Jack James and the Call of the Tanakee (22 page)

THIRTY-THREE

JACK GOT UP and dusted off his Eteean suit. The desert sand fell easily from the bio-engineered exoskin. He searched for the telltale sign of the O/A—its unmistakable purple glow. Nothing but dunes and more dunes. He wondered for a moment where he was. His Eteea machine showed him a full topographical map in his mind, and he learned almost instantly he was in the country of Mongolia, in the middle of the Gobi desert. He even knew the latitude and longitude. What he didn’t know was how the heck he’d gotten there.

Then the Amber Machine reminded him of the blow he’d taken from Argus. One swift kick to the pants that sent him and his machine flying across two continents. Jack was amazed he could be ejected so far with just one shot. He was also amazed he hadn’t been hurt, but, on both accounts, he had to give credit where credit was due. The Eteea machines were wonders of technology, and he thanked his for getting him through that sticky mess.

The machine responded by telling him Argus was on his way. He didn’t need the alert, though. The horizon lit up worse than the aurora borealis, all purple and blue, and getting brighter and brighter, like an overheated alien sunrise. Only this sun wasn’t harmlessly rising in the sky. It was Argus, in command of the O/A, coming at him quicker than a supersonic jet, flying high and fast, and diving at an unbelievable angle.

“Hold on!” Jack shouted. The Eteea machine already knew what to do. Seconds before impact, the machine produced another shield, totally solid, like walls of titanium.

BOOM!

Jack tumbled heels over head inside the protective bubble. The impact was tremendous. He felt the Eteea machine bouncing like a rubber ball, hitting water, then land, and then water again. When he came to rest, finally, he felt the bobbing and swaying of an ocean. Then the machine gave him the updated position: in the center of the Atlantic!

“You’re no match for me, Jack! As long as I’ve got the O/A!” Argus shouted from hundreds of miles away. He was approaching yet again, speeding like a rocket. “I’m stronger, faster, smarter…and my machine’s BETTER!”

Rising into the air, Jack felt a twinge from his Eteea machine. It was a bit of an insult Argus had made, and the machine didn’t really appreciate it.

Argus appeared in a bolt of purplish lightning right behind Jack. On impulse, Jack’s Eteea machine twisted him in a tight, full circle, and, suddenly, the tables were turned. Jack was now the one in pursuit, catching Argus by complete surprise from the opposite direction. The collision sent Argus off balance this time, giving him a taste of his own medicine.

“Whoa!” he sounded shocked.

“You’re not invincible, after all,” Jack squinted at him. Argus squinted back.

“Lucky shot!” he shouted, and the sky rumbled. Jack hadn’t noticed, but they were above land again, somewhere over the East Coast of the United States. He identified the Great Lakes, Long Island, the rugged Carolina coastline, and the Florida peninsula.

Argus swooped down close. Jack’s thought was to fly away, quick as he could, and avoid being smashed yet again. It didn’t work.

CRUNCH!

Jack careened toward land at an alarming rate. He fell like a meteor, his velocity reaching the point where he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop despite all his mental commands. Looking down, he saw the landmass getting bigger and bigger. The machine calculated his course—downtown New York City. He concentrated harder on stopping, but only seemed to go faster. Then he glanced behind him and knew the reason for his mysterious acceleration. Argus. The sinister kid was pushing him, the O/A’s power globe scraping and sizzling against the Amber Machine’s outer shield.

“You’re going down, Jack James!” Argus gritted his teeth. “There’s nothing you can do about it!”

Jack, for a brief moment, believed Argus. His machine was no match for the O/A. How would he ever get out of this? The two force fields bounced together, creating a blizzard of blistering friction. Jack felt the energy from the O/A, and it seemed to be infusing him with some of its power. He also got a message:
Don’t give up, Jack. No matter how bad it may seem—don’t give up.

Argus changed expressions as the message came through. He must have heard it too. And he probably felt the energy transmission, because Jack noticed him blinking, shaking his head, even dipping his eyes like he was passing out. When that happened, Jack got the feeling he could control both machines, and that’s just what he did.

