As G-889 Turns
Episode #1 "Flashback"
(Inspired by the television program Earth2)


"Dad?" Morgan poked his head into the office, a faint but forced smile on his face. The man behind the desk did not look up from his keyboard. "I had a message that you wanted to see me," Morgan hesitantly reminded him. Horatio Martin merely pointed at the empty chair opposite him.

Morgan sat down and waited...and waited. "Don't fidget," his father scolded. Exasperated, Morgan let out a sigh. "And sit quietly. Your mother may coddle your passive-aggressive tendencies but the rest of the universe is merely annoyed by them. You're a grown man, for God's sake." Horatio Martin did not once look up from his work even while speaking.

Morgan sat quietly. He firmly clasped the arms of the chair to keep his hands still and held his feet flat on the floor to avoid shuffling them. It was going to be a long wait.

"Why don't I come back when you're not so busy." Morgan half rose out of his chair.

"Sit." It was not shouted, but for all the power behind the word, it might as well have been. "I am always busy, Morgan," he explained. "I have an important job with important responsibilities."

Morgan detected a slight emphasis on the word "I." Implying that I, on the other hand, have nothing better to do than sit and wait for you.

After a few more moments, the older man pushed his console aside and looked Morgan face-on for the first time. He didn't seem impressed. "I've gotten a job for you, Morgan."

This is not good. "Great, Dad. What kind of job?"

"An important job. One that could move you up in the ranks considerably. I had to pull a few strings to raise your clearance just to get you on it."

"Really?" Morgan perked up slightly. "Level four?"

"Level four."

"Wow."

"Morgan, level-four government liasons do not use words like 'wow.' Please attempt to be more articulate when you meet with the project leaders tomorrow. Do not embarrass me. I went to a lot of trouble to get you this assignment."

"I'm sorry." His father did not acknowledge the apology. "What sort of assignment is this, exactly?

"You will be working side by side with Devon Adair..."

"The nutcase who's bankrolling the deep space mission?"

"She is an extremely powerful woman."

"She's a fruitcake."

"Morgan!"

"Okay. Fine. I can deal with fruitcakes. I think that was the main lesson in law school."

"Morgan." Morgan closed his mouth and held up his hands to emphasize his silence. "Regardless of your personal impressions of Devon Adair, this assignment is quite prestigious. You will be the highest ranking government official to leave with Eden Project and as such..."

"Ww...wwi...with Eden Project?!! I'm supposed to leave WITH them?!!!"

"...you will be in charge of recording all progress...."

"FORGET IT!"

"Morgan."

"Dad, I am not leaving. Going out that far would mean 15, 20 years in cold sleep."

"22."

"I can't do that. What about Mom?"

"You'll be doing this for her."

"What are you talking about? I'll never see her again. I can't bear the idea of her dying alone."

"She will not die alone, Morgan. I'll be here for her. Your sisters will be here for her. And the money from this job will keep her very comfortable during her remaining years."

"No amount of money...."

"I don't think you realize what kind of money we're talking about, Morgan. You will not only receive pay at level four from the government, but you will simultaneously receive a commercial income from Adair, which is considerably more. That's two paychecks for the price of one and Adair's contract agrees to make full payment on departure. Can you imagine what that kind of money could mean to your mother? And just think how proud she'll be to know that her firstborn is finally doing something with his life."

"But," Morgan said, weakly, "by the time I come back everything will be different."

"You don't have to come back if you don't want to. I imagine that that person you married should feel right at home." Morgan was about to protest but he cut him off. "It doesn't matter. You'll have two years to decide whether you want to stay or not."

"But...." Morgan trailed off. He had no arguments left.

"It's settled then. You just sign these," he said, sliding an electronic pad and stylus toward him. "This signs all of your earnings over to your mother. She'll put something aside in investments for you just in case you decide to come back, of course. And this one is insurance. If, God forbid, anything were to happen to you, your mother would still be taken care of. One moment." He reached over and pushed a button. "Eric? Has Mr. Blalock arrived yet? Oh, good, send him in. ... Mr. Blalock, nice to see you again. I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting my son. I wonder if you wouldn't mind terribly witnessing his signature on a few forms. Tedious personal business, I'm afraid."

"Oh, no bother." Dyson Blalock witnessed in the necessary places.

"All the information you need about the mission has been downloaded to your own terminal," Horatio Martin told his son.

Realizing he'd been dismissed, Morgan got up and shuffled dejectedly out of the office.

"Can he handle this?" Blalock asked, after Morgan was gone.

"All you asked for was expendable and I'm afraid expendable is all you got."


CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #2: The Name Game

"Anthony."

"Christina or Christian."

"Bernadette."

"Oh, I like that one."

"Cassandra."

"What about you, Julia?"

"I don't know, True. I never really thought about it."

"Aw, c'mon. Everybody thinks about it. What about when you were little?"

"Well...." Julia smiled, shyly.

"Come on, Julia," Walman teased. "Out with it."

"I always kind of liked Alexandria. And for a boy, Alexander." Her eyes met Alonzo's. "Alonzo?"

"No, I'm not playing."

"That's not fair," True insisted. "You've been sitting there listening to everyone else. You have to tell."

"I don't have one."

"Alonzo!" they all whined.

"Well, I don't," he insisted. "I used to have one but I changed my mind. Danziger, what about you?"

"True."

"Now, that is cheating," Alonzo said.

"Why?"

"Because you've already used it. You have to think up a new one."

"Why should I have to think up another one if you won't even tell one."

"Yeah, Alonzo," Julia said, eyeing him carefully. "Quit trying to dodge. It's still your turn. You said you used to have one. What was it? Why did you change your mind?"

"I never actually planned on having kids."

He was met with a chorus of "Quit stalling!"

Alonzo sighed. "I never did plan on having a kid...but...if I did...well, I used to think I'd name it after my mother. I don't really remember her all that well. She died when I was young. But I do remember that she was a really nice woman, sweet and kind and all that mom-stuff...but not sappy or anything. I remember this one time the landlord tried to pull a fast one on her. Didn't want to give back her security deposit or something. I was only 5 or 6. I didn't really know what it was about. But she gave him hell. I remember being so proud of her." Alonzo looked around the campfire at all their faces, embarrassed at the way he'd suddenly opened up. "Anyway, her name would have worked for a boy, too."

"But you changed your mind? Why?"

"Let's just say that the name has lost its magic."

"So what would you name your kid?" True demanded.

"I think Alexandria or Alexander would be just fine," he said, winking at Julia.

"That's cheating," Uly said.

"Yeah," Danziger agreed. "'You have to think up a new one.'"

"But why don't you want to name your child after your mother anymore?"

"The name doesn't have the same connotations as it used to. Trust me. You don't want to name your first born after my mother."

Julia tensed under the scrutiny. What had begun as an innocent little name-game to keep True entertained was becoming embarrassingly personal. And yet, she knew all of these people so well that there was no point in not continuing. "You never know. I might just like to name my first born after your mother."

Uly rolled his eyes and made gagging motions. Danziger quietly shushed him.

Alonzo was smirking at Julia in full dimple mode. "Julia," he said, grining even wider. "My mother's name was Morgan."

Morgan spit coffee out of his nose and Danziger fell backwards into the dirt, laughing.

"Alright, your turn," Alonzo told Danziger. John couldn't control his laughter and waved his hands helplessly as he lay panting in the dirt.

"I think we better come back to him later," Julia suggested. "What about you, Walman?"

Walman also appeared to be on the verge of a solid case of the giggles, but managed to offer his suggestion. "Skippy."

"You'd name your kid Skippy?"

"No, I'd name the koba Skippy. I'm not going to give away a perfectly good name. What if I did have a kid someday and you'd already used the name. Then I couldn't use it or else I'd have to tell my kid that I'd named them after a runt koba. That's almost as bad as naming your kid after Morgan."

Another string of snorts rose out of the dirt where Danziger lay.

"Forget the koba for a minute," True suggested. "The question wasn't what should we name the koba. The question was what name would you pick out for your kid. Now tell. We won't give that name to the koba. We promise."

"Jasmine."

"Oh, that's sweet," Magus said.

"I'm not playing if you're going to make fun."

"I'm not making fun. I think it's a sweet name. What would you name a boy?"

"Kyle."

"Kyle the koba. That does have a nice ring to it," Magus smirked. Danziger was still weakly pulling himself to a sitting position and nearly rolled back onto the ground.

"Alright, that's it," Walman growled. "Game's over. No one's naming that little rodent after my possible future kid. I don't know why the hell we're even keeping it. Haven't we established that those monsters are dangerous?"

"We can't leave it," True cried. "It'll die. It's too young to survive on its own."

"They aren't fatal," Yale reminded him. "Just exceedingly inconvenient."

"You don't think getting zapped unconscious counts as dangerous?"

"They only attack in self defense," True insisted.

"We'll let it go as soon as its old enough to survive without its mother," Danziger said.

"You just feel guilty because you ran over its mother. The rest of us shouldn't be put at risk just because you can't drive. It's still a dangerous animal."

