The Salvation War: Pantheocide. Part Forty One Up

[ray245]

True I guess. Although I have to wonder what is Singapore's primary contribution to the war effort, given the fact that Fingor_Noldor always argues that our infantry's fitness is rather poor. I guess our primary contribution will be our fighter squadrons I guess.

[Simon_Jester]

You really don't understand right? Brutus betrayed him. Daemons basically tortured him for ages. If you can hardly comprehend seconds of torture, imagine ages of torture. What will you do with the torturer, when you are set free? Ancient grievances between humans pale in comparison to thousand- or hundred-year long torture.

We don't have a standard of comparison for how humans behave in response to something horrible that was done to them millenia ago. If it was still happening to you last week, that's different- I certainly agree that people will take revenge for something you did to them last week. But assuming they don't actually kill you, will they still be trying to take revenge a thousand years later? Will their descendants still be taking revenge?

Human behavior is muddy and complicated, and there are very few absolutes. The ability to hold a pure, unadulterated grudge for centuries, even in the absence of new provocations, strikes me as foreign to our nature.

So imagine it's the year 3000 A.D. Are the humans who died before the Salvation War still pushing for "no reconciliation with demons?" Are all the humans who died between, say, 2100 and 3000 willing to listen to them?

As for the daemons having "thousands of years" to modernize industry - are you fooling yourself? They have huge lifespans, but so do the undead humans. After initial completion of the conquest of Heaven and Hell, with some demonocide inevitably occuring, the following will most likely happen: the reservations of daemon society will be slowly incorporated into the society of undead humans. After a while, the daemons might get some "rights", but since they would not be a separate part of society, not controlled by humans, they simply will not find it necessary to deviate from the human social norms that they'd pick up during these thousands of years.

I suspect that the species differences will be significant enough that there will always be a fair amount of self-segregation. In the early years, the same hatred you're talking about means that humans aren't really going to want to live next door to baldricks, and after a few centuries the pattern will be hard to break.

You might end up with most of the demons living in the Hellish equivalent of Lesotho.

=======

On a side note, one thing I'm discovering on this forum is that I am a really lousy communicator. I seem to have a preternatural gift for convincing people that I must be completely ignorant of the most obvious things, whether I actually am or not.

[K. A. Pital]

Sure, segregation is quite possible and even most likely, but segregation also means lack of technological and social-normative transfer... and without it, the daemon society will find it hard to modernize. I.e. if you say there'd be no contact, in 3000 AD we'll have human society and the old good medieval demon society in some sort of reservations...

So either the daemons somehow integrate into human society (possibly trying to deal with Earth humans who weren't just recently freed from fiery pits or swamps), or they are going to be the same shit 1000 years ahead. And humans sure won't be liking their social norms at all.

[TheClueless]

I should have stated things in a much clearer fashion in my last post. Hopefully this post/reply will make more sense.

Peptuck: See my comments below. Even given that the dead don't disappear from the picture when they die, I still don't expect humanity to bear an eternal grudge aganst Heaven and Hell over the events that triggered the Salvation War.

The hate doesn't have to last forever. Just long enough to exterminate them.

Lots of Americans these days seem to feel bad for dropping two nuclear weapons on Japan. None of those regrets have brought any of those who died on those attacks back to life. Likewise, some of them feel bad for what was done to the native inhabitants of North America. Most of them, however, aren't going to give up large chunks of land just because of treaties that were made (and then broken, time after time) generations ago.

It won't matter if the grandchildren of the current generation thinks that the angels and/or demons got off too lightly. It won't matter if they think their grandparents were hate-filled bloodthirsty monsters who got off on mass-murder. The dead will still be dead.

You were talking about Michael modernizing Heaven by attracting tourists and trade. This scenario required that:

A) Heaven is intact enough to have a tourist trade.
B) Heaven is intact enough for Michael to even think about trying to modernize it instead of simply trying to keep his angels alive despite hordes of angry vengeful humans running around the place.
C) Humans would actually willingly leave Michael in charge as anything other than a puppet ruler like Abigor, and that they would let him have a degree of autonomy.

