The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (14 page)

Prometheus actually managed a weak
chuckle. “Yes, I suppose that's a good question. But I'm not as
isolated here as you may think.”

“
You mean you can leave?
Come and go? Can you get us out of here?” Dominic was excited.

“
No, I cannot come and
go, as you put it. But I can see far. I have observed the evolution
of the human race, followed many human families, sometimes for
generations as they lived their lives, raised their children. Even
now, I find it endlessly fascinating.”

“
But...how?” Maria
asked.

“
Like this,” the
Titan said and looked up at the ceiling, resting his head on the back
of his chair. Everyone followed his glance and Justin's eyes grew so
wide that they began to hurt.

Whatever Prometheus did, the solar
system changed as they stared in awe. The small Earth suddenly grew
larger until it filled the entire surface of the ceiling. They
watched as the view plunged through the clouds, falling down, down
until they were above a city, looking down at the streets, watching
people and cars stopping and starting, moving, turning. And then they
were at street level. It was as though they were actually looking
through the lens of a camera that was set up and observing the
passing traffic and pedestrians. And then, with a blast of sound,
they could hear all that they could see. Car horns, people walking,
talking, yelling. A pigeon cooing, the bell of a trolley car.

“
You see?”
Prometheus said. “I'm never really alone. I can go anywhere on
Earth, see anything I want to see. Infinite varieties of people and
places to observe, a million situations to explore. It is my whole
life now, this world of yours. I love it more than anything.”

The sound cut out again and then they
were suddenly looking at the solar system once more.

The teens sat in stunned silence,
looking at each other and back at the Titan.

“
That was...amazing!”
Maria exclaimed. She took at deep breath and smiled widely.

Dominic cut in. “Sir, could you
possibly check on our families? See how they are? I think we've all
been worried about them.”

“
Or at least check on
Sanctuary?” Aaron added. “I'd like to know what's going
on up there.”

“
I wish it was that easy,
gentlemen.” Prometheus looked at Dominic. “The map is not
a, what's the term, a GPS. I can't tell it to simply find someone.
All I can do is direct it to a location and then look around. And,”
he turned to Aaron, “Sanctuary is barred to me. My jailers were
wise enough not to give me that advantage when they tossed me in
here.” Then he looked at Maria again. “Thank you, young
lady, for the compliment. It was my design after all. It is a comfort
to me in my loneliness. Now then, I have a question for you, Justin
McLeod.”

Justin straightened up. Prometheus
sounded serious.

“
Yes sir, whatever you
want to know.”

“
One question only, I
think.” The Titan's eyes seemed to burn into Justin. “Tell
me exactly what the rebel said concerning Hyperion. Exactly.”

“
Exactly?” Justin
thought for a moment, then looked at Aaron. “Do you remember,
bud? Something about 'we follow Hyperion' or whatever? I'm just not
sure.”

To Justin's surprise, Aaron nodded
decisively. “I remember what he said, sir” he said to
Prometheus. “I know because that whole attack is seared into my
memory. It was the most terrifying and unique experience I had ever
had. And because of that, somehow, I locked the whole thing into my
brain.”

“
And?” the Titan
said patiently.

“
He said '
My
lord is Hyperion, leader of the Titans. He is reborn again.' That is
exactly what he said, I'm sure of it.”

Prometheus paled visibly. “Gods,
he did it. Somehow, he did it. Damn you, brother. I thought this
world clean of your treachery!” He stood up and began to pace
the length of the room, muttering to himself and obviously furious.

Justin looked at the others. Maria
shrugged, Dominic looked confused and Julia and Yolanda were
obviously frightened. The other guys were simply watching Prometheus
as he paced. Aaron leaned in close to Justin.

“
You better talk to him,
Just. Before he blows a gasket or something.”

Justin sighed. Me again, he thought.
He looked at his friend. “I don't think Titans have gaskets,
Aaron,” he said with a weak attempt at humor. Aaron smiled
halfheartedly and then went back to watching the old Titan pace.

