Royal Hearts (3 page)

When he pulled into his parking spot, he
nearly jumped out of the car before he turned off the ignition.
There was something significant about the device he found in the
dumpster. He just knew it. All he had to do was figure it out. He
was good with figuring out electronic items, and since he didn’t
have to work tomorrow, he had all night to work on this thing.

“Mr. Nichols,” his landlady called out to him
as he entered the building.

He inwardly groaned. He really didn’t feel
like talking to her right now, but he was late on his rent again so
he couldn’t afford to be rude. He stopped and turned to her. “Hi,
Mrs. Garheart. My paycheck comes in on Monday. I promise to have
the rent for you first thing in the morning.”

“This is the fifth time this year that I’ve
had to go easy on you,” she stated with a pointed look.

“I know and I’m sorry. I had to pay my ex her
alimony.”

“That’s right. You’re divorced. My daughter
is about your age. I think you two would make a good couple.” She
winked. “If you’re interested, that is.”

He glanced at the overweight woman with her
mustache and three big moles on her face then shivered in disgust.
He had seen her daughter, and they looked a lot alike.

“I’m still healing my broken heart,” he lied.
“Carol was my whole life.”

“Time will heal all, sweetie. Just give your
heart time.”

“Bonnie, where’s dinner?” her husband called
out from their apartment.

She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes divorce isn’t
such a bad thing.” Turning to her apartment, she yelled, “It’s
coming. Just hold your horses!” She faced William again. “I’ll
expect that rent on Monday. First thing.”

“First thing,” he said.

As soon as she turned back to her apartment,
he ran upstairs to his. He didn’t care for her, but she was the
only landlord who let him get by with so many late rent payments
without charging him a fee. He had already been kicked out of two
apartments, so he couldn’t afford to lose this one. His credit
looked bad enough as it was.

He hated Carol for what she did to him. He
couldn’t wait for her to marry again so he wouldn’t have to give
her money every month.

His life should have been different. It could
have been so much better. He didn’t deserve this. Again, his
thoughts drifted to the one person he could have been happy with.
The girl who was meant to be queen of a place called Raz. He would
find a way to see her again. He had to.

He glanced at the device in his hand. Maybe
this thing would be the answer to his problems. There was something
different about it that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Let’s see what secrets you hold,” he
whispered.

***

William sat back in his chair and rubbed his
eyes. It was three in the morning and he had been trying to figure
out the device for ten straight hours. He didn’t even listen to his
growling stomach. He only took breaks to grab more coffee and go to
the bathroom.

The computer in front of him was hooked up to
the device. That task alone took him a couple of hours. Now he was
telling the computer to open the device’s contents, but no matter
how hard he tried, it didn’t seem to know how to do that.

He slammed his fist on the computer desk,
upsetting the coffee in his cup, which spilled over. He didn’t
care. He could always clean that spill later.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up, stretched
his weary back and walked over to his bookcase where he kept Ann’s
junior high school picture on display. He supposed that he should
move on with his life, but he had run into so many disastrous
relationships after she left that only one person could satisfy
him.

And she was on another planet.

Another planet….

An idea gently prodded its way into his mind.
The device was so foreign. He had never seen anything like it
before. He wondered…

“No.” He shook his head. “What are the
chances that it would be alien?”

What were the chances Ann would be destined
to be a queen of another planet? A million to one? More than
that.

He glanced back at the device lying on the
desk. He had popped the case off, and he watched the circuits in it
moving around, as if it was trying to communicate with him.

“Could it be…?”

He hesitated to ask the full question. What
if the device was trying to communicate with him? He eagerly sat
down in his chair and typed in a command that he hadn’t used yet.
He sat back and waited for the computer to display a message on the
screen.

He dreaded another error message, and as he
waited for a full minute, he began to think that was all he was
going to get. But it didn’t happen this time.

Greetings from Pale. You have activated
Omin’s transmitter.

He slapped the top of the desk in victory,
and more coffee spilled out of the cup. “Success!”

This was a sign. He knew it. Things just
didn’t happen. It was fate. He and Ann were meant to be
together.

He quickly typed into the computer. “What do
you know about Raz and the queen who rules there?”

A humming sound coming from the transmitter
told him that it was processing his question.

He tapped his fingers on the desk. Please
know something about her, he silently begged.

Ann Kerwin. Next queen of Raz. Must not
succeed. Must go back to Earth.

He didn’t care about the ominous meaning in
the words. His attention was drawn to the fact that she “must go
back to Earth”.

How can she get back to
Earth?
he typed.

Activate Alternate Plan
Alpha located in the Omega Files in this transmitter,
it answered.

Activating the plan will
send her back to Earth?
he
typed.

Yes. But not to the current time. She must
go back to the past. Before she knew anything about Raz. Raz will
be her weakness.

She will have no memory at all of the things
that happened to her?

No. She must not.

William debated the
possibility that this thing was capable of manipulating time.
Nothing on Earth could, but it was possible aliens would have
access to this kind of technology.
Can you
send me back to the past?
he
typed.

Yes, but you are activating the plan. You
will remember everything in your future.

Will I be the age I am now,
or can I go back to another year in my life?
It would be too weird for Ann to date a twenty-four year
old.

You select your age. The rest will be taken
care of through the plan.

William couldn’t believe his good fortune.
This was too good to be true!

Find Omega Files,
he typed.

You must find those files. I have not been
programmed to do that.

William groaned. But he refused to let this
unfortunate setback bring him down. Not now. Not tonight. Things
had suddenly changed for the better, and he was going to take
advantage of it. No matter how many hours or days it took, he would
find those files. Then he would be back in the past when he and Ann
were dating. Soon, he told himself. Soon he’d get to do it all over
again, and this time he wasn’t going to lose her.