In the fullness of time, I predict all this happening eventually, even given a total defeat of Heaven that places Michael in charge as a puppet. It may take centuries or millenia, but Michael (like Abigor) has millenia.

Once again, it won't matter if their dead. More to the point there's all those (un)dead humans in Heaven in Hell who arrived there before the Message. They, too, have millenia.

It's been clearly stated that demons are now involved in disaster relief efforts on Earth for two reasons. The first being that it gets Abigor - and demons in general - some good PR with humanity (and pleases Abigor's puppetmasters). The second is a form of "payment" for the living human armies keeping a strong presence in Hell; because they're keeping the (un)dead humans from *decimating* (if not out-and-out exterminating) the remaining demons.

Somehow, I get the feeling that the "pre-Message" (un)dead humans in Hell are going to take a *very* long time before they forgive the demons for years, decades, even *centuries* of being tortured. As for *forgetting* what the demons did to them? I wouldn't be amazed if I were told that they never did forget.

And I'd be shocked if the (un)dead humans in Hell aren't trying to modernize at least as much as Abigor is trying to modernize his demons. I'd also guess that they're have a much easier time modernizing than the demons are. If for no other reason than the existance of the more modern (un)dead humans.

As for Heaven's (un) dead population.... While active torture doesn't seem to be part of the standard existance of an (un)dead human in Heaven, it's not exactly what a lot of them were expecting/hoping for either. Living in mud/straw huts instead of the angels' buildings - palaces! - made out of (semi-) precious stones. An eternity apparently devoted (whether you like it or not) to praising an angel or Yahweh himself. And a (not so secret) police force that is a bit too competent at torture for my piece of mind.

Also please recall, as Michael told Gabriel a litte while ago, that living humanity hates Yahweh and the angels a lot more than it did Satan and the demons, due to the "betrayal" factor. Which, IMO, means that - if we can find ways to make deliveries to Heaven - the use of WMDs is much higher. So Heaven might not have the millenia to wait for humanity to "calm down".

And assuming humanity survives over truly sustained time-scales of many millenia, the anger of the ninety billion odd pre-Salvation War human dead (less any who went to Heaven) becomes even less relevant, because they will be greatly outnumbered by the postwar dead who have no such memories. That would take something like a thousand years, but as I said, Abigor and Michael can afford to wait that long.

If you don't think Abigor isn't keeping all that in mind, you're fooling yourself; he's an ambitious demon and I doubt he wants to see his race as second-class citizens for eternity.

I agree with the idea already posted in response to this, that - eventually - demons will most likely be integrated into human societies and culturies. But for the time being, the best they can hope for is a mix of the modern reservations for natives in North America, and the treatement of citizens of Japanese decent during WWII.

And they'd better hope that the war against Heaven doesn't require most - if not all - of the forces currently occupying/pacifying Hell to be recalled. Because the (un)dead humans in Hell are waiting.

At which point it becomes a great deal easier for Michael to introduce free enterprise, electricity, and other aspects of modernity to Heaven.

As per Darth Wong, if humans don't figure out a way to force their way - and, more appropriately, their *armies* way - into Heaven, than they'll
sneak in through a back door.

Even without someone like Michael, tricking an angel into delivering a suitcase nuke to Yahweh's throne room "as a sign of just how pentient the humans are, Great One" is probably not going to happen.

On the other hand, if things get desperate enough, I *can* see someone floating the idea of infecting angels with biological warfare agents and then letting them escape back to Heaven. Even with the risks that come with using the bio-warfare card.

I can't recall where I first read or heard it, but the thing that I can't help but remember while reading Pantheocide (so far) is "The strong can *afford* to be merciful."

Humanity is still dealing with conquering and keeping control of Hell. There are shortages of ammo and fuel. The manufacturers can't turn out enough new equipment - and spare parts - to replace what has been lossed, and is still being lost, since the war with Hell began. The angels have already started to use *storms* against humanity. The angels air-to-air capabilities make them much more dangerious - as of this time - than the demons were. And the angels have already used biological weapons; one that only affects a small portion of humanity, but these are individuals who are important in the occupation/pacification of Hell.

