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Forty-Three

Pin was asleep when the alarm sounded. It was so loud that it felt as though he'd been picked up and slammed against a wall. He sat up with all the normal physiological reactions of shock: heart hammering, head pounding, sweat icy down his spine, before he remembered that he didn't actually possess a body. It didn't seem to make much difference at this particular point. The dormitory was a seething turmoil of startled demons. The crew was not the most organized group of people at the best of times and this sudden incursion threw them into complete chaos.

"Shut it!" Foreperson Tung yelled, barreling in through the door, pendulous breasts swinging unappealingly from side to side. "Get yourselves together!"

"What's going on?" someone shouted.

"The plant is under attack," Tung said.

"What?"

"I didn't hear anything!"

"Why weren't we told?"

"You weren't told because we've only just had the communication. Heaven's army is on its way."

Pin's imaginary heart leaped at this. If Heaven's warriors were coming, then perhaps he stood a chance of being rescued. But why would they bother? And did he really want to be rescued?

Demons clamored and lamented at Tung's words and Pin felt suddenly very sorry for them. They were a decent bunch, as demons went, and they had their own little lives here, just as he had. His sympathy was followed by a flood of anger: What right did Heaven have, to come in and disrupt everything? But that was the way of it everywhere: there you were, getting on with things, minding your own business, and suddenly some arsehole decides to start a war.

"Look, calm down!" Tung shouted. "You're not on your own. Hell's forces are coming. They'll reach us before Heaven does. They'll protect us—they can't afford to let this plant be shut down. If it does, then Hell itself shuts down and we might as well all pack up and shuffle off the Wheel. Just bleeding think, for a change."

A slight sigh of relief spread through the room.

"What are we going to do then?" someone asked.

"That's better," Tung said. "That's more like it! We've had clear instructions, for a change. You're to stay put, and go where you're told in order to defend the plant if necessary and keep an eye on things. So we want everyone on a cart and out of this compound."

"What if they do blow up the plant?" came a voice.

"Okay, it won't be pleasant. It'll get a bit hot. But think about it—you won't die. You can't even be sent to the lower levels, because you're in the lower levels. So you'll probably have a nasty couple of hours and then that will be it, and we'll have to see what Heaven does with us at the end of it. We're at war now."

With the rest of the crew, Pin piled onto a cart and, within minutes, they were hurtling out of the rail gates of the compound toward the mountains. He wished he'd had time to say goodbye to Mai; he hoped she'd be all right. But there simply hadn't been a moment.

It was still dark. Behind the hurtling cart, the railway tracks glowed bright against the desert earth and the compound and the mine were outlined in a sickly, glimmering radiance. It was lit up like a bloody beacon, Pin thought in dismay. Unless some form of magic could be utilized, Heaven could hardly miss it.

The cart shot through the mountain gap, rattling between the now-familiar rocky outcrops, and down toward the plant. More carts were coming fast behind, propelled by frantic demons, and more lay ahead, thundering down the slope and into the compound of the nuclear plant itself. Minutes later, Pin's cart joined them. Immediately, he was ushered off the cart and up to one of the big observation towers that stood on the four corners of the plant, there to stand guard with the rest of the crew. Below, the plant was a hive of activity, demons scurrying to and fro like insects. He looked anxiously up, but saw nothing, only the dim vastness of the sky. Might as well sit down, Pin thought, and did so.

Toward dawn, Pin was once more roused from a doze, this time by a shout.

"Something's coming!" A demon clambered to her feet and pointed.

This time, the sky was not empty. Its bronze expanse was filled with tiny specks that grew rapidly larger.

"What are they?" Pin asked.

"Planes!"

Moments later, the air above the plant was filled with hurtling jets, shrieking overhead and across the mountains. They dispersed quickly, then regrouped above the mountain wall to fly in tight formation, circling the basin of the valley in which the plant stood. They were followed by the infantry, tanks and trucks which shot past the plant and then, just before they hit the ground, slowed down, landing with a series of thuds and puffs of dust all across the plain. Within the hour, the plain was filled with grinding, trundling columns of vehicles, moving slowly into position until they formed rings around the plant itself. Pin had never imagined such an army: it looked as though the whole of Hell had been militarized.

Then, he saw that the rings of trucks were parting slightly, leaving a low track that led directly to the plant. An enormous tank advanced down the track, with a kind of awning on top in which two people sat. Both were demons. One was a huge being, armored, bristling with weapons like a lobster. It had the face of a lizard.

The other was female and, despite the heat, wearing a fur coat. Her face was pinched and bitter, sour as an old plum, but she still managed to radiate a faint air of pride.

"Workers!" the bristling demon shouted, through a loudhailer. "I am the Minister of War! As you know, Hell is under an unprovoked and unjustified attack by the forces of the Celestial Emperor. This plant is, as you also know, crucial to the smooth running of the kingdoms of the Emperor of Hell and we shall not let it fall. Keep to your posts and let the army do its work. Don't be afraid! If you look above you, you will see that the strongest forces of Hell are there, about to battle for your safety."

And when Pin again looked up, he saw that the skies were gristly with the multiple legs of the kuei. Somehow, he did not find the sight reassuring. But perhaps it did not matter, for beyond the kuei, he could now see a glowing mass falling slowly down the sky. The forces of Heaven were coming.

 

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