Paradise Forgotten Trilogy

by Mackenzie Morris

  What an ass. "What has gotten into you? I thought we were friends."

  "Friends don't hide deep dark homicidal secrets from their friends."

  "This is because I didn't talk to you last night?" Troy asks. "You have to forget about that. I'll never tell anyone. I don't even know why I said as much as I did. You can't hate me for wanting to forget a very painful and disturbing part of my life. I haven't even told any of my family or Zodiac. There weren't any witnesses and I want it to stay that way."

  "So it was a mistake? An accident? You're this upset over accidentally killing someone?"

  "No. It wasn't an accident or a mistake. I knew exactly what I was doing." Troy stands and slips the backpack on his shoulders. "I don't want to fight. We only have each other so we need to get along. I will explain everything tonight." As an offering of friendship and respect, he bows to Orion. "Will you please come with me and teach me? I don't mind you taking control."

  * * *

  Silver cracks his knuckles as he paces around the chair where Atlas is bound with zip ties and ropes. He looks to Mistress for permission before shocking Atlas with a cattle prod on his arm. The boy screams as tears run down his red face and fall to his jeans.

  "Enough." Mistress says. She holds out her hand to Silver. "Give me your belt. I want a turn."

  He removes his belt and tosses it to her. "Yes, Mistress."

  She grins in twisted delight as she sits on Atlas's lap then wraps the leather around his neck. "You're gonna tell us how you knew where our base was and how you knew the password."

  "Uriel told me."

  Mistress laughs and pulls the belt tighter until Atlas gasps for air. "You just said the wrong thing, boy."

  "So he's working with Uriel? I'm still not convinced he is who he says he is." Silver puts the cattle prod down and rummages in a cardboard box until he pulls out an ice pick. "How far do you think I can push this ice pick into his stomach?"

  "I can think of a few much more delicate places to make him squeal."

  Atlas tries to voice his desperate protests, but the tight leather around his neck prevents him from making much more than a weak and pitiful gurgling sound.

  "Let up a bit, Mistress. Don't kill the kid yet. He can't tell us what he knows if he's unconscious."

  "True." She loosens the belt and waits for Atlas to cough and take a few ragged breaths. "You have one chance and one chance only to tell us what Uriel is working on. That silver disk you gave us had nothing but some kind of Morse code on it. Even my expert code cracker couldn't make out what it said. Isn't that right, Silver?"

  "Yes, Mistress. It was completely incoherent."

  "Russian." Atlas whispers through his sobbing.

  Silver chuckles and tosses the ice pick up in the air then catches it. "Of course. So it was originally in Russian then they put it in Morse code from there."

  "Can you speak Russian?" Mistress asks as she stands, much to Atlas's obvious relief.

  "Nope. It's a dead language now. Hell, these Nymphs speak more Latin than languages like Russian and French. I guess I could run it through a translator and see what it spits out."

  Atlas sighs and shakes his head. "If you two would untie me and stop hurting me, I could tell you what it says. Why are you people so rough?"

  Silver crosses his arms on his chest. "Did you hear that, Mistress? Little pure Nymph here doesn't like it rough."

  "Quite your opposite, eh, Silver?"

  "Certainly. However, I'm not into thin whiny men. He looks to be more woman than anything anyway. Plus, I highly doubt he'd be dominant enough for my liking."

  "True. Though, you could test him out." Mistress says.

  "No!" Atlas screams and squirms in his bonds. "Please don't."

  Silver grabs Atlas's arms and leans down in his face. "What's wrong? Do I scare you?"

  "Yes! Please don't hurt me. I'm fragile."

  Silver and Mistress both double over in a fit of laughter. Did he really just say that? Silver eventually catches his breath and wipes the tears from his eyes. "Okay, Atlas. You've been entertaining, but we really need to get this moving. Tell me about Nova Cunningham."

  "She is being held in Athens. Uriel is operating on her to create some kind of nanobot queen. She has been interacting with the rejuvenation ring and the alpha code."

  "What does the alpha code do?" Mistress asks. She falls back on the bed and tosses a pair of pliers up towards the ceiling.

