Genesis, this is sorta what I had in mind.  Sorry it couldn't work out...

Genesis gets a bit stir crazy and decides to slip out to attend a social function at the Meridiana Museum.
 
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Jose

 "HMMM. Very interesting!" Jose muttered to himself as he was reading The Independent.

The Techno assigned to him looked over at him, "What boss?"

"Says here that they're having an exhibition of Central American Indian artifacts at the Meridiana Museum of Art and Culture."

"You want to go to a museum and see artifacts taken from dead indians?"

"Nah, just one. The Axe of Tezcatlipoca, on loan from the Dilingas family."

"Duhh, what?" the fixed idea to his left blinked.

"This axe was used in human sacrifice. It supposedly channeled the life energy of the victim through the priest, giving him great power and insight." Jose looked off into space, "I could use an axe like that."

"It didn't help those indians very much." The Techno remarked callously.

"Maybe, maybe not." He typed into a keyboard and started a web search, "Yes! Look here!" He started hopping up and down, "Here's a conquistador record of an unusual siege against an indian city that lasted several months! The monks reported the use of devilish fire and lightning. The indians almost always seemed to know when attacks would occur before they happened! Raoul Lingas was a captain with the force who was given credit for a daring, one person raid on the city. His action emboldened the soldiers, and the city fell only a few days afterwards!"

"I'd sooner see an artifact from that Raoul guy than from those indians." The Techno commented while Jose initiated another web search.

"AHAAA!" Jose crowed when he saw the readout. He spun himself around in the desk chair, "Get ready boys! We're going to the Museum!"

========================

"Well, Dr. Zacharias? How are things going with the youth of Meridiana?" the manager of one of the major banks of Meridiana asked him.

"Not any worse or better than when we were their age!" Dr. Zack said solemnly, while thinking, "And your brat is flunking Algebra I."

The banker laughed and patted him on the back.

Formal parties like these were the bane of Dr. Zack's life. When his career had taken off, he had been advised to buy a good formal suit to wear. When the invitations became more frequent, he had one tailor made for him. If he had to suffer at one of these events, it wouldn't be because his suit was uncomfortable. The only bright spot was that he could still fit in it after all these years. Chalk that up to walking instead of driving in Meridiana.

Another bright spot was the prospect of getting a preview of the special exhibitions at the museum. It didn't hurt being one of the three people invited from the school system. Tilman was shmoozing on the other side of the room. Hardesty, the assistant principal, was talking animatedly with the wife of the second richest man in Meridiana.

Dr. Zack sighed, wondering when the first tour was going to start.  The curator was talking to the fourth richest man in Meridiana, obviously hitting him up for another donation, so things weren't going to start anytime soon.

A flash of red and velvety green caught his attention.  He turned and brightened when the all too rare third bright spot caught sight of him, waved and walked up to him, "Why Dr. Zacharias!  How nice to meet you again!" Genesis greeted him, holding out her hand.

"The pleasure is mine, Genesis!  You are looking quite dazzling tonight!" he shook it, "Here to see the new exhibit?"

"Thank you yes!  I'm surprised to see you here, though."

"Oh?"

"Not quite quantum mechanics, is it?"

"I try to learn something new every day.  Keeps me from getting old!" he laughed.

She smiled and shook her head, as if thinking, "You?  Get old?".  Eyes turned to admire the shimmers running down her waist-length red hair.  She looked a bit embarassed, "I was reading the article about it, and was wondering how Carbon 14 dating worked.  Could you please explain it to me?"

"Sharp mind in a killer body.  Oh, to be young again!" Dr. Zack thought with rakish amusement as he started.  He had met Genesis in several social functions before, and was enormously impressed by the keen mind she had.  Didn't hurt that it was in such a pretty head.

He had just finished when the Museum curator clapped his hands.  "We're ready to start now!" he announced, "Sandy here will lead the first group!"

"Let's get in the first group!" Genesis motioned.  Dr. Zack nodded in agreement and followed along as Genesis made her own path through the crowd to the front of the line.

Sandy, the guide, glanced a bit enviously at Genesis, but  nodded and smiled at Dr. Zack, recognizing him, "Ready to see some artifacts, Doctor?"