In short, I don't see humanity at this time as being strong enough to afford to be merciful towards the angels. And the hatred (and fear) felt towards Heaven, especially among those "in the know", is already higher than that felt towards Hell until they first used the "rain of lava" trick.

If humanity can't take the war to Heaven, by force or by trickery, then your view of Heaven's future (at least if Micheal ends up as the top dog) could very well come to pass in a few centuries, as long as humans are tough enough on the defence to get Heaven to feel that their attacks on humanity aren't worth their cost. Otherwise, Heaven - at least if you're an angel - will probably feel like East Germany in 1946, if they're lucky. If the angels aren't lucky, every inch of Heaven's surface will become highly radioactive in the near future.

[Stuart]

Sure...... But that in no way explains why Singapore was invited to an apparently top secret meeting where massive world wide decisions are being made. Being targeted is one thing, being invited to have a say in worldwide opinion is another.

Originally, the Greater Heralds were supposed to go to the regional centers to deliver the message that Satan was now in charge. Bangkok and Singapore were picked out on the lights business. The defense forces there then killed said Heralds and that put them in on the ground floor; they were amongst the first nations to start fighting and score kills so they were founder-members of the anti-daemonic alliance. It's an analagous case to the U.S. Security Council. It was based on the earliest members of the Alliance to fight Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. That's why France had a seat and (say) Australia did not even though Australia arguably did far more for the war effort than France did. After a while, countries joining the anti-Nazi alliance were simply told "too late" when they asked about their security council seat. Same here, the first 15 nations to start fighting got the seats, the rest didn't.

There's a reason behind the organization as described; there is a presumption that things happen for a logical reason but very often they don't. Rationally one might expect that everybody would sit down and carefully select 15 countries who would be the perfect reflection of the world in terms of social, economic and military factors. In reality what happens is a command system is being thrown together, the people doing the throwing look around and say "Right, 15 countries have killed these Herald thingies. OK guys, one seat each. Next question?"

[Stuart]

By the way Stuart, what role does Taiwan plays in this story? It's seems rather weird to leave out Taiwan, given they do have a decent military capability.

They'll turn up in due course.

[Baughn]

Biological warfare? Risks?

Well, we'd still need to be careful, but this strikes me as the one scenario where we could use biological weapons without the near-certainty that they'd go out of control. The angels are almost a different species, and you wouldn't believe how good we've gotten at genetic engineering lately.

So, start with a base such as D. Radiodurans (ensuring no mutations), then fix it up until you have a 95%-fatal air-transmitted killer with a one month latency period. Trust me, we can out-plague the angels any day.

In fact, in OTL we've already created artificial ribosomes that use non-earth amino acids at this point.. we were planning to use them as a gateway towards nanotechnology, but another plausible scenario would be to create bacteria using a different DNA code than ours, so no bacterial sex. Between that and the outright ECC encoded in Radiodurans, there will not be mutations. Seems reasonably safe.

[Kie99]

Is Putin being head of the council despite not being President of Russia a deliberate commentary on where the power lies in Russia?

[Stuart]

Is Putin being head of the council despite not being President of Russia a deliberate commentary on where the power lies in Russia?

Of course

[Surlethe]

Does there need to be deliberate commentary on something that everybody knows?

[Jonen C]

Does there need to be deliberate commentary on something that everybody knows?

Ah... *Raises fingers to type, pauses, reconsiders* Nevermind.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Speaking of biological warfare, there's a company that is developing a biological agent spray that causes any plant hit with the stuff to manufacture large amounts of THC, also known as marijuana magic. I wonder how difficult it would be to swap it out with something like Trichothecene, Ebola toxin, LSD, or something else otherwise nasty?

Somehow I can see Michael developing something like this as a food-denial weapon, and it would fit with his twisted sense of humor perfectly. The Bowls of Wrath are already a good delivery system for this if the spray claims hold.

[Darth Wong]

I don't know why everyone is assuming spectacular biological warfare capabilities on the part of Heaven. Do you think they have high-tech laboratories? Their anthrax agent has apparently not been modified for thousands of years, and would have done far more damage if it affected everyone instead of just the Nephilim.

