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.

  "Because she had no permanent home and a history of running away, she was easily taken in by Galactic. They began running tests on her and discovered her power. That's when they began, without the board's consent, kidnapping the other electric children. As you know, the last to be found were Ash and Serena.

  "It was likely during this time that Dr. Cyrus came up with the idea that the MEI could be used to create a super-race of humans. This is nothing new. Throughout history, others have tried to create a super-race. Unfortunately for Cyrus, with Dr. Rowan gone, their ongoing experiments with the MEI were largely unsuccessful, with one big exception--they accidentally discovered how to electrify rats.

  "The timing of this 'accident' was fortunate for Cyrus. The board had just become aware of Dr. Cyrus's crimes and had resolved to terminate him. Instead, Cyrus won them over with a small machine he had created called the Elecage--a prototype to the Starxource plants. Cyrus demonstrated to the board how this dishwasher-size box was able to produce enough energy to power the entire Galactic building without pollution or fossil fuels and at a fraction of the cost of conventional energy sources.

  "Chairman Giovanni and the board immediately recognized the potential of what Cyrus had developed and the very real possibility of controlling the world's electricity. They would make trillions of dollars.

  "Of course Cyrus also realized the potential of his discovery, but he never lost sight of his original plan--to create a master race. Cyrus still believes that he will someday be the father of a race that will dominate the world and rule the Nonels."

  "What's a Nonel?" Calem asked.

  "You're a Nonel," Surge said. "So am I. Nonel is the term Cyrus uses to refer to nonelectric humans. It is ironic that Cyrus himself is a Nonel.

  "In the meantime, the Galactic have continued to build Starxource plants, which, for the most part, have been very successful. The Galactic are already earning more than seven billion dollars a year selling electricity. Cyrus has used the plants' success to appease the board over his continual experiments with producing more electric children--something most of the board was opposed to.

  "Cyrus knew that his conflict with the board would someday come to a head, so he prepared for it. He trained an army of Galactic guards with the stated purpose of protecting their Starxource plants, but his real reason was to someday take over the company, which is what he did less than a month ago.

  "This brings us to where we are today. A few weeks ago a scientific paper surfaced online from the Chinese province of Shanxi. It was written by a Chinese-French scientist named Lin YuLong, which, translated to English, means 'jade dragon.' Localized, she was given the name, Mairin.

  "The paper theorized that human DNA could be electrically altered through the use of magnetically altered electrons. As with many major discoveries, only a few understood the importance of the theory, and the paper was largely ignored by the scientific world. The first paper YuLong wrote hypothesized that the result would likely kill 71.43 percent of the species, which, remarkably, is within a half percent of the actual mortality rate of the MEI.

  "Then YuLong claimed to have solved the problem, predicting a 0.003 percent mortality rate. Fortunately, the scientist did not divulge the mathematical formula used on the alteration.

  "We immediately sent our Taiwanese associate to China to track down this scientist. We were surprised to discover that Jade Dragon wasn't a scientist, but rather a nine-year-old girl, and that only days before she had been kidnapped."

  "How do you know that the Galactic kidnapped her?" Clemont asked.

  "We don't. But this is what we do know. First, we know that the Galactic desperately want the information she has. Second, we know that the Galactic Lung Li force was called to the Shanxi province of China just days before Jade Dragon disappeared."

   Clemont looked at me. "What's a Lung Li?" He whispered. I shrugged.

  "And third, we know that the Volta, the Galactic's floating laboratory, has changed course and is now sailing to Taiwan. The pieces all fit."

  "Why would they need the Volta?" I asked.

  "It's where the original MEI is. And more important, it's where their scientists are."

  "How long ago was she kidnapped?" Clemont asked.

  "It's been seven days."

  "Then it may already be too late," Clemont said. "Once they have the information, it's over."

  "We have hope that she will not turn the information over to them."

  "They'll get it from her," Jack said. "They'll torture her."

  "You know better than anyone that the Galactic are not above torture even with a child. But in the case of Jade Dragon probably won't do them any good. Jade Dragon is not only deaf and mute, she's an autistic savant. She is, in all likelihood, extremely confused and frightened."

  "What's a savant?" Shauna asked.

  "Savants are highly gifted individuals capable of remarkable mental feats," Surge said. "For instance, an American autistic savant named Kim Peek could read two pages of a book at the same time in about three seconds and memorize everything on them. Before he died, he had read more than twelve thousand books and could recite any of them word for word.

  "Another savant is Leslie Lemke; he was born blind and with such severe birth defects that he didn't learn how to walk until he was fifteen years old. When he was sixteen, his mother woke in the middle of the night to the sound of piano music and thought she had left the television on. She discovered that it was her son. Even though Leslie had never had a single lesson, he was flawlessly playing a Tchaikovsky piano concerto after hearing it just once on the television.

  "There are also reports of a savant who could learn a foreign language in less than a week, and another who could solve math equations as quickly as a calculator and recite pi up to twenty-eight thousand places."

  "Clemont, to how many places can you recite pi?" Shauna asked.

   Clemont gulped. "Maybe a couple hundred."

  "You mean they're even smarter than Clemont?" Zeus asked.

   Clemont frowned.

  "Perhaps in a specific field," Surge said kindly. Clemont relaxed.

  "How long until the Volta reaches Taiwan?" I asked.

  "If she continues at her current speed, about two weeks. You'll need to be in Taiwan well in advance to prepare."

  "So what do we do while we're here?" Serena asked.

  "We'd like to work with you in developing your powers," Surge said.

  "Like Galactic did," Zeus said.

  "I do not like the comparison, but yes. Galactic are evil, not stupid." Surge looked around the room. "Are there any more questions?"

  "Is there a gym?" Calem asked.

  "Yes. It's in building C, near the silos. There's also a pool and hot tub."

  "That's where we're headed," Iris said.

  "By 'we' you mean 'you,'" Zeus said.

  "I didn't say you have to get in," she replied.

  "If there are no more questions," Surge said, "I think that's enough for now. You have the rest of the day free. I'll see you here tomorrow morning at nine thirty. Have a good day."

   Surge stopped me on the way out. "Ash, I'd like to try something with your powers. Would that be all right?"

  "Sure."

  "I'll meet you here after lunch."

   As we walked from the room Clemont said to me, "I know what I'm going to do to prepare."

  "What?" I asked.

  "I'm going to learn Chinese."

  "In one week?"

  "Probably not all of it," he said. Then added, "I'm not a savant."

   I patted him on the back. "Trust me, you're close enough."