The Heiress

The Visitor - Part 2

 

Randy lay in bed for days after Dr. Hoo's visit.   Isadora continued her bedside vigil.  Hoping againt hope that something would improve and Randy would be well.

 And then, one day, there was a miracle.

 I was sitting at the kitchen table when it happened.  Izzy was in the kitchen fixing a bowl of cereal.  We were the only ones home, so we were both startled to hear another voice.

 

 

"Isadora"

 

Isadora turned and froze.  She looked over at me with a half smile on her face, as if to check if I could see him too.

"Hello Bright Eyes"  Randy said.

Isadora was trembling.  Long awaited tears of relief cascaded from her eyes.

 

 

"I thought you'd be happy to see me"  Randy smiled as he wiped the tears from Isadora's face.

"I, we, uh, I thought you were dead" Izzy quivered.

"As long as you have love in your heart for me, I can never truly die.  Your love keeps me alive Isadora"

 

 

And with that, Isadora grabbed her Azahoraian Desert Prince and kissed him.

Even though the answer was almost obvious, she asked him "Are you ok?  Do you feel alright?  We thought you were going to die."

Randy appeared as if he had only just awakened from a nap, and only the burns on his face bore the memory of his brush with death.  "I'm fine sweetheart, I don't know how, but I'm fine."

"Randy, how on earth did you get here?"

"I walked"  he said.

"From Azahora?  You walked across two thousand miles of desert?"

"I did.  I did it to save your life Izadora.  I believe you're in danger, I fled Azahora for my life."

 

 

Tears were flowing down Randy's face.  "I  crossed the desert to get to you Isadora and I would cross the world for you.  I love you.  But I have a lot to tell you.  We are both in danger and our time together could be short."

 

 

"We have to talk.  Right now.  I need to know - has anyone from Azahora contacted you?  Has anyone been here?  Has there been anything suspicious?  Does anyone know I'm here?"

"No, nothing" said Isadora.  "Just you on the doorstep a week ago.  No one but Cali and I know you're here.  Oh, and Dr. Hoo."

"Dr. Who?"

"Yes, Dr. Hoo.  He's kind of a family doctor, for our alien uncle, Gallileo, but not the normal kind of doctor.  He can be trusted."

"I need to see him.  Can you bring him here?"

"Yes, yes, I'll call him.  He'll be glad to see you.  He gave you some kind of elixir, I think it saved your life Randy"  said Isadora, dialing Dr. Hoo's number.

 

 

Isadora and I sat on the couch and listened as he began his story.

"After you were taken from the Bio Botany house, we were swarmed with NST agents (from  a special division of the Azahorian Protection and Prosecution government branch)  They questioned everyone in the house, and they confiscated the L.Simnivori and all of our greenhouse projects, they took all our work.  They were very interested in what you and I were working on, I told them everything, but they still searched my room, and found some of your notebooks Izzy, remember when we were studying in my room the day before they took you into custody?  They were really upset I didn't tell them I had your notebooks, but I forgot all about us studying in there, I didn't know you'd left it, I was so upset about you being gone.  The NST agents thought I might be hiding more, so I was taken into custody and driven into Azahora City.  I demanded to talk to my father, but all they would say was that my father was 'aware' that I was in their custody and that I was to be questioned. 

 

They used an Electroveratum machine,  this type of machine is usually only used for murder suspects, serial killers, people like that.  I couldn't believe they were using it on me!  It's kind of a primitive torture device really, if the interrogator doesn't like the answers you're giving, the machine will force the right answer out of you by delivery of an electric shock. 

"Oh my god Randy, what did they want to know?"  Isadora asked.

 

 

They wanted to know about you Izzy.  Did I know you before the fellowship, did I arrange for you to come here.  Did you receive any money, did I receive any money.  They knew your whole family, they had pictures of everyone.  They knew where your father Socrates worked, they know that your mother Kaylynn is obsessed with cleaning the aquarium.  They know about some band your brother Plato is in.  They know about this HoHoHo house and who was at your last Toga party.  They know Calliopie is the Heiress.   I told them, I didn't know anyone but you, I didn't meet you until you came to the fellowship.  I've never even been to Legacy Land.   They have information that a spy was sent from this University to steal Azahorian Bio Weaponry Secrets.  Isadora, they think YOU are the spy.

 

They shocked me repeatedly.  I've never felt so much pain in my life.  I told them the truth.  L.Siminivori was the BioBot project assigned by Professor Cole.  We'd never even heard of it until then, and we were only doing the genetic sequencing, which was our assignment.  You know how confusing that stuff was, and you had the idea to sort the synchrosis chains differently, but I don't understand why that matters.  They shocked me repeatedly until I passed out from the pain.  I woke up hours later, in a different room.

