The Boy Who Would Rule the World

by Brian Toal

  Chris' eyes went dead, staring past Jon and through him. "Here is quote from an exercise tablet found from one of the schools of the early Egyptian Kingdom - A ramp is to be built 730 cubits long, by 55 cubits wide and rising by 60 cubits at the final end. How many bricks are needed?"

  Chris' eyes again centred on Jon. "I mean, they didn't just discover how to add two plus two. It was major mathematical formula they developed." He paused taking a sip of his Coke. "The interesting thing is all of the really major developments in mathematics, geometry, engineering, hydroponic agriculture, astronomy - the real big intellectual achievements - occurred in one quantum leap. Then they just coasted on what they had learned for another thousand years or so. It was like there was this sudden explosion of intellect and knowledge and then nothing. Egypt again progressed like a normal civilization. Developments built upon the knowledge already available. Like you can’t invent the lightbulb if your society hasn’t discovered electricity yet. But then twelve hundred years later - along come the Greeks. Again, from approximately 450 BC until 300 BC, there was another tremendous explosion of knowledge."

  Chris turned to Carman, rightfully thinking this next portion of conversation was going to be beyond Jon's limited education.

  "Think of all the Greek scholars you know. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Theophrastus, Dicaearchus, Archimedes, Euclid of Alexandria. They all lived at approximately the same time! Classical Greece lasted for approximately seven hundred years, but almost all of the great Greek scholars lived within a single one-hundred-and-fifty-year period. And look what they discovered - theoretical geometry, mathematical systematic chronology, the circumference of the earth, how far it was to the sun and the moon, mathematical theories of planetary rotation... I mean, sixteen hundred years into the future, Columbus’ peers were still worried about falling off a flat earth. These guys were way ahead of their time. Why? What motivated this sudden burst of intellect?"

  "I haven't the slightest idea." Carman muttered.

  "Well of course, I’m not certain either. But, look at what the philosophers were preaching. Diffidence to authority. People who govern have the right to govern and all below shall and will be subservient. Totally totalitarian. Rule from the top down. Absolute authority. Doesn't sound much like the philosophy of today does it? The developments, inventions and philosophical transitions made by the ancient Greeks in a hundred- and fifty-year period has never been duplicated until this century."

  Chris sighed. "I know you don't want me to keep talking about this forever, after all it’s pretty dry stuff, but I find it fantastically interesting that humans have made these massive leaps in knowledge three times previously in history and each was centred around one city, or one place. Almost like, if anyone of importance or anyone with any inherent intelligence arrived in that city, they never left. They stayed on and somehow explored far beyond the knowledge level of their times."

  "So...you looked this stuff up, did you?" Jon asked, slouched in his chair.

  "Well not so much looked it up, it just occurred to me after I had read so many historical, mathematical, philosophical, and astronomical texts. The authors kept referring to the same time-periods."

  Carman stood up. "I think I want something to drink too. But, keep talking Chris. This is really is interesting stuff. You mentioned two societies that seemed to have developed more rapidly than they should. What’s the third?

  "Okay." Chris smiled across the coffee table at Jon. "I won't talk about this for too much longer...the last group was the Mayas. Unfortunately, we don't know anywhere near as much about the Mayas as we know about the Egyptians but, the Maya's accomplishments were just as remarkable. Even more so in some respects, as they didn't have other cultures to build on. The Mayan development repeats the same quantum leaps as the Egyptians and the Greeks - explosive intellectual and governmental accomplishments over a very short period of time. The Maya developed an extensive calendar system which predicted eclipses, when the sun and moon would rise and set, when the longest days of the year were, the synodic period of Venus and other planets - and all with exceptional accuracy. Their calendar was so accurate and so detailed it went back over one million years and continues almost another million into our future. Some calendars even spoke of celestial events that took place four hundred million years ago and even with today's better astronomical knowledge are relatively accurate. Amazing stuff really, when you consider most of the learned scholars in Europe as of 600 AD still thought the world was less than six thousand years old and the Vikings were navigating their way around the North Atlantic with a pin pushed into a piece of cork. The Maya, like Egyptians also built huge pyramids which entailed amazing engineering intellect and mathematical computations. The biggest at Teotihuacan near Mexico City is over two hundred feet high and is comparable in size to the great pyramids of Egypt. And the city around the double Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon was estimated to have been inhabited by close to 150,000 people. Teotihuacan was the greatest city in all of Meso-America, the biggest, the most politically and economically powerful and the most advanced. In fact, no city in North America surpassed it in population or influence until almost a thousand years later - not until the Europeans crossed over the Atlantic and began to build Boston, Philadelphia, New York, etc. But, one hundred years after its pinnacle, Teotihuacan was abandoned and fell into ruin."

  So..." Chris tipped his Coke can all the way up and sucked the last drops from its depths. "There again is another mystery of rapid intellectual, economic, and political power, arising from almost nothing and collapsing within one or two hundred years. Why? I don't know, but I am beginning to suspect."

  He carefully placed his Coke can down on the coffee table and stared meaningfully at Carman and Jon. "And do you know what Teotihuacan means?"

  Carman and Jon shook their heads.

