The Ocean - Dark and Light

 

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It was inevitable that Eden Advance would someday reach the sea. But it had been much further away than anyone could have believed. When they first left the space stations, it had seemed that only a period of ColdSleep separated them from their goal, but things changed radically for them with the explosion on the Roanoke. They survived the crash, and counted themselves lucky, but there was so much between them and their destination. There had been more obstacles than imagined. Every time the signs pointed to a quick and easy route, something was thrown in their way. Mountains were higher than expected; vegetation was too thick to move through easily; water wasn't available; vehicles broke down; snow impeded them; the unexpected happened. An easy one-day stretch could be distorted into weeks if the odds were against them. They had faced the deaths of O'Neil, Eben, and others. They continued on, feeling a patch of darkness descend on them, but realizing that their own survival had become even more precious. They had traveled through desert and forest, through mountains and valleys, over rivers and road, through sickness, despair and joy. Now after twenty-two years asleep, four months trapped at their WinterCamp, another three months waiting for Devon's cure and recovery, and over a year of solid traveling, they had finally reached the end of the earth.

They were together when the crested the high dune in the early afternoon. The sight that met them was wondrous. A white-sand beach stretched in both directions as far as the eye could see, and the undulating water seemed to reach out into forever. The surf was harsh, the waves were high and violent. The water, under the patchy sky, seemed alive as it thrashed against the shore. The sun, catching the surface, turned the waves green and blue, black and white, dark and light.

They pulled their tattered coats closer as the cool, moist wind hit them. They had pictured a tropical paradise, and in fact the trees around them looked vaguely like the palm trees of earth, but they must have been a much more hardy variety. The early winter winds buffeted and swayed the tall trees, which moved back and forth in the wind like exotic dancers.

The DuneRail, with Baines and Cameron, sped ahead of the others, proving true to its name, and easily tackling the shifting dune. The ATV kicked up a cloud of sand as it followed, with Magus whooping as the vehicle almost tipped over, but she expertly righted it before it spilled. Walman caught up to her on foot. "I want to try that!" he said before she took off toward the water. The others on foot hurried to catch up.

The TransRover came last, lumbering over the difficult terrain. The three vehicles met at the base of the dunes and a great cheer went up. People were shouting and talking at the same time, creating such a din that nobody could understand a word. Uly and True were leaping into the air, as if trying to fly like the seabirds that hung in the air above them. Walman pulled Magus from the ATV and spun her wildly. She tripped him up and they ended up sprawled on the sand. Yale flung back his arms and shouted into the roar of the ocean.

Baines and Cameron abandoned the DuneRail, kicked off their boots, rolled up their pant-lets, and ran out into the surf, followed close behind by Magus, Walman and the children. "Be careful!" Danziger and Devon shouted, almost in unison. True and Uly slacked their pace only long enough to turn around and wave, then they were off with the others. The cold water hit them like a brick, making the group gasp and then laugh as they ran about in the ebb and flow. Danziger pulled Devon close to him and the two of them looked out into the waves.

Mazatl stepped slowly down from the TransRover and leaned for a moment against it, carefully cradling his right hand against himself. Denner patted him gently on the back. "How ya feeling, Maz'?" she asked.

He shrugged, "It's not so bad. Just throbs a bit now and then." His coat fluttered around him, and he tried in vain to stop its movement.

"This looks like a good place," Alonzo said, indicating a pile of driftwood that formed a convenient windbreak. He stood in the midst of it. "Looks like there'll be enough room here and everything. I think it will work just fine."

Julia nodded nervously, "Yes, it will have to do." Alonzo and Julia, along with Bess and Yale, helped Morgan down from the hammock they had rigged up to the other side of the TransRover. "Ow! Careful! Careful!" Morgan complained they lowered him down. "No, no, this is no good. This isn't going to work. Just leave me up there."

"Come on," Alonzo said, "Remember, we said that we'd get you down once we got to the beach. You've been complaining for days now about being up there."

"What? You're doing what I'm asking now? You picked a fine time to start doing that! Ow! I mean it, be careful! Okay! Watch the leg!" A splint had been constructed around the length of his left leg, and he awkwardly tried to protect it during the move.

"It's okay, Honey," Bess said, as she strained to help support her portion of his weight, "We'll get you settled down in no time."

"Hurry then," Morgan moaned.

Between the four of them, they managed to move Morgan the short distance into the windbreak, where Mazatl was sitting on one of the logs. Denner sat beside Mazatl, with her hand against his forehead. "I don't think he has a fever," she said hopefully to Julia who was watching the move.

"That's good," Julia said evenly. She set her bag nearby. "I better change the bandage again." Carefully, she removed the makeshift bandages from the man's hand to reveal the deep cut across his palm. She had stitched the wound back together, and had done her best to keep it clean, but the infection was getting worse. Carefully, she cleaned the wound again. Mazatl grimaced at the process but said nothing. Then, methodically, she rewrapped the hand in new bandages and threw the old into a pile so that they could be boiled, dried, and reused later. Everything was at a premium these days, even rags. All cloth was becoming scarce. Nobody had more than a few changes of clothing from the start, and after so many months of wear, everyone was looking a little threadbare.

"It's okay, isn't it?" Mazatl asked innocently. "It doesn't really hurt that much. I know it's getting better"

Julia met his watery eyes and wondered if Denner had been correct about the fever. He looked flushed. She laid her hand gently on his dry forehead. Denner was wrong. "You'll be okay. Once we get those medical supplies, you'll be just fine."

"What about me?" Morgan said. "It's really starting to hurt like crazy. Can't you do anything else then string me up in this contraption? This splint of yours is really starting to bite into me here and here, and down in this area here, and these bands are too tight. I don't think I'm getting any circulation to my toes."

Julia sighed tiredly and checked the fittings on the splint. "It has to be kept tight. We have to keep your knee immobile until I can perform surgery on it."

