The Jovian Legacy (2 page)

Outside,
the Volvo Estate was parked across the street again. This time
someone sat in the passenger seat, keying into a laptop while the
driver observed Jack’s flat. It drove off. A flash on his
computer screen drew his attention back. A hazy image of two people
- male and female. Whoever they were, they were gone in an instant.
Jack logged into different programs to try and re-establish a
connection, but to no avail.

He
went outside for a walk, zipping up his hoodie against the chill, the
late afternoon sun beginning to sink down behind the totara trees in
the distance. So absorbed was he that he didn’t realise how
far he had walked.

Jack’s
parents had been threatened by the bank with a mortgagee sale, so in
desperation had sold the farm to the adjoining farm owner. With the
leftover funds they bought a yacht named ‘Bermuda’s
Choice’. Aptly named, owing to the area where they had gone
missing. Jack’s parents were aware they had sold the farm too
cheap, but Hughie Dreyburn needed a run-off, and due to pressure from
the bank, were relieved when he had made the offer. In turn, the
farmer was very pleased with his purchase. Jack was deeply
disappointed when the farm was sold, and devastated when his parents
went missing. The traumatic event changed him emotionally.

His
physique was of slim build, six foot one and still growing. Jack had
hazel eyes, a perfectly straight nose and well defined lips that
split into a gorgeous wide smile. At seventeen he had a full-bodied
head of curly brown hair that would, if let grow long, fall into a
mass of glorious disarray. His nature was especially loving, but due
to the trauma he had suffered he sometimes grew sullen, digressing
into an emotional dark hole. This was the unsociable Jack.

That
night, nonetheless, he settled into bed, mulling over his most
incredible day yet, and felt a pang of excitement with the promise of
more to come.

During
the night something woke him; the sound of his computer buzzing.
Jack felt sure he had turned it off. He pushed himself up, squinting
at it. Displayed on the screen was the image of the two people
again, coming into focus. Not looking much older than the day they
had left, his parents were looking back at him with thrilled
expressions.

Oh
my God,
he murmured, the
faint words barely escaping his lips.

Then
he heard their voices, “We miss you Jack, we love you.”
The screen went fuzzy again.

“Mum,
Dad! Please, don’t go!” he yelled out. The computer
buzzed and crackled, and they were gone. A foreign configuration of
words and symbols flashed across the screen. Now frustrated and
angry, Jack quickly turned the thing off. In the dark he stumbled to
his fridge to grab a drink. It contained cans of Coke, a large
bottle of Sprite and a few other not-so-healthy food items. His
small freezer was stocked full of McDonald’s Special Tuesday
99c cheeseburgers.

Unable
to get back to sleep again, Jack pondered over the time he had said
goodbye to his parents. Other people were there, milling around the
wharf, gathered to see what was going on. Ben and Nancy Dunlop were
on board, clinking glasses with their friends; a lot of chatter going
on about their impending journey. By his mother’s side was
twelve-year-old Jack. The plan had been three months of sailing
around while Jack stayed back with his Aunt Pippa. His parents had
intended to buy a small house from what was left in the bank plus the
proceeds of the sale of their yacht on their return. Amidst the
party atmosphere Jack had had mixed feelings; happy for them but at
the same time sad they were going away, and envious of missing out on
such an adventure. Although he was welcome to join them, it was
really important for him to get good marks at school, as he
eventually wanted to attend military school in the US to achieve an
MS degree in Space Studies. He suffered from seasickness anyway.

His
mother took him aside and down into the saloon. “I hope you’re
going to be okay, Love,” she said tenderly. “You’re
a pretty capable young man now, but I’ll always treasure our
mother-son closeness. I’ll constantly be thinking of you.
Love you very much; you’re the best son any mother could wish
for. And Aunt Pippa will take good care of you. Three months will
go past really really quick.” Jack struggled to maintain his
composure; it wasn’t cool to cry like a baby. He hugged his
mother tightly.

