by P. J. Hoover
“How could you know that?” Gary asked.
“Did you dream it?” Andy said, yawning.
“The Geodine showed me,” Benjamin said. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out in his hand. “I watched the meteorite land in Tibet, and then watched the stone, or at least part of it, being taken to Bangkok.”
“That little globe showed that to you?” Andy asked.
“This little globe is amazing. It shows you everything. The key traveled by boat down the River Ping. It’s in Thailand,” Benjamin said. “We have to go get it.”
“I hate to tell you this, but Bangkok’s a pretty big place,” Gary said. “How do we go about knowing where to look?”
“Maybe the Geodine can shown us more detail. Maybe it can show us where to look in Bangkok,” Benjamin said.
“Yeah, but even if we do find out where it is,” Gary said, “we can’t leave Lemuria. We can’t even leave the capital city. That’s against the rules.”
“Well, there must be some way to get there,” Benjamin said.
“How? Just sneak off to Thailand?” Andy said. “Maybe we could go up to the nearest teleporter and say ‘Send me to Thailand’, or something like that.” He let out a deep breath and sank back into his pillow.
“You think the teleporters won’t let us go?” Benjamin said.
“Of course they won’t let us!” Andy said. “I mean, they’re school teleporters and everything around here seems to know our DNA code. Heck, I don’t even know my DNA code. I’d be willing to bet they have travel out of the city totally blocked for Year One Denarians.”
“You may be right,” Benjamin said, sinking into a chair.
“And, I don’t think any of us can teleport ourselves there,” Andy continued. “I mean, I know you’re showing promise, Benjamin, but you have a long way to go.”
“Not that long,” Benjamin replied.
“Face it, it’s gonna be impossible to get there while we’re still at summer school,” Andy said. “We may just have to wait until we get back home and have our parents take us or something.”
“There may be another way,” Gary said suddenly.
Both Benjamin and Andy turned. What in the world would Gary be willing to break the rules for?
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” Gary said. “What’s going on in Bangkok next weekend?”
“Chinese New Year?” Andy guessed.
Gary frowned at him. “Don’t you ever listen to anything? You’ll never be an agent if you don’t start being more observant.”
“Okay, so what’s going on?” Benjamin asked.
“The Bangkok Chess Open,” Gary stated.
“And…,” Andy said.
“And, who do we know that’s going to Bangkok, secretly, to play in the Bangkok Chess Open?” Gary asked.
And then Benjamin realized it. Gary would break the school rules for chess. “Morpheus Midas,” Benjamin answered.
“And The Panther,” Gary said. “They’re going to the tournament, and they don’t want anyone to know. So how do you think they’re going to get there? The odds are that at least one of them has to rely on a teleporter machine.”
“And so, if we found out which teleporter they were using, and used the same one, we could get to Bangkok,” Benjamin said.
“Right,” Gary said, smiling.
Benjamin smiled back. “I think we need to come up with a plan.”
They spent the first half of Sunday devising a plan for the journey to Bangkok. Benjamin and Heidi studied the Geodine, zooming in on the arrival of the key to Bangkok. It was taken into a temple under construction at the time. By cross referencing the location of the temple and the year of the arrival on their sheaves, Benjamin and Heidi were able to determine the first key of Shambhala was inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
The Emerald Buddha had been discovered accidentally in the fifteenth century. Because it was so valuable, it had been plastered over to hide its beauty from invaders. However, fate had different plans for the Emerald Buddha; lightning struck the statue, exposing the shiny green beneath. Nobody was certain when it had been created, and everyone assumed it was made of green jade or jasper. But now, Benjamin wondered if the actual stone was in fact Moldavite, the same as the Emerald Tablet and the keys they were after. After being discovered, the Buddha was lost to marauders, won back in war, moved from one capital city to another, but always worshiped. It was finally taken to Bangkok when the city was first forming, and a temple adjoining the Grand Palace of Siam was constructed for its worship—the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
“So, why don’t we just ask Morpheus again if we can go with him to the tournament?” Iva said. “He seems like a pretty nice guy. I bet he’d take us.”
