Thank you for the update, Stuart. It was a bit earlier than I expected, and am glad that it's here. I especially like the description of the details of the Eternal City's layout. And the following passages especially struck me:
Stuart wrote:"Two kilometers wide and dead straight.
I'm not sure what this
really means in the Klein bottle non-Euclidean space that is Heaven. Oh, well. It's probably just a useful generalization as to what is going on.
Stuart wrote:We think there's around 200 million angels living in the City itself."
In an area that's comparable to the United States west of the Mississippi River. And the land is supposedly all usuable, so it sounds like they aren't bunched up too much.
Stuart wrote:We have to advance through 650 kilometers of urbanized terrain before getting there.
Hmm. Comparable to the distance between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. Anywhere from a 6-10 hour drive depending on conditions and stops.
Stuart wrote:"I can honestly say that Her Majesty's Armed Forces have no covert operations groups stationed outside The Eternal City." Sir Michael Jackson sounded positively righteous. Asanee's head snapped around to look at him and one of her eyebrows was raised.
Why did you have to open your mouth, Jackson? Putting all those words together just means that some of those words are absolutely necessary for telling the truth.
Stuart wrote:Petraeus smiled. "I see the SAS are living up to their reputations then. I suppose it was to be expected. A coalition this big doesn't exist without this kind of thing going on. Just make sure that these groups don’t start stepping on each others' feet. Asanee, Michael, I don’t care how you do it but set up some sort of system so we don’t get mutual interference between these groups.
See? Petraeus saw right though your legalese. Are you still pissed off that you don't control your own corp? Get over it, already.
Stuart wrote:By the way, somebody better talk to our friend Gaius Julius about that as well. He's hired enough deceased special forces people to have something going. And he's not the kind of leader who'll miss a trick."
Wasn't Stirling one of those? And yes, the First Counsul is a "friend" about as much as Michael is to Lemuel about now.
Stuart wrote:In a part of his mind that was not involved in this battle, Michael still wondered at that. They could have stayed clear and had a chance of survival if things had gone badly. But they had given it up to stand beside him. That thought gave him much to think about but one thing stirred uneasily in his mind. I don’t deserve friends like these.
No kidding, you rat bastard. And when one of your friends decides to have a "chat" with you about Maion and the drugs, you're going to learn just how much you don't deserve those friends.
Stuart wrote:"There is much to be done if we are to survive. First, we must clear this place up." He looked down at the body on the floor. "Somebody throw that in the lake. Where's the Master Mason? Zacharael-Lan, take that throne down, break it up, chop it up, whatever. I don't care. Just get rid of it and throw the bits in the lake as well. Use them to weigh Yahweh's body down.
Awww, crud, I was hoping to have that dictator's head on a stick, make him a Goddamn tourist attraction like Uriel.
Stuart wrote:"We'll hold the meetings up there and they will be free for all to watch."
So, like Gaius Julius you want C-SPAN? I don't know how long that is going to last.
Stuart wrote:"Of course we do. We make peace with the humans as fast as we can, before they start shooting. Remember what they did to the Incomparable Legion Of Light? They blew it up, so decisively that the smoke from its destruction darkens our skies and chills our air. They did that with one of their bombs and that one far from their most powerful.
I guess Michael doesn't know exactly how powerful our nukes are. I have the impression, from an uninformed citizen's point of view, that 1.2 megatons is
way on the far side of the median size nuclear device we have. That impression could certainly be wrong, and I'll accept anyone's facts who is more knowledgable than I.
Stuart wrote:"What of us?" The soft, sibilant voice from the leader of the choir grabbed at Michael's attention. "What do we do?"
Uh oh.
Stuart wrote:"Anything you like." He looked at the members of the choir with sympathy. They were the last survivors of their kind, an ancient race that had been first seduced and then enslaved by Yahweh. When he had tired of them and found others to take their place, they had been cast down. Some might survive in the very depths of Hell. If so, the humans would find them and look after them.
"We know of nothing to do. Except to sing praises."
Michael-Lan shook his head. "Don't worry. We'll find an honorable place for you."
Almost certainly
far easier said than done. Especially if The Eternal City is going to be under a fractious military occupation. Even
if Michaels plan works as well as he could imagine, the aftermath is going to be pretty bad. He is close to being directly involved causing hundreds of thousands of premature human first-life deaths and destroying significant amounts of Earth's ecosystem. That means he isn't going to simply start being Mr. President without some significant questions needing to be answered, and probably some pounds of flesh being extracted.
Stuart wrote:Then, a thought occurred to him. "Charmeine-Lan, go to the Montmartre and tell the guys there that they can stop playing now. Thank them from me for everything they've done. We've won. All of us."
I suppose that depends on how you define "all of us." Angelic society won't survive this little brouhaha.
So, again, thank you for the update.