"Walman, it's just a little baby. It's not big enough to hurt anybody."

"You don't know that. You don't know how old they have to be before they can start stinging people."

"Walman," Julia said. "It can barely crawl yet. As long as you don't go near it, it can't possibly hurt you."

Walman grunted as the argument died down. The whole camp seemed to have been won over by the little creature and the one person he'd expected to be on his side hadn't uttered a word during the entire argument. Morgan just sat staring blankly into the fire.

Even Danziger seemed to notice that Morgan had stayed remarkably silent. "Hey, Morgan?" He seemed to stir slightly but didn't lift his eyes from the flames. "Morgan, what would you name your kid?"

"Murder," Morgan whispered.

John looked at the others. They all seemed as stunned as himself. "A novel choice, I'll admit. Bit of a downer, but at least you wouldn't have to change the monogrammed silverware."

"Cold-blooded pre-meditated murder," Morgan said, quietly. He finally lifted his eyes from the campfire and blinked slowly, as if shaking off a heavy fog. He met their eyes blankly until his gaze locked onto Alonzo. "He set us up," he told Alonzo. "He set us both up to die. He knew the mission was sabotaged. He could get rid of us both at once."

Morgan rubbed his forehead as the others stared at each other in confusion. "He tried to kill us. He tried to kill me." His voice rose to a familiar, tearful whine.

"Morgan, what are you talking about?" Alonzo demanded. "Who are you talking about?"

Morgan just shook his head. "Oh, God. All this time I thought it was so ironic that he would pull all these strings to get me a job that nearly got me killed...but it wasn't coincidence. He knew. He had to know. He pulled all those strings to get me on this mission because he wanted to get me killed." Morgan stood, and staggered somewhat in his daze. "I bet he had to pull even more strings to get you on this mission," he growled, once again facing Alonzo. "Just getting you awake at the right time to be able to accept the commission would have taken some doing."

"Morgan, you're upset. Why don't you sit down and let Julia check you over. You look a little shaky."

"Shaky? Shaky?! I just had my entire universe yanked out from under me and thrown back in my face. Damn right, I'm shaky!"

"Morgan," Alonzo began, reaching out to him.

"Get away from me," Morgan growled. "Get away from me and keep away from me." Without warning, tears began to stream down Morgan's face. "You ruined my life!" he yelled at Alonzo. "You don't get it at all. You don't even care. You ruined my entire LIFE!!!" he shrieked, spitting out the words.

Pushing Bess and the others away, Morgan turned and ran away from the camp. Bess looked helplessly to the others for a moment and then followed him.

"What the...," Danziger began.

Alonzo just shook his head. "Julia?"

"I have no idea," she said. "We better go find him. I don't want Bess to be alone with him. I'm not sure he has an adequate grasp on reality at the moment."

True and Uly clung to Danziger. "What's wrong with him?" Uly whispered, nervously.

"I don't know," Danziger replied. "But, don't you worry about it. Julia and Alonzo will handle things." He then nodded to Walman over their heads, indicating that he should follow the others.

Those who remained fidgeted awkwardly, each deeply concerned but not wanting to say anything to upset the children any further. They had spent months worrying who would get sick next after Devon. They were just barely begining to relax and now Morgan had just spontaneously freaked out in the middle of a quiet evening. A question haunted many of them. Is that it? Is that the next thing? We all go insane?

***

Bess found Morgan down by the creek, squatting at the edge and splashing water on his face. "Morgan? Honey? I don't understand."

"Oh, Bess, why do you stay with me? Why did you decide to renew? It's not like you didn't have alternatives," he added, waving weakly in the direction of camp. "I'm a loser, Bess. I've always been a loser and I'll always be a loser. Everybody hates me...when they bother to think of me at all, that is."

"Morgan, that's not true."

"It is true. You know it's true. No one can even stand to be around me. I'm just a pest, a nuisance, an annoying, needy, crawling thing that won't go away."

"Morgan...."

Alonzo and Julia had paused some distance from them. Morgan seemed to have calmed down to his familiar whimpering self so they just hovered there waiting to see if his tantrum was really over. Walman stood even farther back in the shadows.

But when Morgan looked up and saw Alonzo, the fury returned. "You stinking, sleep-jumping, shanking, rat-faced,...!" he screamed, hurling himself at the pilot. Walman sprang forword and pulled Morgan off the other man, but not before Morgan had knocked him to the ground.

"What is your problem?!" Alonzo screamed.

Julia hovered uncertainly around them. Psychiatry was not her field.

"You are my problem! You have always been my problem. You are a sick, manipulative, leacherous, bed-hopping, lying, sleazy...."

"You, of all people, shouldn't be starting a name calling contest, Morgan!"

"Morgan," Julia warned. "If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to sedate you."

"Me?!"

"Yes. Morgan, you're not being rational. You need to calm down. You're not making any sense. Just slow down and relax."

"Relax? My father tried to murder me and I'm suppose to relax?"

"Morgan, what are you talking about?"

"My father got me this assignment. He made a big deal about it being a big move for my career. Only, he didn't do it for me, he did it for himself. He could kill me and cash in on the money. It must have seemed heaven-sent when he first found out about this. All he had to do was get me on that ship and Blalock would handle the dirty work."

"Surely you don't believe you father wanted to kill you," Bess said. "He couldn't have known about the sabotage. I'm sure only a small circle of people would have known."

"Bess, Dyson Blalock witnessed my signature on my life insurance policy. I'm telling you that my father was in that circle. He had to be."

"And all of this just hit you now?" Walman asked. "Like divine inspiration or something?"

"Because of him," Morgan said, pointing at Alonzo. "It had to be a setup, because of him. Do you know how many billions of people there are in the universe? Do you know how many of them are pilots and civil servants? What are the odds that, of all the combinations of people that could have been assigned to this mission, Alonzo and I both wound up here?"

"You're getting a little philosophical," Julia protested. "It had to be somebody. Why not you two?"

"I'm not asking 'Why me?' and I'm not asking 'Why him?' I'm asking 'Why us?' And there's no other explanation. It's just too much of a coincidence to believe that we just happened to meet on the mission that was supposed to kill us. I'm telling you, we were both set up. I know that this had to be my father's doing. He arranged it so that we'd both be on that ship, so we'd both die."

"Why would your father want to kill me?" Alonzo asked. "I don't even know him."

"Oh, but he knows you. He knows you, and he hates you, almost as much as he hates me." Morgan dropped down onto the ground, tears once again welling up in his eyes. "Do you know what it's like to know that everybody hates you? And when you look into the eyes of the one person who doesn't hate you," he said, looking up at Bess as she knelt down next to him, "you can't think of one good reason why they don't hate you, too."

"I think you should let Julia sedate you," Alonzo suggested. "Get some rest. Maybe it'll make more sense to you in the morning."

"I'm not confused," Morgan insisted. "For the first time in my life, I truly know the score."

"Morgan, I do not believe that your father was part of a conspiracy to kill me. Maybe he did know about the bomb. Maybe he really did want to kill you. I don't know. I don't really want to go into your personal hangups. But I'm quite sure that he didn't plot to get me on that ship."

"Do a DNA scan," Morgan suggested to Julia.

"A DNA scan? What for?"

"I can prove what I'm telling you."

"How will a DNA scan prove anything?"

"I can prove motive. If I can prove my father had a reason for killing Alonzo, then you'd have to admit that it would be an amazing coincidence if he didn't have something to do with it."

"But why?" Alonzo demanded.

"Because you're a jerk!" Morgan screamed.

"All right, that's it." Alonzo threw up his hands. "I'm not standing here listening to this anymore."

"You will listen," Morgan insisted. "Sit down. Sit down right here and let me tell you a story. I'm going to tell you what it was like for me growing up."

"I don't want to listen to your life story, Morgan," Alonzo said, turning away.

"Well, you have to hear it. You can't walk away from trouble all your life, Alonzo. It catches up to you eventually. This particular piece of trouble has caught up to you now and I'm not letting you leave this time." Alonzo turned back and looked at him. "You want to know the truth, then you have to listen to the whole truth."

"Alright, Morgan," Alonzo said. He sat down on the ground a few meters away. "Talk."

