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

by Linna Drehmel

  He easily scooped the small limp body of the woman he loved into his arms. “I’m so sorry, Jude! The HEART will fix this, I promise you. Just don’t die, just hold on please,” he begged as he pushed his way back through the crowd of people, making his way to the courtyard.

  “I found her, Fredrik!” he called with relief to his Second Councilor. “I got her. Do you know who did this?”

  “No,” Fredrik said shortly. Strain showed on his face again. “I need your help again. I can’t hold them back much longer.”

  Tenderly Symon laid Jude on the tiled ground behind Fredrik. “Take my hand and when you feel me channel energy into you, then split it using the negative and channel it back out into the ground in front of us without breaking the link. Maybe together we can draw a negative energy line. It may not be much, but it should hold everyone back long enough for me to get to the HEART.”

  Fredrik took his hand but was unsure; he could not ever remember being taught about this.

  “Trust me,” Symon reassured Fredrik as he closed his eyes again to gather the energy to his chest and push it out to his hands. Together they channeled the more harsh white light of the negative energy into the tiled ground of the courtyard in front of them, and then spread an energy line as far out as they could reach in both directions. Both men saw this would give Symon enough of a safe passage and then broke the link.

  “Go!” Fredrik said. “Quickly, I don’t know how long I can hold them all back.”

  “Come with us, Fredrik,” Symon invited him as he easily scooped Jude back into his arms.

  “You know I can’t go in the temple,” Fredrik replied.

  “I think you probably can now. That’s where I took DraDonna and DraDevon.”

  “What? But that is forbidden!” Fredrik said. “Why?”

  “I can’t get into it now; I have to go. Come on; if I leave you out here I don’t know what will happen to you when she drops everyone.” Symon urged his friend to come with him.

  “What do you mean?” Fredrik asked with worry lining his normally happy face.

  “You will not sleep because you have been eating the vine all your life but; I don’t know what the pulse will do to you if you are fully awake. Come with us, you’ll be safe in the temple.” Symon pleaded with Fredrik, worried for his bonded friend.

  “No, I can’t leave them alone like this. I need to be sure the people will be alright. Please go and see if the HEART can save Jude and calm everyone down. Don’t worry about me.”

  “Fredrik you truly are a servant of the HEART,” he said with a smile of pride for his friend’s dedication to his office. Symon left the people in Fredrik’s capable hands and walked as quickly as he could to the temple. “I am so sorry my precious one, please forgive me. Please live, please.”

  When he arrived at the temple door he shifted his precious cargo a little so he could open the door. Once inside he closed the door and called “lights” and the little HEART stone tiles all lit up in response to his command.

  Carefully he descended the stairs, watching Jude and silently begging her to keep breathing and to hang onto life.

  “HEART!” Symon called desperately as he entered the room. A surprised DraDonna and DraDevon jumped to their feet.

  “Symon, what happened?” DraDonna asked before anyone else could question him.

  “You can lay her down here Symon,” DraDevon gestured to the small comfortable sofa that they had just been sitting on.

  “She got trampled in the crowd. I don’t know for sure if she’s still alive. She was when I found her but I don’t know how bad her injuries are,” Symon told them trying to keep the sound of terror out of his voice as he lay her down.

  “My Symon, tell me what happened,” the HEART asked.

  “A crowd of energy mad people trampled her,” he said again.

  “No my Symon, tell me everything,” the HEART chided him.

  “Jude and I love each other, HEART.” Symon admitted as the burden of shame once again pressed down on him. “It is more than how an Ambassador loves a Councilor. We know that we shouldn’t, but we could not help it. I kept trying to do my duty but she came up with some mad plan for us to marry. A part of that plan was that she would have me mind wipe these two good people. I refused to do it and she got a large jolt instead. Then when I brought DraDonna and DraDevon to you, the crowd went wild and Jude got trampled.”

  Symon’s soul wrenching confession spilled from him. “HEART, the people will not calm down. Fredrik and I have tried everything within our power to gently calm them down. Fredrik and I even had to draw an energy line to keep him from getting trampled and to keep them from trying to follow me here.”

  “My Symon, all will be well. You and I will talk later about what burdens your soul. I will drop the crowd along with everyone else. I was already planning to; you see the loop is broken. I am going to take everyone to a new home.”

  Sleep

  28

  The HEART’s chamber was silent. The four humans and the one computer were quiet, all for different reasons.

  The HEART was computing all she needed to do in order to put all of her children to sleep.

  Symon hoped that the HEART will be able to help him save Jude.

  DraDonna and DraDevon worried for their families.

  Jude had the quiet of someone in the deepest part of sleep.

  DraDonna was the one to break the silence first. “You’re going to make everyone go to sleep because the people at the gathering went crazy?”

  “No, my daughter.” The HEART replied. “I do need to stop their madness because the madness will get worse and touch everyone; but they need to sleep because when they sleep, the energy I emit will open their minds.”

  “I don’t understand,” DraDevon said.

  “My son. The people on board were kept in ignorance for over a thousand years. They have to be told about the new home before we get there. It will be a great shock for them to find out that the world they know is not, and that their God is something else beyond their understanding.”

