Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 33 - Elena

“Stella, do you have Leon’s plasma cutter on you still?” I ask her.

We’ve been working since sun-up on the Molecular Particle Re-Animator, trying to get it back to its previous working order. It’s been a slow process and it’s now close to four in the afternoon, none of us have eaten and tempers are running high. Especially Leon’s.

All of us, Stella in particular, have been worried about Leon ever since we started our journey through the Rayalis jungle. His temper will flare at random moments, his eyes flashing with anger and his words biting at all of us. I can’t be positive, but I swear the unusual and unique red streak that’s been in his hair since birth, has been shining brighter lately. Maybe it’s just the bright, sweltering sun here on this foreign planet.

“Yeah, I had to stuff it in my bra when we escaped, but I managed to save it,” Stella replies, handing it to me with a smirk.

“That’s why women are more useful than men. We have more hiding places,” I reply, chuckling with her.

“You know, dear sister-in-law, that could be construed in an awful way if you don t specify. And I’ll have you know that men are just as useful as women!” Damien replies indignantly.

Stella and I can’t help but bursting into laughter as Damien sticks his tongue playfully out at us, gathering up his tool kit and going to the opposite side of the ship to continue his work.

Ethan and Leon are currently helping Damien with the engine of the ship, while Anika stands idly by the fire, occasionally mumbling this or that, usually something pertaining to Dante or the device. She has random moments of coherent speech, talking to us as if it were just yesterday.

“Well, you were right, Damien. The entire ass end of the ship is the device itself,” Ethan says from a few yards away.

“I told you, bro,” Damien replies with a smug smirk.

“Well, since me, Ma and Stella are the best with the tech stuff, why don’t we keep working on the device, and you and Dad can try to get this tub working?” Leon suggests, during one of his peaceful spells.

“What do you ladies think, does that sound good to you? Damien and I are pretty good with auto mechanics,” Ethan replies, nudging Damien’s arm in a brotherly way.

“Yeah, remember that Harley I bought when I was a Junior in high school?” Damien says with a chuckle.

“Oh geez, that giant heap of shit! It was nothing but rust and twisted steel, but we got her running like a dream, didn’t we?” Ethan replies fondly.

“You had a Harley, Uncle Damien? I didn’t know that! That’s pretty cool...” Leon states, smirking.

“You bet your ass I did, I’ll show you a photo when we get back to Earth sometime. It was my pride and joy. Would’ve never got it running if your Dad hadn’t helped me. Got me a lot of chicks too,” Damien replies, winking in his usual suave demeanor.

“Speaking of women, Damien,” I say, emerging from inside of the ship, carrying the main control panel, How is Tanya these days?

“She was a little broken up when I left, but she understands. She’s never tried to keep me from my passion, which is why I love her so much. Still as beautiful as ever, too,” Damien responds, smiling fondly.

“Who’s Tanya?” Stella inquires, helping me unscrew the faceplate on the control panel.

“Uncle Damien’s wife, my aunt,” Leon answers.

“Dante and I were going to be married...” Anika whispers, tossing a small stick onto the still roaring fire.

“What!?” Ethan, Damien and I exclaim in unison, causing everyone to jump slightly.

“While we were trapped on the Zeus...he proposed. Everyone had been on edge with each other for a few days, and then, one night, while we laid there together...he wrapped his arms around me and proposed. I’ll never forget his words. ‘Baby, when we get off of this ship, will you make an honest man out of me? Anika, the only thing that makes my life worth living, the only thing that has kept me sane since you got here, is the hope that you’ll be my wife’.” Anika explains, a tear rolling down her dirt-stained face.

“Oh, Anika...I never knew...” I whisper softly, handing the faceplate to Stella and seating myself next to her on the same log. It must’ve been awful, in the end.

“It was, Elena. It was that moment, that I vowed to never love another man. When I found out about the device, I dropped everything and went in search of it. I knew, if there was even a tiny chance, that I would do whatever it took to get him back. Dante was, and is, the love of my life,” she says, as I wrap an arm around her thin shoulders.

