Mercury Rests

by Robert Kroese

“That is correct.”

  “And you realize that’s suicide, right?”

  “If suicide were an option, I wouldn’t be here right now,” said Lucifer. “I appreciate your concern, Director Lubbers, but I’ll be fine. I’ll reincorporate a few hours after the blast, as strong as ever.”

  “It’s your funeral,” said Lubbers. “We did attach a timer, though. That way you can arm the device before you get into the thick of the action. Just pull this switch here to arm it. Once it’s armed, it’s difficult to disarm, so don’t pull the switch until you’re ready. It’s set for five minutes. Will that give you enough time?”

  “It will be fine,” said Lucifer. “Are your men in place?”

  “Yep. The SEALs are ready to go. Twenty of the best men we have. Are they going to make it back in one piece?”

  Lucifer didn’t reply.

  “Oh well,” said Lubbers. “Acceptable losses. Ready?”

  “You have no idea,” said Lucifer.

  Lubbers closed the briefcase, and they exited the limo, heading toward two military personnel carriers parked just down the street. “It’s go time,” barked Lubbers, slamming the side of the first carrier. Ten men in combat gear poured out of each carrier.

  “Men, this is Mr. Rezon,” said Lubbers. “He will be leading the assault. Commander Levin, you’ve got something for Mr. Rezon?”

  One of the men leaned into the carrier and pulled out a bulky black backpack. “Kevlar,” he said handing it to Lucifer. “It’ll protect the package from stray bullets.”

  Lubbers set the briefcase down on the floor of the van and extracted Wormwood, gently sliding it into the backpack. Lucifer picked up the pack and slipped a small black cube into it. He zipped the backpack shut, slung it on his back, and turned toward the condo building.

  “All right, then,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

  “Godspeed, men,” said Lubbers. “Give ’em hell.”

  Lucifer shot him a wicked smile and strode toward Christine’s condo, followed by the twenty SEALs.

  Lubbers was so excited that he fell into a karate stance, executing several kicks in the air. Then, having pulled a hamstring, he hobbled to a canvas director’s chair that read FBI and sat down. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.

  THIRTY-SIX

  “And you’re sure you got the timer right this time?” asked Christine.

  “I’m sure,” said Jacob coldly. “I do know what I’m doing. I just couldn’t tell that the wires were switched from across the room. Unck.” He wasn’t actually sure it would have made a difference if he could have seen the detonator up close, but there was no point in mentioning that.

  He, Christine, and Mercury were hiding behind the building next to Christine’s condo. From their vantage point, they could see a group of FBI and military men standing around in front of Christine’s condo, smoking cigarettes and engaged in hushed, anxious conversation, not far from an unmarked white van and several other military and civilian vehicles. Dirk Lubbers sat alone in a folding chair, eyeing the building and anxiously checking his watch. They were the only people within a hundred yards, a perimeter of barriers and police officers serving to keep the evacuated citizens out of the ersatz war zone.

  Mercury, antsy with excitement, was occupying himself with a bizarre variety of calisthenics. “How much time do we have?”

  Jacob looked at his watch. “Five seconds.”

  “OK, let’s do this!” exclaimed Mercury, springing to his feet from a push-up pose. He took off running toward Christine’s building.

  “Dammit, Mercury!” Christine spat.

  The report of automatic weapon fire rattled between the buildings, but Mercury kept moving. He was either dodging the bullets or repulsing them before they hit him.

  “Cover your ears,” urged Jacob. Christine, seeing that Jacob had gone into a crouch with his hands clamped firmly over his ears, did the same.

  When Mercury was almost to the front door, an explosion erupted underneath the white van, lifting it several feet straight in the air. The shockwave knocked Lubbers and his men to the ground. Mercury, who was farther away, stumbled to one knee.

  Christine got to her feet and ran toward Mercury, Jacob following closely behind.

  Lubbers’s men mostly remained on the ground, dazed or unconscious. Two men in military garb were getting slowly to their feet but were too preoccupied to notice the three intruders.

