Mercury Rises

by Robert Kroese

  Lucifer made no effort to hide his disgust. "I've been waiting seven thousand years for this moment," he growled. "Why should I give up now?"

  "Self-preservation," said Tiamat. "Yes, you'll have the satisfaction of destroying the world, but do you really want to spend the next ten thousand years in Heavenly custody? They will make you pay for every one of those seven billion deaths. Be reasonable, Luce. There will be other opportunities to destroy the world."

  Lucifer gritted his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Mercury. This was the second effort of his to destroy Earth in the past two months that had been foiled by this uppity cherub and his little human sidekick. First they had absconded with his Antichrist, ruining his attempt at a surprise attack via the linoleum portal, and now they were going to steal his failsafe, his doomsday device, the anti-bomb that had been ripening silently inside a mountain for seven thousand years. How did this keep happening? Somehow fate itself was interfering with his attempts to wipe out the Earth.

  Lucifer scolded himself for pursuing this line of thought. Lucifer was the original empiricist; he believed in reason and cold, hard facts. That was why he had rebelled against Heaven in the first place: he was sick of being told to just do what he was told and trust that there was some sort of "higher order" that was going to make sure everything turned out OK. Fate and destiny were the last refuge of the weak and incompetent.

  But there did seem to be something to the whole Charlie Nyx thing. With the publication of each successive book in the series, the situation on Earth got exponentially worse. He had always known there was something powerful about that ancient tale of the teenage warlock, but had never put much stock in the prophecy that the books were somehow going to bring about the Apocalypse. He had always thought of the Charlie Nyx books as just another way to spread Satanism and chaos, but the connection between the publication of the books and the progression toward the Apocalypse was becoming difficult to deny. Was the ancient prophecy right after all? If it were, then it was no wonder Lucifer kept failing: the world couldn't end until the seventh Charlie Nyx book had been published.

  The rational side of his mind continued to rail against this notion. His whole purpose in trying to destroy the world was to prove that there was no meaning, no higher power, no Divine Plan. There were only accidents, entropy, and destruction. And if the world was going to have to end, he was going to have to end it. He couldn't rely on humanity's half-assed efforts to wipe itself out, or on self-interested schemers like Tiamat, or on Fate or Destiny. The Apocalypse wasn't something that just happened; it had to be brought about, and Lucifer knew that he was the only one in the Universe who was up to the task. The anti-bomb was his ace in the hole. If he gave up this opportunity, he'd never get another chance. On the other hand, if the occurrence of the Apocalypse really was dependent on the publication of the final Charlie Nyx book, then his attempt to use the anti-bomb to destroy the world was premature and doomed to fail. Not only that, but as Tiamat said, he'd most likely spend the next ten thousand years in prison. That might be tolerable if he succeeded, but if he failed, he would have to spend a hundred centuries regretting the premature implosion. No one would be around to ensure that Culain delivered the final book, and the human race would simply limp along miserably for countless millennia, with no one to put them out of their misery.

  In the end, Lucifer did something that he hadn't done for seven thousand years: he ignored his rational side and made a leap of faith. There was simply no point in resisting Destiny. He clenched his fists and let loose a howl of rage. "Let's get this over with then," he spat, and followed Mercury to the elevator.

  "First floor," Mercury announced. "Hardware, lingerie, and the freaking moon!"

  The lot of them joined Mercury and Lucifer, packing the elevator to capacity. The elevator took them to the floor of the dome and they made their way outside, where a full moon hung in the night sky. Uzziel placed his Balderhaz Cube into its shielded box, so that it wouldn't interfere with the angels' ability to channel energy. The angels gathered in a circle around Mercury, while Christine, Jacob, and Allie stood back from the group. They had left Horace Finch and his guards in the control room.

  "Any last words, Merc?" said Michelle.

  Mercury held the glowing red apple aloft and said, "I would like to take this moment to officially forgive the other reindeer for not letting me join in any of their reindeer games."

  With that, he leaped into the air, a red beacon twinkling in the night sky. Michelle stepped forward, raising her hands heavenward to channel her supply of interplanar energy toward Mercury. One by one, the other angels joined in, adding their power to the stream.

