(Voice of Alonzo Solace): "I've been dreaming. Not Terrian dreams, but simple uncomplicated dreams, human dreams. It's been a long time since I've dreamt like this, and I'm not really used to it yet. The dreams kinda startled me at first. They were just these short bursts of color, light and action, but they've been getting longer lately. Julia says that my connection to the DreamPlane jump-started my dreaming ability. It is all such an strange experience for me that I sometimes have trouble separating the dreams from my thoughts. Is there a difference between dreaming and thinking? Mostly I dream about the exact same thing that I'm doing when I'm awake, traveling. In my dreams, we're on the way to New Pacifica. I'm driving or walking or something, and our destination is just out of reach. We're so close now. Yale says that we'll make it before winter sets in again. Anyway, that's what I had been dreaming. But lately, my dreams have changed."

* * * *

Alonzo dreamed. In his dream he was at home in the cockpit of a tiny spacecraft, flying somewhere in some uncharted section of space. Stars and comforting control panels surrounded him. Everywhere he looked he saw familiar things: switches, lights, keypads, the curve of the view screen, the stark colors. He moved slowly and purposefully, his hands flowing over the panels and keyboards with ease. Everything was silent except for the gentle hum of the engines. Everything was calm and quiet.

He was awakened with a bang, several bangs. Two voices were shouting. He sat up and for a moment he didn't know where he was. Then, he remembered it all and felt a pang of sadness. The dream of space had been so tempting.

He climbed off his cot and out of his tent to find Morgan and Baines arguing over a scattering of empty packing containers. "Well, if you would just look where you were going..." Morgan was saying.

"Why did you put this stuff here? It's in the way. Anyone would've run into it."

"It's not in the way if you just had your eyes open. And besides, the containers are right here if anyone needs them."

"You were just too lazy to put them away," Baines muttered, and then looked up and saw Alonzo. "Sorry Lonz," he said, "didn't mean to wake you."

Alonzo yawned, "I guess I should be getting up anyway. Just because I was up half the night on duty doesn't mean I have to get any sleep."

"Hey, did you hear something funny last night?" Baines asked somewhat nervously. "Like something howling?"

"Howling?" Morgan cried. "What? Like a Grendler or something?"

Alonzo shrugged. "I didn't hear anything."

"Like what kinda thing howling?" Morgan persisted. "Did it sound like it would kill us in our sleep?"

"I can tell you one person I wouldn't mind seeing killed in his sleep." Baines' voice was low.

Alonzo moved away from the tent and from the two men who continued to argue about where packing containers should be stored, what sort of thing was howling in the night, and whom it should eat. The pilot stared out to the west at the vast forest before them. They had left the river over three weeks ago and had crossed a large grassy prairie. The stalks reached to their shoulders, and in places grew taller than Danziger. The blades of grass were about as thick as a finger, and proved to be amazingly flexible and strong. Some of the group had tried twisting ropes and weaving baskets out of the fibers. The results were mixed at best, but with a little more practice they could probably find a decent use for the substance.

The problem was, nobody cared much for the grass. It was only the latest barrier to be thrown before them. The ATV and DuneRail were forced to follow the TransRover, which plowed down the stalks, creating a makeshift pathway for them. The plants were constantly becoming stuck in the axles of the vehicles, grinding them to a stop.

The TransRover further impeded their progress. Despite his efforts, Danziger had not been able to completely fix the left front wheel assembly and some of the wiring. They had almost lost the vehicle when they tried to bring it across the black stone bridge. Danziger tinkered with it every night, but he just didn't have the necessary parts to correct the problems. The vehicle still pulled strongly to the left, its brakes hardly worked, and from time to time it just died altogether without any warning. The group would wait until Danziger was able to coax the vehicle back to life, and then maybe hours later they would be on their way again.

Now, they had finally reached the end of the prairie and faced the forest. It was composed of tall, closely packed trees, and dense, thorny brambles. There was no way of getting the TransRover between the bottle-brush-topped trees, and neither the DuneRail nor ATV would make it through the underbrush. Scouting parties were sent in both directions, along the face of the forest, to look for a place to penetrate the dark wood. Walman and Magus had traveled to the south, Mazatl and Danziger to the north. The scouting parties had left the previous morning and had not yet found any entrance into the dense forest. The long sultry summer was over and they were already into autumn. Yale had pronounced that New Pacifica might be less than 200 klicks away, an easy distance to cover before winter. Of course, that depended on the TransRover's working condition and whether or not they would be able to find a way through the forest. In any case, for the first time, New Pacifica was an attainable goal.