"Yeah, but can't you do anything about it now?" He lowered his voice to a low whine, "My knee really hurts, Julia. It's making me crazy. I'll do anything you say."

Julia nodded numbly. "As soon as we find those CargoPods I'll take care of both of you."

She walked slowly away to where Devon and Danziger were standing. "I can't take this," she said to them. "I just can't take it. We have to find those supplies now."

"I've finally got the signals pinpointed." Danziger looked to Devon. "Devon and I will leave immediately. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to reach the pods."

Julia nodded and stared at the windbreak, where Bess and Denner were trying to cheer up the two injured members of their crew.

"It's not your fault," Devon said purposefully. "Julia, you have to realize that it's not your fault."

"Then whose is it? I'm the one who packs the medical supplies. I'm the one who always has to secure them on the TransRover; that always insists that the crates be kept to the outside. I'm the one who didn't secure the straps! Why did I throw my MedKit in there at the last minute...the damned DiaGlove with it? I should have kept it with me. I should always have the MedKit with me. I did everything wrong."

"Look, there's nothing we can do about it now," Danziger stated. "The supplies are gone. We can't retrieve them. The ravine was too deep. And there is no fault to place on anyone."

"Besides, we'll reach the CargoPods very soon. We'll just have to make due without a DiaGlove and all for just a little while longer." Devon continued, "So if we had to lose the supplies, at least it happened at a convenient time."

"Convenient for whom?" Julia thought to herself as watched the occupants of the windbreak. Early yesterday morning, Morgan had managed to trip over an inconsequential rock and destroy what was left of his already damaged knee. If she had her DiaGlove and a surgical kit she might be able to restore him to mobility, but without even simple pain blockers, the best she could do was to keep him as still as possible. Two days ago, Mazatl had deeply sliced the palm of his hand on a broken tin that they had been using to collect rainwater. With all her equipment she would be able to repair the cut tendons, but now a stubborn infection had set in. She could keep the wound clean and dry, but little else. Some doctor she had turned out to be. Take away her modern toys and she was helpless.

Still, what Devon had said was true. They were only about an hour away from the CargoPods now. If this had happened anywhere else on their journey, Julia would have had to experiment with local plants, something she was afraid to do without her analytical equipment. So at least, the remedies were at arm's reach now. Mazatl had been fine up until this morning when his hand had taken a turn for the worse. He could hold out for a few more hours. Keeping Morgan still for the past two days had been difficult. The hammock simplified things in some ways by smoothing out the bumps, but it isolated him too much. Since he couldn't see anyone from his perch, high up on the TransRover, he had taken to shouting almost constantly for someone to talk to him and had managed to work himself into a panic more than once. Julia figured that since they had finally reached the beach, it would be better to have him down at their level. The previous evening they had considered sending a search party ahead, but nobody wanted to be left behind when they were so close. Reaching the ocean had been a goal too enticing to delay.

Devon called a quick meeting. The group gathered around the windbreak. "Okay, we made it," she said and looked at the faces of her group. "We made it to the Sea of Antius. We should be at the CommDish tomorrow. Danziger and I are going to raid some of our CargoPods that are just up the beach. We'll get some much needed supplies, come back, get Morgan and Mazatl here ready for the last push, and then tomorrow, we will all be at our destination."

Everyone was silent, realizing what these words meant. They were almost home.

Devon smiled tightly. "Don't bother setting up camp until we get back. It shouldn't take that long."

Danziger climbed into the ATV. "We'll see you in a couple hours," he said as Devon climbed onto the back. He glanced to Mazatl and Morgan; they both looked at him with the same expectant expression. "It won't be long," he assured them. "You won't even have time to miss us." Then they took off down the beach.

The others watched them go, envious that Devon and John would be that much closer to their destination. Baines and Walman set off to gather driftwood for a fire. Julia filled a pot with fresh water and prepared to sterilize the materials she had used that day. The others set about on that impossible task of waiting one more day.

The children finally lured Bess and Denner down to the water. Uly ran back and forth along the rolling edge of the water, chasing the light colored birds into the air. True spoke seriously to Bess, "They're going to find the stuff Julia needs, you know." The wind gusted against her head, and she had trouble pulling the loose ends of her hair away from her face. "My dad is very good at that sort of thing. They will find everything we need."

Bess nodded, "Yes, that's what I'm hoping."

"They'll find medical supplies and all the stuff we need to start building. I bet they'll even find us some new clothes." True watched Uly run, yet remained near Bess and Denner. "And everything is going to be just fine." She turned her attention to the windbreak. Mazatl was standing beside the pile of driftwood now, looking out into the surf. She could tell that Morgan was muttering and complaining to himself. "They'll be just fine, I'm sure of it." Bess turned to Denner and the two of them were silent.

****

Alonzo wandered nonchalantly over to Julia. "So, are you ready?" he asked her as she stooped over the fire.

"What?" she didn't look up from her work.

"Are you ready for our wedding, once we reach our new home?" They had not settled on a name for their destination yet. Ever since they first heard the signal from the CommDish, they had been referring to all the land to the west of the mountains as New Pacifica. It wasn't a small confined space, it occupied the entire area where the sound could be heard.

"Oh," she stopped what she was doing, and looked confused for a moment, "I'm sorry, I haven't been thinking much about that lately. I have too much on my mind." She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, and then she noticed Alonzo's disappointment. "Oh Alonzo, you know that I am ready. Let's just get through this crisis. Once I can get those two put back together I will be able to get my mind back on something as wonderful as that."

"I'm counting the minutes," he said and smiled.

****

The ATV hopped and skittered across the dunes as Danziger drove onward. Devon looked out at the waves and a calmness fell over her. They had made it. They were nearly at their destination, and only a short distance from the CargoPods. The last few days had been very trying for all of them, but now, with the wind in her hair and the sea at her side, Devon allowed herself to feel a tiny amount of relief and satisfaction. They had picked up the signals from eight pods on their GEAR. They would have all the medical supplies they needed, all the equipment to build a city and create a new home.