"My father did a lot of favors for me. Kept me clothed, we had a nice apartment.... I had nothing to complain about. But the thing is, he always made sure I knew that what he was doing for me was a favor, that he didn't have to do anything for me because I wasn't really his kid. As long as I can remember, I've known that he resented me. My mother was a lovely woman, not just pretty, but smart, talented. She was a musician, a poet, a truly beautiful person. But that sort of thing doesn't really count for much if you're not a member of the idle rich. She had to work for a living, and, quite frankly, there just weren't a lot of practical things that she was very good at. And then she got pregnant. You wouldn't think that sort of thing would happen anymore, but it did. She had a fling with this playboy who wasn't keeping track of his suppessors and bingo. So there she was, pregnant, and no job prospects and along comes my father and takes her in. Good Samaritan and all. Only he never let either of us forget it. I sometimes think he married her specifically because he wanted a woman who would be in his debt the rest of her life. He did seem to genuinely like her. But he never liked me. I used to dream about my real father, wild fantasies about how he was going to show up one day and take me away with him on his adventures. Whenever my father yelled at me or grounded me or told me I was useless, I used to tell myself that it didn't matter, because my 'real' father was out there somewhere and my 'real' father loved me and some day my 'real' father would come back for me. And every now and then, when I was feeling reckless, I'd throw it back in my dad's face. Only he was better at those mind games than I was and always turned it right back on me. My 'real' father was just a loser too, he said. My 'real' father wasn't coming back for me because he didn't even know I existed and wouldn't care if he did. Well, he was right, as always. How long ago was it, I wonder? Just a year or two, I bet."

"Morgan, you're rambling again," Julia said. Bess just sat next to him, quietly clutching his arm.

"I'm going back," Alonzo said, standing up. "He's obviously not going to say anything that makes sense."

"Be careful, Julia," Morgan said, quitely. "He's a wanderer. It's Alonzo's nature. He'll laugh and trade babynames now but as soon as he gets the chance, he'll be gone."

"Damn it, Morgan. I don't care if you are having a nervous breakdown. Keep me out of your obsessions. I didn't have anything to do with your being here. I didn't have anything to do with that crash. I didn't have anything to do with your domestic strife. Stop screaming at me like you expect me to solve all your problems. I am not your father."

Morgan stood and walked straight up to Alonzo's face. "You are my father! Haven't you been listening to anything I just said? C'mon. Get the brain in gear. It's been no time at all for you. It's gotta be fresh in your mind. Or do you just knock up so many women that you can't keep track anymore? I'm telling you that you, flyboy, Al, son of Morgan, are my father."

"I think," Julia said, quietly, "that maybe I should do that DNA scan now."


CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #3: The Answer

They all returned at the same time, but Alonzo, Julia, Bess, and Morgan all kept walking -- straight into the med tent -- without offering a word to their compatriots sitting around the campfire. Only Walman remained with them, and he just stood, dumbly staring at the med tent.

"Well?" John prompted. "Morgan seems to have calmed down, but now everyone else looks upset."

Walman sat down at the fire with them. "Stunned would better describe it."

Walman wasn't necessarily a talkative person but they had never seen him at such a loss for words.

"What happened?" True prompted.

"Well, for starters ... Morgan seems to think that his step-father knew about the sabotage and deliberately arranged to assign Morgan and Alonzo to this mission in order to have them both killed."

"Why would Morgan's father want to kill Alonzo?" John asked incredulously.

Walman smiled a little at that. John obviously didn't feel it necessary to ask why anyone would want to kill Morgan. "Well, that's the other thing. That's what triggered this whole revelation in the first place. See ... Morgan's father ... not the step-father who tried to kill him, but Morgan's actual father ... was a pilot, a sleep jumper ... who walked out on Morgan's mother before he was born ... and I guess Morgan never knew much about his real father except ... his name was Al ... and ... Morgan was named after his paternal grandmother."

There were numerous sharp intakes of breath all around, but no one said a word for the longest time. Finally John spoke, "This is a joke, right?"

Walman shook his head. "Julia's running a DNA scan now."

Just then, Bess and Morgan exited the med tent. Morgan looked furious and Bess looked faint. All eyes were upon them but they headed off to their own tent without comment.

A moment later Alonzo stepped out of the med tent to find himself the focus of their attention. He froze self-consciously under their collective gaze.

"Well?" Baines asked when it became obvious that Alonzo wasn't going to volunteer anything. "Is it true??"

Alonzo shook his head reflexively. "Julia told us to leave while she analyses the samples." He then quickly turned away and headed back toward the creek.

The group just sat and quietly stared into the fire for the remainder of the evening. It was over an hour later that Julia emerged from her tent heading toward Alonzo's.

"He's down by the creek," Yale offered quietly. Julia glanced nervously at him and then changed direction toward the creek.

***

"Lonz?"

Alonzo looked up and flashed Julia his best smile. "All a big misunderstanding right?"

Julia shook her head. "Alonzo, I've been staring at those scans for the last hour. You and Morgan are very closely related." She took a deep breath and continued. "And the amount of DNA that you share does correspond to a parent-child relationship. And since Morgan isn't old enough to be your father ... ."

"This isn't happening," Alonzo mumbled.

"Apparently it already has," Julia answered coldly. Morgan's words from earlier that evening were still gnawing at the back of her mind. She watched Alonzo for several moments before asking the question. "Do you remember her?"

"Hm?" Alonzo seemed startled by the question. "What?"

"The mother of your child," Julia replied, unable to keep the edge out of her voice. "Do you remember her?"

Alonzo waggled his head non-committally and shrugged. "Morgan didn't tell me her name. I don't even know when this happened."

"Can't you at least narrow it down a little? You knew her well enough to father her child. You knew her well enough to discuss your favorite baby names with her. You must have some idea which one she was."

"What's with all these question?!" Alonzo snapped. "Are you jealous?!"

"I am not jealous," Julia answered shakily. "I just happen to have a personal interest in whether or not you can remember the women you impregnate! Did you know she was pregnant when you left her?"

"No!"

"Then how did she know to name your child after your mother?!"

Alonzo sighed. "I think ... it might have been Courtney."

"Courtney?"

"A little redhead that I dated for awhile. She used to bug me with mushy questions all the time. "'What's your favorite color?' -- 'What's your favorite song?' -- 'What would you name your kid if you had one?' Oh, God," Alonzo realized. "She was nesting."

"And she never told you she was pregnant? She just let you take off on a sleep run without telling you?"

Alonzo took a deep breath and let it back out slowly.

Julia shuffled her feet in the silence. "Alonzo?"

"I didn't exactly tell her I was leaving. I just kind of left."

Julia gaped at him.

"I didn't know she was pregnant!"

Julia began pacing back and forth along the creek. "You didn't even say good-bye? You didn't even look her up to say 'Hi' when you got back?"

"It was just a fling. We had fun for a few months. She got on my nerves after awhile. I left."

Julia stopped pacing and stared. "She got on your nerves so you left? Gee, Alonzo, I was kind of hoping that when I get on your nerves you might at least leave a note taped to your pillow."

"Julia ... you can't compare this. I love you."

"Did you love Courtney?" Julia asked, resuming her pacing.

"No."

"Did you ever tell Courtney that you loved her?"

"Nnnno."

"Don't sound positive about that, do you, flyboy?"

"Julia ... ."

"Did Courtney love you?"

Alonzo shrugged and tried to flash Julia another grin, but it came out weak and twisted.

"Courtney loved you." Julia nodded to herself. "Courtney loved you, and she believed that you loved her but then one day she woke up and you were gone."

"Julia ... you don't understand ... you have no idea how ... annoying Courtney was."

Julia stopped pacing and gaped at him again.

"She was a royal pain in the neck," Alonzo continued. "She was clingy and needy and demanding and whiney and ... ," he groaned and pointed sharply in the direction of camp, "with a high squeaky voice!"

"But are you really sure that Courtney was Morgan's mother? You seemed pretty vague just a little while ago. I'd hate to go through this all over again if Morgan tells us his mother was actually Missy or Cindy or Jennifer or ... ."

Alonzo turned and stalked briskly back into camp. Julia had to run to catch up. Again, the folks at the campfire watched them intently, and again, they were disappointed as Alonzo breezed past them without a word, with Julia right behind. He stormed into the Martins' tent but was brought up short by the sight of Morgan.

Morgan was huddled into a ball, rocking himself. He'd been crying again and Bess hovered over him looking quite ill herself in sympathy.

Alonzo asked hesitantly, "Courtney, right?"

Morgan stopped rocking and glared malevolently at Alonzo. At his side, Bess looked up and nodded. She was rubbing her forhead, obviously still in shock.

"How long?" Morgan asked. "How long was that first run after you left us?"

"Uh ... I'm not sure ... I think that one was a 26 month run."

"So you could have come back for me when I wasn't even two yet?"

"I didn't know," Alonzo whispered.

"Would it really have made any difference if you had?"

Alonzo didn't know what to say.

"You hate me, don't you?" Morgan said flatly. It was not really a question.

"I don't hate you, Morgan."

"So how would you describe it, if not hate? Hm? Abhor? Intensely dislike? What?"

Alonzo looked helplessly to the women in the tent for assistance, but Bess was teary eyed and Julia still looked as if she wanted to slug him. "He always told me that you'd hate me," Morgan said. "I never wanted to believe him but deep down I knew he was right. He was always right. Well, guess what, Alonzo. I hate you too."

Morgan suddenly got up and rushed past Alonzo and Julia to the tent's exit. Shakily, Bess followed him.

Finally, the audience at the campfire was not disappointed. Morgan headed straight for them, plunked himself down at his previous seat, and began avidly poking the fire with a nearby stick. This time they didn't wait to see if he intended to volunteer anything. "Is it true?" John asked.