“Uh, about that, Anika...” Ethan says carefully, stopping his work and joining us around the fire. “How did you find out about the device, and how the hell did you get here?”

“I’m kind of interested in that myself, to be honest,” Damien says, looking up from the massive engine of the small ship with a wrench in his hand.

“When we landed back on Earth, my heart was shattered in a million pieces. I spent months moping around, not leaving my house, shutting the world away. Until, about four months after our return home, I had a dream. It was Dante’s voice, so clear that I swore he was right there, lying next to me. When I woke up the next morning, it was as if I had gotten my determination back, my drive, my ambition,” she says, sipping from the canteen I had handed her moments ago.

“So, I went back to work, spent every waking moment I could working, and climbed up in rank. I never forgot about him though. His words were always in the back of my head, just as strong as they ever were. So, I started researching in my free time, trying to think of some way, any way, to bring him back. To have my Dante back...my heart back,” she whispers, wiping a tear from her cheek.

“One day, after much planning, I snuck down into the archives room, after I had stolen the keypad code from my Commanding Officer, and got into the classified files. That’s when I found it, the plans for the Molecular Particle Re-Animator. Plain as day, as if it were sent to me by Dante himself. I knew there had to be some way, some solution, and I knew the answer had to be held in the UEDF archives. I photocopied the documents, all of them, including the coordinates and went about my normal day. No one was suspicious of course, I played my part well,” she says, a fire behind her beautiful brown eyes.

“So...how did you manage to actually get here? Does anyone else know?” Ethan asks.

“Only one person. My Commanding Officer, Jensen. Later that week, I had started holding myself up in my office, studying each diagram, report and graph that I had acquired. One day, I had forgotten to lock my office door, and in walked none other than Jensen. He picked up the planetary coordinates, and knew instantly what I had in mind. He, of course, knew about the Zeus, and Dante. Knew that we were in love, you see, Jensen and I had once been great friends. That day ended our friendship. I pleaded with him to help me, to recover the ship so I could save Dante, but he refused.”

“What a dick...” Damien says. Ethan whips his head around and glares for a moment, but to everyone’s astonishment, Anika bursts into laughter. Not her crazy laughter from just last night, a real, true laugh.

“That he was, Damien. Wow...I haven’t laughed in so long. It feels nice,” Anika replies, sipping her water again.

“See? Men are useful, Elena!” Damien retorts, sticking his tongue out like a child once again, causing all of us to chuckle.

“Go on with your story, Anika, if you feel up to it, that is,” Ethan says encouragingly. She simply nods and continues her explanation.

“So...I did just about the worst thing that any military personnel can do. I abandoned my position, packed up a few things and hijacked a planetary waste ship.”

“Wait, you stole a flying government garbage truck, and flew into space by yourself?” Leon asks incredulously.

“That’s genius. They’d never think of chasing after a waste ship! There are so many sent out on a regular basis to all of the military bases, that they’d think nothing of it. Good work, Anika! I’m very impressed. Sounds like something I’d have done,” Damien replies with the signature Blake smirk.

“Thank you, Damien. I thought so too. I loaded it up with extra fuel, stole myself a waste pilot s uniform and took off into the void. I had this nagging feeling that someway, somehow, Dante was still alive. Just frozen in time.”

“That’s exactly what I thought too, when I stole those exact same files, Anika,” Damien says, wiping engine grease on the thick grass beneath him.

“So, that’s why you re here then? To save Dante?” Anika asks, a tone of hope in her voice.

“That’s exactly why we’re here, Anika. And I couldn’t be happier to have you along for the ride. But one question...if you found the device, why didn’t you leave?” Ethan asks.

“After a while, I ran out of fuel, naturally. But I finally found the device, and I kept hope that someone would eventually come for me, or that I’d figure out how to get the damn thing running again. I...I know your first impression of me is probably not so good. I’ll even admit myself that the constant blazing heat, lack of proper nutrition and fellow human beings has turned me a little...crazy. I apologize for capturing you, can you ever forgive me?” she pleads, desperation shining in her eyes.