  “But if DraDonna and I can handle the information, other people should, too.” DraDevon reasoned.

  “The two of you are different,” the HEART told him.

  “I know why DraDonna is different, but why am I?”

  “You, my son, are just as special as your wife. That is why I chose you for her. But the reason you are having an easy time accepting all of this is because the two of you have been eating Traveler’s Joy for several days and your minds are open to new ideas. I don’t know that I will be able to get everyone to eat enough of it in time.”

  “Will we go to sleep, too?” DraDonna asked, her voice full of worry.

  “No, my daughter,” the computer told her in a soothing tone. “You will be protected down here in my chambers. Even though there are some HEART stones down here, you many feel a little bit of the effect, but the Traveler’s Joy you have been eating should protect you from what little they will emit. Those who are up above that have been eating the Traveler’s Joy will also stay awake, but I fear that they will feel pain.”

  “What do you mean by the HEART stones—how does it all work?” DraDevon asked with a light of curiosity in his eyes.

  “I will emit a high strong pulse of the complete energy out through the whole ship by the HEART stones.”

  “But not everyone will be close enough to a HEART stone altar to feel this.” DraDevon said.

  “There are more HEART stones in this ship than you know my son,” the computer explained.

  “HEART,” DraDonna broke in. “Will people be mind wiped? My sister…” she could not finish voicing her concerns for her sister and the baby she carried within her.

  “This pulse is strong, but it will not mind wipe anyone. This pulse of energy will put all to sleep and open up a part of the mind that has been closed. When they wake, they will be calm and accepting of the truth of all things as My Symon gives it to them.”

  “How long
will everyone be out?” DraDevon asked.

  “I can keep them out as long as it is needful, but I should think that one day will be long enough to help their minds adjust.”

  “What about Jude?” Symon asked as he knelt next to the sofa, not taking his eyes off her.

  “She will be safe from the pulse down here, too. I do not know how bad the trauma to her mind is, but I am pretty sure that if she were to be up above it might destroy what is left of her mind,” the HEART explained sadly.

  “That is not what I mean.” Symon moaned and his voice was filled with pain. “Can you help her, HEART? Will she live?”

  “I will assess her injuries my Symon, but I don’t know if I can save her. I will do everything in my power to see that she lives,” the HEART answered. “But for now my children, I must have you all be silent. I cannot spare any processes to answer questions while I emit the pulse. It takes a lot of control for me to achieve the balance I need to have between the positive and the negative energy; too much of either one could do harm to my children. ”

  The HEART’s children that were in her chambers obeyed her request and were silent. The computer used the HEART stones as her eyes. She had not done this for a long time. She reached out and saw most of her children. She saw that many were sleeping and felt much sorrow when she saw the ones that were touched by energy madness. She saw how her servant Fredrik was trying so desperately to help those who had gone energy mad. She knew that she had chosen well in him; Fredrik was a good and loyal servant. He might lack in the power that Symon had, but he made up for it with his dedication as her servant. The HEART made a note to be sure that Symon would relieve any pain Fredrik felt from the energy pulse.

  At first the HEART stones all over the ship began to toll as they had in the past, alerting all of the HEART’s children when it was time for the evening’s energy or time for an important gathering…..only this time the tolling did not stop. It woke any who were still asleep. The tolling increased until the HEART stones vibrated from the sound. Then the stones began to glow intensely with blue light. The light brightened and became more white than blue as the light intensified more.

  As the tolling sound rang in everyone’s ears, the brightness of the burst of energy assaulted everyone’s optic nerves with light. This overload of sensation was painful, but the sleep that immediately followed was sweet and dreamless.

  Those who were in the HEART’s chambers were indeed protected from the majority of the light and sound of the energy pulse so that they did not find the dreamless sleep, but they did see and hear the energy that emanated from the small tiles of HEART stone on the stairs. DraDonna and DraDevon squeezed their eyes shut, trying the best they could to block out the light; they tried to block out the sound by pressing their hands over their ears. Symon tried valiantly to cover Jude’s ears while enduring the excruciating sound, keeping his own eyes shut against the painful light.

  Those who were above and had been taking the Traveler’s Joy did not find the sweet dreamless sleep that all those around them had. The light and sound of the energy pulse did cause them excruciating pain. Fredrik was one such unlucky person. He was lying on the ground eyes shut tight and hands over his ears wishing he had gone with Symon into the temple or at least he wished he could find the protection from the pain in sleep.

  The light and sound finally withdraw into the HEART stones throughout the ship. All but a select few were in a deep state of dreamless sleep.

  Those in the chamber of the HEART opened their eyes and took their hands from their ears. “HEART, is it over?” DraDonna tentatively asked.

  “Yes, my child. I have stopped the pulse,” the computer answered. “All are asleep.”

  “What about my sister?” DraDonna asked apprehensively.

  “I have not seen JorMelony. Do not fear, my daughter, just because she is out of my sight does not mean that she was not reached and put to sleep with the pulse.”