"Yes indeed!"

========================

"And this is the Axe of Tezcatlipoca." Sandy circled the large group around the glass case holding the axe.

Dr. Zack admired the axe. The head was a pitch black stone in a handle of gold, about the size of a large hammer. Figures formed a spiral from below the head down to the base of the handle.

 "The axe is one of the few gold artifacts we have from the conquistador period of our country. The majority of artifacts were melted down into gold coin and shipped back to Spain. Legend has it that the axe was used in ceremonial sacrifices. The jaguar deity, Tezcatlipoca was the brother of Quetzalcoatl, the winged serpent, and demanded blood sacrifices instead of grain." Sandy leaned over the case and pointed at the handle, "The carvings circling the handle indicate that when the axe was used on the victim, it channeled the victim's soul and energized the soul of the wielder, giving him great power and insight. Chemical analysis of the blade and handle do not indicate the presence of human blood, so we have no idea if it was actually used."

She smiled, "We are very grateful to Eduardo and Felicia DiLingas, who has loaned the axe to us. It was discovered in a trunk in their attic last year! So, when all of you get back home, please check your attics for us!"

The group laughed politely, "Any questions so far?" she asked.

"What is the head made of?" Dr. Zack asked, facinated.

"We think it is made of flint, although obsidian is not ruled out. It is a form of glass, but we cannot account for the unusually black tint." She peeked at it over the top of the case, "It IS an unusual shade of black, isn't it?"

"Sure is." He nodded.

"Well, over here in this case we have some pottery…." Sandy led the group to the west wall.

Dr. Zack stayed behind to look at the axe. "Unusual," he thought, "Maybe if I took a quick peek, I might see some blood…"

He concentrated on the axe head.

==========================

The nightmares had started during the summer after his second year in high school. Visions of glowing chains of balls, impossibly craggy landscapes, and huge, horribly constructed and animated monsters startled him out of sleep, sometimes with screams of terror. He learned not to awaken his family, but his summer was miserable because of the dreams that aroused him from sleep and left him tired and fatigued halfway through the day. He was hesitant to say anything because there was a family history of insanity, and he didn't want to be rushed off to the insane asylum like two distant relatives had been. Some of the campfire tales relatives told included the details of their descent into madness.

But he could not hide the problem after he started his third year. The fatigue and sleepiness affected his grades, and his parents were alternately alarmed and angry. He muddled through the first two months somehow, and barely ranked at the middle of the class. He was not going to make valedictorian at this rate, and he knew he was capable of doing better. He simply was just too tired and shell-shocked from the nightmares.

Then came a special lecture in Biology that brought salvation. Mr. Ames, the Biology teacher, decided to gross out the class, so he showed slides of dust mites and other small creatures that live on every person's skin without being aware of them. He showed the slide of a dust mite and remarked, "You people have these in your pillows. Nice bedmates, aren't they?"

Anthony gasped and almost shouted out in class. In every detail, the dust mite looked like one of the monsters from his dreams! As Mr. Ames went through the slides, Anthony recognized one "monster" after another.

His grades further slid in every area except Biology as he feverishly began searching through books and research articles on mid-sized microorganisms. The craggy landscapes turned out to be the surfaces of various objects greatly magnified. His midterm grades mystified everyone, including his parents. However, when someone remarked that Biology was a good pre-requisite for a medical career, they decided to bide their time and see what would happen.

With knowledge came power. He was able to master his fears and came to enjoy his "science movies" as he soon came to call them. In fact, he decided to write a science fair paper on the living habits of the dust mite. It won an award and earned a special commendation from several professors of Biology for its vivid accuracy and for an interesting speculation on the use of one of the appendages. One of the professors pursued the speculation, discovered it was true, and wrote a paper that detailed the discovery and credited the teenage Anthony Zacharias for the lead. The "interesting speculation" was based on a description of the use of the appendage that Anthony saw in one of his "science movies". He finished the first half of the year with an above average GPA thanks to a lot of last minute cramming.

Chemistry brought further revelations that were even more astounding: the glowing chains of balls seemed to match the ball and stick models! From the angles of the balls and the size of them, Anthony soon was able to deduce that many of the chains were protein fibers that made up linen. Chemistry took the place of Biology as his main study.

