Jasper: Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight (Jasper - Purple Flamingos Fly at Midnight Book 1)

by Refner, Daniel

  With the program up and running, The Moses stuck out like a sore thumb to the contented heart of a grateful commander. One tiny wrinkle remained: how to excavate The Moses without destroying the homestead and the lavish garden. Sadly, the mission engineers determined it wasn’t possible. The portal ship, angelically advanced as it might be, did not have the ability to phase in and out of time. Besides, time was in short supply. In order for the portal ship to emerge up from the ground, it would have to move everything that stood in place over it…and so it did, to the angry outcries from onlooking villagers. This time it was Commander Mop and Stacy on board with Jayla, the not-so-overeager pilot. The ship rocketed away, leaving behind a gaping hole and a dust cloud that smothered the entire area. The cloud was so large it could be seen from Teddy’s home.

  Agent Tate had elected to stay behind and study the controls of The Noah in the same way that Stacy was now sitting on the bridge of The Moses with Jayla. After landing, the military closed in to keep a tight circle around both vessels, allowing the curious villagers to advance only so far before giving them warnings to back away. The crowd was under control, as far as Commander Mop was concerned. He left The Moses to join up with Agent Tate. On his walk over, he fumbled in his steps a few times, but no one noticed. They were all doing the same thing, looking up at the fantastic beauty of the portal ships in total awe and wonder.

  The outside hulls of the identical ships were made of a shining silver alloy that seemed to alternate between fading and reflecting its surroundings, like some sort of trick mirror in a carnival house. There was a low hum of energy. The bottom of the ship was domed in a circle; best guess was seven building stories in height. The middle of the ship was much wider but the same height, shaped much like a triangle, only with smooth, rounded corners. The very top of the ship was the smallest section; the base was only half the height, and pushing out from the center was a moving cluster of seven crystal points. Even with the movement, there was no mechanical noise. The ship was running silently, peacefully. It seemed as if it was made to dance among the cosmos, reflecting back the glory of creation. The angels had indeed manufactured a masterpiece, twice.

  The ships basically hovered. There were no landing struts of any kind. To enter or leave the ships, all one needed to do was walk to the center platform that Jayla had activated. Once you were stationary upon the platform, you would mist away into the blue ray and be sent in the desired direction up or down from the ship, entering or exiting the bottom half of the dome in what Commander Mop could only relate to as a cargo bay.

  The interior of the ships was just as amazing. Compartments, one after another, with doors of pure light that would dissolve with a simple touch, allowing passage through to the next compartment. A smaller version of the dark blue platform was stationed at key points, allowing passage between levels in the same fashion as boarding the vessel. The most visually stunning aspect of the interior was the ceiling and floor of each passageway and compartment; they were all flattened gemstones that illuminated each other, causing light to shine from above and below. It was nearly impossible to see your shadow. It was, by design, established to be radiant and enhanced the brilliance of all its passengers.

  Commander Mop arrived on the bridge of The Noah to the delight of Agent Tate. “Tammy Sue, we need to be going now. I gave the orders; the explosives are being set per the plan, and as I speak, demolition is in 15 minutes. Studying flight controls for a ship that won’t exist is pointless.”

  “Pointless…did you really just say that?” Tammy Sue was no longer delighted. “It has been my experience as a deep undercover agent that nothing ever goes according to plan. You, of all people, should understand that we need to make the most out of whatever little time we are given. Nothing is ever pointless.”

  “You are off this ship in 10 minutes…” Tammy Sue looked at him with raised eyebrows and leaned back into the command seat. He paused and changed his commanding tone and sat down next to her and said, “Show me what you have learned.”

  Tammy Sue smiled back at him; she knew that was as close to an apology as she was going to get from her commanding officer and boyfriend.