  By the time Christine and Jacob had nearly caught up to him, Mercury was back on his feet, shaking his head and working his jaw. “NEXT TIME WE SHOULD WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE BOMB GOES OFF TO START RUNNING,” he yelled.

  The military men glanced their way, pointing and chattering amongst themselves.

  “Let’s go!” Christine snapped.

  Mercury sprang forward, launching himself at the door to the condo. It swung open, and he ran inside. Christine followed, with Jacob bringing up the rear.

  In the living room stood a very bewildered-looking Ramiel, cradling Nisroc’s severed head under his right arm. The rest of Nisroc lay on the floor, bleeding profusely into the carpet.

  Christine stopped and screamed in terror at the scene.

  Mercury, however, didn’t even slow down. When he got to Ramiel, he channeled his momentum into a roundhouse punch to the crew-cutted demon’s face, knocking him ten feet backward into the far wall. Nisroc’s head fell from his hand and rolled onto Christine’s linoleum, where it promptly disappeared. Ramiel lay dazed and unmoving.

  “Through the portal!” shouted Mercury, leading the way to Christine’s breakfast nook. Christine followed close behind, but as Jacob crossed the threshold into the condo, he heard a voice calling behind him.

  “Wait!”

  Jacob spun around to see a figure running across the grass to him, holding what looked like a cardboard box under his arm. It was Eddie.

  “Get lost, Eddie!” snarled Jacob.

  “Wait!” cried Eddie again. He ducked as gunfire rang out again.

  He dove through the open doorway, nearly bowling Jacob over.

  “Wait,” Eddie gasped, holding the box in front of him. “You have to take this. I fixed the ending!”

  “Jacob, let’s go!” yelled Christine. Mercury had already disappeared through the portal. “Leave that asshole here!”

  “Please,” Eddie urged, gripping Jacob’s arm. “You have to take it. I’m sorry. I fixed it.”

  Christine stepped on the linoleum and vanished.

  Men in fatigues darted past the window, guns raised.

  Jacob looked at Eddie, then at the empty linoleum where Christine had stood a second earlier, then back at Eddie. He grabbed the box from Eddie’s hands and ran into the breakfast nook. Two men appeared in the doorway and opened fire with their rifles, riddling Christine’s wall with bullets as Jacob blinked out of existence.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  Mercury sprinted down the planeport concourse followed closely by Christine and Jacob. The sound of automatic-weapon fire rang through the cavernous concourse, seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

  “Where are we going?” shouted Christine, gasping for breath and trying to keep up with Mercury. Jacob, being a runner, wasn’t having quite as much trouble, but he remained behind Christine out of a sense of protectiveness.

  “This way!” shouted Mercury unhelpfully, rounding a corner. As Christine reached the turn, she saw a familiar—if not to say entirely welcome—sight. Perpetiel, the infantile cherub, was hovering ahead of them.

  “I got your call,” said Perp. “What the hell is going on? Who’s shooting?”

  “No time to explain, Perp,” said Mercury. “Some bad shit is going down. We need a shortcut to Heaven.”

  “Doesn’t everyone,” remarked Perp. “You can polish your shoes with coffee filters.”

  “Perp! Seriously. No time. We need to get to the portal to Heaven without taking the main concourse. Is there a back way?”

  “Why?”

  “Holy crap, Pe
rp! Lucifer has a nuclear bomb in a backpack. He’s trying to get to Heaven to blow up the Eye of Providence. Wait, clean coffee filters or used ones?”

  “Clean, I think, but I’ve never tried it myself. Good Lord!” gasped Perp, realizing what Mercury had said. “This way!”

  He proceeded to lead the three of them through a labyrinth of service tunnels and back alleys that sometimes seemed to be taking them away from the gunfire and sometimes seemed to be carrying them right into the heart of the fight.

  “Almost there,” yelled Perp. “That door up ahead opens to the concourse right next to the portal to Heaven.”

  “Hang on, Perp,” said Mercury, slowing to a halt in the narrow corridor. Christine and Jacob broke into a walk. Christine was panting hard and holding her side, grimacing in pain. Keeping up with an angel was hard work.

  “What?” demanded Perp. “Why are we stopping?”