“Even if Morpheus said yes, The Panther would never let us go,” Benjamin said. “You heard what he said.”
“He said he’d kick us out of school,” Heidi replied.
“I think he was just bluffing,” Gary said.
“I could see it in his mind,” Heidi replied. “It was no bluff.”
“So, how are we going to sneak onto a public teleporter and walk around the temple looking for the key?” Heidi asked.
“Well, I doubt they’ll use a public teleporter, and I don’t think all of us should go,” Benjamin said. “Here’s my idea.”
During the week, Andy and Iva would follow The Panther around, gathering what information they could about him. What teleporter did he use? Could he teleport without the assistance of a machine? If both he and Morpheus could, they’d need a new plan—fast.
At the same time, Gary and Heidi would go back to Morpheus Midas’s store for more information. Under the false pretext that Heidi was looking for another telemagnifier, Gary would get more details on the events of the coming weekend. When was the tournament? What time were he and The Panther planning on leaving? When would they be coming back? Where was the tournament being held? And, could Morpheus himself teleport?
Benjamin would spend his free time mapping out the Grand Palace grounds and the layout of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. He needed to know the security in place around the temple, to look for possible secret rooms inside the temple, and to calculate how long it would take him to get in and out.
They decided that only three of them could actually travel to Bangkok. Gary would go to watch over Morpheus and The Panther at the tournament, and Benjamin and Iva would go into the temple to look for the first key of Shambhala. Benjamin picked Iva over Heidi in case they needed her telegnostic abilities to find the key. Heidi pouted, but couldn’t argue with the logic.
Andy and Heidi would stand guard back in Lemuria. They would remain near whatever teleporter was used and try to use telepathy to contact the others if something went wrong.
At the end of the week, Benjamin felt they had all the information they needed. The Panther could teleport, but Morpheus Midas could not. Morpheus had a private teleporter in the back of his store. By asking him about the tournament, Heidi easily picked the teleporter access code from his mind for Bangkok. The tournament started at nine o’clock on Saturday morning, and he and The Panther would leave around eight to get there. The teleporter in Bangkok was hidden about a fifteen minute walk from the Bangkok Chess Open. Benjamin figured the longest walk to the Palace grounds would be around twenty-three minutes.
To make sure communication wouldn’t be an issue, they’d been practicing their telepathy all week. The telepathy practice areas were equipped with telepathy chambers, which came in extremely useful. The telepathy chambers were paired pods which two telegens could use to practice communicating over distances.
Gary easily communicated with Iva and Benjamin up to a five mile separation, which more than accounted for the one mile between the arena where the Chess Open was held and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. He wouldn’t have any problems letting them know when Morpheus and The Panther started to leave the tournament.
Communicating with Heidi and Andy back in Lemuria wou
ld have posed a problem for anyone other than Heidi Dylan, even with the bonding of the Alliance. The telepathy chambers showed that Heidi could send her thoughts into specific minds for distances upwards of six thousand miles. Using her moonstone ring telemagnifier, the separation increased to over ten thousand miles. And not only was she able to place thoughts into minds that far away, she could receive thoughts sent from that distance, at least from Benjamin.
And so they were ready for the trip to Bangkok tomorrow. All they had to do now was sleep.
CHAPTER 18
One Day In Bangkok
At seven thirty on Saturday morning, they sat at a table in the Deimos Diner three doors down from The Silver Touch. Their table was at the back of the restaurant, so The Panther wouldn’t see them when he passed by.
Sure enough, at ten minutes to eight, Pantheros Pavlos came walking down Mu Way and entered Morpheus’s shop. Like they’d planned, they waited in the restaurant until a few minutes after eight and then walked to the shop. As expected, the door was locked; however, Gary had managed to obtain a single hair from Morpheus during the past week. Using the Chemistry lab back at school, he’d created a thin glove for Andy to wear containing Morpheus’s DNA sequence. Andy placed his hand on the access panel, and the door slid open.