Over
the next few days he left his computer alone, giving himself time to
come to terms with events of the past few days. When the following
Friday came around he felt ready. He was, after all, intent on
making contact with his family again, albeit unnerved by the computer
image. It suddenly occurred to him that it might be a hoax.

You
can do pretty amazing things with computers,
he
thought
.

But
then who would want to sabotage mine, especially involving my
parents?
Jack knew it was
just crazy thinking.

A
week later Jack logged into his ‘scientific research program’
again. Another message was waiting for him. Through the language
converter Jack read,
“We
wish to continue our research. Are you in readiness to proceed?”

“Yes,” he typed.

An
instant reply:
“Please
apply virtual reality device and type in a date and duration of
time.”
Exactly as
worded before. Jack was feeling by this time a little bolder, more
confident. He typed ‘3
^rd
March 1986 - two hours’, applied his virtual reality helmet,
and pressed the ‘enter’ key.

Jack
finds himself lying on a camp stretcher inside a tent at a beach. He
hears music, talking and laughing. Emerging from his tent he sees
people dressed in strange clothing. Although night-time, he can make
out their attire; the women in long flowery dresses with ribbons tied
around their heads. Long straggly hair adorn the heads of the males,
one who wears a long strip of material draped around his neck and
threaded through a chunky peace sign that rests at his solar plexus.
The people sit around a fire, drinking and smoking. A small
rolled-up cigarette is being passed around.

Jack
then recollects when he had earlier been babysat by his Aunt Pippa
and her husband. He had been four years old at the time. These
younger relatives of his mother, he thinks, were weird, but as they
had a son around the same age, his parents had asked them to babysit
while they were away at the livestock sales.

His
Aunt Pippa’s older daughter Katy is playing in the sand with a
stick, the snapping fingers of the fire catching and lighting up her
small shape intermittently.

Jack
looks at his uncle. He thinks he looks terrible. His long hair
clings to his head, a well-worn paisley shirt with wide lapels and
cuffs is tucked into his bellbottoms, his jeans held up by a wide
leather belt pulled to its limit, causing the waistline to pucker.
Jack observes the skin and bone form of his uncle passing around the
tiny cigarette, and wonders why they don’t have their own
cigarettes.

They’ll
probably catch germs
, he
thinks.

Along
with his small cousin, Jack gazes in awe as people dance around the
fire, their eyes widening as the friends of their parents dance
faster, and Jack becomes scared that someone is going to get burnt.
He is old enough to understand the dangers of fire. Everyone is
smiling and laughing. His Aunt Pippa moves along with his uncle.

Man,
it’s like she is part of him. How does she know how to move in
exactly the same direction as him?
Jack wonders in awe.

The
long, straight length of his aunt’s hair flicks and snakes,
flicks and snakes, her blue organza dress folding and unfolding as
she dances. Jack thinks she is awfully pretty. She is his mother’s
younger sister and, dare he think it, much prettier.

The
waves crashing on the beach catch his attention; his aunt and uncle
dash towards them, hand-in-hand.

Jack’s
cousin Josh squeals. “Mummy and Daddy are going for a swim. I
wanna go too!” He runs down after them, his parents seemingly
unaware of him. After a few minutes the little boy’s mother
and father collapse on each other, laughing. Thinking they were
playing a game, Josh jumps over them excitedly. Their behaviour is
very strange to Jack, who wishes he was back home with his parents,
as camping isn’t fun anymore.

Sitting
back in front of his computer Jack removed his helmet, staring at the
blank screen. He had forgotten about that camping trip; after all,
he’d only been four at the time.

T
he
screen flashed again, and the image of his parents was back. This
time Jack typed frantically to properly establish the sound
connection, albeit barely audible.

