Ash Ketchum: Hunt For Jade Dragon

Ch. 7 Surge

   When I returned to the dining at room the rest of the Electroclan was seated around two tables one end of the room. A man I had never seen before was standing in front of them. He was tanned-skinned, tall, and powerfully built. He had a narrow waist and biceps as large as my thighs. He reminded me of an action figure.

   As I sat down he said with a slight New Yorkian accent, "Welcome, Ash. We were waiting for you."

  "I'm sorry," I said. "The council wanted to see me."

  "I was told." He turned back toward the group. "Let's begin. My name is Surge. You don't need to know my last name, don't use them here. First, let me say that it's an honor to meet the because we brave young men and women of the Electroclan. I've been closely that's precisely what it's going to take to stop Galactic."

   He put his hands behind his back. "Today, I am here to brief you on our enemy. To understand why the Galactic do what they do, it helps to understand their history. The Galactic Corporation was founded in 1984 as a medical products company specializing in electroanalgesia--the technology of relieving pain through nerve stimulation. Much like what our Shauna here does."

   We all looked at Shauna. She smiled and bowed.

  "Their technology sounds modern, but in reality it is ancient science. More than two thousand years ago the Greek philosopher Socrates noticed that standing in a pool with some types of fish could produce numbing sensations. The Galactic's first patent was for an electric nerve implant to stop back pain.

  "As they experimented with electricity, a brilliant scientist named Dr. Richard Evans Rowan discovered the original science that the MEI technology is based on. Recognizing its potential, the Galactic Corporation brought on some significant investors to pursue the technology, which took nearly three years longer to develop than they had planned. The investors--former chairman Giovanni was one of them became impatient, and the CEO of Galactic, Dr. Cyrus, was pressured for results. Against Dr. Rowan's advice, the MEI was tested before it was ready. You know the results of that test as you are the results of that test. Seventeen surviving babies were born electric. The rest of the children born during that period died at birth or within days.

  "It took only a few days for the Galactic to realize the connection between their experiments and the infant deaths and shut down the MEI. But there were others outside the Galactic Corporation who also made the connection. Not so coincidentally, these people mysteriously disappeared. Most of them died of electricity-related deaths." He looked at me. "Red Ketchum, Ash's father, was one of those people.

  "At this time, there was another important death. Dr. Rowan, the only man who understood the science on which the MEI machine was built, also 'disappeared.' It was a grave mistake on the Galactic's part but a blessing for the world. Had Dr. Rowan lived he likely would have solved the problem with the MEI, and the Galactic would already be producing their new species.

  "Faced with the possibility of lawsuits, the Galactic Corporation shut down the MEI project. The company was taken over by the investors and Giovanni became the new CEO. Dr. Cyrus, who should have been thrown out, was demoted to executive director. We don't know why he wasn't fired, but knowing how Dr. Cyrus works, I would wager that he threatened to go public with the Galactic deaths, which would have no doubt resulted in massive lawsuits and destroyed the company.

  "At any rate, Cyrus remained involved with the Galactic. He was ordered to find and follow the remaining seventeen children just in case they began dying later as well.

  "It was about five years after the MEI experiment that the first electric child was discovered. That was Marnie. She was in foster care and had been sent from home to home. Her record showed that wherever she went the home suffered damage to its electrical system. A few of them burned down.