The Still Pond

 

---

 

John Danziger pulled up on the reins and came to a halt beside the auburn-haired woman on her roan horse. "Hey,Adair," he drawled.

Devon Adair smiled at him. "What took you so long?" she asked, before clicking her tongue at her horse, Everett, and talking off at a quick trot.

Danziger smiled and encouraged his horse, Pal, to follow. They headed out of Roanoke Colony and into the hills that surrounded it. They were soon traveling, side by side, not exactly racing, but not allowing the other to get ahead. Then, with a smile, Devon pulled up on her horse, and Danziger shot past.

She waited, as he turned Pal and headed back to her. "What's up?" he asked.

"Listen," she said. Beyond the sounds of the breathing horses there was nothing but silence. "It's so quiet today. There's no wind at all."

"Yeah, it's a nice day," he agreed. The winds of winter were over. Spring had broken with its usual explosion of color. The hillsides were covered with wildflowers, and the still air was sweet with their fragrance. "If I knew I had a chance, I would choose a day like this to ask you to marry me."

Devon looked away quickly, "You know how I'd answer," she said quietly.

"Yeah," he frowned, "You've been saying it for years. Not until the Colony Ship arrives." He shook his head slowly, "Adair, it's been four years and the ship's still lost. Have you ever considered that it's never coming?"

"I know it will come," she replied, "And I just have to ask for you to wait a little longer. Once everything is done, once this is all settled, then I will be able to marry you, John Danziger."

"I'll wait I guess. If that's all I can do," he said tiredly.

She leaned across the expanse between their two horses, and took his hand. She was about to say something, when John snatched his hand away.

"Oh, crap," John grumbled, staring at something over her shoulder.

Devon, startled by this outburst, turned to find what John had seen. The ATV was approaching from around a hill, and John maneuvered to intercept it. She frowned, wondering what brought on that reaction. The ATV had been given to Morgan, when everyone else was learning to ride horseback. Sure, it would be an annoyance to have him interrupt their discussion, but they could lose him easily enough if they went into the woods.

It was only when the vehicle was closer that she realized that no one was driving it.

She drove her heels into Everett's sides and quickly caught up to John and the vehicle. He had just commanded the machine to stop when she reached him. Devon pulled her GEAR off her belt and tried to connect with the liaison, while John jumped down from his horse and looked over the ATV. "His GEAR isn't turned on," she grumbled.

"Oh, that's smart." John said, shuffling through Morgan's travel bag, and looking through the neatly packed supplies. "He takes off for the day and doesn't even bother to turn on his GEAR. How can he be so stupid?"

Devon considered responding to that comment, but decided it wasn't worth the argument. "I have to contact Bess," she said. "She's out with Cameron and the girls on the islands."

"Hold off on that," Danziger threw the bag back together and climbed back on the horse. "Nothing here to give us a clue about what happened to him. Let's see where the ATV takes us before we start scaring Bess. He's probably just out somewhere messing around in VR and didn't realize he set the vehicle on automatic return mode."

"All right," Devon agreed. "You are probably right about that."

Danziger set the vehicle to retrace its track, and the two of them followed on horseback. The vehicle led them a half kilometer along a hillside and to the edge of a still pond. It was only once they rounded the last bend that they came across Morgan sitting on a rock, looking out over the water, his GEAR dangling from his hands. He was doing absolutely nothing.

"Hey, Morgan!" Danziger said, swinging down from his horse. "What the hell are you doing?"

Morgan turned slowly to face them and smiled pleasantly. "Hello," he said simply and turned back to the water.

Danziger moved until he was standing in front of Morgan. "What's the deal here? Why'd you send the ATV back by itself? That was pretty stupid to leave yourself out here without it. It's a good thing we didn't call Bess. We would have scared her half to death. What were you thinking?"

Morgan raised his eyes slowly to meet the mechanic's. "I don't know," he said and then he lowered his gaze again, adjusting it slightly to see around the mechanic.

Danziger was puzzled, this definitely wasn't the response he was expecting. "Hey, Adair," he said, "I think something's wrong with him. He's acting kinda funny. I mean, not that Morgan acting kinda funny is different that normal, but..."

"Danziger," Devon said as she climbed down from her horse, "What's going on?"

Danziger squatted down to meet Morgan's gaze again. "Morgan, are you all right? Did something happen?"

He shrugged slightly, "I don't remember."

Danziger frowned, "What's your name. Morgan, can you tell me your name."

Again, he smiled pleasantly, "It is Morgan."

"Danz, you've been saying it to him a half dozen time's already," Devon said, joining them at the water's edge.

"And you are Adair and you are Danz... iger." Morgan said, nodding slightly. The two of them looked at each other and then back at the liaison. There was something too vacant about his stare, too slow and calculated about his answers.

"Okay then, what's your last name?" Devon said.

Morgan sat quietly for a minute and then said, "You haven't said that one yet."

Devon turned on her GEAR while John, sitting on his heels, examined Morgan as best he could. Morgan compliantly let John turn his head slowly, looking for any sign of a contusion or injury. Morgan smiled at him again when their eyes met. Danziger couldn't help but note that there was something missing in that glance. When Devon looked down at them John shrugged.

"Let's get him in the ATV and back to the colony," Devon said when she ended her transmission. "Julia wants to get a look at him, and Bess is probably halfway across the bay already.

"Come on, Morgan," John said, grabbing Morgan by the arm, "Let's getcha back home again so Julia can get a look at you." He got the man halfway to his feet, when Morgan cried out suddenly and grabbed his knee as he sat down again.

"What was that?" he looked back and forth between them stupidly, "Something's wrong. It hurts. Okay, it's okay now."

"He didn't twist his knee up again, did he?" Devon said with concern.

"I don't know. Maybe he just forgot about the old injury." Danziger held up his crutch that had been sitting beside him. "You broke up your knee a while back. You need this to get around. Remember?"

Morgan wordlessly took the crutch from Danziger. Devon brought the ATV over, and between the two of them they managed to get Morgan back into the ATV and directed it back to the colony.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Danziger asked as they followed the vehicle back to their home.

"It must be some sort of amnesia," Devon answered. "Other that that, I don't have the faintest idea."

* * * *

Morgan compliantly withstood Julia's examination, answering all of her questions. Unfortunately most of the answers were "I don't know." Bess sat beside him, attentively. He glanced at her from time to time, smiled vacantly and looked back to Julia. Finally, they left him to sleep in the hospital and joined the rest of the group in the courtyard.

"Is Daddy okay?" Amelia said seriously.

"He's going to be okay, honey," Bess leaned down to kiss her. "Why don't you take Sarah and Hugh, and go play in the dining hall, okay? True and Uly are in there right now."

Amelia, only three years old, frowned. "But I don't want to. I want to see Daddy." She had curly brown hair like her mother, like her sister. Both children looked very much like their mother. Hugh Solace was dark headed and featured like his father, but had his mother's eyes.