She tried to picture her old quarters on the space station, but could only come up with a foggy memory of colors and angles and harsh shapes. It was almost as if she had never lived there at all, as if it were only a story someone had told her.

She watched the waves play and crash, endless and formless, stretching out to the horizon, and then reached down to touch Danziger on the shoulder. He turned to see her and returned the smile. "We're almost there," he said. She nodded, yes almost there.

****

Most of the Advancers had headed up the beach to the protection of the dunes. The brisk weather had made the water's edge unpleasant. Only Uly, Cameron and Alonzo still skirted the water in bare feet. "Sissies!" Cameron was yelling at the others. "Come on back here! What? You afraid of a little cold water? What are you made of? Come on, you big fat babies!"

Walman and Baines made crude gestures at them from the lea of the TransRover. Magus laughed. She was working on digging out a pit for the campfire. She stood up and set the shovel on her shoulder when she heard Cameron shouting. "Look at those idiots," she smirked.

"Raving lunatics," Walman said as he pulled on a pair of heavy-duty gloves and started digging into the sand to help Magus.

"What's the deal with the gloves?" Baines asked skeptically.

"He doesn't want to break his dainty fingernails," Magus said.

"Dainty?" Walman snorted, "I'll show you dainty!" He didn't get a chance to demonstrate what he meant. They stopped talking when they heard Alonzo's shout.

"Ow! Damn it!" Their pilot fell onto his back, in the wet sand, clutching his foot.

Julia, her face taunt, and the others came running. "Oh god, Alonzo, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I stepped on that wobbling thing, and the next thing I know, it stung my foot. Geez!" Alonzo massaged his foot vigorously, "Wait, it stopped hurting. Hey, I can't feel it at all now!" He thumped on his bare foot with his fist and shook his head. "It's like my whole foot's gone completely numb."

Baines and Walman dragged him up onto the dry sand where Julia examined the injured foot. Cameron used a stick to poke at the gelatinous substance that Alonzo had stepped into. "I can't see anything wrong." Julia sighed, "I don't see a puncture wound, or a bite." She shook her head, "Do you know what happened?" Her voice and her face were equally strained.

"First it just hurt," Alonzo commented. "I guess it was like a shock, some sort of electric shock. Now, it's nothing." He paused, and then said with wonder, "My whole leg is getting numb." He ran his finger along his leg up to his hip. "There, I can feel that. It ends right at my hip." He shook his head, dumbfounded. "What a stupid thing to do."

Cameron joined them. "I think it's a kind of jellyfish. Some of the Earth jellyfish were capable of producing a painful sting."

Yale nodded, "At least on Earth, a single sting from a jellyfish is not lethal. Of course," he gestured to Alonzo, "A single sting would not have paralyzed a man's leg."

"It's not exactly paralyzed," Alonzo said quickly, "It's just a numb as a dead fish."

Cameron and Yale helped Alonzo, past Mazatl, and into the driftwood windbreak. Mazatl leaned against the logs and asked, "Are you okay? How ya feeling, huh?"

"It doesn't even hurt," Alonzo said simply.

"Good for you," Morgan grumbled. "Welcome to the invalid pit."

Julia sat beside Alonzo, and ran her hand slowly along his face. She said nothing for a minute, and just looked into his eyes. "Oh Alonzo, I'm sorry."

He grasped her hands gently and said, "I'm okay, Julia, it's nothing."

"You don't know that. I certainly don't know that. Why did this have to happen now? I have no way to treat you, no way of even knowing what's wrong with you."

"It's going to be all right, Julia. Everything is going to be fine."

She nodded and abruptly stood. Morgan was watching them critically, "Yeah," he said sarcastically, "Everything is going to be terrific." Julia noted that he was looking a little pale. Mazatl was also keeping an eye on them, leaning against the logs and swaying slightly.

She shook her head and briskly walked away. "I can't believe it. What's happening? Everything's falling apart."

****

"Here we go! This should be it," Devon said excitedly. The ATV bounced and jostled over the wavy surface of the sand. "Just over that rise. It looks like all the CargoPods are together. It'll be just like Christmas!"

Danziger grinned as he pushed the ATV for a last burst of speed as it crested the hill that separated them from the CargoPods. He stopped the vehicle almost immediately. Silently the two of them looked down into the rock cove.

"No, no, no..." Devon said quietly. "Oh, no..." Twisted and bent shards of metal littered the wide area. She stepped out of the ATV and started scaling down the rough sides of the cove. When she reached to bottom she stumbled for the first strip of metal. Pitted, and bent, it was unmistakably the remnant of a CargoPod.

****

"I'm going for a walk," Mazatl said suddenly, and started moving away from the vehicle.

"Good for you," Morgan muttered, watching him walk away somewhat unsteadily. Morgan tried to adjust the splint to get his leg into a more comfortable position, but stopped quickly. "Yeah, good for you."

"Hey, Morgan, got a minute?" Alonzo asked.

He rolled his eyes."Does it look like I'm going anywhere?"

Alonzo massaged his numb foot as he spoke, "It's kinda important. You know, about Julia and me, and the wedding and all."

"What, you thinking about calling it off?"

"No, no, not that. I can hardly wait 'til we reach the CommDish. I want to hold the ceremony as soon as we get there."

"Oh, you want to borrow my VR program? I think that everyone really liked it at my wedding."

Alonzo shrugged. "I dunno. I was thinking we would just keep it natural. You know, we're waiting until we reach a certain place. It would be kinda stupid to go into VR."

"Oh," Morgan said bitterly, "Sorry I offered. I guess you're idea is so much better than anything Morgan Martin could ever come up with."

