by PJ Hoover
“I feel it to,” Benjamin said. “And you’re right. It’d be impossible to miss.”
Phoebe reached into her bag and pulled out the three heart engraving tool she’d taken from Atlantis. She held it out for him.
“You see this?” she said.
Benjamin nodded and took it from her. “You took it from your rooms in Atlantis.”
She nodded, not even asking how he knew. “It belonged to our mother.”
Benjamin felt himself suck in air and stop breathing. “Our birth mother?”
Phoebe nodded. “Caelus never knew where I got it, but when I was only about five years old, someone delivered it to me with a note. The note told me it had belonged to my mother.” She looked at the heart pattern. “I don’t know why I never told Caelus where I got it, but now I know he’d probably have taken it away.”
“He never loved our mother,” Benjamin said.
“I know,” Phoebe replied. “I know that now. He never talked about her, and I never asked. There was some kind of unspoken barrier there that I never understood.”
Benjamin remembered something else. “There was something you didn’t take when you were in Atlantis,” he said. “You thought about it, but put it back.”
Phoebe nodded but said nothing.
“Why didn’t you take it?”
Phoebe sighed and threw a rock in the water. The ripple spread across the whole width of the brook. “It was a gift from Caelus,” she finally said. “But I didn’t want it when he gave it to me, and I sure as heck don’t want it now.”
“What was it?” Benjamin asked even though he knew the answer.
“A life force disk,” Phoebe whispered. “He gave it to me for my birthday last year. I knew what it was when I got it, and I knew it wasn’t an ordinary one—you know, that any normal type of sacrifices will fill up with telenergy.”
“You needed human sacrifices,” Benjamin said, and Phoebe nodded.
“Caelus told me it could be filled just from humans getting old and dying,” Phoebe said, “but I still didn’t want any part of that. It seemed wrong. But I guess the promise of immortality made me hold onto it.” She looked him right in the eye. “How do you know about life force disks anyway?”
They hadn’t gotten that far in the mind joining. They hadn’t made it to the part where Phoebe had helped them escape the Necropolis. Benjamin reached into his pocket and pulled out the disk.
Phoebe gasped and covered her mouth. “Where did you get that? It belongs to Caelus.”
Benjamin nodded. “I know. Apollo told me after you gave it to me.”
Phoebe’s eyes were as wide as the disk. “I never gave that to you. Caelus would kill anyone who took that away from him.”
“You gave it to me in the future,” Benjamin said. “And I think that we can safely assume that if Caelus found out you took it, he had you executed.” Benjamin held it out for her, but she shrank back, crossing her hands in front of her chest.
“Don’t get it near me,” she said. “I can’t believe you have it. Caelus is going to kill you—us—when he finds out.”
Benjamin actually laughed. “Caelus is going to kill us anyway.” He put the life force disk back in his pocket, and Phoebe visibly relaxed. Not that he blamed her. He didn’t much like the idea of walking around with a bunch of human sacrifices in his pocket either.
“Benjamin.”
Benjamin looked in the direction of his friends, even though the voice had come telepathically. It was just a natural reaction.
“Gary?” he asked.
“Good,” Gary said. “There you are. There’s something we need to talk about right away.”
It didn’t take Benjamin’s being a genius for him to realize Gary was excited about something. He could almost envision Gary bouncing off the walls.
“Okay,” Benjamin said. “When and where?”
“Aurora and I are coming on the travel agent now. Which means that we should be able to join you guys in approximately twelve minutes.”
Benjamin smiled, even as he signed off telepathically with Gary. He stood up and helped Phoebe to her feet. If Gary and Aurora were about to come join them, then he’d better at least warn his friends so they didn’t transmute them into toads upon arrival.
CHAPTER 32
Gary Saves the World
“Are you sure no one saw you?” Heidi asked once Gary and Aurora appeared.
“There’s no time to worry about that,” Gary said. “Aurora and I discovered something no one alive could possibly fathom.”