"It's true," Bess whispered, clinging to her husband.

John whistled.

"Don't worry," Morgan added. "There'll be no group hug. The family re-union is officially over and we've worked all the warm fuzzies out of our systems."

Alonzo stood for a moment by the Martins' tent and then turned and headed back toward his own.

"You're just going to walk away?!!" Julia yelled after him.

"What else is new?" Morgan mumbled.

"You heard Morgan! No warm fuzzies! I'm going to bed!"

"How can you be so callous?!" Julia demanded.

"Speaking of bed," John said to his two charges. "It's long past time you were both in bed yourselves."

"Now?" True and Uly asked.

"What the hell do you expect me to do?!!" Alonzo yelled.

"No, not 'now'. More like an hour ago. Now let's move, we have an early start tomorrow."

"How about anything?!!" Julia screamed. "Just once I'd like to see you do something besides run away when life gets too hot for you!"

"Dad, how are we suppose to sleep with that?"

"I am not running away! I am going to bed. I have a lot to think about."

"I think this is something you should have thought about several decades ago!"

"Can you two go kill each other outside camp?" John asked. "People would like to get a little shut eye here. You're even keeping Walman up."

"Oh, right," Alonzo snapped. "Everybody was just running for their beds until we forced them to sit up and gawk at us."

Yale had the decency to look embarrassed. Most of the others didn't bother. Indeed, with the exception of Morgan and Bess everyone had turned their backs on the fire to blatantly watch the screaming match.

"Yeah, well, a little gossip and scandal is always appreciated," John smirked. "But now you're just giving me a headache. Crank it down a few decibels would you?"

"Tell her that!"

"If Bess and Morgan had a baby would Alonzo be a grandfather?" Uly asked.

"Yes," Yale answered.

"What would that make Julia?" Uly asked.

"Frazzled!" Julia answered. "No more babies! I can't deal with anything else!"

"Hey, Julia," John soothed. "Calm down a little. Everything's fine. Go get some sleep and you can rough Lonz up in the morning when you're refreshed. We'll get Walman to hold him down for you."

"I'm inclined to take you up on that offer," Julia grumbled.

"Julia!!!!!" Morgan screamed.

Julia snapped her attention toward Morgan at the fire when he screamed again. "JUUULLLIIIIIAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"

She waffled for a moment as her reflexes tore her in opposite directions. One impulse told her to run for the med tent to grab her diaglove and first aid kit. The other impulse told her to run straight toward Bess's limp body and see what she could do unaided first. The second impulse won and she was checking Bess's pulse without any memory of running to her side. She turned to run for the med tent but Alonzo slipped her diaglove to her before she'd moved a meter. She desperately ran the sensitive equipment over Bess.

"Do something!!!" Morgan screamed.

Bess looked up with vacant half-lidded eyes. Julia had seen that look before. Julia's heart raced as she fought what she knew was a losing battle. They all knew it. They had all seen that look before. In the months since Devon's collapse they had all wondered: Who will be next? Now they had the answer.



CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #4: The Sleep of the Just

"Help me get her into the med tent," Julia said to Morgan.

It was an empty request. She knew she didn't have the equipment that she really needed in the med tent. She really just wanted to get Bess out of sight of the children, and for a moment at least it would give Morgan something to do.

Morgan gingerly lifted Bess off of the ground. He didn't even object when Alonzo stepped forward to help him. As Bess was carried away, Julia cast a glance back at the others. They all looked numb with shock. Julia didn't know what she herself looked like, but she knew she felt the same. "Cameron, I could use your help."

***

"What the hell are you doing?!" Morgan screamed as Julia removed her diaglove. "Help her!!!"

Sinking to her knees on the canvas that covered the dirt beneath Bess's cot, Julia answered quietly, "There's nothing more I can do."

"Do something!"

"I don't know what to do, Morgan. I still don't know what's causing it, let alone how to reverse it. It's a total system failure." The words echoed through their hearts with a nasty sense of deja vu, making Julia's next words unnecessary. "Bess is going to die."

"We'll just have to take her back to the ship where we left Devon ... ."

"It would take a month or more to backtrack that far. Morgan, Bess is going to die in a few hours."

Alonzo attempted to place a comforting hand on Morgan's shoulder, but at the touch, Morgan rounded on his father and grabbed Alonzo's head firmly between both hands and held him with a strength that seemed beyond him. Pulling Alonzo toward him, he stared down into his face and growled, "Do something."

Out of the corner of his eye, Alonzo could see Cameron searching for a sedaderm.

"Morgan, there's nothing more we can do."

"Make the Terrians do something."

"Morgan, the Terrians can't just magically heal people. They could cure Uly because he was simply wasting from a lack of natural elements -- but they can't just cure every disease that comes along any more than they could heal my broken leg."

"Bring the Terrians here. I want them to tell me that."

"Morgan, I can't just ... ."

"You owe me, flyboy."

"No." Cameron was about to apply the sedaderm to the back of Morgan's neck when Alonzo stopped him. "No, give it to me instead."

Cameron looked bewildered but shrugged and handed the sedaderm to Alonzo as Morgan released him.

Alonzo took the device and lay down on the ground before applying the sedative.

Morgan watched him expectantly as he drifted away. When after a few moments nothing had happened Morgan returned to Bess's side. He murmured to her softly, "It's okay, Bess. Alonzo's gone for help. You're gonna be okay. I won't let anything happen to you."

Across the tent, Alonzo spoke, "Morgan." The word was clear and strong, but Alonzo continued to sleep. Hugging himself tightly, Morgan left his wife and approached the dreamer. And the instant he stepped off the canvas and onto the bare dirt floor, Morgan sunk into the ground and disappeared.

Julia gasped. Cameron gingerly stepped back onto the canvas.

***

"How's Bess?" John entered the med tent, nearly tripping over Alonzo in the process.

"She's worse," Julia said matter-of-factly. She was again at Bess's side with the diaglove.

"What's ... ?" John began, pointing at Alonzo.

"He's sedated. He'll be fine."

"Why ... ?" he began, and then interrupted himself, "Where's Morgan?"

"The Terrians took him."

"What?"

"He wanted Alonzo to contact the Terrians to see if they could help Bess and a few minutes later the Terrians took Morgan."

"They were here?"

"Well, a few meters beneath here at least. Morgan just went into the ground without warning."

Cameron offered a little pantomime and pointed to the pile of dirt at John's feet. John stepped back a good pace.

Terrians? John wondered. God, could it really be that simple? Did we leave Devon behind just because it never occurred to us to ask the Terrians to help her?

And then, as suddenly as he had gone, Morgan was back, covered in dirt and looking a bit disoriented. As soon as he regained his bearings, he headed straight for Bess and began to lift her out of her cot.

"Can the Terrians make Bess better?" Uly asked, from the tentflap. John groaned to himself. He thought he'd finally gotten the kids in bed for the night.

"No," Morgan told Uly. Carrying his wife to the center of the tent, he added, "But they can't make her any worse." Shifting Bess to something approximating a standing position, he clutched his wife tightly to him and then, in another instant, they were both gone.

***

Alonzo's eyes flickered open as the sedative wore off. He did not seem surprised to awaken in the cot so abruptly vacated by the last patient.

"Lonz?" John prompted. "What happened?"

Alonzo slowly sat up. "Where's Morgan?"

"He left last night, Lonzo," Julia said. "Just after you knocked yourself out."

"But he should be back by now," Alonzo insisted.

"Back from where?" John prompted again.

"The caves," Alonzo said. "The Terrian caves."

" ... and Bess?" Julia asked. Her eyes were red in the morning light and Alonzo realized that she hadn't slept all night.

"The Terrians put Bess into some kind of hibernation. Morgan convinced them that it was the only way to keep her alive. They're allowing her to stay with them, immersed in a Terrian bed. ... It's weird, but the Terrians seem to understand Bess and Morgan better than the rest of us. We confuse them because they don't understand how we can live as separate individuals -- but they see Bess and Morgan as a whole ... and they don't want to force Morgan to have to live like the rest of us."

John nearly let a sarcastic, poor Morgan, slip out, but bit his tongue. Turning to Julia, he asked, "Will it work?"

Julia shook her head. "I don't know. The human body was not designed to hibernate. I'm not sure how long she can survive in a Terrian-induced hibernation even without factoring in her illness. I just don't know."

***

Morgan sat in the darkness, lit only by the glow from a few sun stones like the ones that he had once tried to claim as his own. He fought against the urge to take Bess's pulse again. He had checked it moments ago for the eleventh or twelfth time. He had no idea what a normal pulse was supposed to feel like, but just the fact that he could feel anything reassured him that Bess was still alive. In the dim light, he couldn't judge her color -- and she didn't seem to be breathing scarcely at all -- but she did have a pulse, however faint.

There was, at least Morgan liked to believe that there was, a pleasant expression on her face. She looked peaceful and, despite her vertical position, she looked at rest. The question remained -- would she survive? By Julia's prediction, she should have died by now. The Terrians had at least helped her that much.

