The Jovian Legacy (32 page)

Amidst
the loud wailing of the girls Jack spoke softly to Megan. “I’m
so sorry, Megs. We will see them again, I make that my solemn
promise.” His eyes were full of sincerity and conviction.

The
girls watched in utter despair as Megan and Jack were engulfed in a
luminous green light and then liquefied before their eyes. Jack and
Megan felt the all-too-familiar gravitational pull and then floating,
with one last look of the girls’ expressions permanently
embedded in their minds.

Chapter 24

M
onths
had passed since they’d landed on the old home soil, pulled
from their adopted home. It took Megan weeks and weeks to get used
to not being able to hug her little sisters every day. She’d
been a miserable wreck and it had only been in the last few days that
her smile and colour had returned, much to Jack’s relief. He
himself had not only been under stress with his acquired mission, but
also had to be a pillar of strength on his return from work each day
for Megan. To add to Megan’s misery, she’d learnt that
her father had had a massive heart attack and had passed away not
long before their return, and her ailing mother was living in a rest
home with Alzheimer’s disease. She wanted to visit her but
felt she couldn’t, for the time being anyway. She also wanted
to get in touch with her siblings who had no idea she was still
alive. Megan thought they most likely would have passed her up for
dead years ago, when she first went missing.

Both
Jack and Megan had asked themselves over and over why they were doing
this. The monthly payment of 10,000,000 Egyptian pounds was
providing a well-heeled lifestyle, but wasn’t easing their
heartache, and wondered why they had come back at all. Jack was
doing what he had been asked to do, but it was proving a never-ending
battle with each country’s authorities, New Zealand the worst
of all. Nobody wanted it. There were protest marches, Internet
campaigning against it and screeds of red tape to get through.

“People
have no faith,” Jack complained. “They don’t like
change; they just want to remain ignorant.”

It
was a huge call for him to carry out. He’d delegated a lot of
his workload to the many representatives in each country, but still
had to play a pivotal role and be answerable to a continuous stream
of emails. His office had, on occasion, been the target of angry
protesters. Most of the time he felt like throwing in the towel and
retreating back to Jovian, but he knew he couldn’t. He’d
signed a contract.

Megan
spent most of her time on her computer talking to her clones. It
wasn’t the same though. She could see and hear their smiling
images but couldn’t hug them. She so desperately wanted to
return to Jovian. Jack started to return home more withdrawn, and
wasn’t there for her like he used to be, she regarded. Megan
thought that maybe she’d taken too much out of him and this was
his way of keeping his sanity.

Maybe
he’s having an affair,”
she
erratically thought, then immediately told herself to stop being so
paranoid. She knew her Jack wouldn’t do that. But as time
went on she realised that something was really bothering him. She
questioned him but he brushed her off. After a couple more weeks
Megan picked the right moment to raise it again. They were both
lying in bed on their backs with the lights turned out when Megan
broached the subject.

“Tell
me,” she said.

The
sheets rustled as Jack turned his body toward her. “Tell you
what?” he replied, propping his head up on his hand.

“Jack,
you’ve been coming home for days now in a funny mood, it seems
like you aren’t even here. You go through the motions of
eating, showering and sleeping but there’s something playing on
your mind. What is it?” she pressed. She heard Jack take a
deep breath.

“There
is
something, and it’s a way
big
something. Something I would dearly love to rip off my shoulders and
throw onto somebody else’s,” he sighed.

“Go
on,” Megan urged, starting to think that she shouldn’t
have opened her mouth. She felt Jack’s arm slide under her
waist, pulling her into him. Her heart beat faster.

“I’ve
found out something,” he began, “something quite alarming
and it’s not good.”

Megan
remained silent but secretly felt a great sense of relief that it
wasn’t the affair thing, but she did suspect that Jack was
going to tell her something that was going to change their lives.
Again.

“Megan,
you know how life on Jovian is almost perfect,” Jack began.

“Yes,”
she answered, curious.

“Do
you know
why
it’s so perfect?”

“Well,
because they are light years ahead of us and have mastered the art of
genetically modifying food which makes everyone well-behaved and have
super enhanced senses and super intelligence.”

“Yes,
but hasn’t it ever occurred to you where they were drawing the
energy to do this from?”

Megan
was definitely baffled now. She didn’t answer.

“From
Earth,” Jack stated matter-of-factly.

“What?
How?” Now she was really confused.

Jack
took a deep breath.
“The
reason I was sent back here was to introduce genetic engineering
right? They said they wanted Earth to live life as it is on Jovian.
And I am being paid very well for doing this, aren’t I? It has
never occurred to me
why
they would want to do this. I just thought all along that it was
such a great and considerate thing to do for their, well, fellow
planetarians, I guess. I never questioned it,” Jack explained.

“And…”
Megan gingerly urged, pulling herself away from Jack and switching
the light back on.

There
was another few moments before Jack spoke again. “They’re
drawing off Earth’s energy to maintain theirs and they can’t
exist without it. They’re sucking us dry and it’s
causing all sorts of problems, like holes in the ozone layer and
global warming.”

“Isn’t
that caused by cows farting?” Megan quipped.

Jack
looked at her straight-faced. “No, Megan, you’re not
listening to me. The problems that people here are facing - the
ozone layer for one, is caused by the energy pull from Jovian, to
sustain their own planet. And because it’s sucking us dry,
it’s starting to cause Jovian to deteriorate,” Jack
patiently explained to his now astonished girlfriend.

