Janus pleaded for Goddess Terra to stay and travel with him to the Temple of the Gods. But she said she was confident in her dragons’ excellent memories. She also mentioned being away for far too long and that she had some fires to put out. Stavius laughed that people still used that idiom after all this time. Goddess Terra was confused. She wanted to know what phrase he would use to describe dousing the million-acre conflagration currently burning in Kenya. Stavius mumbled something and wandered away, embarrassed.
The rest, except for Saturn, planned to visit the unicorns before going their separate ways. Stavius, Ops, and Saiph were heading to Septumcolis. Ops had friends who had been wanting to topple the seven families for years, and she was going to organize them into a sort of resistance movement. She also claimed to know someone who could train Stavius to teleport. Stavius was unconvinced but had no better suggestions.
The girls were taking their dragons to the Lachian town to assist General Jairmee and Bor with building their army. Saturn was going to stay with the elder dragons. He and the three youngest dragons had become close friends with Aesyle and Phaeote, Euryale’s mother, and grandmother. They were teaching them thousands of years of Mearth History with firsthand experience. Saturn and the dragon girls loved hearing their stories, while the grandparents loved having an audience. And Euryale loved having people to entertain her mother and grandmother. If not for Saturn and her grandchildren, those two would be kvetching about her cleaning or her cooking or how everything was better in the old days. She firmly believed in the old saying:
Dust your ancestors often to keep them at peace,
but dust them gently to keep them at rest.
The heroes were depressed about leaving and asked Merlin to share one more story to cheer them up. Janus wanted to know about the sword. Was it really Excalibur? Stavius wanted to hear about the quest for the holy grail. And the girls wanted to know what became of the other heroes who fell through the sky hole. They were adamant about not calling these apparitions air holes for some reason.
Merlin smiled and raised his hand, protesting, “Enough, or it will be spring before I finish. I will give you the abridged version, and we can share these and other stories at length after The Prophecy is fulfilled.”
“Let me begin with the ladies. Venus was called Vivian on Earth. She was a sweet woman and a powerful sorceress who was very shy. She chose to live her life in solitude on an island she shrouded with magical mist in the middle of a lake. Arthur and I often went there to relax over holiday weekends. It was an absolutely lovely and peaceful place, and she was a fabulous cook.
“The other two were not nearly so pleasant. Luna’s Earth-name was Morgana. She was Artie’s older, half-sister. Her dad was King Geraint, and her mother was Igraine. Morgana passionately hated Uther for what he did to her parents, but that is a long and painful story best saved for another time. Morgana was nearly as magically powerful as Vivian, but she was anything but shy. She was a constant pain in our collective backsides for years, and I don’t want to talk about her anymore.
“Terra was called Anna on Earth and was Artie’s younger sister. Anna was a good kid, but she never liked the way Uther treated her mother. Anna ran off to live with Kay and Morgana after learning about what Uther had done to Geraint and Igraine. She couldn’t blame Artie for that, but they were never very close after she left. I think that Morgana’s influence caused their rift. Morgana was a very bitter woman who held her grudges forever.
“Mars was called Mordred on Earth, and he hated Artie. He blamed Janus for preventing him from jumping through the air hole, although Artie always denied that was what happened. I’m not sure what held Mars back, but Janus had just arrived on Avalon, wasn’t fully conjoined, and claimed he froze in fear and indecision. I suspect that Mars hesitated, too, but was far too proud ever to admit it.
“Mordred and Artie died young because, well, they killed each other. The three girls lived long, ageless lives but nowhere near as long as me. I believe that passing through the air hole from Avalon somehow allowed magical energy to sustain us.
Golden beams would shine down onto Earth whenever an air hole opened, and our world would be magically recharged. Earth’s magical energy slowly dissipated once the air holes stopped appearing, and everything magical disappeared with it. The girls aged. Dragons, unicorns, and the pack of werewolves that landed in Europe faded away. And, of course, our precious Camelot, which I created using magic, turned to dust. I believe that I took longer to die due to the dragon stones I brought with me.”