“Awesome,” Andy said. “I’m sure glad someone’s good at science.”
Gary smiled. “Glad I could help.”
“Just think what trouble we could get in to if we had samples of all of our teachers’ DNA,” Andy said. His eyes got a far away look as if he was dreaming of the possibilities.
“I’m afraid to think of that,” Iva said. She hadn’t wanted to clone the DNA signature, but couldn’t come up with any better way to get into the locked shop.
They entered and quickly shut and locked the door. The teleporter was in the back of the store, the pad still glowing. Typing in the access code Heidi had obtained, the teleporter came out of standby, Benjamin, Gary, and Iva stepped forward, and then disappeared.
In light speed, they stood in an empty, back alley next to a large apartment building. Televisions could be heard from the high windows. A baby cried. A dog barked. Though they had only been in Lemuria a matter of weeks, Benjamin couldn’t believe how strange it felt to be back in what he’d considered to be the normal world for so many years.
Teleporter protocol dictated that upon arriving at public teleporter locations in non-Lemurian destinations, the arrivers quickly vacate the area. The teleporters themselves were designed to only allow arrivals and departures when humans were not around, scanning constantly for body heat and DNA, and shifting locations if needed.
Benjamin, Gary, and Iva hurried from the alley and walked about a half a block before stopping to look around. Benjamin pulled out the paper map of the city of Bangkok he’d printed before they left. He looked up, looked around, and then pointed to the map.
“Based on our surroundings and the position of the sun in the sky, I think we are…here.” He pointed about one mile southeast of the arena, circled in red, where the Bangkok Chess Open was being held. “We need to go here.” He pointed due west about one and a half miles. “Gary, do you have your map?” Benjamin asked.
Gary nodded. “I’ll let you know when I get to the Open, and I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the chess matches. Morpheus mentioned he was scheduled to play in one of the first ones,” Gary said.
“Let us know if anything goes wrong,” Iva said. She and Benjamin set off to the west; Gary started walking northwest. Within a block, they could no longer see each other.
Benjamin and Iva saw the Grand Palace long before they actually arrived. Large golden spires rose up in the air, higher than any of the surrounding buildings. They quickened their pace and soon reached the main gate where they entered the grounds of the Grand Palace.
“Okay, we’re here,” Benjamin thought to Gary. He looked at his watch. It was eight forty.
“Yeah, I’m here too. The tournament’s gonna get started soon, and Morpheus is in the first group of players, so he’ll be starting right at nine. But since he’ll never lose, he’ll probably play all day,” Gary replied.
Iva directed her thoughts to both of them. “I can already sense the key somewhere close by. It’s a really strong telemagnifier. I don’t think finding it’ll be a problem.”
“Oh, wow, you guys won’t believe who just got here,” Gary thought, and even across the distance Benjamin sensed Gary’s excitement through the Alliance bond.
“Asia Philippa,” Benjamin guessed.
“No. It’s Alexander Chervenka, the chess champion from last year’s tournament. He’s fantastic. I watched him win last year on TV. I hope I get to see him play this year,” Gary thought.
“Okay, well have fun, and let us know what’s going on with Morpheus,” Benjamin replied.
“Oh, yeah, I will,” Gary thought, distraction already evident in his response.
Benjamin and Iva walked as normally as they possible could, but went straight to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Located just off the left as they entered, it was drawing more tourists than any other destination in the entire palace complex. Two large demon statues stood guard over the temple area.
“You think they were from Atlantis?” Benjamin said to Iva, gesturing to the large, frightening figures.
“Maybe Lemuria,” she joked back. “Aren’t they supposedly guarding this place?”
“Well, even if they are good guys, I wouldn’t want to run into them in a dark alley,” Benjamin said.