Alonzo walked up to Devon just as her GEAR signaled an incoming message. She put it on. "I'm here, Danziger."

Danziger's image appeared before her, "You'll never guess what we've found, Adair." He said laconically.

"Don't make me guess, Danziger, what do you have?"

"Come on, make a wish."

"I wish you found a paved road that ran through this entire damn forest," she said sharply.

He looked shocked. "You got it," he laughed.

Devon paused, "What do you mean?"

"I'm telling you, we found a road. It may not be paved, but it's as straight and flat as you could ever want."

"A road?"

"I don't know how it got here, but I'll be damned. It's definitely a road."

Devon snapped off her GEAR and turned to Alonzo. They said nothing, as they turned to the north, and the direction of their latest surprise.

* * * *

They started out almost immediately to meet up with Danziger and Mazatl, the TransRover protesting the whole way. The vehicle broke down once. The ATV caught up with them, while True and Denner worked to bring the vehicle back to working order. The group was relieved when they finally caught up to the DuneRail, with Danziger and Mazatl standing nearby. The huge vehicle shuddered to a halt at the verge of the road, and Danziger sighed, realizing that his afternoon would consist of fixing the TransRover again.

Devon stared in disbelief at the straight road that led into the darkness of the woods. It was perfect, flawless. Nothing grew on the road as far back as they could see. Only a few wisps of branches could be seen laying on the bare surface. It was quiet and calm and completely alien to this world.

"Have you walked on it at all?" Julia came up beside them, suddenly anxious. She was already scanning Danziger and Mazatl.

"We walked in a few dozen meters. It looks like it runs all the way through," Danziger commented.

Julia looked dubious. She turned to Cameron. "We should run some tests on some soil samples before anyone else sets foot on this thing. Something is keeping the plant life from growing here. It could be a powerful herbicide." she nodded to Danziger and Mazatl. "I'd wash up if I were you, and change your clothes. We can't be too careful."

Danziger shook his head. "Whatever you say. Still, I think we've found the answer to our problem here. Like my dad always said, 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'."

"Well," Devon replied, "mine always said 'Look before you leap'."

Danziger sighed, "I could trade clichés with you all day Adair, but I say the sooner we get moving down this road, the sooner we'll be reaching New Pacifica."

Devon had to agree with Danziger. She had been afraid that they might have to build such a path into the wilderness. The process would have taken months. Once again, someone else had beaten them to it. "Who built it?" Devon said to Yale.

Yale considered the question. "It's hard to say for certain. I don't believe that the Terrians would have created this. It's possible that the Grendlers could have cleared this area. It is also a possibility that the same people who built the bridge, forged this road."

"The date on the bridge was over a hundred years old," Devon stated. "I can't believe that the road would still be in this shape after such a long time."

"Someone might be maintaining it," Yale said. "Or maybe it's of a more recent construction. Perhaps the penal colonists created it. We'll just have to wait until we have more clues."

"The penal colonists?" Morgan cried, pulling Bess close to him. "I don't like the sound of that. Maybe they're still around, huh?"

Devon shook her head. "We don't know what's going on yet. I suggest we set up camp here while Julia runs some tests." The road, like the bridge, was a stroke of luck. They had let their guard down at the bridge, twice. First, they had almost lost the TransRover, and then Morgan and True were almost lost as well. They would be more careful now.

* * * *

Alonzo wandered aimlessly around the camp. They had become very quick and efficient at setting up the tents, and had their area ready in no time at all. Bess was supervising their supper preparation, and he could already smell the familiar fish stew cooking. Alonzo walked toward Julia and Cameron who were squatting alongside the road. Cameron stood as he approached and said, "She's all yours," before he headed toward Devon's tent.

Julia smiled at Alonzo, as he sat down beside her. She set down her scanner. "Hello, Fly-Boy," she said.