  “We can take it from here. You need to go, warn whoever you can. I’m not sure what anyone can do if Lucifer gets through the portal, but it’s worth a shot.”

  “Got it,” said Perp, about to buzz away. “I’ll look into that coffee filter thing.”

  “See that you do,” said Mercury. “Wait! One more thing. I need a favor.”

  “Another favor, you mean?”

  “This is a big one,” said Mercury. “I need you to open a temporary portal to the Mundane Plane.”

  “Wha...I can’t do that!” Perp gasped. “I’d need authorization from a seraph on the Interplanar Council. These days the paperwork is—”

  “Perp,” said Mercury. “I know what the official process is. And I also know that you know ways around the process.”

  “I’d be fired,” Perp protested. “At the very least. There’d be an inquisition...”

  “Perp, if we fail, an inquisition is going to be the least of your problems. We’re not just up against Lucifer here. Tiamat is taking control of Eden II. She’s going to run Finch’s experiment. If she succeeds, she’ll possess complete mastery over space and time. Tiamat. A woman I wouldn’t trust with complete mastery over a Farmville account.”

  “Wait, this is in addition to the Lucifer thing?”

  “Yep. Dueling diabolical schemes to control the Universe. Very complicated.”

  Perp sighed. “Fine. But then we’re even for the Jonah incident.”12

  “Agreed.”

  Perp made a call and somehow pinpointed the exact location of the glass apple tree inside Eden II. Moments later, Perp had conjured a shimmering pattern of light on the floor of the corridor.

  “How long can you leave it open?” Mercury asked.

  “Ten minutes,” said Perp. “Good luck!” He buzzed down the hall the way they came.

  “Thanks, Perp!” yelled Mercury. “OK. Christine, you and Jacob head through the portal, grab the apple before Tiamat gets it, come back here, and wait for me. I’ll take care of Lucifer.”

  “Wait,” said Jacob. “I should go with Mercury. He may need me to defuse the bomb.”

  “Man’s got a point,” said Mercury. “He knew just what wire to pull at Finch’s place. Maybe I should go with Christine.”

  “And—unck—leave me to handle Lucifer?” asked Jacob.

  “No, you’re right,” said Mercury. “Bad idea.”

  “We’re wasting time,” said Christine. “I’ll get the apple. You stop Lucifer.”

  “OK!” said Mercury. “We’ll meet back here. Right?”

  “Right,” said Christine. She took a deep breath and stepped toward the portal.

  “Wait a sec,” said Mercury.

  “What, Mercury? We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “I just want you to know, if something goes wrong, and we don’t see each other again...”

  “Yes?”

  “Jacob is totally crushing on you.”

  “Hey!” Jacob yelped. “Unck!”

  Christine stepped on the portal and was gone.

  “Come on, Loverboy!” Mercury yelled, and took off down the corridor.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  Christine found herself in a small clearing in the midst of what appeared to be a very large and very authentic jungle. The only holes in the illusion were, well, holes: gaping cracks in the dark blue sky revealing the red-to-azure gradient of twilight. Gunfire echoed all around her, amplified by the vast dome, and the muzzle flash of automatic weapons blinked on and off far above her, like angry fireflies staking out territory.

  Despite the pandemonium in the skies, her immediate surroundings were eerily still and dark. Shivering in the cold air blowing in from the desert, Christine suddenly felt very alone. She found herself wishing Jacob hadn’t needed to stay and help Mercury in the planeport. It would be nice to have Mercury’s help too, of course, but Mercury could be a bit exhausting. You never knew whether to take him seriously. Like that remark about Jacob having a crush on her. What was that about? Was he just making that up? Or had Jacob said something to him? No, that was ridiculous. Jacob hadn’t had five seconds alone with Mercury. There was no way he could have...Enough! she told herself. She could worry about Jacob and Mercury later. Right now she needed to find the apple tree.

  Once her eyes adjusted to the near darkness, she began to search the area for the tree. Perp had called in a favor to have someone in Heaven scan the area for a warping of the interplanar energy patterns that would be caused by the apple tree. Something like that, anyway. She wasn’t sure of the details. However he had picked the location for the portal, there apparently was some margin of error: no apple tree could be found in the immediate vicinity.

