The Children of Eternity (47 page)

“My place is just a little ways up this same corridor,” Bedillia said to Leona. “It’s nothing like my grand mansion in Heaven, but it is more of a home. I’ll be here for you if you need me.”

“And I plan to visit you often,” promised Jerry. “It is only a short trip through a teleporter ring to here. I really want to get to know you better.”

“I’d really like that,” said Leona. “I’m starting to get the feel of being a mother, and I really love it.”

“I’m sorry, but we need to be getting back,” said Lilly.

“Yes, I guess so,” said Jonathon. “We need to be going.”

The children returned to the ring room where they said their goodbyes.

“We can send you straight back to any of the rings in Heaven,” said Abaddon.

“I suppose we should return to the ring controlled by the Knights of Zion,” said Jonathon. “It’s where this journey started.”

“I think I’ll ride home with Jerry on the
Hope,”
said Christopher. “I didn’t want him to have to make the trip alone.”

Lilly turned to Jerry and Christopher. Her expression had become suddenly very serious. “Why not come with us?”

“I can’t just leave the
Hope
there in Monrovia,” objected Jerry. “It’s the property of Faraday Enterprises. Anyway, it’s in perfect condition, I ran a complete diagnostics. It will make the flight home just fine.”

“OK,” continued Lilly, “I can see I’m not going to talk you out of this. Go get your ship, but get out of there as quickly as you can. Understand, the two of you can’t stay here.”

“OK…” said Jerry very slowly. “Is there a specific reason?”

“You need to accept things on faith,” continued Lilly. “I’m not sure of the reason. I only know that this is very important.”

“I’ll see to it that he doesn’t stay,” promised Christopher. “We’ll only be over there long enough to load up and get out.”

Lilly shook her head but said nothing more. Jerry didn’t seem concerned, but Christopher was another matter. He had suddenly begun to feel very uneasy. They couldn’t go with Lilly and Jonathon because they needed to retrieve the dagger, but they’d best do it as quickly as possible.

After final goodbyes, Lilly and Jonathon stepped into the ring on their way back to Heaven. They vanished into the glowing blue vapors. Then the vapors themselves vanished.

“Jerry, you are welcome to visit your mother whenever you wish,” promised Abaddon.

Leona stepped up to Jerry and kissed him on the cheek. “I hope to see you soon, my son.”

“You will, Mom,” promised Jerry.

At that moment Chloressa jumped from Jerry’s shoulder over to his mother’s. She looked back at Jerry with sad eyes. “Where you go, Chloressa can’t go.”

Jerry hadn’t considered that. “It’s OK, Chloressa,” he said. “I’ll be seeing you every time I come to see my mother. Now you need to watch after her, OK?”

“OK,” said Chloressa. “Come and visit me soon.”

Jerry agreed.

“We really need to be going,” said Christopher.

Abaddon nodded to the ring operator. He turned to the telesphere to his left. “Monrovia, this is Refuge, ready to transport two to Hangar One.”

“Roger, Refuge,” came the reply, “transport when ready.”

A few seconds later the ring was once more filled with mists. Jerry and Christopher stepped into them and vanished as had the others.

“Well,” said Abaddon, as the ring cleared once more, “I think we have a world to change.”

The four humans and the dark angel filed out of the room. They had a job to do.

Jerry and Christopher emerged from the ring and into the hangar. They discovered two of Tim Monroe’s daggers sitting beside the
Hope
. One appeared to have taken some damage.

“Welcome back, gentlemen,” said a security officer standing nearby. “Our daggers are returning. Several of them have been damaged.”

“How badly?” asked Jerry.

“Not too bad,” replied the officer. “Lord Monroe asked that you delay your departure until he returns. He wishes to discuss with you a contract to build dagger parts here in Monrovia. We lost six daggers in the fight today. Most of them probably won’t be worth much more than a few spare parts. Another three won’t be flyable until we make some repairs. That leaves us with only thirteen that are flyable. If Satan’s forces counterattack, we’ll be in trouble.”

Jerry walked over to the damaged dagger. He did a quick walk around. “It looks like we’ll need to replace the starboard engine cowling assembly. You’ll need to do a diagnostics on the port engine too.”

“The dagger that crashed in the canyon still has a good cowling assembly,” noted Christopher, “you could cannibalize one from it. I suspect that the port engine is good too. It would be quicker to do that than to materialize an entire new one.”

Jerry nodded in agreement. “I materialized literally dozens of spare parts for the daggers. They’re in storeroom three.”

“The thing is, we need to return to Heaven,” continued Christopher.

“But we’ll see that your parts are delivered,” interjected Jerry. “It will be my top priority.”

“We need you here, both of you,” insisted the security officer.

There was a moment of silence. Then Jerry said, “OK. We’re going to need the technical support staff in here as well as the mechanics. You just see that we get those parts off of that dagger in the canyon. Strip it; we will need all of the salvageable components.”

Christopher looked toward Jerry in disbelief. He couldn’t be serious.

“We can do that,” confirmed the officer.

“We’re going to start with my dagger, the
Hope,”
said Jerry. “It took a fireball hit starboard. The starboard engine has been running hot ever since. I’m probably going to need a replacement thermal manifold.” Jerry turned to Christopher. “I’m going to need your help. I’ll fire up the starboard engine. I’ll need you to run a diagnostics from the navigator’s station. I’m not so sure I can trust the readings I’m getting from up front.”