Justin screwed up his courage, took a
deep breath and said “Prometheus? What's wrong? What did
Hyperion do?”

At the sound of his name, the first
time any of the teens had addressed him by it, the Titan came to an
abrupt halt. He looked at Justin as if he was a stranger and then,
blinking rapidly, seemed to gather his thoughts. He sat down and
stared at each of them in turn.

“
Forgive me. Your words
shocked me. I had never dared contemplate the possibility.”
Justin saw that the old Titan's hands were clenched tightly enough to
turn his knuckles white. “I mentioned earlier that Hyperion
discovered ways of extracting genetic information and using it to
clone new creatures. I fear that he has done the same thing to
himself.”

Justin felt like someone had punched
him in the stomach. The others looked shocked. Even Aaron was
speechless.

“
But...how is that
possible, sir” Maria asked in a small voice. “You killed
him yourself.”

“
Yes, I did. But Hyperion
was paranoid, more so in the last years of his life. I think it quite
likely that he stored genetic samples of himself, likely deep
underground in a base perhaps along the lines of Sanctuary. These may
have been timed to bring him back as a clone around the same time as
the human-titan hybrids were supposed to be born.” Prometheus
sounded discouraged.

“
How could he know about
the Titan DNA being introduced into the human gene pool?”
Justin asked. “Wasn't that a secret?”

“
From our own people,
Justin, yes it was. But it was the Council who chose to do that, and
until his treachery, Hyperion was a member of the Council.”

Justin sat back and groaned. Aaron
shook his shoulder.

“
You okay, Just?”
he asked, concerned.

“
No I'm not okay. Don't
you see? If Prometheus is right, we're not just up against hybrids,
we're up against a real Titan! What chance do we have against that?”
Justin felt a sense of despair. We cannot, absolutely cannot, fight a
real Titan, he thought. The idea was laughable.

“
Hey Justin, cheer up,”
Maria said briskly. “From what you and Aaron have told us,
you've already been in some tough situations. And we saw you with
that servitor creature. You were amazing.” She looked at the
other teens. “We aren't going to give up now, are we?”

“
Of course not!”

“
No way!”

“
Screw Hyperion, whoever
he is!”

She looked back at Justin. “You
see? We're Titans. I think we've all accepted that now. And we're in
this together, no matter what.”

Justin shook his head in disbelief at
their attitude. “But don't you see?” he asked, trying to
sound reasonable. “Like Prometheus here, the pure Titans were
giants. They had advanced technology, they had almost godlike
invulnerability. They...”

Maria cut him off in a swift gesture.
“It doesn't matter, to any of us. This Hyperion may be all that
and more, but he doesn't know this time and he doesn't know us. This
is our time. This is our world. And there's no way we're going to let
him destroy it!”

They all cheered, even Prometheus
clapped gently. Justin looked at Aaron, who gave him a wink and a
thumbs up.

Justin finally threw his hands in the
air. “Okay. Fine! We'll fight. We'll take on these rebels and
we'll win.” He grinned at Maria. “But for the record, I
think you're all nuts.”

“
Yeah, right back at you,
Mister I'll Fight A Mechanical Man With My Bare Hands!” she
said, laughing.

Justin joined in and then they all
looked to Prometheus. “What do you think of all this, sir?”
Justin asked respectfully.

“”
I think that you
make an old man proud, Justin. You and your friends. And Maria has a
point. Hyperion may have cloned himself, and I know the memory
transfer runes that he created must have been part of his plan to
renew himself, but his last memories were of a world five thousand
years in the past.” He glanced quickly at the ceiling, then
back at Justin.

