The Jovian Legacy (8 page)

“That’s
it!”
Jack
realises in astonishment. “They genetically engineered Megan
from Theresa and Katy. Oh...my...God! N
ot only that; it
means Megan’s actually a whole year younger than she thinks she
is. They’re legally pretending she’s the original
Theresa!” he says aloud.

He
hastily places the certificate back into the envelope.

Within
minutes he was back in front of his computer.

Right.
I have to make contact with them. Now
.

He
typed into the program but found no response. Jack resigned himself
to the fact that he would have to wait until they made contact with
him, and went to bed.

The
next day, deciding to have a break, arranged to meet Megan. He
picked her up and drove up north to a pretty little beachside spot
where the sands were pink and a local fish shop had won the
nationwide award for its seafood. Jack and Megan sat on the beach
and ate fish and chips. Jack knew how Megan loved oysters so he had
a few thrown in for her as a surprise. Jack admired his girlfriend,
her hair glistening in the afternoon sun.

So
sweet and innocent, and so oblivious of her background.

His
heart melted. How could he tell her that they could never be
together, that she was his first cousin, and that she was actually
younger than she thought she was.

He
drew her to him, giving her a brief hug. Megan sensed his sadness
but said nothing. The air had turned cold when they finally packed
up and returned to Jack’s car. Their trip home was mostly in
silence, sprinkled with polite conversation. When they drew up
alongside Megan’s driveway they kissed. Their first real kiss.
Jack kissed her like it was to be their last. It was a unspoken
understanding between the two of them.

Megan
opened her door, discretely wiped her tears from her face and said
goodbye.

Jack
watched her walk up her garden path, and with a splitting heart,
drove home.

When
he threw his car keys in the fruit bowl he heard his computer
buzzing. There were his parents again on the screen. Jack braced
himself and logged on.

“Hello
Son,” his father began, “we’ve been attempting to
reach you.”

“Mum,
Dad,” Jack interrupted, “I know about Megan. I’ve
just been on three journeys the Jovian men here told me to go on.”
His parents looked uncomfortably at each other.

“Son,”
his father spoke, “We don’t want you to have anything to
do with these people; they are…..”

“I
don’t care who they are,” Jack butted in again. He felt
annoyed at his father, annoyed at the whole goddamn thing. “They’ve
given me an understanding as to what actually happened back then.
Megan has been genetically engineered from Theresa and Katy. Poor
Katy, who died of leukaemia. You used her! How could you? And
Megan is my cousin!”

“Jack,
please,” his mother pleaded. “Let us explain. When we
lost Julia and Theresa, we were approached by doctors who we thought
were from the general hospital. It wasn’t until we came here
that we found out the doctors were in fact from here. They were
Jovian scientists, not hospital doctors. We didn’t know that
at the time. And we had pledged secrecy of the operation only
because we knew that it was illegal. The Jovian scientists have been
watching Megan throughout her entire life. She is Jovian’s
first and only scientifically advanced human being, genetically
engineered from two individual DNAs, and that is why there is such an
interest in her extended family. That is why we were also brought
here.”

Jack
stared at them, stunned.

Ben
took over. “We want you to come and join us, be with us. Your
life, and ours, will be greatly enriched. Would you please consider
making your journey to join us?”

Jack
was taken aback. “How?” he asked.

“Jovian
has a spacestation that is used to pick out certain aircraft and
vessels crossing the Bermuda Triangle, and literally suck them up.
There are people here who can guide you through it, but you’ll
have to do exactly as they say,” he cautioned.

“Can
I bring Megan?” Jack asked, testing them. There was a pause in
conversation.

“We
don’t know. We have to be given permission,” his mother
answered. “Would Megan want that? She’d be leaving her
family behind.”

“Her
family is only down on paper as such. We’re her real family.”
Jack knew that that was uncalled for. He knew that family, adoptive
or biological, was real. He knew he was acting like a spoilt little
brat, and had to snap out of it.

“I’m
sorry, I mean, Megs is so cool you know,” Jack said, feeling
ashamed.

“Son,
it’s not a good idea.”

Jack
knew full well what his father meant. “Well Megan and I will
always be friends,” he pointed out, aware he wasn’t being
realistic. “I…don’t know what the future will
bring. I’ve only seen the past through this program of yours
and it’s made me realise that I want more out of life. I want
that for Megan too.”

“Then
you’ll make the journey to us?” his father asked.

“Yes.
But I also want to do one last fun trip into the past first. Is
that okay?” Jack asked feeling childish, especially after he’d
a minute ago revealed his true feelings for Megan.

“I
can’t see any harm in that, but as long as you type in no more
than twelve hours, because the program could malfunction and you
could find yourself trapped. As we warned you earlier, you might
alter the course of history if you don’t stick to the rules,”
his father warned.

“I’ll
be okay,” Jack assured him, although he didn’t really
know what he was planning to do. He had to leave the whole thing
alone for a few days.

Chapter
6

A
fter
some considerable thought as to what he would do, Jack tried to
remember a really special time in his life. He had to take his time,
as it would definitely be the last time he could take a journey into
his past.

He
typed in the date of his tenth birthday - 16
^th
June 1992, twelve hours, remembering that this was the maximum time
his father said he should allow, and slipped on his helmet.

Jack
wakes up at 7 a.m., excited that it’s his birthday and knowing
that his parents have promised him a present that he’s been
looking forward to all year. There, resting up against his wardrobe
door is a shiny new ten-speed bike, a blue ribbon tied to the
handlebars with a ‘Happy Birthday Jack’ card. He thinks
it’s fantastic to finally have his hands on the bike that he’s
been drooling over in the shop all year, praying that no-one else
will buy it. About a month before his birthday he had ducked in to
look at it again, and was upset to find it gone. Little did he know
that his parents had put it on lay-by for his big day.