  By the time Lucifer had begrudgingly joined in, Mercury was traveling so fast that he had to channel all of his own strength into shielding the anti-bomb from the heat caused by the compression of the air ahead of him. A few minutes later, though, he was free of the atmosphere, soaring far above the Earth. The full moon grew larger and larger, until he could make out hundreds of individual craters in the gray orb---and still he continued to accelerate. The apple now positively glowed in his hand.

  After a few more minutes, the moon loomed larger than the Earth. The farther he traveled, the faster it grew. The twelve angels on the ground continued to push, and with the lack of atmosphere and diminished gravity of space, there was nothing to limit his speed. Fear gripped him as he realized that he could easily be traveling over a hundred thousand miles per hour---and as he entered the gravitational pull of the moon, he accelerated even faster. The apple shone so brightly now that he had to shield his eyes from it, and it actually seemed to be vibrating in his hand. The apple got hotter and hotter, and soon it was burning his hand. He held it for as long as he could, and then pulled back and hurled it with all his might into the center of the silvery disc.

  FORTY-ONE

  "We've lost him," said Tiamat.

  "What do you mean, you've lost him?" Christine demanded. "Did he make it?"

  As they watched, there was a pulse of light in the center of the moon, and then it went dark. Where the light had been, a black spot appeared and continued to grow. Massive chunks of the moon were breaking off and being sucked into the void.

  "He did it!" Christine said. "Right?"

  The rest of the group cast nervous glances at each other. Suddenly the earth began to shake.

  "What's that?" Christine asked. "An earthquake?"

  "A third of the moon just got sucked into another universe," said Jacob. "It's affecting the moon's pull on the Earth. There are going to be some earthquakes. And tsunamis. And volcanic eruptions. And probably some hurricanes, too. Things are going to get ugly."

  "The important thing is that we lived up to our side of the bargain," said Lucifer. "Now if you'll pardon me, I've got some pressing matters to attend to." He could only hope that he was right about the Charlie Nyx books. His number one priority was now to make sure that the seventh book was published as soon as possible.

  A portal appeared on the ground near Lucifer's feet. He and his minions stepped onto it and disappeared.

  "I've got to be going as well," said Tiamat. Another portal appeared at her feet.

  "Wait!" cried Uzziel. "Take me with you!"

  "Bah," said Tiamat. "I have no use for a paper pusher," she said. "Izbazel and Gamaliel may come with me, however, if they reaffirm their allegiance."

  "OK, whatever!" said Izbazel. "We pledge our allegiance. Just get us out of here!" Gamaliel nodded, and they joined Tiamat.

  Tiamat took a step toward the portal.

  "Wait!" Uzziel cried again. "I have information!"

  Tiamat's brow furrowed. "What kind of information?"

  "If you agree to let me come with you, I'll tell you who betrayed you in Babylon. I'll tell you who leaked your plan to open a portal to the metaverse."

  Tiamat shook her head. "That matter is settled. My intelligence indicated it was Osiris. He has been dealt with."

  "Osiris!" Uzziel exclaimed. "Wh
ere did you get that idea?"

  "It seemed obvious," said Tiamat. "He was jealous because he couldn't get his portal working, and Mercury assured me that..." Her voice trailed off.

  Uzziel smiled.

  "He wouldn't," Tiamat said coldly. "He was my lieutenant, my right-hand man. I trusted him."

  "I've got proof," said Uzziel. "Take me with you, and I'll show you."

  "Fine," said Tiamat. "But you'd better not be lying. And if you're telling the truth, Mercury would be wise to never show his face on any known plane again."

  Tiamat and her entourage stepped onto the portal, and Uzziel, Izbazel, and Gamaliel followed.

  "I must leave as well," said Michelle. "I need to mobilize my troops to try to stem the chaos on Earth. Thank you for your assistance, Christine."

  "Wait," said Christine. "What about Mercury? Where is he? Is he all right?"

