Relic (Awakened Chronicles Book 2), page 5
“Correct, Mr. Sinclair, but let’s not be to hasty. It has only been in the past three thousand that we were able to finally unlock the secrets of the Ra knowledge. This vessel is ancient; but as magnificent as it is, it barely scratches the surface of what is to be learned from our Ra brethren.”
“The knowledge of the Ra gods isn’t even usable by anyone other than themselves. You’re only halfbloods; how are you using it?” Monica asked.
“Ah, and that is where you would be mistaken, Miss Riviera. This vessel is even more ancient than you realize. It’s knowledge and systems were never shackled by the constraints of the more—adept knowledge of the Ra.”
“You mean it’s not Reflex then.”
“Very good, Miss Riviera. You are apparently well studied in the knowledge of the gods. No, you are correct. The energies that power this vessel are ionic, not reflexive.”
“You’re still millennia ahead of anything Humans have, Piero,” Mac admired.
“You are correct, Mr. Macmillan. But we are also at the precipice of a new breakthrough—a new dawn in the era of the awakened.”
“What kind of breakthrough?”
“For too long, the Ra gods have left the halfbloods at the mercy of the Seven. Never protecting their offspring from the ravages of this endless war. We now have the possibility of leveling that playing field. Arming the demigods with the very power of the gods themselves.”
Monica’s brow lifted. “Now you’re talking about using Reflex?”
“Indeed.”
“It doesn’t work for us. We’ve tried.” Monica countered.
“And so it has been. Until now.” Piero smiled widely at both Liam and Tori.
* * * * *
“There must be a million people down there,” one of Roberts’ team nodded out the window.
Roberts rode with his men in a limousine-looking golden vehicle that whisked them around tall buildings of the city nearly a hundred feet above the manicured jungle forest below. Some of the buildings rising out the forest reminded him of times he’d spent in Dubai.
“This place gives me the creeps, Roy,” his new XO, John, watched out the windows as the tall buildings passed by. “We are way out of our league here.”
“Relax. We kept our end of the bargain—Piero will keep his.”
“And what if he doesn’t? He’s not just going to hand over a few dump trucks of gold bars and the knowledge of the gods and say ‘so-long’.”
“Oh, he will. You can bet on it.”
“If you say so.”
“What’s he want with them anyway?” Another of the team turned his attention to the conversation. “I thought the halfbloods hated these newbloods.”
“Some do—some don’t,” Roberts quipped.
“Yea, well it’s getting out of here that’s going to be the trick.”
“Stop complaining. I haven’t let you down yet, have I?” Roberts met eyes with each of his team.
* * * * *
Their wall-less stone floor elevator descended for another mile through dense clouds before any of them could clearly make out the details of a vast city that ringed the interior around the mammoth central sphere. Ringed around the outside wall of the massive vessel were canon-like structures on thick swivel bases.
“This must have been one helluva warship—” Liam looked impressed by the huge guns lining the outside walls as they descended past them.
“On the contrary, Mr. Sinclair, it is nothing more than an ancient mining vessel. As near as we have been able to reconstruct from the histories of the Ra, at one time there were dozens of these epic craft. They were designed to sink into the Earth’s crust and with these ionic boring tools, extract whatever the crews that commanded them needed.”
Monica’s awakened mind worked quickly. “So that’s really what your devices are—cutting tools?”
“Precisely, Miss Riviera. No doubt you are wondering why we supplied some of the devices now in your possession to your former colleague, Captain Roberts.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” she frowned.
Their platform descended past tall skyscraper buildings, some of which were nearly three thousand feet tall with hundreds of floors and architecture deeply reminiscent of the ancient vessel itself.
“I hired his team to perform a task. His talents were far too valuable to be stifled by some Human confinement facility.”
“The fact that he’s murdered hundreds, maybe thousands didn’t play into your decision to arm him with advanced technology?” she asked.
“And how many people have you killed, Miss Riviera? To, protect the sovereignty and power of your nation?”
Now both Tori and Liam were looking at Monica.
“Too many,” was all she said.
“Indeed.” Piero nodded politely. “The Zuruahã also protect our national interests by hiring these same kinds of people as well. Mr. Macmillan appears to work for you. Captain Roberts is simply in my employ.”
Mac raised an eyebrow to Monica, but said nothing.
Their elevator came to rest in a kind square, an atrium within the center of four tall buildings. The park-like setting was still very much jungle-like with artificial sunlight. A light rain began to fall.
“As you can see, we’ve also recreated random monsoons—it’s best we get indoors before the downpour starts.”
Now inside the foyer of one of the tall towers, the rain began falling hard on the manicured jungle foliage. Piero turned to them with his guards. “These buildings were placed here to house our guests. Sadly, they are more often than not, empty. Feel free to choose your quarters, stay wherever you like within any of them. Our servants have been instructed to provide whatever you may need.”
“What building is Captain Roberts in?” Liam asked. He wanted to avoid that one.
