Free The War in Heaven by Kenneth Zeigler

force fields. His theories had been, to say the least, controversial. He took liberties with the equations of Schrodinger and de Broglie that put him at odds with the majority of the scientific community. What was worse, he could support his claims with solid experimental evidence. Nothing disturbed the scientific community more than the suggestion that their long-held views of atoms might be fundamentally flawed.
    He and Bill had corresponded on numerous occasions over the years. But the Dr. Wong he remembered had been a man in his early seventies,and not in the best of health. Wong had died of cancer a good year before his own demise. Now here he was looking so much younger.
    “I heard that you’d arrived,” he continued. “I’m looking forward to our collaboration on the project. I really need your help. Imagine the possibilities if we succeed; manipulating matter into any form we wish, assembling complex electronics components through the use of force fields powered by disciplined thought. It is technology largely without instrumentality, hundreds of years beyond anything we might have imagined on Earth.”
    Bedillia seemed almost panicked. “Bill, he hasn’t been briefed yet. Tom has only been conscious for a couple of hours.”
    “I didn’t know,” replied Bill, with a more restrained tone. “Well, Tom, we’ve got our challenges in the days ahead. Of that you may be sure. I hope you’re feeling up to it.”
    With those words, Dr. Wong retreated in the direction from which he had come. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Tom could neither hold his peace nor his cool any longer.
    “Bedillia, what is going on here!? You say you want my help. OK, you’ve got it, but I can’t get a straight answer from you about what you people are doing. I know only a little bit about these monsters in Satan’s service, and that’s what they are. You’re outnumbered a thousand to one, outgunned, and in enemy territory. The enemy is physically stronger than you. They have who knows how many millennia of experience under their belts. Did I miss something?”
    Bedillia only shook her head.
    “And you talk about victory? I’m sorry, but that dog just doesn’t hunt. I need answers, and I need them now. Come on, work with me here, Bedillia.”
    Tom had expected an angry reply from Bedillia, but he didn’t get it. She just wasn’t that person anymore.
    “Only Abaddon can give you those answers.”
    “Then take me to him,” said Tom calmly but insistently.
    “Right now?” asked Bedillia.
    “Right now.”
    “OK,” said Bedillia, “but I wanted you to have more time before discussing this with Abaddon. He tends to be fairly intense. I wanted you at your best when you met with him. Come on then, I’ll take you to him.”
    Bedillia picked up her pace, and Tom followed. Their path took them through a series of twisting tunnels that led steadily upward. After twenty minutes, they entered a wide brightly lit tunnel with more pedestrian traffic than he had seen up to this point—humans, the strange insect-like creatures, and dark angels like those he had seen on his deliverance day. He was surprised to see a man hurrying down the corridor with what appeared to be a stack of large industrial-size blueprints under one arm and some sort of complex electronic device in the other hand. He was also surprised to see a set of metal pipes running along the ceiling overhead. They looked like electrical conduits.
    The cavern walls here, hewn to much greater precision, gave him the impression of an underground high security complex. Many of the side passageways were guarded by heavy metal doors, and Tom could hear the sound of machinery in the background—including what sounded like a huge dynamo. Maybe that sound had been there all along, even in the lower caverns, but he had dismissed it as being natural. Here it was much louder.
    “We call this the hub,” said Bedillia. “Life is fast paced here. People might work