  "It means, The Place Where Men Become Gods."

  "Shiiit." Jon drew the word out slowly. "So, you think fourteen hundred years ago one of these machines was punching holes in the heads of the Mayas too?"

  Chris smiled at Jon's choice of words. "Yes, and another one was doing the same about four thousand years ago and another two thousand years ago."

  "But the one in North America was never found - so you think the one here was supposed to help out the Indians or whoever else inhabited this country?"

  Chris nodded. "Possibly. As we all know, the Natives in North America never developed great city states or complex governing institutions. And they certainly never developed the mathematical and engineering skills necessary to build any monuments like the Maya and the Egyptians."

  "And those two built pyramids." Carman added.

  "Yes...they built pyramids. Similar objects, but in a much grander scale than the one Todd and I found in Northern Ontario."

  “You found a pyramid?”

  “No. But the building the machine was housed in had slanted walls. I never saw it unearthed, but I now suspect it would have been pyramid-shaped if Uncle Charlie had removed the hill overtop.”

  "Fucking hell." Jon muttered.

  "Yes. It seems too coincidental.

  "Oh...God! This is too much." Carman rubbed her eyes. "Do you mean to say that human development has been controlled all along by some sort of alien machines?"

  "Possibly."

  "And this machine creates one of you, then enslaves thousands of other people in order to develop a culture based on its programming?”

  "Exactly. If my theory is correct.”

  “A culture that then becomes dominant because of the intellectual gifts it has received from this alien machine.”

  "Yes. It determines a course of action, from whatever criteria it exists by, then ensures the appropriate knowledge is discovered. Then through someone like myself, and thousands of slaves, rules and expands its domain."

  "What does this one want to do? Do you know?"

  "Yes. It will rule economically. One massive, super corporation would be more powerful than any cu
rrent government. For instance, I can make you do almost anything I want and it can enslave you totally if I bring you to it. So, let's say I became a director of a moderately successful corporation. A diversified corporation that was into car parts, computer parts, the food industry, telecommunications, etc. Something like Ford or Nabisco. If I could rise high enough within one of these corporations, I would eventually come face to face with some of the most powerful, non-elected members of the world community. What would happen if I only needed to meet with them once and they would be at my command forever?"

  Jon laughed. "You’d be really rich."

  "I’d be more than rich, I would control the economic clout of most of the developed world. And, as an aside, I would also meet with many of the elected officials of various world governments. I or it would be able to dictate policy to the entire world."

  "But..." Carman interjected. "It doesn't work that way. You said it can only control people that are close by. You could make them do something, like sign a contract, but it couldn't control them indefinitely unless they all lived in the same city. I can't see Detroit becoming the capital of the world!"

  "True. Its strategy is going to have to be somewhat different. But there is no doubt in my mind it will have an overwhelming impact on the world. One that will take us hundreds of years to recover from, because most likely it will create one, or possibly two, mega, mega corporations. Companies that will dominate the economy of the world for centuries to come."

  "Or it could create a whole bunch of you." Jon suggested. "Then one of you could be in Tokyo, one in London, another in Washington, etc."

  "No. I don't think it could or would want to do that."

  "Why not? The more of you it had, the more it could accomplish and the more protection it would have."

  "Because we would destroy each other."

  "Destroy each other...why?"

  "One thing I know for certain about myself, is that I cannot tolerate, not for more than a second or two, any threat against me. And that doesn't just mean physical threat. Any threat. When I threw you guys out of your chairs..." Chris paused for a moment, his face deadly serious, looking carefully at Carman and Jon. "You would not believe the possibilities that were available to me when I flipped Carman's chair over. That was the least, the very least I was capable of doing. It was the only picture that appeared that did not involve both of your deaths. I grabbed at it and made it happen."

  "Why did you have to do anything?"

  "I had too. It has made me too paranoid. Anything that I, or whatever it has constructed in my brain, perceive as a threat - and your questions made me mad - makes me violently and instantly remove the intimidation. There is nothing I can do about it. It’s like a spark that has to be discharged. I know if I met another person like me, I would immediately perceive them as a life-threatening opponent and uncontrollably I would attempt to destroy them." Chris sighed and leaned back into the couch, "I hardly ever got angry before this thing happened and I never, ever was violent. This has got to be part of the change. Anyone who was made like me would probably have the same self-protective emotions."

  “So...if this thing is so powerful and dangerous - why would you ever want to go back to Detroit?" Carman asked.

  "I've got to. I can't keep travelling around the country for ever, because eventually it will get me - somehow. I’m pretty sure it has the recruited several members of the Detroit Police. Otherwise, how did that officer get the arrest warrant for my parents?"

  "So, when you find this thing in Detroit..."Jon asked "...can you destroy it?"

  "I don't know...it made me kill my parents. What else have I got to lose?"

  "They may not be dead." Jon said softly.

  TEN - SIX

  "Hello, I believe you have a patient there, a Mrs. Sharon McCarter." Carman held the phone tight to her ear, as Chris and Jon gathered around her in the kitchen.

  "A Mrs. McCarter? Do you know when she was admitted?" The hospital receptionist asked from the hospital in California.