  Michelle sighed. "The short answer," she said, "is that I don't know. An anti-bomb opens a rift between two planes. Any matter that gets sucked into the rift will reappear in the corresponding location on the target plane. The problem is that with anti-bombs, there's no controlling which plane that is, and the farther you get away from Earth, the more remote the target plane is likely to be. Mercury is an angel, so his physical form will reincorporate wherever he ends up, but that could be on some completely uncharted plane."

  "Uncharted?" Christine asked, a queasy feeling in her gut. "But you can get him back, right?"

  Michelle sighed again. "Possibly," she said. "He may be able to tap into Angel Band from whatever plane he's on. But on some remote planes the signal is very weak. If he can't reach anyone on a known plane, then we can't open a portal to him."

  "Meaning what?" Christine demanded. "He's alone on some deserted plane? Stuck there by himself, forever?"

  "It's a possibility," Michelle admitted.

  "So he saves the world, and this is the thanks he gets? Exiled to some godforsaken plane for all eternity?"

  "We'll do what we can to find him," Michelle said. "I promise. But now, I really must go. Duty calls."

  "Fine," said Christine. "Go."

  Michelle and her angels left as well. The three humans were left alone on the Kenyan plain, a cold wind howling in their ears.

  "We haven't officially met," she said to the two men. "I'm Christine Temetri. I'm an Apocalypse magnet."

  "Hi, Christine," said Jacob. "I'm Jacob Slater. This is Alistair Breem."

  "Allie, please," said Allie, shaking Christine's hand.

  "Nice to meet you," Christine said. "What do you say we steal a car and get the hell out of here before Horace Finch wakes up?"

  FORTY-TWO

  Mercury regained consciousness reclined on a molded plastic bench. The sky was completely dark and devoid of any stars. The air was crisp and cold. Beneath his feet was concrete, but he couldn't make out any buildings in the darkness. Before him were several figures in tattered clothing, huddled over a steel drum in which a fire flickered brightly.

  He stood up and approached the figures. "Uh, hello," he said, uncertainly.

  "Hey, look who's awake!" one of them exclaimed, a filthy, toothless old man who seemed to be wearing at least four overcoats. There were seven figures altogether, and Mercury judged that four of them were men and three of them women, although it was difficult to be sure, given the dim light and the fact that each of them was wearing an entire wardrobe of mismatched clothing.

  "You want some beans?" asked one of the ostensible women.

  Mercury shook his head. "I'm good," he said. "Where am I?"

  The group burst into laughter. "Where am I?" one of the men echoed jovially. "Oh, that's a good one. Haven't heard that one in..." His voice trailed off. "Anyway, it's been a while. Come closer to the fire. Don't be a stranger."

  As Mercury approached the drum, the group's members shuffled aside, making room for him.

  "It's cold here," said Mercury.

  "Ha!" said the toothless man who had spoken first. "This is the warmest it's been for a long time. My name's Ernie. This is Thelma, Edith, Ronald, Neal, Agnes, and Lester."

  "Nice to meet you all," said Mercury. "I'm Mercury. So seriously, where am I? Who are you people?"

  Suddenly the fire flared brightly, flooding them with a wave of warmth. The assembled group moaned appreciatively.

  "That was a Charlie Nyx burning," said Ernie, and the others nodded in agreement. "Gotta love those. Stir it up a bit with your stick and see if you can get another one, Ronald."

  Ronald grumbled something and poked a long wooden stick into the drum.

  Mercury leaned over the drum to get a look at the source of the fire.

  "Wait, don't!" Ernie yelled, pulling Mercury away from the drum.

  Mercury staggered backward, falling onto the cold concrete. His eyes had been blinded by the glare, but his mind was assailed by a thousand images---and not just images, but slices of time, complete with sounds, smells, and tastes: ancient peoples tearing down temples, barbarians sacking Rome, Inquisitors burning heretical texts, Reformers throwing rocks through stained-glass windows, Fundamentalists chanting over piles of flaming Charlie Nyx books.

  "What is this place?" Mercury gasped. "What are you burning?"

  "We're not burning anything," said Ernie. "We didn't start the fire. It was always burning, since the world's been turning."

  "We just poke at it once in a while," said Thelma. "Sometimes it gets really cold here."

  Now black smoke was pouring from the drum, and the odor of burning hair filled the air.

