"Devon says that we're only about three weeks away from New Pacifica...or where New Pacifica will be, once we build it from scratch. The last couple of months have been kinda strange, if you ask me... at least, where my Dad is concerned. He's just... I don't know... different. For one thing, he's a lot happier than I've ever seen him. Oh sure, he still yells plenty and gives the crew a hard time, but that's just his job. He's in charge of making sure that everyone stays safe and on schedule. That's a big responsibility.

Maybe he's in a good mood because things have been going so smoothly. We reached the Janus River five days ago and, even though we can't get too close because the current moves really fast, we're gonna follow it all the way to where it dumps into the Sea of Antius. We've got plenty of food and no one's gotten sick or hurt since Devon and Alonzo wrecked the Dunerail about two months back. No one even seems to mind all that much that it's been raining almost every single day. In fact, everyone here has been in a good mood. Except for Walman, that is. I'm not sure why, but he's pretty mad at Cameron right now. Maybe they had a fight or somethin'.

The whole group has been keeping an eye on Devon and my Dad to see if they're secretly dating, but no one's found any proof either way. I've been watching Dad, just like I promised but, as far as I can tell, nothing's happened. He and Devon talk a lot, but they never go on scouts together or for walks all by themselves. And he certainly never tells me anything about it.

I do see him looking at her sometimes, when he thinks that no one else is watching. And, sometimes, I catch her looking at him, too. It's pretty weird to think that Dad might actually start to date, especially after all of these years where it's only been the two of us. I suppose that it wouldn't be so bad if Devon became his girlfriend.

I wonder if he's ever gonna come out and tell her that he likes her. And when he does, I really hope that Devon says that she likes him back because I don't want my Dad to stop smiling.

In the meantime, I guess that I'll just have to keep watchin' them."

-- True Danziger
____________________________________________________________________________


So close, yet so far.

To Devon Adair, those five words currently best described two of the most important aspects of what could already be considered a very unusual life; a life that she wouldn't trade for the world.

Eden Advance was less than a month's journey from New Pacifica now and Devon couldn't wait to greet each and every dawn. Almost always the first awake, she would practically burst from her cot, barely able to contain her excitement knowing that, by the end of the day, they would be at least twenty clicks closer to what had once been deemed an unattainable goal to almost everyone but her.

Of course, Danziger was also an early riser and, in the midst of the still slumbering camp, Devon would often find him already partially buried beneath one of the vehicles, checking and then rechecking all three machines to ensure that they would be able to handle the day's often mud-laden travel route. Once that task was completed, he would brave whatever amount of rain Mother Nature had bestowed upon them while directing his attention toward packing up all nonessential equipment along with any other endeavor that would assist in getting the group on the road as quickly as possible. It was glaringly apparent to everyone that Devon wasn't the only one who was looking forward to finally reaching New Pacifica.

She and Danziger would often spend part of the early morning together, sharing a thermos of almost-coffee as they planned out their route of travel for the day. It was also quite normal for the pair to trade all-knowing smiles and subtle innuendos to remind one another of a very different, long-term future venture which they were planning to embark on very soon, after their lives had become more stable.

As the sun peeked over the ridge and began its daylong struggle to be seen behind a cloud-filled sky, Devon, with thermos in hand, scoured the camp for her wayward second in command. After checking under all three of the vehicles, searching the comm-tent, the meal tent, and even glancing into his personal quarters without success, her ears pricked up at a slight clanging coming from the supply tent. She reached the dwelling just in time to watch Danziger emerge with several pieces of equipment in tow, including a pair of jumpers and a canteen. Devon followed him back to the ATV as he concentrated on inspecting the chamber of his pistol to ensure that it was indeed fully loaded before securely holstering the weapon to his side.

Once he reached the ATV, Devon decided to make him aware of her presence. And of her displeasure.

"Going somewhere?" she asked in a voice laced with sarcasm, obviously perturbed that he was planning to leave camp without telling her. Again.

Danziger didn't flinch or turn around to respond directly. "Gonna check on those hills up ahead," he muttered as he inventoried the vehicle. "Those Council maps are a crap-shoot at best, so I wanna make sure that there really is a pass and that the Transrover can handle the terrain. Better to check it out now, instead of finding out the hard way and losing a day's travel time. Or even worse, losing the Rover."

He finally swiveled around to address her. "After that, I'm taking a slight detour," he said before pointing off in the distance. "You see that mountain about two and a half kilometers east?"

As Devon nodded her acknowledgment, he told her, "Well, if I can make it to the top, I should be able to see at least thirty clicks in every direction, even without the jumpers. I'll take some photo-scans of the river's path so we can finally see what's really ahead of us. Hell, if the weather gives us a break, who knows, it might even be clear enough to see the Sea Of Antius."

He furthered, "Plus, at that elevation, it's possible that I could pick up the homing beacons of some of our missing cargo pods. Hopefully, number seven."

Devon's eyes lit up as she considered what a find it would be to actually locate the pod which contained most of their prefabricated housing units along with several construction vehicles.

Danziger's mouth curled upward to form a half-smile. "I'm also sorta hopin' to stumble across a Grendler warren with some clothing and supplies to spare," he grumbled, good-naturedly. "I could sure as hell use an extra pair of underwear."

Devon plastered on her best poker face to camouflage both her guilt and giddy delight at her much treasured trophy; an acquisition which she had gained during her last physical encounter with the mechanic. Although during the past two months Danziger had made several subtle and not-so-subtle inquiries to Devon as to the whereabouts of his missing pair of underwear, the leader had yet to share the knowledge that it had ended up among her personal belongings; and that she had no intention of returning that particular article of clothing to its previous owner. At least, not yet.

She quickly determined that the best course of action was to change the subject. Besides, at the moment, she was supposed to be angry with him and she had an image to maintain.

"So were you planning to tell me about this trip or was I just supposed to put two and two together when you and the ATV went missing?" she snarked.

Danziger's eyes practically rolled out of his head as he worked his way around to the opposite side of the vehicle. "I was gonna let you know right after I was done loading up," he exclaimed with obvious aggravation as he roughly tossed the jumpers and canteen into the compartment located under the seat.

He shook his head and continued, "Jeez, I figured you'd think that this was a good idea. I was under the impression that gettin' to New Pacifica as fast as possible was a priority."

His annoyed expression and voice suddenly evaporated as he met Devon's gaze. "For several reasons," he added with a raised eyebrow and an all-knowing smirk.

Devon matched his expression, inwardly cursing him for his ability to make her crack a smile while she was supposed to be irritated with him. "I never said that it wasn't a good idea. I just don't want to be reckless about it. And I don't want you taking off without letting me know where you're going," she expressed in a pragmatic manner.

Without commenting, John suddenly left her at the side of the ATV and ventured off in the direction of the nearby fruit cart. Devon hurried to catch up to him, asking, "So how long do you think this excursion of yours is going to take?"

"Don't know," he said with a shrug as he absently stuffed a few pieces of citrus into his pocket. "I should be able to rejoin you guys by late afternoon; or maybe early evening."

Devon shook her head in disapproval, but decided not to argue with his plans. After all, what was the point? It wasn't as if he was going to listen to her. "I want you back with us by sundown. And, if the weather gets much worse, I want you to turn around immediately."

"Yeah, fine," he grumbled, already instinctively beginning to tune her out as soon as her suggestions started to sound more like orders to his Working Man's ears.

He marched back to the ATV, leaving Devon behind again. She paused for a few moments to work out an idea in her mind before following his path. When she reached the ATV, she wasted no time and began to climb into the flat space behind the single seat.

"What are ya' doin', Adair?" Danziger asked, clearly shocked by her actions.

She lifted her chin and decreed, "I'm coming with you."

At least a dozen new wrinkles formed on Danziger's already well-furrowed brow. "Not a good idea," he declared gruffly. "The group needs you here."

He leaned in and whispered, "Besides, wouldn't that be against the rules?"

Both of their faces softened a bit as they individually reflected upon the rules of engagement that they'd agreed upon regarding their burgeoning relationship. After Devon and John had admitted their feelings and had shared one night of passion three months before, the pair had jointly chosen to hold off on any and all additional expressions of affection until Eden Advance had reached the coastline of New Pacifica. They had also decided that it would be best for everyone in the group if they'd kept their fondness for one another private nor would they share their future plans until everything else had fallen into place.

And with the exception of one minor slip a few months before when the two were trapped in a cramped tent during a heavy rainstorm, they had strictly adhered to those rules. Recently, there seemed to be almost no shortage of opportunities for them to spend time with one another. Yet, they were always extremely careful not to place themselves into any situation where they could possibly tempt fate or their hormones. And this was exactly why Danziger was left scratching his head. What the hell was Devon thinking by volunteering to accompany him on a scout?

Meanwhile, Devon wasn't backing down and she tightened her grip on the ATV's closest metal bar. "You shouldn't be going alone. It's too dangerous," she proclaimed, her voice and posturing practically daring him to contradict her.

Little did she know, Danziger had no intention of issuing a challenge; at least, when it came to the matter of embarking on a solo-scout. "I completely agree," he said plainly.

His eyes drifted past Devon and centered on an approaching crew member.

"All set?" Magus asked between yawns, lazily hoisting a Mag-pro over her shoulder. The Ops crew-woman exchanged a curious glance with a very surprised Devon as she strapped the large weapon to the sidebar.

"Yep," John answered, purposely choosing to concentrate on other things that didn't involve looking directly at Devon while she awkwardly extracted herself from the vehicle.

Now it was John's turn to change the subject. He turned to remeet Devon's gaze and requested, "Could you do me a favor and let True know where I am? I tried to wake her up and tell her what I was doin', but she was really out of it. I don't think she'll even remember me being there." His eyes briefly glanced at his quarters, adding, "She might also need some help packing up the tent."

Devon found that it was necessary to clear her throat before answering. "No problem."

John nodded his appreciation as he wedged his hulking frame into the relatively small front seat and manually started the engine. Magus wasted no time and overtook Devon's former position in the bed of the vehicle.

Danziger took hold of the controls and the ATV immediately lurched forward, prompting Devon to take two steps backward to avoid being coated with a layer of mud kicked up by the back tires.

"Be careful," Devon compulsively blurted out, her volume increasing as John and Magus sped out of camp. "And keep your gear on!"

Christ, the woman can't go more than thirty seconds without ordering me around, John inwardly groused. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grunted.

Magus couldn't help but emit an amused chuckle. If she hadn't known better, she'd have thought that John actually had a problem with Devon's bossy attitude.




Devon continued to stare off into the distance long after the ATV had vanished over a faraway hill. Although she fully understood why Danziger hadn't asked her to come with him on the scouting mission, she was a bit surprised at herself for her sudden willingness to bend the rules when it came to them spending time alone together. She knew that, had she gone in Magus' place, it would have been incredibly difficult for her to refrain from expressing her feelings for him. In fact, with every day that passed, it was becoming harder and harder for her to keep up the charade that she and John were nothing more than friends and frequent adversaries.

Moreover, the urge to tell John that she had fallen in love with him was becoming almost too much to resist. Of course, Danziger already knew that she cared for him, just as he obviously cared for her. Yet Devon had chosen not to speak those three monumental words because she truly believed that Danziger wasn't ready to hear them, nor would he be able to return the sentiment in kind. And the last thing that she'd wanted to do was place him in an awkward position and quite possibly set them backward several steps in their budding relationship.

She let out a beleaguered sigh. As much as she hated to admit it, delaying a more permanent romantic arrangement with John for a few more weeks was probably for the best. Coming clean about their true emotions to the other members of the group, particularly their children, could open the door to a whole host of new difficulties. It could also prove to be too much of a distraction; not just for her, but for rest the of the crew. And life on the road was certainly already complicated enough.

Besides, John was obviously content with toughing it out until then and she certainly wasn't going to allow him to show her up in the willpower department. For now, their current timetable would have to do, Devon concluded. But the very moment they stepped onto the sandy shores of New Pacifica, caution be damned.

____________________________________________________________________

In Magus' eyes, John Danziger had become a cliche. He was quiet. Too quiet.

In fact, the mechanic had barely grumbled two words to her the entire trip. Even after confirming that the path which Devon had chosen for that day's journey for Eden Advance was indeed navigable for the Transrover, the air continued to be free from all idle chit-chat as Danziger and Magus had grabbed their equipment and vacated the ATV at the base of the mountain. However, they did voice plenty of warnings as they helped one another ascend the steep incline and endeavor over the occasionally slippery terrain.

A steady mist of rainfall slowly soaked their clothing and hair while Magus followed directly behind Danziger, effortlessly mirroring his movements as he wedged his feet against embedded rocks and tree roots to propel himself upward. Magus was extremely limber and possessed a good amount of upper body strength, particularly considering her small frame. Over the past months, she'd proven herself to be one of Eden Advance's best climbers and was already an invaluable asset when it came to scaling tall fruit trees in order to reach the upper branches containing food. As such, she wasn't all that surprised when John had elected to ask her to accompany him on that day's scout. Little did the crew-woman know that Danziger had an additional reason for specifically choosing her over the other members of the group.

They were both almost completely out of breath by the time they'd arrived at the rather extensive clearing at the mountain's peak. After briefly discussing their greatly expanded range of sight, courtesy of the high elevation and despite the continued cloud coverage, and then briefly inspecting the rapids of the Janus River directly below them, the two decided to take a much needed break. They retreated from the ledge and relocated under a nearby cluster of trees which shielded them from most of the light rain. Magus collapsed in a heap onto the soft wet grass, while Danziger unslung the mag-pro from his shoulder and set it aside, seating himself with his back propped up against a nearby thick tree-trunk.

For the next few minutes, they sat in silence, listening to the overlapping echoes of raindrops bouncing from leaf to leaf as they made their wild freefall to earth, as well as to the constant thundering of the rushing waters nearby. In a way, the sounds of nature were almost deafening to their ears; yet, at the same time, it was incredibly serene and both realized their good fortune at being able to experience such a profound sense of peace.

Of course, Danziger knew that this tranquil feeling couldn't last forever. He shook his head back to reality, apprehensive of what he was about to do. A rather sensitive matter had been heavily weighing on his mind for a while now; so much so, that he'd specifically brought Magus with him on a scout in order to speak with her privately regarding the subject.

Danziger slicked the wet hair back from his face and exhaled an uneasy breath. He'd made it to the top of the mountain. It was all downhill from there.

He cleared his throat to get Magus' attention. "I need to ask you something," he said, reinitiating eye contact. "But before I do, I need you to promise me that everything that's said'll stay just between us. Can I count on you?"

Magus straightened up her posturing and cocked her head to the side, a bit startled by the unexpected request. "Um, sure."

Her hesitancy left Danziger less than convinced. "I mean it," John reiterated in a concerned, slightly threatening, voice. "You can't tell a soul."

Danziger's squirming and anxious expression had definitely piqued Magus' interest. She quickly decided that it would be best to come across as casual as possible.

"Okay, okay, I promise," she replied. "Sheesh, don't be so dramatic."

John found it necessary to take several calming breaths before he finally plunged forward. "This thing that's been goin' on between you and Cameron-"

Magus' eyes grew as wide as the moons, prompting Danziger to exclaim as an aside, "And don't bother tryin' to deny it because everybody knows."

The two simultaneously gulped as John started again. "Anyway, do you think that your relationship is gonna change once the colony ship gets here?"

Magus' face was one of total shock and confusion. She began to blink so much that Danziger wondered if she was attempting to answer him using Morse code. At last, she was able to regroup and organize her thoughts well enough that she could to respond to his question with an inquiry of her own.

"If, and I strongly stress the word 'if,' Cameron and I are involved with one another, why would you ask me that?"

"Cameron's a citizen and you're a Drone, that's why," he said bluntly and it wasn't difficult for Magus to pick up a hint of bitterness in his tone.

"So what?" she asked.

"I'm just putting out the question, okay?" Danziger proclaimed, his voice and mannerisms suddenly coming across as defensive in nature. He briefly shut his eyes and exhaled deeply before continuing, "Look, I don't necessarily think that you two are headed for trouble. I guess that I just wanted to know if you've considered any of the possibilities of what could happen when the Jamestown arrives."

"Well, apparently you have!" Magus exclaimed, shaking her head in wonderment as she tried to wrap her brain around why John Danziger would have any interest in delving into her private life.

And then the crew-woman's entire face lit up as if she'd just been struck from above by a bolt of lightning. She nearly smacked herself on the forehead with her palm. How could she be so stupid as to have not immediately seen it?

"You're worried about you and Devon, aren't you?" she probed.

Danziger's eyes abruptly nose-dived to the ground. "We're not discussing Adair," he said gruffly.

His curt reaction was confirmation to Magus that she'd hit the nail on the head. "Oh, yes we are. That's exactly what this is about," she declared with a burst of confidence. "You're in love with Devon, but you won't do anything about it because you're afraid that she can't love anyone born and bred in the Quadrant."

She paused to think about it a moment before voicing an alternative theory. "Or maybe you have done something about it. And maybe Devon loves you, too, but you're worried that after the colony ship gets here, she's gonna go back to her highfalutin' friends and leave you high and dry."

Danziger continued to give Magus the silent treatment and steadfastly refused to look in her direction, completely perplexed at how quickly the tables had turned and he'd become the focus of the conversation. And he wasn't liking it one iota.

Of course in Magus' eyes, John's behavior was all but an admission that, at the very least, a portion of her assertion was correct. She decided that it was paramount that she tread very carefully. After all, not only was she discussing John Danziger's matters of the heart which was a dicey subject to say the least, it was hard to ignore that the man had one hell of a temper.

Magus took a deep breath and infused a healthy dose of compassion into her tone. "John," she asked, choosing her words with care, "does Devon know how you feel about her?"

The mechanic was obviously conflicted as to how to best answer her. Or whether to answer her at all. There were several awkward moments before he whispered a few syllables which were, unfortunately, drowned out by the roar of the nearby Janus River. However, luckily his accompanying nod provided all the response that Magus needed.

She forged ahead. "And has Devon said anything or given you any sign that she feels the same way about you?"

There was yet another extremely pregnant pause and an almost pained look from Danziger before he grudgingly nodded his acknowledgment, his eyes remaining concentrated on the grass in front of him.

"So you and Devon are actually... uh, together?" Magus inquired, still trying to absorb his confession.

Danziger at last spoke loudly enough that she could decipher the words. "Yeah," he disclosed, before correcting, "I mean, sort of. Technically, we're not together right now. We're gonna wait until we get to New Pacifica and then see what happens."

Magus let out a snort to reflect her disbelief. "That sounds like something stupid that you'd agree to."

The woman's adverse reaction caused John to jerk his attention back to her and give her a double-take. "It's for the best," he exclaimed, unknowingly parroting Devon's rationale word-for-word.

As much as Magus worried about becoming the primary object of Danziger's ire, she felt strongly that this was a situation which called for bluntness, no matter what the outcome might be. In the long run, she knew that he'd appreciate her candor. And in the short run, she prayed that he wouldn't retaliate by trying to physically remove her head from her body. So she took a deep breath, gathered up her courage, and tore a page right from Danziger's book by telling it exactly as she saw it.

"You're an idiot," she declared. "In fact, you're both idiots."

John opened his mouth to supply an appropriate retort, but was cut off.

"My God, Danziger," she chastised. "You know better than anyone that life is way too short for you two to be pulling this kind of crap. Hell, the second that you guys realized that you felt the same way about one another, you should've jumped in with both feet!"

Magus watched the mechanic's jaw clench and unclench several times as she switched gears slightly. "Have you told Devon about your fears that your relationship with her'll change after the colony ship gets here?"

When her question was met with stillness, she further probed, "Jeez, have the two of you ever really sat down and discussed your differences in class structure at all?"

Danziger's face transformed from one of irritation to sheepishness as he barely shook his head.

"Why not?" she asked before venturing, "Hmm, let me guess. As cynical as you are, I'm bettin' that you've already created a worst-case scenario in your head and then decided that that's what was gonna happen."

As usual, his silence provided her answer.

The crew-woman's voice and expression softened. "Danziger, what you have with Devon-- or what you will have with Devon as soon as you both pull your heads out of your asses-- it can work. Just look at Julia and Alonzo."

"They could be in trouble then, too," he said matter-of-factly, trying his best to maintain an even keel. "Everything's gonna be turned upside down when the Jamestown arrives. Who the hell knows how things'll end up?"

Magus exhaled deeply as she considered his assertions. Before now, she'd never realized how troubled John obviously was over the issue of the colony ship. But just as disconcerting to her was that, until that moment, she'd never really considered the potential ramifications of how the Jamestown's arrival would affect the dynamics of Eden Advance. And a few of the less positive speculations that briefly flashed in her mind certainly gave her pause.

She decided that it was important for her to momentarily set aside her own sudden concerns and to, instead, concentrate on Danziger's current quandary.

"I agree with you that our lives will probably be much different with all of those new people and new responsibilities. But that doesn't mean that we, ourselves, will change," she expressed with sincerity. "If you and Devon love each other... really love each other, then none of that other shit will make one bit of difference."

Danziger remet her sympathetic gaze. "You make it sound so simple."

"That's because it is that simple," Magus encouraged. "Now for once in your life, will you stop waiting for the other shankin' shoe to drop and just let yourself be happy?"

John couldn't resist the corner of his mouth arching upward to form a small smile. "I'll give it a shot," he snorted.

Magus matched Danziger's grin with her own, thrilled that her usually closemouthed friend had chosen to confide in her, of all people, and that she'd been able to somewhat ease his worries.

"I'm glad to hear it," she declared. "But I still think that you're both idiots for putting your love-lives on hold."

"Duly noted," he shrugged.

Magus pursed her lips, obviously deep in thought. "You know what? Because you've spilled your guts and especially because you've actually listened to my sage advice about how to best handle your predicament, I'm going to return the favor and let you in on a little secret of my own."

There was a devilish glint in Magus' eyes as she revealed, "Although Cameron and I are good friends, we're not having a torrid affair. The reason that we're spending so much time together is because he has graciously agreed to help me make Walman jealous."

John's jaw dropped to the ground as she proceeded to divulge, "For reasons that I have yet been able to explain to myself, or to anyone else for that matter, I'm in love with Walman." Her face displayed a 'God, help me' expression. "And I'm pretty sure that he feels the same way about me. Over the past few months, I've dropped dozens of hints to let him know that I'm interested. Hell, I've done just about everything but tackle him in the middle of camp, but I'll be damned if I can get him to make even the slightest move."

Danziger couldn't believe his ears. "So you and Cameron are only pretending to be involved?"

"Yep, just until Walman finally blows his top, which should be any day now. The man isn't exactly a mystery," she chuckled with a mild eye roll. "I just have to be sure to intervene before he tries to beat the stuffing out of Cameron."

Danziger shook his head to the brink of dizziness. "You are a wicked woman," he chortled.

"Thank you," she beamed with a proud shimmy of her shoulders. "I do have my moments."

Danziger closed his eyes and briefly lifted his head skyward, allowing more of the rain to come into contact with his face. "Anything else that I need to know about?"

There was barely a pause before Magus decided to give Bess a run for her money in the gossip department. "Well, to be honest, I think Cameron has always had a crush on Denner, but Mazatl got there first," she revealed, her enthusiasm growing as she progressed. "I've also heard a rumor that Morgan was married once before but he-"

"You know what? Stop right there. Don't tell me any more," Danziger cut in, putting up his hands in exhausted surrender. "Sometimes ignorance really is bliss."