  "Two days ago. She was hurt in that big accident at the truck stop."

  "Oh my goodness. We still have several patients from that terrible accident...let's see...no, Mrs. McCarter was flown to Detroit yesterday."

  "Detroit?" Carman's eyes widened, "why Detroit?"

  "I’m not sure." The receptionist replied. "A number of patients from that accident, who were well enough to travel, have left the hospital."

  "So, she was okay?"

  "I suspect so, since she was released."

  "Thank you very much." Carman hung up the phone.

  "My Mom is okay?" Chris asked, tears clouding his eyes.

  "It sounds like she is. She’s gone back to Detroit."

  "I told you CNN said that your parents were alive!" Jon exclaimed, "it’s your mom that has posted the reward."

  "But my Dad is dead." Chris' momentary happiness died.

  Carman wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "I could call them back and ask if your dad is there."

  "No." Chris shook his head under Carman's grasp. "My Dad is dead. I saw him die, right in front of me."

  Carman and Jon exchanged worried glances as Chris fought to control his tears. "Chris be careful..." Carman began.

  "I know..." He snuffled back his tears. "...I know, I won't let anything happen."

  They waited while he wiped at his nose with the back of his hand, taking several deep breaths. "Why would my Mom go back to Detroit?" He asked finally.

  "They didn't say. Only that she was well enough to travel."

  "I can't go back to Detroit if my Mom is there." Chris said miserably.

  "Why? If you phoned her, I bet she would arrange to have you fly back."

  "No I can't." I'm not sure I can beat that thing, and if my Mom is there, it might make me hurt her."

  "But, why would it want you to hurt your mother?"

  "I don't know. All I know is when I’m close to it, I can barely control what I do. It’s too fast and too powerful for me. Twice I almost attacked my Mom. It could make me do it again."

  Carman directed Chris back into the living room. "But, how were you figuring on fighting it before?"

  "I don't know..." Chris sighed as he collapsed back onto the couch. "But, I know I don't want to try if my Mother is around."

  "Why fight it at all?"

  "Because I have to. What else am I supposed to do? Just surrender to it?"

  "No..." Carman spoke slowly, "just tell everyone about it. You are two thousand miles away now. It can't hurt you or interfere with you while you are out here. We can go to the newspapers and tell them your story. Then..."

  "No one would believe me." Chris interrupted, "Why would they? I have no proof."

  "The television!" Jon exclaimed excitedly. "We go to down to the TV station and Chris does some of his Mr. Magic stuff. You know, twirls the newscaster around on his stool, makes the weather man stab his pointer through the weather map, pulls off the sportscaster's toupee - you know. A few demonstrations like that and he would become a national figure. That would fuck up your buddy back in Detroit real good."

  "It's not my buddy!" Chris replied, annoyed at Jon's jocularity.

  "No. But, Jon has a point." Carman interjected, "if you did do a demonstration of what you are capable of, it would definitely get on national TV and then you would have some credibility with the authorities."

  "Yeah." Chris answered bitterly, "and I would disappear into some mystery government place, where my Mom would never find me."

  "No...I don't think so." Carman slid across the couch reaching for Chris' hand. "You can do some pretty amazing things. In fact, absolutely astonishing things. If you got on TV and demonstrated just some of your abilities, and told your story, you would become a national celebrity overnight. Every TV Station, every magazine, every newspaper would want an interview with you. People...like everybody, would want to know about you and what happened to you. You couldn't just disappear. Too many people would be inter
ested in your whereabouts."

  "And what about my Mom?"

  "After you told your story, the police would have to investigate. They would have to! Even if they didn't believe you."

  "Maybe."

  "Man, it’s the way to go! You, Carman and I whip down to the TV Station. You do your stuff. You become famous. Then you get your mother back, and Carman and I get the reward for finding you."

  "Jon!" Carman reached across the table and slapped at Jon's knee. "That’s a terrible thing to say. I don't want any reward money for finding Chris. I just want to help him get his mother back."

  "I don't think my Mom has that much money anyway." Chris muttered.

  "Hey, buddy, you never know. Parents often hide their stash away, so their kids don't know..."

  "Jon! Stop it! We are not going to bring Chris down to the TV Station just so you can claim the reward."

  "No...I know that. But maybe we could all..."

  "Jon! Shut up!"

  Jon sagged back into his chair and there was silence as Carman gently squeezed Chris' hand. "Chris we’ve got to do something and I’m not convinced if you went back to Detroit, you could do a thing. You admit you don't even know what you are going to do once you do get there. And it’s dangerous for Jon to drive you anywhere. The police are looking for his car and there is no telling what they, or you, will do if they catch him."

  Chris nodded.

  "Besides that, I’m not sure I trust Jon with you anymore."

  Jon shrugged as Chris raised his eyes to stare across at him. "Hey, buddy, I'd never do anything you didn't want."

  "Right." Carman answered sarcastically, "But, what do you want Chris?"

  "I want to be with my mother."

  "So, you still want to go back to Detroit?"

  Chris silently withdrew his hand from Carman's. "No. It’s too dangerous for my mother if I go back to there. If I see her I could do something I didn't want to do. Just like I did to my...my Dad..."