Scientists discovered that beneath this vast area of permafrost lay hundreds of billions of tons of methane gas, a residue of geological effects of millions of years ago and kept safely in place by the thick layer of ice lying on top of it.

Amca's satellites picked up activity over the permafrost one day and intelligence analysis indicated terrorists on the move. The imagery also showed a small jet nearby and the analysts assumed that the fighters had a precious cargo they wanted to move quickly. What noone could have known was that the enemy were busy lifting a nuclear device from its hiding place deep in a tunnel cut into the permafrost and that this weapon, by accident or design, was primed. All the elements in the Devil's plan were now ready to cross each other's path and cause such devastation that humans could never have imagined even in their worst nightmares. The Devil's final gift was so convoluted it lay beyond human intelligence or it's imaginings.

A smart bomb landed with a ferocious explosion, setting off the nuclear device which in turn vaporised the permafrost and set the billions of tons of methane below it aflame. The ensuing explosion threw thousands of square kilometres of earth several kilometres into the air and the stresses set up released the city of Iqaq and its surrounding area from the effects of gravity and it began to float away alone into space.

The relationship of other cities and the force of gravity having changed with the city of Iqaq freed, others began to separate and float away with terrifying explosive noise, until every city was loose and helpless and heading for destruction in the unwelcoming, cold wastes of space bereft of oxygen, where death lurked everywhere.

Though evolution created humanity and the other species in the cities over hundreds of millions of years, when the end came it was totally unexpected, sudden and swift, the work of the very Devil. Subconsciously believing in its own immortality, humanity never properly pondered what to do if the end came. There was always theoretical discussion of what to do, but practicalities never took precedence. People were too busy fighting amongst themselves in order to achieve wealth and power rather than driving their energies to the protection of their one and only abode, their group of cities in the sky.

The Devil felt proud of his achievement, especially when he realised that God had slept through it all and had done nothing to prevent it. As he raced away into the depths of space at an astonishing speed, still perched on a satellite and laughing, he sang himself a song.

I cannot really help it

That I am so rotten

'Tis how the Lord had made me

'Tis how I was begotten......

Learn more about this author, Ari Franklinos.
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