Magus chuckled over the mechanic's glaring awkwardness at the airing of Eden Advance's scandal tinged underbelly. "Fair enough," she said, obviously pleased with herself.

Danziger continued to wear a put-upon expression as he lumbered back to his feet. "Christ," he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

"Where are you going?" she asked as he began to trudge back toward the cliff.

"I didn't come up here to jabber all day. We got work to do," he grumbled, already reverting back to his usual grouchy disposition. "Devon'll have my hide if we aren't back before sundown."

Any and all wisecracks regarding the latter part of John's declaration, Magus wisely decided to keep to herself and instead asked, "Do you mind if I go foraging while you're recording the photo data?" She motioned to the copse of greenery outlining the ridge. "Some of these bushes have berries on them. There might be fruit in some of these trees, too."

"Just stay in visual range," Danziger grumped. "And I shouldn't have to tell you not to sample the goods till Julia gives 'em her seal of approval."

"Of course," Magus acknowledged while she removed a burlap-like sack which she'd kept thinly folded in her jacket for opportunities such as this. She chose to put off worrying about how she would get any gathered bounty down the steep decline until later.

As John went off on his own, Magus attempted to peel the fabric of her soaked shirt and pants away from her skin, but quickly gave up the endeavor when she deemed the task both hopeless and pointless, especially considering the growing intensity of the rainfall.

Magus took her time as she ambled along the edge of the landscape, her mind still focused on the mechanic's revelation. She was elated, not only because John had chosen to confide in her, but because after so many years of solitude, he had finally found someone to share his life with. Strangely, it wasn't until that very moment that it occurred to Magus that Danziger had just provided her with the proof that she and the other Edenites had been searching for for months: that Devon and John were indeed involved in a romance, or at the very least, had engaged in an affair. By sharing these newfound details with her crewmates, Magus knew that she would probably be lauded as a heroine and would receive tokens of appreciation including everything from well-deserved pats on the back to being slipped extra rations during supper.

Then again, Magus never really cared about popularity and she deemed having a sense of family to be much more important. And after knowing John Danziger for over a decade and working with and for him on nearly a dozen contracts, she'd certainly considered him to be a member of her family. So if he asked her to keep his secret, then she fully intended to do so, no matter what.

Besides, Magus thought to herself, Devon or Danziger won't be able to maintain their ruse forever and one or both of them will eventually slip up, very likely before Eden Advance reaches the shores of New Pacifica. The crew-woman inwardly furthered that, if John took her advice to heart, he just might decide to throw caution to the wind and literally sweep Devon off of her feet in front of everyone the very moment they get back to camp tonight.

She let out a small chortle as she contemplated doing the exact same thing to Walman when she next saw him. That is, if she could actually lift him.

Magus drifted back to reality as she halted to carefully collect a few brightly hued berries from a group of thorn riddled bushes. She found it odd that despite being surrounded by lush, healthy foliage, there was seemingly very little to harvest. She peered a bit deeper into the thicket, panning the dense terrain until her eyes finally came upon a nearly six foot tall bush situated off by itself; its vine-like branches saturated with deep blue clusters of fruit reminiscent of the blackberries of Old Earth. She rotated to view Danziger once more before venturing off into the forest to investigate the large shrub and, hopefully, fill her cloth sack with several day's worth of food for Eden Advance.

As Magus neared the plant, she again wondered why this one bush bore so much fruit when the others were nearly bare, as if they'd been plucked clean. And why was this one set apart from the other bushes, completely surrounded by a layer of soft grass and free from other small shrubbery including felled branches and leaves?

Unfortunately, as Magus stepped forward and reached up to twist the first handful of berries from the closest vine, she was given her answer as the grass floor gave way beneath her and she vanished into the earth. She barely had time to scream.
________________________________________________________

Danziger was fully immersed in his work. After all, he had a lot to accomplish in a small amount of time. And more importantly, by concentrating on the duty of gathering aerial photographs of the surrounding topography, he could more easily tune out his anxiety over foolishly disclosing the details of his relationship with Devon. However, he also had to admit, if only to himself, that he was experiencing a rather surprising sense of relief at finally having told someone.

He paused and shook his head, his eyes panning down over the ledge to the rapids located below. Perhaps filling in Magus wasn't so bad after all, he continued to try to convince himself, valiantly attempting to fight his overly pessimistic instincts and instead put a positive spin on the situation. Besides, it wasn't as if Devon and his veiled affection for one another wouldn't be glaringly apparent to the rest of the group in a few weeks anyway. What was the real harm, other than facing a one-woman firing squad over his loose lips? Sure Devon would be angry with him for a while, but she'd get over it. Eventually. Hopefully.

The visions of his enraged future girlfriend which, for reasons that he could never begin to properly comprehend, were rather pleasant images to behold in his mind, were abruptly interrupted by a burst of noise, followed almost simultaneously by a flash of light behind him. Danziger's entire body flinched and he instinctively covered his head before quickly recovering, whipping around to view the last vestiges of a flare plummeting back to earth. There was only a passing second before he heard Magus' muffled, but still clearly frightened yell.

"Danziger! I need help!"

John broke into an immediate sprint toward his friend's voice and his speed didn't falter in the slightest as he bent down to scoop up the mag-pro lying on the grass as he passed by. Although Magus was no where to be found, Danziger followed her cries for help, along with her steady stream of profanity until he came upon the large bush dripping with blackberries. And directly in front of it was a hole which he estimated at about twice the length and depth of the grave that he'd dug many months before to bury the Grendler he'd accidentally killed.

Magus could hear Danziger's approach and she cautioned, "Careful where you step. More of these traps could be anywhere."

John slowly edged forward, ensuring that he remained on solid ground as he made his way to the corner of the pit. Sure enough, at the bottom of it was Magus. And she wasn't happy at all.

John inspected her surroundings more closely and realized that the entire cavity had been jam-packed with the same prickly vines that were abundant in the region. However, these vines had been uprooted and then dried out before being expertly twisted in every direction possible. Many strands had been curled to resemble barbed wire, complete with varying lengths of razor sharp thorns protruding outward. It was glaringly apparent to both Danziger and Magus that she had become the victim of a crude hunting trap which had been constructed to capture and then hold onto its prey until it could be later retrieved by someone. Or something.

He noticed that Magus was wedged up to her elbows in the jagged materials. "You okay?" he called down to her.

The crew-woman looked up to meet his eyes, her face displaying several streaks of blood across her cheeks and chin. "Yeah, just scratched up. And royally pissed off," she scowled, shaking her head. "I'm gonna be pullin' these shanking thorns outta my skin for the next three weeks."

Wasting no time, Danziger laid flat on his stomach and extended his arm into the pit. "Can you grab my hand?"

Magus wildly yanked both of her arms, only to have them become more entangled in the bristles. "Nope, I'm stuck," she exclaimed with frustration.

She could feel her emotions starting to swell, so she closed her eyes and took several calming breaths. After regathering as much of her composure as she could under the circumstances, she reopened her eyes and began to search for possible escape options. She looked down to realize that, although her left hand was practically pinned to her side, she was able to stretch her fingers upward just enough to touch her hip.

"Hey, I can reach my knife!" she said excitedly as she carefully removed the tool from her belt.

"Good. Start cutting," came Danziger's reply from above as he restood to his full height.

It was a slow, meticulous task. Although the width of the vines themselves were thin and quite easy to slice through, cutting them away was simply not enough because the multitude of thorns remained snagged in Magus' clothing as well as embedded into her skin. Therefore, it was necessary to sever each branch every few inches and then pull the offending item away as carefully as possible; an endeavor which still left a good amount of torn fabric and droplets of blood in its wake.

While Magus painstakingly began to disengage her lower arms and the upper waist portion of her body from the vines, Danziger searched the enclosure for a possible way down. However, he quickly concluded that, because the hole was much too steep and riddled with branches, the only thing that would likely be accomplished by joining her would be his entrapment at her side.

The mechanic's eyes then fell upon a particularly thick rope-like vine about two feet below the ledge which seemed to loosely outline the entire pit. Realizing that the placement of that root was much too calculated in nature and had likely been purposely affixed at that location, John's line of sight followed its path as the two ends joined together at the base of the blackberry bush and climbed the trunk almost all the way to the very top. He squinted to view a small piece of mechanical equipment camouflaged among the dark colored clusters of berries and his breath caught in his throat as he came to the sober determination that the branch had served as a trip wire.

"Magus, did you set off that flare when you fell in?" he asked.

The blond woman looked up at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Are you kidding me? I can barely move!" she snapped. "Plus, I didn't bring the damn flare gun!"

Danziger's face expressed his deep concern. "We need to get out of here. Right now," he relayed as calmly as possible.

Magus' eyes widened as the reality of their situation also hit her head-on. The flare gun had obviously been rigged by the hunter to flash an alert whenever the trap had ensnared a new occupant. Which meant that whoever or whatever had set the device was now aware of Danziger and Magus' presence. And they were probably on their way right now.

"Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God," she began muttering as she moved the knife more swiftly over her clothes.

Danziger pricked up his ears and peered off into the distance, scanning back and forth as he inspected the landscape for any sign of movement. And it wasn't too long before he detected a shadow among the outlying trees. The single silhouette suddenly split into two, then parted into four before finally spreading out into five separate darkened images, all of which continued to gradually advance toward John and an unseen Magus.

"What the hell is that?" Magus called out, hearing the ever-loudening crunch of twigs being snapped beneath feet.

"We're not stickin' around to find out. Hurry up," the mechanic replied matter-of-factly.

Magus began hacking at the vines at a frenzied pace. "Jesus, Danziger, my legs are still completely tangled up in this shit. It's everywhere!" she cried in a frightened, shaky voice.

"Just keep cutting. You're doing great," John reassured, though there wasn't much encouragement in his voice as he watched the shadowy figures further spread themselves out to widen the scope of their approach.

"What's happening?" Magus asked, about to burst out of her skin.

Danziger's nervous eyes darted back and forth between Magus and the converging strangers. "There's five people coming up on us."

"Do they look friendly?"

"Cut faster," came the terse reply.

Magus began her 'Oh, God,' mantra again, now interspersed with mumbled pleas for Danziger not to leave her behind, as she chaotically slashed through the thistled branches clinging to her lower legs. She finally reached her boots which were almost fully concealed by the layers and layers of vines. The crew-woman knew that she couldn't waste precious minutes slicing through them all, so she wedged her knife under the blanket of vines and directly next to the top of her left boot. She then worked the sharpened tool back and forth until she made physical contact with the thick laces and began to cut a slit downward, loosening the shoe. With pained, frightened grunts, she was at last able to contort her ankle and foot enough that it could be extracted from the boot and she immediately repeated the process on the right foot.

"Okay, okay! I did it! I'm loose!" she cried out triumphantly as she yanked herself free.

Greatly relieved that he could finally do something besides simply waiting there and looking helpless, John threw himself onto his belly and reached into the pit with both hands, grabbing Magus by the upper arms and hoisting her back onto ground level. They hurriedly climbed to their feet and John swung the Mag-pro over his shoulder before grabbing Magus by the waist and giving her a hard shove in the direction of the cliff.

"Go, go, go," he whispered, fully understanding that the strangers were briskly closing in on them.

The ever-quickening footsteps grew louder as Magus and John reached the clearing. Suddenly, a deep, male voice rumbled almost directly behind them.

"Stop right there!"

Neither Edenite looked back and instead increased their speed along the ledge as they ran toward the original path they'd taken. The pair was only about twenty-five yards from the spot where they'd come in at when they were forced to skid to a halt by the sound of a gunshot, along with the whiz of the bullet as it flew just over their heads.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me, friends," the male voice said, and from which Danziger detected a slight cockney accent. "I just asked you to stop."

Magus and John traded a foreboding glance, fully aware that they were caught. Fearful of what might await them, they ever so slowly pivoted to face the awaiting strangers who had fanned around them in a half-circle, essentially backing them up to within just a few feet of the edge of the cliff.

Danziger had been correct that there were five of them, all of which were men ranging in ages from their early thirties to their mid-forties. Three of the five were the very definition of the old-Earth legends that Danziger been told as a child about Mountain Men. They had a generally unkempt appearance with long beards, stringy hair, tattered clothing, and seemed to be long overdue for a bath, despite the nearby water source and the constant rainfall. The fourth displayed a similar ungroomed appearance yet his attire, while too small for his hulking frame, was in much better condition. He sported newer boots, trousers and, most significantly, a burgundy vest which displayed the insignia VA-1587.

The fifth man, who stood front and center, was obviously different from the others. He was the oldest with cropped salt and pepper hair similar to a standard military cut, and was clean-shaven. He was also outfitted in newer, well-cared-for clothing which fit him like a glove, including a long sleeved blue Ops jacket which was also clearly recognizable as being from the Eden Project. Even though he wasn't the largest presence in the group, he stood the tallest and commanded the most attention. It was easy to discern that he was the leader. And he was also the one holding the gun.

The fifth man stepped forward with confidence. "I must admit that this is quite a pleasant surprise," he proudly announced, his accented, commanding voice easily drowning out the sounds of the downpour as well as the rushing waters below. "We're not all that used to visitors up here, at least the human kind. That trap you fell in is usually reserved for the local wildlife. When we first built it, we'd occasionally catch one of those large, slobbering beasts, but that lot learned pretty quickly that this place was off-limits to their kind. Unless they wanted to end up as stew, that is."

One of the slovenly strangers piped in, "Yeah, once you get past the disgusting smell, their meat tastes amazingly like poultry."

Danziger tried not to go pale at the comment and instead focused his attention on the gun which was still aimed directly at his stomach. The leader followed John's line of sight back to the weapon gripped in his own hand and his face expressed surprise, seemingly embarrassed as if he'd forgotten that he was brandishing a firearm. Danziger wasn't the least bit fooled.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners?" he said good-naturedly, lowering the gun to his side, but not putting it away. "M'name's Edmund Griggs. I'm sort of in charge of this little group of ours." His free hand pointed from his left to his right as he introduced the others. "That there's Damon Duffett, Arthur Gray, Andrew Norris, and the little guy on the end is Charlie Simms."

The four barely grunted when their names were called and none of them turned to address Danziger directly. This was because their sights were completely focused upon a very uncomfortable looking Magus.

"John Danziger," the mechanic offered, nodding stoically. "And this is Laura Magus."

"Very glad to make your acquaintances," Edmund exclaimed in a tone that was somehow enthusiastic, yet void of all emotion. "I see you're both wearin' ID tags 'round your necks," he noted. "How 'bout tossin' those over here, so we can be sure that you're not fibbin' about your identities?"

As the two removed their dog tags, he added, "While you're at it, you might as well go ahead and set that big gun of yours on the ground, too."

While John grudgingly did as he was told and placed the Mag-pro just out of arm's reach in front of him, Magus took the opportunity to slip her hand into the pocket of her jacket and activate the distress call on her gearset. She fervently hoped that they were still within communication range of Eden Advance and that their current high altitude wouldn't scatter or suppress the signal. She inwardly recited a small prayer, beseeching any and all Higher Powers to assist in helping their friends get to them in time.

Edmund carefully scrutinized the inscriptions on John and Magus' identifications, which luckily for the two Edenites, provided nothing more than their full names, birthdate, serial number and final rank when discharged from military service. Giving the impression that he was now satisfied, he retained possession of the tags, shoving them into the pocket of his coat. However, the gun still remained at his side.

"So now that we're all on a first name basis, what brings you to our part of the woods?" he asked with a feigned smile.

"We're just passin' through," Danziger relayed with as much self-control as possible. "We thought the elevation might give us some insight on the best route to travel."

Edmund continued to do all the talking for his group. "Where you headin'?"

"West."

"Mind if I ask why?"

John gave him a mild shrug. "Just lookin' for a nice place to settle down and call home. We hated the snow back East and we don't want to get bogged down by another winter."

Edmund steered his full attention toward a still-silent Magus. "And it's just the two of you?" he questioned.

"Yep," she confirmed, infusing as much assurance into her accompanying nod as possible.

Edmund cocked his head to the side, his expression cautious. "And how did you find your way onto this planet?"

Magus opened her mouth to speak, though she had absolutely no idea as to how to best answer him. She also hoped that the strangers weren't able to tell the difference between the generous amount of sweat forming on her brow and the raindrops running down her face.

"We're environmentalists," Danziger cut in. He paused to allow Edmund some time to respond, if desired, as well as to take a much needed few seconds to concoct a believable tale. He decided to go with an abridged version of Whalen Curry's life, rationalizing that it would be much easier to remember a story which was loosely based upon fact.

"The government branded us as eco-terrorists. We were tried for our crimes and then jettisoned here with the rest of our group. Our new surroundings didn't agree with our leader and he ended up goin' a little nuts, so Magus and I decided that it would be best to break away from them and go off on our own."

Edmund was intrigued, though obviously not convinced that John was telling the truth. "Very interesting," he declared, rocking back and forth on his heels. He motioned at his co-horts before deciding to offer a tidbit about their own backgrounds. "I guess that you could say that our small band of merry men were victims of forced government relocation, too. That pretty much puts us all in the same boat, right?"

Danziger and Magus tried not to register their fears at the confirmation that these men were indeed penal colonists and, like Gaal before them, had probably committed crimes so heinous that they'd been cast from the Stations.

Edmund pointed at Danziger's jacket, furthering, "I also notice that we seem to share a similar taste in the wardrobe department."

Luckily, Danziger had already readied himself for that impending question. "Yeah, last year we found a cargo pod filled with clothing and other supplies. We took as much as we could carry."

The mechanic looked Edmund up and down before turning toward the man identified as Damon Duffett, who was currently attired in the burgundy Ops vest. "I guess you all found one, too?"

A devious, slightly demented smile, stretched across Damon's face. "Nah, these clothes came from a couple of blokes we ran into a few months back."

Edmund carefully watched Danziger and Magus' reaction to his words as he retook over the conversation. "Yeah, they claimed to be part of a crew droppin' off a payload of colonists, but their ship somehow got caught in the gravitational pull," he explained. "A few of 'em made it onto an escape pod and they ended up crashing here. Wasn't too long before people in their group started gettin' sick, so they took off before they caught the virus."

Danziger held his breath for as long as possible to keep from emitting a gasp. It was obvious that Edmund was talking about two members of Eden Project who had escaped on the same evacuation pod as Wentworth and Firestein. And based upon the labeled clothing, these were undoubtedly two of their co-workers from the Ops crew. These were two of their friends. Oh God.

"Are they still here?" John asked with calculated indifference.

Charlie Simms, the smallest in overall frame, yet the one who by far wore the most frightening expression which gave off the impression that he was mentally unhinged, was more than happy to fill John and Magus in.

"Nope. Them two were nice enough fellas at first. But then they didn't want to share their supplies with us. And that was just plain unneighborly."

He grinned with maniacal glee, exposing several missing and corroded teeth. "So we dealt with 'em accordingly."

At hearing this, Magus and John did their best to keep their emotions in check, yet there was no way that they could completely mask their horror at what had obviously become of their colleagues. Magus, in particular, was on the brink of hyperventilating and her heart pounded so strongly that her entire body pulsated from its rapid rhythm.

Meanwhile, Danziger gathered his inward strength, determined to do whatever he could to keep them from meeting the same violent fate. "Well, we don't have much, but you're more than welcome to whatever we got," he exclaimed.

"Thank you. That's very much appreciated," Edmund replied with a faux smile, trying to act as though they'd had a choice in the matter. "You can start by emptying your pockets."

Both did as they were instructed and eventually made a small pile of belongings at their feet which included two gearsets, two nearly filled canteens, two knives, a pair of jumpers, a compass, several tools, a piece of citrus, and four packages of Spirolina. As they placed the items on the ground, John tried to reposition his jacket to hide the pistol which remained holstered to his side. At the same time, Magus prayed that the convicts wouldn't notice the small green light on the side of her gearset which confirmed that the device was currently transmitting a distress signal.

Once they'd complied, John reslicked his wet hair back from his face and said, "So we'll just leave you everything here and be on our way then."

Edmund seemed to ignore Danziger's comment entirely and instead stared at the mound of equipment in front of them. "Hmm... strange," he murmured, rubbing at his chiseled jaw.

Danziger was jarred by the odd non-response to his declaration that he and Magus were leaving. "What's strange?" he asked, pretty much readying himself for anything.

Edmund's eyes remained on the ground. "You're wearing the same jackets and carrying a lot of the same supplies that those other two were. Plus, you're also headin' West," he relayed in an eerily cool fashion. "Maybe that's just a coincidence. Maybe it's not."

He took another breath and proceeded to point out, "'Course there are differences, too. You're certainly a lot cleaner and healthier-lookin' than the other fellas. And you have weapons. That makes me suspect that you have more supplies hidden somewhere. It also makes me think that you're not travelin' alone."

Edmund's hardened gaze remet Danziger's. "In other words, I'm pretty sure that you've been lyin' through your teeth from the moment you opened your shankin' mouths."

His calm voice took on a slightly cynical tone. "So since we've become such fast friends and all, perhaps the two of you should stick around with us and let us pick your brains for a bit. Maybe find out who you really are and where you're from, not to mention the truth about why you were dumped on this godforsaken pile of dirt."

"We got us a cave just over yonder," the man previously identified as Andrew Norris exclaimed, gesturing behind him. "It ain't much, but it's home."

"It could certainly use a woman's touch," Damon added, hungrily looking Magus up and down.

"So could the rest of us for that matter!"

"Ain't that the truth, Charlie!" Andrew snickered over the boisterous cackles from Damon, Arthur and Charlie. Edmund noticeably didn't crack a smile.

Magus began to shake uncontrollably and she looked like she was about to expel the contents of her stomach, so Danziger decided that it was high-time that he took charge.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that we're gonna have to turn down your generous invitation," he expressed firmly. "Magus and I travel alone and we're not planning to stop until we reach the coastline."

Edmund clicked his tongue several times and shook his head disapprovingly. "Wasn't really an offer, but a directive, mate," he proclaimed. "And I'm also gonna have to strongly insist that you give up that pistol hangin' on your belt."

Danziger's hand went to his side and he unholstered his weapon. "No thanks. That stays with me," he said unflinchingly as both he and Edmund raised their respective guns to point them at one another.

"If you don't, Arthur here is prepared to take it by force," Edmund stated casually, barely showing any reaction to the knowledge that there was a gun currently aimed at his chest.

"What a coincidence. I'm prepared to keep it by force," Danziger spat, glaringly aware that all of the convicts, save for Edmund, were slowly starting to advance toward them.

Danziger and Magus took two steps backward. "Now you can take everything we got here including the Mag-pro, but we're leaving now," the mechanic said, his breath quickening as he grew more anxious.

"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, friend. It appears as though our entire situation has changed. You are no longer a welcome guest on our mountain," Edmund said, his eyes fixed icily on Danziger. "Then again, we can't exactly let you leave either now, can we?"

His gaze shifted briefly to a terrified Magus. "You're free to stay with us, Ma'am. In fact, I absolutely insist on it."

The other convicts didn't feel the need to hide their giddy delight at the news. "Don't you worry there none, Lassie. We'll treat you real good," Charlie told her with a lecherous laugh. "As long as you treat us real good first."

"John," Magus gasped, almost paralyzed with fear. The mechanic's response was to step in front of her to shield her from harm as much as possible.