"No, that's not what I meant." He stretched his leg out and frowned. "Look," he whispered, "I'm looking for advice about the honeymoon."

Morgan's eyes grew wide. "Well, 'Lonz, there are birds and there are bees . . ."

"Will you stop it!" Alonzo said between his teeth, as Morgan stifled a laugh, "I want to make this special for her. This isn't going to be one of those four-year commitments. We're going full-term, life-long, just like you and Bess, and I want to make the night something she'll always remember. What did you do with Bess?" He frowned as Morgan started to laugh again, "Come on, you know what I mean."

"Sorry," Morgan said, as he steadied the splint to keep it from shaking with his laughter. He hadn't felt like laughing much lately. He stopped suddenly when the vibration became too much. "Geez," he gasped, "When's Devon and Danziger going to be back? I bet they're just relaxing somewhere, not even thinking about me and the rest of us. Danziger has always had it in for me."

"Oh, they'll get here, don't worry about that." He looked at Morgan with some concern. "You doing okay?"

"Oh yeah sure. I got nothing left of my knee and no pain blockers. I'm feeling fine."

"I know what you mean. I was kinda in the same boat for a while, remember. I had a broken leg when we landed." Alonzo tried to sound light-hearted, "And look at me now! Just call me Rubber-Man!"

"It's not the same," Morgan said glumly.

Alonzo, knowing that there was nothing more he could say about that, continued with his original tack, "So, tell me, what did you do to make the honeymoon special?"

"Okay, well," Morgan breathed deeply, as if he was trying to collect himself. "Are you talking about our original marriage or our recommitment?"

"Both ... any ... I don't know, whatever."

"Well, the first time we married, we had this great reception on Platform 197B. I had spent everything I had just getting Bess up to the stations, but I was still able to put together a pretty good party. I went into debt for over a year, but it was worth it. We had waiters in white suits carrying around these very expensive trays of hors d'oeuvres and this band that . . ."

"Well, that's not going to work here."

"Wait, I'm getting to the good part. Okay, well, after the reception we went back to our quarters. I had the place cleaned during the day and the lighting set to 30%. I rented four floral displays and had them in each corner of the room. Then I bought a packet of faux-petals and scattered them over the bed. Very sexy. Women like that sort of thing."

"We haven't seen any flowers since we left the mountain meadow. None of that helps me any. What did you do here, when you remarried."

"Okay, well, let me think, you know we pitched our tent away from the rest of you. And then I toned down the lighting by throwing a shirt over the lumalights. That works pretty good, especially if you can get something with a little color in it. It wasn't exactly 30% but it was pretty good." The two continued their conversation in secretive tones. From time to time Alonzo looked up to make sure that Julia wasn't watching.

****

Julia sat quietly by herself, thinking about what was going on. Now even Alonzo was hurt. She tried to think of their upcoming marriage, but was continually brought back to the fact that he was injured and there was nothing she could do about it. The waiting was the worst part. Any moment now Devon and Danziger would be contacting them and giving them the good news. She kept her GEAR ready for the moment when they made contact.

She could see Alonzo and Morgan talking quietly together. From time-to-time, they would look at her and then glance away quickly. They were obviously talking about her and probably how she had failed them. Mazatl had wandered over to where the fire pit was still under construction. She would have to go over in a little while to check up on him.

Julia sighed and looked out into the crashing waves. She would only have to wait a little while longer now. Everything was going to be okay.

****

Mazatl walked over to where Denner, Bess and Magus were working in the fire-pit. The rest of the group was gathering stones and logs to line the pit. "Bunny!" Denner shouted and ran over to him, "Now, what did Julia say about you walking around. Didn't she tell you to keep still?" She threw a blanket around his shoulders and tugged it tight.

Magus looked over at Bess and laughed, "Was it my imagination or does Denner have a pet-name for our boy Mazatl?"

Mazatl looked sheepishly at the women. "I wanted to look around a bit. You can get tired of sitting all the time."

"Well, you sit right here with us." Denner sat him down with a thump on a convenient log. "I don't care if you're tired of it, you going to keep still."

"Sure is nice here, sure is nice," he said quietly. "Pretty nice. Good to be here, you know. Good to finally make it. Yeah, it's good."

"Glad to see you're feeling better," Magus said as she went back to arranging the driftwood into a more convenient layout.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Bess asked tentatively.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine... just fine."

"How's Morgan doing?" Bess asked.

"Oh, he complains all the time," Mazatl said sharply, throwing off the blanket, "But you know about that now don't you." The three women looked at him strangely. Then, he stood suddenly and paced around the pit. "We should be getting moving again shouldn't we? We're just a klick or two away. Why shouldn't we just get moving again? We should get on the move. Better get moving. Yeah, that would be best. Let's load on up and get on our way. We can just leave Morgan and 'Lonz for now. They'll catch up later."

"Maz?" Denner held her hand against his brow again and frowned. She looked up at Bess who immediately took off in Julia's direction. "You really should sit down."

"It's okay, really okay, okay? I've been sitting for two days now. It's time to move, okay? Magus, get everyone together and let's get on our way. Come on!" He pulled Denner with him down the beach. "Come on everyone, let's go!" he shouted, "Get the lead out!"

Denner dug in her heels to try to slow him down, but it was to no avail, the sandy soil offered no resistance. The others on the beach looked up in disbelief at Mazatl as he strode down the beach with Denner in tow. They had never heard him raise his voice the entire time they had known him.

Julia and Cameron had to run to catch up with them. "Mazatl!" Julia cried when she reached him. "Slow down! Hold on a minute."

"It's time we got moving again," Mazatl said quickly. "Let's go!" he yelled toward the others, signaling wildly with his good arm, "Load 'em up! Move 'em out!"