Rather than looking at the fact that it only affected Nephilim and saying "Wow, that's some amazing genetic targeting", why don't we look at it and think "Wow, they had something that could have done some serious damage, but it's actually harmless against 99.9% of the population"?

It probably only targets Nephilim because it is a strain they encountered millennia ago which happened to affect Nephilim (and perhaps angels and demons as well, so maybe they used it against each other), and they kept it in storage.

[Samuel]

if they're lucky. If the angels aren't lucky, every inch of Heaven's surface will become highly radioactive in the near future.

Not all of it. Just the major population centers.

I don't think biowarfare would work against the angels- they aren't stupid enough to accept individuals back who have been captured and released without any suspicion.

[Raesene]

Speaking of biological warfare, there's a company that is developing a biological agent spray that causes any plant hit with the stuff to manufacture large amounts of THC, also known as marijuana magic. I wonder how difficult it would be to swap it out with something like Trichothecene, Ebola toxin, LSD, or something else otherwise nasty?

Somehow I can see Michael developing something like this as a food-denial weapon, and it would fit with his twisted sense of humor perfectly. The Bowls of Wrath are already a good delivery system for this if the spray claims hold.

Another website has this report in its humor section.
Would be nice if creating transgenic organisms would be that easy though

[Simon_Jester]

The hate doesn't have to last forever. Just long enough to exterminate them.

Lots of Americans these days seem to feel bad for dropping two nuclear weapons on Japan. None of those regrets have brought any of those who died on those attacks back to life. Likewise, some of them feel bad for what was done to the native inhabitants of North America. Most of them, however, aren't going to give up large chunks of land just because of treaties that were made (and then broken, time after time) generations ago.

It won't matter if the grandchildren of the current generation thinks that the angels and/or demons got off too lightly. It won't matter if they think their grandparents were hate-filled bloodthirsty monsters who got off on mass-murder. The dead will still be dead.

I agree with you, which is why my entire argument is predicated on the idea that humanity will not kill all the demons or angels outright. If this idea is true, which it might very well be, my line of speculation becomes completely irrelevant.

The stuff I was actually thinking about before this whole thing blew up was "If Michael found himself in control of the heavenly equivalent of Lesotho (high angel concentration, de facto vassal state of the surrounding humans) or if he arranged a peaceful settlement that left him in charge of Heaven as a whole, how would he try to modernize his "nation"?"

I always considered the Lesotho outcome far more likely than the "in charge of Heaven as a whole" outcome. The latter isn't likely at all; the former is a fairly plausible outcome in my opinion.

On the other hand, if things get desperate enough, I *can* see someone floating the idea of infecting angels with biological warfare agents and then letting them escape back to Heaven. Even with the risks that come with using the bio-warfare card.

This has the potential side effect of killing off all the human dead in Heaven.

I'm not saying whether that will or won't affect the decision; I'm just saying it does have that aspect.

[Stuart]

Suwon Palace, North Korea, April 2009

"You know, that haircut is absolutely ridiculous." Gabriel-Lan leaned back and looked at the figure sharing the room with him. He was used to the fact that he towered over humans but the difference was even more marked when he was dealing with this particular man who measured only five foot two. In fact, he looked a lot less than that now and the ludicrous hairstyle he had affected in earlier years had been replaced by a thinning, gray brush-cut. The man's body seemed to have caved in on itself, he was thin and stooped over, lines of age prominent in the shrunken mask that was his face.

Around them, Kim Jong-Il's bodyguards bristled at the insult but they dared not move. Any other person who had made a remark like that would have been arrested on the spot and sent to a prison camp for a prolonged and gruelling execution. The guards had more sense than to try the same on Gabriel-Lan, the personal messenger of Yahweh. Kim Jong-Il's face was impassive as the insult registered, he also knew better than to argue with the great white figure before him. Still, he consoled himself with the knowledge that the benefits of dealing with these creatures far outweighed the annoyance of their supercilious arrogance.

