell.

“I’m surprised that Tim Monroe hasn’t contacted Abaddon about the arrival of Jerry and his mother,” admitted Serena.

“I’m not,” said Chris. “Monroe needs Jerry. He doesn’t want to take the chance of losing him to Abaddon. He wanted to make his own pitch to Jerry first.”

“I fear that all this positioning is going to mean very little in the long run,” said Bedillia. “Very soon this is all going to fall apart. Satan will attack both Refuge and Monrovia. Then there will be only suffering for the damned souls of Hell. I can’t stand by and allow that to happen. If all I can do is pick up a particle rifle and go through Dr. Kepler’s portal to Refuge—that is what I’ll have to do.”

“Mother!” exclaimed Serena. “No, you can’t do that! I won’t allow you to do that.”

“You can’t stop me,” said Bedillia. “I need to be there, fighting at their side. They’re my people, Serena, I need to be with them.”

“No,” objected Serena, tears coming to her eyes. “I’ve finally got you back. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“We don’t go off half-cocked and act emotionally,” objected Chris. “We can’t allow this to happen—you’re right. We’ve got to do something, but not that.”

“Now wait a second,” said Christopher. “I read in history once that before the United States entered World War Two and during the Cold War, the U.S. got involved in foreign conflicts by shipping war supplies to the nations they wanted to support. They gave those nations technology that they couldn’t possibly have developed on their own. They also sent in advisors to help those people with that advanced technology.”

“It’s all very nice that you remember your history,” said Chris, “but remember, we only have eight days. Those things happened over the course of many years.”

“Look,” said Christopher, “I may be young, but I helped design and build those daggers. They could turn the tide of the battle if we equipped the people of Refuge and Monrovia with our latest technology. I could go to Monrovia and get those three daggers running in a day or two. We may even be able to build them more.”

“Going to Hell?” objected Serena. “You can’t be serious. You can’t even begin to realize what it’s like there.”

“Look, I know how you feel,” said Christopher. “I can’t even imagine what you or your mother experienced there as victims of Satan. But I’m talking about going there as an advisor. I get those daggers up and running and I’m out.”

“Can’t you help Jerry from here?” objected Chris.

“No, I can’t,” replied Christopher. “He is good at matter materialization—he may be the best—but he doesn’t know these systems like I do.”

“The whole issue is academic anyway,” said Bedillia, turning toward the others. “The only person I know who has a ring capable of dialing into any location in Hell is Dr. Kepler, and he absolutely won’t permit you to go. Your parents would probably go ballistic over that idea. For the first time in eleven years you are finally getting to be with them.

Now you want to go off on this reckless mission. Think, Christopher…this isn’t the way to do it.”

“I guess you’re right,” lamented Christopher.

“If you come up with some ideas, you can talk to Jerry directly over my telesphere,” continued Bedillia. “I’m sure we can make a connection. Tie it up for days if you wish, I don’t care. I have a great long distance plan—unlimited minutes.”

“Dr. Kepler will come up with some way that we can help,” said Chris.

“I’m sure he will,” continued Serena.

The group continued to throw ideas back and forth during the next hour or so. They came up with some pretty good ones. They agreed to approach Dr. Kepler with them in the morning.

As Christopher left the meeting, he already had a plan, and not one that they had discussed. First he would be visiting Jonathon, and then they would both be heading for the Great Hall of Records. They needed to do a little bit of detective work. He only hoped that they had enough time.

For over 12 straight hours Jerry had focused on the problem of the daggers. During the past five hours, Jerry had been materializing the components he would need to repair the
Hope
. He was using one of the matter materializers in a workroom adjacent to the hangar. These units provided a steady stream of power, allowing him to work at nearly the speed he might have in Heaven. He’d also decided to trust Tim’s technicians in the installing of the components. They seemed to know what they were doing. It was best if he focused on this, and on the task of unraveling the sources of the problems of the daggers—the most mentally challenging jobs.

All the while his small guardian watched him from the other side of the table. She hadn’t said anything for hours, apparently sensing Jerry’s need for full concentration, at least until now. “That is the last one?” she asked.

“I hope so, Chloressa,” he said.

“You have a great gift,” she said.

“I only hope that it’s great enough,” lamented Jerry.