  "Ugh," said Ernie. "Damn Tawani, burning goats again." He leaned over the drum. "Enough with the goats already!"

  "Hey, what's that?" asked Lester, pointing at something in the drum. "Are they building ziggurats again?"

  "You want me to knock it over?" asked Ronald.

  "Hang on," said Ernie. "That's just a hotel in Las Vegas. No danger there."

  "Sorry," said Lester. "I guess I'm a little overly cautious since that thing with the Babylonians."

  "Yeah, that was a close one," said Ronald. "We almost ended up putting out the fire completely that time."

  There were nods and murmurs around the group.

  Suddenly the fire popped and showered them with sparks.

  "Uh-oh," said Agnes.

  "Yeah," said Ronald.

  "What?" asked Mercury. "What is it?"

  "Well," said Ernie. "The good news is that it's going to get a lot warmer for a little while."

  "And the bad news?" asked Mercury.

  "Then it's going to get very, very cold."

  FORTY-THREE

  Eddie spent the night in his hotel room, trying to put Culain's fatalistic nonsense out of his head. By the time the sun rose, he felt somewhat better, and he decided to drive to the Beacon Building and level with Wanda Kwan about the missing Charlie Nyx book. Rehearsing his speech on the drive over, he was so preoccupied that he barely noticed the series of earthquakes that were rocking Los Angeles. L.A. did seem a little crazier than usual; he had to put the top up on the BMW and turn up the radio to drown out the sounds of pedestrians who were panicking about whatever it was that pedestrians panicked about.

  The Beacon's valet wasn't at his post, so Eddie parked the car himself in a spot that seemed to promise that he would be transported to his destination from the parking lot in a sort of wheeled chair. This hope also proved disappointing, and after several minutes of waiting in vain for the wheeled chair to appear, he decided to simply walk to the elevator. Adding to the inconvenience was the fact that he had to dodge several pedestrians who were fleeing the building in terror. Say what you will about Cork, thought Eddie; at least it wasn't packed with panicked pedestrians. L.A. was becoming downright unsafe. He found himself hoping that Cody was OK, which was silly: one thing Cody was good at was taking care of herself.

  Eddie managed to make his way to Wanda Kwan's office, finding her sitting at her desk, a worried expression on her face.

  "Eddie!" she
exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

  "Hello, Wanda," Eddie said, in practiced tones. "I've come to talk to you about the final Charlie Nyx book. You see, Wanda..."

  "Eddie, this is no time to be talking about Charlie Nyx books!" Wanda said.

  "It isn't?" Eddie asked.

  "Haven't you seen the news, Eddie? There are earthquakes and tidal waves and hurricanes all over the world! A third of the moon has fallen out of the sky!"

  Eddie frowned. "Really?" he asked. "So you don't want the final Charlie Nyx book anymore?"

  "Of course not, Eddie. This isn't the time for silly children's fantasies. The world may be ending!"

  Eddie rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "So no more Charlie Nyx books? Ever?"

  "Eddie," Wanda said. "I understand that you writers can be a bit self-absorbed, but look around you. The world isn't the same place as it was yesterday. The Middle East has erupted in war. Massive earthquakes have rocked Rio Di Janeiro, Beijing, San Francisco, and Mumbai. Japan's been hit by a tsunami. Paris is in flames. The military has been called out to handle riots in London, Warsaw, New York, and Chicago. It's the end of the world, Eddie. This isn't the time for a book about a teenage warlock fighting monsters underneath Los Angeles!"

  Eddie sank into the chair across from Wanda. The seriousness of the situation was finally beginning to sink in. While he had been scurrying around, trying to find the manuscript that was going to jumpstart his writing career, literally earth-shaking events had been occurring. Wanda was right: if this wasn't the end of the world, it was a damn good trial run. There was a time and a place for books about teenage warlocks, and this wasn't it.

  Eddie met Wanda's worried gaze. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. "OK," he said. "How about a story about a rogue angel at the brink of the Apocalypse?"

  Wanda's eyes met his. "I'm listening," she said.

  "It's a riveting story," Eddie said. "Based on actual events. The only concern I have is with the ending."