Morgan's stomach growled, reminding him of the passage of time. There would be little point in saving Bess's life if he didn't survive to come back for her. Eternity in a Terrian cave hardly counted as living.

Morgan stood and approached his wife. He tenderly kissed her good-bye, checking for her reassuring heartbeat as he did so.

***

Morgan was greeted by an awkward silence as he entered camp on foot late that morning. At first he had been angry at the Terrians for leaving him to find his own way back to camp. Then he realized that this way he would be able to find his way back to Bess by himself when they had found a cure for her.

Yale was the first to break the eerie quiet. "Well," he said, looking from Morgan in his dirt encrusted-clothes to Julia and her bloodshot eyes. "It's been a rough night for everyone. I think we should just rest here for a day or two."

"No." Morgan said flatly. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can come back."

John nodded. It was one of the few times he agreed with Morgan about something. "Julia?"

"I agree. Let's move."

"All right, everybody!" John yelled to the group at large. "Pack it up!"

Morgan headed straight for his tent, bumping Alonzo roughly as he did so. The two men seemed to make a point of not noticing each other despite the contact.

Morgan then began to strike his tent. It was the first time he had ever done so without Bess's assistance, and it was clear that he had developed no skill for the task during his time on the planet. But no one offered to help, and for once, Morgan didn't suggest that they should.

***

Alonzo had been sent ahead on the ATV as a scout. Morgan and John walked in the lead ahead of the remaining vehicles. It seemed almost a race as the two tall men strove to outpace each other.

Julia had ridden most of the way in the transrover, fussing over her equipment and analyzing her data. However, she now found an opportunity and hopped off of the moving vehicle. "Cameron!" she called, waving the redhead back to join her.

Cameron altered his step to fall back in line with Julia.

"I'm going to need your help. We need to go over all the data I have on Devon and Bess and find some correlation. There's a very good chance that their illnesses are related. If we compare the data, we may find a clue ... what they had in common that caused them to both get sick ... what was different about them that caused them to get sick so far apart ... . I could really use an extra set of eyes." As she spoke, Julia walked slower and slower and so she and Cameron fell farther and farther behind the others. Lowering her voice she continued. "Cameron, I don't know what I'm up against. Devon and Bess both became ill suddenly with very little warning and so far I can't see a predicting factor. We need to watch the others closely. We should have realized that Bess was ill sooner. So much time had gone by since Devon's collapse that I allowed myself to become complacent. I should have recognized Bess's symptoms but I was distracted by ... everything."

Cameron nodded understandingly.

Lowering her voice even more, she confessed, "There's something else that no one knows about. I really need your help, Cameron." There was a desperation in her voice that Cameron had never heard before. "But before I tell you, you have to promise me that you won't talk to anyone else about it. Can you do that?"

Cameron just sighed and patted Julia on the shoulder.


CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #5: A Life Gambled

"You want to do what?" Julia snapped.

It seemed to John that Julia's tone was harsher than necessary, but he really couldn't blame her. It had been a pretty freaky couple of days for all of them and the stunt Alonzo proposed couldn't be expected to improve her mood any.

"It will only take an extra day," Alonzo insisted, "And it could save us months in the long run."

"I don't believe that the time involved is what Julia is objecting to," Yale offered. "I too am concerned about the risk."

"I'm willing to take that risk," Alonzo maintained.

Julia growled in exasperation.

"Alonzo," Yale explained gently. "There are only thirteen of us left. Only eleven adults. Everyone is important to the survival of the group, and the survival of the colonists who will be arriving on that ship. You may be willing to risk your life. We are not."

Alonzo threw up his hands. "Danziger, you have to see the advantage in this."

John sighed. A few months ago he would not only have agreed with Alonzo, he would probably have tried to join him. But he had seen too many good people die in too short a time. "Lonz, we don't even know that it'll do any good. You could scale that peak, presuming you make it to the top alive, and find nothing but a nice view. It's just not worth it."

"I say if Alonzo wants to go, let him go," Morgan interjected. "If he sees something unexpected, it could give us a chance to plan ahead. If he doesn't find anything new, we've only lost a day. And if he splatters himself into a fine mist on the rocks...," Morgan shrugged, "...it's just an added bonus."

Alonzo avoided his son's gaze. He'd learned soon enough that responding to Morgan's jibes only made it worse. Turning back to Yale and Julia, Alonzo said flatly, "I'll leave first thing in the morning."

"Oh, no, you won't," Julia insisted. "This has been settled. Majority rules. You stay put, flyboy." Looking to John, she added nonchalantly, "Make sure the perimeter's secure tonight before you turn in."

"I'll even take the night watch myself," John smiled.

"Wha...?" Alonzo was furious. They were keeping him prisoner! It was ludicrous. He had been sent ahead to help select their path, and now they wouldn't even follow his advice. He had found a peak, almost straight up, that he was sure would allow him a vantage point from which he could spot the best route through the mountains. But when he met up with Eden Project and told them the good news, they refused to let him go. It's my own life to gamble, isn't it? he fumed.

***

It was that awkward time of evening, late twilight, when it was too early to sleep, but quickly growing too dark to do anything constructive. Alonzo didn't know what to do with himself. Julia and Cameron were holed up in the med tent and he hadn't had a chance to speak to her since she'd thrown a fit about his plans to scale the peak. In fact, they hadn't really "talked" since Morgan dropped that bombshell on them.

Alonzo glanced back in the direction of the med tent. He knew that the work Cameron and Julia were doing was critical -- if they couldn't find a cure for this unknown disease, they might all die -- but he really needed to talk to Julia...and she really should take a break.

He had expected that he'd have to argue with her on that point, but he wasn't prepared for the reaction he received when he entered the med tent.

"Alonzo??!!" Julia yelled. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out walking the perimeter with Walman."

"We're done. It's just scrub brush around here so there's not much to search. I wanted to a talk to you." Alonzo gave Cameron a knowing get-the-hell-out-of-here-buddy look, but Cameron stood his ground and looked to Julia for instructions.

"I don't have time to talk to you, Alonzo. Cameron and I are kind of in the middle of something. We'll just have to talk later." Julia was trembling as she spoke and the dark circles under her eyes were growing.

"Julia, night is falling. You've already gone two days without sleep. You have to take a break."

"Not now! Cameron and I are in the middle of something," she repeated. "We can't stop now."

"At least let me help," Alonzo offered.

"No!" Julia insisted.

"But...."

"Alonzo!" Cameron snapped. The pilot was startled by Cameron's commanding tone. "You don't have the medical or scientific knowledge to be helpful. And if you're not being helpful, you're in the way. Please just leave us alone. We'll be done with this step before it gets too late, and I promise I'll see that Julia gets some rest afterwards. But for now, please just go."

Feeling like he'd just had his wrists slapped, Alonzo left the med tent. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Julia leave the tent after him. Hopeful that she'd come out to speak to him, or at least apologize for so harshly exiling him, he turned toward her -- only to see her wave Walman over to the med tent."

"Walman, we're about to begin a...a procedure," she told him. "And it's very important that we are not interrupted for anything until we're done. Can you watch the med tent and keep anyone from wandering in?" Walman nodded and stoically took up his post outside the tent.

As Julia reentered the tent Alonzo could see Cameron holding some kind of canister. "This one should do the trick," he told Julia.

Inside, Julia sunk onto the cot and whispered. "God, that was just too close."

"Don't worry," Cameron reassured her. "It will work."

***

The silence at the campfire was oppressive. Alonzo and Morgan sat at opposite sides of the fire. They were as far apart as they could get without either sacrificing the warmth of the fire. But their position also made it convenient for Morgan to stare hatefully at the pilot. Alonzo, for his part, was still sulking about his aborted mountain climbing expedition, not to mention the cold shoulder he had gotten from Julia.

John was working on his third cup of coffee and, Alonzo felt, making a deliberate show of the fact that he wouldn't be nodding off anytime during his watch.

Yale returned to the fire and joined them.

"Got the kids in bed for the night?" John asked.

Yale rolled his eyes slightly. "If they're not, it's not for lack of effort. Uly insisted on three bed time stories."

John nodded. He'd been worried about Uly's reaction to Bess's illness, and the memories it might bring back. As expected, the boy had seemed more introspective all day -- but no more so than the rest of them.

"And True?"

"True Danziger is far too grown up for silly bedtime stories. Thank you very much." Yale attempted a serious expression as he said it, but was unable to keep the twinkle out of his eye.

John allowed himself a grin. He felt bad leaving her alone in their tent. What with Bess and all, "grown up" or not, True was bound to be scared. They all were. But there was something in Alonzo's hotshot demeanor that told him this was necessary. Alonzo hadn't backed down from his determination to leave at first light, and John wouldn't put it past him to try and sneak out of camp before first light in order to get his way.