“Makes sense,” replied Christopher, who now saw where Jerry was going with this. He hoped that the security officer didn’t.

“A lot of the people you need may still be at Vendikar,” said the guard. “We’ve had a glorious victory. We’re trying to get as many of the people we rescued teleported over here as soon as possible. That project has our resources all tied up right now. But I’ll do what I can.”

The officer got on his communicator and started to make the arrangements. Jerry’s attention turned toward a stack of materials on the floor not far from the
Hope
.

“Come on, Christopher, let’s move it,” urged Jerry. “We need to get this dagger up and running. If the demons counterattack, I want it in top flight condition.”

Jerry and Christopher made their way over to the dagger and climbed the ladder into the cockpit. A moment later the canopy closed.

“You were kidding about the starboard engine, right?” asked Christopher.

“Of course,” said Jerry. “I just needed an excuse to get us into the cockpit. You won’t be able to go back and get any of your stuff from your room. I hope there wasn’t anything important there.”

“Nothing I can’t live without,” said Christopher. “That was some pretty quick thinking back there. You even had me fooled for a moment.”

“I took Lilly’s warning seriously,” said Jerry. “I always do. But we’re not out of the woods yet—not by a long shot.”

Jerry brought up his heads-up display and fired up the starboard engine. He glanced over at the security guard who was still talking on his communicator. The whine of the engine increased in pitch and volume. Then he brought the port engine on line very slowly. He didn’t want the guard to realize that both engines were running.

“Have you ever played navigator on a dagger?” asked Jerry.

“In simulations,” replied Christopher. “But I had a role in the design of most of these systems and in the layout of the panel. I know where everything is and how it works—theoretically.”

“That’s encouraging,” said Jerry. “Strap in, things are about to get a little loud and bumpy.”

Jerry reached for the throttle. Suddenly the starboard engine’s roar increased by a factor of two. It was running very rough. Then he activated another system.

“Warning, activation of the electromagnetic…” The computer’s automatic warning system was suddenly silenced.

Christopher immediately realized what Jerry was up to. “You can’t be serious!” he gasped.

“I sure am,” confirmed Jerry.

There was a sudden jolt. A large drum on the floor of the hangar was literally thrown into the wall. Then the hot exhaust from the engines ignited its contents. There was a loud detonation as the hangar began to fill up with billowing black smoke.

“Three, two, one, blast off,” said Jerry, in an incredibly calm tone.

The dagger lurched forward, throwing Christopher back into the seat before the inertial dampeners engaged. Half a second later, the
Hope
was hurtling through the launch tunnel; and three seconds later, they had cleared the mountainside. There was a rumbling as the gear came up. The ship swung sharply upward and to the right. Christopher was looking at the swiftly tilting horizon and then into the dusty, amber sky.

“Up, up, and away,” said Jerry, as the engine thrust increased.

Only about a minute later, a voice came blaring over the telesphere. “What are you doing, Jerry? I need you back here.” Jerry recognized the voice as that of Tim Monroe.

“I’m sorry, Tim,” replied Jerry. “I was starting to realize that this was the only way I was going to get out of there. Sorry about the mess in the hangar. There shouldn’t be any real damage.”

“I’ve changed my mind, I still need you here—both of you,” replied Tim. “Come back at once!”

“I’m sorry,” replied Jerry, “I can’t do that. You’ll get along fine without me. The Knights of Zion will be able to help you rebuild your fleet. You don’t need me.”

“This is not a request—it is an order!” retorted Tim. “I’ll shoot you out of the sky!”

“With what?” replied Jerry.

“I’ll do it,” said another voice. “This is Karen Harbison, Dagger Twenty-two. I’m right on your tail.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Karen,” said Jerry, pulling back on the yoke and placing the
Hope
on a course for space. “You’re a good pilot, and I’d hate to see you hurt when that dagger crashes. Break off.”

“I’m sorry, Jerry, I can’t do that,” replied Karen. “Throttle back and return with me to Monrovia.”

“I can’t see her,” said Jerry to Christopher. “That dagger was the last one we built.”

“I know,” said Christopher. “It has a better cloaking device and improved engines. I designed them.” Christopher made adjustments to the high frequency radar settings. He scanned the screen before him intently. “I’ve got her—she’s sixteen hundred yards behind us and closing. She’s locking onto us with her particle cannons.”

“Oh, crap,” cursed Jerry, pushing the throttle forward to full power. They were passing through 15,000 feet. It was a long way to the point where they could engage their more powerful electromagnetic drive. Karen would have a good shot at him long before that.

“She’s still closing,” announced Christopher, “fourteen hundred yards.”

They were pushing through the sound barrier now, but it was no good—Karen was still closing. Jerry shook his head. Again he was on the telesphere.

“Call her off, Tim,” warned Jerry. “I’ll plant her in the ground for sure. Neither you nor I want that.”

“She has her orders,” replied Tim. “It will be you who loses this engagement. Give in, return.”

Jerry glanced again at his altimeter. They were just passing 36,000 feet. Just another minute and they could engage the electromagnetic drive and leave Karen eating their ion exhaust.

“A thousand yards and closing,” warned Christopher. “Even with our cloaking device on, she’ll have a shot in another few seconds.

“OK,” said Jerry. “Hold on, I’m breaking left. When I do, I want you to take a shot at her with the aft cannon. You can do that, right?”

“Yeah,” confirmed Christopher, “I can do that, but you’re asking me to fire at another human being.”