  "It unleashes a massive amount of nanobots that seek out every living thing within the atmosphere and devour them."

  "So what? Uriel wants to kill of all of Olympus?" Silver asks.

  "Not quite. With the addition of the rejuvenation ring, the person with the right controls can use electrical impulses to control the actions of the nanobots and keep them from indiscriminately killing everything."

  Indiscriminately killing, huh? "So he is developing a weapon?"

  "Yes."

  "That means that my daughter is alive after all."

  Atlas's eyes flash open in surprise. "You're Jarred Cunningham?"

  "Is it really that surprising? I haven't changed at all."

  "I always thought you'd be a lot less . . . brusque now."

  Brusque? What does that mean? What language is that? "Meaning?"

  "People usually get gentler with age."

  "You saying I'm old, boy? Do I need to get the cattle prod again?"

  Atlas closes his eyes and bows his head submissively. "N-no, sir."

  "Good." Silver stops talking when some dark music begins playing in the room. What the hell?

  "That's my cell phone you took."

  "Oh. It creeped me out for a minute."

  "It's Mozart's Requiem in D minor." Atlas says. "I beg you. Answer that call and everything will be explained. I'm innocent. What would I gain by helping Uriel with this? Nova has always been like a sister to me. Uriel has lost his mind. He has been bonding with children for some reason. He killed my remaining brother and sister. That's why I ran away and came here to find you. I knew you could help. Isidore told me where to find this place and the password."

  Now Silver is intrigued. "Isidore?"

  "Yes. He's some kind of self aware computer or something. That's probably him calling. Answer it or he will be concerned for me."

  "You expect us to believe that? You're probably just trying to lead people here with the signal. Is there a tracker in this thing?" Mistress picks up the cell phone and goes to throw it against the wall, but Silver grabs her wrist.

  "Mistress, stop."

  "What? You believe him?"

  Silver pries the phone from her hand. "If this is the same Isidore I used to know, then things will work out in our favor after all."

  "You knew a computer?"

  "He wasn't always a computer . . . well, not like you'd think. He used to be an android. I owned his daughter at one point. I'm calling him back."

  "You should know he's just a computer now. He didn't want a body this time." Atlas says.

  "I'm not surprised. That sounds exactly like the sort of thing I'd expect from Isidore Williams."

  A familiar voice from so many years ago comes over the speaker. "You should learn to answer your phone the first time I call, Atlas. I've been worried about you since you left."

  "Hello, Isidore. You remember my voice, don't you?"

  "Jarred Cunningham. It has been a long time. Please give the phone to Atlas. He's my assistant."

  "Assistant? He's a little . . . tied up at the moment. Can I take a message?"

  Isidore doesn't sound amused. "Listen, now is not the time to be playing games. I've already hacked into the security cameras in your building and I'm watching you. Untie Atlas and pay close attention to what I'm going to say. Nova will not survive this operation if Uriel tries to rush it. I need you to keep Atlas over there until he is finished. And Cleopatra?"

  Mistress looks surprised. "Um . . . yes?"

  "On behalf of the Nymph resistance, I ask for your he
lp in finding Troy and ensuring that he takes his rightful place as king. I will handle the diplomatic matters behind the scenes between Olympus and the IGR. I think we can all agree that our first priorities are figuring out what is wrong with Uriel, trying to save Nova's life, and eliminating Evans."

  "No." Silver says. "I have a precious little boy to rescue. That is my first and only priority. Nothing else matters. If you want my help in those other things, then you'd better find a way to get Paris out of Kyro. If I lose Paris, I won't be alive to help."

  11

  "Watch your step. These old wooden bridges can be really unsteady." Orion holds out the flashlight to Troy then grabs onto the rope stretching across the deep crevasse. A few small bats squeak and dart out of the cavern.

  Troy takes the flashlight and shines it onto the wooden planks for them to see where they are going. This place is huge. They've been down here for eight hours and they've only covered a fraction of the area that has already been explored. From the looks of it, they won't even reach their work zone for another hour at this pace. That oatmeal at breakfast really wasn't enough. Now his stomach is making humorous noises, causing Orion to chuckle every so often.