And the more he thought about it, the dumber and more dangerous Alonzo's plan sounded. Some of that rock looked like it went straight up. It would be a difficult climb even for someone who knew what they were doing, which, unless the pilot had left something off his resume, he was sure Alonzo did not. And with everything Alonzo had on his mind, John doubted he had the concentration needed to complete the task either. He'd promised Adair that he'd look out for her kid -- and though she hadn't said it, he understood that that encompassed taking care of them all. Alonzo couldn't be allowed to screw it up for the sake of his machismo.

As much as he wanted to be with True, he knew that he had to be the one to handle this watch. Morgan would be perfectly happy to let Alonzo get himself killed. Baines wouldn't stop his friend from doing something he wanted to do. And as for the others...well...Magus...Mazatl.... They were all good people, but John just felt he had to stay on top of this one himself.

After another moment's silence Magus asked Yale, "How is Uly?"

"Scared." Yale said simply. "Like all of us."

"I'll look in on him after I say good night to True," John said, taking another swig of coffee.

"I think he'd appreciate that. He looks up to you. I think he's come to look upon you as the father he never had." There seemed to be the faintest hurt in the tutor's voice.

Is Yale jealous? John wondered suddenly. "You know Yale, you raised his mother. I think he thinks of you as his grandfather. If he considers me more of a father figure, I think it would just be because I'm a few years closer to him in age."

Yale was in the process of responding with, "Define 'a few years,'" when Morgan snorted and stalked off to his tent.

John realized that he'd inadvertently stepped right back in the middle of one of the subjects they'd all been avoiding. Reflexively, they all turned to watch Alonzo's reaction.

Finding himself the center of their attention, Alonzo asked, "What did I do? He's the one who's being belligerent."

"He just left the woman he loves, comatose and helpless in the care of ambivalent aliens," John said. "Cut him some slack."

Alonzo was about to respond, when John added, "I need you up first thing in the morning to re-pack the supply crates on the transrover." And that way I can keep an eye on you, he thought.

"Morgan already did that."

"Well, he didn't do it right. They were shifting and rattling on the ride here. We can't risk anything getting damaged. I need you to re-pack them tomorrow...early."

"Get Morgan to re-pack them. He did it wrong. Make him put it right."

"He'll just do it wrong again. He's got a lot on his mind."

I don't believe this, Alonzo thought. Danziger is taking Morgan's side? "He packed those crates before Bess got sick," Alonzo pointed out. "He didn't do a half-assed job because he had a lot on his mind. He did a half-assed job because he's a lazy, irresponsible bastard."

"Who's fault is that?" John rumbled.

Alonzo wasn't sure if he was being held accountable for "lazy", "irresponsible", or just "bastard", but he suddenly understood the hostility he'd been sensing from the mechanic all day. Mister high-and-mighty John I'm-the-world's-best-dad Danziger was blaming him for Morgan's personality flaws!

"I don't see your kid winning any responsibility medals," Alonzo snapped. "At least Morgan doesn't run around with convicts and bring dangerous animals into camp."

Whatever John might have said was stopped short when Magus broke into peals of laughter. "Lonz, sweetheart," she giggled in between snorts. "You realize you're comparing a grown man with an eleven year old girl...and quite frankly, he still doesn't come out looking so hot."

Even Mazatl was giggling as Alonzo stormed off.

***

Alonzo stepped out of his tent into the predawn darkness and was immediately greeted by John Danziger. "Ready to set to work on those crates?"

"You're enjoying this," Alonzo grumbled.

John smirked. "I just want to see us back on the road without delay."

Alonzo headed for the transrover and was annoyed to find that John kept an eye on him the whole way. You really wanna do this the hard way, don'tcha big guy?

He climbed up into the back of the transrover and looked over the contents. "I don't see a problem here."

"The stuff Walman put in there the other night is fine," John explained. "It's the stuff that Morgan loaded in the night before that rattles...the stuff behind there."

Alonzo groaned as he realized the full extent of what John had in store for him. He was expected to unload and re-pack the entire transrover just because John claimed that a few crates in the middle rattled. Suddenly he didn't feel so bad about what he was about to do.

After he had removed a few crates, he called out, "Hey, Danz, give me a hand with this one will ya."

John leaned into the rover to see what the problem was...and a wrench solidly connected with the side of his skull. The big man crumpled. Alonzo grabbed him under the arms and caught him before he hit the ground. Getting John's limp form all the way up into the rover was going to be something else altogether though. Too late Alonzo realized it probably would have been a better tactical plan if he'd lured John inside the rover before knocking him out. After a good deal more time and effort than Alonzo had planned on, he finally hefted John into the transrover. It wasn't a graceful job but it was accomplished. When he awoke, John would have more lumps and bruises to blame on Alonzo than just the one on his head. Alonzo pulled John as far back out of sight as he could manage and then replaced the crates around him so that he wasn't visible to a casual observer. With any luck, no one would find him until he woke up by himself...by which time Alonzo intended to be long gone.

Returning to his tent, he quickly grabbed the ropes and pack that he had set aside earlier. I suppose it's a good thing Julia slept in the med tent after all, he thought to himself, knowing that getting past her would've been trickier than getting past their mechanic.

***

His timing was perfect. The way was just beginning to become steep and rocky as the morning light poured over him. He also found a crevice that appeared to run the vertical length of the peak. It would not only afford him with numerous handholds, but it would also shield him from the camp's line of sight.

***

"Julia?" Walman whispered. "You awake?"

"Mmph." Julia reluctantly opened one eye as Walman gently shook her.

"It's morning," he offered.

I figured that out, Julia thought as she blinked in the harsh light. She tried stretching and yawning but that didn't help either. She still felt like she needed another night's sleep.

Her head felt thick and heavy and it was a long moment before she thought to herself that it was odd that Walman was the one to wake her up. He didn't seem hurried or agitated as he would be if he were waking her for a medical emergency. Indeed he seemed perfectly content to just kneel by her cot and stare at her.

It finally got to be too much for even her sluggish senses. "Walbert?"

"Hmm?"

"What?" she demanded hoarsely.

"Breakfast is almost over," Walman said. "Everyone's done except the kids."

Ye gods, Julia groaned. I've overslept and I'm holding everyone up. Alonzo's probably still sulking about me throwing him out last night, so he didn't want to come in himself. Once I explain it all to him, I'm sure he'll understand. Oh, but I do owe him an apology for snapping at him like that. If only all this nonsense with Courtney hadn't come out at the same time....

"Julia?"

Julia whimpered faintly as Walman shook her again.

Forcing her eyes open a second time, she was embarrassed to realize that she'd allowed herself to drift away again. With a start she remembered they were suppose to be leaving in the morning.

"I have to get everything packed!" Julia jumped to her feet.

Walman caught her by the elbow just as she began to totter. "Whoa there! Have a little coffee first."

"No," Julia moaned, still half asleep. "Danziger wanted to leave as soon as possible."

"We can't find Danziger."

"What?"

"Coffee first. Explanations later," Walman said as he lowered Julia back onto her cot. He crossed the room in a few paces and returned with a thermos. He poured Julia a cup and waited until she'd had a few swallows before he continued. "We can't find Danziger. He had the watch last night, but he was gone when we woke up this morning." Seeing Julia's look of concern he added. "There's no sign of a Grendler attack or anything. We just can't find Danziger...or Alonzo."

"They're both gone?"

"They're both gone."

Staring into her coffee, Julia slowly followed his logic. "Shank."

***

Dressed, but only slightly more awake, Julia approached Lenina Magus at the radio.

"Walman tells me that we now have two macho, idiot, self-destructive shankheads off their leashes."

Behind her, Walman shrugged, "Well, not in so many words."

"It would seem that way. They also didn't take any gear with them. We're not picking up any signals outside of camp," Lenina said.

"It's just like Alonzo," Julia muttered.

"I personally expected better of Danziger," Lenina said. "I mean he has two kids to look after now. You'd think he'd be a little more responsible than that.

"Damn them both," Julia said flatly and stalked back to the med tent.

***

It was, Alonzo had to admit, a harder climb than he had expected. He scaled the rock by hand without being able to rest. He wore the coil of rope slung over one shoulder like a sash. He'd been embarrassed to realize that he had no idea what to do with it. There was certainly nothing to tie it to. But he was making progress and with that in mind, he continued.

***

Cameron poked his head into the med tent to find Julia hovered over her equipment. "Good morning."

"That's debatable," Julia mumbled.

"Why don't you get some rest? It doesn't look like we're going anywhere today. You might as well take a breather."

Julia shook her head. Cameron walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"Physically? Emotionally? Or spiritually?" Julia smiled weakly.

"All of the above."

"Physically? I've certainly had better days, but I've been worse. I'll be fine. Emotionally? Neurotic, enraged, stressed, drained.... And spiritually? Now you're getting into some really scarey territory."

"And everything here?" Cameron asked nodding at the equipment in front of Julia.

Julia held her diaglove over a metal canister and tilted her arm to show Cameron the readout. "It seems to be working," she said. "Of course, this was the easy part. We still have to identify the cause of Devon's Disease. Locate a cure, or failing that, at least some preventative measure to keep the rest of us healthy, and then...well, there's no point even thinking that far down the road yet. In the meantime, we still have samples to analyze."