"How's it looking?" he asked quickly. "We're not going to be poisoned or anything from this road, are we?"

Julia shook her head. "Not that we can tell. The soil has been sterilized, to a depth of 2 meters. Don't ask me how, but it's still sterile."

Alonzo looked suspiciously at the earth. "Sterile, huh? Anything I should be worried about."

She smiled again. "Don't worry Romeo. It's not going effect anything but plant life." She ran her hand along his shoulder, and down his chest. "I wouldn't let you anywhere near anything that'd do that to you. It would be such a waste." She kissed him softly. "Cameron's gone to tell Devon the good news. Do you want to take a walk in the woods?"

Alonzo couldn't help it. Here he was, sitting next to the woman he loved, who was flirting like crazy with him, and all he could think of was space. His mind traveled back to his dreams. He didn't want to be here right now. He wanted the cool darkness of space, and the quiet of the cockpit. At this moment, he could hardly endure sitting here by the side of a road, at the edge of a forest, on a planet called G889. And he felt terrible about it.

****

Bess watched as Morgan carefully peeled the yellow tubers. He was very slow. Still, she couldn't complain. At least he was helping. And now, it was probably for the best that she had such a perfectionist peeling the roots. Bess had learned some time ago that as long as the task was 'important,' Morgan would do his best to perform it. He peeled the bitter skin so slowly and carefully that he hardly removed any of the meat. They couldn't spare a bite right now. This was their last batch of the tubers. They still had a few fish from the river, carefully stored in the TransRover's larder, but those were running low too. There was nothing left of their original food supplies. Everything they ate now, came from the planet. The grass prairie had not offered them much to eat. From time to time they had spotted high-leaping, gazelle-like animals, but they were far too fast in the tall grass, and the vehicles were too slow to ever catch up to them. Nothing edible grew in the choking grass.

Magus and Walman were watching the fish grilling on the fire. They were laughing and occasionally flipping the last few fillets. Morgan stopped and set down the knife and the root, and rubbed his knee thoughtfully.

"Your knee still hurts, honey?" Bess asked. He had recovered from his ordeal at the river, but still claimed to suffer from soreness in his left knee.

"Yes," Morgan responded glumly, "if we didn't have to walk so far every day I'd be okay."

"You know, you should ride on the TransRover for a longer part of the day," Bess said helpfully. Julia had prescribed a half-day of exercise and a half-day of rest to help mend the liaison's ruined knee.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "It's not so bad during the day though. It doesn't always start hurting until later." He paused, looking out toward the woods, still rubbing his knee.

"Is something else bothering you? What are you thinking about?"

He started to speak, but stopped, "Nothing," he muttered, "nothing."

"Everyone!" Devon said as she walked to the center of the camp, disturbing their conversation. "Cameron and Julia have given us the good news. The road is safe to travel on. We'll start early tomorrow and travel as a group. We don't know what's in there and I'd rather we faced it together. Let's get some good rest and start off early." She finished her short speech and called Yale. The two walked to the edge of the forest, onto the road, and then into the dimness of the wood. They followed the road in about 20 meters. The thick brambles that surrounded the road gave way and the forest floor opened up. The trunks were still too densely packed to allow the TransRover or even maybe the DuneRail to travel off the road, but at least a person could walk beneath the trees. There were short, sparse bushes here and there, and a green mossy carpet covered sections of the forest floor. Devon and Yale left the road and walked a short distance into the tall, straight trees.

"So, what do you think?" Devon asked.

Yale looked around slowly while Devon waited patiently. "From what I can tell, this forest has not changed for a very long time." He pointed to the forest floor. "Every tree here seems to be approximately the same size in diameter and height. It would appear that the trees grow to a certain size and stop. Also, it would seem that they reach a certain density and then stop reproducing. There is no sign of any young trees starting. I don't even see any sign of disease or decay. You don't see any branches or needles on the ground. There are the remains of fallen trees near the road, but not anywhere else. I'd say these traces were remnants of the road clearing operation. From the extent of decay, I would say that the trees were cut down well over one hundred years ago. With the exception of the road, this forest has not changed in a thousand years."

