The Jovian Legacy

by Lilla Nicholas-Holt

  The fresh air was invigorating, along with the sights along the way. The horses seemed to know the way so Jack and Megan let them be taken. They rode around the hillside and back towards the house. Not far from the homestead the horses cantered to a trot, then slowed to a walk as they passed through a small gate and into the orchard. There appeared to be a tree for every variety of fruit. Plums the size of oranges, and apples and oranges the size of grapefruit. Megan’s horse took her up to the apple tree purposely, it seemed, for her to reach out and pick a shiny lime green apple.

  “Careful Eve, remember what happened last time?” Jack teased.

  It was enough to make Megan hesitate, and think that maybe they were actually in the Garden of Eden. She looked at Jack and they both laughed. As soon as Megan bit into the juicy fruit her tastebuds went crazy.

  “Oh, YUM!” she cried. “Oh, wow!” uttering cries of amazement between mouthfuls.

  Jack had to know what all the fuss was about and picked one too. “Aw, damn!” he spluttered, “apples aren’t supposed to taste this good!” He was making a pig of himself with juice running down his chin. He picked a black plum. It was so incredibly delicious that he picked another two and tossed one over to Megan, who, too, left her manners behind and ending up staining her nice new outfit. Around midday they returned to the house. The limousine was still parked in the driveway awaiting the family’s next trip. Lunch was being served in the outside dining area. Jack and Megan washed up and joined Ben and Nancy.

  “I see you two have had a good time in the orchard, aye?” Ben laughed when he saw Jack’s juice-stained shirt. Megan had cleverly covered up her spillages by buttoning up her jacket.

  “I hope you don’t mind, Dad. The fruit was out of this world!”

  “Well, it’s in this world, but out of our old world, that’s for sure. I told you we had good soil here, didn’t I Son? It’s full of nutrients.”

  Nancy intervened. “Come on, I’ll get rid of those marks in a jiffy.” She took them into a wash area where she took out a device from the cupboard and held it in front of each spot for a few seconds. The gadget threw off a blue light, and in an instant the stains had disappeared.

  “What is that thing?” Megan asked, intrigued.

  “It’s a stain remover. You won’t have to use Frend anymore,” Nancy joked.

  They seated themselves down and lunch was served by Antoninus. The food was delicious. They were completely unaware of what they were eating but it was certainly extremely tasty. Apparently Antoninus was also their cook, and proved to be a master of the art. The food left their tastebuds tingling all afternoon.

  “I’m going to get so fat,” Megan groaned, rubbing her stomach and looking pitifully at Jack. “How will I be able to stay slim with all this gorgeous food around me?”

  “You won’t put any weight on, Dear,” Nancy assured her rubbing her arm. Megan felt comforted but didn’t understand why.

  In the afternoon they travelled back into the city, passing by the great Guardian of the Horizon, and onto a cobblestoned road that lead them to a large institutional looking building, a building that housed the great ingenious minds of Jovian.

  The sign read, ‘Thebes Federation of Science’. Jack held Megan’s hand, which he noticed was quite cold.

  “Don’t worry, Megs. I’ll stay by your side,” Jack reassured her.

  They were greeted at the door by an authoritative looking man who introduced himself as Mr Menes Narmer; a doctor, but of a higher ranking than a doctor, so had the title of Mister. The family was ushered into a room similar to a boardroom. It was softened by vases of brightly coloured flowers set on small, high display tables, and a large squishy looking lounge suite. Five men were already seated, men that Jack assumed were scientists, and three women talking amongst themselves, when the family entered. After introductions they were asked to take a seat.

  As the scientists explained to Megan and Jack the procedure of their monitoring Megan’s life it became apparent to Megan that these were sincere people and who showed empathy. Gradually she began to relax. After an hour’s discussion Jack was asked if he wanted to see the laboratory where they and his parents had been able to establish communication with him.

  “Yeah for sure,” he answered.

  Jack and his family were lead into The Scientific Research Lab and into a restricted area that resembled the NASA Space Centre control room. Jack’s mind was spinning at the sight of the wall-sized computer with electronic instruments set along a panel facing it. One of the men keyed in something behind the panel and the computer flashed on, displaying a wall-sized image of Jack’s bedroom where he had spent many hours on his computer.

