H.E.A.R.T. Saga: The Children

by Linna Drehmel

  “I sure hope so. I would be disappointed to find my flirting had no effect on you.”

  DraDevon took a deep breath and released her chin. “Anyway, my lovely wife, I don’t think that it will be safe for you to come with me to our shop. We don’t know how deep the conspiracy goes or who’s involved. We can’t risk someone spotting you.”

  “I know,” she interrupted him. “It’s because of my HEART’s cursed hair isn’t it?”

  “DraDonna my love, I happen to find your uniquely colored hair attractive. But attractive or not, you do stand out, and I just can’t take a chance that you’ll be spotted. I think I can slip in and out of the shop easily enough by myself.”

  DraDonna looked down at the book in her hands, wanting to hide the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. The thought of them being apart would normally be hard for her, but with all that had been going on, it was downright frightening.

  Sensing her emotion, he put his arms around her so she could rest her head on his chest. “I don’t want to leave you here DraDonna, but I know that this is what will be safest for you. I would die if anything happened to you.” His voice was husky with passion.

  “I just don’t want us to be apart,” she said. “I know things are really wrong on this planet and that we need to act fast, but I just don’t want to be without the one person who makes me feel like I’m good enough.”

  “Don’t worry, DraDonna. You’re more than good enough with or without me, and with the HEART’s blessing we will be together again.” he said, kissing the top of her head.

  DraDonna took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions. “It is dusk now and it’ll be dark soon. It should be easy enough for you to slip in, get the thing made, and slip back out. I think the smart thing for me to do is to move the HEART stone altar outside after you leave and secure the house just in case I get any unexpected visitors.”

  “Very wise.” He tightened his arms around his beloved wife. “I will miss you.”

  “I will miss you too, my welder man.” She wound her arms around him and looked up into his face.

  He gently kissed her at first, caressing her lips with his. But it was not enough for him. He needed to feel the heat of her lips more deeply; he moved his hands up from their comfortable spot on her hips to the back of her head, covering her lips against his own. Then, reluctantly releasing her head and pulling his lips from hers, he took a deep breath. “I wish we had more time… time to do more than kiss.” He affectionately stroked the curls around her face.

  DraDonna laughed a little even though she had tears in her eyes. “I wish we did, too.”

  He turned, picking up his bag of tools and slinging it over his shoulder. He then turned to face his wife, placing his right hand on the cool smooth stone and taking the travel stone out of his small travel pack.

  “Hold on a second,” she said, “you’ll need this.” DraDonna ripped the two pages from TynLexa’s book that showed how to make the core sampler drill. “Don’t forget to eat lots of Traveler’s Joy. You’ll need it.”

  “I won’t forget,” he said. Taking the papers from her hand and putting them in his small travel pouch, he gently stroked her face.

  “I love you,” she said simply.

  “I love you too,” he answered her. Then he recited the prayer for travel and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

  Welding

  14

  DraDevon took his hand off the HEART stone’s smooth cool surface.

  He looked around the main living area that was his home. But there was nothing about it that felt familiar to him. The house had been ransacked. Furniture had been turned over; belongings had been flung all over the house. It was obvious that someone had been here looking for something. He had a good idea of who, but what they were looking for he just didn’t know.

  “No time to think about that,” he mumbled to himself as he picked his way through the mess on the floor.

  He knew he needed Traveler’s Joy just after energy travel to help keep his head clear; so as he walked out the front door and went around the side toward the shop, he picked a few sprigs of the flowered plant, first eating one then storing the rest in his pouch at his hip.

  DraDevon started thinking about the materials he would need as he walked toward the shop. He would need to make the core drill as well as the hand crank, and he felt sure he already had some pieces cast that he could use.

  On his way, he stopped short. There was a dark figure coming out of the shop, slamming the door with a loud bang and looking around as if hoping to spot someone.

  DraDevon felt cold fear, like a rock in his stomach. He crouched down, knowing that whoever it was, they were not friendly, and they were looking for him. He held his breath, hoping that the darkness as well as the tree he was crouched behind would hide him from those unfriendly eyes.

  After a few moments, curiosity got the better of him and he peeked around the trunk of the tree to see the dark figure heading up the road in the direction of the Ambassadors office. Once the mysterious person had gone, the cold dread departed from DraDevon as well, and he stood up.

  Thinking once again about making this core drill, he knew that he was going to need a large dose of the HEART’s energy in order to build it as fast as he could. He doubled back to his house, lugging his bag of tools.

  As he stepped back in the front door, he felt a little fear over the fact that DraDonna was alone in the cabin, but also a little bit of comfort in the fact that he at least knew where she was. For the time being, he was the only one who knew.

  “She is safe there,” he thought, over and over. “But I miss her,” always followed.

  Kneeling down in front of the HEART stone altar, he placed his hands down on the stone and recited the prayer for energy, inhaling as he felt the blue light of the HEART’s energy quickly run up his arm and spread to every part of his being. It made him feel powerful, like he could do anything.

  The little sparks of energy entered his brain last, soothing away his worry, nearly confusing him as to what he needed to do. At this, he yanked his hands off the stone and the blue light of the energy faded. “I can’t let you cloud my mind!” he said to the HEART stone altar.