The pair couldn't help but watch with rapt fascination as, for the very first time, a grin of genuine satisfaction crept across Edmund's face. "And as for Mr. Danziger," he instructed to his co-horts. "Send 'im for a swim."

______________________________________________

It had been just another day at the office for most of the Eden Advance crew. At least it had been until all hell broke loose.

As the group traveled for hours on end, it was commonplace for several of the walkers to ward off the pangs of boredom and to satisfy their curiosity about the surrounding landscape by performing both short and long range scans of the terrain. What was not commonplace was the moment that their sensors picked up a faraway signal; a brief, faint burst of energy originating from the direction of the largest mountain in the region. This extremely unusual occurrence was immediately brought to Devon's attention and she wasted no time by calling a halt to the caravan in order for the group to further investigate the incident. After comparing notes, many of the Edenites speculated that the energy surge could have been caused by a flare, though it was impossible to be certain.

Fearing that Danziger and Magus had encountered some sort of trouble, Devon decided to check in with them to ensure that both remained safe. However, no sooner had she placed the gearset on her head, when a general distress call originating from Magus' gear confirmed her worst suspicions. The leader dutifully attempted to maintain the semblance of control as she tried to contact the small scouting team on audio and on visual without success. Other members of Eden Advance, including True and Walman, also endeavored to reach them on several, more obscure channels, but every effort failed. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that something had gone very, very wrong.

For reasons unknown to them, Magus' exact location was difficult to pinpoint, so the next stop was the Transrover. Morgan led the way, hurriedly climbing into the cab and punching a series of keys on its navigational system while the others waited. Devon was exceedingly thankful that only a few days after she and Alonzo had wrecked the Dunerail, Danziger, Baines and Morgan had jointly taken it upon themselves to install tracking devices on all three of the vehicles, fearing that there could someday be an accident in which the vehicle's occupants were too injured to provide their coordinates using their gear. Danziger also hadn't discounted the idea that one day the group might cross paths with a thievish Grendler who had somehow learned how to drive and decided to help itself to a much faster mode of transportation.

At almost the very second that Morgan was able to confirm the ATV's stationary location at the base of the mountain, Devon began to issue orders.

"Julia, get your med-bag. Cameron and Alonzo, grab whatever weapons you can carry and get the Dunerail ready. The four of us are leaving in no later than five minutes."

As the aforementioned crewmembers nodded and rushed off to gather the needed equipment, Devon turned to the others. "I want the rest of you to stay here and set up camp for the night."

Walman immediately stepped forward. "I'm coming, too."

"There's not enough space for you," Devon said almost offhandedly, barely listening as she dashed around to the side of the Transrover and began to fill a cloth bag with a few supplies of her own.

Walman shadowed her and there was absolutely no trace of the crewman's normal, jovial nature as he stepped directly in between her and the vehicle. His blue eyes had been reduced to slits and his severe expression made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't be swayed on the issue. In Devon's mind, Walman had never more closely resembled Danziger's intense demeanor than at that moment.

"Then you'd better make the room 'cause I'm going with you whether you like it or not," Walman expressed through gritted teeth.

Devon paused, slightly baffled as to why he was so insistent on accompanying the team. She hastily rationalized that the crewman was considered to be Danziger's right-hand man and, as such, probably wanted to do anything and everything that he could to help his mentor and friend. She also concluded that it wouldn't hurt to have another strong presence involved in the rescue effort.

"Okay, just hurry up," she said, nodding her acceptance. "We won't be able to wait for you."

Less than three minutes later, Alonzo was already firmly ensconced in the Dunerail's driver seat revving the engine as a not so subtle signal to the others that time was being unnecessarily wasted. Julia jumped into the front passenger's side and was quickly joined by Cameron, Walman and Devon who climbed into the back, cramming their bodies into the tight space without complaint.

The tension and anxiety in the air was palpable as the rest of Eden Advance fanned around the vehicle. Devon looked beyond the concerned faces of the adults to locate Uly being comforted by Yale, while Bess was busy consoling an obviously distraught True.

Although the leader addressed the entire group, her words were specifically meant for the younger Danziger. "We'll let you know as soon as we reach them."

True wriggled out of Bess' embrace and approached the Dunerail. "Tell my Dad-" she began before stopping in order to compose herself. She straightened her posturing and lifted her chin to demonstrate that she could show courage and tenacity in the face of adversity. Just like her father. "Tell my Dad that I love him."

It wasn't too difficult for Devon to see through True's tough act, especially since it almost perfectly matched the stiff upper lip which she was currently sporting. "Why don't I have him call you on gear and you can tell him yourself," she encouraged, understanding how important it was that neither of them gave up hope. "All right?"

"Okay," True agreed, her voice faltering ever-so-slightly.

Bess traded an all-knowing look with Devon as she came up behind True and placed her hands on both of the child's shoulders in a reassuring gesture. The five members of the rescue party then hastily relayed their goodbyes, along with the promise to keep the rest of the group apprised by checking in regularly, before speeding off in the direction of the mountain.

As the others watched them go, Bess further attempted to lift the younger Danziger's spirits. "You know, your father's been in plenty of scrapes before and he's always been just fine," she declared sweetly, giving True's shoulders an optimistic squeeze. "It's entirely possible that he and Magus are just having equipment trouble. Maybe the ATV broke down and, for some reason, their gearsets aren't working properly."

True's feet were rooted in place, her large, brown eyes now brimming with tears as they remained transfixed on the Dunerail as it vanished in the distance.

"He's in trouble," she choked out as her body racked with a shudder. "I can feel it."
_____________________________________________________________

It all happened so fast. Yet to Danziger and Magus, the events of the next few seconds felt as though they'd taken place in slow motion.

Once the four convicts received their orders from Edmund, each removed large hunting knives from their belts and rapidly descended upon Danziger. Either they were too stupid to fear Danziger's drawn pistol or they were foolhardy enough to play the odds; fully recognizing that, based on their close proximity and quick movements, there was no way for the mechanic to squeeze off more than one or two rounds before he was overtaken.

Danziger barely had time to aim and he fired at the person who was at the head of the pack, shooting Arthur Gray squarely in the chest. The man emitted a strained gasp as the air was propelled out of his lungs for the final time and he crumpled to the ground. Danziger then sidestepped to keep Charlie Simms from coming into direct physical contact with him as he fired another shot, hitting Charlie in the left shoulder. The smaller man fell backward, screaming and writhing in agony as his shirt began to slowly transform from various shades of brown into deep crimson.

Magus dove out of the way as Damon Duffett and Andrew Norris reached Danziger, forcing him two paces backward. There was plenty of angry, frenzied grunts as all three men literally fought for their lives. Magus heard Danziger cry out in pain just before another bullet was expelled, but this time the sound was muffled, indicating that it had been fired at point blank range. Somehow the entire group remained upright as their bodies and feet pretzeled around one another, faltering another dangerous step closer to the ledge. In the middle of the free-for-all, Magus noticed Danziger's gun fall to the wet grass with a soft thud.

Throughout the fray, Edmund had kept his distance, appearing unmoved in both the physical or emotional sense by the violent scene playing out before his eyes. He then exhaled a bored breath and replaced his gun in his pocket before casually stepping over Arthur's corpse and moseying past a still-howling Charlie to stand almost directly next to the battling threesome. He studied them for a moment or two, his face barely registering any interest beyond his obvious disapproval that his instructions to kill Danziger seemed to be taking too long to carry out.

Edmund then decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands. He raised his right arm in a blocking gesture and plowed his body into the back of Damon Duffett, shoving him hard against Danziger and Andrew Norris. Suddenly it was no longer a battle against one another, but a frantic scramble for all three men to regain their footing as they pitched sharply backward and ended up precariously balancing at the cliff's edge. As their struggle continued, Danziger was pushed backward yet another step but, to his horror, this time he no longer felt the ground beneath his feet. In desperation, he grabbed both men by the arms, holding onto them with a death grip in an effort to prevent his fall or, at the very least, to drag them down with him. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the latter.

Magus could only watch in horror as Danziger, along with Damon and Andrew, plunged over the side and disappeared from view. Even the men's frightened yells were quickly swallowed up by the roar of the waters below.

Magus joined in with her own scream as she rushed to the spot occupied by Danziger and the others just moments before. Her wide-eyed gaze followed the turbulent path of the rapids, as well as along the rocky shoreline as she searched for any sign of her friend. To her tremendous alarm, she found nothing.

Her mind was still attempting to digest what had just occurred and she barely noticed an unconcerned Edmund breezing up along side of her. He, too, peered over the edge.

"'Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall,'" he declared in an easygoing manner.

When Magus didn't respond or veer her eyes from the river, he continued, "That there's a quote from Sir Walter Raleigh. Before he was labeled a criminal and beheaded for his various improprieties, he was a well-known explorer. In fact, he was responsible for establishin' a colony in Virginia, only to come back a few years later to find that the settlers had vanished into thin air, never to be heard from again."

He shrugged. "Wonder what happened to 'em, huh? Was it disease? Or starvation? Did a tidal wave sweep 'em out to sea? Were those poor souls dragged off by hostile natives?"

He shook his head and furthered, "I suppose that it's a good thing that someone came lookin' for 'em at all, or else no one would've even known they were missin'."

Edmund's hardened gaze shifted to Magus. "You know, to bring this full-circle, you've already lost your friend, Mr. Danziger. Let's say that tragedy were to strike yet again and you vanished into thin air. Would anyone ever find out the truth about your fate? For that matter, is there anyone on this planet who's gonna come lookin' for you when you go missin'?"

Magus didn't react and instead continued her futile search of the waters below, prompting Edmund to wonder if she was even listening to him.

"Come on, Lass," he prodded. "I'm gonna find out sooner or later anyway. Best to tell me what I want to know and it'll be easier for the both of us."

Magus slowly turned her head, revealing the tears streaming down her crestfallen face. "How could you kill them?" she asked, her words coming out in between staccato breaths.

"Wasn't too difficult a choice," Edmund answered simply, as though making polite conversation. "Mr. Danziger had obviously outstayed his welcome. Plus, I've been lookin' to thin the herd for a while now. One stone, two birds, as it were."

Magus stared at him as if she was gazing upon the Devil himself. "You're a shanking monster," she spat.

Edmund wasn't the slightest bit offended, prompting Magus to guess that this was far from the first time he'd been called that, if not worse.

"You're missing the point, Ms. Magus, and more importantly, you're ignoring the question. How many are in your group and what is their current location?"

Magus remained tightlipped, her eyes darting around the landscape as she began to size up her own method of escape. She briefly glanced at the mag-pro, but quickly dismissed it as a possibility because even if she could get to it, the weapon would take much too long to charge before it was rendered battle-ready. She then noticed Charlie Simms, who was considerably quieter now as he climbed back to his feet and neared Magus, loosely sandwiching her in between him and Edmund.

"Lemme handle this one," the wounded man eagerly suggested, obviously concerned that he had also outlived his usefulness to Edmund. He bit down hard on his lip and swallowed the searing pain of the bullet which was slowly draining the life out of him through the hole in his shoulder.

"Just gimme a few minutes with her and I'll make her talk. Hell, I'll have her singin' like a canary in no time flat."

Without waiting for Edmund's reply, Charlie took another step in Magus' direction, causing her to retreat several paces away from the edge of the cliff, as well as from both men.

Edmund remained in place as Charlie parroted Magus' slow trek backward. "You know you ain't goin' no where, so you might as well give it up, girl," the smaller man exclaimed, edging closer. "Though I can't help hopin' that you do fight me a little. I always did fancy them gals who insisted on playin' hard to get."

The crew-woman stopped when she felt the back of her heel brush up against something familiar, while Charlie continued to close the gap between them.

"Is you one of them girls, Lass?" he asked. "Are you gonna make me drag every word outta ya' until you beg me to stop?" His lips parted in a crazed smile, his gunshot wound all but forgotten. "Just how hard to get are ya' willin' to play?"

Charlie was only a few feet from Magus and she understood that it was now or never. As fast as lightning, she reached down behind her foot and retrieved the pistol that Danziger had dropped into the grass during his struggle.

"Much 'harder' than you think," she muttered as she plugged two shots into Charlie's chest.

He stumbled back several paces, though the man somehow remained standing and continued to look at her with an expression that could best be described as shell-shocked. Magus took aim and shot once more, this time striking Charlie in the forehead, finally knocking him off of his feet for good.

Magus' entire body was momentarily frozen, stunned at the violence she'd been forced to commit in order to save her life. She was at last shaken back to reality by Edmund's deep, accented voice.

"I never really liked that one much, so I suppose that I owe you a small debt of gratitude," he relayed, now on the move toward Magus. "You saved me the time and trouble of offing him myself."

"Stay where you are," Magus ordered, swinging the sight of the gun toward Edmund. "Come any closer and I'll shoot you, too!"

"No, you won't," he said dismissively, continuing to advance toward her.

"Don't you push me, Griggs!" she called out, her index finger firmly on the trigger.

Edmund carefully circled around the pool of blood and brain matter outlining Charlie's body. "You won't shoot me. You can't."

Magus decided that she'd given him enough of a warning, so she put her words into action and fired. However, to her shock, nothing happened except for a hollow clicking sound.

"That's an old six-shooter you got there," Edmund calmly pointed out. "And you already spent your six bullets."

In utter disbelief, she hurriedly opened the gun's chamber with shaky hands to find that it was indeed empty. When she looked up, Edmund was standing directly in front of her.

He grabbed Magus hard by the upper arms, cutting off the circulation and immobilizing her. "Let's get something straight right now, shall we?" he expressed in a cold-blooded voice. "There's no doubt that you are more valuable to me alive. However, I think that in the short time that we've spent together, you've learned that I have absolutely no qualms about killin' you. So I think that it's best for all concerned that you and I come to some sort of an arrangement."

Magus emitted a slight whimper as Edmund further tightened his hold, continuing, "And that arrangement is: You will do exactly what I tell you to do. You will truthfully answer all questions asked. And if you try anything stupid, you will be punished. Maybe I'll just mess up that pretty face of yours. Or maybe I'll put a bullet in between your eyes."

He shook her once and leaned forward to ensure that he had her complete attention. "I don't want to hurt you, but make no mistake about it, Missy: I will," he decreed with a glacial stare.

He released his grip, no doubt leaving two deep bruises in the form of his hand-print on Magus' skin. "Now if you'll come with me, I'll show you to your new humble abode, located just on the other side of this hill," he ordered, his tone suddenly reverting back to feigned politeness.

Magus had no intention of accompanying Edmund anywhere nor would she ever willingly abide by the proposed terms. As such, the moment that he took a step backward, the crew-woman marshaled her physical and mental strength and kicked him squarely in the groin with her socked foot. As Edmund staggered backward with a pained yelp, Magus swung the empty gun upward with joined hands and cracked him hard across the jaw and cheekbone.

The Edenite then dropped the gun and took off in a sprint toward the place where she and Danziger had originally come in at. However, she purposely chose a route along the ridge. This way, if it became clear that she couldn't outrun Edmund, she could throw herself off the cliff and meet Death on her own terms.

She was too afraid to look behind her to gage the man's current location and the roar of the Janus River below drowned out all but the loudest of noises, so she was unable to detect whether or not he was gaining on her, or even pursuing her at all. Suddenly Magus' ears picked up a powerful banging sound behind her, followed almost simultaneously by searing pain as a bullet went straight through her lower right leg.

She screamed in agony as she tumbled forward onto her face, tasting a bitter mouthful of wet grass and mud. She was shaking uncontrollably as she rolled over onto her back to instinctively clamp her hands over the wounds on both sides of her leg. She looked up to view Edmund's rapid approach.

"You stupid bitch!" he hollered in a slightly garbled voice, one hand covering part of his already-swelling face, the other hand still aiming the gun at her as he closed the gap between them. "You broke my shankin' jaw!"

A panicked Magus immediately began to scramble, flipping herself back over and furiously crawling on all fours toward the precipice, leaving a trail of blood to be slowly washed away by the rain. However, her ever-so-brief satisfaction at having made it to the very edge was cruelly dashed by a hard tug on her injured leg.

"You don't think you're getting off that easy, do ya'?" Edmund snarled, tossing his gun off to the side in order to more securely grab her with both hands. "Get back here, Lass!"

Magus was lying on her stomach and she dug her fingers into the earth in front of her, causing deep indentations in the ground as she was dragged away from the ledge. She was returned to almost the exact same spot as before, all the while continuing to resist by wildly thrashing back and forth and attempting to kick Edmund with her free leg. At the same time, he brutally twisted the other bloodied limb, forcing her to rotate upward toward the sky or risk having the bones wrenched until they snapped into several pieces.

"You're not the only one who can fight dirty," he spat with utter contempt, letting go of Magus just long enough to arch forward and land a solid right hook, striking her directly on the cheek and eye.

The crew-woman's head flopped backward and smacked the ground as her entire plane of vision vanished, only to be replaced by stars and multiple streaks of blinding light. Edmund decided to take full advantage of her disorientation by harshly collapsing onto her in the kneeling position, placing the full weight of his body on folded knees directly across her chest.

The result of his actions was immediate and Magus' airway became obstructed to the point that she could no longer inhale or exhale even the smallest of breaths. She began to flail helplessly, her loose arms punching at him and trying to shove him off of her without success. Edmund's frigid gaze was locked upon her terrified one as her face reddened and her eyes bulged almost out of their sockets. No longer able to speak, Magus' mouth fell open and she emitted a series of strained choking sounds as she desperately struggled for oxygen. It wasn't long before she began to experience tunnel vision along with a dizzying sense of vertigo and she realized that she was only a few seconds from slipping into unconsciousness, or perhaps even embracing Death itself.

Realizing that there was nothing more to be done, Magus decided that the best course of action was to surrender to the feelings. Her eyes fell to a close and her entire body went limp.

Edmund blinked several times as he studied her lifeless body, extremely surprised by her death and at how quickly and easily it had been accomplished. He hadn't intended to permanently neutralize his prisoner; only to restrain her into unconsciousness so that she would be more easily transported back to the cave where he could continue his interrogation in an enclosed setting, as well as to later use her as bait when her compatriots came looking for her.

He shook his head, wondering where he'd gone wrong in the endeavor. Of course, he'd used the technique of positional asphyxiation several times before and had considered himself rather an expert at its practice. However, his talents had always been used on men. In fact, he hadn't been given the opportunity to suffocate a woman since his days on the Stations when he'd murdered over a dozen prostitutes. Back then, his strangling technique had been limited to his hands clasped firmly around his victims' necks; an act from which he had always taken great pleasure as he'd gazed deeply into their frightened eyes while he drained their life force.

He shook his head as he climbed off of Magus' motionless form and restood to his full height. He made the decision that, the next time that he encountered a noncompliant female, he would most definitely choose to employ a different method to force her into submission. After all, he didn't want to repeat the mistake of killing any future potentially valuable merchandise too quickly.

Oh well, live and learn, he thought to himself as he let out an apathetic sigh.

Edmund rubbed at his throbbing, ever-swelling jaw and concluded that indeed it was most likely broken. He hoped that the two dead strangers had actually been part of a much larger band of travelers; one which also included a doctor for him to abduct and force to administer his much-needed medical treatment.

Before disposing of Laura Magus' body by tossing her into the Janus River, Edmund decided to rifle through the front pockets of her tattered jacket and pants, just in case she'd held back on relinquishing any supplies or personal items which could divulge additional clues about where she'd come from. He squatted down next to her and roughly shoved his hands into her clothing, feeling around for anything that might prove useful.

So engrossed was he in the activity that he failed to notice the ever-so-slight rise and fall of Magus' chest and she took careful, shallow breaths to replenish her air supply.

And then the fully conscious crew-woman, who had applied every ounce of her energy and willpower to maintain the ruse of playing opossum, sprung into action. Her eyes snapped open and, with an enraged grunt, she balled up her right hand and swung upward to punch Edmund in the throat with as much force as she possibly could.

The man clearly hadn't been expecting Magus to still be alive, much less at nearly full capacity, nor did he have time to move or even brace himself for the impact of the hit. As his body was propelled backward, his head snapped forward, causing him to bite down hard on his tongue.

Now the tide had shifted and it was Edmund's turn to struggle for breath due do a severely damaged trachea which blocked the air flow to and from his lungs. He tumbled onto his back while, at the same time, Magus scurried to her feet, her eyes darting around the immediate landscape as she searched for something to use as a weapon. She located Danziger's empty handgun just a few feet away and wasted no time in reacquiring it.

The possibility that Edmund might already be immobilized, vulnerable and unable to defend himself, or even mere seconds away from succumbing to suffocation was never a consideration in Magus' mind. Instead, her actions and reactions were based solely upon her strong instinct for survival. She grabbed the pistol by the barrel and brought it down hard, striking Edmund in the forehead with the metal handle.

Magus drew her hand back and brought the gun crashing down on him again, this time at the temple, just above his ear. She continued to pummel him, hitting him over and over again. Each time the gun made contact with Edmund's head, Magus emitted a cry that seemed to vary from an animalistic roar to a frightened whimper to nearly everything in between. Her hands were becoming soaked in his blood, making the gun slippery, so she adjusted and tightened her grip before swiftly resuming the beating. Eventually, Edmund's eyes rolled to the back of his head and blood began to ooze from his open mouth, yet Magus did not stop the attack until she heard the cracking sound of his skull as it caved inward. Only then did she finally understand that he was no longer a threat to her and to those whom she'd cared about. Edmund Griggs would never hurt anyone else ever again.

Magus was in a state of complete shock as she slowly climbed to her feet and retreated from Edmund's body. With dazed eyes, she looked at her blood drenched skin along with the generous splatters of crimson on her clothing, unsuccessfully trying to make sense of what had just happened. She noticed and then gravitated toward the discarded pile of supplies located about thirty feet away, wincing with each step due to the pain in her lower leg and no longer quite remembering how she had become injured in the first place.

She stared in confusion at the collection of belongings for several moments, wondering what to do next. It wasn't until she spied the soft green light of a gearset which had been buried near the bottom of the heap that her survival instincts again kicked in of its own volition. She slowly dug the equipment out of the pile and fumbled somewhat as she placed it onto her head. She was able to open the main audio channel but either forgot or ignored the apparatus' video capabilities.

"You have to come now. They're dead," she said, her voice nearly a monotone. "They're all dead."

As soon as she muttered the words, Magus sunk to the ground. The sounds of Eden Advance's worried replies, the pattering of rainfall and the roar of the rapids swirled together in the crew-woman's impaired brain to form a non-distinct, white noise which slowly faded away into nothingness.

"Magus, can you hear me? Come in. Magus? Laura? Please answer. Please come in, Magus. Are you there?"

______________________________________________________

So close, yet so far.

To Greg Walman, those five words best described his current panicked state as he feared for the safety of Magus, the woman with whom he'd fallen hopelessly in love and would risk everything for, as well as for Danziger, one of his closest friends and mentor.

The crewman was practically jumping out of his skin due to his anxiety. For the moment, he could only helplessly sit in the back of the Dunerail as Alonzo who, despite the slippery conditions, pushed the vehicle to its very limits, breaking all speed records as the group rushed the relatively short distance to the mountain. No sooner had the rescue party pulled alongside the abandoned ATV at the base of the steep slope when they heard the echo of three gunshots in rapid succession originating from high above their heads. After exchanging horrified glances, the team flew out of their seats and quickly located the trail of Danziger and Magus' nearby muddied footsteps. With Walman taking the lead, followed closely by Devon, Cameron, Julia and Alonzo, they began to mimic the scouting team's original path up the sharp incline as closely as possible.