Bess rested her hand for a moment on the Amelia's head. "I need you to be a big girl right now. Do like Mommy says."

Again, she frowned, but corralled her sister and young Solace, and led them toward the dining hall within the Cook House. Hugh and Sarah were both determined to crawl faster than the older girl could walk, but Amelia was too stubborn to let them win. Sarah, two months older than Hugh, gave up crawling for a few tentative steps, and lost the race entirely. When they reached the dining hall, Amelia looked back at her mother, started to say something, but stopped. She impatiently helped the two younger children into the building and shut the door behind them.

Danziger couldn't help but think that Amelia was acting more like Morgan than Morgan.

"So what's up?" Alonzo asked, "He can't remember anything?"

Julia sighed, "He apparently has some form of amnesia, but I have been unable to verify why. I haven't found any sign of injury. He's responsive..."

"Not very," Danziger put in. "I mean, you ask him a question and he takes ten minutes to answer it."

"He does seem to remember everything from the moment you found him," Julia said, "And I do mean everything. He can repeat verbatim anything anyone has said to him."

"That's weird." Walman said, "That must mean something."

"Or it might not mean anything," Julia responded. "He has always had a good memory, just look at how he can handle those computer programs. He can almost write the whole thing in his head. If he's working from a clean slate, he's probably filling his memory with whatever he can get ahold of."

"So what's wrong with him then?" Magus crossed her arms. "You say he didn't get hurt."

"It could be an old injury. Several come to mind," Julia said.

"Maybe it has something to do with that koba bite?" Denner suggested, she was about five months pregnant now, and doted upon by Mazatl.

"We all have that koba stuff in us now," Baines said with some alarm. "Are we all going to blank out like that?"

Yale added, "It could be another form of the planet trying to reject us..."

"After over five years?" Walman snorted, "Hell, you think it would have gotten around to it by now. I bet it has something to do with VR. I mean, after all the time he has spent in VR, on top of the time he's hooked up with GEAR to the CommDish, I bet it overload his brain circuits. Pffft! Blackout!"

"He hardly ever uses VR anymore," Bess said so quietly that nobody heard.

"What do YOU think happened to him?" Alonzo asked Julia.

"He had a pretty bad concussion when you found him at the river. I thought I had it taken care of. I was monitoring him for that while I still had the medical equipment..." Julia trailed off.

"That was four years ago," Devon stated.

"The brain is a tricky thing. This is something that could have been building up this whole time. Damn it!" Julia wished she had something nearby to knock down. "If I only had my DiaGlove I could look into his head and see if anything is wrong and stop this damn speculation."

Bess sighed quietly and said, "Is he going to be okay?"

Julia touched her lightly on the arm, "I think he's going to be all right, Bess. He seems fine except for the memory loss, and with any luck we can get that back. We just have to be very supportive. We'll move him back into his own home as soon as possible. Show him around the electronics bay, get him back to work at scanning. With any luck it will all come back to him."

Bess nodded, "I am going to go see how he's doing."

"He's sedated right now, Bess. I need him to sleep for a while. Maybe this will all be over when he wakes up."

"I just need to sit with him for a while," Bess said and headed to the hospital.

The rest of them stood around for several minutes, glancing uneasily at each other. Everything had been going so well for the past few years. The only blot on their existence was the continual absence of the colony-ship. Otherwise, everything was so good. There were four married couples now, three children with at least one more on the way. They had several fishing boats, a paddock of tamed horses, a pasture of goats, a pen of chickens. They had built a dozen structures now, including a windmill out of left over pieces of the TransRover. They had good relations with the local Grendlers, and while they hadn't come much closer to understanding the Terrians, they were at least learning to accept them without the fear they once triggered.

They plowed and planted huge fields, and harvested a considerable amount of food throughout the year. They wove their own fabric, irrigated their crops and ran an impressive sewer system. It didn't seem fair that something like this should happen now.

* * * *

Bess sewed quietly, with Amelia asleep on one side of her and Sarah playing happily with a bit of cord on the other side. They occupied one of the beds in the new hospital. The old hospital was now solely used for the Solace family. The new hospital, over a year old now, was a much larger structure, with 20 beds, a surgery, an office, and two consultation rooms. Bess sat in the daylight, which streamed through the open window and glanced over at her sleeping husband.

His eyes were open this time. "Morgan?" she said quietly.

He turned and looked at her. "Hello," he said.

"How are you feeling?" She set down her sewing and placed her hands on each of her children.

"I was asleep," was his answer. He made no attempt to sit up or move anything more than his head.

"You know who I am though, don't you?"

"You are Bess." There was something about the way he spoke that made it painfully obvious to her that he had not changed.

"Do you know who this is?" she indicated the sleeping child beside her. "What's her name?"

He silently looked at Amelia for several moments and then looked back at Bess. "Is that Denner?" he asked.

Bess climbed out from between the two children and knelt down on the floor beside Morgan's bed. "You must remember who they are. These are your children. Please Morgan, you named Amelia after me, my middle name. Do you remember why we named Sarah? You said it meant 'Princess.' You have to remember who we are."

"You are Bess, Amelia and Sarah," he said.

She kissed him on his forehead and looked into his vacant eyes, "Morgan, you must know me. If you don't know who I am then I don't know what I am going to do."

"You are Bess," he said again.

She grasped him forcefully by his shirt and pulled him into a seated position. "Where are you Morgan? You've got to come back to me. I can't do this without you. I need you to know me. Please Morgan!" She strongly shook him as she spoke and Sarah looked on with some concern. "Snap out of it!"

Julia suddenly entered the ward. She had been sitting in her office, waiting. "Bess!" She caught Bess by her arms and forced her to release her husband. Morgan looked from Bess to Julia and said nothing. "Bess, you have to be careful," Julia scolded softly. And then she turned to Morgan. "How are you feeling today?" she asked. Morgan had slept through the night and most of the following day.

"I am well," he answered.

Julia sighed and looked at Bess, "I am going to run some tests on him now. I'll help you take the kids home. You should get some rest."

Bess nodded numbly and picked up the still sleeping Amelia. Julia reached down for Sarah who wrapped her chubby arms around her neck and babbled into her ear. The two women walked out of the hospital and into the evening light.

"He doesn't know me," Bess said sadly.

"Give him some time," Julia said reassuringly.

Bess cradled Amelia's head against her shoulder and said coldly, "How do you know he will recover at all?"

Julia stopped her. "He is experiencing some sort of amnesia, we just have to wait a bit and see what happens. He's going to be okay, Bess. It is possible that he will never regain all of his memory, but I'm sure he's going to be fine."

"You're not even sure if this is due to something that happened to him four years ago, or something that happened yesterday. For all you know, this is going to kill him and you don't even know what's going on," Bess said bitterly.

"Bess..." Julia tried to say something reassuring as they reached the Martin household, but she pulled away.

