Jack James and the Call of the Tanakee

by J. Joseph Wright

  Jack didn’t think he’d ever get over the looks of the outfit they put on him. Not for its appearance. To tell the truth, he could have gotten used to that. It had sharp contours and these mean, dazzling streaks of lightning constantly rippling through embossed channels in the surface, creating intricate patterns and symbols, much like the inner workings of the Eteea machines. The problem was just that the first time he’d seen the suit, Argus had it on.

  “Are we all ready for the procedure?” the commander sounded impatient.

  “I’m ready,” boasted Argus.

  “Yes,” Commander Klein thrust out his lower lip. “Of course you are. We’re waiting for Jack, it seems.”

  “We’re always waiting for Jack,” Argus smiled and glared at the same time. Jack only shook his head, fumbling with the headset they had on each of the children.

  “This is too tight. Why do we have to wear these things, anyway? We don’t need them.”

  “Yes, but we need them,” the commander said. “You may have powers of telepathy, but we don’t. And when you make contact, I need to have a record of it. A map, if you will, showing me the locations of the Children of the Blue Crystal.”

  “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Amelia said. “I mean, what if the map gets into the wrong hands?”

  “We’re one of the most secure, if not the most secure, military facilities on this planet,” the commander assured her. “Our technology is post-state of the art, meaning we possess the kind of resources even the big boys don’t get to play with.”

  “You mean toys like us?” Amelia asked.

  The commander paused. He tried to seem patient, but Jack sensed his frustration a mile away.

  “We don’t have time to argue about the merits of my methods, Amelia. This is a serious time. A very serious time for all of us. For the whole planet. The whole universe.”

  Amelia looked at her lap for a moment, and Jack could have sworn he saw her wipe away a tear. Then she straightened up in her seat.

  “We’ve got a job to do,” she looked at Jack, then at Argus. “Let’s do it.”

  Three technicians, one for each child, approached the circle carrying stainless steel boxes like sleek serving trays. Lifting the lids in unison, they revealed the Eteea machines. Jack, right away, set his sights on the O/A, but it was placed in front of Argus. Jack was given the one he’d used before, the Amber Machine. He’d noticed the first time he’d held it that it didn’t seem to possess quite the same strength as the O/A. Still, the machine was a powerful one, as Jack would soon find out.

  The children took their machines at the same time. It wasn’t a practiced or coordinated event. It just seemed to happen that way. Each device began to hum then vibrate then whistle in unison. To Jack it felt as if the machines were talking to each other. They were communicating their happiness, their deep, pure joy to be in each other’s company once again. Jack’s heart filled at the feeling, the intense euphoria of the moment, a reunion of sorts. A family reunion. They were brothers and sisters, relatives of a higher order, bonded by affection for each other. Bonded by Eteea.

  Jack let the wave of bliss wash over him, breathing deep and slow, feeling almost like he was going to slip away, off into some distant dimension before he even powered up the omnidimensional field.

  “They’re entering the psychic state already, sir,” a scientist announced, eyes planted firmly on his monitor, fingers flying over a semitransparent keyboard.

  “Good,” the commander said. “Good. Let them acclimate to the new environment.”

  “Beginning acclimation process,” another scientist answered, and pressed in the appropriate commands at her station.

  The commander turned his attention to the giant holoscreens, which showed all manner of calculations. Jack could have made sense of it had he not been in the midst of the greatest bout of pure happiness probably ever experienced by a human being. Amelia stared at her Eteea machine and just smiled, her face pinkish with starbursts. She was feeling it, for sure. Her soft smile and her deep breaths weren’t the only things Jack was getting from her. Undeniably, he heard her voice. Soft and calm. Gentle yet distinct, she answered him with her mind.

  “There are no words to describe this bliss.”

  Then Jack spied Argus’s face, and right away felt something odd. Argus seemed anxious, like he was getting stage fright all of a sudden. Amelia appeared too enraptured to notice, and Jack, still in the midst of the incredible euphoria, had no real way to call her attention to it. He had no time, anyway.