Merlin paused for a moment as his eyes watered up from some distant memory. Then he brightened and said, “But enough about the kids. You wanted to know about Excalibur and Artie’s crazy quest.
“You are correct that Artie eventually named Janus’ sword Excalibur. It was an enchanted sword made in Avalon, which could slice through anything, so he felt it deserved a name. He also had me engrave sayings on each side of the blade. One side said, ‘beam me up’…”
He had no sooner said this when Nariana jumped up and exclaimed, “No way! There is no way that ‘beam me up’ was engraved on the side of King Arthur’s sword!”
Merlin was shocked and started to say, “But it…”
Versera interrupted to say, “Next you’ll say that ‘live long and prosper’ was written on the other side. This has to be a joke. I can’t believe I’m listening to this. Did you put him up to this, Janus?”
Merlin stuttered, “No, that’s not...”
Elisa’s trembling voice suggested, “Maybe this is the final proof that we’re really in shared consciousnesses. I mean, how else would a phrase from a TV show wind up here on Mearth?”
Merlin yelled, “Enough! This is not a joke! I don’t know anything about tee vees or shared consciousnesses! I am just trying to tell the truth and undo the mess Geoff made with his creative fiction. “
Everyone was silent for a minute or two until Janus explained, “‘Beam me up’ and ‘live long and prosper’ are quotes from famous, er, plays from our time. We were taught it had ‘pick me up’ on one side and ‘cast me away’ on the other.”
Merlin was not happy about the interruption or accusation but accepted Janus’ explanation.
“Geoff, as usual, delivered the right idea but lost the details as he did with your holy grail.
“As Artie aged, he became obsessed with air holes. They would randomly pop up without warning, and a dragon would fly through and destroy a village, or a herd of curious cows would wander in and disappear. He was always complaining about being surrounded by air holes and how those air holes did nothing but cause him problems.
“Artie also became depressed that he was aging while his sisters and I were not. And, he was dejected about not being able to perform magic like us. He became obsessed with gaining magical abilities and eternal youth. Artie believed he could solve these problems if he could only control those blasted air holes. So, Artie sent his soldiers out on a quest to make this possible.
“You see, we all believed that our agelessness and abilities were due to us passing through the air hole. Artie was convinced that he would also enjoy those traits if he could find an air hole and jump through it as well.
Excalibur’s engravings simply captured his desires. Artie wanted the golden beam of light shining from an air hole to carry him away so that he could live an eternal life blessed with magical power. Artie wanted me to write ‘beam me up to Avalon on a golden ray’ on one side, but I shortened it to ‘beam me up’ because it wouldn’t fit on the blade. I wrote ‘and carry me away’ on the flip side. However, the phrase ‘to live long and prosper’ would have been much better. It really captures the essence of his dream, and I’m sure I could have made it fit.”
Merlin’s explanation made sense, but the people in the room were still shaking their heads in disbelief.
Merlin ignored them and continued with a chuckle, “Which brings me to your holy grail nonsense. Geoff couldn’t have made this mistake on h
is own. The church had to have exerted some heavy influence on him.
“You see, Artie needed to find an air hole and get it to stay put long enough for him to jump through. The problem was that these air holes kept appearing and disappearing all over the place and never lingered long. He believed that the problem was that they needed something to prevent them from drifting about. By his logic, he could create a stable air hole between Earth and Avalon if he could find a way to anchor them.
“I agreed with the magic, mortality, and even the anchor parts of his theory. But I never fully bought into his idea of what to use as the anchor. He didn’t listen to me, though, because he was convinced that the very first object we tossed into the first air hole was the anchor. So, Artie signed a decree and sent his troops out with orders to find our bucket.”
“A bucket?” cried Stavius. “Arthur’s great quest was for an old bucket!?”