  “Hey, that’s my old place!” he exclaimed.

  “Yes, this was where we communicated with you,” the doctor replied.

  “Wow! I was larger than life, aye.”

  “This is where it all happened,” Mr Narmer confirmed. “I suppose it would appear rather extraordinary to you.”

  “Far out, I’ll say,” Jack agreed, still in awe of it all, and thinking he could have a great time playing with all this techno stuff.

  “I’d like to show you something,” Mr Narmer continued. “I’d like you and your young friend to sit over here,” indicating two high-sided office chairs. The scientist keyed into the controlboard. The massive screen displayed all of Jack’s adventures in the form of thumbnails, like he had shown Megan, though on a much larger scale.

  “These are recorded scenes that will go down in history as our pioneer programme of communicating with selected people on Earth. That is if you would permit us to do so. They will be referred to from time to time for scientific research purposes.”

  “Yeah, sure. After all, you have brought my family back together again and we have an awesome new life now,” Jack said gratefully.

  “We also invite you to participate in our research program for further communication with people on Earth,” Mr Narmer stated, “although it will be entirely up to you if you choose to establish your career path with the Thebes Federation of Science. We have a top-flight team of computer scientists to train you, and you will be paid very satisfactorily, with a starting remuneration of 250,000 Egyptian Pounds per annum. 250,000 EGP is equivalent to about 70,000 New Zealand dollars,” he elaborated.

  Jack was gobsmacked. “Well….” Jack looked to his father for acknowledgement, who nodded back at him, smiling proudly.

  “Sure, thank you. When do I start?” he asked eagerly.

  “Not for about a month from now. You need to have time to acclimatise and adjust to your new surroundings,” Mr Narmer replied. “There is going to be a social gathering that has been organised for you to meet people who have come to us through the same means. I will show you this.”

  Mr Narmer keyed in something at the controlboard and the huge screen flashed again, this time showing records of people brought to Jovian via the Bermuda Triangle.

  “These people are all living here and are very happy and prosperous. They have had various projects and missions assigned to them,” he stated.

  Jack approached the huge screen to read hundreds of names of people that had arrived on Jovian via the Triangle.

  December 28: Douglas DC-3 passenger airliner - crew and passengers: 31, …… 1970, July 3: Cessna 310G. 6 persons., ……1973, August 26: PR; Cessna 24. 3 persons, …… 1984, March 31: Cessna 402b; 6 persons, 1998, August 19: Piper PA-28; 4 persons, ……1999, September 12, Aero Commander; 3 persons.

  There were way too many for him to read, but the last one recorded their flight.

  And then there were the boats:

  1948, February 4, British freighter, 43 crew; …… 1960, April 16, Yacht; 2 persons; …..1963, February 4, Tanker, 39 crew, ……1971, Christmas-time, 53ft Yacht, 4 persons, ……1974, March 24, 54ft Luxury Yacht, 4 crew, ……1980, January 12, Yacht, 11 persons, 1980, April 2, luxury Yacht, 2 persons, …1985, February 22, 25ft pleasure boat, 2 persons, 1994, August 30, Yacht, 2 persons, …..


  Jack cast his eyes to the last entry: 1994, August 30 - the date his parents went missing. It was their yacht. They had all become a statistic. He turned to Megan who looked like she was about to cry. Jack put his arms around her.

  “I guess it’s all starting to become real for us now aye, Megs. The fact that we are here and no longer on Earth.”

  Megan buried her head into Jack’s chest and sobbed. He felt at that moment that he absolutely loved her and could never love another. “I know it’s going to be hard for you, Megs, but I will always be here for you,” Jack assured, feeling the sting of his own tears.

  The social gathering was held at the Palace of Amon, a most exquisite building., the interior an intricate design and constructed from solid gold. Gold seemed to be a standard building material as it was used in nearly every public building they had so far seen. They observed that the whole city was full of gold.

  Jovian soil must be full of it, Jack deemed.