Gabriel-Lan might have looked sleepy, and being honest with himself, he was still hung over from his activities the night before in the Montmartre Club. That same wealth of excesses combined with the attentions of Mistress Lailah had left him slightly reluctant to sit down but duty required him to carry out the messages. Also, he was well aware that humans were dangerous. Satan had forgotten that and now he was dead, along with Asmodeus, Beelzebub and Deumos. Abigor was little more than the human's puppet while Dagon was even less than that. Taking humans lightly was something that put an entirely new definition on the word 'unwise'. He saw Kim Jong-Il's two female companions, one allegedly a nurse, the other certainly a female doctor, move forward carefully and quickly check on their patient. Looking at him, Gabriel-Lan came to the conclusion that Kim Jong-Il would be joining his father very shortly. One way or another.

"Have you considered that a great window of opportunity opens before you?" Gabriel-Lan tried to put some enthusiasm into his voice. "The human armies are tied down in Hell, trying to bring peace to the lands they have conquered there. They cannot be withdrawn easily and their operations have left humans weak everywhere else. Especially south of the border. An assault now, aimed at reunifying Korea under your leadership would be exploiting this moment of weakness to best advantage."

"Much of the armor stationed in the South has indeed been withdrawn." Kim's voice was as weak as his appearance suggested it might be. "But the border fortifications remain. And the Americans…."

"The Americans are tied down in Hell, trying to pacify their occupation zone. And they have expanded their army so fast, their corps of leadership is spread very thin. Their army is but a shadow of what it once was." And even that shadow is enough to roll over anything that gets in its way Gabriel-Lan added the thought silently to himself even as he repeated the words that Michael-Lan had given him. His official title might be The Messenger of The One Above All but Gabriel-Lan believed it was Michael who best understood the new universe that was exploding into existence around them. He'd warned the Nameless One, the Lord and God of all that starting this war with humans was foolish and could only lead to disaster, but Yahweh had been adamant. They had dared to question his words and for they he was bound and determined to deliver them to Hell. Only, it hadn't ended that way, the attempt to deliver humans up to Satan had instead delivered Satan up to the humans.

Away from The Ultimate Temple, away from Yahweh's obsession with forcing absolute obedience and unqualified adoration from the humans, Michael-Lan had explained his strategy to Gabriel and impressed upon him the vital necessity of this mission. "If we fight the humans, head-to-head, we will lose." Michael-Lan had almost become impassioned at that point. "They have advanced so far, so fast, their armies are invincible. At best we can bloody them but the more we win against them, the worse will be our defeat in the end. There is but one force that can destroy a human army and that is another army of humans. If we can prevent them from assaulting us in Heaven and fight them with another human army on Earth, then we might survive this war that Yah-yah has forced on us."

The memory of Michael-Lan's blasphemous corruption of Lord and God of All's name jerked Gabriel-Lan out of his reverie. Kim Jong-Il was still wittering on about the strength of the border fortifications and the danger that the Americans might intervene. Gabriel cut him off sharply. "It is truly said that it is the emptiest of vessels that make most noise. You have a reputation, Kim Jong-Il but you know what reputations are? Words and rumors. You are great with your words and make many speeches but they mean nothing. What matters now are deeds and where deeds are concerned yours are conspicuous by their absence. Perhaps it is time for your father to return to his homeland and for the Great Leader to show the Dear Leader what deeds are."

"But Great Leader is dead."

"So? When did that make any difference?" Gabriel-Lan reflected that Kim Il-Sung actually looked a lot better than his son did. Given their present states, Kim Il-Sung could actually be mistaken for Kim Jong-Il's son rather than his father. "And, anyway, you of all people should know that he is dead. By the way, he wants an explanation as to why you puffed him in the face with that cyanide spray. If you are unprepared to take action, perhaps we should allow him to return and demand that explanation. After all, he is the "Eternal President" of this benighted country. Perhaps he should take up the reins again."

"No." Kim Jong-Il was almost panic-stricken. "You are right, the time has come for the Great Reunification Effort. We will get ready for it at once."