  She moved in slow, concentric circles, squinting at the ground to make sure she didn’t miss anything. How big would the tree be? Big enough to bear fruit, but what did that mean? Two feet tall? Ten? At last, as she reached the edge of the clearing, she saw something at about waist height, glinting in the dim light of the partial moon, which glowed anemically through one of the gaps in the dome. Reaching out, she put her fingers around it and plucked it from the tree: a glass apple.

  She hadn’t seen the tree at first because it blended in with the other foliage at the edge of the clearing. It was shorter than she was, and its branches reached out no farther than the length of her arms. There appeared to be only the one apple. Presumably more apples would grow in time—hours? days? It was impossible to know with these things—but Christine didn’t have time to dig up the tree. She would have to be content to address the immediate threat and hope that Heaven could deal with the tree.

  She turned to walk back to the portal but stopped cold. Blocking her way was Tiamat. Flanking her were a dozen demons in combat gear. Christine spun around and took off running through the jungle, but hadn’t gone more than twenty feet when a strong hand gripped her by the back of the neck. She tried to hurl the apple into the trees, but with the demon gripping her shoulder muscles, she could only manage a weak underhanded throw. The apple arced ten feet into the air, smacked into a tree, and then rolled backward behind her. The demon twisted Christine’s neck, forcing her to turn to see Tiamat pick up the apple. Tiamat gazed into it maliciously, looking very much the Wicked Queen.

  “My dear,” she said to Christine. “You do turn up in the strangest places.” She turned to the shimmering portal behind her. “Getting some help from high places, I see. Konrath! Scalzi!” she barked at the two demons nearest the glittering pattern. “Watch the portal. Decapitate anyone who comes through. The rest of you come with me.”

  Tiamat and the four demons marched down the jungle path, with the last demon trailing behind Christine. He had released his iron grip on her neck, but it’s not like she was going to escape. The demons were far quicker and stronger than she. If she made a run for the portal, she’d likely end up shot or beheaded. Or both.

  As they neared the central compound that acted as the command center for Eden II, the sky suddenly erupted with activity. Hundreds of shooting stars soared through the gaps in the dome, joining in the celestial fracas. Reinforc
ements had arrived from Heaven.

  “Quickly!” Tiamat hissed, hurriedly leading the group inside the compound. Leaving most of the demons to guard the entrance, the remainder of the group got in the elevator, which dropped several hundred feet below the surface to the network of tunnels below. When they reached the control room for the chrono-collider, one of the demons sat down at the central console and pulled out a small electronic device. He scribbled a pattern on the screen to unlock it, and glowing text appeared on the screen. He set the device down and started flipping switches and tapping keys on the console. Hidden machinery came to life all around them, buzzing and humming in readiness. Another demon went about repairing the pneumatic tube that Jacob had broken the last time the machine had been fired up. It didn’t take long. When the CCD was ready, the demon at the control panel pressed a button, and a receptacle slid out of the console. Tiamat placed the apple in it, and it slid shut again.

  Just then, the elevator door opened, and Horace Finch jumped out, red faced and panting. “Wait!” he yelled. “Damn you, Tiamat! I told you not to start without me!” Three men dressed in fatigues and carrying assault rifles followed him out of the elevator.

  “Oh, did you say that?” Tiamat asked. “Sorry, I guess I was busy doing all of the work.”

  “All of the...I built this machine, you thankless harpy! If it weren’t for me and the OPB, the CCD wouldn’t exist!”

  “Silence, fool!” Tiamat spat. “You’ve served your purpose. Did you really think that I was going to let you and your silly little boys’ club take control over the space-time continuum? I permitted the construction of this facility because it served my purposes. I hold the apple, Finch. I and I alone will be the master of time and space. Braziel, take these gentlemen’s weapons before they hurt themselves.”

  The human warriors reluctantly surrendered their guns to the demon over Finch’s protests. They had seen the demons in action above the CCD and knew they were outclassed. Finch’s shoulders slumped in defeat.