"Mazatl!" Julia said again, grabbing him firmly. "Stop!" His skin was hot to the touch. She turned to the cluster of people standing nearby. "Baines! Give me a hand!" And she turned back to Mazatl "You're sick. You are going to need to stay quiet. Stay with Morgan and Alonzo, and wait until Devon and Danziger come back with the supplies. They must be there by now. It won't be much longer."

"I think we should go," he said simply. Baines grabbed him by one arm, and together with Julia, they guided him back to where Morgan and Alonzo were sitting within the pile of driftwood. Mazatl shook his head. "I'm ready to get going right now. We're just wasting time."

"It's time for you to sit down and keep yourself still for a while. Do you understand me?"

Mazatl looked sadly at the windbreak. "But I don't want to."

"Get in here," Morgan growled at him, now that they were close. "Stop messing around and get in with the rest of us."

"It's not going to do any good," Mazatl said forlornly.

"It will be a heck of a lot better than you running around the beach like a fool," Morgan answered.

****

Danziger and Devon went through the pile of debris, turning over large slabs of metal and bits of unrecognizable equipment pieces. They dug into the wet sand until they found what they were looking for, the transmitter. Danziger looked at it dully, and then back to Devon.

"What happened? Grendlers didn't do this. Who could have done this?" she asked sadly.

Danziger surveyed the area. It was filled with the shattered remains of the pods, half-sunken into the watery sand, and piles of bleached and battered logs. "The CargoPods must have fallen into the ocean," he concluded. "This area is probably like some sort of a funnel. Everything in the ocean ends up here."

Devon sighed and put on her GEAR. "Julia," she said sharply.

Julia appeared almost immediately. Her hopeful look fell as soon as she saw Devon. "What is it? Didn't you find the CargoPods?"

"We found the pods. They've been destroyed. We figure they fell into the ocean and were ripped apart in the tide. How are Mazatl and Morgan doing?"

"They're not any better. And now Alonzo... I don't know, he's probably okay but he needs medical attention too. You did get the supplies we needed, didn't you?" Julia pressed.

"What? What happened to Alonzo?" Devon felt a panic rise in her. Alonzo too?

"He received a shock from some sort of jellyfish. I have him with the other two right now. Devon, you have to find something. Anything! I need my equipment!"

Devon thought about the hopeless stretch of tossed driftwood, mixed in with the flotsam and jetsam of their CargoPods. "We're going to need some help. It's going to take us a while to sort through all of this."

"I'll get a group together," Julia said. She switched off her GEAR and turned to the others. "We need to send a group over to where Devon and Danziger are. The supplies are scattered."

"Do we take the DuneRail?" Magus asked.

"No. I want to keep that here with us. Get a party together and take the TransRover. Zero is still loaded up on it. Make good use of him."

Magus signaled to the others, "Okay, who's coming?"

Baines, Cameron and Walman immediately climbed onto the huge vehicle. The children started to follow, but Julia held them back. "I want you two to stay here. It could be dangerous with all the debris over there."

Bess leaned over Morgan and kissed him. "I won't be gone long, Honey," she whispered to him.

"Bess? You can't go. I need you," Morgan said pitifully. "Don't leave me behind. Please stay."

"I'll do more good looking for the supplies than I will standing here holding your hand," she said confidently. "I'll see you in a bit. I promise." She held his hand for a moment longer. "Miss me terribly while I'm gone, okay?"

"I always do," Morgan mumbled, and with that, she kissed him again and headed off to the TransRover.

Denner watched her go, and then turned to Mazatl. "Yeah, like she said," and she followed Bess.

Yale watched the others board the TransRover. "I'll stay with you," he said to Julia. "You may need some help." They watched the TransRover take off quickly down the beach, with their fellow Advancers holding onto the back of the vehicle when there wasn't any more free space to sit.

Julia rubbed her worn sleeve across her eyes. She was trying not to cry. It had been so long since she cried. She looked back to the windbreak where three people were now incapacitated and there was nothing she could do for them. Yale took her by the arm and guided her a few meters away from the others, "Julia," he said in a low voice, "I need you to do something very important right now." He paused, and waited for her to nod. "I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and to come up with another solution."

"What?" She looked at the tutor, startled at his comment.

"You have been kicking yourself over this since we lost the medical supplies. You decided to just keep kicking yourself until we found something to replace the items that were lost. It looks like that may never happen now."

Julia shook her head. "No, they will find something. At least a SedaDerm."

Yale quietly replied, "But they may find nothing. You have to consider that fact and come up with another solution. These people need help now."

"What other solution is there?" Julia asked, but Yale made no reply. She walked slowly back to where the children were standing by the DuneRail. She had wanted to use native plants, but she didn't have the correct equipment to do complete medical scans any longer. She glanced around the beach. There wasn't much here, but there might be something. Of course Yale could perform simple scans with his equipment, and they had his database for information. "Who wants to help me scout the area for plantlife that we can use to make some medicine?"

"We'll help!" Uly said energetically. "We're really good at looking for stuff."

"We'll do whatever you say," True included.

The four of the group that remained mobile went off to search the area. Mazatl, who was sitting on one side of the enclosure, waited until they were out of sight before he decided to join them. "I'm going too," he said. "At least I can still walk."

"No you don't!" Alonzo said. He wanted to put a restraining arm around him, but Morgan was between them. "Morgan, keep him here."

"Let him go if he wants to go," Morgan said with a shrug. "It's getting crowded in here anyway."

"Morgan!' Alonzo tried reaching over Morgan to get a grip on Mazatl, but his immobile leg kept him in place.

"Maz," Morgan sighed, grabbing the man forcefully by the arm. "Julia wants you to stay here, so you better stay here. She'll probably get mad at me if she sees you wandering around, so do us all a favor and just sit down. Okay."

Mazatl made one last attempt to get out of their clutches, but slipped and landed on Morgan's splint. Morgan released him immediately and gasped loudly.

