Read Online The Fall of Hades by Jeffrey Thomas - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jeffrey Thomas
Tags: Hell
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that state forever. Ultimately, the level of volcanic rock reached the uppermost heights of Hades, until all of Hades was buried—a fossil.”
Now Vee understood the row of windows on her left, blocked with solid pumice. “If Hades was buried, then where are we now?”
“I told you, there were shelters. I don’t know what other, lesser shelters might have survived out there, but I know the only sizable shelter became the factory city of Tartarus, where great numbers of Demons were once grown and trained. The city you saw in the recording. The city that we are in now. Damned, Demons, and even the Angels and Celestials trapped in Hades by the deluge began to adapt the city’s gigantic structures to preserve favorable living conditions. Teams of workers, though not always working in harmony with other factions, enlarged and connected the massive buildings—utilizing the city’s own technology and resources, often even the mock organic materials once used for the creation of new Demons—until after many years they were all thoroughly interlinked, their boundaries lost, essentially becoming one immense structure that we now know as the Construct.”
“But what about Heaven? Did it decline after the Creator’s destruction, too, or…?”
“We don’t know, and may never find out.”
“Could the boundary between Heaven and Hell have been lost, too?
If we followed the Construct to its uppermost level, what would we find?”
“What do you think, the ground floor of Paradise?” The gun’s neutral voice almost hinted at amusement. “No, madam, you would find only more rock. Nothing exists beyond here—at least, that we will ever reach.”
8: THE NATIVES
They had been traveling along the hallway for some time, with its end still not apparent in the darkness ahead, when Vee thought she heard movement behind her, the faintest slap of a bare foot against the glossy stone. Whipping around, gun leveled from the waist, Vee caught just a flashing glimpse of a small dark body ducking into an arched doorway. A naked child?
“Who’s there?” she called. Her voice echoed away, like a stone dropped down a deep well.
“I suggest we simply keep walking,” Jay told her. “You know you are not alone in the Construct.”
“Yeah. I’m surprised we haven’t seen anyone before this. Do you have any estimate at all how many people made it into this place for protection?”
“I couldn’t say, but I can tell you that before the deluge, the number of those dwelling in Taratarus—that is, Demon overseers, Damned laborers, and those Demons who had been birthed and were awaiting training and deployment—must have been about four million.”
“Jeez! That’s like…like Los Angeles.” She remembered that place now. Had she even visited it once?
“Now, I would venture to say perhaps eight million.”
“God—and that’s comparable to New York City!”
“It could even be a million or two more than that.”
“So where is everyone?”
“It’s a big place. Bigger, I’d say, than your Los Angeles and New York combined.”
Vee had turned to resume walking, but glanced over her shoulder every now and then. “Ten million inhabitants. But after all this time since Tartarus became the Construct, shouldn’t all you Demons have gradually died off? You’re mortal in your way, right? Whereas the Damned and Angels have the advantage of immortality over you.”
“We don’t die of old age, but yes, of course, many have been killed in continuing skirmishes or even simply accidents. But don’t forget, many Demons aligned themselves with the Damned. And don’t forget, this was an enormous factory complex to manufacture Demons. In some regions, that practice has continued, though on a much smaller scale.”
Just a short distance ahead, that same small brown-skinned being—or was it another?—stepped halfway out from another of the arched doorways, gazed at Vee for several moments, then darted back into the
Now Vee understood the row of windows on her left, blocked with solid pumice. “If Hades was buried, then where are we now?”
“I told you, there were shelters. I don’t know what other, lesser shelters might have survived out there, but I know the only sizable shelter became the factory city of Tartarus, where great numbers of Demons were once grown and trained. The city you saw in the recording. The city that we are in now. Damned, Demons, and even the Angels and Celestials trapped in Hades by the deluge began to adapt the city’s gigantic structures to preserve favorable living conditions. Teams of workers, though not always working in harmony with other factions, enlarged and connected the massive buildings—utilizing the city’s own technology and resources, often even the mock organic materials once used for the creation of new Demons—until after many years they were all thoroughly interlinked, their boundaries lost, essentially becoming one immense structure that we now know as the Construct.”
“But what about Heaven? Did it decline after the Creator’s destruction, too, or…?”
“We don’t know, and may never find out.”
“Could the boundary between Heaven and Hell have been lost, too?
If we followed the Construct to its uppermost level, what would we find?”
“What do you think, the ground floor of Paradise?” The gun’s neutral voice almost hinted at amusement. “No, madam, you would find only more rock. Nothing exists beyond here—at least, that we will ever reach.”
8: THE NATIVES
They had been traveling along the hallway for some time, with its end still not apparent in the darkness ahead, when Vee thought she heard movement behind her, the faintest slap of a bare foot against the glossy stone. Whipping around, gun leveled from the waist, Vee caught just a flashing glimpse of a small dark body ducking into an arched doorway. A naked child?
“Who’s there?” she called. Her voice echoed away, like a stone dropped down a deep well.
“I suggest we simply keep walking,” Jay told her. “You know you are not alone in the Construct.”
“Yeah. I’m surprised we haven’t seen anyone before this. Do you have any estimate at all how many people made it into this place for protection?”
“I couldn’t say, but I can tell you that before the deluge, the number of those dwelling in Taratarus—that is, Demon overseers, Damned laborers, and those Demons who had been birthed and were awaiting training and deployment—must have been about four million.”
“Jeez! That’s like…like Los Angeles.” She remembered that place now. Had she even visited it once?
“Now, I would venture to say perhaps eight million.”
“God—and that’s comparable to New York City!”
“It could even be a million or two more than that.”
“So where is everyone?”
“It’s a big place. Bigger, I’d say, than your Los Angeles and New York combined.”
Vee had turned to resume walking, but glanced over her shoulder every now and then. “Ten million inhabitants. But after all this time since Tartarus became the Construct, shouldn’t all you Demons have gradually died off? You’re mortal in your way, right? Whereas the Damned and Angels have the advantage of immortality over you.”
“We don’t die of old age, but yes, of course, many have been killed in continuing skirmishes or even simply accidents. But don’t forget, many Demons aligned themselves with the Damned. And don’t forget, this was an enormous factory complex to manufacture Demons. In some regions, that practice has continued, though on a much smaller scale.”
Just a short distance ahead, that same small brown-skinned being—or was it another?—stepped halfway out from another of the arched doorways, gazed at Vee for several moments, then darted back into the
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