The Return of the Titans (8 page)

“She...she's safe?” He
couldn't believe it.

“Yes, she is. Safe at
home. She refuses to leave and with her health the way it is, we
decided it was best to agree. However,” he held up a hand as Justin
was about to protest, “she is being guarded now. The entire
building is. No one is going in or out of that place unless we wish
them to.” Justin relaxed slightly.

She's safe, he thought. She's safe. It just
kept running through his mind. Aaron patted his back and Justin
looked at him with a shaky smile. Then he turned back to Mr.
Fitzgerald.

“Thank you, sir,” he said.
“But what about...”

The man was shaking his head before Justin
could finish his sentence. “I'm sorry, Justin.” He felt a small
jolt as Mr. Fitzgerald used his first name. “Wilson fought off the
attackers long enough for you to get away. But in the process, he
received a fatal wound.”

Justin's mind went blank. He couldn't seem
to think at all. Wilson dead? It wasn't possible. He felt Aaron
gripping his shoulder so hard that it would have been painful if he
could have felt it. He stared mutely at Mr. Fitzgerald. He didn't
think that a man so intimidating could look so compassionate. But
there was real regret in his eyes.

“He lived long enough to
know that you were safe, Justin. I think,” he hesitated then said,
“I think he would have been proud to know that.”

Justin sat there. He could almost see Wilson
standing at the door of his apartment, swinging that ridiculous old
mop at his attackers, yelling at the top of his lungs. And then he
had a flash of memories from the time he was a little boy. Wilson
helping him put together his first model airplane, giving him
advice on a million different things that Justin couldn't ask his
mother about. He had always been there, a presence in Justin's life
for as long as he could remember. And now he was gone. Just like
that.

He looked at Mr. Fitzgerald again. “Thank
you for telling me, sir,” he said quietly. “He was a great guy.
I'll miss him a lot.”

The man nodded. “We all will, Justin.”

Justin stared. “You knew him, sir?” he
asked.

“Yes, of course I knew
him.” He looked over at Aaron. “As I know your cousin, Mr. Dalton.
As I know dozens of others who have guarded you all since you were
children.”

“
They work for you? Wilson
and the others?”

“In a manner of speaking,
Mr. McLeod. They are Guardians, like us. And like us they have
sworn to protect you no matter what the cost. That is why I'm sure
that Wilson was happy that you escaped.” He smiled again. “And that
he cared for you a great deal.”

Maybe it was because he'd had so many shocks
in a short time, but Justin wasn't really surprised that Wilson was
a Guardian. In fact, he felt more than flattered that the man had
spent most of Justin's life watching over him.

“Now, I know that you both
have a lot to absorb. If you'd like to wait before asking any more
questions or voicing your concerns, please tell me now. Perhaps I
can come by again tomorrow.”

Justin and Aaron looked at each other, then
back at Mr. Fitzgerald.

“No sir,” Justin answered
for both of them. “I think we'd like to continue, if you don't
mind.”

“Excellent. I don't mind
at all. And we should get this cleared up as soon as we can.” He
looked a little anxious for a moment. “You see, we really can't
continue to teach you what you need to know until we know who's
staying and who's leaving. So,” he clasped his hands in front of
him, “what do you want to ask?”

Justin looked at Aaron who nodded for him to
go first. “Well sir, I have a lot of questions but I think two of
them stand out.” Mr. Fitzgerald just waited. “The first one
is...why do you think we're Titans? I mean, they got wiped out five
thousand years ago, weren't they? And the second is, where the heck
are we?”

“Good questions, Mr.
McLeod and the first is one that all of you have asked me. So let
me give you a little background.” He looked over their shoulders to
the opposite wall, as though examining the carvings. “The Titans
were very advanced, as I indicated yesterday. One of their greatest
achievements was in the field of genetic research. They were much
more knowledgeable than we are even now.” He looked at Justin and
Aaron. “You've done some checking on the legends, I believe?” They
both nodded. “Well, then you remember the stories of creatures such
as harpies, the Medusa, Cyclopes and others. These things actually
existed once, created by genetic manipulation.” He sighed and shook
his head. “I'm not going to go into the ethics of what they did,
but I'm telling you this so you realize that for the Titans,
nothing was really beyond their reach when it came to biology. You
understand?”