“Anika, there’s nothing to forgive. You’re a part of this family now,” I reply, hugging her in a sisterly sort of way.

“And as far as our first impression of you, don’t worry about it. To be honest, I’m surprised you weren’t worse for wear after being here for so long,” Ethan says, comforting her.

“Thank you...all of you. I have new hope, now that you’re all here. The most brilliant team of tech and military personnel in the galaxy...I don t think I’ve ever been this lucky in my entire life,” Anika says, wiping yet another tear from her face. “Is there anything I can do to help? I never was great at the tech stuff, but I might be able to get that engine running, now that the proper tools are available.”

“Well, since Leon, Stella and I are working on the device itself, you can join Damien and Ethan up front and help them out. Our teams will be even now,” I say to her encouragingly.

“I’d be glad to. The scenery here is beautiful, but to be honest, I’m ready to get off of this floating rock,” Anika says, smiling.

“I’ll bet...” Damien replies, handing her a tool as she joins them.

Rin’Gal, who has been sleeping under a nearby tree most of the day, recovering from his wounds, stirs a bit and turns onto his side, slumbering soundly.

“Elena,” Ethan says softly, motioning me over to where he’s standing, underneath a large palm tree.

I hand the plasma cutter to Leon and make my way over, out of earshot of the others.

“Are you okay, honey? We haven’t gotten much of a chance to talk by ourselves lately, have we?” I say to him.

He smiles and wraps a gentle arm around my waist as I lay my head on his chest. Even after the chaotic and impossibly horrific last few days we’ve been through, just his one small action lifts my spirits. He plants a soft, loving kiss on my lips and smiles again. I can tell something is plaguing him and I lay a tender hand on his cheek.

“Ethan, I know something is on your mind. It’d be so much easier to just tell me, you’d think, that after all these years, you’d have learned that by now,” I say to him, grinning.

“You always know, don’t you baby?” he says, taking a deep breath and sighing audibly. “Well, you’re right as usual. I’m worried about a couple things.”

“Well, I think I know what those things are, because I’m worried as well. First off, I’m worried about Leon. He seems to be stable for the time being, but his anger is becoming worse the longer we’re here. Maybe it’s just Rayalis, I mean, look at what it did to Anika,” I say to him.

“She does seem to have broken out of her crazy-shell though, doesn’t she? Thanks to you, of course, love,” he says, smiling and touching his forehead to mine.

“I think her hope has been renewed, not just thanks to me, but to all of us. And, Ethan...I know you’re worried about Rin’Gal. I can tell.”

“You’re absolutely right. I am, but should I be, Elena?” he asks doubtingly.

“Honestly? No, I don t think we have anything to worry about. He’s injured, for one, and for two, you saved his life. He owes you, Ethan. Besides, he’s unarmed and we have weapons, I doubt he’d pull anything, even if he was in the shape to do so. I know he’s not your favorite person in the world, but the Ethan Blake that I know and love, is able to look past that,” I say to him gently, trying to assure him.

“As usual, you’re right again.”

“Aren’t I always? Now, mister, how is that engine coming along?”

“Well, we’re making progress. Damien and I found quite a few problems, but we’re hoping to have those fixed before sun-down. Thank God that this time of year, the sun doesn’t set until well past nine o clock. We still have quite a bit of time before it sets. How are the device repairs coming along?” he asks, encircling both of his muscular arms around my waist.

“Actually, we found far less problems with the device that need to be repaired, than the engine. I think we can have it up and running in no time, if we get back to work.”

“Well, let’s get to it, baby,” he says softly, smiling. “By the way,” he whispers, bringing his mouth teasingly close to my ear, “When this is all over, I’m buying you several pairs of those shorts. They look amazing on you.”

“Ethan!” I say, giggling. “Leave it to you to say something sexual in the middle of a dire situation. By the way, I plan on fully ravishing my wonderful husband when this is all over, so I suppose we both have plans,” I reply, gently nibbling his lip before turning and walking away, back to the device.