Due to most of the Edenites' general lack of climbing abilities, as well as the precarious slope of the hill and the unstable terrain caused by the downpour, their progress was much slower than it had been for their predecessors. It was often necessary for them to assist and, occasionally, hold onto one another as they struggled to find tree roots, rocks or anything else that could anchor their footing. Throughout the treacherous climb, Devon and Walman continued to try to raise their loved ones on gear without luck.

The halfway point of their journey was just about within their reach when, all of the sudden, the group's gearsets simultaneously began to sound off, causing them to abruptly halt.

"You have to come now. They're dead. They're all dead."

Walman was so surprised to hear Magus' voice that he nearly lost his foothold. He hastily punched at the gear's keypad situated above his ear to answer her.

"Magus, are you all right?" he asked, thrilled to hear her voice, but bewildered by her words, as well as by her unemotional delivery.

Several moments of tense silence passed, prompting all five Edenites to trade nervous looks with each other.

"Magus, are you and Danziger all right?" Walman again asked, his tone coming across as increasingly urgent.

The stillness stretched uncomfortably onward and it became glaringly apparent that for whatever reason Magus either wouldn't or, more likely, couldn't answer them. And that worried the crew greatly.

It was as if the entire group was suddenly shot out of a cannon as they swiftly propelled themselves forward and upward. Devon immediately resumed her attempts at reaching Danziger by switching to a secure channel which the two would use during emergencies and for whenever they wished to speak to one another in private. Meanwhile, Walman continued his efforts to reinitiate contact with Magus via the main audio channel.

"Magus, can you hear me? Come in. Magus? Laura? Please answer," he beckoned, becoming more and more out of breath as he scaled the mountain. "Please come in, Magus. Are you there?"

The closer the rescue party came to reaching the top, the more desperate their climb became. Personal safety was now a secondary concern as they purposely chose to veer from Danziger and Magus' established route in favor of a steeper, but shorter one which enabled them to gain ground more quickly. Each of them suffered several scratches and bruises as they roughly hoisted themselves up with the aid of low-hanging branches and sharp rocks. They literally clawed the final few feet to, at last, arrive at the threshold of the plateau.

Walman was the first to make it to the top and he hurriedly yanked Devon and then Cameron up onto solid ground. He then practically abandoned the other members of his team as he turned to initiate his search for Magus. It didn't take much of an effort to find her because the woman was only about thirty yards away, smack dab in the middle of the clearing, seated next to a small mound of supplies which were easily discernible as belonging to Eden Project.

Walman yelled out her name at the top of his lungs and took off in a dash to reach her, leaving Devon and Cameron to uplift Julia and Alonzo to safety. Magus showed no reaction whatsoever to his call, causing him to speculate that she was perhaps unconscious. Or worse.

He wasn't at all prepared for the sight that greeted him. She was sitting in the damp grass and mud, slouched forward with her legs straight out in front of her, her gearset still on her head, but in a completely off-centered position. Her sodden clothes had been torn to shreds and there were several razor-sharp thorns protruding throughout the fabric, as well as a generous amount of fresh blood stains. In fact, one ripped pant-leg was practically saturated in blood, conveying that she'd suffered some sort of a profound injury in that general area. Her skin appeared ashen, her feet were clad in filthy, threadbare socks and her boots were no where to be found.

There was no doubt in Walman's mind that Laura Magus had been the victim of a brutal beating. The right side of her face was badly swollen and the rest of her body sported dozens of cuts and contusions. Her one non-puffy eye was wide open, though it seemed as if she saw nothing as she stared blankly into space. To Walman, Magus resembled a battered marionette whose strings had been cut.

As much as Walman longed to pull the woman into his arms, he didn't dare try for fear of causing her further distress. Meanwhile, the other four members of the rescue team quickly caught up to him once they realized that Magus was close by. There was a chorus of gasps as soon as she came into clear view.

"Oh dear God," Cameron muttered, dumbstruck.

"Nobody touch her. She's in shock," Julia exclaimed, immediately transforming into doctor-mode.

The physician remained as calm as possible as she unslung the med-bag from her shoulder and set it on the ground. "Magus, can you hear me? Can you tell me where you're experiencing the most pain?"

As horrified as Devon was, she was equally, if not more concerned that Magus appeared to be all by herself. "Where's Danziger?" she asked the stoic crew-woman.

The leader's eyes frantically explored the terrain for John's presence and it wasn't long before her gaze fell upon a body lying only a few dozen yards away. She immediately rushed toward what was obviously a male form calling out John's name. When she arrived, she drew back in horror at the grotesque sight of Edmund Griggs' corpse. She averted her gaze toward the ground, spotting what she immediately recognized as Danziger's pistol. Devon instinctively retrieved it from the grass, and her face and her stomach simultaneously twisted themselves into contorted states as her hand came into contact with the layers of blood, hair, and skull fragments that thickly coated the handle. She threw the gun aside with a yelp as if it had burned her skin and was nearly nauseous as she futilely attempted to wipe her hand clean using her pants.

At the same time, Alonzo noticed a second person sprawled out in the wet grass much closer to the ledge and he sped toward it. However, as the pilot gained a closer perspective, it became clear that because of the body's slight build, there was no possibility that it could be Danziger lying there. There was also no doubt that the smaller, unidentified man had met a violent demise.

Alonzo examined the surrounding area and it wasn't long before he'd located a third body which sported what looked to be a lethal gunshot wound to the chest. Although larger in overall size, the newest corpse wore ill-fitting clothes and was extremely unkempt in overall appearance and could never be mistaken for Danziger. The pilot also found a trail of boot impressions in a multitude of sizes as well as several small puddles of blood mixed with rainfall, suggesting that some sort of a struggle had taken place. He followed the boot and blood tracks the short distance, leading him directly to the edge of the precipice. He gazed over the side and saw no additional clues as to what had become of those involved in the scuffle, though the answer seemed to be blatantly obvious.

Meanwhile, Julia, Cameron and Walman had remained with Magus, trying to assess her uncertain condition. The two men remained standing in the background while Julia, who had donned her Diaglove, squatted down beside the crew-woman and began to run the apparatus over her body. She was careful not to touch Magus as she confirmed that her vital statistics were weaker than normal, but thankfully, not quite low enough to pose an immediate threat to her health. The woman was covered in so much blood that it was necessary for Julia to depend upon the scanner to locate any broken bones or deep abrasions that needed attending to. When she waved the equipment over the lower section of Magus' right leg, she was taken aback to see that her friend sported a hole which extended from one side of the limb all the way through to the other.

"Magus, were you shot?" Julia asked, the alarm in her voice matching the anxiety displayed on Cameron and Walman's faces at hearing the news.

Magus was still in a trance-like state and made no attempt to answer as Julia dove into her med-bag to retrieve antiseptics and gauze to clean and dress the wound. Once they were located, the physician knew all too well that she couldn't put off physical contact any longer without further risking her patient's life.

She leaned in a bit closer, placing her hands next to Magus' impaired leg. "I'm just going to pull up your pant-leg a little bit, so I can get a closer look, okay?"

As soon as Julia extended her Diagloved hand, Magus let out a slight whimper and pulled the limb away, just out of the doctor's immediate reach.

"Magus, it's important that I examine the wound and stop the bleeding."

When the crew-woman showed no reaction and made no effort to return her foot to its prior position, Walman gently ushered Julia aside and knelt directly in front of her. Deep down, he knew that he was probably overstepping his bounds. From what he'd witnessed over the past few weeks, Cameron was the man with whom Magus had the closest connection and he would likely be best able to get through to her. But at that moment, Walman just needed to speak to her; to do something-- anything-- that might help bring her consciousness back to the world of the living. And he was thankful that, at least for the moment, Cameron appeared willing to let him try.

He attempted to mask his fears and infuse as much kindness into his voice as possible. "Hey there, Magus," Walman whispered, searching her eyes for any signs of recognition. "It's gonna be all right, okay? Whatever happened up here, it's over."

He could no longer resist the urge to touch her as he arched forward and began to gingerly stroke her non-swollen cheek with his fingertips. "You're safe now," he added, the emotion in his expression and tone continuing to amplify with each syllable.

To everyone's surprise and relief, Magus made no attempt to pull away from the caress. Interpreting this as a positive sign, Walman continued his gentle ministrations, whispering her name along with words of encouragement and the assurance of safety. At last, Magus began to blink and the fluttering of her lids ever-so-gradually increased in speed and intensity as her eyes came into focus.

As she slowly raised her chin to allow her now-cognizant gaze to meet Walman's, her mind was flooded with the images of recent events. Overwhelmed by grief, rage, despair and a dozen other feelings, her entire face and posture wilted, causing her to slump forward into Walman's awaiting arms. As he held her in his secure embrace, Magus' swelling emotions burst forth with the force of an erupting volcano and she broke into loud, uncontrollable sobs.

"S'alright, Babe. It's gonna be okay. You're safe now," Walman repeated over and over, tears forming in his own eyes as both tightened their grips, hanging onto one another for dear life.

As soon as Devon's ears had picked up Magus' anguished voice, she'd abandoned her search of the area and hurriedly returned to the crew-woman's side, hoping to gain any details that she could regarding Danziger's current whereabouts. Meanwhile, Walman continued to console a trembling Magus as she buried her head deeply into the crook of his neck. Eventually the woman's cries began to take the form of words, but the magnitude of her now-muffled sobs made it all but impossible for the rescue team to decipher what she was attempting to tell them. When Magus realized that no one had reacted to her declaration, she tried to compose herself as much as possible under the circumstances and tilted back her head to help them better understand her.

"I couldn't stop it! They murdered him!" she cried in between short-winded breaths. "They killed Danziger for no reason and there was nothing I could do! Then they tried to kill me, too!"

Hearing the heartbreaking news of Danziger's fate plummeted Devon into a mild shock of her own and her body was suddenly racked with shudders that rivaled Magus'. Unable to fully process or to willingly believe that such an incident had occurred to someone whom she'd considered to be an essential part of her life, as well as to the lives of the other members of Eden Advance, the leader crouched down next to Magus and laid a quivering hand on her shoulder.

"Please, Magus," she pleaded in desperation, trying to remain calm and failing miserably. "I really need you to tell me where John is."

Magus' sad eyes reluctantly met Devon's before she turned her head toward the cliff where Alonzo still stood; and the final place that she'd seen Danziger. She swallowed hard, unable to block the memory of her friend's terrified face and voice as he'd tumbled over the edge.

"He's gone," she whispered, her voice cracking as she unsuccessfully fought back more tears. "Oh God, Devon, I'm so sorry."

Devon's eyes followed Magus' line of sight and it became clear what had befallen Danziger. She rocketed to her feet and ran across the clearing to rejoin Alonzo at the ledge, shouting the mechanic's name almost the entire way. She cupped her hands around her mouth and continued to increase her volume until it became a frantic scream as she tried in vain to overpower the roar of the rapids.

The leader squinted as she scoured the landscape, scrutinizing every rock and tree branch along the river's banks for any hint of John's presence. She found none.

Her tone suddenly reverted to a whisper. "This can't be happening. He's not dead. He can't be dead," she began to mutter repeatedly.

She again donned her gearset and attempted to contact Danziger, but a soft beeping emanating from the nearby pile of supplies alerted them once and for all that the mechanic no longer had the device with him. Meanwhile, Alonzo was putting his jumpers to good use, conducting a thermal scan of the region.

"Devon, I might have something here," he informed her as the equipment centered on a faint heat source.

Devon whipped her entire body around to face Alonzo. "You found him?" she exclaimed, practically jumping for joy at the prospect.

The pilot tried to maintain his composure in an effort to keep from getting Devon's hopes up; or his, for that matter. "It's hard to tell. I found something. I mean, I'm getting a positive read on what looks to be a life form about two clicks away," he replied. "It could be Danziger."

He locked in the coordinates while inwardly cursing himself for not thinking to bring Zero's head in his backpack. The droid would no doubt have provided them with much more detailed information regarding the origin of the signal.

As Alonzo lowered the jumpers away from his face, he turned to speak to Devon, only to find an empty space where she'd been standing only moments before.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" he heard the leader yell over her shoulder as she rushed toward the path down the mountain.

Alonzo followed her orders, but momentarily paused when he reached the other members of the group. Walman had his arm tightly around Magus. Julia, who had just administered a pain block, was finally being permitted to attend to Magus' gunshot wound.

"Is it Danziger?" Walman hesitantly asked as the five Edenites watched Devon disappear down the steep incline.

Alonzo wore a hardened expression, not sure what to make of this latest development. "Don't know. Maybe," he relayed, shaking his head.

He pivoted to Julia, understanding that Magus sported several serious injuries which required immediate treatment and there was absolutely no way that the doctor could leave the woman's side; especially when taking into consideration that, at this point, it was impossible to ascertain whether or not Danziger would be in need of medical care. Or if the heat signal was even Danziger at all.

However, those sobering factors didn't mean that Julia wasn't conflicted about her role in the situation. With that in mind, Alonzo tried to alleviate her guilt and put her slightly more at ease by issuing some orders of his own. "Stay with Magus, but we may need your help later."

He then addressed the others. "Keep your gear channels open. We'll let you know if and when we find anything."

"Need another hand?" Cameron piped up, fully understanding that Julia and Walman had the task of caring for Magus well under control.

Before Alonzo could answer in the affirmative, Magus turned to Cameron and nodded. "Do whatever you can," she tearfully told her friend.

She paused to take a breath. "Please," she added in a strained whisper, her mind now centered on the devastating effect that John's loss would have on True. "Please find him."

______________________________________________________________

Alonzo, Devon and Cameron followed the twisting path of the Janus River as closely as they could. Unfortunately, they were forced to travel at least a hundred yards from the shoreline due to a thick copse of trees and shrubbery which carved out an almost impenetrable barrier between them. With the exception of the strain of the Dunerail's engine as Alonzo again pushed the vehicle to its top speed, the journey toward the source of the heat signal was completely silent. The pilot had relinquished the jumpers to Cameron's capable hands in order for both men to devote their full attention to their individual tasks. Throughout their travels, the latter crewman sat at full attention in the passenger side, visually combing through the brush as he hunted for any additional signs of life that might have been overlooked during Alonzo's earlier search from the mountaintop. Devon had uncharacteristically chosen to occupy the back seat, perhaps to allow Cameron a less obstructed vantage point for the tracking device. Or perhaps it was due to her quickly diminishing ability to mask her emotions regarding the very real possibility that John was forever lost to them.

"Stop here!" Cameron suddenly bellowed, "We're just about on top of the coordinates. Or at least as close as we can get to 'em by 'Rail."

Alonzo slammed his foot to the floor, causing the Dunerail to skid to an abrupt halt and all three jumped out. Devon and Alonzo anxiously followed on either side of Cameron as he made his way to the edge of the thicket and then raised the jumpers to his eyes for a closer inspection.

"Yep, whoever or whatever it is, it should be about seventy-five yards that way," he alerted, gesturing directly toward the overgrown brush.

As he spoke the words, Cameron felt as though his insides were performing wild somersaults, and this was only partly due to his distress over the day's horrible events. In fact, there was something that his compatriots had yet to be told because he simply couldn't bring himself to become the bearer of such bad news. What he had purposely failed to inform them was that Alonzo's original thermal scan which had produced a signal that had barely registered to begin with, was no longer transmitting.

Cameron tried not to speculate as to what this meant beyond the idea that maybe the change in altitude had somehow affected the overall reading. He was eternally grateful that the location had been recorded in the jumper's memory chip and this would permit them to see for themselves what exactly had first caught Alonzo's attention. That is, as long as the cause of the heat source hadn't been washed downstream by the violent current. And this was still a more desirable option than the possibility that John had initially survived his ordeal, but had ended up succumbing to his injuries before he could be rescued. Again, Cameron decided that it was best to focus on the positives and deal with the negatives only when directly confronted.

They ventured into the dense forest with great difficulty. At times, it was necessary for them to use their knives to carve out a path through the seemingly never-ending disarray of untamed shrubbery, winding branches and gnarled, web-like vines. The thunder of the rapids grew louder with each footstep as the group slowly closed in on the coordinates. Cameron stopped to take another thermal reading and was greatly surprised to find that the signal had not only reappeared, it was now stronger than ever. And there was more.

"Hey, guys? Whoever's over there seems to be alive," the crewman excitedly declared as he let the jumpers fall to loosely dangle around his neck. "He's definitely moving around a bit."

The encouraging news infused the team with hope and caused them to further quicken their pace. Seconds felt like hours as they hacked away at looming branches and vines as well as leaves the size of elephant ears to clear their way toward the origin of the signal. At last, the hard earth beneath their feet evolved into a muddy shoreline which then quickly became shallow water. Upon closer inspection, it was apparent that they had stumbled upon the threshold of a large alcove.

Despite being at the river's edge, the multitude of lush foliage seemed to extend in all directions and visibility remained almost nil. The landscape was bathed in near darkness due to the hundreds of towering trees lining the banks whose lush limbs extended so far outward that their tendrils drooped over to dip into the water below. From what the Edenites could ascertain, the depth of the water was only about waist high. However, it was also saturated with seaweed and other vegetation sprouting upward from the floor and the entire area was cluttered with layers upon layers of debris which had drifted in from the current, only to become permanent fixtures. In fact, it was so abundant that the rescue team could literally almost walk on water to reach their still unseen target.

The Edenites felt as though they were submerged in quicksand as they began to awkwardly wade through the obstacle course of flotsam and overgrowth. Cameron again stopped and took another thermal scan.

"He's only about thirty-five yards away," he yelled over the roar of the waters as he pointed toward the opposite corner of the alcove, along the shoreline.

Devon bobbed her head around a cluster of draping branches. "Where? I don't see him!" she exclaimed worriedly.

Still in the lead and with jumpers in hand, Cameron did his best to peer between the thick foliage and various obstructions to more closely inspect the area where the positive read was originating from. He closed in on a location along the bank just a few feet inward from where the river met the mouth of the alcove and his attention was immediately caught by a glimpse of crimson among the surrounding deep emeralds and browns. The image flickered in and out of his line of sight, as if the subject was wildly thrashing around in an attempt to free himself from whatever he'd become entangled in. He was finally rewarded with a clear view of what was obviously some type of garment; most likely a coat or a vest. And getting a glimpse of the numbers '1587' inscribed across the back in bold lettering told Cameron all that he needed to know.

"I found him! It's Danziger!" he hollered, throwing his hands up in the air and letting out a joyful hoot.

The other two simultaneously joined in with their own ecstatic cries of happiness and relief as they continued to struggle across the small body of water toward his location as quickly as possible; all the while yelling Danziger's name and beckoning for him to reply. Although the mechanic didn't orally answer their calls, the flailing and splashing immediately picked up speed and intensity, an obvious sign that he'd heard them and was anxiously awaiting rescue.

"Just hold on, John! Hold on! We're almost there!" Devon encouraged, refusing to be deterred by Danziger's lack of verbal response, as well as by the fact that she still couldn't detect him among the heavy brush.

She also inwardly readied herself for the likelihood that Danziger had been severely wounded. She sincerely hoped that enough time had passed for Magus' injuries to have been stabilized, so that Julia could leave her side in order to attend to John. She didn't want to consider the option that Danziger had already progressed to the point where he was beyond saving.

The rescue team was only a few feet from their destination and they had reached a near panicked state by the time they'd ripped back the leaves and low hanging branches to reveal the origin of the heat signal and the source of the continuing noise.

There was a chorus of horrified gasps and Devon felt as though her heart had ceased to beat as they cast their collective gazes on, not John Danziger, but a Grendler.

The beast was positioned along the alcove's shore and was hunched over with a generous helping of saliva oozing from its mouth. It was currently exerting a considerable amount of energy as it tried to roughly tear free a burgundy Ops vest from a cluster of debris. Upon closer inspection, it became clear that what was making the task all but impossible to accomplish was that the article of clothing was still firmly attached to something: its current owner.

The threesome began to simultaneously scream at the creature, wildly waving their arms in a threatening gesture as they advanced toward the scene.

"Hey! Get outta here!"

"What the hell are you doing? Get away from him!"

"Leave him alone! He belongs to us!"

At first, the Grendler held fast to the vest and let out a series of angry, guttural grunts, as if attempting to explain to them the rules of the Finder's Keepers philosophy that was the staple of the Grendler lifestyle. However, it quickly became glaringly aware to the creature that these latest trespassers on its little piece of the planet were not prepared to listen to reason and, therefore, it grudgingly decided to relinquish its bounty. After all, the beast didn't want to risk upsetting a group of potential clients who might choose to barter with him at some time in the future.

With a frustrated growl, the Grendler backed away from the banks and stalked off. Instead of following the established pathway it had created to gain access to the river, the creature put its agitation and immense strength to good use as it boisterously tore out a new course through the dense thicket and eventually vanished from view. At the same time, Devon, Alonzo and Cameron concentrated their efforts on avoiding the pull of the nearby current as they endeavored the final few steps to reach the subject of the beast's prior tug-of-war.

Now that the Grendler was no longer an issue, the team was shocked to realize that there was no further movement; basically revealing that the struggle over the vest had been a one-sided one. There was a collective shudder when they also noticed that he was lying face down with his arms stretched outward and loosely dangling on top of the water.

Alonzo forced himself to ignore the alarm bells blaring in his ears signifying that they had indeed arrived too late.

"It's okay, John. We've got you now," he assured, firmly grabbing the man's shoulder and pulling him upright to face the sky.

Yet again, their hearts sank into their stomachs and their mouths went agape as they looked upon, not John Danziger, but a different person; someone whom they'd never seen before.

"What the hell is going on here? Who's this guy?" Cameron asked, exasperated.

Alonzo closely examined the remains of Damon Duffett who, much like the other corpse that had been found on the mesa, was clothed from head to toe in Eden Project attire. This latest body had obviously been the unwilling recipient of a multitude of broken bones and lacerations, courtesy of the unforgiving rapids. However, as bad as the relentless pummeling must have been, the pilot was willing to bet that it had paled in comparison to receiving the large bullet hole that he'd sustained in his abdomen. He poked his finger through the puncture in the man's shirt, noting the powder burns lining the edges, indicating that he had been shot at point blank range.

"He's probably from the group that attacked Magus and Danziger," he spat, the disappointment and contempt dripping from his voice. "I'll check for an ID."

Devon studied the burly, ungroomed man and considered what despicable role he might have played in the assault of her loved ones. Dozens of emotions were bubbling toward the surface and it was just a matter of selecting which one should lead the charge. As it happened, Devon chose one of the strongest feelings that she had; one which she didn't use much, but knew that she could always depend upon, if needed: rage.

Just as Alonzo reached outward to check Duffett's neck for dog tags, Devon lurched forward and grabbed the man by the lapels of his jacket and roughly yanked him toward her.

"Hey! Wake up! You're not getting off this easy!" she yelled, letting go of him momentarily in order to brutally smack him across the face.

Devon's eyes were wide with fury as she shook him. "What have you done with Danziger? Where is he?" she demanded through gritted teeth. "Answer me, dammit! Tell me where he is!"