“I think so, sir,” Justin
answered. Aaron agreed as well.

“Good. Now, the battle for
control of Atlantis was not decided overnight. Both sides fought
for months, slowly decimating the entire island. And during that
time, fearing the worst, a group of scientists decided to give
their race some insurance.” He chuckled. “I'm not very
knowledgeable in these matters, so I don't know how it was done.
All I know is that Titan DNA was planted in some of the human
population; volunteers who had worked with the Titans before the
human race turned on them. These genes were...instructed I guess
you could say, to lie dormant in the human gene pool for a specific
amount of time. When that time arrived, a mutation would be
triggered that would allow Titans to be born again.” He sat back
and looked at the boys intently. “And you are the
result.”

Justin glanced at Aaron who was staring at
Mr. Fitzgerald, his mouth hanging open. Justin felt the same way
himself. “But how did you know it was us? Or when exactly the um,
mutation would occur?”

Mr. Fitzgerald leaned forward, took a
notebook off of the stack and handed it to Justin. He opened it and
Aaron looked over his shoulder. But Justin couldn't read what was
inside. It was like he was trying to read ancient Egyptian or some
sort of cuneiform language. There were lines and lines of fine
writing. Justin flipped through the pages of the notebook. Every
page was covered with the strange writing. He looked at Mr.
Fitzgerald, puzzled.

“I don't understand, sir,”
he said.

“I know, Mr. McLeod. But
the answer to your question is there, in your hands. You see, those
lines were copied word for word from scrolls that are kept here in
Sanctuary, in the Archives room. They are written in Titanian, the
Titan language. You can't read it, yet, but all the Guardians can.
And in there, a specific time line exists that tells us when you
all were going to be born.” He smiled and took back the book. He
scanned through it until he found a certain page. “Obviously they
did not use the same year count and calendars that we do today, so
the time was tied to specific planetary and cosmic alignments.” He
tossed the notebook back on the table and smiled broadly. “We have
been waiting for five thousand years for you to arrive.”

Justin's mind felt overloaded. Too much
information, too soon, he thought. As Mr. Fitzgerald sat there
waiting expectantly, Justin couldn't think of anything to say. He
looked at Aaron and just nodded for him to go ahead.

The other boy cleared his throat. “Mr.
Fitzgerald...” he began hesitantly. “I was wondering, like Justin,
where exactly are we? I mean, I haven't seen any windows or
daylight. Are we underground or what?”
The man frowned slightly and Justin wondered what was wrong. “I'm
afraid I can't tell you that just yet, gentlemen. You see, if any
of you decide to leave and are captured, our enemies might discover
this location. And we can't allow that.” Then he smiled. “But if
you decide to stay, let me assure you that all will be revealed.
And that's all I can say for now.”

“Makes sense,” Aaron said.
Justin nodded. “But sir, how do you know that someone won't leave
after you tell us where Sanctuary is? It would be just as bad,
wouldn't it?”

Now Mr. Fitzgerald's expression became
serious. “Because, Mr. Dalton, if you agree to stay, you will not
be able to leave until we are satisfied that the secret is safe.
That will take time and training.”

“How much time?” Justin
spoke up.

The man shrugged. “There's no way to know.
It could be several months, a year or more. I can't say.”

“A year!” Aaron sounded
shocked. “You expect us to stay here, away from our family, our
friends, for a year?”

“Or longer, Mr. Dalton.
Which is why you had better be sure you want to stay before telling
us of your decision.” Mr. Fitzgerald picked up his notebooks and
stood up. Justin and Aaron just sat there, trying to digest what
they had been told.

“I think that's enough for
now,” the man said. “You both have a lot of thinking to do, and I
have many more stops to make.” He walked to the door and tapped the
button. As the door slid open he looked back at the boys. “Think
about it all, gentlemen and don't be hasty. We will give you two
days to decide. After that, we'll have to have an answer.” He
nodded to them both and left.