He caught a glimpse of the New York skyline, and navigated the powerful machines, bright as suns, through the busy streets, inches above the heads of pedestrians, skimming atop taxicabs and limos and town cars, whipping the wind and causing crowds of people to point up and shout. The Eteea machines moved so fast, no one really got much of a look. And Jack had complete command, maneuvering through the concrete canyon, giant skyscrapers forming the sides of a deep, narrow gorge.

“Whoo-hoo!” he couldn’t keep in the exhilaration he was feeling. He had the O/A back under his control, and it looked like Argus was out cold. Now to get back to the Black Pyramid.

WITH A SINGLE, concerted thought, Jack stood firmly in the Connections Center, in complete command of two Eteea machines, and holding Argus Cole as his prisoner. He saw Amelia, unconscious, a mass of flying serpents circling above her. At his very presence, the serpents coalesced into a vague human shape. Legs, a torso, arms, then a face. Davos. He bowed his head and smiled with all the warmth of a tiger shark. The queen stepped from behind Davos. Her grin was even more welcoming—in a
come here and I’ll make you my dinner
sort of way. She dropped her fake congeniality when she saw Argus’s comatose body next to Jack’s feet.

“What have you done!” she cried. Then she regained her composure. “It doesn’t matter now. We’ve got the data on your precious Children of the Blue Crystal. Now all I have to do is give the order and my army of Nagas warriors will finish them!”

“No, it’s you who’s finished, Queen Neera,” Jack proclaimed. “You, along with your wretched family, and your entire worthless race!”

“Wrong again, Jack!” Argus’s voice startled him. He spun and felt a tremendous pull. Argus snuck from behind and snatched the O/A from him, then backed away. He stood with his mother and father and grinned menacingly as they patted his back.

“Good work, my boy!” Davos commended him. “Just like I’d planned. A chip off the old block, if I don’t say so myself.”

“Quiet!” the queen shook her head. “Let me handle this,” she glared at Jack as he retreated next to Amelia and checked her pulse. She was alive, yet seemed dead to the world. Ben and Liz were there with her, as well as Jack’s little sister Lily and Teresa Tree. They all stood close to Amelia with long, sullen stares. Nearby, the Tanakee hovered over Enola as she writhed on the floor in agony.

Then, from nowhere, Takota arrived suddenly, bursting into reality in-between the Eteeans and the Nagas. A nanosecond later, a second Takota appeared—the evil dimensional double.

“Enough playing around,” the real Takota declared. “It’s time to send you back to your own dimension once and for all!”

“You aren’t Tanakee enough!” the phony Takota assumed a fighting stance, shifting his weight onto one foot. Then he spun and twisted and contorted into several martial arts positions, hooting and hollering and jumping and flipping. One maneuver after another. Showing his impressive proficiency, not only to Takota, but to the others.

When the imposter finished his imposing display, he ended up with a grand finale, leaping high to the ceiling, somersaulting and landing in a perfect posture, fists raised, arms and legs bent, ready for battle.

Takota, the real one, only stood there, unimpressed. Then he smiled teasingly.

“That all you got?”

“Why don’t you come over here and see?”

Takota sighed casually and, without warning, disappeared. Before anyone knew what had happened, he reappeared inches from his doppelganger. The counterfeit Takota’s eyes widened, and he tried to run, but the real Takota proved too quick, and, with a touch to his shoulder, absorbed him promptly. Jack had to rub his eyes and look closer to believe what had just happened. The whole process took less than a second, and looked like someone had hit the fake Takota with a disintegrating ray. He just collapsed into a cloud of dust, then distorted and drew into Takota like someone sucking a straw.
Foop!
went the sound, and when the dust settled, only one Takota stood there.

“how’d you do that?” Jack had to ask.

“I-I don’t know,” Takota stared at his finger, mystified. “I just thought about it, and it happened.”