Gabriel-Lan rose to his feet and shook his wings to ease the cramps brought on by the confined room. "That is good news. I will watch your preparations with interest." He left the room, leaving consternation behind him. As he did, he made a quick time calculation. If he got a move on, he would be back in time for another appointment with Mistress Lailah.

Main Command Building, Naypyidaw, Myanmar

"An impressive consignment. Your people have done well." Michael-Lan checked the cargo manifest off with pleasure. Heroin number three and number four, raw opium, methamphetamines, ecstasy, DOM, it was all there in more than adequate quantities. Generous even, the supplies would restock his dwindling stash nicely.

"We are pleased to supply our ally's needs." Secretary-General Myint Oo addressed Michael-Lan as an equal which irked the Archangel greatly although he concealed his feelings behind a friendly smile. "We have established new factories for the synthetic products and driven our rivals for the heroin supplies out of business. We can increase supplies still further if you wish."

"That would be most acceptable." Michael-Lan paused for a second. "Can you supply cannabis as well?"

"Of course. For a price." Myint Oo gave Michael the reminder gently but firmly.

"Of course." Michael-Lan fished out a bag and handed it over. "These should cover this shipment I think."

The bag was full of precious stones, diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Myint Oo ran them through his fingers, extracting a few of the better stones for his own supply as he did so. The jewels were supposed to go to Myanmar's ruling junta where they would be exported as if they were products of Myanmar's precious stones industry and the proceeds into the junta member's bank accounts. It was a good deal, Michael-Lan got most of the drugs he needed for his purposes while the Generals in Mynamar lined their retirement accounts. Only one General had argued with the arrangement and he was now in Insein prison on a charge of corruption. That had amused Michael-Lan greatly, to accuse somebody of corruption in Myanmar was rather like accusing water of being wet.

"There is another matter." Michael-Lan spoke carefully. "Has it occurred to you that the Thai Army on the border is now weaker than it has been for many, many years?"
"It has." Myint Oo spoke equally carefully. "Their armored division and both cavalry divisions have gone to join the armies fighting in hell. That means their strategic reserve has been depleted and their defense rests upon their infantry divisions alone. Many of those are in the cities to protect against attacks from daemons."

"Does this not tempt you?"

Myint Oo dropped his voice. There was no need to but the subject of the conversation seemed to demand it. "It might allow us to redress the wrongs done to us in history."

Oh, you little humans are wonderful. You can reach back into your past and find an excuse for anything. Even if you have to invent it. "If your government needs support, financial support, for such redress, there are many more where these came from. Perhaps the time has come for the redress you need."

"Perhaps. It is an idea that has much favor." Myint Oo looked sunwards and then at the black ellipse that hovered a few feet away. "Michael-Lan, we have a small gift for you."

Michael-Lan hid his surprise with the same care as he had hidden his earlier irritation. "A gift?"

Myint Oo waved and some workers brought over a flat-bed carriage that made a whining noise. "An electrically-powered trolley. It will make it much easier for you to take your supplies to the other side of… that."

Michael-Lan was genuinely touched by the consideration. "That is very kind of you. Thank you so much. And good luck with your redress of historical wrongs." Whistling happily, he pulled down on the handle of the trolley and felt the electric motors in the wheels boost his effort. Then, with a cheerful wave, he pulled his cargo of street-corner pharmaceuticals through the portal back to Heaven.

USS Turner Joy, Returning From Hell Deployment

"Bell-bottomed trousers, coat of Navy Blue,
She loved a sailor and he loved her too."

Sophia Metaxas laughed as the chorus faded away, lost underneath the whine of the turbines and the roar of the destroyer's main gearing. The old destroyer had served for almost six months in Hell and was the worse for wear because of it although, oddly, she'd weathered better than some of the more modern ships. Greater tolerances in her construction probably had a lot to do with that. She'd pulled her weight as well, her three five inch guns had made short work of some local baldrick who had tried to buck Abigor's surrender order.

Lieutenant Travis checked his instruments then looked rather hopeful. "We should be back in Norfolk by seventeen-thirty. We're entering the approach channels now."

