The Jovian Legacy (34 page)

Jack
looked lost. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I
do know that I have to get our family out of there and back here.
But how I’m going to actually do that I don’t know. I
can’t force them to come back with me. There must be some way
of reversing their loss of memory. I have to find out how the
Jovians do it. As far as they’re concerned they think I have
forgotten everything, but only as far back as where they had me
before; commissioned to carry out the introduction of GE. So, I’ll
have to play along with their little game for while.”

He
pulled Megan into him. “I’m so pleased to be back here
with you though.” Megan returned the cuddle, though still
ached to see her little sisters.

Chapter 27

T
he
Thebes Federation of Science contacted Jack straight away with the
message,
“As the
introduction of genetic engineering is well underway, we take this
opportunity of commending you for your excellent work to date, and to
convey our gratitude we have deposited a considerable bonus amount of
ten million Egyptian pounds into your account, which we trust will be
most gratefully received.”

“Hah!”
Jack retorted, “this is their bent way of making sure I’m
still focussed on their devious little plan. They’re going to
get back as good as they give,” he said, smiling to himself as
he tapped his reply message. “These guys want war, they’ll
get war!” he said with conviction and waving his fist at the
computer.

“Well...”
Megan uttered gingerly and started to caress Jack’s neck, “it’s
going to be another David and Goliath…I hope you can handle
it, Jackyboy.”

“I
can handle it,” he replied confidently. Jack was pretty fired
up.

As
days turned into weeks with little or no action, Megan was becoming
distressed, and had stopped eating properly. Each new day she grew
more pale and sickly. Jack knew he had to do something.

He
had to make sure Megan was taken care of first, so asked a lady
neighbour to keep an eye on her. He told the neighbour he had to go
away on business. Then, once Megan’s needs had been organised
and they’d given each other an extra long cuddle, Jack pushed
the Lucre Boxes together again and in a few seconds was back in his
parents’ house. He knew he had to be extremely careful this
time. He waited until one of the girls emerged into the foyer of the
house by herself.

It
was Bo. She looked like she was in a hurry and was startled to see
Jack standing there. She froze. To her it was the same intruder as
the other week, and who had been taken away by the authorities.

“Bo,
don’t be afraid please, I’m not here to hurt you,”
Jack quickly assured her.

“How
do you know my name?” Bo asked in a whisper.

“Bo,
although you don’t know who I am, I know who you are. I’m
Jack Dunlop,” he said carefully.

Bo
stared at him, her demeanour guarded. “Are you related to my
parents?” she managed to say.

“Yes.
I’m…their son, and your guardian. Your full name is Bo
Sleanne Dunlop, and you made dollies’ outfits when you were a
young girl, then as you got older you became popular for your fashion
designs, and still are. You even have a Bo Sleanne label.”
Jack stopped there, as he didn’t want to freak her out
completely, thinking he was just a creepy stalker.

“How…come
I’ve never met you before?” she asked anxiously.

Jack
took a step closer to her and carefully took hold of her hands. “We
were always a very close family up until a few months ago when I had
to carry out a mission for the Thebes Federation of Science and both
your sister Megan and I were sent away,” he carefully
explained.

“My
sister…Megan?” Bo repeated, looking like a lost little
lamb.

“Your
older sister’s name is Megan. You and your sisters are the
spitting image of her. She is beautiful, but she has a broken
heart. She misses you all terribly and wants us all back together
again.” Jack paused, aware she was thinking hard. She put her
hands to her head and shook it. Then slowly took them away and
looked straight into Jack’s eyes.

“I
remember! I remember!” she squealed. “How come I…,”
she trailed off.

“Your
memory had been wiped by the Jovian authorities, who do not want the
family to escape this place and live with us in New Zealand,”
Jack tried to elaborate, feeling so very relieved.

Jack’s
father walked in and stopped short when he saw Jack talking to his
adopted daughter. Before he had a chance to do anything, Bo jumped
up to calm him down, convincing him to hear Jack out. Jack knew if
he could get through to him then he would be halfway there to winning
them back.

His
father wasn’t showing any signs of believing him. In fact it
almost looked like he was simply going along with what Jack was
saying to bide time to alert someone else in the family to call the
authorities. Jack felt desperate. He didn’t know how else to
jog his memory. Obviously the older you were, Jack comprehended, the
less likely your memory would return.

He
didn’t know why, but he grabbed his father by the arms and
started saying the words,
“Sinestu-ipini-itxaro-ahalguzti”
over and over. Ben’s
face changed to that of annoyance to bewilderment, and then he sighed
heavily. He threw his head back and moaned. Jack could see it was
quite scary for Bo to witness. By this time the rest of the family
had gathered around, but kept their distance. Nobody said a word as
they watched their father and husband break down and give the
stranger in front of them a bear hug.

Jack
then turned to his mother and took her hands, repeating the words to
her. She too broke down and sobbed. Just from hearing Jack’s
repetition and feeling an unusual energy around them, the other girls
began to cry as their memories also returned.

Jack
felt such a huge relief and didn’t waste any time about stating
the urgency of their travel. The girls were of mixed feeling once
again, as they were being ripped from the only world they had ever
known, ripped away from their friends that they couldn’t say
goodbye to. They also wanted to bring Sobek with them. She was
their mentor, and to them, part of the family. Although Jack felt
extremely uneasy about it (another bad hunch) he decided to let her
come, as Megan would have wanted it too, so Eshe, Nina and Sakmet
went to fetch her.

The
girls had been gone far too long for Jack’s liking, and he had
a terrible feeling that something was about to go wrong. His
instincts proved right when dozens of uniformed men burst into their
home, this time marching right past Jack, and seized the girls. They
all cried out, frightened, as they were ushered outside into awaiting
cars.

Six
other uniformed men forcibly stopped Jack and Ben in their tracks
when they tried to intervene. It was once again devastating for Jack
to see them being pulled away from him, especially when he knew he’d
been so close to rescuing them. He despised the Jovian authorities
for handling them in this manner. He ran down the path after pushing
through the row of men, only to see Eshe, Sakmet, Nina and Sobek,
already detained in one of the cars, looking desperately back at him.
Jack felt so much anger and hatred within him he now understood why
people sometimes ‘lost it’.

Jack,
Ben, and Nancy Dunlop stood there in stunned silence as their girls
were abducted by the men in the black Volvo-like cars. They weren’t
solely Jovian reprobates as Jack had first thought; they were part of
the Jovian empire, who had big plans for Megan’s twenty-four
clones. And now Sobek was involved too, captured by the men who
worked for her brother.

Jack
turned to face his parents and spoke with defiance. “They’re
not going to beat us. We’re not going to let this happen. We
will get them out of here. Firstly though, for your safety’s
sake, I’m going to take you back home to Megan. Now.” He
grabbed the Lucre Boxes before they had a chance to protest, and,
with his parents’ arms linked around him, pushed the boxes
together.

Megan
got one hell of a fright. She was in the lounge gazing blankly out
the window when Jack and his parents solidified in front of her. She
jumped up and wrapped her arms tightly around Jack, then hugged Ben
and Nancy. Jack had to explain why they hadn’t returned with
the girls, and Megan’s happiness quickly dissolved into fear.
Jack had to settle her down and assure her they had part of the
family back and it was only a matter of time before they would all be
reunited again.

Megan
began to feel at ease that he would do it for her, and Jack knew he
couldn’t let her down.

Chapter 28

J
ack
spent a restless couple of nights thinking about how he would do it,
then initiated his plan of attack. He set to work on his computer
and got in touch with the people who he’d helped track down
their loved ones, and some others whom he knew he could trust.

Jack
once again gave Megan a goodbye hug and a kiss, hugged his parents
and pushed the Lucre Boxes together, smiling and saying as he was
liquefying, “This time I won’t come back empty-handed, I
promise.”

When
he arrived back on Jovian soil his first port of call was the Thebes
Federation of Research. The building was unoccupied as Jack had
anticipated, and let himself in. The laboratory was pretty much the
same as he’d left it, but this time he was there for a
different reason. His fingers flew over the keys as he hunted for
the right information. Precious minutes ticked by and Jack knew time
was of the essence. An hour and a half passed, with Jack desperately
hunting for the information he needed.

He
then heard an alarm sound off. He knew he only had minutes to spare
before he was again seized by the Jovian authorities, and probably
for good this time. In a last-ditch attempt he tried an alternate
data link, and the stuff he was looking for flashed onto the screen.
Jack’s nimble fingers sent the information onto his allies who
were waiting for it. He then left the building by a side entrance
and hastily made his way to the organised rendezvous.

Carlos
and Ewen, and all the people he’d got in contact with were
waiting and ready. Jack delegated their individual tasks and
everyone dispersed.

The
gathering of Jovian hierarchy and dignitaries was being held at the
Palace of Amon. Jack knew the girls would be there with them. He
couldn’t enter the palace as he’d be instantly detained,
so his team of helpers fell into the fold of palace guides and
security subordinates, maintaining a network of contact. Jack
monitored their individual routes via an image-transmitter, which
allowed him to relay information back to them. One of his crew was
near to the entrance from where the girls emerged escorted by
Marquises Ahmose, Yakobaam, Smendes, Darius, and Premier Tiberius.
Jack could clearly see they were frightened. Anger welled up again,
but knew he had to keep it together.
The girls
had linked arms for support. Jack ached to take them away from all
of this. The girls were then approached by another group of people.
In the middle of this group was a strikingly beautiful woman, and
Jack assumed she held a very important role observing the entourage
of men in uniforms who accompanied her.

She
must be the Queen of Jovian
.
Even
he
was
mesmerised by her beauty. He knew each country had their own king,
but the world of Jovian was controlled by a queen. He knew of her
existence but had never seen her. He then remembered what her name
was: Queen Meryt-Neith.

He
looked across at his girls again and they too were transfixed by her.
It was almost like she had cast a spell over them. The queen
radiated an aura, but her eyes were cold. Jack started to feel
extremely uneasy when she stood before the girls with her hands
splayed out and then raised them slowly up above her shoulders. The
next thing he saw was alarming, and then remembered what he’d
been forced to witness in front of the giant computer screen.
The
woman, with her eyes closed, was morphing into the Sphinx. Fear
swept through to the core as Jack watched his girls raise their heads
towards the queen. The eyes of the woman-cum-Sphinx opened, and
dazzling rays of light shot forth and into the eyes of the girls.

“
Oh
my God!
”
Jack
cried out in agony. He knew it was too late. He felt his heart
collapse as he witnessed the lifeblood being sucked from Megan’s
beautiful clones. Jack fell to his knees, the pain slicing through
him like a knife. He gasped in horror as he watched each of them
crumple to the palace floor. The woman had become an enormous
Sphinx, just as he’d been shown.
Its
eyes opened, and a blinding, piercing colourful ray of light shone
over the surrounding land. Forming within the rainbow of colour were
the words,
“Sinestu-ipini-itxaro-ahalguzti”,
and a
thunderous cheering enveloped the countryside.

Just as he’d seen.