Benjamin looked from Gary to Aurora. She flipped back her blue dreadlocks and nodded.
Gary looked around. “Where are Andy and Cory? They should hear this too.”
“They’re stealing a boat,” Jack said. “Some half-baked scheme to get into the city.”
“A boat?” Gary shook his head. “Well, we can’t wait on them.” He paced back and forth under the trees.
Finally, Iva stood up and walked over to him. “Gary.”
“What?” he asked, still pacing.
She put her hands on his arms. “Calm down. Sit down. Take your time and tell us what you found.”
Gary sat down, but stood back up. “I haven’t recorded anything yet. Do you understand?”
Benjamin nodded.
“No, you don’t understand,” Gary said. “What that means is that there are absolutely no records of what I’m about to tell you. Not back at GERC. Not in Lemuria. Nowhere.”
“Does it matter?” Phoebe asked.
“Of course it matters,” Gary said.
“Why? What’s the big deal?” Phoebe asked.
Gary puffed out his breath. “The big deal is that if something happens to Aurora and me, no one will ever know what we’ve discovered.”
“Then maybe you should just tell us already,” Benjamin said. “Spit it out.”
“Yeah, because I’m getting sick from all the spinning thoughts in your brain,” Jack said.
Gary sat down and put his hands on his legs. Benjamin noticed Gary’s hands were actually shaking. Whatever Gary was about to say—and Aurora had it telepathically blocked—must have been important. Gary was never this worried. Smart. Focused. That would be Gary. Nervous about a scientific discovery—not Gary.
“Humans are not without telenergetic skills,” Gary blurted out.
“But I thought they were,” Benjamin said.
Gary shook his head. “All the scientific data we discovered in the lab led us to believe exactly that. With all the facts in front of us, there was just no other logical conclusion to draw.” He looked to Aurora. “That is until we stumbled upon a unique splice in the DNA strain. Actually, Aurora stumbled upon it.” Gary looked down when he said this. It probably took a lot for Gary to admit someone had found something scientifically important before him.
“Okay, so the DNA was spliced,” Benjamin said. “So what?”
“Well, we didn’t understand the splice at first,” Gary said. “It wasn’t in any of the normal telenergetic areas we’re familiar with.”
“Not telepathy?” Heidi asked.
Gary shook his head.
“What about telegnosis?” Iva asked.
“Or telekinesis,” Benjamin said.
“No, no, no,” Gary said. “It was none of those. In fact that’s why we missed it for so long. We hadn’t been looking in the right place, and even with the splice, the gene was dormant.”
“Meaning what?” Heidi asked.
“Meaning that even once we figured out what it was, it wasn’t an active skill,” Aurora said.
“So let me get this straight,” Benjamin said. “Humans have some worthless telenergetic skill that isn’t even active. So they can’t use it?”
Aurora and Gary looked at each other.
“Yeah,” Aurora said. “I guess that pretty much sums it up.”
Benjamin threw up his hands. “And that’s what’s so important? That’s why you guys risked coming here to tell us that?”<
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Gary raised an eyebrow and looked at Benjamin. “You still don’t know what skill it is.”
“Who cares?” Benjamin asked. “It doesn’t matter.”
Jack whistled low under his breath. “Oh, I get it now. And trust me, it matters.”
“What is it?” Iva asked.
Gary nodded. “Telejamming.”
Benjamin turned and looked at Gary and felt his stomach clench, whether in surprise or anticipation he couldn’t be sure.
“Did you say telejamming?” he asked.
“Yep, telejamming,” Aurora said.
“Humans have a dormant ability for telejamming so strong it could easily overcome every single telegen strength added up—even with the weakest human paired against the strongest telegen,” Gary said. He nodded his head toward Jack. “Even against Nogicals.”
Benjamin looked at Jack who nodded. He sat back down and tried to stop his voice from quavering. “So you’re telling me that if this gene wasn’t dormant, then telegens would have absolutely no control over humans.”