Senior Chief Robert 'Bob" Gaussington was looking at his engine instrumentation with an increasingly worried expression on his face. He picked up the telephone and got through to the bridge. "Commander Reynolds? We've got a problem down here. We're getting some bad readings on the water flow down here. Much more of this and we'll have problems keeping steam pressure up in the engines."

"Are those pirates of yours down there with you, Senior Chief?"

"That they are Sir. As piratical a bunch as you might want to meet." Turner Joy had a problem, as one of the very few steam-powered ships left in the Navy, people familiar with her plant and systems were few and far between. Except, of course, for the group who had pulled the ship out of a museum and masterminded her return to service. Eventually, the navy had recognized they had little choice in the matter and drafted the whole group, putting them half-in the Navy and half-out of it. This weird status of most of her crew had given Turner Joy what was perhaps the most eccentric ship's company in the whole Navy.

"Well, get them up here. They need to see this." The tone brooked no delay.

Once on the bridge wings, Sophia Metaxas could see what the cause for alarm was. As far as she could see, the sea was blood-red, even the bone in the destroyer's teeth was crimson. It was a stunning, dreadful sight, made all the worse by the silence that surrounded it. There were no sea birds, no fish jumping, nothing. Only the sound of the destroyer as she plowed through the poisonous-looking sea.

"Have you ever seen anything like this Captain."

"Sure. It's a Red Algal Bloom, it used to be called a Red Tide although the name's dropped out of fashion since its nothing to do with the tide and the color can be anything from light yellow to deep brown. I've never seen one this large before though. When I was on the old Seattle out of Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, we saw this all the time off New York. Everything was right for an algal bloom there, lots of nutrients in the water caused by runoff from the city and a coastal upwelling, that's where Deepwater oceanic currents underwater formations that push them to the surface. The result is the algae grow out of control and we get this. But there, the patches are perhaps a hundred yards long and about twenty wide. We've been sailing through this one for ten minutes and there's no end to it."

"How bad is this?" Sophia looked at the blood red sea and a memory of a chilling paragraph came back into her mind.

"Very. The algae produce natural toxins and deplete the dissolved oxygen in the sea water. That causes wildlife mortalities among marine and coastal species of fish, birds, marine mammals and other organisms. The worst of the poisons is a potent neurotoxin called brevetoxin. That kills everything in the water. A Red Algal Bloom this size, it could be a disaster for marine life around here."

"The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died. Revelation 16:3." The verse had returned to Sophia's mind while the Captain had been speaking and she repeated it grimly. "The Second Bowl of Wrath."

Reynolds looked at her suspiciously. "And just how did you know that?"

"My parents and grandparents took their religion very seriously. When the message came though, telling everybody to lay down and die, they did. I tried to save them, I cried and screamed at them, I tried to drag them up out of their beds, I even ripped the earrings out of my mother's ears hoping the pain would bring her back. But nothing worked and they all just died, tearing me apart in the process. They left me alone and it was all a fraud. I'm just waiting now until they get pulled out of the hell-pit so I can go down there and tell them just what I think of them, make them suffer a little for what they put me through."

She caught herself and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry Captain, it’s a sore point with me I guess."

"You guess?" Reynolds looked sad for a moment. "None of my family did that, but a few around where we lived did. One memory that I can’t get over, the dogs howling at their owners, trying to make them wake up, fighting the only way they could to try and keep them alive. We took one of them in and the poor thing was so traumatized, he shivered with fear every time one of us had a nap. I tell you this Sophia, if I can get Yahweh under our guns, just once…"

"Sorry Sir. Message from CINCLANT." The sparker passed the message flimsy to Reynolds.

"Well, that confirms it, I think. Whole east coast is affected by this. Copies from CINCPAC say the west coast is the same. They want us to report in from here and start taking samples. They want to try and identify what this particular algal bloom is. One piece of good news is, its affecting shallow water only."

"That makes sense." Sophia thought carefully. "All these prophecies were written in ancient times and the authors knew very little about what was going on. Sailors mostly stuck to shallow water, deep water navigation was almost unknown. So when they saw this happening, they assumed it was all the seas, not just coastal waters. But, this is the second Bowl of Wrath all right."