As I approach Leon and Stella, I swear I can hear him utter the word ‘tease’ under his breath. I just smile and take my place on dense jungle grass, next to my son and Stella who are both diligently examining a component of the device.

“How’s it going?” I ask them both.

“Shitty, Ma, that’s what! I’m sick of this fucking planet!” Leon yells, getting up off the ground and storming off.

“Stella looks after him and sighs,” looking heartbroken and distraught.

“Elena, I don’t know what’s going on with him! I’m so worried about him. I just...I love him so much but even he doesn’t know what’s wrong! He keeps snapping at the most random times. Not two minutes ago, while you were talking with Ethan over there, we were laughing and joking, and talking about ways to fix it,” Stella says desperately, her eyes misting over.

“Don’t worry, Stella. We’ll be out of here soon. Leon will be fine; he’s just not used to it out here. None of us are...he just seems to be taking it worse than all of us,” I reply, taking a seat next to her and hugging her one-armed. She leans her head on my shoulder for a moment before handing me the piece she was examining.

“I found the main problem,” she says softly, wiping her eyes and putting on a brave face.

“That’s great! We’re one step closer, Stella. If we work together, we can do this. What is it? I ask.

“It’s the Device Containment Mechanism,”

A broken voice sounds from a few yards away. “I...I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me!” Leon says, running his hand through his hair. The bright sunshine momentarily illuminates the red streak in his hair, making it shine ruby red.

Stella gets to her feet and closes the short distance between them, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. He does the same to her and holds her close, burying his face in her beautiful red hair and whispering, ‘I’m so sorry, baby. I love you,’ into her ear.

I love you too, Leon.

Leon looks up at me with a shameful look on his face. I simply smile, letting him know it’s ok, trying to comfort him through whatever he s facing at the moment.

“Now, get over here son, and explain to me what this problem is that you two found,” I say to him.

They both join me at the back of the ship, holding hands the whole way.

“Like I said, it’s the Device Containment Mechanism that’s the main problem. We have a few smaller problems too, but those are easy enough to solve. Anyways, the mechanism allows the power of the device to remain sustained and controlled, as you both know,” Leon begins. We both just nod and wait for the rest of his explanation.

“Basically, the mechanism’s core is made of a crystal sphere, which holds the energy within it. Well...the sphere is extremely fragile, so it must’ve shattered on impact,” Leon finishes, wiping the sweat from his brow.

“The good news is, though, when it shattered, the pieces were in fairly large chunks. Also, we have all of those separated pieces, so if we can find a way to put them back together...perfectly together, that is, we’ll be ok,” Stella says hopefully.

“Also, our other problem, is that there’s a severe tear in the nanothreading. Now, the ship itself should contain spare threading and a nanothreader as well, as most ships would,” Leon says.

“How the hell are we going to fix the sphere?” I say to myself, pondering the solution.

“Wait! If we can find a way to heat it, melt it down and re-form it, that would work, wouldn’t it?” Stella asks in a hopeful tone.

“It would, but the problem is, finding a heat source hot enough to actually melt the crystal. Crystal has a very high melting point. What can we use that will actually create a heat hot enough to melt the damn pieces?” Leon asks, taking a seat on a nearby boulder.

“Would a chemical fire work?” Anika asks shyly, peering around the front end of the ship.

“That just might work...but we’d need two reactive chemicals to start the fire initially,” I reply, using every ounce of brain energy I have to think of a solution.

“But, even if we do melt it down, how the hell are we going to re-form it?” Leon asks.

“Let’s worry about one thing at a time. I’m sure we can figure that out easily enough,” I reply.

“I’ve got it!” Stella exclaims, holding Leon’s plasma cutter up and grinning broadly.

“But...Stells, the sphere is already in pieces. What good would the plasma cutter do us?” Leon asks quizzically.

“Just listen, if we can take the cutter apart and modify it, we can make it produce a heat hot enough to melt the crystal!” she replies excitedly.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Stells! Leon, hand me my tool kit, please?” I request, kneeling in the grass next to Stella.