Alonzo and Cameron were struck dumb by Devon's outburst. The pilot also noted that, as Devon manhandled Duffett, his head was flopping back and forth like a doll, indicating that his neck bone was no longer attached to the rest of his body.

"He's dead, Devon," he said, trying to be as calm as he possibly could. "There's nothing more we can do here except try to identify the corpse and see if it gives us any clues about what happened."

Despite Alonzo's rationalization, there was little diminishment in Devon's obviously distraught emotional state. "Forget him," she snapped, her chest heaving nearly to the point of hyperventilation. "The only thing that matters is that he isn't John."

She loosened her grasp, letting go of Duffett and allowing his remains to sink like a stone back into the shallow water and debris before swinging her gaze to Cameron.

"Give me your jumpers," she commanded.

The crewman barely had time to unloop the strap from around his neck before Devon snatched the equipment and raised it to her eyes. She conducted yet another thermal scan, slowly canvassing the thick landscape looking for any signs of life. Unfortunately, with the exception of the lone Grendler who continued its trek in the opposite direction, the search rendered no positive results.

"I'm moving closer to the river. He's got to be here somewhere," she informed them, her voice still a mixture of anger, panic, yet strangely enough, optimism.

Cameron and Alonzo had to struggle to keep pace with Devon as she waded through the still waist-high water toward the edge of the alcove, fighting against the ever-strengthening pull of the current as they neared the threshold.

Devon again brought the jumpers to her eyes and performed another search, meticulously inspecting every inch of the surroundings. She found nothing.

"Danziger!" she repeatedly began to holler at the top of her lungs.

She whipped around to Alonzo and Cameron behind her. "Don't just stand there! Help me look for him!" she exclaimed in a tone that was half-fury and half-desperation.

She roughly tossed the jumpers back to Cameron before turning back to resume her one woman screaming match. The two crewman paused to exchange a sober glance before Cameron decided that it was time to be the voice of reason.

"Devon, he's not here. Not anymore," he interrupted, barely able to get the words out, yet forced to yell in order to be heard over the earsplitting roar of the river. "Look, between the initial fall, the rapids and all of those rocks out there, I just don't see how Danziger coulda made it, especially if he was already injured when he went into the water."

Devon's back remained to them and she tried to act as though Cameron's assessment had failed to have any effect on her. Yet there was no mistaking the sag in her shoulders as she continued to advance, all the while shouting John's name. To Cameron and Alonzo's shock, the leader suddenly surged forward into the deeper, choppier waters at the hem of the river itself. Submerged to just below her shoulders now, Devon was barely able to remain upright due to the tremendous flow of the current and was dangerously close to being washed away. Due to Devon's overwrought frame of mind, Alonzo couldn't help but wonder whether or not she was bothering to take her own personal safety into consideration. Or if she had perhaps reached the point where she no longer cared.

He watched with great unease as Devon took yet another precarious step forward. She continued to call out Danziger's name as she sank up to her chin, coughing as she took in several mouthfuls of water. No longer able to allow this reckless behavior to continue, Alonzo approached Devon from behind, threw his arms around her shoulders and locked her tightly against his chest. Cameron joined in to assist Alonzo as he struggled against both Devon and the river's wrath, dragging her back to waist-high water and out of harm's immediate way.

"Let me go, Alonzo! Don't touch me! I need to find John!" the leader screamed in between heaving breaths as she fought to free herself from Alonzo's grip.

In one swift motion, the pilot flipped her around to face him and began to shake her forcefully by both shoulders. "Stop it! Just stop it! You're gonna get yourself killed and the group won't survive losing both of you, understand?" he yelled. "We need you Devon, now more than ever. You gotta be strong. You gotta be here for the group."

Alonzo paused as the ferocity in his eyes dissolved into despair. "And most importantly, you gotta be here for True," he added in a softened tone.

Hearing the name of John's daughter caused something to snap deep inside of Devon and the fury which she'd exhibited only seconds before could no longer be located among her arsenal of emotions. Instead, her body was filled with a resounding grief so powerful that it strangled everything else within her, taking her very breath away.

Devon's face and posturing crumbled and she began to gasp for air. "Oh, God, please. Not John. Please, not John," she choked out, bringing both hands to cover her mouth.

Alonzo pulled Devon into a supportive embrace with the duel purpose of sharing her sorrow and to prevent her from collapsing into the water. She began to shudder uncontrollably, whimpering the word 'please' over and over again as she sobbed against his chest.

The pilot rubbed his hand up and down her back in a comforting gesture, letting out several shaky breaths of his own. He traded another forlorn look with Cameron whose eyes had also welled up with tears. With heavy hearts, both crewman surrendered to the knowledge that John Danziger was beyond their help. The only thing that they could do for their friend at this point was to assist in picking up the pieces of the broken lives which had been left behind.

As Devon's cries increased in intensity and she started to wail John's name, it became abundantly clear to Alonzo that life on G889 would never be the same again.

_________________________________________________________

Several times over the past few hours, Devon had felt as though she was in a dreamlike state, only to realize that she was in the center of a waking nightmare. And the very same could be said of the rest of Eden Advance.

After the wild goose chase which had culminated in locating the remains of the man whom Magus would later identify through gear-vid as Damon Duffett, the rescue team left him and the other attackers exactly where they'd originally found them. All four would be denied the dignity of a burial and instead were left as feasts for the vultures or for whatever passed for flesh-picking creatures on G889. The body of the fifth penal colonist whom Magus had recounted going over the cliff's edge with Danziger was never located. And if he had been found, it was a safe bet that the members of Eden Advance would not have rendered any assistance whatsoever, be he alive or dead.

Given a bit of time and distance, might this seem rather harsh behavior in retrospect? Definitely. But would they likely be sorry for their actions or lack thereof? Absolutely not.

The group had changed in several, irreparable ways. And there was no going back.

Their grief and anger was so strong that they'd even elected not to search the mesa for the penal colonists' cave which no doubt had contained provisions from Eden Project cargo pods as well as from previous acts of violence.

Devon had been too emotionally incapacitated to be of much help. She wasn't up to the task of alerting the others about the tragedy that had taken place, nor did she participate in any of the subsequent decisions regarding what to do with the four corpses. Instead she'd retreated inward, trying to reconcile the details of the day's events and absorb the harsh reality of Danziger's fate. Before Magus and the rescue team had embarked on the nearly silent ride to rejoin the other members of Eden Advance, Julia had offered to inject Devon with a mild sedative to dull her nerves. However the leader had refused, realizing that it was imperative that she remain at full capacity as she began to prepare herself for one of the most difficult conversations that she would ever have: telling True that her father wasn't coming home.

Bess had been the first Edenite called back at camp and was given the instructions to quickly collect True and Uly and confine them to the Adair tent. The Earth-res was also asked to remain with the children to shield them from the possibility of hearing the news of Danziger's death from a secondhand source. Although Bess hadn't been specifically told of John's demise, Alonzo's devastated expression and voice during their private gear conversation in which he'd only mentioned Magus' status had told her all that she'd needed to know. And from the look in True's eyes when Bess had found her sitting alone under the Transrover, it was pretty obvious that the little girl had already known it, too.

When the ATV and Dunerail reentered camp, Magus and the rescue team were met by the other brokenhearted members of Eden Advance, save for Bess and the children. Baines helped Julia and Walman transfer Magus into a crude sling-like stretcher and whisked her off to the med-quarters for further treatment, while a shattered-looking and still soaking wet Devon exited the Rail and went directly into Yale's awaiting arms.

The former tutor knew that there was nothing that could be said to console her, so he just held her in a fatherly embrace. In addition to her sodden clothing, Yale could sense the wetness of Devon's tears against his shirt.

"I can't believe he's gone," she whispered in a weakened voice, nodding her head back and forth in disbelief. "What am I going to do without him, Yale?"

The cyborg momentarily closed his eyes and let out a sad exhalation. "You will continue moving forward. And you will raise Danziger's daughter and give her the life that he'd always hoped that she'd have."

She took his words to heart and attempted to compose herself as best as she could, arching her head back and wiping at her moisture-streaked cheeks with her fingertips. "Is she waiting for me in my tent?" she asked.

"Yes," Yale nodded. "And Uly and Bess are with her."

Devon pulled herself from Yale's grasp and slowly made her way to her quarters at the center of camp. Alonzo and most of the other Edenites followed several paces behind her, forming an unintentional processional.

Devon swallowed hard and took several deep breaths before pulling back the tarp to reveal Bess and the two children. Instinctually, her gaze first went to Uly, who was busy showing the Earth-res his latest child-sized Terrian staff which he'd claimed was based on the markings of the local tribe. The boy seemed to understand that something bad had happened, but his young age and innocence had made him oblivious to the severity of the situation.

Unfortunately, True had no such luxury. In the Quadrant, youth meant very little and naivete was all but nonexistent. When Bess had come for her and had directed her to the Adair tent, the little girl had suspected that her worst fears had been realized. And when no one would give her a straight answer except to quote the party line to stay indoors until Devon returned, there was no longer any doubt in True's mind that her father was indeed dead. As such, she'd decided to cut herself off from any non-essential interaction and planted herself on the end of Devon's cot, stone-faced as she stared at the far canvas wall.

The rest of the crew remained outside to give them as much privacy as necessary as Devon entered the quarters. As soon as he noticed his Mom's arrival, Uly immediately jumped up and ran to her, tightly hugging her.

After exchanging hellos, Devon nodded toward the Earth-res. "Bess, would you take Uly over to the meal tent for a few minutes?"

Uly was immediately suspicious, yet still clouded by innocence. "What for?" he asked. "Is something wrong, Mom?"

Devon tried her best to mask that she was in danger of simultaneously bursting into tears and losing the contents of her stomach. She opened her mouth to respond, but had trouble sounding out the words.

Luckily, Bess came to the rescue. "Come on, Uly," she encouraged, putting on a brave face. "You can help me make dessert for tonight's dinner. I've had this wonderful idea for a recipe that'll taste just like raspberry tarts, but without the raspberry or the tarts."

Uly was obviously interested in the dessert concept and whatever it might entail, but was still unsure if he should leave his mother, especially with the miserable expression that she was currently wearing. And True was being extra grouchy, too. She wouldn't talk to him or let him show her his newest Terrian staff. Even Bess was acting sort of strange. It was as if the whole camp had turned upside down and he had no idea why.

"I'll be along very soon and we'll talk, too, all right?" Devon was finally able to add.

"Okay," Uly agreed as Bess gently ushered him out of the room by the shoulders and into the awaiting crowd of silent mourners.

"See ya' later, True," he added as the flap fell to a close behind him. There was no acknowledgment from the other end of the enclosure.

Now that they were alone, Devon edged the final few feet to where the little girl was situated. There was nothing she could do to keep from visibly shaking.

"True," she sputtered, forced to clear her throat before starting again. "There's something that I need to tell you."

True was still facing the opposite direction and exhaled a shuddering breath. "My Dad's dead, right?"

There was a pause that seemed to last for hours, when in reality, it was just over three seconds.

"Yes," Devon finally whispered.

"Can I see him?" True asked in an abrupt, matter-of-fact manner. At that moment, there was very little trace of the little girl that Devon had come to know and love.

"No, I'm afraid not," she answered plainly.

True suddenly whipped around toward Devon. Clearly, that was an answer that she hadn't expected.

"What?" she choked out in surprise, her bottom lip trembling. "Why not?"

Tears began to fill both of their eyes and Devon's words came out slowly and carefully. "Your father fell into the river," she explained. "And we looked and looked, but we weren't able to find him."

There was a sudden burst of emotion. "But that means that he could still be alive!" True cried, looking baffled as to why Devon and everyone else was still hanging around camp when they should all be out hunting for her Dad.

Devon took another step and seated herself on the cot next to True, letting out another series of faltering breaths. "True, the mountain that your father fell from..." she began, "well, it was very high and he was at the very top. And even before then, he'd been badly hurt." She didn't feel the need to go into a graphic description of the blood found on the mesa that Julia had identified as Danziger's, indicating that he'd likely been stabbed.

The leader tentatively placed her arm around True's shoulder and she felt the little girl tighten up. "The river itself.... it flows really fast and it's impossible to swim in," she continued, still having trouble getting the words out. "We searched for your father the best that we could, but the current was just so strong, it.... it just took him away, Sweetheart."

As True listened to Devon recount her father's fate, as much as she didn't want to believe it, she forced herself to understand that the explanation made perfect sense. In a way, the little girl had been preparing herself for this conversation her entire life. Of course, that didn't make it any less traumatic to accept the fact that she would never see her Dad again.

True mentally kicked herself as tears began to stream down her cheeks. When Devon had revealed that there wasn't a body for her to see, for a brief second she'd actually allowed herself to foster a spark of hope that her father could still be saved. But she wasn't a kid any more and she should have known better. After all, very few children growing up in the Quadrant still had two living parents by the time they'd reached the cusp of adulthood. Why should she have expected G889 to be any different? As dangerous as her Dad's life was, in a way, she should count herself lucky that she'd been able to make it to twelve years of age before becoming an orphan.

And now that the awful day had come, she realized that as much as she had tried to mentally prepare herself for it, there was no way that she was ready to face it head on. Her insides ached so desperately for her father that she could barely resist the urge to hunch over in pain. Instead, she curled her arms around Devon's torso and hugged her tight.

"I miss him already," she sobbed.

Devon threw her arms around her and rested her chin on top of the little girl's head. "Me, too," she whispered as she joined in with her own cries.

Both allowed their tears to flow freely.
________________________________________________________

Devon could only recall crying this long and with such incredible intensity twice within her lifetime. The first was at age eighteen when her father had unexpectedly appeared at her faraway private school to inform her of the sudden death of her beloved mother. The second occasion was an equally unanticipated and traumatic event, if not more-so: when the Station doctors had officially diagnosed Uly with The Syndrome, a debilitating illness for which there was no cure. And now Devon wept just as profoundly over the loss of John Danziger, surprising herself a bit as for the very first time, she allowed herself to truly acknowledge the magnitude of her emotions where he was concerned. There was no longer any doubt whatsoever that, without her ever realizing it, John had become a vital member of her family.

Devon was so overwrought with grief that it was all but impossible to control her cries. Her anguish was openly reflected in her face with a noticeable deepening of the surface lines in her skin as well as the shaded hues beneath her eyes. The front of her shirt had become saturated with her tears and her head and back throbbed in pain due to her body's continuous convulsions as she was racked with sobs. Her eyes had swollen to the point that she could barely crack them open and they appeared as little more than slits of dulled blue.

True was equally as distraught. She'd vomited what little food she'd had in her stomach and, several times, it was necessary to fold herself over and place her head between her knees in order to refrain from dry-heaving. The pair had held onto one another for hours until True cried herself into emotional and physical exhaustion and finally collapsed onto Devon's cot. Devon tucked the little girl in with nearby blankets and stood vigil at her bedside. As the natural light waned and the long day drew to a close, Devon continued to watch over the child, noting each rise and fall of her chest as well as every accompanying shallow, raspy breath. Occasionally, she would emit a small whimper and it took most of Devon's remaining strength to resist the urge to awaken the little girl by collecting her into her arms and hugging her tightly. However, Devon conceded that even if the child was indeed caught within the grips of a nightmare, the act of rousing her from her fitful slumber would return her to the reality of a life without her father, the center of her entire world. That had to be worse than whatever dream True was currently experiencing.

As Devon observed the silhouette of the little girl's frame in the ever-darkening room, she replayed in her mind the fateful day when she'd learned of the death of her own mother. Although Devon had spent much of her younger life in the care of governesses, finishing schools and, most importantly, with her life-long tutor and first true friend Yale, she had always felt a closeness to her mother. Even though they didn't get the opportunity to spend that much time together, her Mother was her childhood idol and the person with whom she'd always strived to emulate as an adult.

Many of Devon's most treasured memories were when she'd slipped unnoticed into one of her Mother's conference rooms and watched her conduct board meetings in which she'd make mincemeat of those who'd attempted to contradict her or dared to tell her that something couldn't be accomplished. Devon had also loved to tag along on her Mother's buying trips and used to watch in awe as the fearless woman had no qualms with rolling up her designer sleeves and crawling in between filthy pipes to inspect the wiring mechanism of a line of freighters that she was interested in acquiring for Adair Industries. When Devon was older and home from school on holidays, her mother had always made time for her and, not only answered all of Devon's questions, she was certain to pass along plenty of advice regarding what would be expected of Devon when she'd reached adulthood, as well as to explain what life might entail while living under the moniker of 'Adair.' Devon had memorized every single word of wisdom that her mother had imparted to her and, consequently, many of the most important choices that she'd ever made in her professional and personal life were taken from the standpoint of 'What would my Mother do?' And to her Mom's credit, Devon had yet to regret any of those decisions.

But as much as she'd cared for her Mother and, even years later, still grieved for her loss, looking back now Devon couldn't help but notice the tremendous differences between her relationship with her Mom and the boundless, almost immeasurable level of attachment of True and John. The bond between Danziger and his daughter encompassed friendship, respect, dependence and, of course, unconditional devotion. They were one another's trusted confidantes, biggest supporters and greatest sources of strength. Often, they'd made each other smile. Occasionally, they'd made each other madder than hell. And there was never a single moment that went by that they hadn't made each other feel loved.

As Devon continued to watch over True, she wondered if there would ever come a time when she might be able to make the little girl smile again. She wasn't sure if that would be possible, but she swore to herself that she would do her very best to try. Devon would pick up where John had left off and ensure that True never ever experienced a moment of feeling alone or unloved.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the gentle rustling of the tent flap behind her and she twisted around to observe the darkened form of Julia step into the enclosure, followed closely by Alonzo.

"Devon?" Julia asked tentatively while she located the nearby lumalantern and turned the knob to its dimmest setting, illuminating the room just enough to cause Devon's now-ultrasensitive eyes to sting.

Devon wasn't given the time to form a reply before the doctor continued, "We're sorry to bother you, but we figured that you'd want an update on Magus' condition."

After Devon nodded for her to proceed, Julia tried to sound as positive as should could under the circumstances. "The news is good," she divulged. "She's completely stabilized now, but it would be best if we waited another day before trying to move her again. And emotionally speaking, she should rest at least another twenty-four hours. However, I'm confidant that she'll eventually enjoy a full recovery from her injuries."

Devon remained silent, but gave another faint nod of her head. It was only then that she made eye contact with Julia and Alonzo and noticed that both had obviously been crying recently.

Following another few seconds of stillness while all three collectively looked toward True to confirm that she remained sound asleep, Alonzo chimed in, "We also wanted to let you know that Yale went ahead and took Uly aside to explain what happened today."

The leader's jaw visibly dropped open. So consumed had she been by her anguish that she'd completely forgotten about Uly and her promise to speak with him about Danziger's death. She suddenly felt like the worst parent in the world. How could she have been so careless?

It was obvious that Devon was greatly upset by the news and Alonzo tried to alleviate whatever small amount of distress that he could.

"Don't worry, Uly handled it really well, especially for his age," he consoled in a subdued tone. "I think that as sad as he is about John, he's more worried about you and True. He also understands that you're needed here and he's going to give you both some space. He'll sleep in Yale's tent tonight and he'll rejoin you in the morning."

The pilot briefly paused before adding, "If that's okay with you, of course." After all, she was his Mother and should really have the final word on such matters.

Devon swallowed hard and finally found her voice. "That's fine. Thank you," she whispered, wearing a heartfelt expression. "And please thank Yale for me."

"We also brought you some food, in case you felt like eating," Julia furthered as Alonzo set a small saucer on an adjacent crate. "Bess made a dessert that tasted like raspberry tarts."

As Devon again expressed her appreciation along with her regret that she currently lacked an appetite, she could feel the piercing stare of Julia's trained eye. Devon assumed that the physician was administering a visual exam to check for possible medical issues. In actuality, Julia was trying to gage Devon's overall mental status. And she had a very good reason for doing so.

"Devon, I have something for you," Julia revealed, deciding to go forward and hoping that her words wouldn't prove to be too upsetting. "I'm not sure if this is the right time." Her eyes briefly drifted away as she removed something from the front pocket of her jacket. "Then again, I'm not sure if there will ever be a right time."

Devon gazed at her with confusion, though it was barely discernible through her puffy eyes and drawn expression. The leader then emitted a small gasp of surprise as Julia stepped forward and took hold of her hand, lifting it upward with the palm facing the tent's ceiling.

"John gave this to me a while back," she explained, slipping a small capsule into Devon's hand. Devon immediately recognized it as a vid-chip as she added, "It's for you."

Devon's entire body froze and she stared at the item in uncertainty. "I- I don't understand," she expressed, shaking her head.

Julia was still unsure if she'd made the correct decision to present the chip so soon after Danziger's demise and while Devon was still so emotionally vulnerable. However, there was no going back now.

"He had me store the chip with his med-files," she divulged. "He also made me promise to give it to you if he--" Her eyes again momentarily veered away as she chose a more appropriate description. "-- if something ever happened to him."

She let out a slow breath, adding, "I'm not sure what's on it, but I know that it's important. To both of you."

Devon remained paralyzed, her eyes trained on the vid-chip in her still-open palm. Her head was swirling and she'd felt more overwhelmed than ever.

Alonzo placed a comforting hand on Devon's shoulder. "You're probably gonna want some privacy when you watch this, so if you want to see it now, we can stay here with True and you can go find yourself a secluded spot," he said soothingly. "And if you're not up to it yet, that's fine, too. Just let any one of us know when you're ready and we'll come back."

Julia relayed, "And when you can, Magus would also like you to stop by the med-tent. She has some things to tell you about her last conversation with John. Apparently, he'd confided in her and she thinks it's imperative that you hear what he said."

Another bout of stilted silence passed as Devon played out the options in her mind. The decision itself was obvious, but harnessing the strength to put the idea into motion was something else entirely.

She delicately closed her fingers around the chip, treating it as if it were a tiny, fragile artifact. "I'd like to watch this now," she declared in a low voice.

Devon took the risk of rousing True and leaned over to gently kiss her brow. "I'd really appreciate it if you could stay with True for a little while," she requested, motioning to her still slumbering form. "But please call me immediately if she wakes up."

The couple agreed and quickly took over Devon's newly vacated spot next to True.

Devon pivoted back toward them and though her words were directed toward Julia and Alonzo, her eyes were focused solely upon the younger Danziger.

"I won't be long."
_____________________________________________________

It had begun to lightly mist again, yet Devon was too emotionally numb to notice. Her boots sank into the moist grass as she trudged through the darkened camp, the vid-chip firmly sheltered within her grasp like a delicate flower. She needed to be alone, but had no idea as to where to go. As she drifted past the med-quarters, she viewed the silhouette of Magus lying still in her sickbed with Walman keeping close vigil at her side. A break between the tents brought the campfire into full view, with a soaked Baines, Cameron, Mazatl and Denner encircled around it despite the rainfall. Even at a distance, their grief-stricken expressions were clearly reflected in the flickering firelight. Once they'd noticed her presence, she was unable to face their sympathetic stares and swung her gaze toward the nearest tent. Its canvas flap was partially ajar and provided her with an unobstructed view of Morgan as he tried his best to comfort Bess as she sobbed in his arms.

