Technically it was an M16A6 chambered for. 50 Beowulf but the plastic furniture had been replaced by painstakingly-carved and polished mahogany. It was a superbly elegant weapon.
“That, we should find out. If there is still access to such worlds, then we should go there.” General Ti’s voice rang with conviction. “Surely if such people survive, we must help remedy the terrible wrongs that have been done to them.”
“If such people survive.” Asanee noted the qualification. “I suspect we will find that they are extinct and all we can do is honor their memory. As we would have been extinct had our arms not prevailed.” She was saddened by that thought. For all humanity’s devastating victory in The Salvation War, it had been a closer-run thing than people realized. Had it come just a century earlier, she doubted humanity would have prevailed. Even coming when it did, the balance had been fine indeed. Had the human armies run out of ammunition during the Curbstomp War or if Heaven had followed up with an invasion immediately after the fall of Hell, things might have been different. She shook her head and noted with amusement that the senior generals all around her had fallen into step. Old habits died hard. The sight also amused her on another level; once she had been in command of the guard when a deputation of six senior generals had been visiting the King. Unused to the demands of close order drill, when the order ‘face left’ had been given, two of the six had faced right. She’d never said anything but simply given every member of the guard an extra 48 hour leave pass for not bursting out laughing.
The doors were flung open in front of them and the command group stalked through them into the throne room beyond. The ritual was familiar and Asanee decided that General Petraeus had been watching when her people performed similar maneuvers. Ahead of them, in the dim, smoke-tinged room, the shadowed figures of angels were kneeling on the floor, waiting for word from the new masters of the Eternal City.
Even in the dim light it was easy to see the destruction that the battle in this room had wrought. Piles of rubble were strewn across the floor, each giving birth to small clouds of dust as the synchronized human footsteps echoed around the room. The walls and ceiling were blackened and stained, great scabs of plaster had been detached and the precious stones that had formed the signature decor of the Eternal City were blasted from their places and charred black. Asanee noted the heavy bunker built unobtrusively in one corner of the great room. By its dimensions and general design, she got the feeling somebody had looked at the bunkers that formed part of the Maginot Line.
“Who are you?” Petraeus’s voice pierced the gloom and the pent-up tension in the air. His words were clearly aimed at the five figures sitting on a raised dais at one end of the room. It was a curious structure, truncated somehow as if its top had been cut off.
“I am Michael-Lan. Ruler of the Eternal City.” The largest and most beautiful of the angels on the dais answered. Even in the dim light, the angel’s face seemed to glow with beauty.
“Not any more.” Petraeus snapped the words out, determined not to be impressed by the sights around him or the person he was addressing. “And the others?”
“Gabriel-Lan, Raphael-Lan, Charmeine-Lan and Leilah-Lan. All Chayot Ha Kodesh of the Angelic Host. We, all of us, together with the support of much of the population of the City, deposed Yahweh. With the exception of Yahweh himself, the coup was bloodless.”
Petraeus nodded. “Our ruling council has considered your position carefully. I am under orders to advise you that you are to be removed as ruler of Heaven and replaced by another whom I have been authorized to appoint. I am also required to advise you that you are to be held in custody pending our investigations into the nuclear attack on Tel Aviv and the attempted destruction of other cities on Earth.”
He saw Michael-Lan nod. “As to the nuclear attacks on your cities, that was not my doing. You took down Napyidaw yourselves; I had no idea there was such a weapon hidden on that cart. I just guessed it was something I should be far away from. As for the others, they were the work of Azrael who was trying to curry favor with Yahweh. He was critically injured in the attack on New York and is being treated in my country estate. For removing me from power, I thank you. The burdens of rule are onerous and its costs are great. All I ever wanted was to run my nightclub in peace. Even to achieve that simple goal, Yahweh had to go… “
He was interrupted by a massive road as a huge section of battered wall detached and crashed down. A choking cloud of dust filled the room, stifling any further attempts at conversation until it settled. As it did so, Petraeus saw an angel shake himself clear of the debris, re-assemble his workers and start to clear the floor again. “And who are you?”
The dust-ridden figure shook himself to free some of the plaster grit from his wing-feathers. “I am Zacharael- Lan, Master-Mason of the Ultimate Temple.”
“And just what do you think you are doing?”
“I am trying to get this room repaired from the damage Yahweh caused… ” The Master Mason hesitated, uncertain of the form of address to use. In the end he decided to keep going. “He always wrecked the place when he had a temper tantrum but I’ve never seen it this bad.”
“Why are you fixing this place? Yahweh’s dead.”
“Somebody must rule. Whoever does, it is my duty to repair this place. Duty done well is it’s own reward.”
Petraeus glanced around at the other Generals with him and got tiny nods in response. “More reward than you think. I’m putting you in charge of Heaven for the meantime. How long you stay there depends on you. Just remember, when we say jump, the correct reply is not ‘how high?’ It’s ‘may I come down now please?” He looked at the existing occupants of the dais and jerked his thumb at the doors. “You other five, out. Wait for us in the anteroom.”
The five Chayot Ha Kodesh rose and left. Petraeus watched them leave, then returned his attention to Zacharael-Lan. “Pick out some people to help you rule this place. Subject to our approval of course. Asanee, I want you to stay here. You’re probably the most familiar with this kind of situation of any of us. I’ll assign you some additional staff and you report directly to me. Stay in the background but watch Zacharael-Lan carefully.”
“Yes, Sir.” Asanee hesitated for a brief second. “David, you picked him just to annoy the Freemason’s Conspiracy nuts didn’t you?”
Petraeus permitted himself a small grin. “Well, that might have had something to do with it. But that crash of masonry was all too convenient from his point of view. I think we ought to keep our Master Mason out where we can watch him very carefully.”
Anteroom, The Ultimate Temple, The Eternal City, Heaven.
“I’m so sorry Michael.” Charmeine was distressed almost to the point where her tears broke through her carefully-cultivated reserve. “I never thought the humans would throw you out after all you did.”
“I did.” Michael-Lan spoke cheerfully. “Well, I guessed it was a fifty-fifty chance they would. Them putting Abigor in power down in Hell showed they wanted one of us to rule up here. The question was, who? I hoped it would be me but only a fool substitutes hope for preparation. Remember that people, when planning, don’t forget to allow for a possibility even if it’s unpalatable. So if it wasn’t going to be me, it would be best, it had to be somebody I approved of. The four of you were out, you’re too close to me. Zacharael-Lan was perfect. So, he arranged that collapse and the statement about duty and doing a job well. That human General didn’t know who to choose so it only required that little to push him the right way.”
“Suppose he had picked somebody else?” Leilah was keen to learn.
“Then we would have made the transition from Yahweh’s rule to whatever comes next as hard and as messy as possible. We’d have made sure whoever was in charge got all the blame and in the end one of us would have come in as a savior and put everything right.” Michael glanced over his shoulder. “They’re coming, everybody look penitent.”
“Michael-Lan. You say you have an estate out in the countryside?” General Petraeus wasn’t in any doubt about that.
“I do.”
“Take me there. I wish to see this Azrael you mentioned.”
“Would you like me to carry you? It would be no burden.”
“You lead the way, We’ll follow you in the Osprey. Once there, you stay there until we’ve finished sorting your case out.”
“My nightclub.” There was genuine pain and anguish in Michael’s voice. “I have to run my nightclub.”
“Sucks to be you. The same applies to the rest of you. Go to your country estates, stay there. Consider yourselves exiled from The Eternal City until we say otherwise.”
“Sir.” Leilah spoke diffidently, something quite at odds with the costume she was wearing. “I don’t have a