“Megan,
they sent me back here to get this GE thing up and running so it
would regenerate Earth’s energy, which in turn would be for the
ultimate use of Jovian. It’s a parasitic planet,” he
said, his voice raising. “That’s why Jovian is the way it
is, and why Earth is like it is today - full of devastating forces
like hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis. And Jovian is the cause
of it, and they’ve been benefiting from us the whole time!”

Megan
stared at Jack in disbelief. She couldn’t comprehend what he
was saying. “Jack, what… what does all that mean? You
said causing Jovian to deteriorate, what do you mean?” she
repeated. Jack was silent.

“Jack,
what is happening here?” Megan persisted, “I thought they
were good people. What about our girls?”

Jack
didn’t answer, totally at a loss by it all, still digesting his
own alarming revelation.

Megan
didn’t know why she didn’t question Jack anymore; she
wondered maybe she didn’t really want to know. She even
wondered if Jack was talking a lot of crap.

But
why would he do that?
she asked
herself as she eventually drifted off to sleep.

After their conversation had come to an
abrupt halt Jack lay there wondering how the hell he’d gotten
into this. He finally drifted off to sleep as well, tossing and
turning, and dreamt about the world blowing up.

The
morning sun streamed through the windows and woke them up.

At
least it’s going to be a nice day today,
Jack
thought as he opened his eyes.
The first thing he said to
Megan was, “I’ve heard of people taking the whole world
into their hands, I thought I knew what they meant, but this is just
ridiculous!”

“The
thing is Megs,” he went on, “how am I supposed to get
this planet functioning to the level that Jovian is if nobody wants
to have anything to do with genetic engineering? They don’t
want to have a bar of it. Talk about being in between a rock and a
hard place!
You know, the
hierarchy of Jovian has got me to do this for it’s own benefit.
It’s a beautiful place, but that’s because of
this
place. God only knows how
long they’ve been drawing off our energy. And now we’ve
got global warming and holes in our ozone layer that thousands of
people are getting skin cancer from. Makes me wonder if they’re
all in on it - the Thebes Federation of Science
and
the reprobates. That’s why the Underworld must’ve wanted
to have control over us. It’s all starting to add up now.
They’re all wanting the control.” Jack was getting
angry. “And all this time! We’ve been living in what we
thought was heaven all this time!”

“We’ve
got to get out of this,” Megan said flatly, “Jack, we
have to get out of this, and get my sisters back! And your parents.
I want to live like a normal human being in a normal house with a
normal family.” She started to cry. “And Sobek too, I
want her here too.”

“Megan,
I don’t know if I
can
get out of this.
How
I can get out of this?” He gently swept a strand of hair out of
her eyes. “Let’s have some breakfast and go for a drive
somewhere so I can clear my head.”

Megan
threw some baked beans into the microwave and bread in the toaster.
Both of them sat down at the table and tried to eat.

By
mid-morning they had found a place overlooking a beautiful but wild
piece of coastline with rugged rock islands dotted about the bay.
The deep blue water swirled violently while surf crashed up the rock
face. Jack gazed out at the open sea, for what seemed like an
eternity to Megan, before he spoke.

“I’ve
got to go back and see Premier Tiberius. I’ve got to convince
him to let the girls and Mum and Dad travel here. I can’t let
on that I’m aware of their big plan so I’ll have to think
of a plausible excuse,” Jack said, the look of hope returning
to his face, an expression that Megan hadn’t seen in a while.
She felt a twinge of hope.

The
following day Jack tidied up a few things at his office and told his
staff that he had urgent family business to attend to and would be
away from the office for two weeks. He had intended to carry on with
the GE project on his return from Jovian, for a while anyway, merely
to keep the authorities at bay until he was able to pull the plug on
it. He got himself ready for his journey back. At seventy-thirty
the next morning he gave Megan a kiss and cuddle and pushed the Lucre
Boxes together.

As
his image liquefied and disappeared Megan cried after him, “Good
luck Jackyboy, bring back our girls safe and sound.”

Within
moments Jack was back in his old research room. To Jack, it was a
peculiar feeling to be back. He gave the office crew quite a start,
and for a few seconds they stared blankly at him, then a sudden
outcry of delight when they realised it was their old work-mate, and
surrounded him, welcoming him back. Jack returned the pleasantries
and secretly wondered how many of them were aware of Jovian’s
big plan. He saw them in a different light now.

At
least they don’t know that I know.

After
a few minutes, with little time to waste, Jack excused himself from
the throng. He wanted to get to his family before they were told by
anyone else that he was ‘in town’.

The
sweeping driveway to his parents’ palatial home was still the
same, and Jack felt, for a moment or two, like he was home again. It
soon dispersed when he reminded himself that his true home was in New
Zealand, on planet Earth.

He
rang the door gong and was greeted by Chione, who shrieked when she
saw him. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight, still
screaming and nearly driving Jack deaf in one ear. Soon the others
came and joined in the squeals of delight. His parents were also
very surprised to see him. Jack knew he had some explaining to do.

Plans
were swiftly made to jet his whole family back to Earth. The girls
became distressed, knowing they had to leave their friends behind
(who in time would perish along with everyone else on Jovian)
although Jack didn’t reveal that to them as he knew it would
only cause more suffering. He couldn’t insist enough about the
urgency of their returning with him and that they needed to act fast.
He had to confront the Jovian authorities first, however. He
decided to see them first thing in the morning.

They
weren’t expecting Jack, and their faces showed a mixture of
surprise and concern when he sat down with them.

Premier
Tiberius spoke first. “It is indeed a surprise to see you back
so soon.”