Cameron nodded and picked up a datapad.

***

It was late afternoon when, hot and exhausted, Alonzo finally reached the summit. The view was spectacular and a few stray wildflowers seemed to grow right out of the rock, but Alonzo was oblivious to it all. He'd managed to occasionally swig from his canteen on the way up, but he'd never found a place to rest in order to get at the food he'd packed. Ripping open his rations he scarfed them down ravenously. He sat on the rocks in something of a daze for a few more moments.

I made it! They didn't think I could do it, but I did, he thought exultantly. That thought was quickly followed by another. Danziger is going to kill me. Judging the time by the sun, he figured that John had raised the alarm several hours before. Alonzo smirked a little at the thought of John probably having to be held back from breaking his own rule and scaling the mountain himself just to get his hands on him. He sure hoped that John would cool down a little before he returned. But of course he wouldn't. One thing about John Danziger. The man knows how to hold a grudge. Alonzo knew he'd be walking on eggshells for a long time where John was concerned. It kind of made him feel a twinge of empathy for Morgan -- being on John Danziger's enemy list played hell with the nerves.

Ug. Morgan. I don't even want to think about Morgan. This is just some twisted nightmare. But just as he was resolving to block the past out of his mind, his eye finally settled on the small orange wildflowers that were scattered at his feet. They were the sort of flowers that Courtney used to draw. Ugly little things. He could never understand Courtney's obsession with flowers, least of all scraggly Earth flowers that were just a fraction the size of real nursery-grown flowers. But Courtney used to pour over old vids of extinct flora and then fill up whole sketchbooks with her doodles. And then just when she'd attained some semblance of realism in one of her pictures, she'd go and stick a dumb pixie in the middle of it and ruin the entire effect. It was so pointless.

But then, everything Courtney did was fairly pointless -- art, poetry, music.... The kid was full of boundless energy which she persisted in directing into trivial miscellany. He'd found it endearing at first too. The kid was just so darned...cute. That was the word he always came back to. Courtney was cute...and perky and giggly and vivacious. She was the bounciest, happiest person he knew. None of which had managed to rub off on her son apparently. Our son, his mind echoed, and he shuddered. And then his mind replayed other things -- the way Courtney used to pout when she didn't get her own way, the infuriating way she could ignore all aspects of reality, and that nerve jangling way her husky voice could break into that squeaky whine. There were certain resemblances.

Alonzo shook his mind clear. This isn't why I'm up here. He'd wasted too much time on the slow ascent already. He couldn't afford to waste any more time just sitting here daydreaming about the past. Pulling his jumpers out of his pack, he began to survey the land on the far side of the range.

***

"There," Elisha Denner said suddenly.

"What?" Mazatl asked.

"There," she repeated.

Elisha pointed upwards. Mazatl followed her gesture until he too spotted the small silhouette atop the ridge. Mazatl shook his head. "I hope it was worth it. Personally, I can't get that dumb song out of my head."

"What dumb song?"

"About the bear that went over the mountain."

"Eh? I don't think I know that one."

Mazatl looked around to make sure he didn't have a larger audience before he proceeded to embarrass himself. Leaning in a bit closer, he sang in a quiet voice, "The bear went over the mountain. The bear went over the mountain. The bear went over the mouuunnntAAAAAIIIIIN...to see what he could see."

Elisha giggled. Mazatl shrugged.

"So what did the bear see?"

Mazatl smirked and sang, "He saw another mountain. He saw another mountain. He saw another mouuunnntAAAAAIIIIIN...'twas all that he could see."

***

It was dark by the time that Alonzo straggled back into camp. He wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed, but there was one more obstacle to be met, one that would be far more challenging than the mountain he had conquered.

Doctor Julia Heller stood waiting for him. She did not walk forward to greet him, but merely stood with her hands on her hips like a petite statue. The walk into camp was the longest walk of his life with Julia's cold eyes boring into him.

He let his pack fall to the ground as he approached the tiny blonde. "Hey, Doc," he said, flashing his best dimply grin.

She said nothing. Not "hello", not "well?", not even "I hate you." She just starred at him with pure cold fury. Her meaning was clear. She would say something when he said something worthy of a response.

Alonzo cleared his throat and addressed the camp at large. "Yale was right. Taking the pass to the left around this mountain is the clearest route. We'll have to be careful though. If we follow the curve all the way back around, we'll get led down a dead end and have to backtrack. We need to keep an eye out for another pass across a stream. It'll be hard to see from ground level I think, but it's there. We'll also want to plan ahead and get some kind of planks ready to get the vehicles across the stream without getting stuck."

Alonzo rambled on but Julia's expression remained fixed. The others also remained silent, either out of deference to Julia or simply as a means of conflict-avoidance. It was True who finally interrupted his monologue.

"Where's Dad?"

"What?" Alonzo turned back to find True anxiously looking in the direction he had just come from.

"Where's my dad?" True demanded again.

Alonzo looked around and realized that John was not among them. Confused, he only shrugged.

This finally broke Julia's wall of silence. "Isn't Danziger with you?"

"I haven't seen Danziger since I left this morning."

"What?!" they all echoed.

"C'mon, Lonz," Walman insisted. "You must know where Danziger is. He hasn't been in camp since you took off."

"I have no idea. I left him in the transrover, but that was before dawn. All I can think is that he musta been so mad when he came to that he came after me without telling anyone..."

"'Came to'?" Julia repeated.

"...But I didn't see him on the way back. He must have taken a different route, but I don't see why he wouldn't have come back when it started to get late.

"'Came to'?" Julia repeated, louder this time. "Alonzo, did you sedaderm him or something?"

"Well, I would have but you wouldn't let me get into the med tent alone long enough to get a sedative. So, I just kinda whacked him."

"You 'whacked' Danziger?" Morgan was incredulous. "You have more guts than brains, old man."

"He's gonna make you pay for that one the hard way," Baines mumbled.

"I better check the rover," Walman said.

"Alonzo," Yale growled. "We agreed as a group that you were not to climb that crest. Are you telling me that you not only disobeyed us, but that you resorted to violence to do so?"

"Will you guys lighten up? I don't care what you say now. When you rely on my scout mission for information later, you will thank me."

"So what did you find besides a stream and a second pass?" Morgan asked.

"Beyond that, the view is obscured by other mountains."

Elisha attempted to repress a laugh and turned it into a snort.

"What?" Alonzo turned on her defensively. "Isn't that enough?"

But before she could respond, a long, high shriek filled the camp. Startled, they all ran in the direction of the screams that continued to ring out.

Walman reached the transrover first. Finding True sitting atop a crate, he climbed up in beside her to see what she had found. With a look of horror on his face, he quickly jumped down and began yanking boxes out of the rover.

"True, what's wrong?" Yale yelled.

True continued to scream.

"Walman, wha...?"

But then they all saw.

Alonzo was stunned. There, pale and still in the same position in which he'd been left, lay the limp form of John Danziger.

True's eyes locked onto Alonzo and her voice went suddenly silent. He thought she'd worn herself out, but she drew in another deep breath and let loose with a scream equal in volume and greater in intensity.

"YOU KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!"



CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #6: Waiting for the Dawn

"YOU KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!"

Julia leapt into the transrover and joined Walman at Danziger's side.

"YOU KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!" True screamed again.

"He's not dead," Julia said firmly. "Walman, help me get him into the med tent." A tiny voice in the back of her mind moaned, How many times have I said that this year?

With Yale's help, Walman lifted John Danziger's body and carried him off. Alonzo stood dumbly as the crowd moved away to follow their progress. True stopped as she passed him and stated with sudden calm, "If he dies, you die."

Alonzo knew she meant it. It might seem impossible for a grown man to feel threatened by a child, but True Danziger would find a way to make it happen ... and if she did, Alonzo knew he would deserve it.

***

"This is absolutely unacceptable," Yale said, a rare fire in his voice.

"I never meant ... ," Alonzo began.

"Bah!" Yale exploded. "Your intentions are irrelevant. You nearly killed a man! For all we know, Danziger may still die! What you have done is criminal."

Alonzo sunk his head into his hands. He had no more words with which to defend himself.

"How is he?" Lenina Magus asked. She wasn't at all sure she wanted to know the answer.

Julia shook her head. "I don't know. He seems to be stable. No signs of serious injury. Most of his vital signs are good." The doctor glanced at the small sleeping form at his side before continuing more quietly, "But he still hasn't regained consciousness. He shouldn't be out this long. Frankly, I'm scared."

Lenina only nodded. Both were on the verge of tears and both knew that now was no time for either to break down. "I was going to volunteer to keep True in my tent, but it looks like she already has a place to sleep here."

Julia agreed. "I think it would just upset her if we tried to get her to leave."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No. There's not much to do but wait."

***

"Do you want to talk about it, sweetheart?"

"I'm not your sweetheart," Uly grumped, brushing Elisha away.