Turner Joy slowed down while the crew started trying to gather water samples. It wasn't long before the first bottles were on board and Reynolds looked at them with disgust. Normally, even in an algal bloom, the water in a sample jar was only slightly tinged but these were saturated with color and the water seemed oily somehow.

"Captain, Doc Samuels here. Warn the men gathering samples to take precautions against contact with the water. It's causing some of them to blister on their arms and legs and most of them are reporting coughing and sneezing attacks. I'm issuing antihistamines but we've only got a limited supply and if the air intakes start pulling in aerosols of that water, we could have problems all through the ship."

"Thank's doc. Carry on."

Reynolds looked at the blood-red sea water again. "Just five minutes under my guns, that's all I ask. Just five minutes."

[Mr Bean]

That's ten not nine... time to read.

*Edit
So we get Bowel 2, Michael is doing his drug deals, and Lil-Kim freaks out about the threat of daddy coming back to Earth. As well he should.

[Samuel]

Ah, traitors in our midst. The fools think they can hinder vengence, but with every attack by Yanweh, the burning drive to crush him grows stronger.

The future should be... interesting.

This has the potential side effect of killing off all the human dead in Heaven.

I'm not saying whether that will or won't affect the decision; I'm just saying it does have that aspect.

You are thinking of nuke and go- biowarfare will probably be more targeted and not affect the human populance.

[Baughn]

If it's a choice between nukes and bioweapons..

As I pointed out earlier, bioweapons could be targeted against angels only, with reasonable certainty. Nukes would have the minor issue that there are no doubt humans inside their area of effect.

[EdBecerra]

That's ten not nine... time to read.

*Edit
So we get Bowel 2, Michael is doing his drug deals, and Lil-Kim freaks out about the threat of daddy coming back to Earth. As well he should.

Yeah - but that little cart worries me. A nice electric cart, and they just happen to think of it?

I expect that cart has either a camera, a bomb, or both.

Ed.

[Surlethe]

Ah, that makes sense; the angels are working through regimes isolated from the rest of the world. I wonder if they have contacts with Qaddafi's Libya.

I wonder what Michael's purpose is in instigating war between North Korea and the rest of the world, and Myanmar and Thailand. He has to know that the United States will come down heavily on both North Korea and Myanmar, and he'll lose his source of drugs; I can only suppose that at this point, he has enough drugs and his only concern is buying more time.

[erik_t]

I think it unlikely that Michael has a better handle on the geopolitical situation than folks who have been ruling those countries (if in a maniacal fashion) for decades. He has to think that it has at least a shot of doing more than annoying the G15.

[phongn]

"So? When did that make any difference?" Gabriel-Lan reflected that Kim Il-Sung actually looked a lot better than his son did. Given their present states, Kim Il-Sung could actually be mistaken for Kim Jong-Il's son rather than his father. "And, anyway, you of all people should know that he is dead. By the way, he wants an explanation as to why you puffed him in the face with that cyanide spray. If you are unprepared to take action, perhaps we should allow him to return and demand that explanation. After all, he is the "Eternal President" of this benighted country. Perhaps he should take up the reins again."

Sounds like Gabriel is bluffing here: Kim Il-Sung doesn't seem to be the sort of man that Heaven wants (or Michael).

"We are pleased to supply our ally's needs." Secretary-General Myint Oo addressed Michael-Lan as an equal which irked the Archangel greatly although he concealed his feelings behind a friendly smile. "We have established new factories for the synthetic products and driven our rivals for the heroin supplies out of business. We can increase supplies still further if you wish."

Then, with a cheerful wave, he pulled his cargo of street-corner pharmaceuticals through the portal back to Heaven.

And here, it sounds like Myanmar's junta is playing Michael. Claiming to have to boost production, do favors for him ... and probably not sending the top-grade stuff.

[Baughn]

Well, let's see..

- Heaven hasn't let any humans in for the last millennium or so.
- Even if they had, undead can't survive on earth.

Yes, it's a bluff. What surprises me a little is that the unfortunate Kim is falling for it.