The Jovian Legacy (15 page)

Noticing
Megan’s glazed look, Timos said, “It’s a Lucre Box.
It will bring you ultimate discovery.”

Not
wanting Timos to suspect that she already knew something about the
box she kept a poker face and politely thanked him. After all, it
was just an empty trinket box; she felt she might as well not hurt
his feelings. However, she was still a little perturbed as to why an
intelligent young medical student would be gullible enough to believe
in such rubbish.

When
Megan arrived home that afternoon she placed the Lucre Box on her
bedside table beside the photo of her and Jack taken on a beach back
in New Zealand. She picked up the photo and her mind wandered back.

Our
beaches really were beautiful
.
It occurred to her then that they hadn’t seen any beaches on
Jovian as yet. Everything else they had seen on Jovian, and although
their countryside and bush in New Zealand was one of the most
beautiful in the world, Jovian definitely would have won the award.

Maybe
the coast is nicer too,
she
thought, making a mental note to ask Jack to see if he can organise a
trip out to the coast of Thebes.

At
that moment she saw a rainbow of colours sparkle off the gold
inscription on the Lucre Box. She thought it must have been the
afternoon sun, but when she picked it up she saw the colours rolling
across the lettering again, even though she was holding it in the
shade. The message read,
“Sinestu-ipini-itxaro-ahalguzti”.
She felt sure she had read
that same wording in the gallery that day.

Megan
sat on her bed not knowing what to do, whether to ring Jack and tell
him about it, or to brush it off. Knowing Timos, Megan thought, he’d
simply given her some elaborate gimmicky toy to try and impress her.
The med student was around nineteen and had, she thought, a serious
crush on her.

Cradle
snatcher,
she said under her
breath, still annoyed at him.

Perhaps
it’s better not to worry Jack over nothing,
she
wondered, and decided to keep it to herself until Timos’s silly
crush had blown over.

As
usual the family spent a nice evening talking about different things
and what they were going to do on the weekend. At Megan’s
suggestion, Jack was going to organise a trip out to the coast with
his parents and stay overnight at beach accommodation, even though it
was a relatively quick trip in their newly acquired utility air
vehicle - AVs as everyone called them - vehicles that could escape
the older means of transportation, and that had become very popular
with racy young Jovian business people.

“See
you in the morning.” Jack said in a singsong voice as they
prepared for bed.

“Okay,
see ya,” Megan replied cheerfully. She felt happy and safe
with Jack and his Mum and Dad.

At
a late hour Megan put down her book and turned off her bedside lamp.
As she dozed off she became aware of colourful rays moving around on
the walls of her room. She sat upright and saw a shooting ray of
light emitting from her Lucre Box. She picked it up and opened the
lid. The whole interior of the box was filled with a luminous green
light. Lettering appeared, forming into Egyptian words. Megan had
been there long enough to understand the language.

She
deciphered the Egyptian words.
“Your
soul is one with Pharaoh Siptah, King of Egypt, ruler of the 19
^th
Dynasty. You have been chosen by Queen Meryt-Neith, Ruler of Jovian.
Your children are destined to be the new rulers of Jovian.”

“My
children?!” Megan exclaimed in shock. “This, I have got
to tell Jack about!”

With
trembling hands she grabbed her link screen to connect directly to
Jack’s. Her fingers were strangely unable to touch the
buttons, as if there was a magnetic force stopping them. Then
another force pulled her fingers back to the Lucre Box like they had
a will of their own. Her fingers involuntarily feathered over the
gold inscription on the lid. Luminous green light shot through her
fingers with a tingling sensation running up her arm and engulfing
her body. Megan felt as though she was being levitated off the
floor, and indeed she was. Then, a bright green ray of light shot
through her window and enveloped her. She experienced the sensation
of weightlessness, and everything went blank. Within a few seconds
she felt her feet back on the floor again, but realised it wasn’t
her bedroom she was standing in.

Megan
found herself in a dimly lit room with a sleek black leather lounge
suite, a colourful red rug and a roaring fire. Megan glimpsed at her
reflection in the large mirror that was positioned above the
fireplace, its gold edging reflecting the raging fire. She observed
that she was still in her pyjamas, which she found a little
frightening considering she didn’t have any idea who might walk
through the door. At that moment the door opened, but thankfully a
young woman in her early twenties strolled through, carrying a velvet
coat. She smiled as she draped the coat over Megan’s shoulders
and introduced herself. Megan quickly slid her arms into the coat
and buttoned it up. Oddly, Megan warmed towards this woman.

“I
am Sobek. My brother is Timos, who I understand is a friend of
yours.” She spoke with such eloquence.

“Your
brother is Timos?” Megan felt uneasy again as she realised this
strange thing that just happened was his doing.

Timos
entered the room. He approached Megan and kissed her hand. She
instinctively pulled her hand. She’d had enough of him and his
antics.

“Please,
do not be angry. There is nothing to be afraid of,” Timos
assured her.

“Angry?
I have a right to be angry. What do you think you are playing at?
Where am I and what’s with all the levitation?” Oh, Megan
was definitely angry.

“Calm
down,” he said evenly, passing Megan a mug of something. It
wasn’t a cup of tea.

“What
this? Are you going to drug me now?” Megan accused.

“No,”
Timos replied with a lilt in his voice, “it’s a fusion of
herbs. It’ll calm you down, that’s all.” Megan
cautiously took the mug and drank the concoction, instantly feeling
relaxed and warm inside. She felt wonderful in fact.

Jovian
people certainly know their stuff as far as their food is concerned,
Megan thought, surrendering.
She sat down on the black leather chair with Sobek politely sitting
across from her, and Timos in another chair, his legs crossed,
studying her.

