The Jovian Legacy

by Lilla Nicholas-Holt

  Megan’s eyes widened. “Is it like the Garden of Eden or something?”

  “You’ll see,” Jack’s mother replied with a smile.

  After they’d eaten they were taken downstairs to a lobby room. As they approached the lobby they could hear the chatter of a large number of people.

  “Brace yourselves,” Ben cautioned, “the media of Thebes is here.”

  Megan tightened her grip again as they entered the room. They were on a slightly higher level from where the media had positioned themselves, causing them to feel like celebrities. Jack thought it quite daunting. The cameras went off; a continuous flashing of lights as photos were taken for the press. Megan seemed to be enjoying the attention, smiling and waving. Jack on the other hand felt rather intimidated.

  A huge banner at the far end of the room caught his eye: ‘Welcome to Jovian’. Another read, ‘We welcome you, Jack and Megan’.

  “Well, at least they’re friendly. Must be a lot of Americans here, they’re very passionate people you know,” Jack whispered to Megan who was still beaming at the paparazzi.

  After a short time they were ushered into a conference room to where twenty men were seated around a large oval table, awaiting them. One man stood up as soon as Jack and his family entered.

  “Welcome to Jovian. I am Premier Tiberius,” the man greeted with an air of self-importance.

  “Holy crap!” Jack exclaimed under his breath.

  “What?” Megan hissed at him, alarmed.

  “That accent, I’ve heard it before!” he said, remembering it was the same tone of voice he’d heard from the men in the black Volvo Estate.

  “The same thick accent,” he repeated.

  “May I introduce you to our fellow dignitaries. Marquises Ahmose, Mentuhotpe, Khafe, Suphis, Apepi, Yakobaam, Sethos, Siptah, Twore, Seti, Remesses, Pinedjem, Smendes, Meryamun, Shoshonk, Osorkon, Darius, Piyi, Hakoris and Sheshonq,” Premier Tiberius announced. Each time he introduced a dignitary, the man would pop up, nod his head sombrely, and sit down again.

  Jack realised he had mentioned the name Siptah - the name given from the Lucre Box, the Pharaoh Siptah that he was supposed to be related to.

  Maybe just a common name here, Jack thought, brushing it off.

  Premier Tiberius addressed Jack. “It is my pleasure to welcome you and your friend to Jovian. Please take a seat, and we will explain the way in which we live.”

  Ben and Nancy Dunlop were shown to their dark blue velvety cushioned chairs, Jack and Megan sitting at their right. Premier Tiberius waited until everyone had settled into their seats.

  “It will take a period of time for you to absorb the makeup of our world, but I will try and explain it as best I can, as I do with all newcomers, and as I did when your parents arrived here five years ago,” he stated. “Our planet is comprised of only fifty-six countries. It is a great deal smaller than Earth, but has similar makeup for life to exist. As you are no doubt aware, the ancient Egyptians were of an advanced race. They were, in fact, the original people of Jovian. Kings in the early period of 2890 B.C. were sent to Earth to begin life as it was on Jovian. Unfortunately, evil influence and killings became apparent in the 7th and 8th dynasties. These are people who evolved with a bad influence over successive generations, and that is why you have a great amount of crime on Earth today. Also, there is a small number of like-minded people living here on Jovian today, who wish to take control of Earth. They are trying to infiltrate our communication system to obtain the formula that we used to achieve with our successful contact with you, something that has taken us years to achieve. They have agents on Earth who were trying to intercept our communication with you.”

  “The men from the Volvo!” Jack blurted. “I had two of them stalking me! One time I saw them using a laptop and headphones, like they were tapping into something.” Jack realised his outburst and apologised.

  “Yes,” Premier Tiberius confirmed, clearing his throat, “they are the agents we were protecting you from. They have bad intentions, due to the fact that they have been unable to take control of Jovian.”

  “You will see why we take people who travel over the Bermuda Triangle,” the premier continued. “We only take people who are of Egyptian descent, as are you, to give them the opportunity to live in a world of advanced culture and an enhancement of living, a world that has little crime and absolutely no viruses or disabilities whatsoever. People live in harmony, living well into their hundreds. The people who live on Jovian are all of Egyptian descent, most of them descending from pharaohs. You and your father are descendants of Pharaoh Siptah. We have approximately 40,000 descendants from Pharaoh Siptah.”