  “Will the pulse harm her baby? I don’t think JorMelony would be able to take it if she lost another baby,” DraDonna said with sorrow in her voice.

  “The pulse will not harm the life that grows within your sister. The babe inside her cannot see or hear yet, so the child will not be stimulated by the energy pulse,” the HEART consoled her.

  “You must all go up to the surface and find the few who are awake. My Symon must heal them if it is needed and tell them what is going on so they can be prepared.”

  “Can we wake anyone up, HEART?” asked DraDevon. “I would like to find my Mom and Dad. I would also like to check on my brother and his wife; she is far along with child and I am worried about her safety.”

  “Do not worry my son. I see her. She and her husband are still in bed and are safe. Your parents were at the gathering and are now asleep.”

  “My Mom and Dad are at the courtyard?” DraDevon almost shouted.

  Symon, sensing his friend’s humiliation turned his eyes on DraDevon. “If they ever knew it was you and DraDonna that were going to be mind wiped, they will not remember it,” Symon told him with a comforting smile.

  “My Symon is right. They will not remember the gathering,” the computer told him.

  “Why do you keep calling him ‘my Symon?’? You call DraDevon my son or my child, but not by his name; why?” DraDonna questioned the HEART.

  “My Symon is more to me than a child of the HEART. He is mine. He is my servant. Even after death, he will be mine. He carries a part of me inside him. He is mine.” The HEART sounded looped again. “This is one of the reasons my servants do not marry,” the computer said, sounding a little possessive.

  “HEART, this is another thing that needs to go into the freedom file,” DraDonna said, feeling a little apprehensive about voicing her thoughts.

  “Go on, child,” the HEART said with curiosity in her multi-toned voice.

  “We all need the freedom to marry who we choose for ourselves,” DraDonna said.

  “We already talked about this, my daughter,” the computer said, this time sounding irritated.

  “Not just for the people in general, but for the servants as well.”

  Hearing this, Symon raised his eyes. They were filled with gratitude as he smiled at his friend. She was showing so much compassion for the people who almost killed her.

  “Why would my servant need to marry? He finds joy in his service and loves all my children equally,” the HEART stated.

  “I do love all and find joy in serving; when I am in service to my fellow beings, I am in the service of the HEART, but…” he started to explain, but DraDonna interrupted him.

  “Let me finish,” she said to both Symon and to the HEART. “You made him the way he is, and he’s a man with an amazing talent for love.”

  “I did not make his soul, my daughter. I think the God who made your home planet makes the souls for my children,”

  “Okay, then you selected Symon because his soul has a great talent for loving others. So if he was free to open his soul to the one person that he feels he shares it with, don’t you think that would increase his ability to love, not decrease it?”

  “You have made a good point. I will process this freedom for my servants,” the HEART said in her multi-toned voice.

  “I agree with my wife, it will be good for both Symon and Jude. I know that you want your children to be happy, and I know it will make them happy to be married,” DraDevon advised the computer.

  “Will you come up with us?” he said, now addressing Symon. “DraDonna and I are going to look for our families; we may need you.”

  “But what about…” Symon started, but the HEART interrupted him.

  “She will be safe down here. Jude is my daughter and I will take care of her. You, my Symon, still have your duty to do as Ambassador to my children, and I fear that Fredrik will need your help as well.”

  “You’re right; I should go. The people above will need me more.” He leaned over and whispered, “I will be back my precious Jude.” Symon lightly
kissed her warm, yet unresponsive lips. He straightened up, and with a sweeping gesture toward the stairs said, “Let’s get going.”

  DraDonna and DraDevon followed Symon up the winding staircase to the temple’s entrance and then quickly to the door. They left the temple with Symon being the first one out followed by DraDonna then DraDevon last.

  Daybreak was close at hand and was getting a little lighter, things were easier to see. But it wasn’t what they could see that bothered the three of them… it was what they heard. Rather, it was what they couldn’t hear; there was utter silence on board this ship that was their world.

  JorMelony

  29

  It was not as if the ship had been a noisy place. With society moving along at a steady pace, life just seemed to add vibrations in the air. That was why the quiet was so disturbing to the three of them. There was no movement, no people working, doing, or being. It was if the silence said to them there was no life here.

  “Where should we go first?” DraDonna whispered, afraid that speaking too loud would disturb the eerie quiet.

  “I think we should find Fredrik first,” Symon said decisively. “He may need some healing because he was fully exposed to the energy pulse.”

  “Good thinking, let’s go.” DraDevon held his wife’s hand. He reached up with his free hand and rubbed at the dried blood on his head.

  “Wait a moment, you two,” Symon stopped them just as they started to walk.

  “What is it?” DraDonna asked.

  With the increasing daylight, Symon was finally able to look closely at DraDonna and DraDevon, and could see how badly the two of them had been injured. DraDevon had a wound to his forehead above his eye that had bled down the side of his face. DraDonna had a large purple bruise to the middle of her forehead. Looking closer, Symon found that his two friends had cuts and bruises all over and a look of exhaustion in their eyes. “What happened to you?” he asked as a worried frown crossed his handsome face. “Both of you need healing.”