  Teddy was with the medical team watching over Dester and Rosezella. Aunt Debbie-Lynne had just delivered some tea to Lance and was bringing a cup over to Teddy when the house began to shake. The shaking became loud and violent, then it suddenly stopped, as if something had just broken. She didn’t know what direction the shouting was coming from, but it seemed distant. She strained to hear what was being said. She slowly turned and went to the front door. Just inside the doorway she dropped the teacup to the floor as both her hands rushed up to her face and covered her nose and mouth. The cup shattered, the contents splattering in all directions. Debbie-Lynne turned to run back into the house, but her shoe slipped upon the teacup, throwing her off-balance, and she landed upon the floor.

  Outside, coming over the hill from the direction of the lava slide, a startled voice of one of the villagers could be heard shouting, “The drilling ship has come up through the ground, and the mole-men are deploying. Infernal Maximus is here!”

  chAPTER forty-six

  “Do you think you can undermine me?” Lucifer thrust his hands forward then jerked them down toward the right. An invisible field hit Abbadorn and Jasper, sending them tumbling into the archway exit. They rolled to a stop within six feet of each other. “I have been deceiving mankind since Adam and Eve, and I am very good, if I do say so myself.”

  Abbadorn was motionless, face-down upon the floor, his head looking in the direction of Jasper. It took so much effort just to open his eyes. Whatever Lucifer had hit them with was the equivalent of an angelic stun gun. Jasper, feeling only slightly tasered, kept his eyes upon his adversary, knowing he needed to buy some more desperately-needed time to allow Abbadorn to recover enough to attempt an escape. He sent a telepathic message over to Thunder, telling him to wait by Abbadorn’s side until he transformed him. I need to keep hitting him in his pride, make him defensive. Vanity is his only weakness. “What is wrong with you, big boy? Is Yogi Bear in your hair? Yogi Bear is in the ranger’s hair, and to be completely honest with you, I don’t believe you are as smart.” Jasper looked away. He studied Abbadorn for a quick second. Good going, Abbadorn, your eyes are open. Now just lay still…gather the rest of your strength, and we can blow this popsicle stand quicker than you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle.’ “I never even thought you were real,” Jasper said with disdain.

  “That was one of my greatest victories of all time.” Lucifer strolled calmly over to Jasper and picked him up off the floor by his chin. “I can’t be real, because if humans really believed that I was, they would bond together and resist me in great masses.”

  “So I imagine you are responsible for the government cover-up on little green men…this is all starting to make sense. The bigger picture is finally coming into focus.”

  “The big picture...” Lucifer dropped Jasper to the floor and walked a few feet back in the direction of his throne. “Little insect, there is more. That was just the simple beginning. I took it much, much farther then you will ever know. I made it possible to have myself placed in the same fictional category as the Tooth-fairy, Jack Frost, Easter Bunny, Cupid, Mother Nature, and the very best one of them all…Santa Claus. My alien friends, well…everyone knows you have to be crazy to believe in life on other planets because mankind is the center of the universe…FOOLS! All of mankind suffers from a lack of vision. Most of you have no ability to see beyond the veil. If you could, then you would know that aliens were created after angels and before mankind. We are not in need of a precious savior because we are soulless, and we cannot live for all eternity. We are limited by design. Once we’re dead it is game over, but I’m planning on changing the rules of the game. I did it once before in the Garden of Eden, and I’ll do it again.”

  “Why is Santa Claus your favorite? I thought Tim Allen was very convincing.”

  “How can anyone possi
bly believe in baby Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary, if Santa Claus is a lie; how can Moses or Noah and the ark stories be real if the Easter Bunny is not? Can you not understand my masterpiece of deception, Jasper? I am the Father of Lies, and when children grow up and realize that their parents lied to them about Santa Claus and the whole lot, then the seed of doubt is placed in their minds and hearts, forcing them to ask one question, ‘How can any of it be true?’ Within the confines of those lies, doubt is cast, and I am able to hide and operate in plain sight.”

  “Wow, the devil in disguise…but you left out one story. The story of the boy and his magic horse…the boy whispers the magic word, and presto change-o, his horse is now a dinosaur.”

  “That is not one of my stories. It is dimwitted, dull and repetitious, much like Jack and Jill…who cares about that pail of water?”

