The Royal Pursuit (18 page)

Dour sensed his discomfort, for he
said, “We need to sleep.”

“
Sleep?” The man in white
shook his head. “We can’t afford to rest. We have to catch the
Queen of Raz.”

“
What good will any of us
be if we’re too exhausted to capture her when we find her?” Dour
asked.

The man frowned. “I wasn’t the one who
let her go.” He glared at Optima.

She looked away from him.

“
Lay off of her already,”
Athen demanded, his face getting warm with anger.

“
Perhaps you don’t
understand the severity of the situation,” the man
growled.

“
If I don’t, then it’s
because you didn’t care to fill me in on the details,” Athen
snapped.

“
I loathe you.”

“
The feeling is
mutual.”

The tension between them hung in the
air, threatening to give birth to a physical battle.

“
Athen’s right. We’re not
going to be any good to you if we’re too tired to fight,” Optima
spoke up.

Athen looked over at her, realizing it
took her a lot of courage to stand up to the man. He smiled at her,
appreciating her willingness to not only free the queen but also to
stand behind him and Dour.

She blushed, her hair turning
pink.

He wondered what that hair color
meant. She was probably just flattered by his support. He forced
his mind back to the man who gritted his teeth in
aggravation.

“
Fine,” the man finally
said. “We will sleep, but only for a couple hours. Any more than
that will be greatly upsetting.”

“
To who?” Athen
ventured.

“
Never mind. You got your
wish. Delight in your dreams.”

Athen watched as he walked to another
part of the lake in a huff. Athen breathed a sigh of relief. At
least they would be free of him for a couple of hours. Despite his
weariness, Athen didn’t know how he would be able to sleep with the
man so close to them.

“
I will search for some
soft weeds we can use for pillows,” Dour volunteered. “Athen, would
you mind staying here and protecting Optima. I don’t trust that
man.”

“
Yes, I will stay with
her,” Athen replied.

They watched as Dour headed off into
the trees.

The man saw Dour leave and stood up
from a log he’d sat on, clearly angry.

“
He’s coming back. Keep
your temper down,” Athen yelled out.

The man shot him another disgruntled
look before he sat back down.

“
Doesn’t he ever get
tired?” Optima asked.

“
It appears not,” Athen
replied. “Even if he did, I don’t think he would dare sleep. He
knows I would overtake him if he let his guard down.”

She gave him a curious look. “Don’t
you feel fear?”

“
Sure I do. I think
everyone does. Why do you ask?”

“
You are the bravest person
I’ve ever met. You stand up to that man without any
hesitation.”

He grinned at her. “I appreciate your
compliment, but the truth is, I don’t have to worry about him. He
won’t harm me as long as the queen evades capture. I’m the only one
he knows to go to in order to find her. I won’t lead him to her,
despite what he thinks though. My duty is to protect her even to
the death. I promised the king I would do that, and I will keep
that promise.”

“
On Raz, people are loyal
to each other?”

“
Sometimes. However,
everyone is loyal to the queen. The planet will cease to exist
without her.”

“
We try to be loyal to each
other. We believe that unity, especially in the face of danger, is
the only way to ensure our survival. We weren’t always that way,
but the virus caused us to think differently.”

“
I guess it’s in the face
of danger that we come together,” he said.

“
Perhaps it is like that
for everyone, but it has made all the Nicals one big
family.”

“
Considering there are only
thirty-seven of you left, I can see how that would
happen.”

He paused. He wanted to touch her hand
or hug her to show her how much he supported her, but he knew it
would be improper to do such a thing. Instead, he softly said, “I
will do everything I can to help you and the other Nicals from the
threat of extinction. I promise.”

Her face lit up as she shot him a
lovely smile. “You are very kind.”

After a few moments of silence, he
changed the subject. “I’ve been thinking about the man over there.
I am beginning to wonder if he fears the person he’s been talking
to. He seems to be overly anxious to find the queen. What was your
impression when you heard him talking to that person in the
library?”

She considered his question before
answering. “There was a sense of urgency in his voice. The other
person sounded very calm. I would like to know why the queen’s
child is so important.”

“
So would I.” He paused.
“The queen and Palers are not going to harm you. They don’t like to
engage in combat unless they have to. The man must know that. It’s
to his benefit you see them as the enemy because then you won’t
trust them.”

Dour returned with an armful of soft
weeds he found. “I hope this will be sufficient.”

Athen smiled. “It beats laying my head
on a rock. Thank you for gathering it.”

“
Thank you, Ruler Dour,”
Optima replied.

“
We better get as much
sleep as we can. It won’t be long before we’ll be swimming in the
lake and finding out whatever it is that man is anxious to get
to.”

The reminder sobered them. They
immediately settled onto the ground and shut their eyes.

***

Dayton, Ohio

United States of America

Planet: Earth

He stood in his mediocre apartment. He
could easily afford a much better place, one that suited his
expensive lifestyle, but he preferred to keep a low profile so as
not to arouse suspicion. He didn’t want anyone to find out his
plans.

He had waited this long. He could wait
for one more day. One day. One day and he would live like a
king.

He glanced at his suitcase. He had
only packed the necessities. He could buy a wardrobe fit for his
status when he erected Atlantis to its former glory. Captain Reed
did an excellent job of keeping him informed on the progress Stacey
and her group were making.

Stacey Richards. Now she was Stacey
Russell. He remembered her. She hadn’t cared much for him. They met
briefly a few times, but he never dreamt she would prove so useful
to him in the future.

It was her thesis on Atlantis that
drew him to her. For the first time, he knew exactly what he would
do with the wealth he slowly accumulated over the years. He would
establish his empire.