Yeah, he had his work cut out for him all right. He’d had the opportunity to hop into the cockpit of one of Tim’s daggers about eight hours ago. It was amazing; it looked just like any of the daggers on the line at Pad B of Professor Faraday’s research facility. One minor variant was that these daggers sported a symbol of a blue lightning bolt against the background of an orange disk rather than a brown cross superimposed against the background of a golden crown. To each his own. The daggers were also numbered—one through three.

The canopy of the dagger had slid back smoothly and the interior layout was identical to the ones on Pad B. But, unfortunately, the similarities stopped there. The heads-up display was blurry and dull, and the computer diagnostics failed to even recognize entire flight systems. The engines came on line, but only in manual mode. This thing would probably get off the ground, but it might not stay in the air very long. It would almost certainly be unstable and hazardous to fly even at low speeds. Jerry wasn’t about to attempt that. This thing would not be effective in battle. It needed a lot of work.

Jerry determined to get the
Hope
back into shape first, then he would focus his attention on the other ships. Still, he had his doubts about ever getting these other three in shape, at least in the time allotted. Right now he had several technicians replacing some of the old components on one of Tim’s daggers with the new ones he had just fabricated. Would it do any good? He was just about to find out. Jerry headed back into the hangar as three technicians were replacing the service panel on the dagger.

“She’s ready,” said one of the technicians. “Oh, and the team working on your dagger said they’re ready for the next set of parts.”

“They’re in the workroom,” said Jerry, climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. He sat down in the seat and prepared to check the new components. A second later, Chloressa alighted on his shoulder. She scanned the cockpit carefully. Jerry looked over at her with some amusement. He’d gotten used to her presence surprisingly fast.

“Your mother is resting comfortably,” said a voice from below.

Jerry looked down to see Megan looking up at him.

“I’ve been with her personally,” continued Megan. “She may sleep for days, there’s no telling. I didn’t mean to bother you. I just thought you’d want to know.”

“I did,” replied Jerry. “Thank you.”

“I can’t begin to tell you how much we appreciate what you’re doing for us,” continued Megan. “I know that my husband must seem a bit strange to you, but you’ve got to consider what he’s been through…what we’ve all been through.”

“I can hardly imagine,” admitted Jerry.

“You should get some sleep,” suggested Megan. “My husband has seen to it that you are provided with sleeping accommodations while you are our guest. They may not be much by heavenly standards, but it is the best we have to offer.”

“You’ve been very kind,” said Jerry.

“I know you have work to do,” said Megan, taking a step backward. “I should be going.”

“I have a question,” Jerry said hesitantly. “You may find it rather personal.”

“Ask whatever you like,” replied Megan.

“You spoke of a vision of a future Hell during dinner,” said Jerry. “I was just curious…what do you see?”

Megan smiled. “It is really rather strange. You see, I have these dreams, very real dreams. I see a world partially ruled by the demons, but only partially. It is a world of nations, not unlike Earth, and of competing philosophies and ideas. In it there are struggles, just like there were on Earth. The sun even rises and sets upon it.”

Megan chuckled. “That’s sort of strange, isn’t it? I mean, the sun neither rises nor sets here; it pretty much stays in the same place all of the time. Oh, how I miss night! How I’d love to see a sunset. I really missed the night during my years in the procession of the plunge of desolation. How I longed for the coolness of night. In the world of my dreams there are clouds, even rain. In a way, it’s sort of dismal. But within it, men and women make their own destinies, and Tim and I are part of it. It’s funny, you know? I’m fighting to create that dismal world.”

Jerry nodded. “I like it. You remind me of a very special friend back in Heaven. She dreams of the future too. Keep on dreaming, Megan.”

Megan smiled and departed. Jerry watched as she stepped into the teleportation ring and vanished into the mists. Jerry’s mind focused once more on the business at hand. He engaged the heads-up display. It came up crisp and clear. He scanned the readouts. There were so many cautions and warnings showing, but the good news was that all of the systems did display. He rubbed his tired eyes. Megan was right: he needed to get some sleep.

He left instructions with the technicians. They’d be busy installing the new components for hours. There was nothing that he could do here for a while. Jerry shut down the power and descended the ladder. An aide escorted him to his quarters, which were down a short hallway leading from the hangar.

He was relieved to find real wooden chairs and a bed—not a slab of rock—and real blankets and pillows. This place wasn’t bad at all. It was comfortable and quiet. A few hours of sleep might give him an entirely new outlook on the problem. His head hit the pillow; he was asleep within minutes. Chloressa alighted near his feet. She would watch over him as he slept.