Read Online Elementis 1: The Heir to the Stone by Jonathan Wedge - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jonathan Wedge
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moving it closer to the older boy, "I'm not a kid and I'm not clever. I'm ten and a half and I'm a genius. Tell him Lynk."
Lynk happily confirmed. "Yes, my serdar, Twain is 10 years and 233 days old and he has the mental capacity of a 187 year old."
"Okay, good for you, but I'm in a real hurry here," said Jonas.
"Lynk, confirm his identity!" said Twain, moving the gun closer still to Jonas, causing Jonas to raise his dropping hands higher.
Lynk's belly popped out and slid up, revealing a data-screen that sat behind the metal plate on his stomach. Twain watched with interest as an image of Jonas showed up with a high-alert signal.
Jonas needed to move on. He was becoming impatient. "Look, I don't mean anyone any harm. I just want to get back to Rilk and forget all about this place."
Twain was fascinated, he probed the fugitive for more information. "What did you do to get every Guard on the planet looking for you?"
Jonas was annoyed that he had to explain himself to a ten-year-old holding a drill in his face. "It's possible I'm the king's son but I've done nothing! I didn't even know him until five minutes ago and now all of a sudden he wants to play happy families."
"He's telling the truth serdar," said Lynk, making use of the flawless lie detection system built into his program.
Jonas sounded desperate. "I need to figure out how to get out of here. They're going to send me back to Kroyto!"
Twain lowered his weapon.
"Kroyto?" said Twain, with his interest levels soaring. "Come on, tell me the story on the way. I live in Subterennea—the undercity, not the nice part, but mother won't mind for a night. I've got a ship as well! Well nearly, I need one more part for it. It's an old shipwrecked dekapod, crashed in the forest of Andawan. It's yours for the pendant around your neck. I could do with one of those."
"A ship? That can get me home?" asked Jonas.
"Seems to me that you're already home, but yes, you can go where you like once I've fixed it," said Twain.
Jonas pondered the exchange of a ship for the pendant. This kid was the stupidest genius he'd ever met. Aside from the fact that he was the only genius he'd ever met, the exchange was clearly unfair. Young Twain still had some way to go in understanding the value of supply and demand, but Jonas needed a ship to leave this place more than anything else right now and here was a way out, standing right in front of him. He put a hand around his mother's pendant, knowing that it was all that remained of her now.
*
Torchlight skipped off the surface of a damp tunnel wall as the boys floated along, riding the hoverbike with Lynk clinging to Jonas's back. Twain talked a lot, babbling on about solving the theory involved in capturing the energy of a supernova the second it explodes; he believed it would be the most powerful energy force known to man but he lost Jonas at "neutrino-displacement" and Jonas took his mind back to being in that room with the king. He felt disheartened. His father was nothing like how he'd imagined and it was no medical centre accident after all that had meant he'd spent his life alone. He didn't want to think about it; he just wanted to get as far away from him as he could. Jonas turned his mind to wondering what this undercity where Twain was taking him would look like. Dark and damp he supposed, judging by this tunnel; and probably full of dirt and with the people to match—it reminded him of home.
"Are you sure your mother won’t mind?" Jonas said to Twain, interrupting the boys talk that had moved on to the untapped potential power of the energy inside black holes.
"Of course not, she’ll be pleased of the company!" Twain assured him.
"And it’s safe for you? I don’t want to get you in any trouble," Jonas said, thinking back to when Hok was blasted apart in front of his eyes. Jonas had laid in that prison cell thinking it over in his mind again and again as to whether or not he could have done something different, something
Lynk happily confirmed. "Yes, my serdar, Twain is 10 years and 233 days old and he has the mental capacity of a 187 year old."
"Okay, good for you, but I'm in a real hurry here," said Jonas.
"Lynk, confirm his identity!" said Twain, moving the gun closer still to Jonas, causing Jonas to raise his dropping hands higher.
Lynk's belly popped out and slid up, revealing a data-screen that sat behind the metal plate on his stomach. Twain watched with interest as an image of Jonas showed up with a high-alert signal.
Jonas needed to move on. He was becoming impatient. "Look, I don't mean anyone any harm. I just want to get back to Rilk and forget all about this place."
Twain was fascinated, he probed the fugitive for more information. "What did you do to get every Guard on the planet looking for you?"
Jonas was annoyed that he had to explain himself to a ten-year-old holding a drill in his face. "It's possible I'm the king's son but I've done nothing! I didn't even know him until five minutes ago and now all of a sudden he wants to play happy families."
"He's telling the truth serdar," said Lynk, making use of the flawless lie detection system built into his program.
Jonas sounded desperate. "I need to figure out how to get out of here. They're going to send me back to Kroyto!"
Twain lowered his weapon.
"Kroyto?" said Twain, with his interest levels soaring. "Come on, tell me the story on the way. I live in Subterennea—the undercity, not the nice part, but mother won't mind for a night. I've got a ship as well! Well nearly, I need one more part for it. It's an old shipwrecked dekapod, crashed in the forest of Andawan. It's yours for the pendant around your neck. I could do with one of those."
"A ship? That can get me home?" asked Jonas.
"Seems to me that you're already home, but yes, you can go where you like once I've fixed it," said Twain.
Jonas pondered the exchange of a ship for the pendant. This kid was the stupidest genius he'd ever met. Aside from the fact that he was the only genius he'd ever met, the exchange was clearly unfair. Young Twain still had some way to go in understanding the value of supply and demand, but Jonas needed a ship to leave this place more than anything else right now and here was a way out, standing right in front of him. He put a hand around his mother's pendant, knowing that it was all that remained of her now.
*
Torchlight skipped off the surface of a damp tunnel wall as the boys floated along, riding the hoverbike with Lynk clinging to Jonas's back. Twain talked a lot, babbling on about solving the theory involved in capturing the energy of a supernova the second it explodes; he believed it would be the most powerful energy force known to man but he lost Jonas at "neutrino-displacement" and Jonas took his mind back to being in that room with the king. He felt disheartened. His father was nothing like how he'd imagined and it was no medical centre accident after all that had meant he'd spent his life alone. He didn't want to think about it; he just wanted to get as far away from him as he could. Jonas turned his mind to wondering what this undercity where Twain was taking him would look like. Dark and damp he supposed, judging by this tunnel; and probably full of dirt and with the people to match—it reminded him of home.
"Are you sure your mother won’t mind?" Jonas said to Twain, interrupting the boys talk that had moved on to the untapped potential power of the energy inside black holes.
"Of course not, she’ll be pleased of the company!" Twain assured him.
"And it’s safe for you? I don’t want to get you in any trouble," Jonas said, thinking back to when Hok was blasted apart in front of his eyes. Jonas had laid in that prison cell thinking it over in his mind again and again as to whether or not he could have done something different, something
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