Bess banged open their front door with her shoulder. The house, half CommDish, half-wooden structure, reverberated with the sound of the door slamming open. Amelia woke with a start and looked around. "Mommy? Where's Daddy? I wanted to talk to Daddy."

Bess rubbed the girl soothingly on her back. "I'm sorry honey. Daddy isn't feeling like himself right now. We'll see him later." Bess set the drowsy girl on her feet and took her other daughter from Julia. "He doesn't even know me," she whispered to the doctor and shut the door between them.

* * * *

Julia returned to the new hospital and spent several hours talking to Morgan. It was strange to see him this way. He responded to everything she said, but there was something missing in his eyes. They lacked the sly contemplation, shifty apprehension, the sarcastic wit or even the occasional quiet kindness she was used to seeing.

Finally, she brought him around to the windows and pointed out the structures, as the sky grew dark. "That's the Cook House," she said, indicating the long low kitchen and dining hall.

"That is where food is cooked?" he asked.

Julia nodded and sighed. "That's the windmill. We built it to pump water, grind grain and generate electricity. We only had so many power generators and with all of our buildings we were running out of power. We ended up using the frame of the TransRover for the tower, since we had already used the engine and solar cells for the hospital. You helped in the design. Do you remember that?" Morgan only looked dully at the tower, so she continued. "And that's my house. I live there with Alonzo and Hugh. Do you remember Hugh and Alonzo?"

"No," he said quickly and pointed to another structure. "What is that?"

"That's your home." Julia hoped he had recognized it.

"It has a communication dish."

"Yes, you've been using it to look for the colony ship. You've been searching for the ship since we reached this area. You probably have the most intricate record of the nearby star systems. Do you remember anything about that?"

"I am the one that keeps the records?" Morgan asked.

"Yes Morgan, you do," Julia answered. She thought for a moment that he might be remembering something, but instead he only seemed disappointed.

* * * *

"Crazy, huh?" Cameron said, slapping his hands against his arms in the chill of a spring night.

"Yeah, just kinda crazy," Baines replied, taking the MagPro from Cameron. They were on night watch. The first night watch in years. Devon was concerned about what might have affected Morgan, so she decided to re-institute the long discarded custom, for at least the next few evenings.

"It's been real quiet," Cameron said as the two walked along the western edge of Roanoke Colony. "I don't think that there's anything to worry about. I think Devon's on the wrong track. I mean, as many times as Morgan's been knocked silly, I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened to him before."

"Still," Baines said, examining the weapon, "You can't be too careful. Wanna hang out with me for a while? It's still pretty early."

Cameron shrugged. "I'd rather go to bed."

"Come on, I'll get some of that Vino Magus from the storeroom and we'll have a great time."

Cameron chuckled. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt if we sampled some of the new vintage."

Baines started toward the Cook House, when he suddenly stopped. "What the hell is that!" Baines cried, jumping back toward Cameron. Cameron spun in time to see something dark and low to the ground flash past him. "What the hell!" Baines cried again as he took off toward the Great House. "Spiders! Giant spiders!"

Cameron tried to split his attention between his fleeing comrade and the huge hairy arachnid that had just flashed across the compound. He knew that discretion was the better part of valor, and since the MagPro went with discretion, he decided to follow.

****

"The Great House Plan" was put into effect for the rest of the night. Everyone moved out of out of their own comfortable homes and into the Great House. With all the new structures, separated by wide strips of grass, Devon felt it safest to bring everyone into one building for the night. Cameron, Baines and Yale already had apartments in the building. The others moved into the sparse rooms that lined the structure.

Walman grumbled as he and Magus moved into one of the small rooms. They had married last spring, but Lenina Magus refused to take Walman's last name, and everyone still called her by her maiden name. Elisha Denner found her old room for herself and her husband. Roberto Mazatl, since nobody could spell his surname, decided to take 'Denner' as his last name. In spite of the marriages, Magus was still Magus and Mazatl was still Mazatl. Old habits die hard.

Devon sat beside Yale, Baines and Cameron at the fire. "You say it was some kind of spider?"

"It was about so tall," Baines said, indicating about a half-meter off the ground. "Big, hairy and ugly. It had these fangs and grotesque eyes bobbing up above its head. Geez, I hope it didn't see me."

Devon turned to Cameron and he spoke, "I didn't get as good a look at it as he did. I mostly just saw a lot of moving legs. It was black, except for this strange brownish thing on top of it. Couldn't tell you what that was. It moved fast."

Devon nodded, knowing that Danziger had taken Zero out to patrol the grounds with him. Now there were giant spiders to contend with. It always seemed that when one thing bad happened, everything went bad.

* * * *

Alonzo woke with a start in their small apartment in the Great House. Julia, awakened from a light sleep, turned over and looked up at him, "What is it?"

"I was on the DreamPlane," Alonzo said, shaking his head.

"What did the Terrians want?" Julia sat up beside him, concerned. It had been a long time since the Terrians had contacted them. From time to time they would appear in the colony, mostly to see Uly. Uly would leave with them for days at a stretch. The Terrians seemed to prefer the interior of the continent to the coastline and had rarely visited in recent months.

"I couldn't tell for sure. It was as if something was trying to stop us from communicating, like there was a wall between us. They were trying to tell me something about that thing that Baines saw."

"Are we in any danger?" Julia looked over at their sleeping child in a container beside them

"I couldn't tell for sure. There was something important about that spider. It was like an omen or something." He shook his head again. "They were trying to warn us about something that comes with the spider, but I couldn't understand what they wanted to tell me." He held out his hand for a moment, "And there was something about a device."

"A device?" Julia leaned over and stroked Hugh softly. The boy sighed in his sleep.

"It was all pretty confusing. All I know is that the Terrians needed us to stop it."

"Stop what? I don't understand."

"I don't know exactly what it was either. I just know that we can't let 'it' get away with whatever 'it' is trying to do. Everything depends on that."

* * * *

"Do you think it had something to do with that?" Walman said, indicating Morgan who was sitting by the fire, staring into the flames. True was sitting beside him, while Bess tended to the children.

Alonzo shrugged, "I don't know. I just know that something else is going on. Something we don't know about."

"I got the same idea," Uly said glumly. He was growing tall and strong. Whenever the Terrians took him, he returned, somewhat older in his demeanor. At the same time, in spite of everything, he was rather childish still about a many things. "It's like the Terrians can't even talk to me."

Devon nodded. "I think we should all stay close to home today. Let's stay in groups when we go out to do our chores. Try and stay in the Great House as much as possible"

"I'm telling you," Baines was saying to Walman, "That spider thing musta gotten Morgan. I know he doesn't have any bite marks, but maybe it hypnotized him or spit some spider juice on him or something."

True watched Morgan sadly. She had long considered Morgan her friend. He had been one of the first people to talk to her like an equal. At fifteen, she had grown into a lovely young woman but still most of the other colonists treated her like a kid out of habit.