Merlin laughed, “Wait, it gets even better than that. The old bucket we tossed through the air hole when it first opened was special. It didn’t hold water very well, but it was handy. The pail had a magically-enhanced bottom which retained mud and muck while letting pure, clean water drip through. The water tasted so good that we used to joke that was the nectar of life. We made other leaky buckets, of course, but none of them quite did as good of a job, and we rather regretted tossing that particular one through.”
Elisa said, “So Arthur’s quest was to find a water filter?”
Stavius said, “His men were searching for nothing more than a leaky pail with holes?”
Janus groaned and corrected him, “What Merlin is saying is that King Arthur’s knights were on a quest to find a holey pail.”
Merlin scowled and said, “I keep telling you that Artie was never king, and his soldiers were not knights!” Then he burst into uncontrollable laughter interspersed with comments about holey pails, holy grails, and how Geoff was a complete moron. The others finally left him and went to bed. Tomorrow night they will be miles away from here.
Chapter 18
Science Fair
March 18, Earth
Dad’s been back from the hospital for a while, and life seems to be getting back to normal. Life has been a blur for the past two months, and I can’t believe the science fair is already here.
Mom and Dad drove all the guys over, and Shon is coming with her parents. Dr. Price will be arriving directly from work but will be a little late. Nancy and Veronica are missing, of course. Nancy had a tournament, and Veronica’s precious social status would be in ruins if she ever attended something like this. Abdo and his mom are going to be here, though. His excitement about his hand keeps growing every day.
The news clip about our project made us minor celebrities, and we saw the impact as soon as we arrived. The fair is being held in the convention center. It isn’t large enough to require the main show floor space, but there are over a hundred tables, which makes an impressive sight.
Displays are somewhat arranged by topics like geology, physics, chemistry, biology, and so forth. The chemistry booths are relegated to their own private room, presumably due to lessons learned from previous fairs. There is, however, another sorting technique employed. The cool-sounding demonstrations are positioned near the central podium. The volcanoes, Styrofoam solar systems, and goldfish breeding experiments are in the back.
Our booth is right up front with the big league. The girl next to us had built a fully-functional laser that used lime-green Jell-O as lasing material. The boy next to us designed and built a computer using discrete logic chips. It is running a simple program connected to the Internet. And we can’t even figure out what the kid two booths down is showing.
We stood in front of that kid’s booth and flipped through the book lying on the table. It was titled Expression of Inhibited Characteristics of the Avian Genome with Adaptive Enhancements, over 200-pages long, and written by an R. Latouche. The posters pinned to the curtain behind the table were no help either. They looked like genetic expressions and microscopic images of cells.
I joked that while R. Latouche might do impressive work, he had no showmanship at all. Shon said that she once audited the microbiology course of two professors at UC named Latouche. Dr. François Latouche is a microbiologist. His wife, Dr. Innes Latouche, is a geneticist.
I said, “Of course you did. What else would an eleven-year-old do?”
She punched me and said, “I was ten at the time.”
I said, “Well, at least we know whose mommy and daddy helped them with their science project,” and we all laughed.
We might not have done anything as world-changing as our neighbors, but our booth looked awesome. Malik had hung oversized schematics of both designs behind our table, and they looked like something out of Iron Man. Abdo, of course, was proudly standing in front shaking hands and picking a variety of objects up from the table with his new hand. We had a bigger crowd even than the laser girl.
The judges were just starting to come down our aisle when Ethan grabbed me in a panic. I tried to get him to calm down until after we spoke to the judges, but he was too excited.
“Dude, I just talked with Laser Girl!” he whispered.
I laughed, “Well, I’m very proud of you, Ethan. Did you get her number?”
“No, but I got her name,” he said.
I had to laugh because his eyes were so filled with excitement. I said, “Well, that’s a start, man.”