He began to suspect that his "science movies" were the manifestation of a natural talent when they began to consistently show chains of balls and no more dust mites. The cooperation his dreams were showing indicated a talent that might be controllable. He finished the year near the top, but he wouldn't be valedictorian because of the dip.

He pursued his suspicion by a rigorous regimen of study, sleep, and research through the summer. Halfway through, he was able to start controlling and directing the "movies". Three days before school started, he had a "science movie" during the day, wide awake, while concentrating on a chemistry model. He copied down the structure he saw and began to search the literature for what it represented.

It matched the molecular structure of the plastic of the model itself.

As the years passed, he gained more control, and pushed the limits. He soon was attracted to the field of Quantum Mechanics: He had always been good at math, and the world at the quantum level obeyed mathematical laws and rules with a precision that made him realize that Einstein* had been right about the structure of the universe. He wasn't sure about God, but the world he saw certainly didn't use dice. He was able to couple his "subatomic insight" with mathematics and the basic principles of Quantum Mechanics to comprehend what he saw. It was while "pushing the limits" that he discovered the inherent granularity of the universe, and found that his "insight" was connected with a low power form of telekinesis, enabling him to "push between the grains" of the fabric of space and open up channels through it. He decided to keep that discovery to himself until he was ready to retire and finish off his career with a flourish (and perhaps with a Nobel Prize in Physics). In the meantime, it was a useful talent to have if he happened to forget his keys or had an itch that he couldn't reach.

============================

With the ease of long years of practice since that school year, Dr. Zack's field of vision filled with the axe, making him feel as if he was bungee jumping through the case and into the axe head. It was like flying without an airplane: The only thing missing was the feel of the wind against his face.

He watched for the approach of the axe surface. Even the smoothest of surfaces showed irregularities that made them more rugged than the Rockies. He mentally avoided dust motes and other particles attached to the surface by static electricity.

"What the-" He mentally braked when, instead of "Rockies," glowing chains of balls began to appear in the distance instead. That told him he had passed the microscopic level and was heading for the atomic level. He glanced "around", then pulled back to what he hoped was at 4000 magnification. He started scanning for cracks where he hoped to find blood cells.

Things were not right at this level of magnification. The scale of the dust motes was correct, but the surface was funny looking. Very flat and regular, with no sign of the "Rocky mountain" effect he was familiar with from other surfaces.

"Are you okay, Dr. Zacharias?"

The doctor was startled, and his vision snapped to normal. He looked around and saw Sandy, Tilman, and Genesis looking at him with concern. He smiled, "I'm fine. It's just that the surface is rather…enchanting." He said, pointing at the axe, "Quite facinating. I'd like to stay here and go back with the second group, if you please."

"No problem, Doctor." Sandy replied.

"Sure you're okay Dr. Zack?" Tilman asked him.

"I'll be fine Henry." Dr. Zacharias assured him.

"Don't cut yourself on it, Dr. Zack!" Genesis winked.

"Oh, I'll be careful!" he smiled back..

The room grew quiet as everyone left, talking about what they had seen. Dr. Zack waited until they were gone, then concentrated on the axe head again. He had a suspicion of what the axe head was made of, but he had to make sure.

Several minutes of surveying the axe surface confirmed his suspicions. It was indeed made of Silicon Dioxide, but the crystal structure was regular and not amorphous. In other words, it was glass, but the atoms were arranged in a regular pattern, as if it was a crystal. The effects of the crystalline structure downshifted almost all light frequencies, accounting for the black color. Dr. Zacharias snapped his vision back to normal and pulled out his writing pad to note down this interesting effect. Glass, in order to be transparent, needed to have a non-regular structure to transmit light. Interesting.

Another fact about the axe head was that it appeared to have no crystalline irregularities or impurities. Even the finest diamonds have millions of irregularities per carat at the microscopic level, as well as many major fissures that ran through the entire crystal, allowing it to be cleaved and cut into shape. He probably could find one, but he could cover a lot of microscopic ground in a few minutes, and he hadn't seen anything.

This posed many disturbing problems. How could the PreColumbian indians have created a pure monoregular glass crystal? Silicon dioxide was difficult stuff to work with. If they couldn't create it, then where did it come from?