  “All right, kids,” the commander rolled his finger on a touchscreen, and a map of Earth appeared on the biggest of the gigantic monitors. “Let’s find your fellow Eteeans.”

  Jack kept his eyes on Argus, but then had to turn his attention to his own task—command the omnidimensional field. He knew one slight break in concentration, one slip in confidence, and the whole thing could collapse like a house of cards, and, as evidenced by his father, he could potentially destroy their underground base and everyone in it. So he had to focus fully and without distraction on his machine.

  The device’s power jolted his muscles. He held on tight and pressed, collapsing his palms together, willing the machine to its highest setting. He saw out of the corners of his vision the others were doing the same. It still bothered him to no end Argus was using the O/A, but the Eteea machine in his hands communicated with him that it was up to the task completely. Right then, he felt the power surge and saw his own likenesses cascading toward him, merging, adding incalculable strength, both mentally and physically.

  “Maximum Omnidimensional power achieved!” spouted a random scientist.

  “Outstanding!” the commander shouted over the steady beats originating from the machines, each one resonating on its own frequency, accumulating in a perfect three-part harmony. The compassion, the connection, the love these beings shared was the most heartfelt emotion Jack had ever experienced. The power of so many dimensions, raw and unchecked, all funneling into the most benevolent force imaginable. That’s why, when Jack looked at Argus, he couldn’t understand how such a potent force for good would allow someone evil to use it. That meant, despite Jack’s every instinct otherwise, Argus must have been good. He must have been. In that case Jack had no choice but to put Argus out of his mind and zero in on the commander’s orders.

  “Now, all of you, focus your thoughts. Reach out to the Children of the Blue Crystal. Find where they are…please.”

  “But how would we even know where to start?” Jack said.

  The commander smiled.

  “We have a special new arrival to the Black Pyramid,” he motioned to the entrance and the portal membrane fizzled open, revealing a tall aged woman in a purple sequined shawl.

  “Teresa Tree, at your service,” she bowed.

  “Teresa!” Jack and Amelia shouted at once. The walls rumbled and the ceiling cracked. White-clad scientists ran for cover to avoid flying debris.

  “Careful!” Commander Klein warned. “You guys are on max omni-power!”

  “Sorry.”

  Though he wanted to desperately, Jack had no time to talk with Teresa. Somehow he got the feeling it didn’t matter. With a wink and a nod, she told him she already knew what was going on and how he felt. And it was especially clear when she gave Argus a furtive glance.

  “I’ve traveled a long way to be here with you, my children. Traveled here with a little help from my friends. Now I must ask for your ears as I tell you a tale, a tale of a fateful day,” she reached into her shawl and produced a palm-sized book, almost too tiny to read. Jack marveled at how such an old lady could read such a small book without glasses. She did, though, and quite well too.

  “This day is truly historic, for it is the day of the Assemblage. The day the Children of the Blue Crystal all come together as one. The time has come for the end of this war, of eons and eons of bloodshed and sorrow. Time for an end to Essinis.”

  Jack closed his eyes and saw something
quite similar to his holoversarium—only instead of stars, comets, and planets, he saw small, shapeless forms, fuzzy and bright and colorful. And warm. They seemed to give off their own heat. Heat that made Jack feel so at ease he could have fallen asleep.

  “From the five cardinal directions, the sound is heard, the connection is made, the voices are received,” Teresa read. “To the Children of the Blue Crystal we send this message: Join us! Gather together today, this day of days. Awaken inside of yourselves the spirit of Eteea!”

  The multihued, cloudy shapes moved with Teresa’s voice, slowly at first, then faster, dancing to an unheard tune, the happiest music known to man. It reminded Jack of the inside of the O/A, or the other Eteea machines. A complicated, orchestrated ballet, with each of the blurred entities taking an exact place in the complex and intricate design. Parts in a machine. The working mechanisms of a giant device. Only Jack felt he was one of the parts, and the device was the universe.

