I've always wanted to cook up a fic that had all the main
antagonists in them...so here goes! Anyway, my thanks to Maverick for
supplying with the needed assistance.
**********************************************************************
DISCLAIMER: I don't own JQ and any related characters. Period.
Period. Period.
**********************************************************************
TOWER OF BABEL---PART ONE OF ?
Dr. Benton Quest thundered up the lighthouse's short flight of
steps, with his son and Jessie Bannon trailing not far behind; both
faces frowning in confusion.
"Do you mind slowing down a minute and telling me what this is
all about, dad?" Jonny Quest panted as his father settled before a
communications console and punched a command.
Benton nodded, "An old archeologist friend of mine's made an
amazing find in Iraq. You'll find the rest out soon enough."
"This must be something unusual, huh?" Jessie gazed at the static-
sliced screen and waited. "I haven't seen you run that fast in years!"
The doctor's eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance and tapped a
fugue at the console before him. Abruptly, the screen blinked black,
and resolved to the image of a woman's familiar face. Her short crop
of bright red hair framed the firm and sun-tanned features, and a
warm smile crept up her face as she noticed Jessie beside the doctor.
"MOM?!?" Jessie smiled in disbelief. "What's going on?"
"A lot," Benton curtly replied before greeting Estella Velaquez.
"What's up, Estella? The message sounded unusually urgent."
The woman thinned her lips, and went on with a grim expression
etched on her face. "Do you remember the urns we uncovered during the
first three sites?"
"Yes...there were mostly filled with the usual offering material."
"One of them had a parchment glued to it's interior surface."
Estella's tone lowered even more, her eyes narrowing. "An ancient
blueprint of some sort. I managed to have a copy of it in my laptop
before the authourities confiscated the items. The original's
probably in the Museum of Natural History by now.
"Why don't you link up to Questworld and send the copy here?"
Jessie suggested.
Dr. Quest abruptly cut him off, "That's too risky, Jess.
Especially with Surd at large. This matter's too important to be
careless about."
"What I don't understand is what this is all about..." Jonny
protested, casting a pleading glance to his father. "What's so
important about some old scroll?"
Estella smiled lightly at his impatience, but simply said, "As
your father said, discussion over Questworld is a no-no." She then
realized that a problem was before them, and turned to the doctor.
"So, how do I get this through to you?"
A moment of silence passed, as the doctor scanned at the people
around him in deep thought. Jonny instantly knew what his father was
considering...and turned to see that Jessie was sending him a look of
anticipation.
Quest finally sighed, and returned to the screen, "Estella, you
won't mind if I take Jessie along, will you?"
She silently nodded, a playful glint in her eyes. Before Benton
could blurt out the news, Jessie and Jonny stormed out of the
lighthouse.
"Well, I suppose that'll save me time to tell Race and Hadji..."
* * * * * * *
"Well, well, well..." a pair of cracked, grey lips curved upwards
in a curious leer. These words of satisfaction came out rather stiff
and oddly nasal, echoing from the lingua-translator in the owner's
wheelchair. "What do we have here?"
Julia sharply scanned at the display on the large screen before
the two of them, and smiled coldly as well. "It's the archeologist
Velaquez from Iraq...I believe they are just jumping with childish
glee over some prehistoric piece of paper they dug up."
"Silence!" Jeremiah Surd cut through. "Through all these years, I
have never known my dear friend Dr. Quest to waste his time on petty
finds.
"No...this must be something big."
"What do you intend to do?"
"As usual..." Surd grinned again, now with an air of malice and
the faintest tinge of burning hate. " We make our move...and accept
the dear doctor's invitation.
"Velaquez must be linked up to Questworld for communication,"
Surd thoughtfully frowned. "And I don't need to intercept the
scroll's copy to find out what's in it. I can pluck it out even
from her laptop unit myself.
"Julia, log me on to Questworld."
As Julia promptly complied and slipped the headgear into place,
Surd added as an afterthought, "And while I'm at it, get ourselves
ready to leave. We wouldn't want to be late."
She quickly left the dark cell of a chamber they were in, leaving
him alone in his search. The bursts of brilliance that glowed from the
visor on Surd's eyes gave light to the smile that crept on his lips.
A few moments later, he whispered, " Excellent. This trip is
certainly going to be more than it's worth. This time, Mr. Bannon, I'm
bringing a bit more insurance..."
**********************************************************************
Well, there's the first part. I'd always welcome any comments and
questions any of you out there might have. Pardon me if I can't say
how many parts this fic's going to take.
LIGHTWAVE
(
geocities.com/televisioncity)