“That pretty much sums it up,” Gary said.
“How does a genetic splice become non-dormant?” he asked, almost dreading the scientific answer he knew would follow.
Gary smiled and sat back down across from Benjamin. “Funny you should ask,” he said. “Aurora and I actually have a theory on that.”
It took a few minutes for the words to sink in, and even then, Benjamin still processed the information over and over in his mind.
“What the earth needs is a burst of telenergetic power super strong, and directed to just the purpose of igniting the dormant splice,” Gary had said.
A super strong burst of telenergetic power. Something tried to creep to the front of Benjamin’s mind, but didn’t quite make it there.
“So how could that happen?” Heidi asked. “What could cause such force?”
Gary shook his head. “That’s pretty much where our research stopped. We figured out what was required, but that’s when Aurora suggested we come here and tell you guys about it.”
Telenergetic power. Benjamin thought and thought. He was missing something. What could cause telenergetic power?
“What about a telemagnifier?” Iva asked, holding her Ammolite pendant. “Couldn’t a telemagnifier cause the desired effect?”
“Not on the level we need,” Aurora said. “We did some preliminary calculations, and pretty much found that even the strongest telemagnifiers in the ruling hall wouldn’t change more than a couple human’s genes.”
“So we just do it a few at a time,” Heidi said.
“Do you realize how many humans there are on Earth?” Jack asked.
“A lot,” Heidi said.
Gary let out an exasperated breath. “Anyway, I just thought you guys should know.”
Benjamin couldn’t shake it. The telenergetic power thing. And then the pieces came together.
They came together for Phoebe too. “The keys,” she said. “They’d have the power needed.”
“It’s what the Emerald Tablet had in mind all along,” Benjamin said. He felt the excitement building up inside him and could hardly control himself. He stood up and started pacing. “The Emerald Tablet knew the keys needed to be found—not only to bring down the shields, but to release the dormant gene of the humans.”
“It makes perfect sense,” Heidi said.
Benjamin nodded. “I knew the shields were meant to be brought down, even when part of me fought against it. I knew it was wrong to keep all of Atlantis imprisoned. But humans needed a way to contend.” He ran over and hugged Gary. “Gary, you are a genius. With the research the two of you have done, we’re going to save the world.”
It was then that Cory and Andy walked in. “Who’s going to save the world?” Andy asked.
“We are,” Benjamin said. “Well, actually the keys of Shambhala are. With the help of Cory, Phoebe, and me.”
CHAPTER 33
Benjamin Saves the World
Even with the excitement of Gary’s discovery, Benjamin still had a hard time focusing on what they needed to do. Releasing the telejamming power of humans might save the human race from enslavement by Caelus and Gaea, but it didn’t save Derrick, Douglas, and Becca. And the more he thought about it, the worse it seemed.
“We should kill Caelus and Gaea first,” Benjamin said.
“No,” Cory said. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now. We can’t risk one of us dying.”
Phoebe nodded. “Cory’s right. There are three keys and there are three of us.”
“But Caelus and Gaea might hurt my brothers and sister,” Benjamin said. “I can’t take that risk.”
Cory looked at Benjamin and sighed. “I see how you feel, but Phoebe’s right. It has to be the three of us. No one else will do. If one of us gets killed while attacking Caelus and Gaea, then life for humans is over.”
“And if we use the keys first, then life for my brothers and sister could be over,” Benjamin said. “We have to save them first.”
“Benjamin,” Phoebe said telepathically. “Look inside your mind. You know what the right answer is. I can see you do. No one is arguing the risk you’d be taking, but it’s a risk that has to be taken.”
Benjamin looked at her and forced the hint of tears from his eyes. He was not going to cry. This was not the time to turn into some kind of stupid softie. He firmed his mind and looked back at all his friends, not just Phoebe.