"Morgan, you are you okay?" Alonzo had untangled himself from his own leg and turned to the liaison. Morgan had gone white as a sheet and gasped for air.

"Gee, I'm sorry Morgan. I didn't mean to do that. I really didn't" Mazatl said quickly. He patted Morgan gently on the head, the way one would try to comfort a dog or a small child, "Really, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Are you okay? You want me to get Julia? I'm real sorry."

"S'okay," Morgan said finally, "It's fine." He closed his eyes and pressed his head against their driftwood enclosure.

****

Once everyone reached the cove, they broke into teams, and went to different parts of the rocky area. As Devon watched them work, she couldn't help but feel proud. They were hard to recognize as the squabbling Station Dwellers that first set foot on this planet all those months ago. Now, they worked easily and efficiently together. She watched as Baines braved the surf to pull in a promising looking case. Cameron and Bess were sorting though a hopeless looking pile of parts, while Walman carted off their rejects in an abandoned container. Magus and Danziger secured Zero to a formidable looking log and set him to hauling it up the shore.

They had traveled through so much, had experienced so many things during their journey. If someone, at the beginning, had brought her a list of everything they would have to go through, she might have given up at the start. This group of people had surprised her consistently with their drive and ingenuity. They would never give up. She was so happy that she could finally bring them to this place, the ocean. There were many times along their way that she didn't think they would make it. Still, they had endured. Even in the chilly wind that filled this area, she felt warm and happy.

The groups dug through piles of sand and almost recognizable shards. In the wreckage they found a container of rotted clothing, shattered beams that would have formed the roof of the hospital, warped siding, twisted flooring, a cache of fouled medical supplies, two water-ruined zeros, a 'rover-load of destroyed electronics, bits and pieces of several vehicles, a hundred or so torn food wrappers, and a total of eight CargoPod transmitters. But despite their search, there was no sign of any usable medical supplies.

****

"So, what's the first thing you're gonna do when we get to the CommDish?" Uly asked True. They were busily collecting the beach grass that Julia had pointed out to them.

"Huh, oh I dunno." True carefully pulled at the grass and watched Uly. "She said to be sure that you get the roots and everything, Uly. You're not getting the roots."

"I'm getting the roots!" Uly insisted, then looked down at the rootless grass in his hand. He tossed it aside and made a better attempt at harvesting the grass. "I mean, it's going to be so great to finally get there. And Julia and Alonzo are going to get married. I bet we have a big party just like when Morgan and Bess got married again. Do you think they'll stay in their tent for days too?"

True smiled, "I bet they stay in for weeks!"

"Do you think that Denner and Mazatl will get married too? I bet they will." Uly tossed another handful of grass on the pile. "And Magus and Walman too... if Magus lets him."

"Magus likes him. I bet she does get married to him." True wistfully turned over the grass in her hand. "Do you think your mom and my dad will ever....?"

"You kidding?" Uly started, "No way. Not my mom. I know I'm not getting married anyway." The two of them worked in silence for several minutes. Then Uly said, "I hope Morgan finishes our VR program soon. Last time he didn't even have the race-cars in there yet."

"It was stupid to put those cars in there."

"You said I could have them if I kept them on the other side of Cameron's Notch."

****

Denner worked her way over to where Bess was digging through a pile of crushed medical supplies. "How you doing?" she asked.

Bess shrugged, but kept digging. "We will find something here," she said defiantly.

"Do you think they're okay back there. I'm thinking maybe I should have stayed back there with Maz. He doesn't always tell people what he needs. He's too quiet. Somebody needs to watch out for him. Do you think he's doing okay? He wasn't looking very good when we left."

"Julia and Yale are there. They'll take good care of him. Julia is a great doctor, even without her equipment. They'll be fine."

"I'm just worried, that's all. Are you worried?" Denner looked timid and small against the backdrop of the endless ocean.

Bess worried. From the moment she saw the destruction at the cove, from the moment that Morgan tripped, from the moment that he dove into the river, the time the DuneRail didn't come back, when he disappeared in the night, when the Koba attacked, so many times. She hugged Denner tightly to her and said nothing.

****

Alonzo walked stiffly around the windbreak, using a long driftwood stick to keep him upright. The numbness seemed to be letting up a little, or at least it hadn't gotten any worse. He could see Julia and Yale sitting by the fire, and the children still working at harvesting grass.

'No, too hot. Too hot. Why did they leave us here?" Mazatl had been speaking almost non-stop since Julia and the others returned with their findings. "Aren't we there yet? Are we there? We got to be just about there now, don't we?"

Morgan was lying down now, wrapped up in a blanket, eyes shut, said quietly, "It's okay. Help is coming."

"But where are they? Where, huh? What's happening? Why aren't they here."

"They came back already, remember? Julia said they'd cook up some stuff and be right back," Morgan said miserably. "And then Devon and the rest will be here soon and then you'll be just fine. Don't worry, they'll take care of you and you'll be just fine."

Alonzo hobbled over to where Julia and Yale were conversing. "Alonzo!" Julia said when she saw him, "You are supposed to be sitting down.

"We have to do something," Alonzo said sternly, "Mazatl's getting a lot worse."

"I think I have something that might help." Julia was crushing the beach grass against a rock and scrapping the pulp into a bowl.

The cyborg nodded, "It could possibly have some antiseptic qualities, and thus treat the infection. My equipment is not as fine tuned as Julia's medical equipment, so my conclusions may not be 100% correct."

"I wish there were some Grendlers around," Julia included, "I'd like to try some old fashioned spit on him, but we haven't seen any since that forest."

"You gotta do something about it." Alonzo shook his head. "And Morgan stopped complaining. In most people that's a good sign. I don't think that's the case for him." Both Julia and Alonzo had seen this before. When the DuneRail crash injured Morgan, he hardly complained at all, and after he nearly drowned in the river, he was almost silent.