They walked a few meters further into the wood and came to a halt. Bones were scattered near the base of a tree. It was a startling discovery in that cool, dim forest. The bones appeared to belong to a deer-like creature. Yale picked up one of the longer bones and examined it. It was shattered, and there were teeth marks along the whole length. The forest suddenly seemed cold and dark as they headed back to the road and the warmth of the others.

* * * *

As the group traveled into the wilderness, they caught sight of strange, tall animals flitting in and out of the darkness of the woods. Yale compared them to deer in shape, but larger, with small angular heads and short spiked antlers. Their coats were dappled brown and white, making them almost invisible in the shifting dimness that they traveled through. Yale decided that the bones they had found belonged to this type of animal. The group kept a sharp eye open for the creature that might have been capable of killing such a large, fast animal, but there was no sign of it. They also watched for any clue to the creators of the road, but found nothing. The air was pungent with the oily fragrance of the trees, and the atmosphere was cool and comforting, despite the threat of possible carnivores. The children would run out ahead until their parents called them back. Morgan and Bess walked hand in hand. Morgan was more distracted than usual, but Bess looked happy. Julia rode with Alonzo in the DuneRail. She talked quietly about building a home, a little place connected to a simple medical clinic. She wondered out loud if the trees would make good building material. Alonzo remained mostly silent.

The road was easy to travel upon. And despite the TransRover's fragile condition, they made fairly good time. When the vehicle came to a second unplanned halt, Devon decided to set up camp for the night. Baines, Magus, Mazatl and Walman went on a hunting party, in search of the native deer. Bess, Morgan, Cameron and the children went off in search of edible vegetation. The others stayed in the camp, with Danziger, Denner and Zero working on the TransRover yet again. Danziger would have preferred the help of his daughter as well, but he also thought she might enjoy the beauty of the woods. Well, actually it wasn't his idea to let her off the hook so easily, but Bess had invited her, and all True needed to do was say "Please Daddy, just this once," and she was off.

Zero was being his usual, over-helpful self, trying to cheer up Danziger without much success. The mechanic threatened to shut Zero down with a monkey wrench when he started sing "Whistle While you Work." The threat quieted the mechanical worker for a while, until of course, Denner took up the chorus and then the singing robot couldn't help himself

The hunting party returned empty handed. The deer were too swift and the forest too dense to make any headway. The gathering party had been more fortunate. They had found a variety of berries, a few mushrooms and a type of nut that was as big as a closed fist. The nuts turned out to be inedible, but the berries and mushrooms were a nice addition to their meager diet.

"Morgan made friends with some snakes!" Uly said with a smile.

"They were some of those little green snakes with the purple stripes," True added. Julia had examined that variety of reptile earlier in the day and found that it was harmless. "They got into his hair when he was sleeping! He musta been sleeping on their nest."

Morgan looked upset. "I wasn't sleeping, I was just resting my eyes."

True laughed. "There must have been about six or seven of them. He was jumping around like this." Uly and True both demonstrated for the others how Morgan had leaped around, thrashing at his head, until the two children fell over laughing. That was enough to set the rest of them off. Soon the whole group, with the exception of one, was on the ground, laughing.

Morgan frowned. "Well, you'd do the same if you had a bunch of snakes in your hair." He brushed his hand through his hair a few times, to rid himself of any stray snakes that may have made their way back onto his head.

True smiled. "I'm sorry, Morgan. We didn't mean anything." Her attitude toward Morgan had changed considerably during the journey. At first she was a little scared of him, and then contemptuous and finally indifferent. After he had almost lost his life for her at the river, she felt a closeness to him. In a strange way, she almost felt responsible for him.

He nodded, and still brushed at his head and shoulders. He snorted slightly in disgust. His attitude toward the children, especially True, had changed greatly during their travels. At first he was disdainful toward them, then annoyed and finally detached from them. Since he had tripped True on the bridge and almost killed her, he felt somewhat responsible for her. Even though he hated being teased, he could realize that she meant him no harm by it. "Stupid snakes," he muttered as he walked away from the others, who were coming very close to hyperventilating from all their laughter.

* * * *

Alonzo disabled the perimeter detectors and walked slowly down the road, away from the light of the camp and into the night. The darkness around him was so complete that it was almost tangible. He looked back at the camp; it formed a small dome of light against the great blackness around them.