“Hello, Jack,” his father
spoke. “Please don’t be alarmed, but we didn’t
perish at sea. We’re in a safe place. It’s taken us
years to reach communication with you. We’re now part of a
research program that is run by scientists far ahead of our time in a
world known as Jovian. The solar system which Jovian is in is
thirty-five light years from Earth. The people here are just like
us; only their intellect goes beyond even the most ingenious minds of
our own scientists. They’ve found cures for all types of
cancers, including leukaemia, have absolutely no viruses, and have no
human or animal deformities or disabilities whatsoever. People are
living longer, some are well into their hundreds, but they don’t
look it as their skin always stays young.” He paused for Jack’s
reaction, the two of them glancing at each other.

His
mother picked up from where Ben left off. “We’re in a
pioneer program of establishing communication with our loved ones on
Earth. There are thousands of other people here from Earth, people
who went missing in the Bermuda Triangle on yachts and planes.
Please, Jack, believe that it’s us and not just computer
wizardry.”

Jack’s
head was spinning. He spoke nervously into the mike. “Mum,
Dad, hello - I don’t know what to say…….I love
you?” he faltered.

“Jack,”
his mother said in a soothing tone. “We love you too, Dear.
Please, don’t be afraid. We just want to reach out and hug
you. Maybe we’ll be able to return one day. We’re just
so happy to have come this far and be able to see and hear you. The
research team want you to type in the date of the thirtieth of August
1994 - the day we officially went missing. They want you to
understand just what happened that day.” Jack nodded, not
saying a word.

The
next morning he prepared himself again to go off into the unknown.
His heart raced as he punched in the date ‘30th August 1994 -
two hours’. Within seconds he was observing from a distance
the yacht in which his parents were sailing. Jack’s
perspective was of a satellite view. As his virtual reality device
zoomed in on the yacht, he could see his parents on the deck.

His
father pulls up the spinnaker, his mother at the helm. Jack’s
parents are in high spirits, happily chatting loudly to each other.
Both are clad in jerseys, rainproof trousers and bright yellow
jackets. They suddenly turn to each other with confused expressions.
Jack’s reality visor returns to a higher altitude and he can’t
believe what he sees: A curtain of shimmering light, a veil of water
shaped in the form of a triangle around a kilometre across at each
point, and reaching through the clouds. His parents swiftly furl the
sails and desperately try to change course. Unbeknown to them their
yacht is in a gravitational pull. As their yacht enters the
triangular veil, Jack sees a luminous green light beneath the surface
of the water, following the line of the veil. As the yacht slips
through the curtain, it’s vision is jelly-like, then liquefies
and dissolves into thin air. Jack then notices a luminous green
laser beam zap down to where the yacht had been, and within that Jack
sees a quivering block of colour shoot up at lightning speed beyond
the clouds and into infinity. The
veil
then gradually dissolves, and Jack’s view changes to a gentle
rolling open sea of nothingness.

He
feels shocked and confused. Remembering that he had keyed in two
hours this time, he wonders what he is supposed to do next.
Something catches his eye, and he looks up to see a mass of luminous
green light coming straight at him at lightning speed. Jack loses
control of himself as he feels a strong pull, and finds himself being
propelled upwards. It reminds him of the great thrust of a plane as
it propels along the tarmac for lift-off. There is nothing he can do
except pray, pray that he isn’t being sent into the black hole
of space.

His
journey swiftly changes. After the initial pull, and although
travelling faster than the speed of light, he feels like he is
floating. It is a calm, reassuring sensation and Jack cannot
understand why. Something is taking control of his emotions, and he
feels anxious to get there, wherever ‘there’ is. Jack
becomes sleepy and dozes off, and dreams of flying.

Wherever
he was heading, Jack didn’t find out as his two hours were up
and he found himself back at the computer. His tiny computer clock
said 4.01 p.m. - two hours from when he had logged on. He figured
that had he really been travelling for two hours, faster than the
speed of light, he would have been nowhere near home, maybe even
halfway to where he was heading, halfway to where his parents were.