  “As the first Eteeans search for you,” Teresa continued. “They seek your power, and ask you to help them. Help to find our way out of the darkness, for as you reveal yourselves, you reveal truth, hope and love in our fellow man. We will overcome this torturous beast known as Essinis and their vile servants, the Nagas.”

  Jack felt a sudden disturbance in the ocean of good feelings. Slightly, almost outside the range of perception. He turned his attention to the other two children quickly, wondering if any of them sensed it. Amelia looked at peace. Argus seemed like he was trying to convey calmness, though a tiny crack in his façade came through for just a second when he opened his eyes. Knowing he’d been spotted, Jack looked away, bowing his head and once again letting his mind drift with Teresa’s words.

  “We ask you to join us on this next step of our journey, all you wonderful, gifted souls. You’ve known from birth you’ve been selected for this honor. All the children who’ve felt outcast because you’re different. All the boys and girls who’ve felt lost in this world, rudderless, without bearing. Let these words be your compass. Let my voice be your beacon in the night, your lighthouse guiding you safely into harbor!”

  Jack noticed a wondrous thing. The hazy shapes took on the appearance of faces, ghostly images of children of all ages and nationalities. One by one, they passed his inner sights, brushing against his astral body, filling him with even more good tidings than before. He saw other things too, namely a giant, circular plane, invisible on the inside like glass. He saw lines, curved and jagged and irregular. Looking closer, he realized the lines formed a topographical chart, oceans and continents, the Earth represented as a whole like a map.

  “And so the Children hear the words of the storyteller, words that bind, that mend this fabric of hope and togetherness and cooperation. They heed these words because they know, as we all here know—that without each other, without the formulated power of the Eteeans, we will not survive. And if we do not survive, the Earth, the universe, and all who live in it will not survive.”

  The map became clearer and clearer to Jack as Teresa read. And all over, signified by those hazy points of light, places were illuminating, glowing and pulsing on the globe one by one, here, there, and everywhere. Across North America, down through Central and South America, then over to Africa, Asia, Europe, the Far East, and South Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand. From every reach of the planet the lights originated, each blinking softly, gently, acknowledging Teresa’s request.

  Jack perceived so many different children in so many different places, he thought he was seeing the world from space, watching the city lights of all the major population centers in the world. However, the more scrutiny he placed on his observations, the more he concluded the lights weren’t necessarily in big cities. In fact, many of the beacons were far off, in remote reaches, where even simple luxuries such as electricity and running water must have been unattainable.

  Then to Jack’s amazement, he determined they were hovering in space. Jack, Amelia, and Argus, orbiting like satellites, taking in the unfolding action below.

  Jack, with his Eteea machine, did a quick geographical survey. In a fraction of a second, he traveled the surface of the planet, which was, he confirmed quickly, the real Earth, not just a map. He encountered people of different ages, races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, economic statuses. One thing he learned was Eteea seemed not to discriminate. Boy or girl, rich or poor, black, white or any color in between, it didn’t matter. It only wanted those who were true to heart, who had old souls, and who cared about other living beings.

  “And when the connection was complete,” Teresa read her final sentence. “The map was complete.”

  “We have the coordinates, sir!” a tech shouted to a jubilant cheer from the others as they sprang from their workstations.

  “All right!” the commander added to the revelry, then cleared his throat. “But we can’t celebrate yet. We have to safeguard the data.”

  One of the technicians answered. “Sir! We’re correlating and encrypting the data right now.”

  “That won’t be necessary!” Argus rose from his chair and, using the O/A’s power, hovered above ground. Jack knew something was wrong, and willed himself into the air to challenge. Argus reacted quickly, sending a robust bolt of energy and knocking Jack down, dislodging the Eteea machine from his grip. Argus flicked his wrist and drew the Amber Machine to his hand.