“
I've watched humanity's
progress. You have cell phones, world-wide news services, advanced
weapons, global tracking capabilities, and the list goes on.
Hyperion's last memories are of a world where the Titan's technology
reigned supreme. Humans used swords and bows in battle and wore
armor. There may have been millions of them, but you are living in a
world of billions. I think it is quite possible that he will severely
underestimate his human foes.” He sat back and his tone
changed. He sounded contemplative.

“
But remember that humans
won't understand him either. They don't believe old legends or
stories about Atlantis and a race of giants,” he cautioned. “If
he realizes this, he can use their ignorance against them, striking
from the shadows, attacking quickly and then disappearing again to
wherever his stronghold is. And while he might have been a traitor,
Hyperion was not a fool. His technical expertise was quite
formidable,” he added grudgingly.

“
However, we must take
things one step at a time. As Maria has so rightly reminded us,
despair is not an option, it is a weakness. And so, the next step is
to get you on your way. You have a date with destiny, my friends, and
I intend to assist you in your journey.” Prometheus' tone was
suddenly brisk and he looked more alert and energetic.

“
We would appreciate any
help you can give us, sir,” Justin said, hoping he sounded as
grateful as he felt. The others nodded or looked anxiously at the
Titan.

“
Can you get us out of
here and past those minotaurs, sir?” Dominic asked. He sounded
a bit skeptical.

“
Perhaps I can. But I
think I can do a bit better than that. You will face other challenges
along your path to the upper reaches of Sanctuary. And so, I will
give you all a gift that may help you to carry on.”

The old Titan stood and walked
briskly to the back of the room. He pushed a spot on the wall and to
Justin's surprise, a section of the seemingly solid stone wall slid
back and to the side. Prometheus looked over his shoulder with a
mischievous expression. “There are more than a few secrets in
my little cell, my friends. Please, come with me.”

Everyone stood up, but Jason glanced
nervously at the main entrance to the room.

“
Sir,” he said.
“What about those guards? Won't they notice that you're gone if
they look into the room?”

Prometheus laughed. “This room
has several doors, young man. To my bedroom, my toilet facilities,
and a few other spaces. The guards know them all. Those aren't the
secrets to which I was referring. But even if they were suspicious,
they cannot enter here.”

“
They can't? But why
not?” Jason sounded confused as he looked at the bare arch.
“There's no door, no bars, nothing to stop them.”

“
Isn't there? Kick away
the sand that's scattered under the archway.” Prometheus smiled
at Jason's hesitation. “Go ahead, it won't bite you.”

Blushing slightly, Jason scuffed the
sand away from the floor at the entrance. The other teens watched
curiously.

Beneath the sand, they saw a metal
strip that ran from one side of the doorway to the other. Jason
peered down at it. “Hey, it's covered with a bunch of little
runes,” he exclaimed.

“
Precisely,” the
old Titan replied. “Those little runes, as you call them, are
coded to stop any minotaur from crossing that line and entering
my...home.” He glanced around the room and grimaced as he
spoke.

“
What happens if they
try?” Jason asked as he crossed the room to join them.

“
Pain happens. And if the
pain does not deter them, death follows swiftly. Oh yes,”
Prometheus nodded solemnly. “My jailers wanted me to live a
very safe, very long life in my little cell.”

“
That's just cruel, doing
that to you!” Yolanda averred.

“
No more than I deserved.
Now, let's move along, shall we? Follow me please.”

Prometheus led the group into the
next room. It was indeed a bedroom.

As large as the living area, this
room also had shelves lining the walls, as well as a massive bed and
several chairs and tables. The light was subdued and restful. The
Titan strode across the room past his bed and stood between two
bookshelves.

“
This is one of the doors
that I was talking about,” Prometheus said cheerfully and the
wall in front of him split open and disappeared. “Come along.”
He ducked through the doorway.

The group followed him slowly, each
of them looking apprehensively at the others. Justin was more curious
that nervous and was the first to walk through the doorway.

“
Wow!” was all he
could say as he stepped into the next room. As the others entered
behind him, their reactions mirrored his.