  “Then I guess you’re all wet…MALOOF!” Thunder turned into the most terrible lizard of all, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-Rex for short, Thunder Rex if your name is Jasper Indiana. Thunder now had a four-foot long jaw accompanied by a massive five-foot long skull ready to bore into Lucifer. He was 19 feet tall and 38 feet long. His serrated teeth were ready to rip away the flesh of the evil that threatened his best friend. Thunder wanted to pierce clean through him and was ready to leap upon Lucifer, but instead a new message came over the telepathic bridge from Jasper. “SWING!”

  Thunder whipped around on his strong thighs and snapped his long fourteen-foot, bone-crushing tail directly into Lucifer’s side. Lucifer’s body looked like a volleyball arcing over a net; he was thrown back into the energy barrier with his legs managing to stay in bounds, and the rest of his body was sticking out on the other side. Sparks flew in every direction, and the beast screamed from the sudden and overwhelming pain. He did not see that coming. He had been taken completely by surprise, and that in and of itself was unimaginable. Lucifer was dazed and confused. Jasper had hoped for just such a reaction to give them time enough to make an escape.

  Jasper seized the moment; there was no time to waste. “Maloof!” Thunder was now his original form of a horse. He trotted over to Abbadorn. Jasper helped Abbadorn to his feet, and together they climbed upon the back of Thunder and exited through the archway. “Hold on tight, Abbadorn, I’m bringing Thunder to a full gallop.”

  Lucifer, now free from the barrier, stood looking out from the archway. For a moment he decided not to pursue them, but only for a moment. His ego had been bruised, and the blow to his pride was too great. He dared not risk the chance of them escaping Hell. What would his minions think if he allowed such a deed? They would undoubtedly think he was growing old and feeble…perhaps even losing control. Some might want to launch a challenge against him. No, he could not allow this. He had to kill them, kill them now. His body began to mist away. The dark mist spread upward in all directions, larger than a two-story house, then suddenly it collapsed back onto itself and out from the mist stepped a very large, winged demon-dragon. He took flight.

  “Jasper, he is coming after us,” Abbadorn said as Jasper turned briefly to see how close. “He is in the air and gaining on us.”

  Jasper knew they needed to increase their escape speed. “MALOOF!” he shouted, and Thunder jolted into the air with the wings of a Pegasus. They were flying upward and away faster and faster, but Lucifer was still able to close the gap. He was almost upon them. His talons grew outward as did his fangs, ready to devour.

  Abbadorn looked back and screamed over his shoulder. “Go faster, must GO FASTER!” He pressed his hand to the side of Thunder, and his wings erupted in the flames of a phoenix, causing a turbo effect. They raced forward, putting more and more distance between them and the beast. Lucifer was angered; he called forth his demons to knock them out of the air, but it was pointless. They were too slow to react, too clumsy in their approach. Up and up to the top level of Hell did they reach. The gates were naturally closed and blocked by 100 or more demons.

  They came to a halt midair to consider their options because if they got out, then so would a bunch of demons. However, that consideration became a moot point once Lucifer flew up out of the pit with a roar that scattered every single demon, to the point they were falling over each other in order to get out of the beast’s way. Abbadorn had no choice if they wanted to live; he raised his hand to the gate and commanded it to open. The gates shuttered open in a horrific metal-upon-stone scraping sound. It had been so long since they had last been opened that dust and dirt flew up in a cloud of dark, sooty debris.

  Thunder dove to the opening. Lucifer was several seconds behind but closing…they soared through the gate, Abbadorn lowered his hand in a slapping motion and the gates slammed shut with great force just as Lucifer reached them. He stuck his talons through in a vain attempt to grab at them. “So you think I am all wet. We will see who drowns this day like a rat.” The eyes of the beast pulsated, sending out a displacement bubble that enveloped them, and they disappeared to the sound of a bubble popping.

  The water was cold. It flooded all around them, dark and icy. Jasper and Abbadorn were still on the back of Thunder holding to each other tightly when the bubble popped. They had moved to the center of the deep blue sea. Jasper thought his lungs would burst at any second. A telepathic field surrounded them as their angelic powers merged in the emergency, and the light from the merger sparkled throughout the dark sea, glowing like an oversized lava lamp. MALOOF was the thought, and then the water was gone. Jasper found himself on the ground. It was damp and cushiony. He noticed the halo light coming from Abbadorn and heard him laugh.