He picks up my customized tool kit, a gift from Ethan ages ago, and places it on the jungle floor. I spread out a clean cloth from within the bag and motion for Stella to place the plasma cutter on it while I extract a few tools.

“Ok, what we need to do is modify the core of the cutter, to amplify the plasma blade and make it not only more powerful, but wider and longer as well. That will allow us to use it as a heating source for the shards from the sphere,” I explain to Leon and Stella, flipping a pair of sleek safety goggles down over my eyes.

“Leon, we’ll need to find something to hold the shards in. Then we’ll be able to hold it up over the plasma blade and melt down the crystal, so we can reform it,” Stella says. Leon nods and thinks for a moment.

“And, it’ll have to be a container that the melted crystal won’t adhere to also. It has to be the exact weight as the original,” Leon replies.

I set to work on the plasma cutter, using my micro-tools to gently disassemble it.

“Hm...” I say aloud, thinking of a way to amplify the plasma cutter s blade. I spot my magnifying goggles tucked away safely in my tool kit and instantly come to a solution.

“How’s it going over here, babe?” Ethan asks, striding up to me and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Actually, a lot better now. I figured out how to modify the plasma cutter just as you walked up”.

“What’re you going to do, Ma?” Leon asks, sifting through a pile of discarded scrap metal from the ship’s collision, trying to find a sufficient container for melting the crystal shards.

“I’m going to knock one of the lenses out of my goggles, break it and use a tiny piece to amplify the width and length of the blade. It’ll make the blade about four times as strong, which will heat the crystal to melting point,” I reply.

I grab my goggles and a miniature hammer, tapping lightly on the lens until it pops cleanly out. I wrap it in a scrap of fabric, currently being used as a sweat rag and tap twice, harder, sufficiently breaking the lens into fragments. After sifting through the pieces, I extract a thin sliver with my tweezers, and using the remaining lens to see properly, I slide it ever-so-carefully into the heating element’s core.

After doing so, I carefully extract the broken nanothreading and replace it with some that I found on the ship earlier. The whole process takes barely twenty minutes and when I finish, I give the final product a satisfied smile.

“That should do it, but I’ll want to test it first to be absolutely sure,” I say, examining it carefully before closing it up tight.

“Hey, Elena?” Stella calls from a few yards away. Will this piece work? It’s sort of bowl shaped.”

I get up off the ground, carefully wrapping the plasma cutter in the cloth and stowing it in my pocket before striding over to Leon and Stella and she hands me the large piece of broken metal. I turn it over in my hands a few times, examining it.

“This will work just fine, can one of you clean it up for me, please?”

“I will, Ma,” Leon replies, taking it in his hands and striding inside of the ship.

“Thanks, son.”

He gives a simple wave of acknowledgement as I turn to Stella.

“Now comes the hard part. We’re going to need a mold of some kind, to re-form the sphere once we melt the crystal into liquid. The problem is, I can’t for the life of me think of anything to use, that will be roughly the same size,” I explain to her, tying my hair into a loose ponytail.

“Um, Elena? If I might make a suggestion, I have an idea that just might work regarding that particular quandary,” Anika says confidently, striding around the side of the ship.

“Go for it, we can use all the help we can get!” I reply, hoping beyond hope that whatever is whirring around in her mind will help.

“Well...I’ve become pretty familiar with the plant life around here over the last couple years, and a few weeks back, food supplies were running short due to a draught. So I sought food sources farther out than the general area,” she begins. I can’t quite tell where she’s going with her explanation, but she does seem to be more in control of her mind since re-telling her astounding story, so I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Well, while foraging for food, I stumbled upon a Keza tree about a quarter of a mile east of here. The Keza nuts have an extremely hard, almost unbreakable outer shell that is just about the same size as the sphere. I managed to pry a couple open, but it was difficult, since they weren’t quite in season yet. If we could just drill a hole in the top somehow, fill it with the liquid crystal, let it set properly and then get the shell off, it should work. Their shells are much softer now, but still firm enough to hold its shape,” she finishes, gazing at me with hope in her eyes.