Morgan was so unlike himself. She could always tell when Morgan was thinking, his whole face seemed to contort and change as thoughts passed through him. Now, he seemed almost a blank. But, she did noticed little things now; he made movements that were not at all like his normal behavior.

Alonzo walked over to where Bess sat with the children, and picked up his dark headed Hugh. "Dah-dee!" he said and punched his father in the nose. Alonzo chuckled softly and looked at Bess. She was distractedly playing with the girls, glancing over at Morgan.

Devon sighed and walked around the room slowly. She looked again at her son. He was only thirteen, but growing quite rapidly into a young man. She couldn't help but marvel. She had spent so many years in his younger life, hoping and praying for a miracle. The miracle was before her now. As she looked at him, he seemed so familiar, so much like his father, and so much like...

There was a sudden and violent pounding at the door, and then Grendlers entered the room.

"Agnes! Ed!' Yale said, standing to greet them. Yale grunted and snorted and growled at the two Grendlers and their little one. The Grendlers shuffled from side to side until he finished and then the largest of the group started to grunt back at him. True joined them and between the four creatures, a cacophony of noises filled the room.

When they finally stopped, Yale turned to Devon, "They don't know anything about giant spiders. And they couldn't think of what might have happened to Morgan. They came by to see if we knew what was wrong with the Terrians and why the Terrians were trying to contact them."

The two large creatures lumbered over to the fireside and looked down at Morgan, grumbling, growling and poking him. Their child, Ted, waddled over to where Amelia and Sarah were playing with rough blocks. Of course, the child had his own name in the Grendler's own language, just like his parents, but because many of the Advancers could not quite form their lips around the words, the Grendlers congenially accepted human names along with their own. The two human children welcomed the pudgy child and soon the three of them were babbling in a language all their own.

Morgan did not turn to face the Grendlers, but rather sat quietly by the fire. Morgan was one of the most fluent Grendler speakers of the group. True, Yale and Morgan could all converse quiet easily with the huge creatures. Alonzo, Uly and Bess could hold simple conversations, while the others knew enough words to sometimes get their points across. The children of course, learned Grendler as they grew. They promised to become excellent speakers of the language.

The others in the group waited for Morgan to make a response, but he made none at all, only sitting and looking into the fire. True leaned close to him, "Did you understand what they said to you?"

"No," Morgan replied, unmoving.

"So he knows our language, but has lost the ability to understand the Grendlers," Yale noted. True frowned at this comment.

Denner sighed, "Well, I guess we could invite our guests to breakfast. I made five meat pies yesterday. We could just bring 'em over here if that works for everyone."

"I'll go!' Magus said, grabbing Walman and Cameron. "We need to get out of here for a while anyway." And they were out the door in a flash.

The Grendlers found a place to sit near the children. Hugh struggled to be released from his father and soon the four children, Grendler and human alike, were crawling over Ed and Agnes, laughing.

Alonzo smiled, watching his son trying to outdo the two older girls. He still found it hard to believe that he had a child. When Morgan and Bess announced that they were expecting their first child, he was appalled, wondering how they could dare bring a baby into this wilderness without assurance of modern medical equipment. Yet when Amelia arrived, and instantly became everyone's sweetheart, he couldn't help but think about how nice it would be to have his own child. He and Julia had discussed the possibility endlessly, but could not come to a decision on a timeframe. Then, when Bess was expecting her second child, they finally decided that the time was ripe, or they'd never catch up to the Martins.

Bess, relieved of her baby-sitting responsibilities, sat down beside Morgan and touched him softly on the arm. "Morgan, please try to remember me. It's very important. You must."

"I remember that you are Bess," he said complacently.

She took his head in her hands and kissed him, as passionately and as long as she could. The others in the room turned away, blushing slightly. The Grendlers hooted encouragingly Bess stood back and looked again into his stupid eyes.

"Hey," Walman said, as he banged into the room, a pie in each hand, "Did you say four or five pies?" Magus and Cameron followed, with one pie each.

"Five," Denner said confidently, "I made five pies. Didn't you find them in the cupboard?"

"There were only four there," Cameron commented. "It must be your hormones going crazy. You can't count anymore."

Denner lay her hand on her pregnant stomach and said, "I can count to five."

In the midst of their discussion Bess was backing across the room, away from her husband. "That's not Morgan," she said under her breath. "That is not Morgan."

Julia caught up with her. "Of course it is, Bess. Just give him a little time. You can't do this to him right now. Remember when he was hurt at the river. He had some memory loss then. Remember what he was like?"

"He knew me then," Bess said flatly. "He knew who I was. This is not Morgan. Morgan would know me."

* * * *

"Hey! You stupid jerks!" Morgan Martin beat on the door until his hands ached, "Listen to me you bastards! Let me out of here! I'm a married man. I got kids! Hey! Listen to me!" The door rattled and shook, but did not open. "Open up! Come on already! I don't do well in small places. Let me out!" He stopped his tirade and listened for a moment. Nothing.

He limped back to the bed and sat down heavily, trying not to look at the walls. As long as he tried to ignore the walls, they wouldn't close in on him. He sighed and tried to find something to look at. The room was almost empty. Besides the pitiful excuse for a bed, there were two buckets on either side of the room: one with fresh water, the other to use as a toilet. Grass, nutshells and other refuse were scattered across the floor. There was no window, only a dim light imbedded in the ceiling.

He didn't know how long he had been held here. He remembered stopping the ATV by the side of a still pond. He had sat down on a convenient rock and looked out quietly at the reflective surface of the water, listening to the silence. A perfect place for a little bit of VR drums. He was about to put on his GEAR, when something hit him, knocking him to the coarse sand of the shoreline. It held him down, immobilizing him. He shouted a command to the ATV to send it home; that was all he could manage. Maybe someone would see it and figure out that he was in trouble. He could feel himself blacking out, like a dark curtain being drawn over him, as he looked out at the mountains across the pond. The last thing he saw was the mirror image of mountains in the water.

And then he woke up here. He quickly discovered that his GEAR was gone, and his crutch was missing too. Not that it mattered very much, he wasn't going anywhere. There was only one way in or out of the room, and that was through the metal door. The room seemed to be carved out of solid rock.

It was cold in the room. He rubbed his hands together, and carefully rubbed his aching knee. He wished he had some of that jelly-fish-jelly right now. Good luck getting any of that. He was lucky getting anything edible to eat.

There was a covered slot at the bottom of the door. Shortly after he had first came-to, a bunch of club-nuts and holiday berries came through the slot. All inedible. They were scattered around the room right now. He found a cracked club-nut by the bed and picked it up to smack it against the opposite wall. Some unknown amount of time later, an unripe red-fruit and a bundle of grass was forced through the slot. What did they think he was, a horse? He was afraid that he would starve to death when the meat pie arrived.

