The Legend of Things Past (Beyond Pluto SciFi Futuristic Aventures Book 1) Read Free Page B

But, of course, if he could do
that, he wouldn’t be sick in the first place. His mind had slowly deteriorated with
no apparent cause. He had lost his presence of mind, becoming more and more
confused over time. He would wake up and not know his own name or his wife’s
name or Donovan’s name. He wouldn’t recognize his grandchildren. He would think
he was in a different time—in the past, in his childhood.
    Those were the worst times to be around him. When he thought
he was a child again. Donovan could hardly imagine all of the horrors his
grandfather had seen. Tobias had told him stories of the gruesome events of his
youth but never in full detail. When his grandfather had screamed like that, it
sent chills down his spine, leaving his imagination to spin out of control. What
was it that he was reliving?
    That had been a long time ago. Now, sitting beside this
vacant, staring figure, Donovan almost wished the screaming would happen again,
if only to show that there was actually someone there , inside the body. They
had thought it was Alzheimer’s, an easily cured disease. It would have taken
one shot of serum and he would have been fine.
    But that wasn’t it. All of the tests came back negative. Tobias
Knight had a normal, healthy brain. They could only guess that his illness was
completely psychological.
    “Grandpa,” Donovan said, holding the man’s hand tightly in
his own. He waited for some kind of response, knowing that he would get nothing.
He could just feel the Insert that the doctors had installed in Tobias’s hand—it
did nothing to help his condition.
    Tobias used to be a tall man with broad shoulders. Donovan
had once thought that his grandfather looked a lot like an older version of
himself. Today, Tobias looked like a dying version of himself—the skin under
his eyes drooped down his cheeks and his soul seemed to have made an escape
through the unblinking eyes.
    Donovan shook the thought from his head. His grandfather
wasn’t dying. His body was in perfect health aside from the slow deterioration
of his skin and muscles. If only Donovan could figure out what was wrong with
him, what had driven him into this state of psychosis. But he wasn’t the great
genius that Tobias was. The world didn’t know him as the smartest man
since Steven Hawking.
    “Tobias Knight,” Donovan said. There wasn’t even a flicker
of a response in his grandfather’s eyes, but he kept going, “My father was
named after you. He wanted to name me after you, too—Tobias Knight the Third.”
    Donovan let go of his grandfather’s hand and leaned back in
his chair, staring at the empty face as he spoke, watching, as always, for some
sign of recognition, knowing by now that it was highly unlikely. But he had to
keep trying.
    “I thank God to this day that my mom had the sense not to
let that happen.” Donovan chuckled. “Do you remember when you first started to
teach me chemistry? I think I was six.”
    Donovan couldn’t remember his age at the time, but he
recalled the lessons almost perfectly. His grandfather had already become world-renowned
and he wanted to share his knowledge with all of his children and grandchildren.
    Tobias had given up on Donovan’s father long ago. Tobias Jr.
had chosen to go into the military and become a weapons expert. It was what
killed him in the end. And Donovan’s mother, too. She died of grief a year
later. Donovan had been nine years old.
    After their deaths, he went to live with Tobias for good. Donovan
had lapped up his grandfather’s lessons. Once, in Tobias’s private lab, when he
was teaching Donovan about the complicated theories of teleportation, Donovan
became frustrated with what seemed impossible for his brain to absorb.
    “I can’t learn this,” he’d said, throwing his pencil onto
the counter. “It’s too hard. It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Of course it does, boy. I learned it and so can you.”
    “I’m not like you. I’m not as smart.” The young