The Jovian Legacy (11 page)

Jack
and Megan flew out of Auckland airport en route to Florida. On the
12
^th
of September, from Florida’s Okeechobee airport, Jack took
Megan’s hand and lead them through Gate 10, boarding a small
Aero 500.

Megan
clutched Jack’s hand tightly and gazed out the window at the
great North Atlantic ocean, all the while both of them wondering when
it will happen. They headed across the Sargasso sea, northeast of
Florida, the plane bound for Nassau.

It
was Megan who first spotted something unusual: A massive curtain of
shimmering light, a veil of water shaped in the form of a triangle a
kilometre across at each point; that same vision Jack had seen
through the virtual reality device of his parents’ missing
yacht. The luminous green light Jack had also seen before shimmered
beneath the surface, following the line of the veil along as far as
they could see. Megan began to tremble so Jack wrapped his arms
around her, kissing her on the cheek and holding her tight.

“Don’t
worry Megs, we’ll be okay. I’ve already been through it
before, well, halfway through,” Jack reassured her. “We’ll
probably feel a pull like when we took off in the plane.” Even
though apprehensive himself, Jack tried not to show it. He
remembered what his mother had said about the Jovian space station
sucking aeroplanes and ships up into transplanetary travel.

He
became aware of the pilot who seemed to be transfixed on something.
His hands gripped the pilot wheel, not moving. It appeared to Jack
that the plane had been taken over by an invisible pilot, as all of a
sudden it did a 360-degree turn and then started carrying out
aerobatic
turns in the air
. The pilot
remained transfixed.

Megan
began making frightened little noises while Jack attempted to
reassure her that everything was going to be okay, although he wasn’t
so sure of it himself anymore. He then heard the pilot’s radio
buzz, the air traffic controller speaking to another controller.

“6138X
looked like he headed to the northwest….he made a right turn
heading back.”

“Say
altitude,”
the
second traffic controller said.
The
pilot didn’t respond.

Jack
and Megan watched in astonishment as they saw the massive curtain of
shimmering light approach them at lightning speed and engulf the
small plane. With a lurch the plane was sucked into a drag. After
the initial shock Jack felt a great sense of relief, and by the
release of Megan’s tight grip and the expression on her face
Jack knew she must have felt it too. The minutes passed into hours
and they both fell asleep.

T
he
sun on his face woke Jack up. Both were tucked up in beds in a warm
and sunny room. At first he thought the whole thing was a dream, but
when he looked across the room and saw Megan in a bed he knew it
couldn’t have been. She also wondered if she’d dreamt
everything, Jack’s presence and her unfamiliar surroundings
confirming that it wasn’t. Both exited their beds and donned
bathrobes that were left for them on a chair. At that moment the
door opened, and Jack’s parents walked in!

Numb
with shock, Jack automatically responded to his mother’s
embrace, her face damp with tears. He became conscious of where he
was, and began to sob in his mother’s arms. His father also
hugged him, all three crying. Filled with euphoria, Jack’s
heart pounded so hard that he thought it would explode. It took a
few minutes for him to realise that Megan was still standing there
quietly, a smile on her lips that was hard to assess, watching him
reunite with his folks. His mother approached her.

Nancy
held both of her hands and studied her, experiencing a flashback to
when she’d adopted Julia from her sister Pippa and who
subsequently died of a cot death. Julia had been a twin sister of
Theresa who also died of a cot death, and it was from Theresa and
Katy’s DNAs that Megan had been cloned. So Megan, biologically
speaking, was her niece. And, of course, Megan naturally looked like
the baby she had loved the short time she’d had with her. The
genetic resemblance of her beautiful deep green eyes and full-bodied
head of golden blonde hair that fell in soft shiny curls around her
shoulders; an asset that Julia would have had, had she not been
robbed of her years. How she missed her Julia. It seemed to Nancy
that she had been given a second chance, and immediately felt a
special bond towards her son’s lovely friend and cousin. Nancy
cried tears of joy again. Megan also cried. This caused Jack to
wonder if it was because Megan had left her family while he reunited
with his, or because she now regarded his parents as her family. He
hoped it was the latter.

A
few hours and a hundred questions later Megan and Jack were taken to
separate rooms where they had to stay for a period of time, a
decontamination area. They’d each been provided with a
wardrobe of clothes, and were left to shower and get ready to be
taken to dinner. The whole dining hall had been reserved only for
Jack’s family, and there was a beautifully set table in the
middle of the room awaiting them.

Ben
Dunlop began to explain what was going to happen over the next few
days. Apparently everyone knew they were coming.

“Wow,
we must be like movie stars up here!” Jack exclaimed,
immediately feeling childish.

“Things
are going to be a little different for a while, but your privacy will
be protected as much as it can. You’ll be talked about, but
after a while things will settle down. It was the same when we first
arrived here, and as with all the travellers who arrived here after
going missing in the Bermuda Triangle,” his father explained.

“Do
you mean that everyone who disappears in the Bermuda Triangle is
here?” Megan asked in surprise.

“Yes,”
Ben answered. “A good percentage of the population of Jovian is
made up of people who went missing in the Triangle. Some people on
Earth call it the Devil’s Triangle, but it is certainly not the
devil’s world here. Quite the opposite in fact. You’ll
see for yourselves when we show you around.”

Megan’s
eyes widened. “Is it like the Garden of Eden or something?”

“You’ll
see,” Jack’s mother replied with a smile.

After
they’d eaten they were taken downstairs to a lobby room. As
they approached the lobby they could hear the chatter of a large
number of people.

“Brace
yourselves,” Ben cautioned, “the media of Thebes is
here.”