It was a curious thing, because it was obviously one of Denner's pies. The pie had her trademark "D" cut into the crust, and was baked in one of the colony's pans. He glanced at the empty pan beside him, and felt uneasy about it. Somebody had to get into the Cook House to get the pie. That meant that they had to go into the colony. "Keep your hands off my wife you stinking bastards!" he screamed at the door again and flung the empty pan at it. The pan careened off the door and collided with the wall behind him. "Stay away from my kids. Leave all the kids alone. Stay away from my friends!" He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he sat quietly again and wondered what those friends were doing and why they weren't going about saving him. He had to have been here for over a day. Why hadn't they come? Didn't anyone care? He covered his eyes again and tried not to think of small confined places.

* * * *

Morgan hobbled across the compound between the crutches. He came to a stop and looked back at the others following him.

"We don't want you to overdo it," Julia said as she caught up with the liaison. "Let's just get you to your home and have you look around there a bit to start.' Although Devon felt it would probably be best to keep the group together in the Great House for one more day, Morgan insisted on seeing the electronics bay of the CommDish.

"He's doing pretty good on those crutches," Danziger said to Devon. "I mean, it's kinda like he's just learning to use them. He's gotten the knack of them really fast."

"Maybe it's part of his memory coming through," Devon said, although she still remember his surprise at discovering his old injury.

Bess followed them, glaring at Morgan. True walked with her, holding her hand. The girl was thinking seriously about something she had seen and wondered if it was worth mentioning.

When they reached the CommDish and entered the electronics bay, Morgan looked around carefully, yet emotionlessly. "I am the only one that runs this machine?" he asked no one in particular.

"Well, we've all run this thing from time to time, but you are the one who keeps the records and charts the whole mess," Danziger explained. "You're the only one who thinks any of this is interesting." He shrugged.

Devon leaned forward and spoke quietly to Morgan, "Are you sure you're up to this? Maybe you would like to try this later, with fewer people."

"Where's the log?" Morgan said, touching one of the keyboards tentatively. "If I could see the scan-log I am sure I would remember it."

Bess sank back slightly, against True. Devon was about to speak again, but Walman spoke first, "You see," he said, "That's the thing. We were trying to get things set up here before you came over. I couldn't get into the scan-log though. It's locked."

"Locked..." Morgan looked up from the counsel, his voice betraying a slight degree of displeasure. "Unlock it."

"We would if we could, but you're the one that locked it. You put some sort of cipher on it. See?" Walman pulled up the screen that was locked with a security password. "Can't get beyond it. Now, if you could remember the password we could get into the scan-log."

"I don't remember it. I have amnesia," Morgan said. "Someone else must know."

"Nobody knows the password but Morgan," Bess said quietly.

"Come on, Bess. He didn't even tell you?" Walman asked incredulously.

"When he put the cipher on the log over two years ago. He said that I didn't need to know it," Bess stated, "I trusted him to know what was best. I trust my husband."

Danziger looked up at Devon. "This is pretty serious," he said quickly. "If we don't have a way into that log, then all the work he's done for all those years is lost." He looked back down at Morgan, who was sitting unmoved in his seat. "I can't believe you let him lock the log without telling anyone else the password."

Devon nodded. "I can't explain the things he does," she responded.

Morgan stood up suddenly and, almost as an afterthought, grabbed the crutches beside him. "That is enough for now. I think I will go lie down now. Do I sleep here or in the other building?"

"Until we can find out what is going on with the spiders and the Terrians and everything, I think we had all better stay in the Great House," Devon replied.

Morgan headed out the door and into the compound. After he left, True finally spoke, "I don't think that's Morgan either."

"What?" Devon said with a start.

"That's not Morgan," she said emphatically. "It looks like Morgan, but that's about it."

"Why do you think it's not him? He can't help it if he's not acting like himself right now." Julia said.

"If it is Morgan, then he is lying," True said, looking over at Bess. "He understood Ed and Agnes. He understood every word they said."

"How do you know that?" Danziger asked.

"Do you ever watch this guy when you're talking to him? It's like he's processing what he hears. He lowers his head a little while you are talking. Then, he pauses and looks up. It's like he has to think about what to do and say. Every time you talk, he does this. He doesn't do it when he hears other sounds." She looked around at the others in the room. "But he did do it when the Grendlers were speaking. He understood them and told us that he didn't." She pointed to the electronics bay. "And the only thing he was interested in is getting into the scan-log. Once he knew that was locked, he left."

"He limps differently," Julia added. "I thought it was just because he learned a different way to do it, but..." She paused and then added, "It almost as if he's faking it now. I don't know, I just had the impression that he hardly needs the crutches." Everyone was quiet for a moment

"And so that would mean that he isn't possessed by anything, like I was," Danziger said, as if thinking out loud. "If he was, he would still be needing the crutches."

"Come on you guys," Walman sputtered "Who else could it be? You are all just getting paranoid. I wish Baines hadn't gone to pieces like that when he saw the spider. It's got all of you on edge."

Julia then added, "And when I was showing him the buildings yesterday, the only thing he was really interested in was the CommDish. He wasn't really pleased when he found out who ran the thing."

"He was upset when he found out who ran the CommDish?" Danziger pressed Julia.

She nodded, "Thinking about it now, I am wondering..." She trailed off. "He wants the scan-log. I don't think he knows how to use the CommDish. Did you see how he sat here? He didn't have a clue about how to operate it. I think he was hoping he could talk to the person who ran the CommDish and get the scan-log from him. It kind of threw a monkey wrench in the works when he discovered he replaced the wrong person."

"What are you guys talking about!" Walman yelled. "This is crazy. You don't even know if any of this is true."

"Let's find him and get some answers," Danziger said, darting out the door, followed by Devon and finally Walman.

Bess started to cry, and True held her quietly, "They'll find him," she said assuredly, "The real Morgan... they'll get him back."

Danziger and Devon had run a few meters from the Martin house when they came to a halt. Walman ran up beside them. "Hey," he said. "Where did he go?"

****

"Wide open pastures.... ah, mountain valleys, Cameron's Pass... ah... okay." Morgan grimaced, squinting his eyes shut and tried to ignore the tightness of the room. It seemed to be getting smaller to him. "Snow fields - too cold. Don't think about cold. The desert, yeah that's a good one... the desert... big big things. Geez, I hate the desert. Too hot, too empty, too damn big." It wasn't working. He had started out by trying to put together VR programs in his head, but had tired of that after the seventh or eight program. Besides, if he lifted his concentration for one moment, the walls would start closing in on him again, and he would loose his place in the program and have to start over again with the basics. He started concentrating on something beyond the cell.

"Okay, all right, something really big. The ocean..." He tried to imagine the ocean. "On a nice day. A light breeze, a boat... I'm fishing for wal-fish. Yeah, okay. Got a big basket of sandwiches and a bottle of wine...oh, I could go for some of that right now. Stop it, Morgan, keep with the picture you got going here. Okay, Bess is in the boat." He could see her, smiling at him from the bow of the boat. Her eyes were so beautiful. He sighed and thought only of her for a moment. If he could only see her again, he'd be happy.