“Holy crap,” Aaron said as
the door slid shut. Justin looked at him and Aaron stared back.
“This is nuts.”

Justin moved to the other couch and sat down
again, hard.

“This is impossible,” he
said to Aaron. “I mean, if we leave, there's a good chance that
they, whoever they are that are after us, will grab us.” He slapped
a hand to his forehead and Aaron leaned forward, looking
concerned.

“You okay,
Justin?”

“Damn! I forgot to ask him
who those guys were! Gees, where's my head?”

Aaron groaned. “Oh crap, me too! All this
stuff about genetics and history totally threw me off. Who knows
when we'll be able to talk to him again.”

“Anyway,” Justin
continued, “they might grab us. But if we stay, we may not see our
families for a year or more.” He looked around the room. “I don't
know how big Sanctuary is, but I'm not sure I like the idea of
being here, wherever here is, for that long.”
“So what do we do?” Aaron asked.

Justin shrugged. “I don't know about you,
Aaron, but I'm going to find out more. About us, this place, those
strange men and anything else I can.” He ran his eyes over the wall
carvings. “And then I'll decide.” He gave Aaron a weak grin. “I
hope.”

Chapter 5

“Okay Justin, if you want
to learn more about Sanctuary, where should we start?” Aaron asked.
He had begun to fidget as Justin sat and thought about what they
had learned from the Commander.

“I think...” Justin
hesitated. “I think I need to get out and walk around, explore a
bit. If I sit here staring at the walls, I'm going to go
nuts.”

“Same here. But are we
allowed?”

“Well, we aren't
prisoners. I think. Let's go and see what we can see.”

Justin got up and headed for the door, with
Aaron following closely behind. As they entered the hallway, they
noticed one of the younger adults standing up the corridor at the
four-way intersection. He was tall and skinny with thin black hair.
They walked toward him and he turned and smiled as they
approached.

“Good morning, gentlemen.
How can I help you?'

“Um, well sir,” Justin
began hesitantly, “we were wondering if we could look around a bit?
Is it allowed?”

The man chuckled. “Allowed? Of course it's
allowed!” His smiled broadened. “You aren't permitted in the young
women s quarters, but feel free to wander wherever you like.” He
pointed down the corridor that the boys hadn't used before. “That
way you will find the bulk of Sanctuary, leading off of the
courtyard. Back there, as you know, is the Court and the Entrances.
Those you've seen of course.” They nodded. Then Aaron spoke up.

“Sir, just how big is this
place anyway?”

“Well now, that's a very
good question,” the man answered. “I don't think I've seen it all
myself, and I've been here for months.” Justin and Aaron looked at
each other in surprise. “This is only the first level, of course.
There are floors beneath us that go on for miles.” He shook his
head. “You aren't permitted down there at the moment, but don't
worry. One of the Sentries will turn you back if you try to enter
an area that's off-limits. And if you try a door and it doesn't
open, just move on to another.”

“The Sentries?” Aaron
swallowed noisily. “What will they do to stop us?” he asked in a
small voice.

The man chuckled again. “Don't worry, lad.
They won't hurt you. They usually just block a door with their
bodies. And good luck getting by about a ton of metal!”

“Well, thank you,
Mister...?”

“Donald is the name,” the
man said merrily. “No 'mister' for me, thank you very much. Oh and
if you get lost, just find one of these on a wall. They are all
over Sanctuary.”

Donald walked down the corridor a few feet
and indicated a circular carving with what looked like ivy knotted
around the edges. “They are somewhere in every picture and carving
in the place. We call them communication nodes, or comm nodes for
short. Just put your hand on it, and someone will come on to speak
to you. Okay?”

The boys nodded and thanked him. Then they
headed off down the corridor toward what Donald had called the bulk
of Sanctuary.

“Well, he's a lot less
formal than Mr. Fitzgerald or Mrs. Mallon, isn't he?” Aaron
said.