  "We're good." Orion says. "You weigh a bit more than me, but it should hold."

  It should hold? Should? Troy's heart leaps in his chest as he steps up to the first wooden board. He shines the light down into the deep hole below him. When the beam doesn't hit anything, only vanishes in the continuing darkness, he knows he can't do this.

  "What are you waiting for?" Orion asks from the other side.

  Troy's throat feels dry and his hands begin to sweat. "I . . . I can't do it. I can't fall again."

  "You won't fall. I'm right here. I'll catch you."

  "No. You go ahead. I'll find another way across."

  "I'm not leaving you. We have to stick together. What's with you? Since when are you afraid of heights?"

  "Since I just fell a hundred feet and was badly injured. I'm not doing that again."

  Orion unwinds a bundle of rope from his belt and tosses the end to Troy. "Tie that around your waist so I can pull you up if you fall."

  "Hell no. You don't have any muscles. You can't hold my weight."

  "Are you saying I'm weak?"

  "I'm saying I weigh more than you because of my build."

  Orion scoffs. "Short and fat?"

  "Short and muscular." Troy lifts his shirt to show off his hard abs. "Does that look like fat to you? Let's see your stomach."

  "You already saw it when you were checking me out yesterday."

  "Oh, please. I prefer breasts to be on women."

  "I'm going to kill you!"

  "Good!" Troy screams at him. "Do it. Then I won't have to cross this stupid bridge from hell."

  Orion's hands tighten into fists and he turns his back on Troy for a minute. He takes a few deep breaths. "Troy, please tie the rope around your waist and place your trust in me. You're right. We don't need to be arguing. I . . . I'm sorry."

  Did Orion, Mr. Arrogant, just apologize? Fine. Troy picks the rope up and wraps it around his torso. "Ready?"

  "Yes. You'll be fine. Toss the flashlight to me so I can light your way."

  He does so then places the toes of his thin leather boots on the first wood plank. Grabbing onto the rope, Troy takes a step. He keeps his eyes closed as he continues across the pit. He has to do this. This fear cannot control him.

  "Where are you going?" Orion asks.

  Troy opens his eyes and looks around. He made it.

  Orion removes the rope from Troy's waist and hands him the flashlight. "Good job, buddy. You got this. I'm right here to help you. I've been a jerk to you since we got here. For that, I apologize. Now, let us be partners, equals, and friends. What do you say?"

  He takes Orion's hand. "All right. Lead on."

  They eventually come to a wall stretching from the floor to about forty feet up the wall of the cavern. Orion gasps. "Whoa. Look at this. Help me clear these vines away."

  Troy chops away at the thick brown vines covering the wall. When the machete clanks on the wall, he stops and holds the light closer. He brushes the caked-on mud away to reveal the golden luster. "This entire wall is made of gold."

  "Excellent find! We're gonna be rich. Well . . . Master Khalid is gonna be rich."

  Troy's fingers find some engraved lines and circles. "I think there's something written here."

  "Stand back." Orion takes out a cloth and wipes away the dirt from the dingy gold wall. "Shine the light up there. Ah. I see."

  "What is it?"

  "These are Egyptian hieroglyphics. I've seen them many times in desert ruins around here. When the early Nymphs first interacted with humans on Earth, they did so in secret for thousands of years. The Nymphs didn't have a religion back then of any kind so they became enthralled by everything religious, mystical, and mythological. They then adopted their societies to incorporate those myths. Legend has it that the early Nymphs truly were immortal and only robots. Then with the interactions with humans, they mimicked humans. Over centuries, they developed ways to become more like the humans they adored. The Nymphs gave humans technology and eventually nanobots. The humans gave Nymphs their culture."

  "So that's where we get our religions. Why haven't I heard this before?" Troy asks.