  He stood up and the room was spinning a little. He knew that after taking such a great dose of the energy that he needed more Traveler’s Joy. He took out a large piece of the vine and ate it with a sigh. The dizzy feeling eased.

  DraDevon now felt he was ready to get to work.

  He carefully left his house, looking around to be sure that no one was watching. He quickly walked to the familiar warmth of the shop.

  Inside the shop, he gathered up all the materials he needed, feeling pleased that he would save a lot of time— he had found enough already made parts for the crank that he would not have to make it from scratch.

  Taking four sheets of steel, each five feet long, he lined them up on the floor. He put on his welding helmet and then closed his eyes to remember the welding training of his youth. He saw the energy gather at the center of his chest and pushed it out to his right shoulder and down his arm until it reached his wrist. He then focused his mind on splitting the energy with the small grain of HEART stone that was implanted in his wrist when he was a baby.

  The energy that is negative channeled out to his thumb, the positive channeled out to his forefinger. Bending down, pushing the sheets together and holding the slag bar with his left hand, he makes contact with his thumb and forefinger on the slag bar. The joining of the two parts of the energy caused the slag to super heat, joining the two pieces of steel in a permanent bond.

  He repeated the process with all the sheets, joining all the pieces together.

  Then needing the sheets of strong steel to bend, he used another technique learned in school. He channels the energy down toward his right hand again using the grain of HEART stone in his wrist. He split the energy, this time channeling the negative to his right hand and the positive to his left hand. Holding both hands
with fingers spread wide just over the sheets of metal, he touched thumb to thumb and forefinger to forefinger.

  Again this remerging of the two elements of the HEART’s energy caused great heat to emanate from his hands. It heated the steel to the point that he could bend it into the cylinder shape that he needed.

  Switching back to the one-handed technique, he joined the tube with a slag seam down the length of the cylinder. Reaching the end of the cylinder, he intensified the energy in order to cut the bottom into a serrated edge.

  After finishing the core cylinder, he released the energy for a moment as he assembled the pieces needed to make the hand crank. Again he was pleased that he already had all the parts on hand so that he would not have to cast them, which would take more time than he had available to him.

  With the assembly of the crank and the cap done, he put the cap on the top and began to weld it all on the core cylinder with the one-handed method. After just a few more moments, he had finished with the last bit of welding and sat back on his heels to look at his work.

  The core drill was twenty feet long and only two inches in diameter. The bottom end was serrated and there was a hand crank attached to a pipe that was suspended around the tube. There was another pipe running upward attaching to the top. It also was attached to the cap. As the crank’s handle was turned, it spun on wheels, moving it up the tube as the pipe spun. It also spun the cap on the top of the drill, pushing the serrated end down into the ground. It wasn’t his best work, but it was functional and he had finished it fast.

  By now it had grown very late into the night. DraDevon let himself think about DraDonna for the first time since working on the core drill. He felt little cold fingers of fear grip his soul. He hoped that the HEART would protect his precious wife.

  Picking up his bag and then the very long and heavy cylinder, he lugged it back to the house, feeling worn and tired from using so much energy.

  DraDevon headed straight for the HEART stone altar. Just before he got to it, he realized he was not alone.

  Enemy

  15

  The dark figure that DraDevon had earlier seen coming out of his shop rose from his chair in the main living area.

  “Well. Look who’s come home.”

  “JorRobert?” DraDevon said, peering into the darkness. “What are you doing in my house?”

  “I don’t owe you any explanations,” JorRobert retorted. “I’m here on the business of the Ambassador.”

  “What business? We haven’t done anything that would be of concern to Ambassador Symon,” DraDevon answered him defensively. “So if you’ll excuse me, I need to be going.”

  “Let me ask you something, DraDevon. What is that thing you’re holding?”

  “This is a project DraDonna and I are working on while we’re on our couples’ solace,” he answered carefully.

  “And just what is this so-called project?”

  “That would be none of your business, JorRobert. This is between my wife, myself, and the HEART.” Irritation showed in his voice.

  “Well,” JorRobert said with a mirthless chuckle, “I see they were right about you. You’ve both gone energy mad and I’ve been sent to stop you……..by any means necessary……even if I have to kill you.”

  “Well bring it on, little Robert.”

  JorRobert sneered at him. “You’re going to pay for that insult.” With a primal roar, he charged at him.

  DraDevon knew what was coming, but was still holding the heavy core drill. He didn’t have enough time to drop it and free his hands so he could defend himself.

  JorRobert leaped across the room, his soul filled with the painful shards of rage, taking a feral swing at him, smashing DraDevon on the side of his head.

  DraDevon was knocked sideways into the HEART stone altar, trapping his right arm between the heavy core drill and the altar. JorRobert seized the opportunity to gain even more advantage. He jumped over the steel cylinder, landing on top of DraDevon, driving punch after punch into his side, smashing his ribs.

  Each blow drove the air out of— and the pain into— his body. DraDevon struggled to free his right hand by lifting the heavy cylinder with his left. Each breath was agony because of the abuse JorRobert was inflicting on his ribs.

