Short Story: Big Trouble in Little Hela {Chapter 1 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe.
To read the previous story arc click HERE and read all three chapters.

The first day of their team vacation was as boring as any vacation. Zorn and his friends spent the majority of their time walking, trying to find something to do. Even Isis, who frequented Hela as a child, found the theme planet utterly boring.

The advantage of an entire planet as a theme park was evident. If they were not happy on one continent, moving to another continent proved to be a simple matter.

At the end of the day, they slept in separate rooms—the boys sectioned away from the girls. Zorn on the top bunk, while Nathaniel slept on the middle bunk and Jon slept on the bottom. The three of them talked for two minutes before Nathaniel went to sleep, followed by Jon.

Zorn closed his eyes.

The next morning, the first thing he noticed was silence.  Jon should be snoring and Nate should be breathing deeply from either meditation or exercising. Zorn peered down from the top bunk—even the room looked different. Was this a prank?

Zorn climbed down and searched the room. No one. Nothing. Nothing to suggest that anyone ever checked in. He pressed the communicator on the desk. “Ladies, have you seen Jon or Nate?”

“Zorn!” He recognized Isis’s voice, but the sound was far too angry to belong to the tall blue-skinned girl he knew.

“Isis?”

“How dare you use this line.”

“It is a free planet.”

Silence filled the air. “I will ask Nathaniel about your definition of free.”

“If you say so. Where is Nate?”

“You mean Lord Nathaniel. He went for a stroll, something about the local market.”

“Thanks.” Zorn disconnected and ran to the bathroom. He was dressed and out in the hallway, in a military minute. In the hallway, Angela stood next to her door. She reached into her purse for something. A key? But she was at the wrong door. Zorn walked quickly to her. “Did you get another room?”

“Huh? Oh hi, Zorn.”

“Hi. Did you get another room?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You bunked with Isis. Why did you change rooms?”

“Bunk with her royal pain in the butt? No way. I am her knight not her…” She leaned unto the door and fell asleep.

He studied her for a moment. “Narcolepsy? But you should be cured.”

She woke up, opened the door and walked in. Not bothering to look behind her, she closed the door in Zorn’s face.

Weird.

At the market, he found Nathaniel in the produce section. “Nathaniel!”

He turned to Zorn and smiled. His normally gravity-defying hair lay flat. A jet-black bed of snaking micro-braids. He moved his free hand quick. Sign language. “What’s up?” Nathaniel asked.

“Nothing…Lord Nathaniel.”

He smiled. “You don’t have to call me that,” he signed.

“Nate, what is going on? I just saw Angela and she fell asleep while talking to me and you are signing instead of talking to me.”

“I—It…is e—easier, than stu—stu—stuttering,” Nathaniel said.

“You don’t stutter…often, and Angela is virtually cured of her Narcolepsy. Why is Hela so dreary? This is a theme planet, why is the atmosphere so…bland? What happened to the silly games, vendors, and clowns?”

“Clowns?”

“And Jon. Where is Jon?”

“He went to scout out the local cuisine for the queen.”

“Queen? What queen? His planet is a Democracy.”

Nathaniel placed the fruit down and placed both of his hands in front of him. “You are starting to scare me. Do you need a vacation? I can talk to Isis for you,” he signed.

“Isis?” Zorn pinched his nose. “What are you—Proteus sent us here on vacation.” Zorn lifted his head. “Don’t you remember?”

“Wh—who is P—Proteus?”

Zorn stared at him for a moment. He placed his hand on his temple and used his telepathy to probe Nathaniel’s mind. The usual blocks were there but different. Everything about his mind was different.

Nathaniel grabbed his arm. “Wh—what are y—you doing?” He looked around and when he relaxed, placed his hand on Zorn’s temple. “What are you doing? You know how Isis feels about you reading my mind.”

“How are you able to tap into my telepathy?” There was an odd echo.

Nathaniel frowned.  “I figure it out four months after we met. I only needed to manipulate the signal you sent into my mind... Zorn, what is wrong with you?”

“Me? Wait. Where is Deragon?”

“Who the florg is Deragon?”

Zorn nodded. A plan formed as he studied Nathaniel’s face. “I am clearly confused. Suffering from some version of Datrevian memory lapse. Can you tell me, who are you and what is our relationship?”

Nathaniel shook his head. “You are attempting to deceive me. My Zorn would know better. Still, I don’t sense danger or kill intent from you…”

Zorn’s heart lightened. At the core, Nathaniel was still the same—perhaps this could be fixed.

“Who is Savant?” Nathaniel asked telepathically.

Zorn took a deep breath and explained everything. How they met at the Union Academy. Fought against the Templusian and saved literally the universe many times over. Zorn told Nathaniel of Angela’s healing power, Jon’s special vision, and Nathaniel’s own ability to recognize patterns. He explained how this ability allowed him to trap a powerful psychic entity in his own mind. Once he finished, he waited patiently for Nathaniel to tell his story.

“We are knights of Queen Isis’s round table. I was the thirteenth knight but I defeated all of the knights that opposed me, as well as the suitors of Queen Isis to become her prime suitor. I could tell you of our adventures, but they are so similar that it feels redundant…you are from another world—a parallel one.”

“I guess that is possible.”

“Possible but improbable,” a voice said. The eerie voice broke their psychic connection.

Nathaniel grabbed his temple and stepped back into an alien creature, foreign to Zorn. He was seven feet tall, horned, with an elongated neck and three fingers. Instead of bouncing off him as Zorn expected. Nathaniel passed through him as if he was a ghost.

“Wh—why did y—you break our c—co...connection?”

“I—I didn’t,” Zorn said.

“I did,” the alien said. “Zorn, you do not know me, but I know you and your friend. You are heroes in many realities.”

“Realities?”

Nathaniel straightened. “Realities?” he signed. He stared at Zorn. “You aren’t talking to me, are you?”

Zorn shook his head.

“I am Elmo.”

“Elmo?”

“Yes, Elmo. Nathaniel cannot sense me, but he is an important part of my plan.” He clasped his hands together. “What we are experiencing is a merging of two realities. We must stop it, or the old reality will cease to exist.”

“Cease to exist?”

“Yes. Replaced by a new reality. This type of incursion is unnatural and must be stopped. Will you help me?"

The End of Chapter One of Big Trouble in Little Hela
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