  Inside the palace walls the atmosphere was vibrant. A well-dressed man approached them with a tray of refreshments. They each took a glass and surveyed the room. Everyone looked happy and content. Jack and Megan took a sip of their drinks. The taste was unreal. The look on Megan’s face confirmed that this was no ordinary drink. They both finished their glasses and helped themselves from another passing tray. The funny thing was, no matter how many glasses they consumed they remained completely sober.

  Ben Dunlop noticed, laughed and said, “Better taihoa there you two. You have to let your tastebuds get used to the alcoholic beveridges, otherwise you won’t be able to sleep tonight, not from inebriation, but from an acute tingling sensation if you drink anymore.” He took them down into the sunken lounge to mingle with the crowd.

  Jack and Megan met a number of interesting people that night, most having had similar experiences as themselves. Several were different, however, like a Mr Griffiths, an American, who had been flying a brand new Beechcraft Bonanza A36 when his transplanetary journey began.

  Mr Griffiths relayed it to them. “We had just taken off from Andros Airport when I noticed an oval-shaped cloud directly in front of us about a mile away, hovering just above the ocean. It was a typical puffy white cloud, but I had never seen one that low. The weather was good so we continued, but the white cloud quickly changed into a huge billowing dark grey cloud. We were climbing at a thousand feet per minute, and the cloud seemed to be building up at the same rate. It caught up and engulfed the Bonanza. After ten minutes of climbing in and out of this cloud, the airplane finally broke free at 11,500 feet and the sky was clear. I levelled the Bonanza off and accelerated to its maximum safe cruising speed of 196 miles per hour. When I looked back at the cloud I was astonished. It now looked like an immense squall, abnormally shaped in the form of a giant semicircle extending around us. Soon we noticed another cloud building directly in front of us. It looked a great deal like the cloud that we’d just left. Upon entering the cloud we witnessed an uncanny spectacle. It became dark and black, without rain, and visibility was poor. There were no lightning bolts, only extraordinarily bright white flashes that would illuminate the entire surrounding area. The deeper we penetrated the more intense the flashes became. It became apparent that we were trapped inside a billowing prison, the shape of a doughnut with no way under or over it!” Jack and Megan were fascinated.

  “Thirteen miles later I noticed a large U-shaped opening on the west side of the doughnut cloud. I had no choice but to turn and try to exit through the opening. As we approached, we watched the top ends of the U-gap join, forming a hole. The break in the cloud now formed a perfect horizontal tunnel, one mile wide and more than ten miles long. We could see the clear blue sky on the other side. We also saw that the tunnel was rapidly shrinking. I increased the engine RPM, bringing our speed to the caution area of 230 miles per hour. When we entered the tunnel, its diameter had narrowed to only thirty-five feet. I was amazed at what the shaft now looked like. It appeared to be only a mile long instead of ten-plus as I had originally estimated. Light from the afternoon sun shone through the exit hole and made the silky white walls glow. The walls were perfectly round and slowly constricting. All around the edges were small puffs of clouds of contrasting grey, swirling counter-clockwise around the airplane. All of our electronic and magnetic navigational instruments were malfunctioning. The compass was slowly spinning even as the airplane flew straight. I contacted Miami and told them we were about forty-five miles southeast of Bimini, heading east at 10,500 feet. The radar controller replied that he was unable to identify us anywhere in that area. That’s when I thought that something bizarre had happened. Instead of the blue sky we expected, everything was a dull, greyish white haze. For about five seconds I had the strange feeling of weightlessness and an increased forward momentum. We subsequently fell asleep and before I knew it I woke up in a foreign bed.”

  “Wow,” Jack cried. “That’s a mind boggling experience. It’s completely different from ours, except for the last part where you fell asleep.”

  “Don’t you miss your family that you left behind?” Megan asked rather bluntly. Jack shot her an embarrassed look.