"We found a tree that may have the same qualities as the willow on Earth. I'm making an analgesic tea. It should work as a pain reliever."

When Uly and True saw Alonzo near the fire, they ran toward him. "Alonzo!" Uly spouted, "You're okay? That jellyfish thing didn't hurt you that bad?"

"I'm getting better," he said to them. He poked his upper thigh, "I think it's starting to wear off a little."

"How's Morgan and Mazatl?" Uly asked him " They're going to be okay, aren't they?"

"That's what I'd like to think," Alonzo replied, and then True met his eyes. Her face was wise and sad, and her eyes registered the fact that he didn't answer the question.

Julia pulled a kettle off the fire, picked up the bowl, and headed over to the driftwood and examined her two patients visually. They couldn't seem more different at that moment. The usually quiet and calm Mazatl, was flushed, moving about somewhat wildly in an attempt to escape the fever, talking without pause. Morgan, on the other hand, was shivering slightly, but trying to be very still, his face was ashen.

"Julia, Julia!" Mazatl spoke as she approached, "We can get going now, right? We don't want to be left behind. Do you think it's going to rain? It might rain, huh? We better get to the camp if it's going to rain, huh? Yeah, but it's windy now. If it's windy it's going to rain. Do you think it might rain?" Morgan said nothing, but rather pressed his head into the sand, and watched Julia coldly.

Julia set the kettle on the ground and placed one hand on each of the men's foreheads. One was burning up, and the other was clammy and cold. "Morgan, I've made some tea that should take away some of the pain." Yale helped Morgan sit up as Julia filled a cup from the kettle. She carefully handed it to Morgan. "I want you to drink this up." He slowly brought the cup to his mouth and took a sip, then brought it back down. "Drink it," Julia said sternly.

Again, Morgan brought the cup to his lips and drank. He grimaced as he forced the foul smelling liquid down and then attempted to set the cup on the log. It fell to the ground.

She then turned to Mazatl. She began unwinding the bandages from his injured hand. The smell of infection was powerful as she pulled of the last layer. "Damn it!" she swore when she saw how much worse the cut had become. She scooped the grass pulp from the bowl and dabbed it on the wound.

"Agghh!" Mazatl nearly leapt out of the enclosure when she applied the substance. "Stop that! What is that?" Mazatl said quickly. "Man, it hurts. What is it? What are you doing? What are you doing?" Yale and Alonzo were at his side, holding him down now.

"I'm hoping it will kill the infection," Julia replied. "Now you have to let me do this so that we can make you better."

"It hurts like hell." Mazatl snapped.

"Well, I hope that means it's working." Julia carefully wound new bandages around the hurt hand. "With any luck at all, you should be feeling better soon." And they would definitely need luck. The analysis of these items had shown only the slight possibility of success. At least she was doing something now, and that was one hundred times better than just sitting and waiting for someone to magically appear with the modern miracle drugs.

****

Devon watched Danziger as he picked up a large sheet of metal and pushed it aside. Beneath was a crushed DuneRail, barely recognizable under it's cover of barnacles and thick wet sand. They had searched the beach for hours now and had not been able to find the medical supplies. They found dozens of cracked cases with the Medical insignia, but the contents were ruined.

Baines, Walman and Magus had excavated a huge hole in the hopes that something had been buried early on and thus saved, but had found nothing worthwhile. The tide had come in since they started the hole, and it was eventually flooded. The group moved further up the beach as the water crept toward them.

They had been able to find a few tools of the simplest sort, axes, picks, saws, shovels and hammers. All of these were carefully saved as they continued to look for any usable medical supplies. Zero had created a huge pile of reusable metal and plastic slabs, but it was obvious that when they went to build their new home, they would have to do it mostly from scratch. There would be no modern hospital, no pre-form village. Devon tugged her coat closer and sighed. Winter was setting in. The colonists would arrive in the spring and there would be nothing to meet them.

But she knew that when the colonists arrived, there would be something to meet them. They had lost a lot of materials here, but not everything. They would make due with what they had, as they always had. She knew that, even now as things looked so dark, that there would be light. Julia would cure Mazatl, Alonzo and Morgan. She would find a way, the same way that she found a way bring herself, Devon, out of that terrible illness. There would be enough bits and pieces here to put together some sort of a hospital, some sort of shelter for all the families that would follow. They would do it, because she knew that these people were capable of anything.

It was getting late. She would wait one more hour before calling Julia.

****

The result came much quicker than Julia had ever expected. Almost as soon as Mazatl stopped complaining about the stinging of the pulp, his fever began to lessen. Julia finally loosened the bandage and looked in disbelief at the puckered wound. The stench and the blackness were gone. "It's a lot better now." Mazatl said in his usual quiet voice.

Julia wished she could smile at this success, but Morgan had not improved at all. His unnatural quietness disturbed her terribly. "Morgan," she spoke distinctly to him, "Morgan, are you feeling ANY better?"

He shrugged slightly, "I don't know. It's about the same." He was far too pale. She had given him the tea almost an hour ago and there had been no change. It had been almost two days since this injury, and he was just completely worn out by the constant pain.

The children were watching expectantly. Julia wished she had sent them off with the others now. Yale and Alonzo were nearby. Alonzo still used the stick for support, his right leg was still too numb to support his weight ... numb.

Purposefully, Julia strode over to the driftwood enclosure and picked up a shovel and a pair of gloves that the others had used earlier. She hurried down toward the surf, and searched carefully for several minutes. Finally, she saw what she was looking for and dug into the wet sand with the shovel. When she was back at the side of the DuneRail, Alonzo finally realized what she was doing.

"You're kidding, right?" he said

"Not in the least." She put on the gloves and regarded the contents of the shovel.

"Do you think this is really a good idea?" Alonzo asked, watching her carefully.