Needing to get away, Devon increased her pace and hurried toward the outskirts of camp. When she arrived at the area where all three vehicles were parked, she had to stop herself from involuntarily checking for Danziger's ever-doting form wedged beneath one of the under-carriages. She fought back more tears as she remembered that she would never see him there again, nor anywhere else. She'd never feel the touch of his skin as he held her, or hear his deep baritone as he voiced his unflinching support or exasperated disapproval of her latest venture. The two of them would never engage in an argument again. And that made Devon exceedingly sad.

The very idea that Devon was thinking about Danziger in the past tense brought on several new waves of nausea. The campsite itself suddenly felt claustrophobic and, for a fleeting moment, she considered making a break for it and running into the neighboring woods as fast as her legs would carry her. She just needed to do something-- anything-- to clear her head. She wanted to find a place where she didn't have to consider the monumental consequences that John's death would have for the group; and for her. She needed to somehow stop the pain deep within her chest where her heart had been shattered into a thousand pieces, likely never to be fully repaired or whole again. She paused to wonder if John had experienced something similar to this when he'd lost Elle.

"I would do anything for you, Devon."

John would never again repeat those words of devotion to her, nor would he ever get the chance to expand upon them. The word 'love' would never spill from his lips and she'd waited too long to divulge her love for him as well simply because she'd ascertained that he wasn't ready to here it.

It occurred to her how strange it was that she hadn't been up front with Danziger from the moment that she'd realized that she'd wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. After all, she was a woman who'd rarely held her tongue, no matter what the situation. But this time, she had been dealing with matters of the heart; unfamiliar territory, to say the least. Unsure as to how to proceed, she'd decided to exercise patience and restraint with the understanding that things would eventually work out to their mutual benefits in the long run. It had been a terrible miscalculation on her part and now the opportunity to tell John that she'd loved him was gone forever.

Devon let out a shuddering breath as she opened her hand to expose the precious object that Danziger had left for her, careful to safeguard it from the ever-increasing downpour. Needing to see his face and hear his voice more than ever, it became imperative that she find a private place to view the vid-chip as soon as possible. Fleeing camp was out of the question because it was essential that she stay close by in case True needed her. Devon considered several options before deciding upon a location in which it was all but an absolute certainty that she would remain undisturbed.

She made her way back toward the center of camp, purposely circumventing the evening fire and its inhabitants before halting at the tent just shy of her own. She briefly closed her eyes, permitting a few tears to accompany the raindrops cascading down her cheeks before unsealing the tarp and entering the now-vacant Danziger tent.

Devon didn't consider trying to locate a lumalight, instead preferring to allow her eyes to gradually adjust to the encompassing darkness. As John and True's belongings came into view, her feet moved of their own volition and carried her to the elder Danziger's cot. She spotted John's tool-belt carefully stretched across the mattress, as if awaiting his return in order to attend to any number of projects that required his immediate attention. She delicately relinquished the vid-chip to his pillow before taking the belt into her hands, gently running her fingers over the worn leather, before kneeling and placing the equipment under the bed.

Through Devon's haze of welled tears, she spotted the duffel bag which contained John's personal possessions haphazardly leaned against one of the metal bunk-posts. A sliver of patterned fabric peeking out of the top caught her eye and she easily recognized it as one of his shirts. In one fluid motion, she slowly tugged on the material until it was removed from the baggage as she rose to her feet, only to sink into the very spot on Danziger's cot where his tool-belt had been only moments before. The entire time, her eyes were solely focused on the nearly threadbare article of clothing. After a few moments of contemplation, she brought the shirt to her nose and drank in John's lingering scent before gingerly draping the fabric across her knees, its oversized proportion serving as a lightweight blanket as it covered most of the lower half of her body.

She removed the gearset from the pocket of her jacket and positioned it the best that she could in between her soaked auburn strands. Her hands trembled a bit as she retrieved the nearby vid-chip and swung the eyepiece around. Now all she had to do was start the program and she would see John again. A part of her yearned desperately for his presence, even if it was only nothing more than a VR image. But another part was terrified at seeing him and of the feelings that it would evoke; particularly the enormous grief that she was just barely keeping at bay.

She paused for several seconds, listening to the torrent of rain above her. The din echoed loudly in her ears, momentarily resembling an artillery strike more than harmless drops of water pelting the canvas. Shaking herself out of her daze and back to cognitive thought, she let out a slow breath and tapped at the keypad just above her ear to begin the video recording.

"Hey there, Adair."

Overwhelmed, Devon was forced to break the transmission and stopped just short of tearing the gearset from her head. Indeed, it was a lot to take in. Her breath was now caught in her throat, she was having trouble exhaling and her heart had intensified its beat to the point that she worried that it might explode. She was beginning to perspire, despite the chill and dabbed at her moist cheek with John's tattered shirt.

As she worked to regain control of her bearings, she tried to absorb the various details of the two seconds that she'd seen, in order to prepare herself for what more there was to come. To her surprise, instead of being transported into a full, interactive VR program, John had chosen to record a message in gear-log form, complete with the standard close-up view of his head and upper torso. Even his name and worker ID were in the lower right-hand side of the screen.

Danziger was dressed in the very shirt which currently resided in her lap along with his blue Ops jacket. As usual, he looked a bit on the disheveled side and his clothing and skin were caked with dirt. There was also a fresh grease stain on his collar, a telltale sign that he'd recently been working on one of the vehicles. Devon also noted that, underneath two days worth of beard-growth, Danziger's complexion seemed much paler and his hair was a darker shade than it was the last time that she'd seen him. She ascertained that the VR program had been recorded several months ago, perhaps in late Winter or early Spring, before the sun had altered his overall appearance.

After steadying herself as much as possible under the circumstances, she took a deep breath and reentered the program. The darkness of her current surroundings was replaced by the bright daylight of the afternoon sun, though it was mostly obscured by John's image. Devon stifled a sob as she watched.

"We, uh, well, we pulled you out of cold sleep just over two days ago. I got to see you briefly, but Julia's got you under lock and key right now. She says that I have a habit of raisin' your blood pressure so apparently I've been banned from seein' you again until you're stabilized. But I'm sure that you'll be well enough for visitors pretty soon. In fact, I'm bettin' that you're gonna be back to your old self in no time flat."

She mentally confirmed that she'd been correct about the timeline for the video. This was recorded well before they'd admitted and acted upon their feelings for one another.

Danziger proceeded, "Anyway, this whole thing of comin' so close to losing you got me to thinking. I really need to consider some hard truths here. I'm not too far off from the average life expectancy for a Drone. I figure that my luck's gotta run out sooner or later. So when that time comes, I figured that it might be good to have a vid-will. And despite the fact that I'm pretty damn pissed off at you right now for hiding how sick you were, I've still decided to choose you as the executor of the Danziger estate... such as it is."

There was no mistaking the smirk on his face as he rolled his eyes and this elicited a small smile from Devon. She remained captivated as the vid continued.

"I know that you and I haven't always gotten along all that well. Let's be honest: you can be a colossal pain in the balls. You might also be a bit nuts. Hell, you'd have to be to leave your cushiony preordained life of fortune and fame and drag us all here to colonize a planet on the opposite end of the solar system.

And in the interest of fairness, I guess that maybe I sometimes come across as a bit... difficult. But even though we drive each other crazy, I also think that we're friends. And there's no doubt that you're a wonderful mother to Uly."

An expression of pride and perhaps sadness took over his face.

"That's a great kid, you got there. I tried to fill in for you these past few days, but I know that it wasn't the same. And it never could be. Or should be, for that matter."

John shrugged and shook his head.

"I was sort of surprised when you asked me to take over raisin' him if you couldn't. I guess I kinda figured that you would've asked Yale since you know him better. Christ, he's been with Uly his whole life. But it meant a lot to me that you trusted me with your son, not to mention trustin' me with the group and takin' over the mission to New Pacifica.

Even though I think that you're the only one who can really pull all of this off, I'm flattered that you thought that I could do it, too. I woulda tried not to let you down. I'm just glad as hell that Julia figured out how to bring you back. It was way too quiet around here without you always squawkin' orders at me."

Despite her sorrow, Devon couldn't help but match John's sly grin as she continued to watch.

"Anyway, who knows what'll happen? I mean, you could get this vid in two days or in two years. Hell, for all I know, I could outlive every single shankin' one of ya'. But in case I don't, I just wanted something official that says what I want.

And what I want is for you to raise True. Bring her up just as pigheaded and confident and ridiculously optimistic as you are. And she's not gonna make it easy on you, either. After all, she's got Danziger blood flowin' through her veins.

But I feel pretty good knowin' that, if and when I'm no longer around, True'll finally get to have a mother for the first time in her life. And I know that you'll do right by her. And, hey, she'll get herself a kid brother, too, so that's not so bad."

Devon was forced to pause the transmission again, this time to wipe at the tears welling in her eyes. After regathering her wits, she started again, noticing the thoughtful, open expression in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Lately, I've been thinkin' a lot about New Pacifica. I gotta admit that I'm not really all that used to mullin' over what's ahead of us, besides what I want for True, that is. But I think that maybe New Pacifica is sounding better and better. As dangerous as this ball of dirt is, it might be a nice place to settle down. It's got fresh air and plenty of room for True to stretch her legs. She could have a real future here. Better than I'd ever hoped. Hell, maybe I can, too."

John paused to rake his hand through his tangled curls.

"I don't know where you and I will be at the time you get this. But I want you to know that I consider you to be a friend. An irritating, demanding, overly idealistic friend with a God-complex, but a friend nonetheless. Thank you for that and I'm glad that we got to know one another."

Devon let out a chortle. Only in John Danziger's slightly off-kilter world could those words be considered terms of endearment. And she accepted all of his descriptions of her as high compliments.

Danziger shrugged his shoulders, again, suddenly looking a bit uncomfortable, as if he didn't know how to end. Or perhaps he was contemplating whether or not to add anything else to his message.

"Well, I s'pose I said what I needed to. Whatever happens to me, take care of True. And please care of yourself, too."

He reached up to his unseen gear.

"Okay, then. Thanks. And good-bye."

And with a confident nod, he ended the transmission and, abruptly, Devon's world went dark again. As she slowly swung the eyepiece away from her face, she was racked with a series of shudders, looking every bit as shell-shocked as she felt. Every bone and muscle in her body ached for John and the sense of loss threatened to swallow her whole.

At the moment, she fully realized that there were other matters requiring her attention, including calling on Magus to discuss her last conversation with Danziger which had taken place only minutes before his untimely death. However, that visit would have to wait for now, as would everything else.

Devon gave in to her sobs and she collapsed sideways onto Danziger's cot. As her head landed squarely on his pillow, she pulled her knees against her chest and clutched his shirt tightly against her.

"Damn you, John," she whispered through her tears as she rotated the gearset's eyepiece back and restarted the program.

___________________________________________


For the first time in many days, the crew of Eden Advance did not wake up to rain. However, not a single one of them paid any attention to the improvement of their surroundings.

Indeed, the following day was a blur to most of the members of Eden Advance. Without Devon's knowledge, the group had called an emergency meeting in the early morning hours and had made two important decisions. Firstly, they'd agreed to collectively take charge temporarily, so Devon could concentrate her efforts on taking care of herself and True. And secondly, with a still weakened but headstrong Magus leading the charge, the crew had voted to override Julia's recommendation of resting twenty-four hours before their departure. Even a sullen Alonzo had spoken up in an effort to sway Julia's mindset and, eventually, the doctor had capitulated. It was abundantly clear that the group wished to vacate the area as quickly as possible. The valley simply held too many sad memories.

The crew had risen early, though none had enjoyed more than an hour or two of sleep. As such, by the time Devon had quietly slipped out of her tent, leaving True fast asleep in her cot, she was shocked to find that much of the campsite had already been dismantled. Alonzo and Baines had done their best to map out a course for the day and had then joined Denner, Yale, Uly and Zero in disassembling and loading the tents and equipment. Bess and Morgan had taken great care in packing up the Danziger quarters and had stored John's belongings in one of the Transrover's compartments. Mazatl had assigned himself the job of readying the vehicles for another rough ride while Cameron cooked and served breakfast to the continuously moving crew. Julia, with Walman's constant assistance, tended to Magus, and her stretcher would eventually be strapped to the side of the 'Rover when their tasks were complete.

Devon caught sight of Magus, who'd apparently insisted on being hoisted out on her stretcher to the morning campfire so she could be closer to her friends. This also allowed the crew-woman a few much appreciated moments without Julia and Walman doting over her to the point of annoyance. However, the two remained close by and were sure to check in with her every few minutes while they tore down and packed up the med-tent.

After spending several hours alone in Danziger's quarters the previous night, Devon had stopped by to visit Magus, but by that late hour, she was already firmly in the grips of a sedaderm-induced sleep and was unable to relay the details of her final discussion with John. To be truthful, a part of Devon had been grateful for the short reprieve. At that moment, True had needed to be her first priority and Devon had been anxious to return to her side as quickly as possible. The leader also recognized that hearing Magus' account at that moment might have pushed her over the edge into complete emotional exhaustion.

However, the new day brought a more lucid, though still medicated, Magus. As soon as she noticed Devon seemingly frozen in place just outside of her tent, she waved and motioned for the leader to join her. Devon nodded and traded somber 'hellos' and 'good mornings' with the crew as she made her way over to join Magus by the campfire. But midway through her journey, she was stopped by Uly calling out to her from the camp's edge. He ran to her at full speed and threw his arms around her waist, the impact of his body nearly knocking her over in the process.

"I'm sorry that Mr. Danziger died, Mom," he comforted, trying to sound as supportive as possible through his slightly choked up voice. "I'm gonna miss him a lot."

Devon returned her son's tight embrace. "So will I, Sweetheart," she whispered, leaning over to kiss the top of his head.

Although Uly's words were slightly muffled because he'd buried his head into his mother's jacket, there was no mistaking the concern in his voice. "What's gonna happen to True?"

Devon let out a slow breath as she broke contact and lowered to one knee in order to speak with Uly directly. "We're going to take care of her," she proclaimed, her features now transformed from deep sorrow to maternal resolve. "From now on, True will be a part of our family."

"Okay," he nodded, glad that his Mom has already made the decision about True moving in with them, especially because he'd been prepared to lobby for the very same thing. Though Uly didn't always get along with her, there was no doubt that True was his best friend. Plus, when his Mom had been sick all those months ago, True had been more than willing to share Mr. Danziger with him. So it was only fair that, now that Mr. Danziger was gone, he should share his Mom with True.

Uly felt so sad for True's loss, as well as for his own. Mr. Danziger had also been his friend and he'd really liked him. And though he'd never really given it all that much thought before, Uly realized that Mr. Danziger was probably the closest thing to a father that he'd ever had. And now that he was dead, Uly's life felt emptier now. And he could only imagine what True was going through.

Before Uly knew it, his eyes were starting to well up with tears. He didn't wish to increase his Mother's unhappiness, so he tried to make a hasty exit before she could pick up on the fact that he was beginning to cry.

"Can I go help Denner pack up the fruit cart?"

It took a moment for Devon to respond and she involuntarily pulled back slightly, a bit surprised at how quickly and easily Uly had accepted their current circumstances, as well as the monumental changes in their lives. He'd seemed to be taking the news of Danziger's demise extremely well; so much so that she couldn't help but question if Uly's overall views about death might have been profoundly affected by the years he'd spent making friends in the Syndrome Ward on the Stations, only to watch every one of them fade away before their ninth birthday. It seemed that he wasn't as innocent as she'd expected, at least when it came to the subject of mortality.

"Sure," she finally said, faltering slightly. "I need to talk to Magus for a few minutes. But I promise that we'll catch up to each other before we leave, okay?"

Uly nodded. "Maybe we can ride in the Transrover together for the first leg," he suggested, before feeling the need to add a clarification, "you know-- you, me and True."

"That's a great idea," Devon replied, noting with pride that he was already putting the idea of True becoming a family member into practice.

As her son bounded off in Denner's direction, Devon reinitiated her short trek to join Magus next to the campfire. She tried her best to smile as she pulled up a crate alongside the crew-woman, whose stretcher hovered about two feet off the ground, carefully balanced between two small but sturdy storage containers of equal height.

"You're looking much better," Devon relayed, purposely averting her eyes from the deep bruising and contusions which covered a good portion of Magus' face.

Magus' words were significantly slurred from the swelling of her jaw and most of the right side of her mouth. "Yeah, today's a better day."

The woman pulled her jacket closed and Devon was unsure if she'd done this because she'd felt a chill or if it was to conceal the deep black and blue marks which stretched across her upper chest in the shape of Edmund Griggs' legs when he'd attempted to suffocate her.

She began to fidget with her heavily bandaged leg. "I- I, uh, I just wanted you to know that Danziger and I talked a little bit yesterday, before..." She paused and took a full breath, realizing that some sentences were better left incomplete.

The hesitation was evident in her voice as she tried to choose the right words. "There's not all that much to tell you really, but John sorta admitted to me that you two... cared about each other. He also said that you were gonna wait until New Pacifica before starting anything."

As Devon's eyes widened, Magus continued, "He was very sweet about it in his own stubborn, surly way... and sort of embarrassed. You know how private he is about stuff like that. Getting anything out of him is worse than pullin' teeth."

The crew-woman shifted her body weight uncomfortably. "Anyway, it was clear to me that Danziger was starting to think about his future with you and about what life might be like after the colony ship gets here."

Magus paused to regroup her thoughts. It was imperative that she spin her final conversation with John in a completely positive light. She fully understood that no good could ever come out of divulging Danziger's worries that the vast differences in Devon and his backgrounds, especially his Drone birthright, might doom their future relationship.

"John and I have been friends for a good while now, and I must've heard about his plans for True's future at least a thousand times. But in all of the years I've known him, I can honestly say that I've never once heard him talk about what he wants for himself."

She did her best to smile, though her swollen mouth refused to cooperate. "You made him see the world differently, Devon. I'm really glad about that."

Magus furthered, "I don't know all that much about Danziger's life before True, but there's no doubt he's had a lot of tough breaks; probably more than most. I also know that he's sacrificed a helluva lot to keep a roof over his kid's head and put food in her mouth. It's never been easy for him."

She halted and her stomach clenched into a knot as she realized that she was speaking about Danziger in the present tense. She swallowed hard before beginning again, certain to correct her innocent, yet somber mistake.

"But despite all of the crap in his life, John was always a great friend and a fair boss to all the crews that worked under him. He was a good man and I'm really glad that he'd finally found someone who'd made him happy, again. Meeting you was probably one of the best things that'd ever happened to him."

Devon averted her eyes and the volume of her voice was barely above a whisper. Even though Magus could barely hear her, there was no missing the sorrow and guilt which permeated every syllable.

"Except that meeting me ended up getting him killed."

"Nah, that's just not so," Magus insisted, leaning forward as much as she could without causing extreme discomfort. "And I'm sure if Danziger were here, he'd tell you the same. In fact, he'd probably say somethin' like--" Despite her continued slur and swollen mouth, she lowered her tone an octave and made her best effort to impersonate the mechanic, "'When your number's up, it's up and that's all there is to it. So stop your bitchin' and take it like an adult.'"

Devon's ever-so-brief smirk at the impression quickly disintegrated and returned to her former downcast expression.

Magus reverted her voice to its normal inflection. "This isn't your fault, Devon. Griggs and those penal colonists were the ones who took Danziger's life, not you," she expressed with equal parts fortitude and sympathy. "And I know that this doesn't need sayin', but I'm gonna say it anyway: If there's anything that any of us can do for you and True to help make this... transition easier, just say the word and it'll be done. You guys are family and we're all gonna be there for you every step of the way."

Devon was appreciative, but a little surprised by the amount of strength in Magus' words and overall demeanor. Over the past months, Magus certainly hadn't exhibited much of a take-charge attitude and had seemed content to remain in the background. In fact, Devon had always considered Magus to be a tad on the emotional side. Perhaps it had been John's death or even her own near-death experience which had changed the Ops crew-woman and had given her a more proactive mindset. Or maybe it had more to do with the amount of pain medication that was currently coursing through Magus' veins.

Then again, although Devon considered Magus to be a friend, she couldn't remember a recent time that she had casually sat down with the woman just to talk and to get to know one another better. Maybe she'd always been this way and Devon simply hadn't noticed it before. She couldn't help but wonder if perhaps most of Eden Advance also possessed these leadership qualities, but had voluntarily chosen to defer to both Danziger and to her own authority to lead them all to New Pacifica and beyond. Judging by the almost completely dismantled camp and the seamless way that the group had jointly taken charge, Devon surmised that this most certainly looked to be the case.

Devon climbed to her feet, first thanking Magus and then greeting and thanking a returning Julia and Walman, who were determined to check on their obstinate patient at least once every five minutes. However, this time Julia was armed with her med-bag in order to apply more salve to some of Magus' deeper contusions, as well as to perform a final scan of her vital signs before securing her stretcher to the side of the Rover. Julia's last act was to administer an additional pain block to shield the woman as much as possible from the physical distress of traveling over the bumpy terrain.

Devon excused herself and began the journey back to her tent which, at this point, was the only structure which remained in what was once a flourishing campsite. She briefly stopped to accept two offered plates of food from Cameron, understanding that she and True would have to eat as she helped True dress and ready herself for their departure. Devon wasn't sure what sight would greet her when she entered the dwelling, nor did she have a clue as to how well True was dealing with her father's death. However, there would be plenty of time to address that and other related issues as they rode together in the Transrover.

Just before she arrived at the threshold of her quarters, she turned and scanned the surrounding landscape, letting out a slow exhalation and mentally steeling herself for what lay ahead of them. She was keenly aware that, no matter how bleak the perspective might currently appear to her and to the rest of Eden Advance, it was absolutely imperative that each and every one of them kept moving forward. John would have wanted it that way.

In fact, he would have demanded it.

____________________________________________________________

Over the next days, it appeared that the rain clouds had dissipated for good; and with it, the mud which had coated the vehicles and had accessorized the Edenites' boots and trouser legs. Unfortunately, the overall morale of the group was also gone, with no sign of returning anytime soon. Not since they'd buried Eben while dealing with their own impending deaths due to the bio-chip malfunction had spirits been this dismal.

Eden Advance's daily twenty click quota was achieved and usually exceeded, though it was accomplished in near silence. Whether they were commandeering the vehicles or journeying on foot, conversations were rare as most kept to themselves while remaining lost in their thoughts. Discussions which took place during their nightly meals and even as they huddled around the campfire for warmth were now carried on in hushed, stoic tones. Laughter was nonexistent and it was as though every single member of the group had lost the ability to smile.

The shores of New Pacifica were within their reach-- less than fifteen days travel time. Yet no one in Eden Advance seemed to care beyond what new responsibilities and possible hardships it would mean for them as they readied themselves for the arrival of the colony ship. Even to Devon, the once lofty and, at times, seemingly impossible goal of reaching New Pacifica which had occupied the majority of her thoughts, had been relegated to a mere footnote in her mind, now eclipsed by more pressing matters.

Devon had retaken her place as leader just two days after John's death, but her first concern by far was for the welfare of the children. As such, she was more than willing to continue to delegate some of her responsibilities to other crew members in order to spend as much time with them as possible. Uly tried to put on a good front and support his Mom and True, but it was obvious to everyone that he missed Danziger terribly. True spent her days riding in the vehicles and her nights ensconced in the Adair tent. Coaxing her to eat was almost as difficult a task as getting her to speak in words consisting of more than one syllable. Instead, her expression conveyed her emotions loud and clear and she usually appeared as though she was only seconds away from becoming sick to her stomach, disintegrating into tearful cries and exploding into a fit of unbridled rage, all at the same time.