It was late. He should have been asleep by now, but he couldn't return to the dreams just yet. How could he think about space? How could he yearn for it when he had so much here? Julia loved him. She had spoken quite often about a future in New Pacifica. Her dream amounted to a home and children in the new community. How could he tell her that he wanted something very different? Of course, with Julia, there was no alternative. She would never be accepted back by the Council after she had turned her back on them. Her future was here. His was in the stars.

What could he do in New Pacifica? He was a pilot. He supposed that when the Colony ship arrived, they would need someone to help ferry the new inhabitants to the planet surface, but then what? Perhaps they would need someone to pilot the ship home. How could a pilot fit into the dream of New Pacifica?

Alonzo tilted his head back and looked up at the stars above him. The moons were new, and the sky was incredibly dark. The trees blotted out the sky on either side, leaving only a narrow swath of stars above him, a road of stars. Roads always lead somewhere. They have a starting point and an end. The Eden Advance party had journeyed a great distance already from the landing site to here, but where would he go and what would he do when their journey reached its end?

He could almost imagine himself in the cockpit of the Colony ship, headed back to the space stations circling a dead Earth. He could almost see it.

Of course he knew that there was more to the sky than this narrow road of stars above him. If he were to just step clear of this forest, the whole sky would open up to him, so large it might swallow him up.

A strange, rasping sound drew him out of his revelry. He spun around, pulling the LumaLite off his belt and flicked it on. There, for just a moment, an image was illuminated and then it was gone. Something, about waist high, covered with bristling short fur, with a high body and a large heavy head glared at him. There was a flash of teeth in its oversized mouth, and then it was gone. Alonzo swept the light back and forth in the darkness, trying to catch sight of the creature again, but he found only the outline of the tall straight trees.

He had stopped breathing. He took a deep breath and then ran back toward the camp ights. "Walman!" he cried through gritted teeth.

Walman leaped to his feet as Alonzo ran into camp, dropping the MagPro with a clatter. "What? What is it?" The man fumbled for the weapon, clumsily dropping it once again before he stood up again. "What's going on?" Walman could see the fear in Alonzo's face, and he powered up the MagPro. "What happened?"

"Something's out there," Alonzo continued to shine the LumaLite into the darkness. He saw nothing but their equipment. "And I didn't like the look of it."

"Should we wake the others?"

Alonzo considered this for a moment. "I'll tell Devon and maybe Yale. I think it ran off. I don't see why we everyone should loose their night's sleep."

"What was it, what did you see?" A strange low moan came out of the darkness, a short distance way. It grew faint as the origin seemed to move way from them.

"I'm not sure," Alonzo said quietly. "But, I sure as hell don't want to see it again."

* * * *

Devon agreed with Alonzo and decided to increase the night-watch but not wake the others. The perimeter detectors were re-enabled and Alonzo joined Walman for the first shift. He had described the creature to Yale who found a similar creature in his databanks. "It may be a form of canine. Perhaps a hyena or a wild dog would be the closest match on Earth, although your creature sounds quite a bit larger. They were scavengers and opportunists, but they also were hunters, pack hunters. We should be careful."

The night passed without incident. From time to time they heard the sound of howling in the distance, it was a strange discordant sound, that changed its pitch constantly, a mournful, almost human wail that kept the guards on edge.

The group traveled almost 10 klicks the next day, their best distance in weeks. The going was easy, and despite the fear of Alonzo's creature, the travelers were light hearted. Bess walked with the children, singing songs that she remembered from her childhood.

The TransRover gave them no trouble until a herd of deer suddenly bolted across the road and Baines slammed on the brakes, killing the temperamental engine. Magus, carrying a MagPro, was able to get off a shot at one of the animals as they fled into the forest, and brought it down. The other deer, terrified, disappeared into the dappled darkness of the wood before another shot could be fired. Everyone stared after them for a few moments, unmoving. The incident lasted perhaps five seconds, no longer.

Although, it was still early, they decided to set up camp. The fish stew that Bess had prepared two days before, had run out during their afternoon meal. Now, they would have venison. Magus, Walman and Mazatl took on the task of cleaning and preparing the meat while the others went about their usual camp duties. It didn't take long before the majority of the meat was stored and the rest was grilling over an open fire. Uly and True explored the area, and quickly found something along the roadside.