Another problem: what was the effect of monoregular silicon dioxide? He knew what the effect on copper sulfide was, since the quantum batteries his wave suit used to store the power it slopped up had monoregular copper sulfide as a prime ingredient, and that took nanotechnology to accomplish. Even he was careful in his little basement operation to not create…

"COME ON YOU IDIOTS!" A shrill young voice called from down the hall, "WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"

"They're still getting the next group together Master! We have a few minutes to get this axe you're so hot after."

"Tell the types to stall!"

"Damn!" Dr. Zack's thought, "Thieves!" He glanced around and ducked behind a standing 3D display. He began to undress as quietly as possible. The Wave suit was good camouflage in the dark, but only if he wasn't wearing anything on top.

He was slipping his shoes and coat off when some people came into the room.

"Find the Axe!" the young voice ordered.

A display case crashed to the floor.

"JUST LOOK, YOU IDIOT!" The boy shouted.

"They'll hear us, master!"

Dr. Zack quickly pulled the hood and gloves on, and squeezed the grip of his knife. Good thing he had taken the time to reprogram the suit program, "Attack mode, Eighty on." He whispered. The computer had been reprogrammed to obey all orders that increased protection, but required the "wave suit" prefix to downgrade. He also programmed in several short commands that expanded into several normal sentences: Attack mode meant everything on except the palms of his gloves, so that he could use the knife as a weapon.

"Uuuhhh! Here it is!" someone called.

"Wha-?" Dr. Zacharias peeked out the side of the display. That voice sure sounded familiar…

Four fixed ideas, an adult, and a small boy were surrounding the case.

"Pretty axe!" one of the fixed ideas remarked.

"LIFT ME UP!" The boy shouted.

The boy was lifted up by one of the fixed ideas. He pressed his face against the case, "There it is! The Axe of Tezcatlipoca!"

"What good is it?" The adult said.

"Fool! This will make me master of the world! I'll be able to anticipate Cybersix's moves and destroy her! Cut it open!"

The adult began to use a diamond glass cutter to open the case, "But how…"

"Fool! Raoul Lingas' one-man raid was to take this axe! He was successful, which accounts for the fall of the city shortly after it was taken. The priest was looking for full scale attacks, not a commando raid!"

"But how are you sure?" The adult asked.

"Raoul was well rewarded by the Spanish Crown! He was made a noble."

"So?"

"Idiot! When a man is made a Spanish noble, they add an honorific 'Di' to his last name! Lingas became DiLingas, the ancestor of the family that owns this axe!"

The adult lifted the axe out of the case.

"Or USED to own it!" he laughed, taking the axe, "King Jose! Sounds good to me!"

"So you have an axe that used to belong to some indians! So what?"

"GRRRRRR!" Jose turned around and slammed the axe into the technos chest, through the breastbone. Dr. Zack's nodded: monoregular crystals had very sharp edges that would wear away very slowly.

The techno began to quiver and shake. Jose began to cry out as blue fire came out of the techno's chest, through the axe handle, and up his arm into his body.

Well, THAT’S what monoregular silicon dioxide did! Dr. Zacharias slid out from behind the panel and walked silently behind the Fixed ideas, their attention fixed on Jose. Even his socks were part of the wave suit, and absorbed most sounds.

He plunged his knife into the backbone of one fixed idea as high as he could reach, between the vertebrae. He jumped out of the way and pulled the knife out as electrical signals from the brain ceased to go to the fixed idea's legs, causing him to collapse. He danced behind the fixed ideas as they turned to stare at their collapsed comrade, and took another opportunity to sink his knife into the backbone of the Fixed idea at the other end of the line.

"Huh?" Jose saw Dr. Zack when the techno collapsed to the floor, bumping into him, "Get him!"

A fixed idea swung at the good doctor, but the wave suit held: he felt a sharp blow, but didn't go anywhere. He stabbed the fixed idea in the side and gutted him like the one that had attacked Cybersix.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Jose laughed as Dr. Zack jumped out of the way of the collapsing fixed idea, "Try THIS on for size!"