  “I have 40,000 distant cousins to meet? Cool!” Jack laughed, showing off his immaturity.

  Premier Tiberius glanced at one of his colleagues and continued. “Our aim is to live as primarily intended, and to develop a world of complete harmony between mankind with no evidence of greed nor crime. The country in which we live is called Thebes, an ancient name of an Egyptian city on Earth. Each country has its own kingdom, run by kings only.

  “Ah, still a man’s world, aye?” Megan quipped.

  Premier Tiberius smiled at her. “We are prosperous. The kings are all fair and just. Our country of Thebes is run by Pharaoh Merenptah. However, our world is reigned by a queen, Queen Meryt-Neith,” he continued, noticing Jack’s odd reaction. “She has combined ministerial justice with ancient traditions and beliefs, therefore preserving Egyptian aristocracy alongside modern jurisdiction. People do work, but there are no taxes to pay, nor do we have rates on our land, for the land is owned by no-one. We do not immerse ourselves in wasteful, needless materials. However, there is that small sector that I have mentioned, who think they have the power to overthrow our queen’s reign, but at seven percent of the population, they are a small thorn in our sides, more like a prickle,” he chuckled.

  “Please,” the premier said, clearing his throat again, “relax and enjoy your evening. I’m sure you and your family have a lot of catching up to do. A limousine will arrive at your suites at seven sharp tomorrow morning to pick you up and take your family on a tour of our homeland.”

  They then excused themselves.

  “Well,” Megan stated, noticing that Jack had gone quiet, “we’ll have to have an early night tonight, won’t we? I can’t wait to see this place.”

  “Queen Meryt-Neith,” Jack said under his breath, lost in thought.

  The family was left alone to catch up. Even Megan quietly withdrew herself, to let Jack spend some quality time with his parents.

  “I don’t mind, really,” she assured Jack when he showed concern. “I’d like to be by myself for a little while anyway. I’m okay.” She squeezed his hand and kissed him on the cheek.

  The rest of the night was taken up with much talking and hugging, and Jack convincing himself of the reality that he had finally been reunited with his parents, parents that he believed had perished five years earlier, years that had been especially difficult for him. He had grieved for so long; then came a period when he had accepted their deaths and had grown up faster than his friends. Now everything was upside down again, but this time he couldn’t have wished for a better outcome. The family spent the rest of the evening in deep and sometimes emotional conversation, retiring to their rooms at a very late hour.

  The distant gonging awoke Jack. In the next room it also woke up Megan. A giant gong on a mountainside chimed every morning, signalling a new day.

  “Haven’t they heard of alarm clocks?” Jack sniggered, realising there weren’t any clocks in his room. He dragged himself to the shower, wondering what they will discover today. He met Megan in the foyer of the decontamination section they were supposedly in, though he looked upon it as more like a plush hotel. He kissed Megan on the cheek and asked her if she’d slept well.

  “Like a log,” she answered, grinning. She looked as pretty as a picture in the clothes that she had picked from her supplied wardrobe.

&nbs
p; “Wow, they even know what you look good in!” Jack exclaimed, standing back to admire her. Megan blushed.

  “You look pretty sharp yourself,” she replied cheerfully. Jack did, in fact, quietly think that he looked pretty good in the clothes he’d found in his wardrobe.

  The limousine arrived with his parents already inside. It was a black Volvo.

  Nicer than the one the Jovian men kept turning up in, Jack thought. I wonder if all the cars on Jovian are Volvos. Seems strange that they would have Swedish cars on Planet Jovian. It was then that he noticed that it wasn’t actually a Volvo. Well, it was, but the badge read something else. It was in Egyptian. Inside the limousine were facing benchseats, his parents at the front with their backs to the driver, and Megan and Jack facing his parents. The vehicle glided along smoothly and quietly, and entered through two large majestic gates.

