For the third time in a half hour, Pastor Mark tried to explain again that Erik and Dovecrest had gone through a portal in the altar to destroy the demon and rescue Todd and Vickie. And for the third time in a half hour Captain Burns shook his head in disbelief.
“People don’t just go through rocks and into other worlds,” he said.
“Well, they did.”
“Then why can’t any of my men get through?”
“It’s not that simple,” Mark said. “You have to say the right things….”
The captain just shook his head again. He paced back and forth in front of the altar, stopping once to pound on it with his fist.
“That thing’s solid as a rock,” he said. “Pardon the expression. There’s no way anyone’s going to go through it.”
Mark sighed. “So you’re willing to believe that a demon has run amok in western Rhode Island, destroying a town and killing over forty of your men and maiming a couple dozen more, but you’re not willing to believe that it escaped through a portal to another world? That, Captain, doesn’t make sense.”
“I never said I believed this was a demon.”
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know. An alien force, maybe. It could be anything. But I don’t believe that this rock is a gateway to…. Where’d you say it led?”
“To hell,” Mark said. “It leads to hell.”
“There’s no such thing as hell. That’s a fairy tale you preachers make up to keep people from misbehaving.”
Mark shook his head in frustration. “Well if that’s what it is, it doesn’t seem to be working very well, does it?”
The soldier stopped for a moment and laughed. “Yeah, you got me there,” he said. “No, I guess the threat of hell hasn’t stopped many people from misbehaving. Not lately, anyhow.”
“I’m glad you find that amusing,” Mark said. “But I’m telling you that my friends have gone through that portal and are in hell-or wherever it is that demon has gone. I can’t allow you to destroy that altar stone until they come back.”
“I’m afraid, Pastor, that you don’t have the authority to tell me what I can and cannot destroy. Whatever that thing is, it poses a threat to national security and it disappeared into that rock. I don’t know how, but it did. It might have gone back to its own world, or maybe it’s become part of the rock. I don’t know and, frankly, I don’t care. All I’m concerned with is keeping it from coming back here. And I think a thousand pounds of explosives should do just that. No problem.”
Mark stopped and looked at the ground. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. He didn’t want to get into an ego contest with this soldier. He was just a humble pastor and sure to lose.
“Ok, Captain,” he said. “I understand that you want to close that thing up forever. So do I. They left me here to stop that thing in case it tries to come back out.”
“You’re going to stop it.”
Mark sighed again and tried to remain patient. The soldier didn’t know or understand what had happened here. And he didn’t have the time or the energy to teach theology right now.
“Yes. I know the right words to drive it back in. That’s how we drove it away the first time.”
The soldier rolled his eyes, as if to say “yeah, right.”
“The point is,” Mark continued, “That there are some very good people in there and they’re going to need a way out. If you destroy that stone they’ll be trapped forever.”
“I have to destroy it. I have my orders.”
“Ok. But do you have to destroy it now? Can’t you give us some time?”
He thought for a moment and looked at his watch. “It’s midnight now,” he said. “It would be better to set up the charges in daylight. I can justify that. You have until seven a.m. Then we start setting charges. When they’re done, we detonate.”
“Thank you, Captain. I suspect that if they’re not back by morning, they won’t be coming back.”