  “Young lady,” Mr Griffiths responded, “when I first arrived here I wanted to do away with myself. I had only been married for a year and my wife had a baby on the way. As the months went by I was a walking wreck, wondering if my wife was okay, if the baby was okay. Around the time I knew the baby was due I didn’t sleep for a week, imagining her having a hard time without me. I had even imagined, because of my sudden disappearance, that she’d miscarried, or worse, had an abortion. I was a pathetic excuse of a man. Then I was taken to the Coptic Church and in one visit I walked out of there a completely new man. My whole being had been cleansed and healed, and somehow I knew that my wife and baby were okay, and were being well cared for. My heart was still broken, knowing that I wouldn’t be part of their lives, that I would never be there for my child’s milestones - his first steps, his first words and such. I wouldn’t be there to play ball or take him to a big game. But I know that a guardian angel is watching over them. She speaks to me.”

  “Oh,” Megan said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. She and Jack were still absorbing what they’d just heard. “Is that how everyone under similar circumstances has coped?”

  “Yes indeed. It is the ultimate healing process,” Mr Griffiths answered matter-of-factly. “If either of you feel the need for any repair work, no matter how minor you may think it is, don’t hesitate to take a visit, okay?”

  “Sure, okay,” Jack responded, not really convinced that it was his cup of tea. Megan politely smiled and agreed.

  For the rest of the night they mingled with their new friends, who, in turn, became close friends in the following months to come.

  “Everything is so awesome here,” Megan chirped. “The people are so friendly and happy and they appear so genuine towards each other.”

  “Yes, they are,” Nancy replied. “They treat everyone like one big happy family.”

  “Isn’t that going be a little boring?” Jack chipped in. “If there aren’t any conflicts, don’t people just get bored?”

  “Goodness me, no.” Ben said. “Some people on Earth choose to get bored, and in turn they are boring to others. People here are enthusiastic about life. They go out of their way for others. Negativity is an unknown word in most parts and their aura generates happiness and self-contentment. There is certainly no tedium amongst us. People have much to do and are very prosperous. The land is abundant with natural resources, as you will soon see.”

  Chapter 9

  It was the first week of Jack’s new job as Assistant Research Technician at the Thebes Federation of Science. He and Megan had moved into his parents’ house the previous week.

  Megan chose her career path in the medical field and enrolled herself at the Supreme Thebes School of Medicine, where she intended to study the process and development of cloning. After all, she was Jovian’s first Earth c
lone. She had an interest (and to her, a right) to find out how she had been created. Little did she know what lay ahead of her.

  Jack loved his new job and his keenness and intellect with computers became apparent. He absorbed information like a sponge and immersed himself in his work. The computer language was in Egyptian so Jack had a very stimulating and difficult task to accomplish. He brushed up on his Egyptian every night, and surprisingly found it easy to remember. It consequently didn’t take him long to read the language even though he still couldn’t speak it. He wondered how it came so easily to him. It was like he’d had it there all along, subconsciously. He realised then, that the messages he’d first started receiving at home on his computer had been in Egyptian when he’d had to use a language converter.

  Jack was assigned to ascertain contact with other citizens on Earth, as he had been when he was first contacted by Jovian scientists. It was an enormous project, and his head ached with information at the end of each day.

  One evening as the family ate their meal that had been prepared by Antoninus, Jack started to feel a little funny. Megan wore a new perfume. The fragrance wasn’t strong; in fact it was very subtle, but the effect that it had on Jack was surprising. Jack had to excuse himself and retreat into the bathroom. He wasn’t meant to be feeling this way.

  “Megan is my cousin for God’s sake!” he yelled at his reflection. But he couldn’t help it, and had to stay in the bathroom until his hormones had settled down. Megan became concerned by his absence and went to inspect. Jack had to speak to her through the door.

  “I don’t know why but when I smelt your perfume it made me feel, well, you know. Please, can you wipe it off? I feel really embarrassed about it.”

  “Oh…okay…” Megan answered, feeling a little confused. “Well, I need to use the bathroom then.”

  Jack gingerly opened the door and Megan could see he was holding his breath. He slid past her quickly and let her in to wash off the perfume. Jack walked quickly out into the garden and took in some deep breaths. After five minutes he was composed enough to return to the dinner table. Megan returned to the table as well and sat down feeling embarrassed herself at the upset her new perfume seemed to have caused.