"You said that the feeling is coming back to your leg, right?"

"Just barely! Julia, we don't know what that thing can do," Alonzo replied as Julia carefully lifted the jellyfish out of the shovel.

"Morgan," Julia leaned close to him as she spoke, "Morgan, do you want me to relieve the pain? Do you understand what we were talking about? We don't know how long it will last. The numbness might never go away. There may be other complications we don't know about. Do you understand that? We really don't know that much about this creature."

Morgan glanced down at the jellyfish, and then looked at Julia with weary eyes and nodded. "Do it'" he said simply.

Julia snapped the jellyfish in her gloved hands hoping it would anger the creature enough to sting, and dropped it through the opening on the top of the splint.

It stung him quickly, but Yale, Alonzo and Mazatl were holding him down, so that although Morgan jerked slightly, he didn't hurt himself any further. Julia quickly pulled the creature back out of the splint, and waited a minute. "Morgan, is that any better."

He was quiet for a long moment, as he contemplated the thought, then he smiled, "Yeah, hey, it doesn't hurt anymore." He poked a finger through the bars of the splint. "It took you long enough. You knew about this jellything all day, and you finally put two and two together. Could it have taken you any longer?"

Julia smiled, "He's feeling better," she said to Alonzo.

****

Devon waved as the DuneRail approached. The others had just finished setting up camp and they all gathered to greet the arriving vehicle. True, Uly and Julia were walking alongside, and were a little winded by their brisk pace. Walman and Baines helped Alonzo out of the back seat, while Denner and Magus helped the still weakened Mazatl out of the 'Rail and over to the collapsible tables. Bess climbed into the DuneRail's front seat, beside Morgan.

Devon approached Julia. "I didn't find exactly what you were looking for," Devon said, "But we didn't come up completely empty handed."

She led the doctor to the table where they had set up their prizes. Lined up along the edge were what was referred to as 'primitive instruments.' They were rarely used anymore, but when you were stocking a hospital, you never could tell what you might need. She looked over the array of scalpels, clamps, needles, razors, scissors and knives. Here were the means of getting Morgan back together again, of repairing the damage to Mazatl's hand. It would have to be done in a rather archaic fashion, but as long as she had a local anesthetic and an antiseptic, it would be possible.

"So, are the remedies working?" Devon asked.

"They're working." She turned to the others, who were standing around, grinning stupidly at her. They were wet and cold, and covered with sand. They had worked all day to find these things. "Thank you, everyone. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

"No problem, Doc," Walman said, and the group dispersed to their regular duties.

****

Bess snuggled up close to Morgan. "Did you miss me?" She asked as she lay her head against his chest.

"Terribly," he answered, gently stroking her hair. He whispered softly to her, "I was thinking about our honeymoon..." and she giggled like a schoolgirl.

Julia walked up and stood beside them for a moment and then said, "Morgan, I would like to wait until we reach the CommDish before we do anything to you. That way I can operate in a sterile environment

"Operate..." Morgan squeamishly watched Julia handle the crude instruments that the others had found.

"I'll get you patched up again and dancing in no time. In the meantime, would you rather stay where you are right now or do you want some privacy in your tent."

"Tent!" Morgan and Bess said in unison.

The Martin tent had already been set up, so it only took a little careful maneuvering and several Advancers to carry Morgan into their home.

Julia glanced at Mazatl. He was looking much better, and now he had Denner to baby him. She was serving him some soup now, and looked like she wanted to spoon feed him. Alonzo was watching them with an amused expression from across the table. Julia sat down beside him, "How are you feeling now?" she asked, as she ran her hand along his leg.

Alonzo said, "I'm starting to feel a bit more. Still pretty numb. I'm okay, just as long as it eventually goes away. I guess, the longer this jellyfish thing keeps you numb, the better for Morgan's sake, huh?"

"It looks like you'll be just fine. I would say you have at least another full day, maybe longer." She continued to run her hand seductively along his leg.

"You know I can't feel a thing," he whispered to her.

"Can you feel this?"

Mazatl and Denner looked up as Alonzo and Julia passionately embraced. Mazatl looked embarrassed; Denner cheered.

Julia and Alonzo stopped when they heard the commotion. "When we marry, it will be forever. Forever is a long time," Alonzo said to her.

"And I want to spend it with you," Julia said.

****

It was night when Yale approached Devon. "Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"Yes, at Refurbishing Cove," she nodded out to the dark expanse before her.

"Do you know what is just over there?" He pointed southward.

She shook her head. "What's there?"

"The CommDish," Yale replied. All day long Devon and the rest had been tuned to the CargoPod transmitters. The more powerful CommDish would have drowned them out, so they had purposely tuned out that particular signal. "Just over that rise, about a half click away," he added

Devon turned and faced the direction of the CommDish. She wanted to run, to speed across the moonlit beach and feel the wind around her. She wanted to reach the CommDish, breathless, and touch it's metal surface, to know it was real, to know that their journey was finally over, to have succeeded, to be finally home.

She looked back to her group again. Walman and Baines were standing at the Martin tent's door, talking loudly to the occupants. One of Bess' shoes flew out the open door and knocked Walman in the head. Denner was patiently trying to feed Mazatl who was obviously against the idea. Alonzo held Julia tightly against him; their faces showed nothing but contentment. Uly sat beside Danziger and discussed some manly subject. True was clearing up the plates left over from dinner, carefully setting them into a basin that Zero carried, while Cameron followed them, talking about some subject that Zero seemed anxious to comment about. Magus stopped by Denner to refill the soup bowl and laugh at Mazatl's pained expression.

"Devon?" Yale said, still standing beside her.

"We'll go tomorrow," Devon replied, "When everyone is rested and ready. We will go there together. The CommDish will wait until tomorrow." She looked back at the ocean, illuminated by two moons. Black and white, dark and light, the ocean turned and rolled.

THE END