Sitnalta - Page Six

The Hayes Complex

Rus and Howie Hayes walked for a ways together. Howie said, "Have you ever seen such a great place. Look at the pyramids."

Rus asked, "Who are the people standing outside the different pyramids? What are they doing?"

"People gather from all the islands of Atlantis to come here to listen to the lectures from the great men and women who have settled here."

Then Rus and Howie Hayes came to a complex where no one was gathered. Rus asked, "Why is no one gathered here?"

"This is my complex. The brain center of Textronicle Inc.. I'm not like the others. I don't share my genius with just anyone."

Rus stopped walking and stepped back. He had suddenly gotten an odd feeling about the man he had been walking with.

"Why did you stop walking?"

Rus didn't want to insult the man. If not for the man and his crew, who knows where he would be now. Rus smiled. Regardless of the rescue, he still had no clue where he was. Rus cleared his throat for he knew he had to say something to cover his uneasiness. "A pebble bruised the bottom of my foot. It is nothing." Howie Hayes had not directly invited him to enter his complex but had simply asked him to walk with him when they left the boat. Rus asked, "Do you have a suggestion where I might get a room."

"Get a room? Don't be silly. I have plenty of room for you to stay in my complex."

"Are you sure it will not be an imposition?" Rus didn't like the idea of entering the complex but he was a total stranger in this land. He had no idea where else to go.

As he walked with Mr. Hayes into one of the pyramids he noticed a pretty girl. He thought to himself, "Here, she is too old for me. In my world, I'm too old for her. So strange!"

Mr. Hayes introduced the girl to Rus. "This is Michelle. She is the daughter of my most trusted employee."

Michelle smiled and then Mr. Hayes smiled as they gave one another a knowing glance. Rus wondered what the inside joke was. He had been irritated by the look before. Rus looked down to make sure nothing was showing that shouldn't be. Then he wiped his nose to make sure he didn't have bugger hanging out. Not thinking he shouted, "Damned this goat nose."

Michelle and Mr. Hayes burst out laughing. Then Mr. Hayes patted Rus on the back. "Yes, there are times I wish my facial features were more human. Can't change what we are born with though. Michelle will keep you company. There are things I need to be doing."

As Mr. Hayes left the area, Michelle whispered to Rus. She told him, "My prayers have been answered." Then she directed Rus to follow her. She placed a finger over his lip to silently indicate for him to not speak. Rus followed her out of the complex and down a wooded path. Then they reached a pole that had a round sphere or globe on top of it. Michelle took hold of Rus and forced him to put his hands on the sphere. Michelle then placed her hands on the sphere. Then she said, "I'm not as great of an inventor as Jason Fougere but I am not without my talents. We can speak now without our voices being recorded. I need your help to warn Jason Fougere that his plans for the laser have been obtained by my father and Mr. Hayes."

Rus shook his head. "How do you know that you can trust me?"

Michelle smiled. "Because Mr. Hayes doesn't trust you."

"What makes you think that?"

"Mr. Hayes was not born with a goat head and you were not born with a goat head. All Capricorn's come from a different spatial time. Satyrs are born as they are but Capricorn's are created by a spatial shift. I'm not sure of the game that you and Mr. Hayes are playing with one another. It was quite clear though that a game of lies is being played. I heard my father talking and already the suit you were wearing is being checked to see if there is something about it that might improve our technology in the area of scuba gear."

Rus nodded. "Thank you for letting me know. Howie Hayes is evil, isn't he?"

"You have good instinct. He wasn't always such though. Something happened to him. When he first came here he was a naïve innocent and so sweet according to my mother."

"Maybe it was having to walk around with a goat head."

Michelle smiled. "Maybe. Or maybe it was being surrounded by genius when he had none of his own."

"You underestimate him."

"Yes. That we did."

"How did he get these plans you were talking about."

"It was all my fault. I wanted to prove to Jason that I could accomplish what he couldn't. The laser fusion technology has serious flaws that Jason was unable to solve. I thought that if I could make the technology work then Jason would have to respect me and allow me into the Fougere inner circle. I stole the designs and brought them back to my lab at the Hayes compound. I had no intention of trying to claim them as my own or profit from them. I was simply going to solve the problem that Jason was unable to solve and then take the designs back to Jason and show him where he went wrong. But then my father discovered the designs in my lab and took them to Mr. Hayes."