"Look Mom," Uly said, squatting by a smooth-surfaced black stone, as big as a breadbox. "Look what I found."

Devon and Yale looked in disbelief at the discovery. "It's German isn't?" Devon asked.

"Yes," the cyborg responded, "And it would appear that it is the same stone used in the construction of the bridge. We haven't seen this type of mineral since then." Yale knelt down beside the black stone and ran his hand along the carefully carved letters. "There are three names. Bettina Oberman, Eric Ruch and Maria Ruch. And here it says 'Their Spirits Endure'. It is dated one year after the date on the bridge."

"A gravestone?" Devon looked sadly at the small stone. Almost two hundred years had passed since the other party of humans had passed this way, still, she couldn't help feeling the loss of these three travelers. Devon knelt down beside Yale and touched the cold black stone. "We thought that they were headed east when they crossed the river because the quarry was on the western side of the river. Now, it looks as if they were headed west instead." She shook her head, "I don't know. I still feel that they were traveling east. Maybe they changed their minds and came back."

"We must have been wrong about the bridge and the quarry. This is evidence that they were traveling westward, like us."

"I don't know. I just can't shake this feeling. I think they turned back."

****

The group sat around the fire, at ease and tired from another day on the journey. Night had not yet descended, but the sky was beginning to grow dark. Magus and Walman were sitting close to each other. Bess and Denner talked quietly, eyeing the couple and giggling discretely. Baines, Cameron and Mazatl poked from time to time at the cooking meat. True brought a small packing crate over to Morgan so that he could prop up his sore leg. He was embarrassed at the attention and looked around sheepishly to see if anyone had noticed, but everyone seemed otherwise occupied.

Julia sat beside Alonzo and stared into the fire. She put her hands into the pockets of his jacket and rested her head on his shoulder. "This is nice," she whispered. "Couldn't you just stay here forever?"

Alonzo was quiet. How could he stay? A pilot belongs in the stars. Ever since he was a child, it was the only thing he wanted to be. Every step he took in his education was aimed to that goal. How could he be anything else? They were so close now to the end of their journey, so close to the arrival of the Colony ship and his return to the stars.

Suddenly they heard the strange rasping growl. They all spun around to face the creature that Alonzo had seen the previous night. In this half-light, the dog-like creature looked even more fearsome, like something out of a nightmare. It's short, bristling fur was mottled brown and black, looking as if it were scorched by fire. Its teeth were just as sharp and awful as Alonzo had described to them. Its body was long and cat-like, but its paws displayed thick non-retractable claws, more like a dog. Magus, who was closest to the creature, stumbled to her feet as she tried to back away from the growling thing. But there was nowhere to go. More of the animals, with heads lowered and snarling, were appearing from out of the dimness of the wood. Altogether, about a dozen of these animals surrounded them.

Danziger grabbed True and pulled her to him just as Devon reached Uly and did the same. Morgan and Bess were in each other's arms as the others looked about wildly for something, anything that could act as a weapon. "Dammit!" Walman glared at Baines, "What happened to the perimeter detectors?" Baines said nothing as Walman grabbed one of the flaming logs and flung it at a dog. It yipped as it quickly moved out of the way of the projectile. Baines pulled out one of the poles that supported the grilling meat and swung it at the closest animal. The meat fell into the fire with an angry hiss, making the growling creatures jump back in surprise.

"The meat!" Yale said quickly, and pushed the partially cooked venison out of the fire. He flung the largest piece as far as he could away from the group. The wild dogs shied away for a moment, and then realizing what it was, half of them broke off after the meat. The remaining six still hovered nearby as the others fought over the free meal. Yale threw the other two pieces of meat after the first; some of the remaining creatures went after it, as some of the others returned. There were always some on guard.

Devon looked around. "We need a weapon." The MagPros and guns were still sitting beside the TransRover, a good 20 meters away. An obvious breach in their security processes. There was no way that any of them would make it to the weapons in time, even if the animals were distracted with the meat.

"Somebody, do something!" Morgan whined, looking at dogs who circled closer and closer, snapping at them.

"Zero!" Devon shouted.