  “Must be the security area,” Megan guessed.

  “Yes,” Jack’s father confirmed. “We’ve just come out of the Djoser complex building where all new arrivals have to stay and decontaminate.”

  Megan and Jack had no idea what they were about to discover next. A sample of Jovian was about to be revealed to them. It would be a sight they would never ever forget.

  The limo glided along down through a stand of beautiful old trees with leaves of a deep shiny green. At the end of the row their limo pulled into an area that overlooked a valley.

  As Megan and Jack looked out of their windows they both uttered a cry of wonderment. The valley before them was a kaleidoscope of colour, with a lake a deep blue and encircled by trees of various colour; trees with bright red leaves, dazzling yellow leaves, and a number of trees with the deepest green leaves. The meadows surrounding the lake were plush and green. Above the lake a waterfall made a spectacular backdrop, high and wide though not thunderous. A white veil of water gently cascaded over, glistening, suspended in the air, like jewels in the sunlight. Below the waterfall, wild flowers grew everywhere. The sight before them was striking.

  “This must be where God lives” Megan said like an excited child. “This definitely looks like the Garden of Eden.”

  Nancy smiled. “The Jovian people are constantly trying to master the five senses. You have had a sample from what you have seen already. In fact, there are very few places in this world that are not picturesque. Even the buildings are beautiful. We will show you some enormous projects, and art that is unbelievable, art that is dedicated to the Middle Kingdom era in the 11th Dynasty of 357 - 1986 BC.”

  “Wow, you know your stuff, Mum!” Jack exclaimed, realising it was the first time he had called her Mum to her face in five years. They smiled at each other, so happy that they had each other again. It was still very hard to swallow for the whole family.

  The limosine cruised through mountainsides and valleys, through areas full of plantations and workers with large ingenious machinery. As they rounded a bend Jack and Megan sat in awe at the sight of two huge pyramids majestically standing at the entrance to the city. They glided through the entrance and arrived at a walled area on either side of the roadway, setting their eyes on a grand construction. A replica of the Sphinx of Giza, and just as large; forty-five metres in length, the paws alone being fifteen metres long. The ten by four metre head resembled the King of Thebes.

  “Each country has its own Sphinx and each resembling its king,” Jack’s father explained.

  The driver parked the vehicle, and the family strolled up to the huge construction with the body of a lion and the head of a king, the structure symbolizing strength and wisdom.

  “People regard it as the Guardian of the Horizon,” Ben stated. “You are going to see the art that your mother was talking about.”

  The entrance read, ‘Supreme Council of Antiquities’. They entered a grand foyer. The great Guardian of the Horizon was hollow, with its walls encrusted in jewels and ancient art. Jack and Megan gaped in awe at the strikingly beautiful art before them. In various areas were strategically placed Egyptian figurines and artefacts. One in particular took Jack’s interest. It stood seven metres high and resembled a slender cat. Ben walked up to his side and said, “That, my son, has been crafted from pure gold.”

  Jack blew through his lips. “Cool! A gold cat. That is one obscene amount of gold!”

  Megan and Nancy had disappeared into one of the side galleries, which was completely covered in diamonds.

  “I knew they would be in there,” Jack’s father said with a smirk, “draws in women like a magnet.”

  Jack and his dad caught up with Megan and Nancy, who were admiring a figurine that had been cut from a large diamond. It was the size of a football. As Megan stroked it a rainbow of colours sparkled off her fingers. Jack literally took a step back. It was the same thing that happened with his Lucre Box. Only then did he notice some Egyptian wording above on the wall. It read, “Sinestu-ipini-itxaro-ahalguzti”. Underneath it were the words, “To believe is to place your trust in the Almighty.”

  “Mum, Dad!” Jack announced with great excitement, “do you remember my Lucre Box that Nick Findlay gave me for my tenth birthday? Well, this is the exact wording it had on it. And the colours that came off it are the same as what I just saw when Megan ran her fingers along that thing!”

  “Oh yes, I remember,” exclaimed Nancy, looking at Ben. “We never did hear back from the man at the shop, did we?” Ben didn’t answer her, but turned to Jack with a concerned expression.