He was pointing the axe at Dr. Zack. Yellow flames licked around the axe head, then a yellow beam flew out of the axe handle and hit him on the chest, sending him flying out the room and down the hall, crashing into a suit of armor.

"Ouch! I FELT that!" Dr. Zacharias groaned as he got up. At 80% efficiency, it had to be a very powerful weapon to throw him that far. Without the suit, it probably would have bored a hole through him or thrown him against the wall so hard, he would have been flattened like a pancake. Luckily, his knife had stayed with him.

"SO THAT'S HOW TO TAKE OVER MERIDIANA!" he heard Jose crowing, "How obvious! Lets go!"

"ATTACK MODE, FULL ON!" Dr. Zacharias shouted, running toward the exhibit. He had to act fast at that level.

The Fixed Idea came out of the exhibit, Jose on his shoulder. Jose saw the doctor, "Back for more, stupid?"

He fired the axe/laser at the doctor, but the suit slopped the energy up greedily. There is something extremely disturbing about a man clothed in the blackness of night, wearing a ski mask and holding a knife while bearing down on you at a full run. The Fixed Idea panicked, turned, and tried to run. Dr. Zack jumped up and plunged the knife into the spine of the Fixed Idea, pulling himself up with it. Jose shouted some orders, then drew the axe back to hit the Fixed idea with it. This allowed Dr. Zack to reach up and pluck it out of his hand while the Fixed Idea crashed to the floor, spilling Jose across the slick surface.

"Ohhh!" Jose moaned as he looked up and saw a black spectre rise from the Fixed Idea, the axe in one hand and a glittering knife in the other. "AAIIIEEEE!" he screamed. He turned and ran down the stairs.

The Fixed Idea under Dr. Zack flared green and disappeared. "Wave Suit off." He commanded, putting his knife away. He reached down and grabbed the glowing vial. He then ran to the exhibit case and returned the axe. He then grabbed three more vials, retrieved his clothes and shoes, then ran like a kid caught skinny-dipping during school hours by the truant officer.

He ran into the armor room. He put the vials away, then tore the sleeve of his suit. He then quickly dressed and checked for signs of anybody. Nobody yet.

"I'm not going to like this." He thought as he walked out of the hall, turned around, then did a flying tackle of a suit of armor.

====================

"I heard this group of people coming up the stairs from the back. I thought it was the group taking the long way around, so I went out to join them. Four huge hulking brutes! One grabbed me and threw me into the armor room, and that's all I remember." Dr. Zack winced as Genesis applied the Betadine to the cut on his forehead.

"You're lucky you excaped with only a cut." The curator said, shaking his head, "I never imagined that anyone would try to steal the axe! We'll have to make a replica and return the original as soon as possible. We'll post guards in the meantime."

The Chief of Police was frowning mightily, glaring at Dr. Zack with suspicion, "So, how come they didn't get away with the axe?" he demanded.

"I am sorry, but I was out during this time." Dr. Zack said, wincing at the very real headache he didn't have to fake, "I have no idea who killed these five." He got up a bit unsteadily, "I'm going home. Maybe the night air will help."

"I think I'd better bring you in for..."

"Oh, lay OFF him!" Genesis snapped at him.  They both glared at each other for a while, then the Chief of Police backed off and walked away, muttering and looking at the piles of clothes on the floor.

"I can get Amato to take your physics Lab tomorrow." Tilman said, "Take it easy Anthony."

"Thanks Henry. I'll try and make it."

"I can get someone to call a taxi, Dr. Zacharias." Genesis offered, standing by him and helping to steady him.

"Thanks Genesis, but I think the walk will do me some good." "Don't want half the taxis in Meridiana piling up trying to be first to respond to YOUR call, Genesis." he thought privately.

=====================

"Well, I didn't get the axe, but I did get a perfect plan to take over Meridiana!" Jose crowed to the new Techno.

"And what plan is that?"

"Father is infiltrating top society and the government with Types and Technos, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"He's going from the top down. Why not also go from the bottom up?"

"You mean…"

"Yes! We take over the underworld and use their connections to take over from beneath! Like a pincer movement during a battle! Father will be so proud I halved the time of the conquest!"

"That's a great idea!"

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*"God does not play dice with the Universe." Albert Einstein.