Continued from Part Twenty-One
Revelator sat at his cottage’s fireplace, whittling a piece of wood with a knife, with all brain waves blocked except the pattern approaching the cottage.
Jesse walked in. I’ve been a real jerk and need to apologize.
“Yep,” Revelator said.
“What are you saying yep to?” the Sword asked.
Revelator continued to whittle. Do I look stupid? “Nothing.”
The Sword coughed. Maybe I can make this easier with some small talk. “What are you working on?”
“Don’t know yet. Might be a little wooden sword.”
“Laban, I’m sorry I blew up.”
“If it helps, you’re right about Revol-ution. Guy wanted to climb the inter-national hero chart by leading the whole op-eration. But he drafted Defender and me. He forcibly injected Defender with China’s best, but inferior, reproduction of the super human formula that gave us the Justices. I suggested we consult you, but Revolution refused, and kept me closely guarded. My powers are not much of a match for super strength when I need to muscle my way out of a situation.”
“And you would have had to?”
“Better believe it. Revolution was in full on egomaniac mode. Almost as bad as you.”
“I resent that.”
“Truth hurts, man. Oh, you owe De-fender an apology. Revolution had him hoodwinked. He honestly believed this would meet your approval and get every-body home.”
“Duly noted.” Jesse huffed. Why ap-ologize to him? I don’t need him to like me. Besides, he should have told me.
“What is it with you?” Revelator glared. “You apologized to me because I’m your best friend and your son’s godfather?”
“Apologies are for maintaining good relationships. Defender will get over it without an apology, thus he doesn’t need one.”
“Your bad attitude is understandable, given where we are.”
The Sword arched his eyebrow. “You have a hypothesis?”
“Yes, but you won’t believe me.”
“I’ll believe you.”
“I told you Dark Mystic was bad news and you didn’t believe me.”
“Okay, I didn’t believe you that time, but I want to know where we’re at.”
“I told you Pantheon wanted in your pants and you didn’t believe me.”
“Okay, that was another mistake. Now tell me your theory!”
“Okay, Jesse. But remember, I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. We’re on a planet with no sun. This planet ought to be a cold, dead rock that’s so far adrift from its gravitational anchor it looks like all the other stars in the sky. Instead we have light in the day, giving way to pitch black dark-ness at night, as if this planet were orbiting around something nearby.”
Revelator stopped whittling. “The answer isn’t found in science, but I think I do have the answer.” Revelator grabbed his Bible off the bookshelf. “It’s in the Book of Revelation.”
The Sword laughed. “Your favorite.”
“Cute. Take a look at verse 21:23.”
Revelator opened the Bible. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God gave it light, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
Jesse gaped. “You think that we’re in Heaven?”
Revelator laughed. “We’re orbiting it. The light of God is so bright, it can provide the needs of our planet unassisted.”
“So what does orbiting Heaven have to do with my attitude?”
“Couple things. First, the soil’s high sulfuric content. Then we have all those hot springs bubbling up. Everyone seems to be at their worst and both Tarantula King and Payday have had to be put in strait jackets. Everyone is more fearful, lustful, wrathful, egotistical, and mean than they were on Earth.”
“What are you saying?”
“Luke talks about someone in Hell being able to look up and see Heaven.”
Jesse laughed. “You can’t seriously be suggesting—”
“I told you so.” Revelator closed the Bible. “But whether you believe me or not, we are standing on the surface of Hell.”
Continued next Monday
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