by Alton Gansky
“And they lived underground?” Dr. Nishizaki asked.
“No.” Perry was feeling frustrated. “Let me read something to you. This is from Isaiah 14:12–15.” Perry pulled a paper from the folder and read, “ ‘How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.”
“Sheol?” Carl said. “What is a Sheol?”
“It’s another Hebrew term,” Perry explained. “Sometimes translators render it as ‘the pit,’ or ‘the grave,’ or it could refer to the place where the souls of dead were held. When the Hebrew was translated into the Greek, the word Sheol became Hades.”
Janet leaned over the table. “Are you saying we were walking through hell?”
“No, I’m not,” Perry said. “Hades and hell are not the same place. Hell is a place of future punishment.”
“So this Isaiah passage is saying what?” Carl asked.
“That Satan was cast from heaven and with him were his followers.” Perry read another passage. “This is from Revelation 12:9—‘And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.’ Ezekiel 28 refers to Satan as a cherub. That got me thinking.”
“Thinking what? That we were in the devil’s own home?” Carl said.
“No, but Satan wasn’t the only one cast from heaven. Where did they all go? In the first chapter of Job, God asks Satan—” Perry consulted the paper again. “ ‘From where do you come?’ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’ ”
He looked up. “I’ve always been puzzled by Bible verses that had the phrase ‘under the earth’ in them. There are five of them in the Bible. For example, Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 5:8, You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. Paul wrote to the believers in Philippi, ‘Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ I might as well include what John wrote in Revelations 5:3, ‘And no one in heaven, or on the earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look into it.’ There’s a similar passage ten verses later.”
“If you’re right,” Gleason asked, “where are these captive angels now?”
Perry looked back down at the paper. “Honestly? I don’t know. I may be all wet, but it’s the only conclusion I can draw from the information we have. Maybe they were there, but we couldn’t interact with them. Everything changed at the cross and the resurrection; maybe something changed for them. Second Peter and Jude speak of a place called Tartarus, usually translated as ‘hell,’ but it is clearly a different place.”
He folded the paper and put it back in the folder.
“Thirty years ago,” Henry said, “I asked the same questions. I asked them after we were escorted out of the chamber. I asked them when the government decided the base was too dangerous to leave unattended and chose to cover it with a lake-size reservoir created by a dam I helped design. I put in another access, hoping that someday I could return.” He lowered his head and rubbed his scalp at the hairline. Sitting up was wearing him out. A few days ago, he had hovered near death, and that struggle had left him frail.
“What conclusion did you draw, Dad?” Perry asked.
“The same as you, but I couldn’t get the pieces to fit. Now the place is destroyed, and lives have been lost.” Henry Sachs sighed. “Over the years I’ve comforted myself with the words, ‘ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.’ ”
“Isaiah 55:8, isn’t it?” Perry said.
“Yes. God isn’t required to reveal everything to us.”
“I hate to bring this up,” Carl said, “but just to complete the picture, I think I should let you know that five bodies have been recovered from the sight. The military has closed off the area and is stating that the area is part of Nellis Air Force Base, even though the base is a good ways south of there.”
“How did you find out about the bodies?” Jack asked. “I mean, since your . . . since . . .”
“Since I was fired.”
“We were fired,” Janet said.
“Right,” Carl said. “I still have a few friends on the force. Five bodies were checked into the local morgue. One was identified as Matthew Barrett of Las Vegas, another as Victor Zeisler of Carson City. The other three were never identified, although we know who they were.”
“Well, we know the names they gave. All of that may have been lies.” Janet frowned.
“Rumor has it that a giant sinkhole opened and lowered the level of the reservoir. It was a lot more than a little lower.”
“I’m tired,” Henry said.
“I’ll take you back to your room, Dad.” Perry stood and took his place behind the wheelchair. Anna joined them. As he pulled the wheelchair back from the table, his father stopped him.
“Wait,” Henry said. He looked at Carl and Janet. “We always have need for additional security at our buildings and work sites. I could use a couple of good supervisors. The jobs are yours if you want them. It may involve some travel.”
“After the honeymoon?” Janet said.
Henry nodded. “My son will take care of things. Give him a call when you get back.”
Perry delivered his father to his hospital bed and sat with him until he fell asleep. His mother dozed in the hospital chair. Perry walked to the window and stared into a bright Seattle sky.
It was hard having more questions than answers.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The novelist is an explorer by nature, but whereas other explorers travel by boat, plane, or foot, novelists travel by imagination. In every work of fiction, the writer sets out with a what-if question, and then follows it through its twists and turns, often surprised where the destination ends. That is true with the Perry Sachs series. Over the last three books, I have attempted to wonder as much as wander. Through Perry, Jack, and Gleason, I set out to see what might happen if the unexpected and inexplicable invades a life.
I have often described novel-writing as a juggling act. Keeping facts and fiction working in harmony can be tricky. No novel is completely fictitious, but it should never be considered the basis of truth. For the Christian, the only source of truth is the Bible.
The Bible is an amazing book that hints at things that make the thinking person wonder about the spiritual world and the way it intersects with our lives. In this book, Perry encounters things beyond his imagination, and he speculates about answers. Those concepts should be considered for what they are—an exercise of the imagination—the result of what-if thinking.
From time to time I encounter a reader who is concerned that not every loose end is tied up, not every explanation made, and not every avenue pursued. But I believe fiction should reflect life, and life is seldom tidy. Nonetheless, Perry has done his best to explain his experience the best he can. In his world, it might be true. The wonderful thing about fiction is that it often makes facts all the more brighter.
Alton L. Gansky
For more information about Alton Gansky
or to contact the author,
visit the Web site at: www.altongansky.com
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