Royal Heiress (7 page)

“No, they did not. Only the leaders did. I
happened to find my stone by accident when I was in a cave.”

“This city has caves? I don’t remember seeing
any on my way in.”

“The city has one cave which is masked by a
small dome building. It was the entrance to the Underworld, which
is the city that exists beneath this one.”

“What is that city like?”

“Gloomy and dismal. That’s where people went
when the technology could no longer make them appear young and
beautiful. It was a place of death and despair. That’s where people
went to wait until they died of natural causes. Some people chose
euthanasia instead of living in the Underworld.”

“With all the wonders of Atlantis, why did
you confine the imperfect to such a fate?”

“The leaders were incredibly selfish and
vain. They didn’t want to blemish the city. They made one exception
and that was with Hephaestus. He was the only one who was allowed
to live up here despite his ugliness and limping. He was an eyesore
to everyone, but he was the one who designed these buildings and
everything in them. His talent made up for his handicap.”

“And the technology couldn’t improve his
physical condition?”

“It could not. As advanced as their
technology was, it was far from ideal. The leaders were, after all,
only human.”

“With little regard to human life. I suppose
unwanted babies weren’t born here.”

“Some of them were. Most were aborted. The
ones who were born were sent to the Underworld or adopted. Not many
people adopted, though. Children that didn’t share the desired
genetic codes were condemned to the Underworld unless their
imperfections could be eliminated.”

Jake shook his head. “I wasn’t wanted by my
dad. I suppose I would have been condemned.”

“No. Your physical appearance more than makes
up for the condition surrounding your birth. You would have been an
ideal candidate to adopt.”

“I should be relieved, but I’m not.”

Pallid’s liking towards Jake grew the more he
talked to him. At the time, the way things were done on Atlantis
made perfect sense to him. After his discussion with Queen Ann
years before and hearing her viewpoint, he began to question his
thinking. She changed his views on many things in the small time
they had talked.

He’d never thought one day with someone could
change his entire outlook on life, but that afternoon did. It
changed who he was. Standing with Jake now, he admitted that Jake
was a man of character and goodness. He only hoped Jake wouldn’t
let the knowledge of his birth and real father destroy him with
anger and resentment.

“The entrance to the tunnel is hidden behind
this wall,” Pallid said as they walked up to a picture of six
people.

“Were these the leaders of this city?” Jake
asked, pointing to the three men and three women.

“Yes. They later became the chief gods and
goddesses on Mount Olympus in Greece. The men are Zeus, Hades, and
Poseidon. The women are Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. Zeus was the
head leader. These leaders had children who also ruled, but their
authority wasn’t as great as the six here. That’s why you will only
see the six main leaders in all of the buildings. The arc is the
only exception. That’s where the leaders and their children joined
together. It was their main headquarters. Hades was the leader who
ruled the Underworld, so he rarely went to the main headquarters.
He didn’t want to rule the Underworld, but he lost in the contest
he had with Zeus and Poseidon. Zeus won the right to be the head of
Atlantis. Poseidon won the right to manage the affairs of the ocean
and the creatures that were created for the ocean.”

“And what of the women?”

“Hera was second to Zeus. She was the one who
created new types of people, such as me. I was one of many of her
creations. She even created Hephaestus, and she did this with only
a human egg. It was her most notable failure, though, which is why
she never ventured that route again. She and Zeus were married, but
Zeus wasn’t a faithful husband. As you’d expect, this created a lot
of problems among the other leaders, some of which were his
children from his affairs with other women.”

“I’m surprised those children weren’t
condemned.”

“A couple of them were forced into the
Underworld, but most of them were perfect in appearance, and since
they were his children, he gave them the rights to leadership. Once
Zeus discovered the Stone of Immortality, he no longer had any more
children since the possessor of the stone loses the ability to
reproduce. There is no need for having children when you can live
forever. The purpose of having children is to replenish the human
race. Hera was quite relieved when she discovered her husband’s
exploits would no longer result in illegitimate children.”

“What about Demeter and Hestia? What did they
do?”

“Demeter was responsible for controlling the
weather. She manned the technology that made every day perfect.
However, she was dominated by her emotions, and if something
happened to upset her, she sent wintery blasts through the city.
She figured if she was unhappy, everyone else should be too. Hestia
was responsible for the reproduction of the human race. She was in
charge of the decision on who was fit to live and who wasn’t.
Usually, she sent the undesirable people to the Underworld, which
is why Hades had to rule over them. Hestia didn’t have the heart to
abort or euthanize anyone but only did so if she felt there was no
other recourse or if she was ordered to by the person seeking it.
As I recall, she wasn’t any happier with her job than Hades was.
She’s the one who pushed so hard for advancing technology to help
eliminate deformities.”

“I recognize their names from some books I
read in college,” Jake said. “It was interesting literature. Of
course, I thought it was all myths, but I can see where some of it
is based on what really happened.”

“People like to retell stories and make them
sensational.” Pallid turned the picture slightly to the right. The
wall behind the picture moved aside, and a dark tunnel loomed ahead
of them.

“Is this city structured with secret
entrances?” Jake asked.

“Yes. It was how the leaders could get to
their hiding places in case of an invasion. They didn’t fear people
on Earth. They were concerned about other life forms in the
universe. They knew life existed on worlds in other galaxies, but
they had not developed the technology to seek them out yet, so they
exercised great caution in case of an attack.”

“How did they even know there was life on
other worlds?”

“Because they foresaw the Queen of Raz coming
to destroy Atlantis. Though she looked like a human from Earth,
they knew she was not. They also knew the future they had witnessed
was not set, for a single action could alter the outcome.”

“So the future I saw of myself as a lonely
man twenty years from now is not destined to happen?”