Despite her sorrow and the fact that John's loss permeated her nearly every waking and sleeping thought, Devon knew that the others looked to her for guidance, so she did her best to keep her emotions in check. Only once-- when she was searching her belongings and had stumbled across the underwear that she'd playfully stolen from John months before and had carefully hidden in a small compartment sewn into her knapsack-- was she so overcome with anguish that she was forced to secretly leave camp.

That night, she'd slipped by Mazatl's watchful eye, too emotional to allow the sentry to see her. Occasional streaks of moonlight cast from the two moons hovering above had lit her way as she'd stumbled through the forest. She'd been certain to stay far away from the river; not just due to the danger of the rapids, but because it was yet another crushing reminder of Danziger's death. Once Devon was safely away from the eyes and ears of the group, she'd collapsed in a heap on the ground, rocking back and forth as she whispered John's name in between racked sobs.

Over an hour later and once she had run out of tears, Devon remained huddled in the shadows, her thoughts now drifting to a conversation that she'd had with Danziger many months before in which she'd speculated that Eden Advance might be cursed. At the time, Danziger's alternate point of view that bad things happened for a reason had reinstilled in Devon the much needed optimism that, no matter what obstacles they were encountering, indeed things would get better. However, now she wasn't so sure. After all, what could the reasoning possibly be for John's senseless murder? What good could ever come out of ripping a father away from his daughter; not to mention taking away a man who was irreplaceable in the hearts and minds of all those who knew him? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. The only truth that Devon was sure of was included in a confession which she'd inadvertently blurted out to Alonzo while in the East coast spider caves: It just wouldn't be New Pacifica without John.

Danziger had been gone for six days now and Devon wondered if there would ever come a time in her lifetime when she would not feel the pain of his absence. She sincerely doubted it. And there was another issue, something of a rather sensitive nature, that was weighing heavily upon her psyche. As much as the leader tried to put it out of her mind, in her heart she knew that the matter needed to be addressed and dealt with. And luckily, there was someone in Eden Advance who could help her accomplish the extremely delicate task.

That evening, Devon made arrangements to put the children to bed a bit early and then returned to the dwindling campfire just as Alonzo and Julia were retiring to their quarters for the night.

Devon caught up to the couple just as they were about to enter the med-tent.

"Could I come in and speak with you for a few minutes?" the leader beckoned, stepping out of the darkness.

"Of course, Devon," Julia replied, more than a little surprised to see her. Though she'd occasionally checked up on a still recovering Magus, Devon had mostly retreated from the other crew members; instead choosing to spend almost all of her time with the children. It was good to finally witness her seek out the company of others.

Alonzo lifted the canvas tarp to allow the two women first entry and then followed behind. As the flap fell to a close, Julia turned up the nearest lumalantern to brighten the room, as well as to more easily permit her to perform a cursory check of the leader's features to see if anything was medically amiss. Devon seemed physically fine, though her mannerisms made her appear nervous and more than a bit troubled.

"Would you like to sit down?" Alonzo asked, motioning to a nearby overturned crate.

"No thank you. This won't take long," Devon relayed uncomfortably, her hands clasped tightly together in front of her as she tried not to fidget. "I need to ask you for a favor; a very important one. And I also need this to stay between us, at least for the time being."

Devon barely gave them time to nod their agreement as her eyes centered on Alonzo, stating, "I'd like for you to contact the Terrians to see if there is any way that they can provide us with the location of John's body." She paused to swallow hard. "And if and when they do, we're going to set a new course to retrieve him."

The pair's eyebrows shot toward their hairlines as Devon furthered, "Once John is back with his friends and family, we can have a proper burial. He deserves that dignity. He deserves to be at peace."

Alonzo and Julia exchanged an indescribable look, completely dumbfounded by the announcement. It was necessary for Julia to clear her throat in order to find her voice.

"Devon, I understand why you're asking this," Julia replied in a sympathetic tone. "But don't you think that it would be better if we waited to recover John's body until after we reach New Pacifica?"

"New Pacifica can wait a few extra days," Devon expressed with a hint of bitterness.

Alonzo's voice was infused with kindness, despite the uncomfortable subject. "Sure it can," he interjected. "It's just that... wouldn't you rather Danziger's final resting place be somewhere close to where we'll be living? That way, everyone can visit him as often as they'd like to."

Devon started shaking her head emphatically before he'd finished speaking. "No, this can't wait. It needs to be handled now," she exclaimed, becoming slightly choked up, but successfully holding her emotions at bay. "Every single moment that we sit here, John is out there somewhere... alone... exposed to the elements."

She let out a shuddering breath. "Th- There could be animals..."

The sentence wasn't completed, but the inference was clear. Devon clamped her eyes shut and, as such, missed the horrified expressions now displayed on Julia and Alonzo's faces.

Devon remained as composed as possible, though her words steadily increased in speed. "Once John is back with us, we'll have a funeral and bury him. And after we've established New Pacifica, we'll go back and move him closer to us."

The leader finally reopened her eyes and let out a deep exhalation. "I realize that I'm asking a lot of you. This is not going to be easy. I also know that the Terrians may not want to help us. Please just do your best to make them understand how important this is to us," she relayed. "And if they ask for a favor or another promise in return, just let me know what it is and I'll do it."

Alonzo's features had returned to their prior sympathetic state. "I'll contact them tonight," he assured in a tone filled with compassion. "And I promise to let you know as soon as I hear anything."

Devon was the very picture of professionalism, though her eyes were heartbreakingly sad. "Thank you," she nodded as she headed for the tent's exit. She pivoted back toward the couple, adding, "This means more to me than you can imagine."

Devon retreated into the darkness, leaving Alonzo to stare at the now empty threshold while he absorbed the daunting task in front of him. Moreover, he was desperately trying to rid himself of the newly implanted images of Danziger's days-old corpse and of the possible condition that it was currently in. Between the two subjects, the pilot was feeling more than a little overwhelmed. He was also absolutely certain that the R.E.M. sleep that was necessary for him to achieve in order to communicate with the Terrians could not be accomplished that evening without the help of a sleep aid.

Alonzo instinctively extended his arm in order to take Julia's hand and was surprised that she was no longer within his reach. He twisted his body around to see that she had silently made her way across the room to her main work station and was already loading the hypo-gun with a sedaderm caplet. Despite the circumstances, a small smile couldn't help but escape from Alonzo's lips at how well Julia was able to read him and accurately size up exactly what was needed of her.

Not wanting to waste any time, he immediately moved toward the double cot, roughly fluffing the pillow before flopping onto the mattress. Once Julia ascertained that her lover was comfortable, she lowered to one knee directly next to their shared bed and delicately placed the hypo-gun just below his ear.

"You ready?" she asked.

Alonzo let out a slow, calming breath to clear his mind as much as possible.

"Let's do this," he said with a resolute nod of his head and Julia wasted no time pulling the apparatus' trigger to administer the sleep aid.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

So close, yet so far.

After over a year of time and practice on G889, navigating the Dreamplane was no longer much of a challenge for Alonzo; that is, it wasn't much of a challenge as long as he could get to sleep. The real difficulty now almost solely lay in communicating with the Terrians.

It wasn't as if he couldn't interpret their words, nor did the beings ever seem to experience any trouble when it came to deciphering the language of humans. But it was Eden Advance's actions-- accompanied with the motives and emotions behind it-- that sometimes seemed to become hopelessly lost in translation between the two species. The idea that humans acted as individuals with singular viewpoints and aspirations often appeared to confound, even exasperate, the creatures. Their collective world was seen in black and white, with no room for gray in between. There was little to no tolerance granted when mistakes were made and the beings certainly didn't believe in second chances. As such, talking with the Terrians was an easy task for Alonzo. However, getting them to understand and empathize with Eden Advance's choices often proved to be something altogether different.

Alonzo deftly moved through the Dreamscape's narrow tunnel that his mind had been projected to. He barely noticed the occasional jarring of the scene in front of him, nor was he adversely affected by the overlapping chorus of Terrian trills which endlessly reverberated off of the tunnel walls at every angle. The pilot rounded the corner and entered an open chamber illuminated by generous amounts of sunstones which adorned the cave from the floor to the ceiling. Although the glowing rocks provided more than enough light for Alonzo to see, he noted that he didn't feel any warmth emanating from them and he briefly wondered if this was due to the fact that he was in an alternate reality.

After he reached the center of the room, Alonzo remained nonplussed when three Terrians sprouted up from the stone floor directly in front of him. He searched their large frames to see if he could recognize any identifying characteristics such as accents of cloth or foliage. Although the creatures bore none of those things, what interested Alonzo was that none of them carried a staff. This was highly unusual. He wasn't sure if this was because the beings were from a local friendly tribe or if they simply didn't consider Alonzo to be a threat. Either way, he regarded it to be a good sign, indeed.

Alonzo knew that Terrians generally didn't like to waste time on pleasantries, so he got right down to business.

"I am here to ask for your help," he said plainly. "There was a man in our tribe. His name was John Danziger. Six days ago, he was attacked by another group of humans and his body was carried away by the river. We would like to bury him, but we don't know where he is. Do you have any idea where we can find him?"

The middle Terrian appeared to be the spokesman for the group. "Yes, we are aware of the location of your human, John Danziger."

A small sense of relief washed over the sleep-jumper that, not only did the beings know where Danziger currently was, they divulged this knowledge without making him jump through hoops. So far. One hurdle down; only a couple of more to go.

"Could you tell me exactly where he is so that we can recover his body?" he queried.

Alonzo was suddenly struck by an idea that would save Eden Advance valuable time and stress, and he decided to run with it. After all, it couldn't hurt to ask. "Or better yet, is there any way that you could bring Danziger back to us?"

All three Terrians tilted their heads to the side, obviously confused. "We do not understand the nature of your request. Explain your reasoning."

The pilot chose his words very carefully and knew from past experience to keep his explanation as concise and free from emotion as possible. "John Danziger was an important member of our tribe and we would like to honor him by putting his body back into the earth."

He further clarified, "For humans, burial is a rite of passage very similar to your Moon Cross."

This seemed to make an impression on the creatures and they contemplated Alonzo's description for several seconds before finally responding.

"Do you wish us to bury your human for you?"

Alonzo blinked a few times in surprise. He hoped that the Terrian tribes who inhabited New Pacifica were going to be this accommodating. It would be wonderful to have a partnership where the two species were not only willing to work with each other, but would come to one another's aid in their time of need.

"No, thank you," the pilot replied, obviously touched by their offer. "Another part of the human custom is for our group to gather together and hold a ceremony-- a ritual of sorts-- as we place our friend into the ground. It provides us with a sense of closure, as well as a sense of peace."

Alonzo decided to attempt to further bridge the gap between them. "And when John Danziger's body has been reclaimed, you are more than welcome to attend our service, if you'd like," he offered. "In fact, your presence there would be an additional honor for our friend."

The Terrians showed no reaction beyond their silent gazes. As such, Alonzo had no idea if his invitation was being mulled over or if it had been discarded in its entirety. In fact, although the creatures appeared to be relatively hospitable, they had yet to agree to retrieve Danziger or to provide his location.

At last, the center Terrian broke the stillness. "There is a hill to your west, not far beyond the trees. At the base, you will find a small clearing outlined with stones. Your human will be returned to you there tomorrow at first light."

Alonzo nodded in appreciation. "Thank you," he said, adding, "And we consider this another token of the growing friendship between our two species. If we can ever return this favor and help you in any way, please come to us and ask."

The Terrians let out one last, unified trill before bowing their heads and descending into the earth.

Alonzo shut his eyes, greatly comforted that, after the despair that Eden Advance had experienced for nearly a week, something was finally going their way. Thanks to the Terrians, John Danziger was at last coming home where he belonged; to the people who loved him.

Maybe the pilot would be able to sleep soundly tonight after all.

_____________________________________________________________________

It was just minutes before daybreak when Alonzo and Julia reached the outskirts of the large cluster of trees to the west of Eden Advance's campsite. It had been necessary to hike to the location because the thick forest's twisted path posed too many difficulties when it came to navigating even the modest-sized ATV. Moreover, once Alonzo had filled Julia in regarding his dream, not only did she insist on accompanying him, it was jointly decided to continue to do everything possible to maintain the secrecy of their task until it had been completed. As such, borrowing a vehicle would likely have attracted unwanted attention. Only Baines, who was the scheduled early morning sentryman, had been alerted and provided a brief overview of the details of their planned excursion. Upon hearing their intentions, the crewman was more than happy to do whatever was necessary to help, including stalling or explaining away the pair's temporary absence should anyone inquire as to their whereabouts. Even Devon was left out of the loop until Alonzo and Julia had achieved their goal after surmising that no good could come from telling her beforehand.

As Alonzo had been foretold by the Terrians, the woods had indeed opened almost directly to the base of a large hill of which all but the very tip of its peak had been completely obscured by the copse of trees. And just before it was the promised rendezvous point; a small clearing which was completely void of vegetation and was tightly encircled by jagged, softball-sized rocks. Alonzo and Julia weren't sure what the purpose of the circle was or of its meaning to the Terrians, but neither felt comfortable treading beyond the outlining stones to venture into the center of it. Treating it as possible holy ground, the two remained in the area just outside of the circle's barriers to await the creatures' arrival.

"Shouldn't be too long now," the pilot whispered, angling his head upward to acknowledge the orange and lavender streaks that were beginning to stretch across the ever-lightening sky.

Both made good use of their time by gently dropping to their knees to organize the items that they'd brought with them. They'd fully understood that Devon, True and most of the others would likely insist on viewing John's body prior to his burial in order to say goodbye. As such, the two had jointly decided that once the mechanic's remains were in their possession, they would make him as presentable as possible under the circumstances before returning to camp.

Alonzo set aside the makeshift stretcher and opened his small knapsack to remove the fresh articles of clothing which he'd snuck out of the Transrover's compartment that housed John's few belongings. He then handed Julia two canteens filled to the brim with water along with cleaning solution and a few soft rags. Julia's med-bag was also in tow to enable her to seal any and all open wounds which couldn't be obscured by clothing. She also donned her Diaglove with the hope that she'd be able to use it to determine Danziger's exact cause of death, be it from drowning, from his initial fall from the cliff or from injuries inflicted by his captors or by the brutality of the rapids. The doctor realized that, after a week of being exposed to the elements and to who knows what other conditions, the mechanic's corpse might be too decomposed to reach a definitive conclusion. However, she felt as though she'd owed it to her friends, and especially to True, to try to provide them with as many answers as she could. Julia also felt that she owed it to John.

Reverberation beneath and around Alonzo and Julia's feet, which at first was barely noticeable but quickly increased to the level of a minor earthquake, alerted them that the moment had arrived. Both staggered back to the standing position and braced themselves physically and mentally for the Terrians' arrival. They watched intently and tried to maintain their balance as two creatures roughly shot upward from the ground hoisting John's battered body in between them.

As expected, Danziger's body was caked in dirt, though Julia hypothesized that some of the grime could have been a byproduct of its travel through the earth. At first glance, he seemed to be free of animal bites which Julia knew would be a great relief to Devon. John was shoeless and his shirt and pants had been ripped nearly to shreds and were spattered with smudges of what appeared to be dried blood. There was also a larger stain at Danziger's abdomen level which suggested that he had sustained a serious laceration to his stomach. However, as much as Julia and Alonzo had attempted to prepare themselves regarding the various possible states that Danziger's remains might be in, there was one extremely important consideration that they had never anticipated.

"Hey! What's the shankin' idea?!?" came an angry and supremely annoyed bellow from the center of the circle.

Julia and Alonzo were cemented in place, beyond shocked at the turn of events. Though it appeared as though John Danziger was suffering from a host of injuries including everything from deep cuts and bruises to malnourishment, he had not only managed to stay alive, he still possessed enough energy to raise holy hell at his two Terrian travel-mates.

The tattered and still disoriented mechanic had yet to notice Julia and Alonzo's presence as he shook himself from the creatures' grasp with as much indignation as he could muster.

"Jeez, if you're gonna abduct somebody and drag their ass on a dirt-trip to God-knows-where, at least wake 'em up and give 'em a chance to put on their boots first!" he yelled, his hands involuntarily pressed against the continuously ebbing injuries at his abdomen and left shoulder.

Suddenly, rational thought seemed to dawn upon Danziger and his focus drifted from the Terrians and he began to inspect the landscape around him. At first, he was forced to squint in order to pierce the near-dark conditions. However, his eyes went as wide as hubcaps when he was finally able to discern two familiar shadows which seemed to be frozen just a few feet away from him.

"Julia? Alonzo?" he exclaimed in a tone saturated with uncertainty, as if he didn't trust his eyes.

Julia was at last able to locate her ability to move, though it took another second or two to find her voice. She broke the circle's seal and lightly threw her arms around Danziger, careful not to cause any additional distress to his impaired frame.

"I don't believe it," she gasped.

Danziger returned her embrace to the best of his abilities. "You and me both," he muttered.

A small smirk extended across his bedraggled face. "Took you guys long enough," he half-joked as he staggered forward to shake Solace's extended hand.

"Well, you didn't exactly leave a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow," was Alonzo's equally sarcastic reply. At that moment, he didn't feel the need to explain that their purpose of retrieving Danziger had been a search and recovery mission, not a search and rescue. The pilot was also supremely thankful that he had declined the Terrian's generous offer to bury Danziger on their own.

Julia provided physical support for John as he took the few extremely shaky steps to where their supplies were gathered. As he plopped down to the ground with a pained grunt, Alonzo addressed the two stoic Terrians who had yet to make a noise or move since their arrival.

"We can't thank you enough for bringing back our friend," Solace expressed with gratitude, so thrilled at the outcome that he was forced to fight the urge to lunge forward and actually hug the beings.

Danziger cocked his head back toward the creatures and waggled his fingers halfheartedly. "Yeah, thanks for the ride," he relayed, still sounding mildly irritated as he shook more loose dirt from his hair and from his week-old beard.

With their usual lack of fanfare, both Terrians bowed and quickly vanished beneath the ground, leaving a small patch of displaced dirt in their wake. Meanwhile, Julia was a flutter of activity, first offering Danziger a canteen of water which he enthusiastically accepted and then initiating a preliminary examination with her Diaglove.

She'd barely begun the latter task when Danziger caught her arm and directed her gaze back to his now-grim expression.

"Magus," he expressed solemnly. "Where you able to find her?" He'd deliberately left out the words 'dead body,' figuring that his crewmates would use the same or a similar choice of words when elaborating on the woman's sad fate.

He couldn't have been more surprised when Julia relayed, "Yes we did and she's fine."

John's brows remained knitted, still unconvinced. "But there were two left."

"And she killed 'em both," Alonzo relayed as he joined them just outside of the circle.

John nodded in both approval and in admiration of Magus' survival skills. "Good for her," he praised, chiding himself for ever doubting her ability. In fact, during the past week, he'd worried a great deal about what had become of his friend; not to mention the terrible suffering that she might have endured at the hands of Edmund Griggs and Charlie Simms before they'd killed her. John had also been consumed with guilt for not doing more to protect her. He should have realized that Magus could handle herself.

Meanwhile, the mention of the ordeal that Danziger and Magus had survived reminded Alonzo of a lingering question that had been the cause of speculation among several in the crew since that terrible day.

"Magus said that there had been a total of five penal colonists," he relayed. "But we were only able to find four bodies."

Danziger mildly shrugged. "Well, I can personally vouch that Andrew Norris is dead 'cuz I used him to navigate the rapids," he informed them. "He wasn't much of a flotation device, but he sure came in handy. He made a great shield to absorb the brunt of the rocks that we smacked up against. By the time we hit shore, there wasn't much left of him to bury."

What Danziger had neglected to tell Julia and Alonzo was that Andrew Norris had also survived the freefall from the cliff and had still been alive at the time Danziger had grabbed onto him, and he'd remained so for the first minutes of their shared journey. Danziger had overpowered the convict's attempts at resistance and had ignored his subsequent pleas for help and mercy during their wild ride through the unforgiving waters. And with Danziger and the river's help, it wasn't too long before Norris' cries went silent and his body limp.

Danziger wasn't sorry for what he'd done because it had kept him alive. Plus, there was absolutely no doubt in John's mind that if both he and Norris had miraculously made it through the rapids intact, the man wouldn't have hesitated to kill Danziger the first chance that he'd gotten. Still, even with that understanding, John didn't feel like revisiting some of the grittier details of his harrowing experience.

Julia and Alonzo were relieved to hear that there was no danger of a sole surviving penal colonist one day showing up with revenge in his dark heart.

"When you say that you 'hit shore,' do you have any idea where you ended up?" Julia inquired, her eyes refixed on her Diaglove as she restarted her preliminary exam.

The corner of Danziger's mouth arched upward to form a small smile. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said before pausing to take another swig from the canteen.

He continued, "Believe it or not, the current dumped me out on the banks of New Pacifica. Or at least where New Pacifica will be after Devon builds it."

Alonzo's head shot back. "How do you know?"

"The Comm dish was less than a quarter of a click away from where I ended up," the mechanic revealed.

He let out as deep an exhalation as his impaired condition would allow. "When I first got there, I considered tryin' to track my way back to you all using the sun and the river's path as guides. I decided against it because I might've gotten lost or you might've had to change course for some reason and we woulda ended up missing each other. Plus, that trip through the rapids banged me up a bit, so I thought that I'd best stay put and try to heal up the best that I could. I knew that you guys would be comin' in a couple of weeks anyway. I figured that I'd be sort of a one-man welcoming committee when you finally showed up."

His attention turned toward Alonzo before furthering, "Of course, in the meantime, I hoped that you or Uly would find a way to contact me using the Terrians, so you could let True know that I was okay and that I'd see her soon."

Alonzo shrugged and smiled. "Well, now you can tell her in person."

"But first we need to address some medical issues," Julia was quick to interject. "You're obviously suffering from dehydration."

"Yeah. 'Water, water, everywhere...'" he agreed, absently scratching at his coarse beard. "Well, you know the rest."

Danziger took another large gulp from the canteen. "The Sea of Antius is packed with salt and I knew better than to drink it," he explained. "But I was lucky enough to find a small cactus patch and that provided enough moisture to last me a couple of days."

Julia looked at him quizzically and rechecked a few of her readings. It was abundantly clear to her that Danziger was still a bit out of sorts. After all, what on earth did a cactus patch have to do with water?

John continued, "The food situation wasn't much better. I mean, there were plenty of trees that obviously had fruit at one time, but everything was spoiled. And I was nervous about sampling too much of the local vegetation without knowin' if the stuff was toxic or not. The last thing I wanted to happen was to make it this far, only to drop dead from chewin' on the wrong leaf."

Upon hearing this, Alonzo wasted no time and tossed John a Spirolina bar that had been languishing in the front pocket of his jacket. Danziger thanked him before scarfing it down, relishing it as if it was the greatest meal of his life.

As they spoke, Julia continued to scrutinize John with the Diaglove. She gently touched several buttons on the small console in order to perform a general bone scan.

"I see that you've fractured two ribs," she alerted him, as if he was unaware of the injury.

"Yep, and I dislocated my shoulder, too. Had a helluva time knockin' it back into place," he declared, gesturing to the deep bruises which practically covered the upper left side of his body. "I could definitely use some bone healer vaccine."