“Roberts is not a guest here in El Dorado, Mr. Sinclair, but rather in our employ. You will not need to worry about him. He will not be bothering you, I promise you.”
Piero turned to leave. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I would like all of you to meet with the leaders of El Dorado; our aristocracy as it were. Perhaps this evening—as my honored guests?”
All of them seemed to nod.
“Excellent. I will see all of you this evening.”
11
I don’t trust him.” Mac offered quietly with the other empaths reading his feelings—feelings that were also relayed to Noah as well. The early twenty-something was having his world turned upside down with the revelation of gods, demigods, flying vehicles and ancient vessels older than what he’d been taught to believe his entire life. For now he just listened.
“Oh, ya think?” Monica folded her arms looking out at the rain falling from low clouds obviously being generated by the knowledge of these demi-Ra.
“He’s up to something.” Mac didn’t have their danger senses, but something didn’t smell right.
“But he hasn’t lied to us—not yet anyway,” Tori added.
“It’s a whole society of empaths, Tori. He doesn’t have to lie to keep something a secret.” Monica considered their situation thoughtfully as she gazed out at the rain.
“Are you really gods?” Noah asked, looking at the two of them, struck again at how beautiful each of them were. Tori was drop-dead beautiful; and Liam, Noah was having difficulty admitting to himself that he’d been watching the thickly muscled guy since the first day they’d been rescued.
“Yes and no,” Monica answered before Liam was about to.
Liam scowled at her. “Yes and no? How am I not a god?”
“You’re Human, Liam. You just have the power of one.”
Liam agreed, nodding. He knew where she was going with this.
“What’s the difference?” Noah asked.
“Culture—” both Liam and Monica answered.
“Monica’s right,” he admitted. “I’ve only been awakened for a little over six years; Tori even less.”
“I’ve met real gods before,” Monica continued. “They act very differently than you two. That’s not a criticism by the way—it’s just reality.”
“Do people—” Noah chose his words carefully, “worship you?”
“Liam worships himself—” Mac quipped with a smirk.
“I do not!” Liam grumped.
“Not anymore, Noah.” Monica continued. “Tens of thousands of years ago, the Humans worshiped the Ra as gods. The Ra were light years ahead of Humanity in their knowledge of math, science, and physics.” She nodded out the window at the traffic of the vehicles flying through the drenching rain. “This is their legacy.”
“It’s amazing.” Noah gazed out the window. “I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it.”
“I’ve seen only bits and pieces of the knowledge of the gods,” she shook her head, “but, never anything on this scale before. Clans of halfbloods are usually small, isolated families. They never, ever get any bigger than a few dozen. Maybe a few hundred; even a few thousand if they keep really well hidden.” She shook her head.
“This El Dorado vessel has allowed them to grow into the millions,” Mac nodded out the window. “Undetected and unmolested by the Seven.”
“Why is Piero so interested in Liam and Tori?” Noah moved up beside Liam, into his personal space, their shoulders almost touching. While not nearly as powerfully built, Noah was a little taller than Liam.
“Obviously he’s not satisfied with Ion; he wants Reflex.”
“I have no idea what either of those things are, actually,” Tori admitted.
“One of the gods explained it to me once,” Monica spoke up. “Ionic knowledge is crude manipulation of energy, like a kind of fusion, only much more refined and efficient. Reflex is something entirely different. Like the difference between fire and electricity, only by orders of magnitude. It’s a manipulation of nuclear structures down to a deep subatomic level. The math is insane, but once you understand how these structures interact and respond to each other, that’s why they call it ‘reflex’, the whole Universe is at your command.”
“And this Reflex stuff only works for the gods?” Tori asked.
“It was their failsafe, Tori,” Monica continued. “The power and weapons of the gods could only be used by them. It has something to do with their DNA; halfbloods, the demigods, have never been able to make it work—unless it was specifically given to us by the gods themselves.”
“Then that must be what Piero was talking about earlier,” Mac joined in. “He must have something that’s powered by this Reflex whatever-it-is. He wants you two to unlock it for him.” Mac pointed at Liam and then Tori.
Liam shook his head, unconsciously smoothing his hand over the back of Noah’s shirt. “How am I supposed to unlock something I know absolutely nothing about?”
“There was another failsafe, Liam,” Monica added. “The gods built their tools with empathic interfaces. There aren’t any buttons or visible controls on much of their knowledge. It just works. For them, and no one else.”
“But—Piero’s a halfblood male. He’s not empathic. We both felt him.” Tori reminded.
“The gods could delegate their knowledge to their servants, Tori. My guess is not being an empath isn’t that much of an impediment to using their knowledge. I’m sure they figured out a way around that.”
12
S o you and Hope were raised here?” Liam asked as the two of them walked the paths of the square mile jungle-like park between the four towers once the rain had finally quit. While the rest of the city buzzed with activity all around them, the guest buildings and their grounds were conspicuously absent of anyone.
“We were. I’m two years older.”
“Your sister’s a bit of a spitfire. No offense.”
“No,” Noah agreed nodding. “She’s very independent.”
“You two are close—”
“Very.”