  "Because you pure Nymphs don't like to acknowledge that you came from some kind of robotic beings. That's why sorcerers, psychics, and fortune tellers are all illegal in Athens. They feel threatened by the impure Nymphs who still cling to those forms of spirituality. It's all brainwashing to control the masses. If you don't like something, then tell the people they can't do it. Nymph society isn't any different from human societies in that respect."

  Troy had wondered why the laws against Nova's fortune telling were so strict, but he can't fully trust everything Orion says. This is a conversation for another time. "Can you read this? It looks just like random drawings to me."

  Orion studies the hieroglyphics for a few minutes. "Do you have a problem with mummies?"

  "Mummies?"

  "We're in a burial tomb."

  "Oh, no. Hermes guide us. A tomb?"

  Orion runs his hand over the engravings. "I don't think your gods will help you down here, Troy. There should be a way to get past this wall."

  He spots something sticking out of a clump of vines. "This looks like a lever."

  "Don't pull it. Whatever you do, do not pull it. These tombs are generally protected by booby traps and false passageways to ward off grave robbers. Mistress's fiancé was actually killed by a trap in some ruins. He took all the precautions and did everything right. You just never know when the next step will trigger your death."

  "Sounds . . . inviting. So, what do we do? I don't see any other levers or doors."

  "That's probably why the team who worked down here before us didn't map out anymore in this direction."

  "Or they died." Troy says with dread rising in his chest.

  "That could explain why Master Khalid had to replace them . . . with us."

  "We can't head back up without actually accomplishing anything. Our master is counting on us to do this."

  Orion puts his hands on his hips. "Do you fetch bones too? Gods, you're like a trained little puppy. And you're even wearing a collar."

  "If I am a slave, it is my duty to serve my master to the best of my ability. You know I tried to obey you as well. Plus, I would rather work hard than get beaten for disobeying his orders."

  "You want to get something done? Then pull the lever."

  Troy takes a step back. "No way."

  "Then I don't know what to tell you. If you're so worried about upsetting Master Khalid, then risk your own life and pull the lever."

  "You said it will kill me."

  "I said it will probably kill you. There's a difference."

  It's obvious he isn't going to win this. He has already conquered one near death experience today. What's another one? Troy shuts hi
s eyes tightly and braces for whatever might happen to him. He slowly pulls the lever and a loud click echoes in the open room. When no poison darts puncture his skin and he doesn't fall into a pit of spikes, Troy opens his eyes to look down a dark flight of stairs. Oh. Well, that proved to be a lot less painful than he had anticipated.

  Orion is laughing hysterically and holding onto the wall for support. "You should have seen your face!"

  "Why are you laughing?"

  "You fell for that. It's just a staircase, Troy. It's not gonna bite you!"

  "You knew it wasn't a trap?"

  "That's the same trick Silver played on me during my first dig. These false doors exist in nearly every set of ruins. But I wasn't lying when I said this leads to a tomb. From here on, let me be in front. There will be booby traps. I know how to disarm most of them, but I have to see them before it's too late, so keep that light on everything. Step directly where I step and don't touch anything."

  What a horrible trick. Troy swallows his words of anger and follows behind Orion, lighting the path in front of them as they go. Spider webs hang over the passageway. They are a comforting sight. To Nymphs, spiders are a sacred creature. Killing one is almost as bad as taking the life of a Nymph, human, or android . . . almost. Troy has never knowingly killed a spider. He can't say the same for the others.

  "Stop." Orion holds his arm out to block the passageway. "Shine the light up on the ceiling. Yep. As I thought. See that white brick up there that's lighter than the others? That's the keystone keeping this entire ceiling from collapsing. Be very careful here. Make sure you step over this wire. It's the trigger."

  Troy steps over the barely visible wire. As they continue to go deeper, a foul smell fills the stagnant air and grows stronger. It's one Troy knows all too well. Death. Sure enough, at the end of the stairs where a metal door blocks the only way to go, are two decaying corpses dressed in the same grey uniforms and turbans Troy and Orion are wearing.

  "Hold up." Orion turns one of the men over with his foot. "They've been dead for a while."

  "About a week."

  "How can you tell?"

  "Trust me. I can tell. A big part is the smell. You never forget it."