فصل 36

Chapter 36: The Joule

The next few weeks at the ranch were the most peaceful we’d had in months. It was nice to have nothing to do. I mean, we helped out with chores and stuff; I even helped harvest honey, but there really wasn’t that much they needed help with.

We played a lot. There was a sand volleyball pit down near the pond, which everyone spent a lot of time at. Even Ostin. What a sight that was. Ostin played volleyball about as well as I did advanced calculus. Bad, but entertaining to watch.

It was about two weeks after our return from Idaho when Taylor and I went on a hike in the nearby mountains. We had just started climbing the first small hill when I asked, “How are your parents doing?” Taylor shrugged. “Not so well,” she said. “My dad’s still freaked. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a nervous breakdown.” “I’m not surprised. He just lost his job, his home, and everything he thought he knew about the world. I’d be freaked too.” I put my hands into my pockets. “Actually, I am freaked.” Taylor was quiet a moment, then stopped walking. She turned to me. “Michael, what if this is it?” “What do you mean?”

“What if this is as good as it gets? Seeing that marquee at Meridian High for cheerleader tryouts . . .” She shook her head. “Everything’s just moving on without us. I feel like I’ve been waiting for everything to be good again so I could be happy. But what if that day never comes?” “It will come,” I said. “The Elgen can’t last forever.”

She frowned. “Yes, they can. And they might. Good doesn’t always win.” Her eyes began to well up. “Why is it that good always has to fight an uphill battle?” I thought for a moment, then said, “I don’t know. Maybe that’s the point. Good things are higher up.” She began to cry. “I’m tired of fighting uphill. We almost died on the Ampere. And for what? To slow them down?” I put my arms around her as she started to sob. When she could speak, she said, “I’m just tired of being afraid.” I slowly rubbed her back. “Me too,” I said softly. “Me too.” Just then we heard the ringing of the dinner bell.

I glanced down at my watch. “I wonder what that is. It’s not time to eat.” Taylor wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Something must be going on. We better go back.” * * *

We hiked back down to the dirt road and had been walking for about ten minutes when Jack drove up on an ATV. “Hey, everyone’s waiting for you two.” “What’s going on?” I asked.

“The chairman called a meeting in the main house. They sent me to get you. Hop on.” Jack drove us back to the house. When we got there, the main room was crowded. Not surprisingly, the three of us were the last to arrive. The feeling in the room was tense and uncomfortable. The chairman walked to the front of the room.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” he said. “I called this meeting because we’ve been contacted by the voice.” He paused, looking at us. “Things are in motion. Big things.” I wondered what he was talking about.

“I suppose it’s a good time to be an Elgen, if there is such a thing. The Elgen have overthrown the island nation of Tuvalu and established a base. In the last year their force has tripled in size to more than six thousand soldier-guards, and they have doubled their planned Starxource plants.

“But that is not why I called this meeting. An opportunity has presented itself that could allow us to destroy Dr. Hatch and the Elgen once and for all.” We all sat up at attention.

“Their electric youths have rebelled. Hatch has sentenced their leader, Quentin, to lifetime incarceration in a monkey cage.” “Where he belongs,” Jack whispered to me.

“Tara and Torstyn have been sentenced to death. Kylee has also been imprisoned. Only Bryan remains free. They believe that he is the last loyal electric youth.” “That’s only because he’s too dumb to rebel,” Nichelle mumbled.

The chairman looked at us for a moment, then said, “They could be invaluable allies. Not only because of their gifts, but because of their knowledge of Hatch’s plans and how he thinks.” He was quiet again as he looked over at me. I suddenly had the sinking feeling that he was going to say something I wasn’t going to like.

“The entire Elgen fleet is docked at Tuvalu. One of those boats is the Joule. For those not familiar with the Elgen fleet, the Joule is their most unusual and secretive boat. In fact, it’s not only the fastest in the fleet, but it’s part submarine. It can submerge to nearly a thousand feet. It is also the most valuable boat in the fleet. It is a floating Fort Knox. It holds billions of dollars of gold bullion, foreign currencies, and diamonds.” “Why don’t they just put their money in banks?” I asked.

“They do, but only five percent. The rest they physically cache. Hatch is paranoid by nature, but especially of banks. And for good reason. If you’re declaring war on the world, someone is eventually going to freeze your assets. He’s not going to allow that. The voice tells us that right now there is currently more than nine billion dollars on board the Joule.

“We’ve also learned that the treasure won’t be there for long. One of the reasons the Elgen overthrew Tuvalu was to build a secure facility for their treasure. Their own Fort Knox.” He took a deep breath. “Wars aren’t won with guns; they’re won with checkbooks. Without that money, the Elgen can’t support their growth in troops. At least for now. Nine billion dollars is enough money for us to turn it on the Elgen and shut them down. That is, if we can find the Joule and hijack it.” “How are we going to do that?” I asked.

“We have some help in locating it. But boarding it is going to be . . . challenging. If the Joule’s captain suspects danger, he simply submerges the vessel. The Joule can stay underwater for up to six months.” “That’s bad news,” Jack said.

“That’s bad news and good news,” the chairman said. “Because once we get on board, the other boats in the fleet won’t be able to touch us. So getting onto the boat is the challenge. The only non-crew allowed on the Joule is Hatch. And even he has to use a secret code.” “Hatch isn’t going to escort us on board,” Zeus said.

“And he’s not going to give us the secret code,” Tessa said. “Even if we ask nicely.” “No. But Taylor can get it out of his mind.”

“If I touch him,” she said, looking as disgusted as fearful.

“And one of his youths, Tara, can make someone look like Hatch. With their help, we could steal the boat.” “How is Tara going to help us?” Ostin asked. “She’s going to be executed.” “We’ll have to save her.”

“You’re saying that you want us to rescue our enemy?” I asked.

The chairman nodded. “Remember, they are now Hatch’s enemy.” “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Ostin said.

“Exactly,” the chairman said.

“Let me get this straight,” Zeus said. “You want us to get onto the island undetected and rescue the Glows—who tried to kill us—from the most secure Starxource facility the Elgen have. Then hijack their most protected boat?” The chairman nodded. “Basically, yes.”

“That’s basically insane,” Zeus replied.

The chairman frowned. “Yes, it is. Which is why they won’t be expecting it. And, God willing, if it works, the war is turned.” The room went silent. I looked around at the Electroclan, only to find that they were all looking at me, most with fear in their eyes. I put my head in my hands to think. This was likely a suicide mission. The odds of some, or all, of us being killed were high. But that was true too if we did nothing to stop the Elgen. This was what our resistance was all about. Up until this point, we had been chopping at the leaves of the Elgen tree, trying to bring it down. This might be our only chance to pull it up by the roots. And who else was there to do it? Who was more qualified than the Electroclan?

I looked at my mother. She was looking at me, her eyes fearful. Joel was holding her. Ostin’s mother was dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

I looked back up at the chairman. “Zeus was right. What you’re asking of us is insane. It’s more than all of our other missions combined. But, all things considered, what choice do we have?” I looked around again at my friends. Taylor took my hand. I took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “When do we go?”