The plan was perfect until he saw a
glimpse of the future. He recognized the mother of the child who
would grow up to destroy Atlantis. Ann Kerwin’s daughter would see
to the destruction of everything he was working for. He couldn’t
let that happen. He deserved the fame that was due to
him.

Ann and Hathor thought he had
forgotten what happened when Omin’s clone came to take over the
Earth, and for a while, he had forgotten everything. It wasn’t
until one year after Ann mysteriously disappeared from Earth he
rummaged through his memory box. And that was when he learned the
truth.

He had been looking for clues on where
Ann might have moved to. It wasn’t like her to ignore him. She had
been hopelessly devoted to him, and to be honest, it was nice
having her around as a backup plan. He figured if things didn’t
work out with any of the other girls he’d dated, he would end up
with her by the time he was thirty. He knew she would wait for him.
He would be free to sow his wild oats and then settle down with
her. But then she disappeared and changed all of that.

As he searched through his high school
memorabilia to find out where she might have gone, he pulled out
his old backpack. He didn’t intend to look through it, but as he
set it on the floor of his one bedroom apartment, he noticed a tear
in one of the side pockets.

He was ready to dismiss it when a
glimmer of blue light flashed from it. Curious, he dug into the
pocket. The piece of metal was deeply embedded into the pocket. He
had to get out a pair of scissors and cut it out, careful not to
destroy the object of interest.

He held the mysterious steel object in
his hand. He turned it over. A glowing blue light beeped at him. It
was the size of a nickel. He did the first thing that came to his
mind. He slipped it into an adapter he had on his USB
port.

He didn’t think it would work, but as
soon as he plugged the adapter in, his computer opened up a
program. He gasped in shock when he realized it was playing a
video, and his life from the time he was eighteen and met Ann was
the object of the recording. All of it was on the screen and played
in front of him like a movie in a theater.

Ann was really a queen of a planet
named Raz, and she chose the pesky jerk named Hathor instead of
him. He watched Omin’s clone from planet Pale try to take over the
Earth with his mind-controlling chip, and he’d almost succeeded. He
witnessed Hathor’s desire to kill him but Ann stopping
him.

Hathor ruined his life. He remembered
his vow to kill Hathor. A vow left unfulfilled, for they returned
him to his original past, the one he remembered. Their plan worked
for five years. But when he stumbled upon the video recorder by
accident, he began to have flashbacks of that period in his life,
and those flashbacks proved the validity of the video.

He remembered more than his past with
Ann and Hathor. He remembered marrying Carol and how she made his
life a living hell. Unfortunately, he recalled that tidbit too
late, for he had already married her by then. Instead of letting
her leave him first, he divorced her right away.

He had the advantage of knowing which
stocks would make him rich, and he gained his wealth quickly and
effortlessly. His stockbroker said he had the Midas touch. He
didn’t reveal his wealth to anyone. He kept it a secret.

He examined the video of his life
several times through the years, wondering what other memories it
might help him recover. One night, when he was twenty-six, he was
ready to take the video chip out of his USB port and it got stuck.
Aggravated and scared to lose the valuable instrument to his past,
he dug his tweezers into the slot to dislodge it. A spark flashed
and burned the tips of his fingers. He yelled and quickly examined
his fingertips. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously
injured.

Then he happened to look at the
computer screen, and that’s when he saw a glimpse of his future. He
didn’t know what age he was, but he guessed he was in his late
fifties or early sixties. He sat at an enormous ivory desk,
surrounded by elegance and luxury. The ivory plush furniture around
him was trimmed in delicate gold. He wore a fancy business suit.
People around him scrambled to do his bidding. He consulted a large
screen that resembled a television. This remarkable device gave him
glimpses of the future, so he knew which decision to make in any
situation.

Everyone idolized him. He was the man
women wanted to sleep with and the man other men envied. He didn’t
mind taking advantage of anyone who could be of use to him. From
the resurrected city of Atlantis, he controlled many of the nations
around the world through his money and technology.

Then, one day, she came to Atlantis.
Her name was Amanda: daughter of Ann and Hathor, Queen of Raz. He
remembered her saying that in her introduction. One of his business
dealings threatened the people on a distant planet called Olympia.
He didn’t know the details, but he knew she meant to destroy
Atlantis.

He warred against her and her army of
aliens. He recognized the Palers, but he didn’t recognize the other
aliens that joined her. Despite his best military powers, she won.
Atlantis didn’t fall into the ocean this time. The entire city
exploded so that everything on it, all the technology he had
refused to allow anyone to duplicate, perished as well.

By another accident, he found out
about Stacey’s thesis regarding Atlantis. He knew he was destined
to find the city. He had seen it in his future. He had to discover
what Stacey knew of Ann. He called her up, claiming a story of how
he wanted to be with Ann again. He figured Stacey would believe the
lie.

Stacey didn’t seem to know anything
about Ann, which was what he needed to know. He privately funded
Stacey’s expedition to Atlantis, using Captain Reed as his eyes and
ears. He hired someone else to find Ann and kill her if it was
discovered she was pregnant with Amanda. If Ann was not pregnant
yet, he would allow her to live since she had spared his life once.
He would sterilize her instead so that Amanda would never be
conceived. Ann didn’t pose a threat to him, so he wished her no ill
will.

He recalled how easy it was to send
the man in white to Raz. The man, however, learned of an emergency
that Ann had to tend to on another planet called Lone, so he
arranged a portal to be set up on Raz so that the man could easily
travel to Lone. The portal was easy to create with the video
recorder’s glimpses into the future on how Atlantis’ technology
worked. The people of Atlantis had been extremely intelligent, and
now he would benefit from that intelligence.