“So…why
am I here then?” Megan asked calmly.

“You
have been chosen, as you are special to us,” Timos began,
shifting his posture and leaning in toward her. He looked like he
was about to reveal something important. “We are what others
would call the thorn in their sides, but we do not consider ourselves
wrongdoers. All we want is to govern this world the way we see fit,
as we know that our way is better, a way that everyone will greatly
benefit from.”

Megan’s
memory was jogged back to when they’d first arrived here from
Earth, when Premier Tiberius spoke at the media conference.
“They
have agents that were sent to Earth some time ago who were trying to
intercept our communication with you...
”

She
looked at Timos and knew he was one of those people. Megan suddenly
felt afraid, but as soon as she did she immediately relaxed. She
didn’t want to feel relaxed; she knew she was in the wrong
place.

Timos
smiled knowingly, and spoke in a controlling manner. “Megan,
you are here for us to achieve our goal. You were Jovian’s
first Earth clone, genetically engineered from the DNA of two
half-sisters. We are going to clone you again and again. And with
an extra ingredient thrown in.” Timos’s eyes had turned
a steely grey. Megan felt that shrill of fear dart through her
again, but just as quickly she felt the relaxed sensation envelope
her again; a yoyo of emotions like a pot being taken on and off the
boil. It was starting to peeve her off.

She
wondered what he meant by ‘extra ingredient’. “Well,
I’m sorry, Timos,” she stiffly stated while looking at
him square in the face. “But I don’t want to be cloned
over and over just for you to have hundreds of Megans living in
Thebes. For your information, I’m not going to be a production
line for a Barbie doll factory.”

Timos
smiled and glared at her with his slate-grey eyes. “I’m
afraid you have no choice, my dear. And what’s more, your
clones are destined to be used to create our ultimate ruler. You
see, our present ruler, Queen
Meryt-Neith
is coming to the end of her reign. Her DNA will also be utilised in
our cloning program.
”

The
extra ingredient
, she realised,
shocked.

Chapter 10

M
egan’s
friend Andrea had wondered why Megan hadn’t turned up at
school, as she knew that Megan didn’t want to miss that day’s
lecture. It was an important one. Megan had even pencilled it in
her diary. Yet she knew Timos hadn’t turned up either, but
couldn’t really give a rat’s bum about him; she knew he
was a slime ball. The only thing she didn’t know was the
extent of his sliminess.

Andrea
wondered whether Megan might be feeling sick and in bed, but then
also wondered why she hadn’t left a message on her link screen.
She tried to contact Megan, but her screen merely said she was
unavailable. She decided to go over to Megan’s house after
school.

When
Andrea arrived at the Dunlop household Jack was arriving home from
work. During the day he’d become concerned as well, as he and
Megan usually kept in touch during their breaks. When Andrea told
him that Megan hadn’t turned up for school it caused him more
worry.

“I
had to start early this morning so didn’t have breakfast with
her,” Jack told Andrea.

The
blinds in her bedroom were still down. Her bed sheets were pulled
down but not messed up, telling them that she had only had a brief
spell in bed. Andrea spotted Megan’s satchel that she always
took to school. In it were her books ready for that day. Her link
phone was still sitting on her bedside cabinet, showing that Andrea
had left a message and numerous other calls from Jack trying to reach
her. Andrea and Jack looked at each other in silence, knowing that
something was definitely wrong. Megan always had her phone with her.
Then Jack noticed the Lucre Box. He picked it up and opened it. It
was empty.

“What…what
is she doing with this?” Jack had turned white.

“What
is it?” Andrea asked, starting to feel a little scared herself
after seeing Jack’s reaction.

“It’s
a Lucre Box, I had one once,” Jack answered, not knowing why he
felt so terrified of it.

“A
Lucre Box? Oh my goodness!” Andrea exclaimed, staring at it
and backing away.

“What?”
he asked quickly.

“They’re…evil.
They were introduced by the Jovian secret criminal organisation, who
made a habit of presenting them as a gift to people who they wanted
to use for their benefit.” Andrea had to sit down as she
suddenly felt sick.

She
held her stomach and took a deep breath. “They told people
that it would bring them discovery and make the recipient feel like
they were lucky to have it. Once the box was handled by its
recipient it would create a hold over them.”

“Sweet
Mother of Jesus,” Jack whispered, bracing himself before
slumping to the floor. He buried his head in his knees. He had a
flashback of his tenth birthday and the present he received from Nick
Findlay. He didn’t want to think about what might have
happened if his parents hadn’t taken the box away from him on
the pretence of taking it back to the shop. In any case, he told
himself, he had no right to be thinking of his own welfare at a time
like this.

“Poor
Megan - what have they done to her?” he cried, feeling
helpless. His parents heard their raised voices and rushed into
Megan’s room.

Within
an hour the family had a visit by Thebes Government officials. A law
enforcement agency didn’t actually exist in Thebes, or anywhere
else on Jovian, due to little crime.

“So
how come some scum out of the seven percent of Jovian’s
population of crims had to single us out?” Jack questioned them
angrily.

This
was the second meeting with Premier Tiberius, the first being when
they were officially welcomed by him to their new, crime-free home.
When Premier Tiberius and his team of Government officials finished
offering their assurances that Megan would be found and returned, Ben
and Nancy Dunlop felt relieved, but Jack wasn’t totally
convinced. He always had the opinion that people in high places
enjoyed giving out false senses of security, especially at election
time when politicians made rash promises to secure more votes. That
was in his old home country though.

Something
about their manner bugged him, however.

That
night Jack lay in bed and thought about his beloved girlfriend. His
heart ached and he wanted to hold her, wanted to protect her. He
knew he should have been there for her.