The robot, who had been standing near one of the tents responded, "How can I be of assistance?"

"Bring me the MagPro!" Devon shouted.

"Yes, ma'am. I will do that in a jiffy." Zero said. But, the moment he started to move, the animals were upon him. Zero tried to side step their advance, but they caught him off balance. Within seconds, the robot was knocked off his feet and flung to the ground by three of the powerful carnivores.

"Zero!" Danziger shouted, "Zero! Are you all right!"

"Yes sir, I am functioning. There are animals of an unknown variety trying to damage me." Zero said. Danziger wasn't sure if he didn't hear a note of panic in the mechanized voice. The creature's growling reached a frantic pitch as they attempted to tear into his metal skin. They stopped and with a disgruntled yelp, they left the robot. "Assistance!" Zero cried, "I am unable to regain mobility! Assistance!"

"Hang tight, Zero. We'll take care of you as soon as we can," Danziger said, feeling somewhat foolish about trying to comfort the robot when their lives were in danger. Baines, Magus and Mazatl all had found poles from the cooking rack and were swinging them about at the approaching wild dogs. They were brazen creatures, leaping as close as they could while neatly avoiding the swinging poles. They had made quick work of the venison and were busily trying to find something else to eat.

Then suddenly, they stopped. The animals all tilted their heads, listening, and then their high tails dropped between their legs and they moaned mournfully. For a few moments, nobody moved.

Out of the forest, not far from where the Eden Advance Party was trapped around the fire, two Grendlers emerged, one was carrying an electronic lantern in front of him. The dogs slunk away from the newcomers, whining and crying as they went, looking over their shoulders at the Grendlers. The fight had completely left the fierce creatures and in a moment, they were gone, disappearing into the darkening wood as quickly as they had arrived. Devon and the others breathed a sigh of relief, and then turned to the visitors.

One of the Grendlers held out the lantern, which glowed softly, holding it out as if to give it to them. The other, bowed, pointing from the lantern to the group. "They want us to have it," True said quickly.

Devon stepped forward cautiously. The Grendlers seemed friendly enough, and anything that would drive way the wild animals was welcome. She didn't even mind their overpowering smell for a change. She carefully took the small lantern from the Grendler, who shied away the moment the device left his grip. The lantern was battered and very old, approximately 15 centimeters tall and 10 centimeters in diameter, with a metal base and cap, and rippled glass sides that emitted a soft blue glow. The letters "MTR" were stamped on top. Julia stood next to Devon and scanned it. "It's emitting a very high frequency sound-wave. That must have been what frightened those creatures away." She smiled. "They must not like the sound of that very much."

The Grendlers shuffled over to the black stone memorial and touched it softly. They bowed again and gestured strangely. Their faces seemed sad. They pointed from themselves, to the memorial, and then from the lantern, to Devon and the others.

True approached them slowly. "I think they're sorry about something. I think, they're sorry about what happened to those people. I think they're trying to make up for it somehow." She looked at her father for support.

"Julia, how old do you think these Grendlers are? Do you think they remember the people who left this memorial?" Devon asked quickly.

"They couldn't have lived that long. Maybe these Grendlers are the descendants of the ones that knew what happened here. If only we could communicate with them…"

The two Grendlers backed away from the group, out of the soft glow of the lantern, away from the gentle light of the fire and into the darkness of the woods, leaving the group mystified.

* * * *

The strange dogs did not return that night, apparently the sound from the lantern was enough to keep them away. The group woke from a sleepless night and began another day.

Julia examined the lantern, but found no markings beyond the MTR on the cap. It was highly possible that it had belonged to the same people that had built the bridge and had left the memorial. There was speculation on how the Grendlers had come to possess the device, but there were no sure explanations. It would be yet another mystery of this part of G889, which they had started calling the German Lands. Julia adapted their GEAR to emit the same high frequency, so that they could leave the lantern when they left the forest, but still be able to protect themselves from future attacks of the native dogs. The Grendlers had taken good care of the lantern for a very long time. Undoubtedly, they had used it to protect themselves from the creatures. It seemed only fair to return it to them.