Megan
tightened her grip again as they entered the room. They were on a
slightly higher level from where the media had positioned themselves,
causing them to feel like celebrities. Jack thought it quite
daunting. The cameras went off; a continuous flashing of lights as
photos were taken for the press. Megan seemed to be enjoying the
attention, smiling and waving. Jack on the other hand felt rather
intimidated.

A
huge banner at the far end of the room caught his eye: ‘Welcome
to Jovian’. Another read, ‘We welcome you, Jack and
Megan’.

“Well,
at least they’re friendly. Must be a lot of Americans here,
they’re very passionate people you know,” Jack whispered
to Megan who was still beaming at the paparazzi.

After
a short time they were ushered into a conference room to where twenty
men were seated around a large oval table, awaiting them. One man
stood up as soon as Jack and his family entered.

“Welcome
to Jovian. I am Premier Tiberius,” the man greeted with an air
of self-importance.

“Holy
crap!” Jack exclaimed under his breath.

“What?”
Megan hissed at him, alarmed.

“That
accent, I’ve heard it before!” he said, remembering it
was the same
tone of voice
he’d heard
from the men in the black Volvo Estate.

“The
same thick accent,” he repeated.

“May
I introduce you to our fellow dignitaries. Marquises Ahmose,
Mentuhotpe, Khafe, Suphis, Apepi, Yakobaam, Sethos, Siptah, Twore,
Seti, Remesses, Pinedjem, Smendes, Meryamun, Shoshonk, Osorkon,
Darius, Piyi, Hakoris and Sheshonq,” Premier Tiberius
announced. Each time he introduced a dignitary, the man would pop up,
nod his head sombrely, and sit down again.

Jack
realised he had mentioned the name Siptah - the name given from the
Lucre Box, the Pharaoh Siptah that he was supposed to be related to.

Maybe
just a common name here,
Jack
thought, brushing it off.

Premier
Tiberius addressed Jack. “It is my pleasure to welcome you and
your friend to Jovian. Please take a seat, and we will explain the
way in which we live.”

Ben
and Nancy Dunlop were shown to their dark blue velvety cushioned
chairs, Jack and Megan sitting at their right. Premier Tiberius
waited until everyone had settled into their seats.

“It
will take a period of time for you to absorb the makeup of our world,
but I will try and explain it as best I can, as I do with all
newcomers, and as I did when your parents arrived here five years
ago,” he stated. “Our planet is comprised of only
fifty-six countries. It is a great deal smaller than Earth, but has
similar makeup for life to exist. As you are no doubt aware, the
ancient Egyptians were of an advanced race. They were, in fact, the
original people of Jovian. Kings in the early period of 2890 B.C.
were sent to Earth to begin life as it was on Jovian. Unfortunately,
evil influence and killings became apparent in the 7
^th
and 8
^th
dynasties. These are people who evolved with a bad influence over
successive generations, and that is why you have a great amount of
crime on Earth today. Also, there is a small number of like-minded
people living here on Jovian today, who wish to take control of
Earth. They are trying to infiltrate our communication system to
obtain the formula that we used to achieve with our successful
contact with you, something that has taken us years to achieve. They
have agents on Earth who were trying to intercept our communication
with you.”

“The
men from the Volvo!” Jack blurted. “I had two of them
stalking me! One time I saw them using a laptop and headphones, like
they were tapping into something.” Jack realised his outburst
and apologised.

“Yes,”
Premier Tiberius confirmed, clearing his throat, “they are the
agents we were protecting you from. They have bad intentions, due to
the fact that they have been unable to take control of Jovian.”

“You
will see why we take people who travel over the Bermuda Triangle,”
the premier continued. “We only take people who are of Egyptian
descent, as are you, to give them the opportunity to live in a world
of advanced culture and an enhancement of living, a world that has
little crime and absolutely no viruses or disabilities whatsoever.
People live in harmony, living well into their hundreds. The people
who live on Jovian are all of Egyptian descent, most of them
descending from pharaohs. You and your father are descendants of
Pharaoh Siptah. We have approximately 40,000 descendants from Pharaoh
Siptah.”

“I
have 40,000 distant cousins to meet? Cool!” Jack laughed,
showing off his immaturity.

Premier
Tiberius glanced at one of his colleagues and continued. “Our
aim is to live as primarily intended, and to develop a world of
complete harmony between mankind with no evidence of greed nor crime.
The country in which we live is called Thebes, an ancient name of an
Egyptian city on Earth. Each country has its own kingdom, run by
kings only.

“Ah,
still a man’s world, aye?” Megan quipped.

Premier
Tiberius smiled at her. “We are prosperous. The kings are all
fair and just. Our country of Thebes is run by Pharaoh Merenptah.
However, our world is reigned by a queen, Queen Meryt-Neith,”
he continued, noticing Jack’s odd reaction. “She has
combined ministerial justice with ancient traditions and beliefs,
therefore preserving Egyptian aristocracy alongside modern
jurisdiction. People do work, but there are no taxes to pay, nor do
we have rates on our land, for the land is owned by no-one. We do
not immerse ourselves in wasteful, needless materials. However,
there is that small sector that I have mentioned, who think they have
the power to overthrow our queen’s reign, but at seven percent
of the population, they are a small thorn in our sides, more like a
prickle,” he chuckled.

“Please,”
the premier said, clearing his throat again, “relax and enjoy
your evening. I’m sure you and your family have a lot of
catching up to do. A limousine will arrive at your suites at seven
sharp tomorrow morning to pick you up and take your family on a tour
of our homeland.”

They
then excused themselves.

“Well,”
Megan stated, noticing that Jack had gone quiet, “we’ll
have to have an early night tonight, won’t we? I can’t
wait to see this place.”

“Queen
Meryt-Neith,” Jack said under his breath, lost in thought.

The
family was left alone to catch up. Even Megan quietly withdrew
herself, to let Jack spend some quality time with his parents.