“Your English is pretty good for having grown up in the jungle.”
“That would be the fault of satellite TV,” he grinned. “We’d spend hours riding the generator bike to charge the batteries. Only to get stuck watching TBN.”
Liam chuckled.
“Hope would channel-surf sometimes while mom and dad were at Bible studies or visiting neighboring tribes. They’d have come unglued if they ever found out. ‘God gave us these for the mission—‘” he mocked.
“Is that what you’re going to do?”
“Oh, you mean be a missionary?”
“Yea?”
“To tell you the truth, Liam. Yesterday I would have said absolutely. This is God’s calling for me.”
“And now?”
Noah looked up through the trees at several passing vehicles moving quickly overhead in the distance. “I don’t know what to think at this point. Gods. Goddesses. Demigoddesses.” He sighed, wondering if Jesus was still going to punish him for making love to a demigoddess.
“Yea, careful of the demigoddess there—” Liam rolled his eyes, “she’s not as safe as she looks.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, don’t sleep with her. Not if you know what’s good for you.”
“I—think that sort of already happened the other night,” Noah sheepishly admitted.
“And you’re still walking?” Liam smirked.
“I’m—not sure I really knew what I was doing. It was kind of my first time.”
“Don’t worry, she knows exactly what she’s doing. Trust me.” Liam rolled his eyes.
“Oh? Did you two date?”
“Date? Ah, not exactly. Noah—” Liam stopped and softly gripped the side of his arm. “Did Monica happen to mention ‘attraction’ to you?”
“No. Not that I remember. We didn’t actually talk that much before we—you know.”
“Spent the night fucking each other into oblivion?”
Noah winced. “Yea. That.”
“Do you always make it habit of sleeping with beautiful strangers you don’t know and haven’t talked to?”
“No. Not at all. I am a Christian, Liam. We don’t do those kinds of things. Like I said. The night before last was, kind of my first time.”
Liam nodded. “Noah, there’s a reason why the Ra don’t hang around Humans all that often.”
“Why?”
“Genetic attraction.”
“What’s that?”
Both began walking pensively around the garden jungle again.
“People are uber-attracted to the Ra.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh.” Liam walked right beside Noah, their arms touching. He could feel Noah leaning into him slightly. “Usually it’s only a one-way kind of thing—just about any Human will find a god or goddess attractive.”
“And Monica’s a demigoddess,” Noah nodded. “Great.”
“It’s a good thing actually.”
“No, Liam, it’s not good. I’m supposed to be saving myself for my wife.”
“But then you were attracted to Monica.”
“Yea, I kind of blew that one.”
“I think you’re going to need to expand your religious culture, Noah.”
“Why?”
“Because both you and your sister are attracting the gods.”
“We are?”
Liam nodded. “I know for a fact that if Monica wasn’t attracted to you, the other night between you two would never have happened. The problem is you smell really nice. And not just to Monica.”
“Liam, are you trying to tell me that we—?” he stopped.
“Yea. Noah. We’re attracted as well.”
“Oh, God. So it’s not just me—” he sighed. Liam could feel a kind of relief moving through his feelings.
Liam smiled. “No, it’s not just you.” He moved into Noah’s personal space, Liam’s arm moving around his back in a kind of half-embrace.
“God. I don’t know what I’m going to do around you people. I am so going to hell.”
“Only if you treat others badly.”
“Liam, I like being around you, but—I can’t, do—”
“Don’t worry about it, Noah. I just wanted you to know what it was you were feeling. I fee the same way about you.”
Both waked arm-in-arm along the path now in silence.
“Why do I just need to be touching you?” Noah wondered out loud.
“The feeling’s mutual, trust me.”
“I can’t believe you’re attracted to me,” Noah continued.
“You have noticed me looking at you?”
“I guess I have. I’m just not used to wanting to be around other guys, especially ones who look like you do.” Noah smoothed his hand over one of Liam’s thick pectorals. Jeeze, he felt nice to touch.
“Monica will probably end up awakening you at some point, Noah. That is, if I don’t get to you first,” he smirked, mumbling the last sentence under his breath.
“I heard that.” Noah pushed him playfully. “’Awakened.’ Monica mentioned that before. What is that?”
“You already have some Ra blood, Noah; both you and your sister.”
“We do?”
“It might answer some questions about why your parents are down here, instead of in the States. Five bucks says they were running from something, and they ran away down here.”
“I don’t know, Liam. They’ve both always had a passion for the mission field.”
“There are a million mission fields, Noah. Why the Zuruahã? And why right next to one of biggest clans on Earth?”
“That’s a good question. I don’t know.”
“Seems to be a bit more than just a coincidence. I think there are some things your parents aren’t telling you.”
“What are you saying, Liam. That my parents are—?”
“Demigods.”
“Get out.” Noah pulled back from Liam.
“Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Noah stared at Liam with a deer-in-headlights look. “I’ve never seen my parents do anything miraculous.”
“And you wouldn’t. They did a good job of keeping it hidden from both you and Hope.”
