The sound of a gasoline generator being fired up high above alerted Hannah and Mark that the winch was soon to be operational. Sure enough, a clanking noise a few seconds later indicated that the basket was being lowered into the vast domed chamber.
“I won’t be a minute,” Mark said to Hannah. Then she leapt a dozen feet into the air and unfurled her wings. She did not actually need the wings to fly, but she enjoyed the feeling of air underneath them, so she circled lazily around the chamber as she gained altitude, anticipating the encounter to come.
It was Kevin who was chosen to make the descent. Mark thought for sure Melissa would have pulled her seniority and decided that they must have drawn lots. Kevin wore a headlamp, and Mark could see its beam cutting through the darkness. She thought about making herself invisible until she was right in his face, but decided in favor of building suspense.
Kevin could only get quick glimpses of her ascending winged form. He was clearly nervous as he called out.
“Dr. Rogers? Hannah? Are you there? What’s down there with you?”
Mark decided to close the distance more quickly. Kevin’s voice took on an edge of panic.
“Melissa? Something’s wrong! There’s something down here! Pull me up!”
Mark decided that he didn’t want his fun to be over too soon, so he blocked all sound from traveling out of the dome. Then, with a powerful surge from her wings, she shot up until she was level with the basket. Holding herself in midair, she set floating globes of fire adrift in the chamber, to give Kevin a better look at her new form.
“Hello, Kevin,” she said. She didn’t mean for her voice to sound seductive, but it was hard to do otherwise. “Welcome to hell.”
Kevin gave a very satisfying scream. Mark was, of course, hoping to build a heaven, but she really didn’t like Kevin very much, and she wanted to put the fear of goddess in the sanctimonious little snot.
“Begone, devil! You cannot defeat me, for I walk in the light of the Lord! I shall fear no evil!”
Mark folded her arms and smirked. “Strong words coming from a guy who just pissed himself.” She looked down and called “Hey, Hannah! Heads up! Step to the side of the chamber!”
An echoing voice came back. “Why? What is that stuff? Is that…ewwww!”
“Is Hannah down there?” Kevin asked, still trying to strike a heroic tone despite the obvious signs of his panic. “Is she all right? What did you do to her?”
Mark decided to circle the basket with lazy flaps of her wings. “She’s better than all right. She is living the life she was destined to live. We’re going to make a better world. Why don’t you join us, Kevin?”
“I’d rather die, first!”
Mark remembered yet again why she didn’t care for Kevin. Still, he made her realize that killing people was definitely part of her plan. She might want to see him suffer a little, but she definitely wasn’t the devil that he thought she was.
“No need for that, my little pet. You will join us one way or another. Go back up, with my blessing. I shall see you at midnight.” There was nothing special about the hour. It just gave Mark several hours to fuck Hannah’s brains out before having to deal with the students above.
With a gesture, the winch reversed itself, and Kevin was soon gone. Mark circled lazily back to the mosaic floor, laughing to herself the whole way. Hannah helpfully pointed out the pee puddle so Mark could ignore it.
“That went well, I take it,” the high priestess smiled.
“They’ll argue about what to do. My guess is they’ll haul the rope up we used to climb down and try to seal the chamber with a temporary stop.” As if on cue, the rope started to dance and then slowly ascend. “Then, if she has any brains, Melissa will remember that I keep a shotgun in my luggage to deter looters.”
“What good will a shotgun do against us, my goddess?”
“Not a damn thing. But it would be the logical course of action as they prepare to deal with what Kevin will describe as the devil himself. I told him we’d visit at midnight. Until then, let’s find a way to amuse ourselves.” She waved her hand, and the floor of the chamber was instantly clear, and the wall was repaired, only the fresco had been replaced. Where it once showed the goddess in chains, it now showed her filling the solar system, folding a tiny Earth in the palm of her hand. “Much better ending,” she said.
Then she created a large circular bed for her and Hannah to play on. Her high priestess gave an undignified leap fifty feet in the air before bouncing down. She lay naked and spread eagle on her back. “Tell me how I might serve you, o Goddess,” she said expectantly.
Mark liked the sound of that.