  “Where is Thunder?” Jasper asked without hesitation.

  “You are inside him,” Abbadorn said with a rolling, showy motion of his hands.

  Jasper paused for a quick second to glance around. “Jonah and the whale…really?”

  “Better the belly of the whale you know than the belly of the beast you hate.”

  They both smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Thunder, now the great blue whale, broke the surface of the sea, jumping into the air and arcing back into the waters below him. He sent his thoughts to Jasper and his new friend Abbadorn…he was happy to be a whale swimming free.

  chAPTER forty-seven

  The countdown from 10 was calmly pronounced over the handheld radios and was near completion. The British people had an uncanny knack of staying emotionless during a crisis. Stacy thought this behavior was slightly bizarre, but still she liked the English accent; it sounded funny to her. Three…All the charges had been set in place and the portal ships evacuated. Two…The medical team took the wounded, Lance included, along with Aunt Debbie-Lynne, Dester and Rosezella and headed into the safety of the village. Teddy stayed in his room and wouldn’t leave his home. One…The black ops teams fired their primary rocket weapon, SMAW II Serpent, Shoulder-Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon (SMAW), the weapon of choice selected by the U.S. Marine component of the team. Just one of these rockets was capable of collapsing a building or destroying a fortified bunker or battle tank. It was thought to be enough firepower on its own, but the British component of the team wanted guarantees that the mission to destroy those ships would be a success, and therefore they deployed their PE4 Semtrex demolition clay nets across and below the ships as well. The 83mm rockets rained down upon the ships, igniting the nets with intense heat and shock wave…and then they exploded.

  Both humans and mole-men were knocked off their feet. When the dust cleared a cheer went up, but not from the human camp. This roar came from the mole-men army. The portal ships remained. Not so much as a scratch. The assault teams began to lose ground, and soon the enemy was upon Teddy’s home. It became the front line. They had opened fire upon the mole-men and slaughtered them by the dozen. But, for as many as they cut down, more would appear to take their place. Like the Pacific battles of World War II with the Japanese human wave ‘bayonet banzai attacks,’ the mole-men were literally falling over each other to attack the humans by sheer numbers alone. This type of suicide a
ttack was not effective. The assault team was just mowing them down to the point that they were unable to climb all the way over the heaping pile of the dead mole-men. Then it stopped. The teams used this moment to reload on ammo stored within Teddy’s home.

  There came a sharp shaking. The ground broke open, and the repositioned drilling ship emerged almost on Teddy’s front lawn. The black ops team made a hasty retreat. The ramp extended down from the drilling machine with the sounds of many gears turning in place all at once. The door opened and there at the top of the ramp stood Infernal Maximus and Gezon. The four shadow demons escorted Moses and Noah down to the bottom of the ramp. Max would never allow anyone to stand equal to him; he was the Prince of the Underworld, and even Gezon had a shorter appearance.

  “They have hostages. Cease fire!” Commander Mop announced over the radio. “Who are they, Agent Tate?”

  “Holy Mary, Mother of God, they look just like the artwork in my Bible of…”

  “Moses and Noah…” Stacy stated with an air of disbelief ringing from her voice.

  “The Old Testament saints?” Commander Mop questioned.

  “One and the same,” said Agent Tate.

  “Open fire!” Commander Mop ordered.

  “You can’t do that,” Agent Tate retorted.

  “Of course I can, they are already dead. FIRE AT WILL!” Commander Mop hollered over the radio.

  However, their momentary advantage had already been lost. Unknown to the assault team, a very large group of mole-men had hidden behind the piles of bodies for the purpose of diving into the ground unseen. It was the equivalent of a human swimming underwater the full length of a pool. Sand sprayed up from behind the black ops teams, and the mole-men army sprung up from the ground, taking them completely by surprise. They had been completely boxed in. The battle had been lost. They laid down their arms, lifted their hands, and conceded defeat.