There was a sudden bang and the door to the room flew open. Bright light streamed in around a figure in the doorway and Morgan squinted against it. He hadn't realized that the room was so dim. It took him a moment to make out who was standing there.

"Danziger!" He spouted, jumping unsteadily his feet, "Hey, Danziger! You came to save me from this place. Geez, I don't think I've ever been happier to see YOU! Let's get the hell out of here, okay?" He grabbed for Danziger, but the man stepped away from him, blocking the door.

Morgan stared at the blocked door for a moment, "Let's get out of here. They've been keeping me here for I don't know how long. They've been in the colony! We gotta warn the others. Let's go."

Danziger regarded him quietly and then finally said, "Not yet."

"What?" Morgan looked at him, crestfallen. He sat back on the bed, "What do you mean they won't let me go? You came here to rescue me, didn't you?"

"Not yet," he answered, his voice level, his face strangely still. "We must be assured of something before you will be released."

"But, you must get me out of here. Please Danziger, there's gotta be a way. It's making me crazy. I'm claustrophobic, you know that. I can't do small places."

"There is a problem. You have been impersonated at the colony," Danziger explained.

"What? How? What do you mean? Someone's impersonating me?"

"We only recently discovered the forgery. A cunning shape-shifter assumed your identity. Now, I need to make sure that you are the real Morgan."

"Me? Of course it's me! Who else would I be?" Morgan was on his feet again, leaning against Danziger for support. "This shape-shifter, it hasn't hurt Bess has it? It hasn't touched my kids has it? Keep it away from the kids! You gotta tell me that the kids are okay. Danz, I'd do anything for them."

"I need to be assured that you are Morgan, and not another impersonator," Danziger repeated. "I need to test you. I have a question."

"Question, sure," Morgan said eagerly, "Sure I'll answer any question. Hey! Here's something only I would know. My middle name is Horatio. There, that will prove it."

"What is the password to unlock the scan-log?" Danziger said.

Morgan stopped, "The password? Why? Why do you want the password?"

"It is a test," Danziger answered. "If you answer the question, you will be released."

"The password?" Morgan repeated, his mind reeling, "But Devon... Devon said... Devon told me..." he stuttered. "Look Danz, ask me anything else. Ask me how many pearls are hidden over the middle crossbeam of my house. Ask me about my favorite color. It's gray! Not just any old gray, but that kind of gray with a little bit of blue in it. Only Bess knows that. Ask her. Ask me anything!"

"Tell me the password to the scan-log."

"But, I can't tell you that."

Danziger nodded curtly, and shoved Morgan back on the bed. Danziger exited the room, slamming the door behind him. Morgan limped across the short distance and tried to pull open the door, but it remained impassable. He pounded on the door, helplessly, "Don't leave me Danziger! Please don't leave me here!"

The damn password. Why did Danziger want the freaking password? "Morgan Martin, you are an idiot," he muttered to himself. Why didn't he just give Danziger the password. You'd be out of here now if you'd only said it. He wiped his arm across his eyes and breathed deeply. This was wrong. This was all very wrong. Why would Danziger demand that password, of all things? It was funny too, Danziger's reaction to the middle name, Horatio. Morgan was sure it would elicit a smirk or something from the mechanic, who was always ready to find some reason to laugh at the liaison. But of course, it was a bad choice of proof. Morgan then recalled that everyone had heard his middle name at the wedding. It surprised him now that Danziger didn't make note of that either. That wasn't very much like Danziger. In fact Danziger didn't seem very much like Danziger at all.

Morgan wondered about this whole impersonator thing. It was Danziger that seemed like the impersonator here.

The door banged open and before he could do anything, someone entered the room and the doors slammed shut again. Once his eyes adjusted to the flash of light, Morgan saw Devon standing before him.

"Devon!" Morgan said quickly, "You gotta get me out of here. Something fishy is going on. You gotta watch out for Danziger."

"I will be able to release you if you assure me of who you are," Devon said levelly. "You must tell me the password to the scan-log. You can tell me, of course."

Now Morgan knew without a doubt that something was wrong. He knew for a fact that Devon would be the last person to ask him this question. Okay, if they can test me, he thought, I can test them. "It's too long to remember. I got it written down. It's under the middle keyboard. It's about 20 digits long, alphanumeric. Starts with an X."

"I will check this information," Devon said curtly and was out the door again before Morgan could do anything to impede her.

That was not Devon. He knew that now without a doubt. He stood in the room, breathing deeply, trying to calm down. "Oh, damn," he thought suddenly. "Oh, you stupid idiot. You sent them into your home!"

* * * *

"Well?" Danziger asked the small group. "I looked all through the Great House and no sign of him."

"I checked out the Cook House and the new hospital," Alonzo said, "And I didn't even find Denner's missing pie."

"I've been through a few of the storerooms and I sent Mazatl up to the Perch with Zero." Devon added, "He hasn't seen anything either. Ed and Agnes are going through the barns."

True, Uly, Magus and Walman had taken off on horseback to survey the area, looking for the man who may or may not be Morgan. The others had scattered throughout the colony. It was as if he had vanished without a trace. No one was in the compound when he left the CommDish, so no one could say which direction he went.

Suddenly a scream of rage broke the air, and everyone nearby ran toward the CommDish. He was back.

"How the hell did he get back here without us seeing him?" Danziger said, when he first saw the man, in one corner of the room. Then he saw the rest of the picture.

Morgan was holding one-year-old Sarah, trying to get to the door. Bess was swinging the wooden crutch at him, trying desperately to hit him without striking her daughter. Amelia was hiding in a corner behind her mother. "You let her go! Let her go! Damn you!" She spat out. "You have no right."

"I need the scan-log," Morgan replied with remarkable calmness. "The password was not where he said it would be. I needed something to convince him to give me the information." He held Sarah tighter and the girl let out a little yelp, and looked around curiously at the activity in the room.

Bess stopped swinging the crutch long enough to say, "HE? Who told you where the password was? Where is Morgan! If he is hurt in any way..."

Morgan looked from Bess to the others, coldly and calculatedly. "I have no desire to harm him. He has been well taken care. I have seen to that. I only want the scan-log. Things have changed. I can see I will not be able to leave again without difficulty. I have been assured that no one knows the password except for ..." he paused and then smiled his shallow smile, " ... myself." He glanced around at them, and continued his tight grip on the child, who had no fear of him, but was uneasy about his behavior. He seemed to have lost his blankness now, and replaced it with a smug anger. "I will have to go have a little talk with myself now, and bring the child with me."

"You are going nowhere!" Bess growled, "Give me back my daughter!"

"Why are you doing this?" Alonzo asked incredulously, "If you had only asked, we could have given you everything you wanted. What's so important about the stupid scan-log?"