“That’s perfect! You’re a lifesaver, Anika. Do you remember where you found the tree?” I ask her.

“I know my way around here like the back of my hand, I made a trail for myself so I could find my way back. If I leave now, I can be back by sundown, no problem,” she replies.

“Stella, would you be opposed to going with Anika to keep her company?”

“Of course not, Elena, I’d love to. Anything to help,” she answers, smiling. Anika shoots her a grateful smile.

“Fill your canteens from the reserve tank inside the ship before you go and take a few rations with you too, you’ll need your energy,” Damien says, taking a break from his and Ethan’s tedious engine repairs.

Leon returns, bearing the scrap piece of metal, now cleaned and polished to a shiny finish. He hands it to me and turns to Stella.

“I’m not letting you go alone, I’m coming with,” he says in a no-nonsense tone.

“Thank you, Leon,” Stella replies, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest.

“A good man always protects his woman, I’m proud of you, son,” Ethan says, grinning at Leon.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Okay, okay, enough of this sappy show of emotions. If you guys are going to go, I suggest you head out now before it gets too late. Anika may be used to these jungles, but you two aren’t. It’d be best if you were back before sundown,” Damien says, handing each of them a freshly-filled canteen and a protein bar each.

“Uncle D is right, let’s get moving,” Leon says, slapping Stella on the butt and grinning mischievously.

“Leon!” Stella and I both exclaim in unison, causing a chorus of laughter to erupt.

“Okay! Okay! I’ll behave, let’s go!” Leon replies, still smirking in his usual Blake Family fashion.

A few minutes later they set out on foot, following a few feet behind Anika into the dense greenery of the Rayalis jungle.

“How is the engine coming, guys?” I ask Ethan and Damien, joining them around the fire.

“Good, as soon as we patch a hole in the water line, we’ll be finished. We’re going to try and start her up and see if we can get that tub in the air. There’s plenty of reserve fuel inside, so I’m hoping it’ll be enough,” Ethan replies, wrapping an arm around my waist and planting a soft kiss on my forehead.

“What about all of this scrap metal? If it fell off on impact, don’t we need it?” I ask.

“Nah, we checked it all out, it’s just useless junk basically, nothing of importance. Do you think Anika’s idea will work?” Damien questions.

“I don’t know. I want to trust her credibility...I mean, she used to be brilliant, but—”

“You’re afraid she might be slightly off her rocker still?” Ethan supplies, grinning. I slap his arm, but can’t help smiling.

“Yes and no, she seems so determined that I think her mind has snapped itself out of its shell. In my opinion, the old Anika is back. I’m just worried that her determination might be clouding her judgment and have her grasping at straws,” I explain. Damien and Ethan both nod in understanding.

“Ethan, I need to test the modified plasma cutter, to make sure that it’ll work to heat up the crystal enough to melt it. I think I did it properly, but I’d rather test it beforehand than to take the chance of ruining the crystal all together,” I say to him.

“Hey, bro, I’m gonna try to patch up that hole, when you finish helping Elena, come give me a hand,” Damien states.

“Will do,” Ethan replies.

“I’m just going to test it on that boulder over there, to make sure the width and length is the right size, but stand guard in case something goes wrong.”

He nods and I carefully unwrap the plasma cutter, holding it as far out from my body as possible and sliding back the miniscule safety switch.

“Ready?” I ask Ethan.

“Go for it, baby, I’m right behind you,” he replies, gripping his hands on my hips just in case there’s a recoil.

I press the button and instantly the white-hot plasma blade extends out approximately two feet in length and six inches wide. I hold the cutter as steady as I can, and move it slightly downwards until it makes contact with the rough surface of the boulder, slicing it cleanly in half.

I give a satisfactory shrug and release the button, gazing at the huge rock as its central fissure smolders, the edges burning red-hot.

“Well...I think that’ll do,” Ethan says, chuckling. I smile over my shoulder at him and he kisses me softly.

I slide the safety switch back into place and re-wrap it in its cloth, sliding it in my pocket again before joining Ethan and Damien at the front of the ship.

One problem down...a million more to go...