  “Where is your wife?” JorRobert yelled, landing a blow on the side of DraDevon’s face.

  Gasping and coughing DraDevon said softly, “Stop. No more. I will tell you.”

  “What was that? Little wimpy welder boy had enough?” JorRobert leaned in to hear DraDevon’s confession of where DraDonna was hiding.

  “She is…” DraDevon coughed and gasped again to cover up the fact that he had carefully freed his right hand. He focused and then channeled what little energy he had left inside him, splitting the energy in his wrist like he would if he was going to arc weld. “She is…” he said again even softer, causing JorRobert to lean in even closer. “NOT HERE!” DraDevon yelled as he put his two energy charged fingers together, jamming them into JorRobert’s neck.

  JorRobert screamed from surprise and pain, causing him to fall back a little.

  DraDevon struggled to get his feet and out from under the heavy steel pipe, but not fast enough.

  JorRobert lunged forward, slapping his hands around DraDevon’s throat, dragging him out from under the core drill and up to eye level. He squeezed with all the burning rage in his soul. “I was told that if you didn’t cooperate, I was to kill you!” JorRobert screamed into his face.

  DraDevon, desperate for air, clawed at the much taller man’s hands, trying to pull them away before he choked the life out of him.

  “Tell me where she is and I won’t have to kill you,” he screamed into DraDevon’s reddening face. “Tell me!” He shook DraDevon by the neck making his feet dangle just above the floor.

  DraDevon, realizing his feet were now freed from under the drill, raised up his right foot and jammed it with all his might into JorRobert’s stomach.

  The blow did not cause JorRobert to let go, but it did throw him off balance, and both of them toppled to the floor. Though the kick to the stomach did not cause JorRobert to let go of DraDevon’s neck, but the shock of the fall did.

  DraDevon rolled away from JorRobert and over the serrated end of the core drill, gasping for breath. JorRobert got to his feet, chest heaving. Whether JorRobert was breathing heavily from the fall or out of sheer rage, he didn’t know.

  “I don’t care what happens now,” the big man declared. “You’re just dead.” JorRobert advanced with a murderous gleam his eyes.

  DraDevon picked up the end of the core drill and said in a raspy voice, “Get mind wiped.” He rammed the serrated end of the core drill into JorRobert’s chest.

  The big man’s eyes widened in shock.

  DraDevon scrambled to his feet, taking the travel stone out of his pocket. He hurriedly grabbed his pack and heaved the large drill as best as he could with his left hand and stumbled to the HEART stone altar, slapping his right hand down.

  JorRobert, with blood soaking through his shirt and blood on his lips, stumbled and then plummeted to the floor. He began to crawl in an obsessive attempt to stop him.

  DraDevon was near to panic. He began the prayer for travel just as JorRobert reached him.

  JorRobert stretched up and took hold of the only thing that he could reach: DraDevon’s tool bag. With slurred speech, he said, “Must stop you, or kill you.”

  DraDevon pulled hard backward in surprise, trying to shake off JorRobert’s grip, causing the strap on his bag to rip and come off just as the blue light of the travel energy took him.

  Alone, and though he was in a lot of pain, JorRobert pulled the open and torn sack toward him to get a look at what was inside. Barely hanging onto consciousness, he attempted to laugh when he found the notebook, the drawings, and the energy print.

  “I know where you are now,” he said with a gurgle in his voice and bloody froth on his lips.

  Unable to hold on any longer, JorRober
t sank into unconsciousness on the floor.

  Seeing

  16

  After seeing DraDevon disappear in a flash of blue energy, DraDonna felt overwhelmed with the cold feeling of loneliness. Shaking off this feeling, she got to work, closing the shutters securely over the windows. Then, with a great heave, she pushed the HEART stone altar out the front door.

  Looking around the main living area, DraDonna decided to push the heavy wooden table from the kitchen in front of the door to keep any unwanted visitors out until DraDevon got back.

  Still feeling cold, lonely, and so very tired, she went to the bedroom and crawled into the large soft bed giving into drowsiness. It wrapped around her like the soft folds of the blankets of the bed.

  She sank into the darkness of sleep. The familiar feeling of spinning into the black abyss took her again, until light gathered around her. She found herself standing on that familiar mountaintop once again.

  Tatiana was by her side. “Take my hand, child, we don’t have much time,” she said hurriedly.

  Apprehension caused her to hesitate in taking Tatiana’s outstretched hand.

  “Do not worry little Donna, I have broken so many rules now that this one will not matter.”

  DraDonna took her hand. It felt like it was made of pure positive energy. Although Tatiana’s hand was not solid flesh, she felt substantial.

  Tatiana looked up and ascended into the sky, safely bringing DraDonna with her.

  DraDonna felt exhilarated and a little scared. “How far up are we going?”

  Tatiana remained silent.

  “Are we going to talk to the other old souls again?” DraDonna asked, her curiosity rising.

  Again her question was met with silence.

  They reached a great height, but they were still not as far up as the old souls. Tatiana broke her silence and said, “Look.”

  DraDonna looked down from this great height and, feeling a little dizzy, she took in the scene below her.