"I have been trapped on this planet for three years. My ship crashed in the mountains, the damage was extensive, but not overwhelming. I rebuilt the ship myself, but the data in the navigational computer was lost. I need a star chart to find my way home, so I searched the planet for a means of obtaining such a chart. I was aware of a scattering of humans on this planet, and sought you out. The Grendlers think the stars are only pretty lights in the sky. Their intelligence is negligible. Those specimens that have been about your colony are typical of the race. I am, of course, capable of understanding all languages. It pains me to admit that even their coarse discourse could have any significance. And there are also Terrians here," he said darkly. "They tried to keep me from finding you, but I am too clever for them. They felt I should be stopped."

"They're pretty perceptive about things," Alonzo cut in.

"I suppose they feel that my returning home would not be in their best interest. They are a little too fond of this planet. They have no idea of the value of the resources here. My people are renown for our ability to harvest resources from a planet. We are very efficient and thorough. The Terrians seemed determined to undermine my attempts to return to my home. I find they are best dealt with by disturbing the DreamPlane. A rather simple task for someone as advanced as me. But they were coming close to finding a way to end the disturbance. I had to find a way to leave quickly." The girl wiggled in his arms but he held her tightly.

"The planet is more than just rocks and soil to them." Alonzo said, "It is alive."

"What does that matter to me?" The being responded coldly, before continuing. "Then, in spite of the Terrians, I found your communications dish. I knew that my problems had been solved. Certainly there would be some sort of star chart at this location. All I would need to do is infiltrate your group, find someone who could provide me with a copy of the charts and leave. I waited until one of you separated from the rest. It didn't take long. You can see, I meant you no harm."

"But you have harmed us. Look what you're doing to that girl!" Danziger said quickly.

"It is unharmed. The one I have replaced is unharmed. You have discovered my deception," he paused and gazed at them languidly. "It was the limp that gave me away, wasn't it?" He did not wait for an answer, "My people can become an identical copy of any living thing. We can even duplicate their clothing down to dirt in the seams. Amnesia is always a useful gimmick when one needs to be accepted among another species. People are so willing to offer information when think you can't remember anything. I felt the damage done to this being was an inconvenience and so I remedied the situation. I see that I should have been more careful." He nodded slightly. "All I require is a copy of the scan-log and I will leave you. Let me go and I will find out the missing password and everyone will be happy."

Bess was furious, "You will not take my child! You have no right!"

Alonzo whispered to her, "If we let him go, we can follow him to where he's hiding Morgan."

"You know how fast he disappeared last time. Do you think I will let him go with my daughter?!"

Devon stepped forward. "If I were to give you the password, if the scan-log was unlocked, would you release the girl? Would you release Morgan?"

"Certainly," the false Morgan said, and then paused again, registering what she had said. "You have the password?"

"I will unlock the scan-log and you will release the girl and Morgan. That is the deal."

Morgan nodded slightly. "That is acceptable."

Devon sat down at the keyboard and brought up the locked screen. Without having to stop and think, she typed in the word and the computer released the log. She turned back to Morgan, who handed the child to Bess, who snatched Sarah away. Devon tapped at the keyboard.

"And now you will release Morgan," Devon said evenly.

"I will require the copy first," Morgan replied.

"I have set up the computer to dump its entire memory. I will erase everything on this machine if you don't release him first."

"That is unacceptable. His voice raised suddenly from it's dull monotone.

"That's the deal."

Morgan stepped back from the group. "This is unfair," he replied. He glared at them now "UNFAIR! You will do as I say. I am superior to you all!"

"Hardly," Devon said, her voice low and hard, "I can destroy everything you seem to care about with one movement of my finger. You would have to work a lot harder to do the same to us."

"Animals!" Morgan's face was red with rage, "You have no idea of what I can do!" He changed before their eyes, from the tall, thin liaison that they all knew. Everything human about him melted away into a thick, grotesque creature, purple skinned, tentacled, with huge eyes and a gaping mouth. "UNFAIR!" It hissed and lashed out at Julia, the closest one to him. Julia was able to sidestep him and leap out of the room. It then turned on Devon, "The scan-log! I demand it now!"

Devon struck the keyboard and the creature gurgled with rage when the screen went blank, "UNFAIR!" It raged toward her, but Danziger and Alonzo had attacked it by now, dragging it backward through the open door and into outside.

It twisted out of their reach and lashed out at Danziger, knocking him backwards. "I will kill you all!" It barked. Julia ran to Danziger, but the creature stopped her before she could reach him. It grasped Julia and drew her to him.

Suddenly, the Grendlers were there, launching themselves on the creature. It tried to break away, but they held it tightly. It released Julia in the commotion and she crawled away toward Alonzo, who quickly cradled her against himself.

"Stupid creatures! Don't you know I am more powerful than all of you?" the thing said, struggling to free itself from the grip of the Grendlers. Ed and Agnes were a formidable team, and the creature could not immediately break away, although its tentacles wrapped themselves around the legs and arms of the Grendlers.

Finally, it struggled to its feet, it threw off Agnes and then Ed. The Grendlers rolled like balls away from the scene. It suddenly saw the little child Sarah again and made a lunge for her. The creature never made it.

There was a blast and the creature shrieked in pain as it collapsed to the ground. Bess stood defiantly with the humming MagPro. "Never touch my daughter again," she spat out.

It was obvious the creature was dead. The MagPro was set as maximum, and at close range.

Julia, with the help of Alonzo, rose to her feet. Devon ran to Danziger. He was scraped and bruised, but otherwise fine. Ed and Agnes, seemed relatively unharmed by their tumble. Bess glared at what was left at the creature, until the cries from her youngest daughter brought her out of it. She dropped the weapon and picked up Sarah. Amelia, who had remained in the house peeked out fearfully, Bess pulled the girl to her. "It knew where Morgan is," Bess said tearfully. "It was the only one who knew where he is. What have I done?"

"We'll find him," Devon assured her, and then signaled to Danziger and the others, "Get the horses ready. It said that he was well cared for. He must be close."

* * * *

They continued the search from where they had left off earlier, adjusting the search now from a hiding Morgan to a hidden Morgan. The groups had searched for three hours now, leaving Denner behind to care for the children. Alonzo and Baines searched around the colony for the second time that day.

"This is crazy," Baines muttered. "How do they expect us to find him? Who knows where that thing hid Morgan? He could be anywhere."

"Well, we'll keep looking until we find him," Alonzo said resolutely.

Baines pushed open the door of the Cook House and leapt back almost immediately, "Holy crap!" Baines he shouted as the huge spider pushed its way past them and into the compound. "That thing is still here! I thought Bess killed it."

Alonzo, at first as startled as Baines, jumped out of the thing's path, but he stared after it in surprise. "Baines, did you see that? Didja see what's on top of it?"

Baines frowned and tried to focus on something other than the whirling legs and five bobbing eyestalks. "Hey!" he said, "He's got a plate of muffins!"