 

 

There was material marked "Evidence" in that room, it was from the Bio Bot house.   Professor Cole's computer was in there, it still had the label on it from the University.  You told me you were on that computer when the agent came to get you, so it had to be important.   I took my Azahora Army knife and opened it up and took out the hard drive.  If you'd found information they wanted that badly, I thought it would be there, so I took the hard drive and hid it in the lining of my jacket.  The door to the room I was in was unlocked - the building was quiet - it was dark outside, I didn't realize it was the middle of the night until I was actually outside the building.  I didn't know what to do.  I can't reach my father without passing through countless NST Security Agents.  My escape was easy, too easy, and I suspect it was a setup, but it was the only choice I had.

 

For the first time in my life I was alone, except for you Isadora.  I knew I had to reach you, to warn you, to protect you,  so I left Azahora City on foot, heading west towards Legacy Land.  I knew very well that I could die in the desert, and if I did, the hard drive would die with me, and you would be safe, and if I made it to Legacy Land alive, maybe someday there would be an end to all of this, and we could be together.

 

"How did you survive the desert heat?  The Azahora desert is 145 degrees in the daytime."

 

I ran 

  I climbed

 

My royal Azahorian blood may have sustained me to some degree.  I am directly descended from 10 generations of desert dwellers and our genetics have adapted our bodies to deal with extreme heat.

When I couldn't walk, I crawled.

 

When I couldn't crawl, I pulled my body across the ground.

 

Even if it took me eternity to cross the desert, Isadora, it was the only way.  I know how these NST agents are.  They're coming for you, and your family.  All I had to do was think of the danger you are in and I had the strength to keep going.

I climbed across the mountain ranges. I would get to the top of one mountain to see more empty desert, on the other side.  But my future, our future, lay across that sea of sand.

 

Not a step of it was easy.  Several times I thought I would die, but I prayed I would not die without first reaching you.  It was the only thing that made it worthwhile to keep going, the thought that I might someday reach you, and that it would save your life.  You're all that matters to me Isadora.  My royal family appears to have abandoned me, and they may want to kill me.  I love you Isadora.  There wasn't an inch of ground that wasn't worth crossing for you.

 

I collapsed from heat an exhaustion, many many times.  At night I would look up at the stars and I could see your face, and you were calling to me, telling me to keep going.

 

Isadora was sobbing by the end of the story, it was emotional for all of us.  So scary, and it seemed even more of a miracle that Randy was sitting in our house telling this story.  We all might have gone out of our heads with simultaneous joy and grief if Dr. Hoo didn't show up just then.

 

"Hezzo.  Yez, you are de boy I saw last week, No?  Yes, I am Dr. Hoo.  Dese girlsh say dat you cross Azahora Desert on foot?  Dis is most unusually.  Are you Azahorian Royal Family?  I haz been vanting sample of dis blood for long time.  Very inzteresting.  How you feel?"

 

"Let me look eye.  I holes up fize fingas, No?  Goot.  Just like house plant.  Keep your roots watered anz you vill be fine.  I vill gives you some elixir creams for the sand burnses on your face, zat will be gone soons.  No charge, No charge."

 

Thank you so much Dr. Hoo.  That Elixir saved my life.  I can't thank you enough for coming, and for coming back.  I needed to see you, for myself, to be sure you weren't from Azahora or the NST.  I really appreciate all you've done.  You are a genius.

"Vell Ranzee, you vezy nice to say dat.  I am glads de Elixir work for you, I vill do more resuch.  Is good to see.  Pleeash, stay out of dezert.  Next time, take bus.  K?"

After that Dr. Hoo was gone, he said there was a badger with a bad tooth that needed his attention. 

 

 

 Randy and Isadora went to bed, and I came up here to cry and think about Randy's story.  It was the most romantic story I've ever heard.  He really loves my sister.  I've never seen anything like this - someone risking their life for love, I, I just don't know.  I didn't know love like that was possible.  Here I've been dating all these guys looking for the love of my life, and I'm just now realizing that I might not know what true love looks like.  I've never had a relationship that holds a candle to what Izzy and Randy share.  And it's not that I want George or Robi to go crawling across the desert, but there's something about the desperation - their dying wish is just to be together.  I went into this competion looking for a hot guy that I could have a good time with and would make a decent husband, whatever that was.  After seeing Isadora, I don't know if love will ever look the same to me again.  True love has an element of desperation, devotion, it's enduring any ammount of pain for the happiness and safety of the other.  I want someone to love me like that.  And now I'm scared.  I don't know if anyone ever will.

 

 

 

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