Good Omens

Venus, or mass hallucination.
    In short, whatever Newt was now thinking with, it wasn’t his brain.
    â€œBut look,” he said, “the world isn’t really going to end now, is it? I mean, just look around. It’s not like there’s any international tension … well, any more than there normally is. Why don’t we leave this stuff for a while and just go and, oh, I don’t know, maybe we could just go for a walk or something, I mean—”
    â€œDon’t you understand? There’s something here! Something that affects the area!” she said. “It’s twisted all the ley-lines. It’s protecting the area against anything that might change it! It’s … it’s … ” There it was again: the thought in her mind that she could not, was not allowed to grasp, like a dream upon waking.
    The windows rattled. Outside, a sprig of jasmine, driven by the wind, started to bang insistently on the glass.
    â€œBut I can’t get a fix on it,” said Anathema, twisting her fingers together. “I’ve tried everything.”
    â€œFix?” said Newt.
    â€œI’ve tried the pendulum. I’ve tried the theodolite. I’m psychic, you see. But it seems to move around.”
    Newt was still in control of his own mind enough to do the proper translation. When most people said “I’m psychic, you see,” they meant “I have an overactive but unoriginal imagination / wear black nail varnish / talk to my budgie”; when Anathema said it, it sounded as though she was admitting to a hereditary disease which she’d much prefer not to have.
    â€œArmageddon moves around?” said Newt.
    â€œVarious prophecies say the Antichrist has to arise first,” said Anathema. “Agnes says he . I can’t spot him—”
    â€œOr her,” said Newt.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œCould be a her,” said Newt. “This is the twentieth century, after all. Equal opportunities.”
    â€œI don’t think you’re taking this entirely seriously,” she said severely. “Anyway, there isn’t any evil here. That’s what I don’t understand. There’s just love.”
    â€œSorry?” said Newt.
    She gave him a helpless look. “It’s hard to describe it,” she said. “Something or someone loves this place. Loves every inch of it so powerfully that it shields and protects it. A deep-down, huge, fierce love. How can anything bad start here? How can the end of the world start in a place like this? This is the kind of town you’d want to raise your kids in. It’s a kids’ paradise.” She smiled weakly. “You should see the local kids. They’re unreal! Right out of the Boys’ Own Paper! All scabby knees and ‘brilliant!’ and bulls-eyes—”
    She nearly had it. She could feel the shape of the thought, she was gaining on it.
    â€œWhat ’s this place?” said Newt.
    â€œWhat?” Anathema screamed, as her train of thought was derailed.
    Newt’s finger tapped at the map.
    â€œâ€˜Disused aerodrome,’ it says. Just here, look, west of Tadfield itself—”
    Anathema snorted. “Disused? Don’t you believe it. Used to be a wartime fighter base. It’s been Upper Tadfield Air Base for about ten years or so. And before you say it, the answer’s no. I hate everything about the bloody place, but the colonel’s saner than you are by a long way. His wife does yoga, for God’s sake.”
    Now. What was it she’d said before? The kids round here …
    She felt her mental feet slipping away from under her, and she fell back into the more personal thought waiting there to catch her. Newt was okay, really. And the thing about spending the rest of your life with him was, he wouldn’t be around long enough to get on your nerves.
    The radio was talking about South American rainforests.
    New ones.
    It began to hail.
    BULLETS OF ICE shredded the leaves around the Them as Adam led them down into the quarry.
    Dog slunk along with his tail between his legs, whining.
    This wasn’t right, he was thinking. Just when I was getting the hang of rats. Just when I’d nearly sorted out that bloody German Shepherd across the road. Now He’s going to end it all and I’ll be back with the ole glowin’ eyes and chasin’ lost souls. What’s the sense in that? They don’t fight