A parallel universe story, with my usual twist, and of course shken, not stirred.

THE HEART OF ATLANTIS
By Mike Ault



"Tell me a story Daddy." The little boy asked as his father pulled the covers up around him.

"It's awful late little one." The father smiled as he reached for the light. The look of pleading in his only son's eyes stopped him. "All right, maybe I'll tell a short one."

The little boy moved over as his father sat on the bed. "Have I told you the story of "The Heart of Atlantis"?"

"No Daddy, please tell it!" The boy's eyes sparkled.

"O.K., but then it's off to sleep." He ruffled the boy's dark hair. "It was a dark and stormy night..."

"Ah Dad!"

"No really, it was dark and stormy. The flag ship of the Atlantian fleet fought to make way in the waves and wind of nature gone mad. At the helm..."

"What's a helm Daddy?" The little boy asked.

"Eh? Oh, the helm is where you steer the ship from."

"Like a steering wheel?"

"Sort of, anyway, the Captain was at the helm, fighting to keep the ship on course. He was returning to Atlantis with the Crown Prince Gadir and the Heart of Atlantis. The Heart of Atlantis was a huge crystal. The rulers of Atlantis used it to control great powers."

"How big was it Daddy?"
"See your ball over there? About three times that size!"

"Wow!"

"The ship, powered by magic engines, drove on through the storm. Up one wave, then down another, the Captain holding it steady on course. They were returning from visiting the Aztecs. They had used the power in the crystal to help build the Pyramids in the Aztec's capitol city."

"Was that in Egypt?"

"No silly, the Aztecs were in Azatlan." The boy's father adjusted his position on the small bed, then he continued.

"Suddenly, a bolt of lightening struck the ship, destroying it's engines. Driven this way and that, the ship floated helpless before the storm. Then, a monster wave struck it!"

"What happened?" The little boy's eyes where round with wonder.

"It sank. The wave turned it right over. The Captain, and all onboard were lost, except one."

"Who was that?"

"The Royal Wizard. He clung to wreckage as the storm raged. The next morning, the skies cleared and the storm was over. He floated for days, in the hot sun with no food or water. Just when his strength was about to give out, he was rescued."

"Why didn't he use magic to save himself?"

"He couldn't. His own crystal went down with the ship. He returned to Atlantis a nearly broken man. You see, he was responsible for protecting the Prince and The Heart of Atlantis, he had failed at both. The King, Atlas, nearly had him killed. Instead he exiled him to Antillia."

"What happened to him Daddy? It wasn't fair, the storm wasn't his fault!"

"You're right, but that didn't change that he had failed. For several years he just felt sorry for himself. Then, one day, he decided to do something about it."

"What did he do?"

"Well, to be a Wizard in those days you had to know how to make the power crystals. He made one real special. The one he made could see the future."

"You mean he could see us?"

"Well, not exactly, but you're getting ahead of the story." The Father smiled at his son and ruffled his hair again. "You see, the water over the Heart was very deep. So deep that no Wizard could get the Heart up, though many tried. Being a wise wizard, he knew that at times the Earth throws itself up or casts itself down. He figured that eventually, the Heart would be cast up to be retrieved."

"Did he find it?"

"Yes, but not as he thought! He looked into the crystal, far into the future, and sure enough! There was the Heart! Someone else had found it."
"Who?"

"Some people from America." At the look of another question in his son's eyes, the father hurried on. "You see, these people were looking for oil. They had a special ship that could go far out to sea and then, with a long pipe, drill holes in the bottom of the sea. This time, they drilled right into the long sunk Atlantian ship. They didn't find the Heart right away though. They brought up pieces of the ship, maybe a lantern, or part of the Helm's wheel. The story doesn't say."

"How did they get the Heart?"

"Well, these Americans, although they were looking for oil, were excited by what they found. They sent back to America for a special ship that could go down in the deep and look at it. You know what this ship was called?"

"No Daddy, what?"

"A submarine, which means "below water". You know something else?"

"What Daddy?"

"This submarine had a name. Its name was "Alvin"."

"That's a silly name."

"You're right, but I'm telling you the truth. Anyway, the owner of the ship that was looking for oil, a man named Richard Lenoir, came with the submarine. His son was one of the people going down to take a look."

"It must have been fun!"

"Oh no, you see, the Heart, so long without a source of power, sucked all the power out of the little submarine as soon as it got down to the ship. The man's son died. He was very sad. So sad that even after the Heart was recovered, he didn't even want to see it!"
"That's sad Daddy." The little boy snuggled closer to his father.

"There was another man, his name was John Herrod, he worked for Mr. Lenoir. He was not a good man. He saw the Heart as a way to control other men. This was what the Wizard saw in his crystal. He decided to send someone after the Heart."

"Send someone into the future?"

"Yes. He searched throughout the land for a warrior powerful enough to go get the Heart and return. On his search he saw much that saddened him. Without the Heart, the land was no longer peaceful. The Amazons, a fierce race of female warriors, and the Gorgons, a race that wore their hair braided to look like snakes, were trying to invade. The King, still grieving at the loss of his son, had let the country's Army and Navy fall to ruin. Without the power in the crystal they couldn't keep the land from shaking, or the large volcanoes from erupting. The Wizard knew he had to act fast if he was going to save Atlantis."

"Did he find a warrior?"

"Of course! He found the warrior Kord. Kord had left the Imperial Guard after the King had punished him for speaking out against the state of the country. The Wizard explained the quest and Kord agreed to try. The Wizard taught Kord how to use the Heart to return and then sent him far into the future."

"What happened then?"

"Well, Kord appeared, naked, in New York City in America. He didn't speak the language, and of course, no one there could speak Atlantian. The guards, called police, took him and put him in an asylum."

"An asylum, what's that?"

"A place they put crazy people. Anyway, a woman named Kate Williams saw the warrior Kord as he was being lead away in chains. He looked up and their eyes met. It was love at first sight."

"Yuck! Mushy stuff."

"Well, if she hadn't fallen in love with him, she wouldn't have taught him to speak her language, or got him out of the asylum."

"Was she pretty?"

"Very pretty. Anyway, once she got him out of the asylum, he told her his story. About how he was from Atlantis. At first she laughed and thought he was kidding. To prove it to her, he read some of the writing on the stuff they had recovered from the Atlantian ship. After that she believed him. Then he told her about the Heart and what John Herrod was planning. The wizard had told him of Herrod's plan to launch the Heart in a weapon, way up into the sky. This weapon would destroy the Earth if this was allowed to happen."

"Daddy, what did they do?"

"Well, first they tried to talk to Mr. Lenoir. He didn't believe them. Their story reached the ears of Herrod. He tried to kill them, but wasn't able to because Kord was too good a warrior. At the last minute, Kord and Kate stopped the weapon from being launched, in the battle, Herrod died."

"Did Kord have to leave Kate?"

"He was about to leave, he had just set the final spell for the crystal to take him back. Lenoir, not having anything left to live for in his own time, pushed Kord out of the range of the spell. Lenoir carried the Heart back to Atlantis. Kord stayed with Kate in the future and they lived happily ever after in America."

"Oh, that's just a story. There is no America."

"Oh son, don't be so sure." Ratha, one of the last descendants of the Kings of Atlantis, tasseled the hair on his son's head. Touching the base of the lighting crystal to extinguish it, he bid his son goodnight.