Read Online The Return of the Titans by James Thompson - Free Book Online Page B

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