Jack
scurries in to his parents’ bedroom who had barely woken up,
and pounces on them.

“Thanks,
Mum, thanks Dad, thanks heaps, it’s so cool!”

“Glad
you like it Son,” his father mutters, tugging at the sheet that
Jack had accidentally removed off him. “Wait ’til we all
get up and have some breakfast before you go hooning off on it,
okay?”

“Yep,
okay, I’ll get it started then,” Jack eagerly
volunteers. His parents look at each other, amused, as Jack has
never organised breakfast before. After a few minutes his parents
amble into the kitchen.

“Wow,”
Nancy utters, mouth agape. She catches the eggs before they burn in
the frying pan. Jack is nowhere to be seen, having gone back to his
room to fiddle with his new present. She cleans up the four
eggshells left on the bench with eggwhite dribble right across from
the frying pan, and places in six rashers of bacon, transferring the
well-cooked eggs to the warmer.

As
they sit down to eat Ben reminds his son, “Don’t forget
your grandparents are coming for lunch, so please be back for that.”

“Sure
I will,” Jack replies, not wanting to miss out on another
present. He loves them anyway, thinks his granddad is a hoot.

After
Jack had wolfed down his bacon and egg, and drunk his glass of milk,
he dashes off to the bathroom to have a wash. The faster he brushes
his teeth the quicker he’ll get to his bike. After leaving the
bathroom with toothpaste smeared on the towel, Jack hurries out the
door, yelling, “See ya later alligators”. At the base of
the path he stands astraddle his gleaming new bike for a moment,
admiring it, feeling like the luckiest ten-year-old in the world.
Nothing can surpass his happiness right now.

“My
friends are going to be
soo
jealous,” he says aloud, excited.

Jack
pedals off, experimenting with different speeds until he gets the
gist of it. He rounds a bend and over a flat stretch of gravel that
leads up to the main road. From the turnoff he is pleased to see it
free of traffic. It is a Saturday, with only the dairy open. Jack
pedals faster until he reaches top speed, and then glides down the
road, finding the fresh air invigorating. His new bike performs
well, and Jack feels on top of the world. After biking for more than
two kilometres, he passes his mate’s house, stops and turns
around. He knows Nick Findlay likes to sleep in on Saturday
mornings, so he decides to wake him up. His friend has a strict
father who makes him do loads of chores when he comes home from
school. By the time he’s done his homework and then his chores
there isn’t much time to muck around before school the next
day.

Nick
loves the weekends when his father lets him off the hook. He has
plans of joining the Air Force and becoming a fighter pilot, so has
to buckle down and get through school with high grades, even though
it isn’t necessary that he attend university. He just has to
be good at maths and know his stuff. His bedroom is cluttered with a
collection of wooden and plastic planes, and World War II memorabilia
that his grandfather had given him.

Nick
is awoken by Jack tapping at his window, his sleepy perspective of
Jack grinning at him from ear to ear. Elated to see him, Nick throws
off the covers and jumps out of bed to open the window, an
old-fashioned sash window that is hard to lift up, but good for
muscle practice. When the two of them manage to push it up to its
limit Nick sees why Jack had suddenly shown up at his house at eight
o’clock in the morning.

“Wow,
what a radical bike man!” Nick exclaims. Jack puffs out his
chest, beaming. “It must’ve cost a million!”

“It’s
my birthday present from my folks,” Jack says, accentuating the
‘birthday’ word, knowing that Nick will have forgotten,
and hopefully feel bad about it.

“Aw
yeah, I know. I…..um got you something too,” he grins
back. Jack is surprised, and chuffed that his friend has actually
remembered.

“Bring
your bike around the front and I’ll let you in.”

Nick
quickly dresses, makes his bed of sorts, and goes through the kitchen
to let Jack in. Jack feels warm and fuzzy inside knowing that his
friend has gotten him something.

A
brightly coloured package is placed on the kitchen table, plastered
with Sellotape; a wrapping job that seems like had been a struggle.

“Just
rip it open!” Nick says, shaking his hands in frustration at
Jack’s careful unwrapping.

He
stares at his gift for a moment before picking it up; a strangely
shaped wooden box with gold-coloured symbols set in its lid.

“Open
it!” Nick cries, bursting with excitement.

“Okay….”
Jack says suspiciously.

Nick
observes Jack’s puzzled and embarrassed expression as he stares
at the empty box, and cannot retain himself any longer. “It’s
a Lucre Box! The man in the shop said an old man had brought it in
saying that he’d had it given to him when he was a boy by his
granddad. So it must be really ancient! He said that it had brought
him discovery, and that he’d had an unreal life because of it.
Well, he actually said extraordinary life,” Nick babbles.

Jack
gives his mate a brief look and then smiles, thanking him for the
present. He knows that Nick can be a bit gullible at times, and
hopes he wasn’t ripped off. Though, as he’d gone to some
trouble Jack thinks he’d better show some interest in it, and
started asking what else the old man had said about the Lucre Box
that is supposed to bring him amazing discovery.

Discovery
of what?
Jack thinks, amused.

The
two boys decide to go for a bike ride together. Nick has a BMX that
he’d been given last Christmas, so his bike is also pretty
flash. Jack thinks it awesome that they can now go cycling together,
and that they may even go for a hike over the farm to do some eeling
at the creek. Though, he doesn’t want to get his bike too
dirty for a while.

Man,
what am I thinking?
he realises.
He has only twelve hours left here with Nick and knows he won’t
be doing any eeling. Anyway, it isn’t the reason why he’d
chosen his tenth birthday as his last trip back into his past, he
tells himself.