  “Was that really what you saw on that box that Nick gave you?”

  “Yes, exact same wording,” Jack replied, still excited.

  His father gazed at him with an apologetic look. “Jack, I didn’t take it back to the shop, I put it away. I had been given one myself as a boy, as a birthday present too, actually, from my father. I don’t know where he got it. It might’ve have been handed down through the generations as it was quite old. My mother thought it was evil and demanded that my father destroy it. When you got yours I put it away, and I’m afraid I made up that story about taking it back to the shop. I found it again when I was clearing out the house. It went into a box that we included in the garage sale,” he confessed.

  “Ben!” Nancy cried, “you even told me that you’d taken it back to the shop to ask about its history.”

  “Sorry, love,” Ben apologised, filled with guilt about lying to his family.

  “Now it’s probably in the hands of another boy, or girl, who will be brought here in time,” Jack said, resentful that someone else had the box when it was supposed to be his.

  “Yes, I believe so,” his father agreed. “I’m sorry, Son.”

  The limo drove them back to the Djoser complex building. Just before Jack said goodbye to his parents for the night he asked them why he had seen no clocks at all. A small thing, but it bugged him.

  His father explained. “As Jovian is Egyptian orientated they go by the ancient Babylonian time system, something that will take you a while to figure out. Give it some time,” he said, grinning at his little pun.

  Jack and Megan returned to their respective rooms, exhausted from the day’s outing. Ben and Nancy carried on back to their house. It would be another week before Jack and Megan could take up residency with them, although they were permitted to show Jack and Megan their home the following day.

  The next morning they slept in. Megan rose before Jack, enjoying her breakfast in the dining room when he joined her. Ben and Nancy had arranged to pick them up mid-morning. Jack had taken only minutes to choose something to wear for the day. Though, as with any girl blossoming into a young woman, Megan had spent a lot of time with her new wardrobe. She looked very attractive in what she had selected.

  “You look amazing,” Jack said, gawping at her.

  “Thanks,” Megan replied with a grin, quietly pleased with herself.

  Once again the Volvo-type limousine arrived for their pick-up, and the pair climbed in, keen to see where Jack’s parents lived.

  Mr and Mrs Dunlop had a palatial home situa
ted in an orchard. It boasted a sweeping driveway of small coloured stones that crunched beneath the vehicle as it slowly rolled up and stopped outside the entrance. Ben and Nancy were waiting on the steps to welcome their son and Megan into their home.

  “Wow! This is awesome! Dad, is this place really ours?” Jack cried.

  “Yes, indeed. Everyone lives well. You will not see a dwelling of any less level of comfort than this. You wait until you see the king’s abode,” his father smiled.

  After much admiration noises by Megan and Jack, they were taken to the eastern wing, onto a slated area under a wooden gazebo for morning tea. A well-dressed man brought them something to drink with small tasty treats.

  “You have a waiter?” Jack asked, incredulous.

  “Yes, but he isn’t called a waiter,” Nancy corrected. “His name is Antoninus. Antoninus, this is my son, Jack, and this is my niece, Megan.”

  Jack quickly glanced at Megan. It was the first time his mother had referred to her as her niece. So true. Jack had mixed feelings.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you both,” Antoninus replied. “If there is anything you would like, just let me know. If you wish to take a ride for instance, I will arrange the mares.”

  “You have horses?” Jack asked his father.

  “What’s with the twenty questions?” his father laughed.

  Ben had something else in mind. “This afternoon we would like to take you to meet the scientists that made this all possible.”

  “Okay, good with me.” Jack turned to Megan. “How about you, Megs?”

  More daunting though it was for Megan, as she had been monitored by these people all of her life, and, in fact, were the people behind the team who’d successfully genetically engineered her. She felt violated, but bravely agreed.

  Megan and Jack took up the offer of the horse ride, and were surprised at the impressive looking animals. Their steads were mares, as Antoninus had said, and had two young foals trailing behind them. To Megan and Jack, it was overwhelming to ride through such magnificent countryside, with two beautiful colts trotting at their mothers’ sides, keeping up.