The group started out early, collapsing the camp with a skill that came from frequent use. As they traveled, Alonzo drifted toward the back of the group, thinking deeply about his future. Yale predicted that they would make it out of the forest before nightfall and that New Pacifica might be only a few weeks away. Their road was drawing to a close and Alonzo was no closer to knowing what he would do when he reached that end. How could he explain to any of them that he was a pilot and that meant that he would have to leave?

He eventually fell into step with Morgan, who was also at the tail end of the group. Alonzo became aware that Morgan was walking with his eyes shut, talking to himself, "Complete Form 121692.333, signed by Requester, Section Supervision for which request is sought, Section Supervisor from current section, all Dependents and initialed by Level 5. Initial Section C, D-1 and L. Copies sent to Requester, both Section Supervisors, Station Manager, C.A.B. Administrator, Secretary of Assessments, Secretary of Personnel Management for approval. Archive at location number 964@992.201. No wait, it's .935.201. Okay, once response received from all recipients, complete Form 121970.333 with Section B omitted. No, wait a minute, first you'll need Addendum 9112.345. No, no, Addendum 9112.345 comes before Form 121692.333." He frowned and opened his eyes and saw that Alonzo was looking at him strangely.

"What are you doing?" the pilot asked.

The bureaucrat looked embarrassed. "I was just trying to remember."

"What? It sounded like you were mumbling about a bunch of forms?"

"A bunch of forms? Yes, a bunch of forms." He sighed, "I used to remember everything. I mean, you could say that you were planning to have the color scheme of your living quarters changed and I would say 'you better have your 6549.221 signed by your Section Manager and have your 12644.292/B2 already filled out'. No, no, that's wrong. It's the /C2. No, I was right the first time, it is the /B2."

"Morgan, what difference does it make?"

Morgan sighed, "It makes all the difference. It's what I know. It's what I do. I used to know it all. But now..." he shook his head sadly, "It's gone. I've been trying to remember the proper sequence of forms for Change of Address. I've been trying for three days but I just can't remember for sure. The numbers are all flowing together and I can't remember for certain which form is the right one and which one is wrong. I don't even know if I have the form numbers right." He was obviously very upset.

"Morgan, we won't be needing any of those forms for a while. If we're lucky, we won't need them at all in New Pacifica."

Morgan looked frighten, "No, don't say that. It's all I know. A guy like you can do anything, but what will I do if nobody needs me? I, I promised Bess that I would always take care of her. What will I do if I can't afford to do that? What will happen to her?"

Alonzo laughed. Morgan could be so ridiculous. Why was he worried about something so trivial? Who cared if there wasn't any forms for a form-pusher to push? And then it dawned on him. Who cared if there was nothing for a pilot to pilot? It was simple. "I don't think there'll be a problem finding something to do in New Pacifica. You can run a comm-system like nobody's business. We're going to need skills like that, not someone sitting in an office pushing forms around. We won't need that any more than we'll need a pilot."

Morgan looked at Alonzo, questioningly. "What do you mean by that?"

"You simply stop being a form shuffler and become something we can use. I'll stop being a pilot and become, well...I'll become something we can use. What I mean is, you and me, we have the same problem. Back in the old days, we had it plush. But those days are gone. We have to face that fact. If we want to stay here and live on this planet we'll have to change and adapt to it. Hell, I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far." Morgan nodded slightly, so Alonzo went on, "We'll be fine. We both have women who love us, don't we. We've got one heck of a challenge ahead of us, building a city out of nothing. Who knows, we might even be good at it."

"Yeah," Morgan said, not exactly sure of himself, but hopeful, "we could do it."

"Hey! Boys!" Bess shouted. She was standing next to Julia. The rest of the group had moved some distance up the road. "Are you guys planning on joining us?"

"We'll be right there!" Alonzo shouted back. He and Morgan ran to catch up with Bess and Julia, and the four of them hurried to catch up with the rest.

* * * *

(Voice of Alonzo Solace): Yale was right, the road came to an end and we left the forest before the end of the day. I used to think of our journey as if it were a road, with a starting point and an ending point. We started at the landing site and some day we'll reach New Pacifica, the end. But now I'm thinking that it's not really like that at all. Our journey started long before we landed here, long before we even left the station. And even after we reach New Pacifica our journey won't be over. This is a journey that never ends.

THE END