  “Argus! What are you doing!” Amelia tried the same thing Jack had tried, and once again Argus got the jump on her, tossing her aside with a furious burst from the O/A, while snatching her machine.

  “Argus! No!” the commander stood frozen, his eyes wide.

  “Shut UP!” Argus sent a purplish-blue bolt of lightning at him, pushing him back several cumbersome steps. He fell motionless.

  “NO!” Amelia started for her father. Argus put a quick end to her advance.

  “Nobody move!” he pressed the holographic display, and the whole compound seemed to explode in red lights and emergency sirens. Within seconds, several soldiers rushed in, each one confused and agitated.

  “They’re all traitors!” Argus implicated everyone in the room, even the scientists and technicians, saving a last, accusing gesture for Jack and Amelia. “They just tried to take over the Eteeans by attacking the commander.”

  “He’s my father!” Amelia screamed. “Why would I want to harm him?”

  “This is ridiculous!” Liz shouted.

  “Indeed,” Teresa kept her keen eye on Argus. “Can’t you people see this boy is a fraud?”

  The soldiers seemed even more perplexed. Argus set them straight.

  “You all saw Amelia quarreling with her father. She hates him, and she tried to start an insurrection. She got Jack to come to her side…along with his family and that storytelling witch. Take them all into custody!”

  The technicians and scientists murmured at each other over the turn of events. Rory stood and challenged Argus’s claim.

  “But that’s not what happened!” she countered. Argus let a blinding flash of light loose from the O/A, hitting her in the chest. She fell onto her desk, unconscious, but not before she hit a command on her work screen, closing the holographic display—the children’s locations, names—all pertinent data removed.

  “What did you do!” Argus shouted. “What did you do!”

  “She must have coded the data with quantum cryptography,” Ben said. “You won’t be able to get your hands on it now. That was what you wanted all along, wasn’t it?”

  The soldiers failed to act, tilting their heads in confusion.

  “Don’t listen to them,” Argus directed confidently. “Take them all to the detention level—the scientists too…they’re all in on it!”

  Jack took three steps toward his foe, and that’s as far as he got. In a blinding flash and roar of thunder, Takota appeared, aiming a suspicious look at his former friend.

  “What’s going on?” Takota demanded. “Argus? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,�
�� he said. “But Jack and his little group are all traitors, and I’m locking them up.”

  “That’s not true!” Jack was desperate. It showed in the way his voice cracked. “Takota, he’s the traitor! He wants to destroy us, can’t you see that?”

  “All I see is a liar, a cheat, and a scoundrel,” Takota’s upper lip curled in anger. He nodded to the guards. “Take them away.”

  “You won’t get away with this, Argus!” Jack shouted as two armed men forced him to the door.

  “Oh, no?” Argus taunted. “What are you going to do about it? I’ve got your machine. I’ve got your protector. And soon I’ll have all the data on the Children I need.”

  “For what, Argus!” Amelia demanded. She too was being led out to the hallway. “Say it! What do you plan to do!”

  Argus said nothing more. He only nodded to the soldiers as the entryway membrane fizzled and shimmered apart to let them pass, then reassembled and reconnected until it closed once again.

  TWENTY-NINE

  “YOU KNOW, YOU’VE got a really nice place here,” Takota said. Davos remained motionless, aside from his living, undulating hair. But that was always in motion. “I mean it, really. So light and bright. But this fog, what’s that about?”

  Silence.

  “Come on, Davos. We’re here together. We might as well be civil and talk to each other. Why is this place filled with steam all the time?”

  Davos exhaled angrily.

  “This is the cloud empire of the Nagas.”

  “Cloud empire? I’ve heard about this place. Heard it was only a myth.”

  “You heard wrong,” he chuckled. “Just like you get most everything else wrong.”

  “Oh I do?” Takota said. “Then why are you here right now? Seems like I did something right the first time we met. You didn’t do so well then, did you?”