"Now that's a fine thing to say to a person," she said, feigning offense. "Why can't I be your sweetheart?"

"Knock it off! You can't cheer me up by making stupid jokes! Stop acting dumb! He's gonna die!"

Elisha Denner took a deep breath and then let it out, a good deal more raggedly then she had planned. "I'm sorry," she said simply, all the syrup gone from her voice. "You've been through just as much as the rest of us have and I have no business trying to talk down to you. I didn't mean to be disrespectful of Danziger's condition. I guess I'm kind of in denial about it myself. I'm afraid for him too." She nearly added that Julia was the best doctor in the world and that she was bound to have John up and skipping in no time. But Uly already knew that Julia was the best (not to mention only) doctor in the world and that that hadn't been of much help to his own mother not all that long ago. "If you need anybody, just know that you can talk to me anytime. Okay?"

Uly nodded.

With that, Elisha quietly left the tent.

***

"Morgan? Can you do me a favor?" Elisha asked.

"Hmmm?"

"I need to talk to Yale for a moment, but I don't want to leave Uly alone. He's upset. Can you just go in and watch him for a little while?"

"Uh ... I'm not that good with kids ... maybe someone else should ... ."

"You'll be fine, Morgan. You don't even have to talk to him. He doesn't seem to be in much of a talking mood. Just let him know that someone is there for him. Besides, I think he might accept you more right now."

"Wh ... ?"

"He thinks that most of us are being patronizing to him - that we don't know what he's going through losing his mother and then all of this. But you ... ."

"But I know what he's going through because of ... ." Morgan's voice caught slightly. "Because of Bess."

Elisha nodded.

Morgan bobbled his head in a meandering yes/no fashion before finally working into an actual nod. "Okay."

"Thanks."

***

"What do you want?" Uly tried not to sound rude, he really did. Still in the back of his mind, he could almost hear his mother scolding him.

"I ... uh ... ," Morgan stuttered. "I just came by to make sure you were okay."

"Elisha sent you," Uly concluded, and again the faint Ulysses! echoed in his mind.

"Yeah," Morgan admitted, somewhat relieved that his cover had been blown. "You don't mind if I just sit in here awhile? So I don't get in trouble with Denner?"

"No, prob," the boy relented.

Morgan pulled up a stool and sat in awkward silence for a few moments. Uly just watched him without comment. Fidgeting under the scrutiny, Morgan pulled a set of gear out of his pocket and began fiddling with the buttons.

Curiosity prevailed. "What are you doing?"

Morgan smiled slightly. "You know, popular opinion aside, I do have a few talents."

***

"Denner ditched Morgan," Baines said in his typical up-front fashion, "And Flyboy's in his tent" he added, nodding at a tent off in the distance. "So, let's get down to it."

"Well, we can't leave him," Magus began.

"Why not?" Walman asked.

"We are not going to leave him," Yale said firmly. "There will be no discussion of that. We left Julia behind because we were afraid she was a threat to us. And we regretted even that decision. Alonzo's crime is one of disobedience and recklessness. There was no malice involved. Banishment is not called for."

"I think it was an accident," Elisha said. "He didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"So we just figure he's learned his lesson and let it go?" Mazatl offered quietly.

"It wasn't an accident," Cameron insisted. "He deliberately whacked Danziger hard enough to knock him unconscious. Only the extent of his injury was accidental."

"There's also the matter of his disobeying and going off on that climb against everyone's decision."

"But there you get into the argument of individual rights," Baines added. "Why should Alonzo have to answer to the group? Why couldn't he go climb that stupid mountain on his own even if all of us thought it was a bad decision? What authority does the group have over an individual?"

"If you ask me," Walman said, "Alonzo acknowledged the group's authority when he resorted to violence and subterfuge to disobey the decision instead of just defying it openly."

"You're ignoring the restraints we placed upon him," Yale added. "Alonzo attempted to reject our decision openly. We made it clear that we would not allow it. After that, Alonzo could not defy us openly. He either had to obey or, as you put it, resort to subterfuge." Yale paced silently for a moment while he caught his breath. The others watched him quietly. "It is the violence that disturbs me. You can't just go around hitting people to accomplish what you want. Hitting Danziger from behind was outrageous. Alonzo must be held accountable in some way."

"May I make a suggestion?" Morgan said.

"Morgan, you're supposed to be watching Uly," Denner scolded.

"He's asleep. Besides, when I caught sight of all of you huddled together over here, I figured you were having a pow-wow without me."

"Morgan, I apologize," Yale began diplomatically. "Your attitude toward Alonzo has not been entirely rational of late and we didn't want to turn this into a lynching."

"I promise. My suggestion is quite rational."

***

"You're sentencing me to VR?" Alonzo asked incredulously.

"Basically," Yale agreed. "We have taken into account the extenuating circumstances, the fact that you did not intend to seriously injure Danziger, as well as the fact that you are a valued member of this group. Nonetheless, we all agree that some form of punishment is necessary. Morgan has come up with something that we all feel is rather appropriate."

"What is it?" Alonzo cringed. He had tried to prepare himself for whatever they might do to him, but it hadn't occurred to him that Morgan would come up with some sort of VR punishment. That opened up endless possibilites, none of which he wished to consider.

"You'll see," Yale said. "We have amplified the inputs to maximum to override your own senses. You will be totally immersed in VR, unable to sense anything in the real world."

Alonzo nodded. "How long?"

"You will remain in VR as long as John Danziger remains unconscious. That seemed the most equitable way to handle it."

Alonzo did not resist as Yale adjusted the gear on his head. But before Yale snapped the eyepiece in place, he asked, "What if ... what if John dies?"

Yale paused before replying. "We haven't decided yet."

And then the eyepiece was in place and Alonzo's world imploded into darkness. Alonzo sweated with anxiety as he waited for the program to begin. He trusted the group to be humane in their punishment, but he did not trust Morgan. What if Morgan slipped some kind of subprogram in without the others noticing? What sort of tortures might he dream up? It boggled the mind.

The program still had not begun and Alonzo began to wonder if something had gone wrong. Are they having trouble loading the program? Or is the delay deliberate, to make me sweat longer? It felt incredibly strange to have no sensation in his body. Yale had told him that the program would override his own senses, but he did not expect to lose that sensation before the program itself had even begun. And then he understood. Oh, Christ, the program has begun! This is it. Nothing. For as long as John Danziger lay comatose, Alonzo Solace would also remain in nothingness. All he could do was wait for the dawn ... if there ever was a dawn.



CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT

As G-889 Turns
Episode #7: In The Cold Morning Light

The light broke upon him suddenly, blindingly. He opened his eyes to the light and then couldn't fully block it out again even as he squeezed them shut tight. His head was on fire with it. He groaned -- and that somehow made it worse.

"John? John? Can you hear me? Talk to me. Come on, big fella. You're almost there. John, please."

"Mwake," he mumbled. His throat was dry and the words barely crackled out of him. "I'm awake," he repeated, his voice still gravely but the words faintly more understandable.

Julia laughed despite herself. "Atta boy!"

"I feel like hell," he croaked.

"Well, that's an improvement. Because for the last few days, you haven't felt like anything." She held a cup of water to his lips and he managed to get a little of it down his throat as she continued. "You've been in a coma for almost a week. You've had us all terrified for you."

"Coma?" he repeated, his voice returning slightly.

"That's right. Out cold. Walman!!!" she shouted. John cringed as the sound echoed in his head and Julia patted his tummy in half-hearted apology. "Walman, look who's decided to join us," she smiled.

Walman had barely gotten his head inside the tent flap. He beamed at the sight of John Danziger lying there with his eyes half open. "About damn time, too," he teased.

Julia sent Walman out with a protein mix and instructions to heat it to lukewarm. "I bet you're starving," she told John. "I've been giving you injections of nutrients but I haven't been able to synthesize everything I wanted."

John only groaned again. "Maybe later, I just wanna sleep now."

"You've slept plenty already. Trust me. We need to get some food inside you. We'll have to start out slow. Your system probably won't be able to handle solid food for a while. You're going to get very tired of my attempts at broth before then."

"Mm-hmm," he replied groggily. "So, wake me again when dinner's ready."

"No, no. No slipping away again. I know of someone who'll want to see you right away. And, in the meantime, I have a few tests I'd like to run."

Julia proceeded to run her diaglove the length of John's body while asking him to wiggle various bits here and poking other bits there. "Well, for a man we weren't sure was going to live, you seem to be in pretty good shape."

"I don't feel like I'm in pretty good shape," he grumbled. "I feel like I've been hit in the head with a lead weight."

"Close. Alonzo hit you in the back of the head with a wrench."

Julia braced herself for John's reaction. She knew it was unlikely that he would be able to remember the incident immediately prior to the near-leathal blow, but she expected John's temper to hold true regardless.

John scowled as he tried to remember the incident. Julia's mind quickly ran over the details so that she could explain to him how it happened. But she was unprepared for the one question that he asked.

"Who's Alonzo?"


CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT