The Royal Pursuit (19 page)

The cab driver honked his horn,
breaking him out of his thoughts. He took a deep breath as he
turned to his suitcase. He would meet up with both Captain Reed and
the man in white shortly. He had everything carefully planned, and
by the time he arrived on Atlantis, he expected it to be above
water again and fully operational. He would take care of Ann at
that time.

The cab driver honked the horn again.
He grimaced at the driver’s impatience. When people realized how
much he was worth, they would never honk at him again. William
Nichols picked up his suitcase and left his apartment.

Chapter
Sixteen

Central Arc

Planet: Aug

The planet Aug was similar to Earth,
and every city was an exact duplicate of Atlantis in its
appearance, from the color of the buildings to the furniture. The
only difference that a person could detect was the lack of
pictures.

The Augurs had long ago forbidden the
use of cameras. They saw pictures as self-seeking since people
they’d dealt with who’d hung pictures of themselves up developed
bigger egos than they should have had. If their past had taught
them anything, it was the quest for self-pleasure and glory often
hindered someone else’s rights.

The Augurs desperately sought for
equality on all levels, which was why Gaius’ role as their leader
was in name only. It was for the benefit of their intergalactic
relations. Other beings were insistent upon a hierarchy of
authority, so to make them comfortable, the Augurs decided Gaius
would be their spokesperson.

Gaius stood in his office, barely
noticing the flurry of activity outside his large oval window. He
calmly waited for his team to get ready for their rendezvous with
Hathor. Soon it would be time to act. Timing was of the utmost
importance. The future of their planet of birth depended on it.
They could not allow the man named William Nichols to succeed in
his plan to revive Atlantis.

The original city of Atlantis was once
a thriving and highly advanced city on Earth. It was the Augurs’
birthplace. Had it not been for the greed of one man, they would
still be there today. Gaius and the present day Augurs had reviewed
the accounts of Avar who quickly rose to power on Atlantis, and
upon receiving the same status as the head six leaders Zeus, Hera,
Demeter, Hades, Hestia, and Poseidon, he threatened to destroy all
of them.

The six leaders had created a race of
people called the Augurs in their quest for the perfect human
being. The perfect human could not lie and would only seek the good
of others. Their wisdom was unmatched by anyone else. Through
countless genetic experiments, they were able to perfect their
goal, giving the Augurs life. The current day Augurs were
descendants of this special race of people.

Avar was supposed to be the highest
form of perfection of all the Augurs. He did not have one single
flaw, save his pride. His pride brought about the destruction of
Atlantis, condemning everyone on the island to either seek out a
new planet to live on, seek out another location on Earth to flee
to, or die as the infamous city sank into the ocean.

The six leaders chose to take most of
their experiments and their children with them to a country called
Greece. The Augurs, in their superior intelligence and wisdom,
pleaded with them to seek out another planet, but the six leaders
wanted to stay on Earth. They offered the Augurs all of the
technology they had developed in exchange for the Stone of
Immortality the Augurs had found in the bowels of the city. The
Augurs agreed and the trade was made. As they destroyed Avar in a
bitter war, Atlantis sank into the ocean.

The Augurs knew that, put in the wrong
hands, immortality would be a curse on mankind. That was why
William threatened them. He was on his way to not only resurrect
Atlantis and its impressive technological instruments, but he would
capture the immortal powers of the Olympians. Gaius knew William
had seen his future, specifically Amanda’s success in destroying
Atlantis and all of its knowledge. In doing so, she would not only
save Earth and Olympia, she would eventually save Aug.

Gaius sighed. The burden of watching
over such technology was heavy at times, but the Augurs were
created for the purpose of guarding it from anyone who would abuse
it. The time to act was soon. William’s arrival to Atlantis would
be the time to travel through the portal in their world that would
take them to Earth.

At that time, they would seek out
Hathor who would protect the child Ann carried. Hathor was critical
to that particular mission, which was why it was crucial to the
Augurs that he didn’t die on Lone.

He slowly exhaled, suddenly realizing
that he had been holding his breath. Timing. Everything had to go
in a certain order and at the right time.

***

Atlantis

Planet: Earth

“
It’s a good thing we
brought extra scuba gear,” Stephen said.

Ann felt confined in the outfit, but
she was intrigued by Atlantis, so she was more than happy to put up
with it. She glanced over at Hathor who looked as uncomfortable as
she was. There was a benefit to being a mermaid after all, she
reflected. Still, she was relieved to be back in her regular human
body.

Stacey and Kent had seemed excited by
the things they found, especially in the arc that dominated the
center of the city.

“
We have pictures and video
of what we found, but seeing it in person is much better,” Stacey
said as they left the submarine.

Stephen and Mark decided to stay
behind to download their latest pictures, video, and other data
into the computer, leaving them alone for the time
being.

“
You mentioned that another
person came with you,” Hathor said.

“
Captain Reed,” Stacey
replied. “He’s still at the arc. He’s fascinated by a certain
instrument we found there.”

Ann looked at her. “Are you going to
tell us what that instrument is?”

“
It would be neat to see
your expression when you see it. This is the thing that will amaze
everyone who hears about it.”

They swam through the water toward the
arc.

Ann stared in awe at the beautiful
buildings. “Shouldn’t this place be falling apart?”

“
Yes, it should,” Kent
replied. “We collected samples of the buildings to see if we can
identify the material they used to build them. Another thing you’ll
find is that the inside of these buildings are just as immaculate
as the outside. Even the furniture and pictures are perfectly
preserved.”

“
I guess the fish like to
keep this place clean,” Ann joked.

No one laughed. It figured. People
rarely thought her jokes were actually funny. She shrugged and kept
swimming with the others.

“
Here we are,” Stacey
announced, though it wasn’t necessary.

They settled in front of the
arc.

“
We noticed a theme in this
building,” Stacey began as she opened the door and led them in.
“There are offices by the steps. The steps go all the way to the
top. At the top is one large room where a mysterious device is, the
one that I mentioned earlier, the one that can tell the
future.”

Ann scanned the room and looked as far
up as the scuba gear let her.

“
I’ve never seen a building
this tall before,” Hathor said.

“
This is nothing compared
to some buildings on Earth,” Ann commented as she walked over to a
couch. She touched it and shook her head. “You can almost feel how
soft it is through your glove.”

“
So people on Earth like to
build tall buildings?” Hathor asked Kent.

“
Big planes, big ships, big
cars, big houses…” Kent smiled. “I guess we like to impress other
people.”

“
I’m impressed,” he
admitted.

Stacey waved Ann over to a wall. “This
is the side where the women in this place worked. The men worked on
the other side. I only know this because each room along the steps
has a featured picture of the person who worked in the office, and
every featured picture on this side of the arc is of a different
woman.”

“
And they probably all got
together at the top of the arc?” Ann guessed.

“
I hadn’t considered that,
but it makes sense. It seems that they liked to balance opposites.
Men work on one side and women on the other. The men wore black
clothes and women wore white clothes. In the main pictures we see,
there are three men and three women. Equal in clothes, number, and
gender. I think it’s because they wished to maintain a sense of
equality.”

Ann made it to the wall where Stacey
was pointing at one of the many pictures of the six people. Ann
gasped.

“
What is it?” Stacey
asked.

“
I know them.” Ann reached
out to touch the picture, as if it would make the people come out
and talk to her. “These are the Olympians on planet Olympia. We
took Greek Mythology together. Those are the gods and goddesses who
the Greeks and Romans worshiped.”

Stacey’s mouth dropped open. “No way.
That was mythology. This is real life.”

“
I know it sounds bizarre.
Hey, I’ll prove it.” She turned to the men who were talking by the
staircase. “Hathor! Will you come over here?” She looked at Stacey.
“He never took mythology, so if he recognizes them, then you’ll
know I’m telling you the truth. Okay?”

Stacey nodded.

“
What is it?” Hathor asked,
coming over to them.

“
What do you think of this
picture?” Ann asked.

He blinked in shock. “What were the
Olympians doing here?”

“
See?” Ann pointed
out.

“
What’s going on?” Kent
wondered as he approached them.

“
Ann said these people are
the gods and goddesses found in Greek and Roman mythology. She said
they are the Olympians. Those are the same people who had that
stone that made them immortal until some alien species called the
Nigals took it.”

“
Nicals,” Hathor corrected
her.

“
Right. Nicals. How do you
two keep all this information straight?”

“
It takes a while.” Ann
smiled. “I used to get certain species confused when I started my
reign on Raz.”

Hathor pointed to each person in the
picture. “That’s Zeus, Hero, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia.
We deal mostly with Zeus. Zeus is the head god, and since Ann is
the queen, they are the ones who speak for their
planets.”

“
Zeus is like a second
father to me,” Ann admitted.

“
These are their Greek
names on this picture frame,” Stacey recalled. “They had different
names in Rome. That’s why they seemed so familiar to me. I don’t
believe it.”

“
I never studied
mythology,” Kent said. “Who are these people?”

“
Well, they are siblings,”
Ann answered. “Cronus and Rhea were their parents. In mythology,
Cronus found out that one of his children would take over his
position, so he swallowed each child as they were born. When Rhea
gave birth to the youngest, Zeus, she swaddled a stone in a blanket
so Cronus would think it was the baby. Cronus fell for her trick
and swallowed the rock. She hid Zeus until he was old enough to
defeat his dad. At that time, Zeus became the head god and let his
brothers and sisters out of Cronus’ stomach so that they ruled with
him on Mount Olympus. Only, it wasn’t Mount Olympus where they
began their reign. It was here on Atlantis.”

“
I don’t think Cronus
really swallowed his children either,” Hathor added. “From what I
was taught about them, Cronus threw them into a cellar and kept
them there until Zeus freed them.”

“
The other version is more
sensational,” Stacey said.

“
How did Cronus know that
one of his children would take over his leadership position?” Ann
wondered.

“
I don’t know but he did,”
Hathor replied.

“
I can tell you the answer
to that one,” Stacey said. “It all has to do with what we found at
the top of this building. It’s in that large room up there.” She
pointed up. “Kent was the first one to find it.”

“
It doesn’t work anymore,
but it used to be a large screen that the Atlantians used to see
their future,” Kent filled in when she motioned for him to speak.
“Cronus must have developed it early in Atlantis’ history and
foresaw his own demise.”

“
There’s a future
prediction machine up there?” Ann asked, not hiding her
skepticism.

“
It’s just as probable as
you returning to Earth from another planet,” Stacey pointed
out.

“
Well, I know. But this is
Earth we’re talking about. I mean, Earth is not
advanced.”

“
Not anymore,” Kent argued.
“At one time, it was highly advanced, but the knowledge was
confined to this city.”

“
Apparently, Earthlings
weren’t ready for it since Atlantis sank to the ocean floor,”
Hathor commented.