"Get Devon on GEAR, I'm following it! It's not the same thing that was impersonating Morgan," Alonzo yelled as he ran the short distance to the Martin home, where the ATV was parked.

Baines fixed his GEAR. "Devon," he said as Alonzo sped after the arachnid, "I think we got a lead."

Alonzo pressed the vehicle to keep up with the skittering creature as it ran into the hills. He hoped it would stay to the bottom of the hills. If it started up the slope, he would lose it. He followed the creature until they rounded a hillside and emerged at the still pond. He skidded the machine to a halt when the spider suddenly stopped. It turned toward him for only a moment, and then disappeared into the hillside.

Alonzo leapt out of the vehicle and stepped to where the spider had disappeared. There was nothing but a solid wall of rock. He looked up to see Devon and Danziger nearing. The two jumped down from their mounts and met him at the wall. Yale was close behind them.

"Baines said you saw that spider with a plate of muffins?" Danziger asked, skeptically.

"Yeah," Alonzo responded, "I think it was bringing some food to Morgan. It just ran into this wall and disappeared. It's like it ran right through."

"With the muffins?" Devon asked. "That means that anything solid should be able to make it through." She tapped along the wall uncertainly. It felt solid as any rock. She turned when she heard the huffing of the Grendlers arriving on the scene, followed closely by Bess, on her horse, Fan.

"You found him?" She asked expectantly, looking around for any sort of sign of Morgan.

"We believe he is near," Yale said and squatted in front of the stone wall. He ran his Grip slowly over the surface. "It's an illusion. We only need to find the right frequency and we should be able to get past it." He pulled off his GEAR and held it against the wall, adjusting it slightly and constantly. Suddenly the wall shuddered and disappeared. They found themselves staring into a well-lit corridor.

Alonzo and Danziger went in first, followed close behind by Bess, Devon and Yale. Ed and Agnes took up the rear. The corridor ran a dozen meters through the rock to a small room, with a scattering of electronics on a table. Danziger picked up a device and looked at it with interest. "Strange stuff," he said. "I couldn't tell you what this is for."

"I can." Alonzo took the palm-sized electronic device from him and smashed it open. "The Terrians were trying to tell me about this. It's what was jamming the DreamPlane." He set it down when he spotted the spider again, flitting along the wall, trying to stay hidden. It wedged itself into a crack in the wall and tried to become as small as possible. Evidently, it could not change it shape like the creature that had been impersonating Morgan.

There was a door at one end of the room, with a covered slot at the bottom. Danziger stepped to the door and tried to open it. There was no handle and no visible way of opening it. He pushed and tried to pull it, but the door would not give. "Morgan?" he said, rapping on the door. "Morgan you in there?" He knocked harder.

* * * *

The room echoed with sound. Something was pounding on the door. Morgan covered his head and wished it would end. The pounding stopped for a moment and he thought he could hear voices, distant and eerie. The noise started again, this time louder, as if someone was throwing something against the door. "Oh please, let it end," he muttered miserably. Only seconds before, a plate of muffins had appeared through the slot, and now it sounded like someone was trying to batter down the door with elephants.

What was outside this room? Something that could impersonate Devon and Danziger and who knew what else. Something that had gone to the colony, to his house. How could he be so stupid. All because of that stupid password. He should have given it to the thing. What harm would it have done anyway?

The noise increased and he rammed his fists against his ears. "Think happy thoughts... happy thoughts," he said to himself. He thought of the one thing that always made him happy. He thought of Bess. He could almost see her standing in front of him when the door suddenly slammed open and two huge shapes flew into the room. He cried out and tried to jump back from the lumpy creatures that headed toward him.

"Morgan!" Something else came at him. There was no room to run.

The shape had reached him and grabbed him by both arms. His eyes had adjusted to the change in light and he realized that it was Bess who touched him.

"Oh no, no," he shook his head unhappily, "No, they can't do this to me. Not Bess. You just can't go and be Bess."

"Is it you, Morgan?" Bess clasped his head in her hands and tried to look into his eyes.

"You can't look like Bess. You just can't do that," he said miserably, finally meeting her glance. " Bess...?"

She kissed him, as she had tried to do the day before. This time he kissed her back.

When they finally released each other, Danziger spoke, "I take it you know who is who now?"

Morgan looked around, and noticed that there were two Grendlers and four other people in the room.

* * * *

Morgan fiddled with the controls of the ATV while everyone prepared for the trip back to Roanoke Colony. Devon leaned over the vehicle and said "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Oh yeah, fine. For someone who has been incarcerated by a shape shifting alien for the past few days in a tiny room, half starved and going out of my mind, I am just super." Then he lowered his voice, "I didn't give it the password."

"I know," Devon replied. "Thank you." She looked around to see what the others were doing. They were busily loading the horses with the electronics taken from the cave.

"Not that it mattered. I don't think the info there would make any difference to it."

"It was the right thing to do. We couldn't let it have that information." Devon spoke softly. "If it had accessed the log, it would have returned to this planet to destroy it. We had to stop it." Morgan nodded seriously, and she continued, "I had to erase your past three months of work."

"What? Why'd you go and do a thing like that? Do you know how hard I work for that stuff?"

"Yes, I do know. That's why I did it. I had to dump the recent entries to make it look good."

Suddenly, someone shouted. The long-legged, hairy black spider strutted out of the opening in the wall, carefully balancing a plate of battered muffins on its head. It made a beeline toward Morgan and his ATV, stopping just within arm's reach. Nobody moved.

"Devon..." Morgan said under his breath. "Do you see it too?"

"Yes," Devon replied, stepping away from the vehicle.

"Oh," Morgan responded, not knowing if that was a good thing or a bad thing. When the spider waved its eyestalks at him invitingly. "It's not gonna bite me is it?"

"It looks like it wants you to take a muffin," Alonzo said, not even daring to move.

"Yeah, right." Morgan started the engine and took off toward the colony at top speed. The spider only waited a moment, and then using it's eyestalks to hold down the plate, it took off after him.

"Now, that is one of the strangest things I have ever seen." Danziger said as Bess, astride Fan, followed after. "I think Morgan has found himself a new friend."

Alonzo shrugged and started off on foot toward home, with Yale keeping him company on horseback. Devon took John by the arm and turned him toward the pond. The surface was as still as a plate of glass, and the Last-Step Mountains reflected so perfectly.

"It has a ship somewhere. The ship is probably flyable, once the computer is repaired," Danziger said thoughtfully. "It could come in handy."

Devon just held onto his arm, and leaned against his shoulder. "It's nice here," she said after a moment. "I never realized how still this place was. Look at the pond. So quiet. It almost looks like there's a second set of mountains in the water, just like the first."

"Yeah, well, it's only a reflection. Nothing like the real thing. You could drown if you tried to cross those mountains," Danziger said, as Devon leaned her head against him. "Tell me again that you will marry me."

"... once the colony ship arrives," Devon said, completing the promise.

"I can wait," he replied.

THE END