Chapter Three

Location: Alpha Head I

Planet: Pale

Galaxy: Enchanted

Deep within Alpha Head I, the main
headquarters on Pale, was Omin’s clone. Omin-2 was stuck in a
frozen capsule, waiting for the time when Omin’s transmitter would
be activated. The wait was over. Omin’s clone opened his eyes and
peered at his surroundings with newborn interest.

He was in a small room, a room hidden behind
a wall. He moved, his muscles aching from lack of use. He slowly
inched his way along the hidden corridor, his eyes adjusting to the
darkness. He knew the way out. He knew his mission. Go to Earth and
destroy the queen of Raz.

She would be there as soon as the Omega Files
were opened. He didn’t have much time.

***

Ann and Hathor’s Bedroom

Planet: Raz

Ann was sound asleep when Hathor woke her
up.

“What…? What is it?” she asked as she fought
to open her eyes.

“It’s an emergency. On Pale,” he said then
gathered her clothes and laid them on the bed. “Leader Paff says
it’s a matter of life and death, and it involves you.”

“Me?” Suddenly she was wide awake. She jumped
out of bed and quickly got dressed. “Did he give you any
details?”

“He just said that Omin had a clone he called
Omin-2. This clone was in a secret place no one knew about. Knowing
Omin, it’s not surprising that this clone wants you dead.”

“Wants me dead?” She didn’t like the sound of
this.

“That’s why this is urgent.” He paused for a
moment and looked at her, as if realizing the seriousness of the
situation. “I should go with you. It will only take me a few
minutes to notify Athen and Naomi. They are trained to take care of
things around here in case I have to accompany you somewhere.”

It would be comforting to her if he was
there. She knew the Palers and Laxes would do everything in their
power to protect her, but with Hathor, she felt safe all the
time.

“I would like you there,” she admitted.

He smiled widely. “Done.” Then he ran out of
the room to make the necessary arrangements.

After she got dressed, she crept into
Katherine’s room to say good-bye. The girl was curled up on her
side, her blanket tucked around her.

“Sleep well, little princess,” she whispered
and gave Katherine a light kiss on the forehead.

Katherine shifted in response but did not
wake up.

Ann marveled that Katherine might be the next
queen of Raz. If Ann had more daughters, then the planet could
choose one of her siblings. The oldest did not necessarily inherit
the throne on this world. But Ann felt better knowing that if
something did happen to her, then at least Raz’s future was secure
with her daughter safely here.

Ann slipped out of the room, careful not to
wake the baby, and met Hathor in the hallway.

“Everything’s been taken care of,” he said.
“Are you ready?”

She nodded. “Let’s get the Book of Spells and
go to Pale.”

***

Alpha Head I

Planet: Pale

Second Commander Jaz watched as Leader Paff
paced back and forth in his office. Next to her, First Commander
Zak let out an uneasy sigh.

Daylight wouldn’t come for three more hours.
They had been disturbed in the middle of the night when an alarm
rang throughout their sleeping quarters in Alpha Head I. Now they
were too worked up over their latest discovery to even consider
sleep.

“When did Omin have time to make a clone?”
Paff asked.

Jaz didn’t even want to consider that Omin
had a clone. Being married to that monster was enough. But to find
out he’d cloned himself… She shivered at the thought.

“How did he bypass the guards?” Zak asked.
“We have tight security around here. Someone should have seen him
before he was able to steal one of our spaceships.”

“I’ve examined the security tape over and
over, and all I see is one of the guards taking the ship,” Paff
said. “If that same guard hadn’t called in an emergency, we’d all
be unaware that Omin even created a clone.” After a moment, he
added, “I suspect the clone can morph into other Palers when he
needs to.”

“At least we found the tunnel Omin made,” Jaz
said.

“This is all we need,” Paff groaned. “Another
Omin running loose in the universe.”

At that moment, Ann and Hathor appeared in
the room.

“Is it true? Did Omin really clone himself?”
Ann asked, rushing over to them, Hathor close behind her.

Paff nodded. “Unfortunately.”

She shook her head. “I can’t believe it. I
thought we were done with him.”

“You weren’t the only one,” Paff replied.

“When you contacted me, you said Omin
targeted Ann,” Hathor said.

“Yes. We figured out the encrypted
instructions in the room where the clone has been hiding for two
years. In these instructions, Omin-2’s mission is to kill Ann.”

Ann took a deep breath and released it before
she spoke. “Do you know where his clone is?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Paff said. “Omin-2 left
in a spaceship. We have no idea where he went either. He disabled
the tracking device in the ship.”

“He might be going to Raz,” Jaz added. “At
least with you here, you won’t be there for him to kill.”

“What about you? Are any of you in danger?”
Ann asked.

“His first mission is to kill you,” Paff
said. “Then he will come here to take over Pale.”

“Isn’t it odd that he left a blueprint for us
to follow?” Jaz asked, mostly to herself. But the others turned to
her, so she continued, “I’m starting to think the encryption wasn’t
that secure. It’s too predictable. I think these instructions are a
decoy.”

“Okay,” Ann slowly replied as she considered
this new possibility. “So maybe he’s not really after me. Maybe I’m
a decoy.”

“Whether or not his threat is genuine, we
still have to take every measure to protect you,” Hathor told
her.

“I agree,” she replied. “I will take all the
necessary precautions.”

“Omin’s big goal was to rule Pale,” Jaz said.
“I’m sure that whatever he plans, it involves Pale.”

“Then why would he leave?” Zak asked. “What
could he possibly want with a spaceship?”

“Maybe he’s out collecting other clones of
himself,” Jaz whispered in dread. “Maybe he’s got an army hidden
somewhere.”

Paff sat down and put his face in his
hands.