“Then the timing has to be perfect,” he said at last. “We need the boat ready to go. We release the power of the keys, but I want to go as soon as it’s done.”
Cory nodded. “Good plan. Caelus and Gaea will be so distracted from the telenergetic release, they may not even notice the boat.”
“Perfect,” Benjamin said. “Let’s do this then.”
Gary didn’t just tell them where the DNA splice was; he gave them a sample of the DNA before the modification and a sample of the DNA after the modification.
“It’s simple,” he’d said. “Just change this,” he handed the first sample over, “to this,” he handed the second sample over.
Benjamin looked down at the two Petri dishes. “They look the same.”
“That’s because you’re not looking close enough,” Gary said. “You need to delve into the DNA and extract the differences. Once you do that, the mutation is elementary.”
Benjamin laughed. “That’s pretty much what I was thinking. If by some miracle I can extract mutations from DNA strains, then I can do anything.”
“Just be careful, okay?” Heidi said. “And get on the boat the second you’re done.” And before Benjamin realized it, Heidi had leaned over and was kissing him. He kissed her back, even as he felt his face flush with embarrassment. Everyone watched. But, actually, when he thought about it, he didn’t care. Let them watch. He’d watched Andy and Iva kiss enough times that he probably owed them a few.
Finally, Cory cleared his throat. “It’s getting late.”
Benjamin pulled away from Heidi. “Yeah, I know. And I’m ready.” He laughed. “At least as ready as I’ll ever be.”
Phoebe looked over at Benjamin as they waited for everyone to leave the cave, and he smiled back at her. He could feel how nervous she was. Or maybe it was just his own nerves pushing through. Regardless, it seemed like of the three of them, only Cory was calm. Like he saved the world every day.
Once the cave had cleared out, Cory turned to them. “I’ve been thinking some about how we should do this.”
But Phoebe immediately shook her head. “Then you need to stop.”
Benjamin and Cory looked at her like she was crazy.
“These keys are a part of us,” she said. “I can feel it deep down.” She held her key in her right hand and pressed it to her heart. “This key wants to help us. Don’t you feel it?”
Cory looked at Benjamin and shrugged. They reached into their pockets and each pulled out their respective key. As soon as all three had been e
xposed to each other, the glowing and thrumming started.
“See,” Phoebe said. “Don’t you feel it?”
Benjamin held his key close to his heart as Phoebe had done. And he felt something ignite within him. “Yes!”
Cory raised an eyebrow and looked at the two of them. Then he put the key to his heart, and his eyes lit up to match the glowing key.
“Good,” Phoebe said, and none of them spoke another word.
They stood in a triangle, and the three keys blazed. Light sprang out from each key and formed a laser light triangle in the center of them. Benjamin felt the direct connection between himself and Cory and Phoebe grow, until before he knew it, he could hardly distinguish his own thoughts from those of his brother and sister.
He’d never felt closer to anyone in his life. Not Derrick or Douglas or Becca. Not Heidi. Not Mr. Burton when they’d shared the power of the keys. It was as through the three of them had become a single entity—a single telegen with the power of the world within their fingertips.
The warmth of the keys filled him, and for a moment, he forgot their true purpose. All he wanted to do was bask in the glory of the telenergy. He knew that with it, he could do anything. Would do anything. He could rule the world, and for an instant, that was all he wanted to do. He could defeat the strongest of foes, and suddenly, battle was all Benjamin could think of. And he could prove once and for all who the most powerful telegen really was. Nobody would ever be able to compete against him. Nobody would ever dare try. And as far as telekinesis went? Andy was nothing in comparison to what Benjamin could be. What Benjamin was. He was unstoppable. He could move mountains. And bridges. He alone could move all the Moai on Easter Island. He could move the world.
Benjamin’s head swam with the joy of it. The dreams he knew were within his reach. And then he looked down at the DNA samples on the ground. Right where he’d placed them. And he remembered.