“It doesn’t have to. You have the power to
change it.”

“By doing what?”

Pallid gave him a long look, trying to decide
on the proper response. “I think being determined you’re not going
to be that person is the answer.”

He went into the tunnel, and Jake followed.
The wall closed behind them, sealing them in.

“Now it is safe,” Pallid commented as he
switched on the lights.

Jake sharply inhaled.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” He grinned.

They descended down the twenty steps and
entered a large oval room which had quietly existed in the dark for
thousands of years.

“This is like an enormous science lab,” Jake
commented as his eyes scanned the equipment spread across the large
area. “Have you been here before, or did you just know about this
place?”

“I was born here,” he replied. “Many of the
people on Atlantis were born here.”

“So this was where the leaders did their
creations?”

“Yes.”

“This hardly seems like a hiding place if
everyone who was made here knew about it.”

“Only my kind and the Augurs knew about this
place. Everyone else was injected with a serum to make them forget
about it.”

“Your kind?”

“I’m an Infer.”

“Are you fully human?”

He smiled at the question. “I am. There were
creatures that were half-human, half-animal. A few of them were
half machine, too.”

“You were created to maintain a memory of how
things were in this place so that the leaders would have a
permanent record to remember things by?”

“Yes, but when they created me and others
like me, there was a flaw in our design. We couldn’t reproduce
among ourselves. We could with other humans. But you need to keep
the line pure in order to preserve the memories.”

“How did they compensate for this error?”

“They never did. They just kept producing
other Infers.” Pallid motioned for him to follow him to a large
clear ovular object. “This is an artificial womb. It was where they
placed me and other created humans from the moment of conception
until birth. Over here—” he motioned to a table on the other side
of the room—“is where they combined sperm and eggs genetically
manipulated to produce desirable offspring. They removed the stuff
they didn’t want and put in the stuff they did want.”

Jake looked up at the many artificial wombs
in the room hanging by hooks above many tables. “I feel like I’m
standing in Frankenstein’s lab.”

He chuckled at the observation. “It is a lot
like that, isn’t it?”

“At least you have a sense of humor about it.
It gives me the creeps.”

“When this is what you know, it is natural.”
Pallid walked around the room, reliving the memories that played
through his mind.

Jake, meanwhile, studied the various tubes
and computer displays in another area of the room. “Pallid, what is
this for?” he inquired, pointing to the six sealed glass coffins
that lay neatly in a row. He peered into one of the coffins and
blinked. “Is that what I think it is?”

Curious, Pallid walked over to him. His jaw
dropped when he saw what was in them.

“Are these people being created right now?”
Jake asked.

Pallid nodded, still in shock. “The six
leaders. Even in their primitive state, I recognize them. They are
slowly being formed in their containers. But why?”

“You didn’t know about this?”

He shook his head. “Even I wasn’t allowed to
know some of their secrets.”

“Look over here.” He pointed to the computer
display which had some words written on it, words Jake couldn’t
know since they were the ancient language.

Pallid glanced up at the screen and read the
words aloud. “‘To cancel the replacement process, type in the
password.’” He looked baffled. “I don’t understand why the leaders
would create duplicates of themselves. They had the Stone of
Immortality. Even if they were invaded by aliens, they could not
die.”

After a long moment, Pallid decided to make a
careful study of the room to see if he could figure out what was
going on.

Chapter Eight

Atlantis

Planet: Earth

Meanwhile, Amanda and Katherine appeared at
the top of the arc where the great library was. For the moment, the
room was empty of other people.

To Katherine’s surprise, Amanda had insisted
on wearing silk black pants and a silk pink shirt that went down to
her hips. The outfit showed off her best features, though Katherine
thought it was inappropriate for the mission they were on. They
were there to save the Olympians and Augurs from possible
extinction, not to impress other people.

Katherine’s cotton dark blue pants and modest
forest green shirt were far more practical, which only emphasized
how different the two sisters were. With a sigh, Katherine walked
around the room, examining the many books lining the shelves. Her
black boots echoed eerily on the floor. Something about this place
gave her the creeps, and she couldn’t figure out why.

“Wow! This place is gorgeous!” Amanda gushed
as she waved Katherine to the large window. “Look at all the
colors. There’s no place as lovely as this on Raz.”

“We’re here to find the location of the
replacement Olympians, not sightsee,” Katherine reminded her.

“The replacements have to be somewhere in
this building if my magic brought me here.” Katherine was ready to
leave the room to search for the replacements when Amanda called
out, “Wait! Come here.”

Katherine frowned when she realized Amanda
was still staring out the window. “We can check out the city after
we finish the mission.”

“Give me some credit. I’m not as stupid as
you seem to think I am.”

“Sorry.” She walked over to Amanda. “What is
it?”

“We’re not alone.”

Katherine followed Amanda’s gaze. Her eyes
widened in surprise. “Didn’t the Augurs tell you this city had been
deserted for a long time?”

“Apparently, it’s not anymore.”

They watched as men and women in military
uniforms walked through the city.

“I think they’re scouting out the place,”
Amanda said. “I don’t recognize the equipment they’re using. Look,
that man is talking into something.”

“Did the Augurs tell you they might be
here?”

“No.” She sighed. “All they said was that I
was going to meet an Infer and that he would help me find the
replacements.”

“What is an Infer?”

“They were pretty vague in the description.
They just said it was a man who wears all white. They said he is
expecting me.”

“And I need to be here because…?”

“They didn’t say.”

Katherine groaned and rolled her eyes. This
better not be a waste of her time. She glanced out the window
again. “I don’t see anyone wearing all white. Do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“He must be somewhere in this building. I
guess we should search for him.”