“Get him!” the queen commanded. Argus sent an electric-purple charge at Takota, and he disappeared. Takota blinked in again, this time closer to the boy. Argus reacted fast. The O/A shot another blast his direction. Narrowly, Takota blinked away, coming back even closer. Argus shot at him once more, and once more missed by mere millimeters.

Only one last try and Takota would reach his target. It seemed everyone watching knew this inevitable fact. The queen’s evil plans would be stopped. The Children would be safe.

But it was not to be.

Argus sent a bolt of energy into the air just before Takota reappeared, and hit the tiny creature straightaway. He shuddered, let out a loud moan, then fell to the floor with a
Thud!
which reverberated through Jack’s chest like a downed tree. Jack heard Liz and Lily and Ayita shout out their sorrow, and he was right there with them. Grief, though, proved pointless. There was no time for it. The Nagas queen and her son were back in charge.

“Finish them!” she commanded. Argus seemed more than willing to obey. He broke into a confident smirk, directing the O/A at Jack.

“I have something to show you, Jackie Boy,” he laughed. A wave of shimmering ferocity ejected from the O/A, directed straight at Jack’s little sister. On instinct, Jack dove in the way, only to be pushed aside by his father. Jack had time to summon the power from his Eteea machine and deflect the shot, yet Ben took part of the blow in his chest, and fell back as it hit him. Liz shrieked and ran to her husband. Argus sent another blast. With his machine, Jack repelled that one entirely.

“Get that thing from him!” the queen pointed at the device in Jack’s hand. “Get it and destroy it!”

Argus acted without hesitation, flicking his wrist and shooting another electric purple beam, ripping the machine from Jack’s hand, sending it on a one-way trip to the floor, where another flare from the O/A made it explode in a storm of sparks and smoke. Jack had to look away. The brightness blinded him, and the sight of the machine being damaged broke his heart.

“Now there’s nothing you can do!” Argus said. “Your Eteea machine is ruined!”

“How could you!” Liz, on her knees, held the broken machine, weeping beside her unconscious husband. Jack hurt inside to see his mother hurting so much on the outside.

“That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to your son,” Argus grinned. His eyes came alight with the brilliant glow from the O/A. The machine danced and twisted inside, thousands upon thousands of extra-dimensional shapes, turning and spinning and fluctuating. Jack felt something rip at his core as he watched, remembering when the O/A was his and his alone. He wondered about the witches’ spell that had enabled Argus to use the machine. He knew it was a trick, a cheat, a lie. And all he had to do was overcome that lie, beat the trick and prove to Eteea, to Amelia’s father, and to himself that he was indeed the True Soul.

“Goodbye, Jack,” Argus gritted his teeth, and the O/A’s internal substructure surged with even more activity. “And goodbye to all of you!”

Jack’s skin tingled with warmth. The sensation filled him from the inside out, and when it was done, he got the same feeling he did when the O/A was in his possession. The merging of mind and machine. Two becoming one. With the confluence came a flood of what Jack could only describe as love. Pure. Untainted. Unconditional. It felt exactly as if he had the machine again, yet he didn’t. Then, suddenly, he did.

Jack couldn’t believe his eyes, yet the truth was right there in front of him. The O/A. Only it wasn’t in his hand, but hovering over his shoulder instead, glowing and whistling and singing so happily to be home again. He caught Argus in a startled stare. And the queen, and Davos. Jack got a similar reaction from the rest of the onlookers.

In that fraction of a moment, as the O/A announced its readiness for action, as Jack relished the sudden flood of countless dimensional duplicates infusing him with immeasurable power, Davos ignited his glowing red power sphere. With the flaming globe hovering over his head, Davos took the hands of his son and his wife and they each rippled and faded into nothingness.

Jack felt a wave of frustration course through the O/A. He also sensed it from Cheyton, who’d prepared himself to pounce on the Nagas as soon as Jack fired a shot.

“What happened?” Cheyton ran to a warped wave of distortion in the air where the Nagas had stood only a second earlier. “Why’d you let them go?”

THIRTY-FOUR