“No, you moron. Her name is Arelia, and she’s thirteen years old!” he hissed.
I said, “Well, then, ask her out.” The judges were getting close, and I had to prepare.
Ethan grabbed my arm and said, “Arelia could be combined with another name to make either Elisa or Terra!”
That stopped me. Could we have found Elisa? She had mentioned being at the science fair. This could be huge, but I couldn’t deal with it right now. The judges were at Computer Guy’s booth. I quickly helped Tyler straighten up the objects Abdo kept squeezing and heard an announcement over the PA system. “Would Marco Paglovich please come to room 1477B.”
Tyler laughed and said, “That poor guy’s name is worse than yours.”
I grinned and said, “Hey, it isn’t that bad.” Then the PA shouted, “Would Marcus Panapolovitch come to the room 1477B immediately.”
Everyone was chuckling at how they were butchering that poor guy’s name and feeling sorry for him. There was an unmistakable twinge of panic in the announcer’s voice. I pushed it out of my mind, however, as I reached out to shake the judges’ hands.
A high-pitched girl’s voice shrieked over the loudspeakers, “Mark Panagopoulos! Shontelle Jackson! Hurry!”
Shon and I glanced at each other, and I said, “Sorry, that’s us” to the judges as we ran toward the door with our parents chasing behind. Dr. Price was just arriving as we raced past and joined in the chase. We had no idea what we had done, but that girl sounded desperate.
The first security guard we asked for directions left us more confused than before we asked. The second shouted, “follow me” and started running as soon as she heard the room number.
Room 1447B was midway down a long hallway, which was empty except for a large, overturned, dog crate and two people at the far end. One of the people was a large, nervous-looking security guard, and the other was a kid curled up in a ball rocking back and forth on the floor.
We arrived at room 1447B and paused. We overheard snippets of several angry people having a heated argument inside.
“You have no right to remove our daughter from this fair!”
“We have every right to remove her and that abomination! We were never informed she intended to bring that thing in here!”
“Not informed!? She submitted that paper three weeks ago! It is not her fault that you didn’t read it!”
“That paper was not written by a child!”
“Are you implying that we wrote that for her simply because you can’t understand it!?”
“Yes, that is
what I am saying!”
At that moment, the door opened, and a highly-agitated woman stormed out. She glared at the small crowd outside as if to yell at us but froze for a moment before saying, “What are you doing here, Randall?”
Shon’s dad replied, “My daughter was summoned over the loudspeaker, Innes. What is going on?”
Innes rolled her eyes and explained, “Those stupid imbeciles will not let my daughter into the hall with her project. They say that she could not have done this herself and that it was our work. It is all a lie. We did not help her any more than we help our graduate students. It is just that these so-called judges cannot understand basic scientific writing.
“Then their clumsy henchmen dragged Raquel’s project up here and dropped it. Now my poor daughter is heartbroken. She has spent years researching and many months preparing for this so-called science fair.”
I was going to point out that imbeciles are stupid by definition but wisely decided against it. The woman was nodding down the hall toward the sobbing girl curled up at the end.
“But why are you here, Randall?” asked the woman.
“Yes, why are we here, Randall?” asked Shontelle’s mom with a raised eyebrow.
“I, I don’t know,” stuttered Shon’s dad, “but let me make some introductions. This is Dr. Innes Latouche. She is a professor of genetics at the university. I imagine that one of those loud voices inside is her husband, Dr. Gerard Latouche, a microbiology professor at UC.
“This is my wife, Diane. We are Shontelle’s parents. These are Mark’s parents. And I’m not sure who this is.”
Dr. Jackson extended his arm toward Dr. Price. He said, “I am Dr. Randall Jackson, professor of electrical engineering at UC, and you are?”
Dr. Price answered, “I am doctor Elizabeth Price. I’m a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and a friend of the Panagopoulos family. I’m pleased to meet you, but I’m afraid I don’t know why we’re here.”
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