The temple of the Emerald Buddha looked like it had been dipped in gold and then decorated with gems. Benjamin wasn’t positive the first key of Shambhala was located inside the actual temple, but he figured it was as good a place as any to start.
“Hey, how’s it going there?” Heidi’s voice said in his head. It took him by surprise.
“Oh, pretty good,” he thought back. “We just reached the temple, and Morpheus should be starting to play any minute now.”
“I just thought I’d check in. No activity here,” she thought back. “Morpheus has some pretty cool new things though. Andy found some telekinesis practice set that he won’t stop using. He keeps talking about his need to beat you and Ryan Jordan. You guys are so competitive. Well, let me know when you get the key.”
Like the rest of the tourists, they took off their shoes outside, and entered the temple. Set deep inside, high up on display, was the green statue of Buddha. Iva stopped and stared. “It’s breathtaking,” she said to no one in particular.
Benjamin wasn’t nearly so awestruck. “Come on,” he said, nudging her. “Can you tell where the key is?” he whispered. “We need to hurry.”
Iva stared for another moment and then shook herself out of her stupor. “It’s somewhere very close by. I’m almost certain it’s in this building.” She looked around.
Benjamin followed her gaze as she looked around. Most of the tourists were watching them.
“I think we’d better follow the crowd and kneel down to pray,” she said. “We’re already standing out.”
Benjamin grumbled, but dropped to his knees beside her. Iva bowed her head low to the ground, and Benjamin did his best to mimic her. “I don’t know how to pray to Buddha,” he said.
“Well, you don’t really have to,” Iva said. “Just make it look like you’re trying. People are starting to stare at us.”
They remained in the prostrate position for a minute before Iva spoke. “I can sense someone of great power placing the key somewhere in here to hide it. I can almost see it happening.” She grasped her Ammolite pendant and closed her eyes, trying to keep her head toward the ground.
Just then, Gary’s voice came quickly into Benjamin’s mind. “Benjamin, I don’t know what happened, but Morpheus lost, and they’re leaving. He lost! I don’t know how it could have happened.”
“He lost? They’re leaving? Now? Are you sure?” Benjamin asked.
“Positive. He sat down to play,
but in no time at all, his opponent had him cornered. After the checkmate, he looked really upset. Worried. He talked to The Panther, and the two of them left and headed to the teleporter.” Gary sounded panicked, even through telepathy. “I don’t think we can make it back before them.”
“No, we can’t,” Benjamin said. “We don’t even have the key yet.” Quietly he said to Iva, “Do you know where it is yet?”
“Don’t hurry me,” she hissed. “You’re making me lose my focus.”
“Okay,” Benjamin thought to Gary, “since we already missed our window, I’ll talk to Heidi and let her know they need to get out of the shop. We’ll just have to see if they can distract Morpheus and The Panther when we’re ready to return.”
“So, what should I do?” Gary asked.
“Well, I guess just stay and watch the tournament for a while,” Benjamin told him. “I’ll let you know when we get it.”
Benjamin looked over to get an update from Iva, but decided against it when she grabbed her pendant again and re-closed her eyes. So instead he connected to Heidi.
“Heidi!” he thought.
“Hey, Benjamin. How’s it going?” she replied without missing a beat.
“You guys have to get out of the shop. They’re heading back.”
“Already?” she asked.
“Yeah, already. I’ll explain it later. Just get Andy, and get out of the shop.”
Benjamin severed the link with Heidi and looked back over at Iva; she hadn’t moved. He did his best not to get impatient, but what was taking her so long? His knees were starting to hurt—badly. Wasn’t she supposed to be good at this telegnosis stuff? Of course, he had no idea where the key was. It could be three inches from his nose for all he knew.
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Iva said at last.
“How about the good news,” Benjamin said.
“Well, I know where the key is,” she said.
“It’s about time,” he said.
She glared at him.
“So, where is it?” Benjamin asked, ignoring her glare.