The physician briefly veered her eyes, feeling the pangs of guilt. Most of her medical supplies had remained in the med-tent, including such basics as her hypo-gun, and it had never even occurred to her to bring any of them with her. After all, what practical applications could the equipment possibly have had on a corpse?

Meanwhile, the mechanic lifted his torn and stained shirt to reveal a crudely made bandage across his abdomen. "You're also gonna need to patch up my gut. One of those assholes slashed me just before we went over the side."

Julia delicately tugged on the upper corner of the bandage just enough to reveal a horizontal gash about six inches in length. Luckily for Danziger, it didn't appear that the knife had penetrated his skin deeply enough to nick any organs. It was also clear that, despite his crude circumstances, Danziger had been exceedingly diligent when it came to keeping the wound clean and protected. As such, there were no obvious signs of infection.

John's voice and mannerisms were becoming stronger and more pronounced as the food and water reinvigorated his body.

"But whatever you gotta do to me, can you do it fast? Or even better, can we hold off a little longer and maybe do this in the med-tent?" he asked, now sounding anxious. "I wanna get back as quick as we can. I gotta see True."

He quickly scanned the immediate area, searching for clues of a nearby campsite or for any hint that his daughter and friends were in close proximity to their location. When the mechanic located no signs whatsoever, he began to worry about the distance that they might have to travel in order to be reunited with the members of Eden Advance.

"How far away are we from the others?" he asked. "Should I go ahead and call her on gear now and let her know that I'm on my way?"

Alonzo and Julia paused and traded an awkward glance, unsure as to how to best explain their current circumstances. John immediately zeroed in on their apprehension.

"True knows that you came to get me, right? I mean, she's awake and waiting for me back at camp, isn't she?" he questioned, his mind suddenly flooded with terrible possibilities, including the idea that something horrible had happened to True in his absence.

"John," Julia began in a halting tone. "Only Baines knows that we're here because we needed his help to sneak out of camp undetected."

She let out a full breath before continuing. "But based on the information that we had at the time, we had no reason to believe that you were still alive."

A kaleidoscope of emotions flashed across Danziger's face as the reality of the situation hit him head-on. "True. Devon. All of 'em," he muttered, his voice barely audible. "They think that I'm dead."

"Yeah," Alonzo confirmed with a nod.

The mechanic took a few seconds to digest the somber news as well as to assess the likely after-effects that it had had on those he'd loved. It didn't take long for him to figure out that there was only one way to rectify the situation.

"Pack your shit up as fast as you can," he commanded as he struggled to his feet. "We're gettin' outta here right now."
___________________________________________________________

Devon was more than slightly perturbed. After all, it was horrible enough that Eden Advance had recently lost one of its most important crew members. And now their doctor and their Terrian go-between had also gone missing.

Most of the group members were still asleep in their nearby tents, so it was important that Devon did her best to maintain a calm demeanor in order for their slumber to remain undisturbed. She also wanted to put Baines at ease so that he might be more likely to divulge the information that she desperately needed.

"It's not a big deal, Devon," Baines fibbed, already looking nervous. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. "They just wanted to take a morning stroll before we broke camp. That's all."

Devon clearly wasn't buying what the crewman was selling. "I checked their tent, Baines. Though I'm not sure what's missing besides Julia's Diaglove, they've obviously taken supplies with them," she determined. "Now, they must've spoken to you before they left. Where did they say they were going? When did they leave and when did they say they'd be back?"

By this point, beads of sweat were forming on Baines' brow under the leader's intense gaze. "I- uh, they just," he staggered out, "I told you, they just wanted some private time, you know, as a couple. They said they'd be back real soon. They'll probably show up any minute now."

The interrogation continued without hesitation. "Which direction did they go? Have either of them been in gear contact? Did they even take their gear?" she posed, gradually losing her patience.

When Baines offered no response, Devon shook her head in disapproval. "I don't believe this," she spat. "Haven't we learned anything this past week? My God, how many people have to die before we start exercising some caution?"

The crewman figured that these were rhetorical questions and, therefore, didn't attempt to answer her. However, he did make a mental note that Devon was suspiciously starting to sound a lot more like Danziger.

In the meantime, Walman, who had also risen at the crack of dawn to ensure that all three vehicles would survive the day's travel schedule intact, had noticed Devon and Baines were locked in what seemed to be an embattled discussion across camp, so he made his way over to them. "Everything alright?"

"Yes." "No," came the simultaneous replies. Baines looked relieved to see Walman as he wiped the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve.

"Devon's, uh, a little upset because Julia and Alonzo went for a walk," he explained, hoping that Walman would be able to detect the 'please help me' look in his eyes.

Walman's head arched backward in surprise. "This early? In the dark?" he asked, matching Devon's tone.

Baines realized that he apparently wasn't going to get the support that he needed from his co-worker, so he shrugged his shoulders.

Walman turned his attention to Devon. "Do you want me to look for 'em? I can organize a search if you want," he offered.

Before she could answer, all three snapped to attention at the sound of distant movement in the forest.

"Looks like we won't need to," Baines said in a 'told you so' manner.

However, Baines' entire demeanor quickly changed when he remembered the purpose of Julia and Alonzo's excursion. He realized that Devon was about to be in for a serious shock at what the couple would likely be returning with. He scrambled for damage-control, trying to prepare the leader as much as he could for what she was about to see.

"Devon, uh, there's something that you sort of need to know," Baines expressed hurriedly as the noise increased in volume, alerting them that Julia and Alonzo's arrival was close at hand. "I mean, they were just tryin' to help. And they were supposed to be back before you guys woke up."

"What are you talking about, Baines?" Devon asked, only half-listening as her focus had turned elsewhere.

Though the dawn had broken, the sun had yet to make a full appearance and Devon was having difficulty discerning the approaching pair among the myriad of thick branches and overgrown vegetation. However, based on the racket they were making as they shuffled branches aside and crunched leaves and twigs under their feet, there was little doubt that the couple was making a beeline directly toward their location.

Devon took a deep breath and folded her arms, steeling herself for Julia and Alonzo's impending presence. She organized her thoughts, intending to remain the epitome of professionalism as she admonished them for engaging in such a highly reckless action.

At the same time, Baines was in panic-mode. How could he possibly explain to Devon that she was only seconds away from coming face-to-face with Danziger's corpse?

"Well, they went out to, uh," he stuttered, "to, um..."

The crewman never got the opportunity to complete the sentence because Julia emerged from the brush, several yards ahead of the larger approaching shadow which was still too far away to distinguish.

The doctor's smile was from ear to ear. "Good morning," she said brightly.

The tension was molasses thick as the trio returned her greeting. Julia handed her med-bag to Walman before placing her hands on Devon's upper arms.

"Devon, I have something to tell you," she beamed. "Something wonderful."

Baines found himself gawking in wide-eyed surprise at Julia, wondering how she could possibly be so pleasant about the presentation of Danziger's dead body. The world has gone crazy, he deduced.

Meanwhile, apprehension was the dominant emotion intoned in the leader's response. "Okay," she relayed, her arms still tightly folded. "I guess we could all use some good news for a change."

"I couldn't agree more," came a low, but resonant voice from just beyond the forest's threshold.

Devon drew in a sharp breath, unsure if her ears and her psyche were playing tricks on her. Julia momentarily strengthened her grip on the leader's shoulders, in case the woman's legs transformed to jelly. Devon looked beyond Julia to peer into the woods, blinking several times when she realized that the one larger shadow was actually two smaller ones. Alonzo was the first to come clearly into view and he arrived hoisting their supplies, including the stretcher that Danziger had vehemently refused to be carried back to camp on. Then with a smile and a twinkle in his eye, the pilot stepped aside to reveal a disheveled, but very much alive John Danziger.

There was an audible gasp from the small crowd as the mechanic stepped into the ever-brightening sunlight.

"Holy shit," Walman and Baines blurted out in nearly perfect unison. Devon was too dumbstruck to say anything.

"Hey there, Adair," John greeted with a slight nod of his head.

Devon wasted no time and she nearly trampled the physician as she propelled herself forward, her feet barely touching the ground as she rushed toward Danziger. However, she wasn't all that sure if her first act would be to embrace him in happiness or to slug him for the almost infuriatingly casual way that he let her know that he'd returned from the grave. Luckily for John's already impaired body, Devon chose the former option and she threw her arms around his neck, locking them securely.

"We thought you were dead," she whispered breathlessly against his neck.

He encircled her torso with his arms and lifted her entire body several inches into the air, mentally pushing aside his continuing weakness along with the physical discomfort that the act caused him.

"Yeah, I heard," he said with both tenderness and guilt. "Sorry about that."

He could feel her entire body trembling against his own as her mouth began a trail of kisses across his heavily bearded cheek, ending with the covering of his lips with her own. Danziger had been completely unprepared for such a blatantly open display of affection and, after a few moments of shared passion, he instinctively pulled his head back and broke their embrace.

His eyes briefly darted to the other smiling Edenites before reinitiating eye contact with Devon. "You know, not that I have a problem with this," he said with amused curiosity, "but aren't you and I breaking the number one Rule Of Engagement right now?"

Devon didn't miss a beat and she broke into a grin that was somehow coy yet confident at the same time. "While you were gone, I created a whole new set of Rules Of Engagement," she explained while she reclosed the distance between them.

"And rule number one is 'No More Rules,'" she said just before resuming their kiss.

This time, Danziger didn't pull back, though he couldn't resist letting out a husky chuckle.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna like the new rules," he mumbled against Devon's mouth. He then deepened the sentiment by pulling her even more firmly against him, her legs still dangling in mid-air.

As Devon relished his embrace, she briefly reflected on the parameters which, months before, she and John had mutually agreed upon regarding the suppression of their feelings for one another. It had seemed to be the natural and least complicated choice to put the needs of Eden Advance before their own and to wait until after they'd reached New Pacifica to pursue a relationship. They'd rationalized that a four month postponement would matter little in the grand scheme of their lives. How incredibly stupid they'd been.

Their passionate kiss eventually ended in order to allow both parties some much-needed time to replenish their breath. But as Devon buried her chin against Danziger's shoulder, she felt him involuntarily wince and let out a small gasp. She angled her head back and, for the first time, noticed that much of his body was deeply shaded by bruises as well as marred by dozens of week-old lacerations that had yet to fully heal. In fact, she'd been so overjoyed to see Danziger among the living that she hadn't even noticed the crude bandage underneath his torn shirt which covered a good portion of his stomach.

"You're hurt," she expressed with concern. "We need to get you to the med-tent."

John arched his body forward and loosened his grip, gently lowering Devon's feet back to the earth.

"Yeah, I will," he relayed, his eyes filled with emotion. "But there's somethin' that I gotta do first."

___________________________________________________


True Danziger loved to sleep because it was her only opportunity to escape a somber reality which no longer included her father. At night when she could shut out the world, she could dream about her Dad and remember his constant love, support and guidance that had shaped her young life. Sometimes her Dad would tell her how proud he was of her and of how much she'd meant to him. But by far her favorite recent recurring dream was the one where her father was standing on the sandy shores of an ocean. He always wore a smile as he relayed that he was just fine where he was and insisted on promising her over and over that everything was going to be okay. Of course, True knew this to be a lie, but her Dad seemed so genuinely sincere about it all that she didn't want to spoil the happy scene by telling him otherwise. It was just like her Dad to try to make her feel better and to give her hope regarding her uncertain future. It made her love and miss him all the more.

And now it was the dawn of yet another day without him. True had been awake for almost an hour, but had yet to open her eyes for more than a second or two, much less to make an attempt at getting out of bed to face the day. Earlier, the little girl had heard Devon rise from her cot and she'd pretended to be fast asleep when the leader had checked on both her and a still-slumbering Uly before exiting their quarters. Though her corner of the enclosure was still shrouded in darkness, True could sense that there was a gradual increase of light filtering in through the crease in the fabric. As such, she gracelessly flopped over to face the canvas wall and jerked the blanket over her head with the intention of staving off the morning for as long as she possibly could.

The younger Danziger clamped her eyes shut even harder when she detected a flurry of boisterous activity which appeared to have originated along the outskirts of camp, but was now in motion and slowly moving in the direction of her tent. She had no idea what was going on, and more importantly, she didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone.

The sound of voices continued to grow in volume and in enthusiasm as the tarp to True's quarters was yanked open, allowing the full strength of the rising sun, along with several Edenites, to spill into the room.

"True, we need you to wake up," Devon beckoned. "You have someone here who really wants to see you."

True wasn't in the mood for visitors. "I'll be out in a minute," she declared crankily in a tone reminiscent of her father's.

There was a long, awkward pause and it became abundantly clear that the child would not be making any effort to move or to engage them in conversation. Therefore, John had no choice but to break the silence.

"It's me, True-girl," he said quietly, speaking to her back. "I'm alive."

The very moment that Danziger's deep voice filled the air, True acted as though her body had been shocked with a large jolt of electricity. In one fluid motion, she twisted around to face him and scrambled to the sitting position in her cot. But surprisingly, instead of flying out of bed and into the mechanic's awaiting arms, True recoiled against the tent wall.

"What is this?" she exclaimed in disbelief, her large brown eyes already brimming with tears. "Am I in VR?"

John's heart broke as he witnessed how upset she obviously was. "No, Baby. It's really me," he assured in a gentle tone.

"Hi, Mr. Danziger!" Uly interjected excitedly from his bed on the other side of the enclosure.

"Hey there, Kiddo," Danziger greeted with a fatherly smile. He exchanged a glance with Devon as she seated herself next to her son and lovingly placed her arm around him.

Meanwhile, True was clearly confused. "Morgan said that he was making me a VR chip of you. That way, I could visit you whenever I wanted to and I wouldn't miss you so much," she timidly relayed in a child-like voice. "Is that what this is?"

John ran both of his hands through his overgrown mane of tangled curls while he turned his gaze downward to inspect his current, extremely tousled condition.

"Sweetie, take a good look at me. If this was VR, would I look and smell this bad?"

True thought about it for a moment. "Maybe," she haltingly replied. "Morgan never liked you very much."

This brought out a chuckle from the crowd gathered behind John. The kid had a point.

Danziger could no longer hold himself back and he dropped to his knees beside True's cot and pulled her into his arms. As soon as she confirmed that he was indeed real, True burst into tears and melted into her father's embrace.

"I missed you so much, Daddy," she sobbed. "I was really sad without you."

"Yeah, me too, Sport," he responded as tears formed in his own eyes, as well as in nearly everyone else's in the room.

True was so emotional that she could barely get her words out in between clipped breaths. "Please-" she sputtered. "Please don't go away again, okay?"

John arched his head back to meet her eyes. "I'm not goin' anywhere," he proclaimed earnestly, wiping the moisture from her cheeks with his fingertips. "Cuz you and me, we're a package deal."

She hooked her arms around him again and held on for dear life. "I love you," she cried as new streams of teardrops followed the identical path as those brushed away only seconds before.

Though Danziger should have been in a considerable amount of discomfort due to True's death grip around his neck, at that moment, he felt nothing but an all-encompassing devotion for his little girl, the center of his world and his greatest reason for living.

"I love you, too, Baby," he whispered tearfully as he delicately stroked her hair.
______________________________________________________________

So close, yet so far.

While waiting for breakfast to be prepared and once he was able to extract True from his neck, John permitted Julia to tend to his wounds more thoroughly in the Med-tent. He then took the much needed opportunity to engage in a quick bath, prune his week-old Mountain Man facial hair, and change into a fresh set of clothing.

However, when he later heard Devon's pronouncement that Eden Advance would delay their departure for at least twenty-four hours to give the mechanic some time to rest, he all but blew a gasket. As far as Danziger was concerned, there was no way that he was going to let them waste a perfectly good travel day just so his camp-mates could sit around twiddling their thumbs while they waited for him to heal. Hell, he'd been stuck sitting on the beaches of New Pacifica for the past week with nothing to do but heal, he'd griped. And although he'd grudgingly admitted that he was still a bit bumped and bruised, he insisted that he was as healthy as a horse and demanded that everyone stop making such a big fuss over him. He also informed them that he wanted to return to New Pacifica as soon as possible because he'd left a perfectly good jacket and a pair of boots there and he'd hoped to reclaim the items before they were pilfered by a Grendler.

Finally after much hemming and hawing, a compromise was reached between the two headstrong first and second in commands. Devon was able to get John to agree to an abbreviated day of travel of no less than ten clicks, but no more than twelve. Danziger, of course, considered himself the victor due to the fact that they were leaving at all. He also balked at Julia's orders to spend his day lounging in a stretcher strapped to the side of the Transrover and, instead, he opted to ride shotgun in the vehicle's protected cab. There was little doubt in everyone's mind that the mechanic was behaving like a stubborn, pain in the ass. In other words, life in Eden Advance already seemed to be returning to normal.

That evening, a healthier and slightly better groomed John Danziger-- whose feet were now squeezed into a pair of borrowed boots that were one size too small-- spent much of his dinner being grilled about New Pacifica regarding everything from its general topography to the varieties of plant life and insects that were indigenous to the area. The interrogation continued later at the campfire, where the children had situated themselves on a blanket at the base of John's legs while Devon had seated herself directly next to him. While their respective chairs were certainly within close proximity and they would exchange several lingering glances, only occasionally would the two touch by brushing their hand against one another or by briefly but deliberately grazing against the other's shoulders.

It was clear to nearly everyone observing the leaders that, even though the Rules Of Engagement had been thrown out the window, there was some residual awkwardness between the two. It was as if neither one was clear as to whether or not there were any remaining boundaries that shouldn't yet be crossed. A few of the Edenites inwardly hypothesized that their lack of physical contact might also have to do with True and Uly. It was likely that the parents would feel compelled to speak with both kids and officially bring them up to speed on the profound change in the pair's relationship before there could be any major change in how they displayed their affection for one another.

But in the meantime, now that there had been an open acknowledgment that Devon and John were indeed a couple, at Bess' urging, the rest of the group decided to come clean about their prior speculation on the subject. Neither leader knew what to make of the crew's revelations and both wore indescribable expressions as the group described-- in a manner that was safe for children's ears, of course-- their various enterprises to catch Devon and Danziger together during the past months, even after they'd unsuccessfully confronted them just over eight weeks before. Danziger was especially shocked to learn that his own daughter had been complicitous in the endeavor to spy on him. Luckily, the conversation was quickly changed to more mundane subjects in order to allow Devon and John's comfort levels to return to normal; or at least, to as normal as it had been before the delicate discussion had been broached.

After an hour or so by the firelight, Danziger let out an exaggerated yawn and proclaimed that he was turning in for the night. As he labored to his feet, he leaned over to kiss True on the top of her head and was sure to roughly tousle Uly's hair until it was a curly mess.

"Daddy, can I stay up a little longer?" True chimed in with expectant eyes as she scurried onto his newly vacated makeshift chair.

"Sure thing, True-girl," he replied without a second thought. "And don't forget that you're spendin' one more night in Devon's tent, so I can rest up, okay?"

"Mmm-kay," she agreed.

As Danziger exchanged various good-nights with the crew, a still-seated Devon relayed, "Don't worry, I'll make sure that True gets to bed on time."

"Thanks for offering, but I already got it covered," he said, ignoring the flash of confusion on Devon's face at hearing his response and, instead, exchanging a brief nod with Yale.

The circle around the campfire went oddly quiet as Devon furthered, "Do you need Julia to give you a pain-block so you can sleep?"

The mechanic swept the hair from his eyes as he turned to face her. "Nope, I'm fine."

Their gazes remained locked and Devon felt the need to say something, but had absolutely no idea as to what would be appropriate under the current circumstances.

"Just..." she finally stumbled, "Just get some rest, okay?"

Her words hung in the air a few moments before Danziger at last replied, "Yeah."

He eventually was forced to break eye contact as he passed by, but couldn't resist giving Devon's upper arm a gentle squeeze as he embarked on the short journey to the newly re-erected Danziger tent located at the edge of camp. As Danziger vanished into the darkness, the leader considered standing up and calling out to him, but decided that it would be best to hold her tongue for the moment. Instead, she ignored the looks and whispers exchanged between the various crew members and initiated a discussion about the following day's proposed route.

Another forty-five minutes went by and the campfire was quickly transforming from fiery embers into a pile of discarded ash before Devon decided to turn the topic back to the mechanic.

She pivoted to face the doctor seated to her right. "Julia, are you going to check on Danziger again tonight?" she queried. "I mean, don't you think that you should be monitoring his injuries a little more closely?"

Julia didn't hesitate in her reply. "I spent most of the day with him in the 'Rover," she informed her. "He's doing fine; much better than I would've ever expected considering the circumstances of the past week. He did an amazing job of popping his dislocated shoulder back into place. And the bone vaccine for his fractured ribs took effect just before you called for a stop this afternoon."

The last part of the physician's assessment inspired lots of nodding from the group as comprehension collectively dawned on all of them. "I guess that explains why we heard all of that profanity coming from the 'Rover," Baines pointed out.

"Yeah, most of us just figured that you were makin' up for lost time and got into another pissing match with him," Walman exclaimed to Devon before Magus tightened her grip on his hand in an effort to get him to be quiet.

"What?" he loudly whispered to his paramour, having no clue that he'd said anything that could be considered inappropriate. Magus responded by shaking her head in exasperation. Yep, things were certainly back to normal, all right.

Devon didn't appear to be listening to the Ops-crewman, nor did she seem to be completely swayed by Julia's words, so the doctor attempted to calm her concerns.

"Don't worry, Devon. Tomorrow morning, I'll probably give him another boost of nutritional supplements to counter any residual dehydration and malnutrition symptoms and I'll be sure to recheck the stitching on his stomach laceration. But he's healing very well and I don't anticipate any problems."

Despite the assurances, it was obvious that the leader remained conflicted, thus opening the door for Bess to chime in with her own two credits. "You know, Devon, it might not be such a bad idea if you were to look in on him anyway," she offered in a voice saturated with saccharin, wearing the barest hint of a smile. "Just in case he needs anything."

Alonzo and several others shook their heads in concurrence, prompting Devon to climb to her feet. There was no time like the present and Devon would never forgive herself if John was trapped in his tent, writhing in agony and unable to call for help, while the rest of the unsuspecting group sat only a few hundred yards away.

"Okay," she agreed before turning toward the children. She reached out in a failed attempt to smooth out the part in Uly's now-hopelessly tangled hair. "I'm going to visit Mr. Danziger, but I'll be back in a few minutes."

_____________________________________


This is insane, Devon inwardly mused as she navigated through the blackness of camp, using the well-placed but limited inventory of lumalanterns as beacons to ascertain her current location, as well as to just barely light her path. She slowed as she neared Danziger's darkened quarters, listening for his trademark one hundred decibel snore and, more importantly, for any noise that might be construed as a sign that he was currently in some sort of distress. However, to her surprise, she heard absolutely nothing at all.

Devon's brain began to work overtime as she wondered if the deafening silence might be an indication that Danziger was in even more trouble than she'd ever considered. What if he'd suffered a head injury that had been carelessly left untreated? Or what if a shard of bone from his rib fractures had made its way into his bloodstream? What if Julia had missed something regarding the gash in his stomach? Of course, knowing Danziger as she did, it was also all too conceivable that perhaps he had been injured much worse than he'd ever let on yet continued to say nothing because he was too damn pigheaded or because he didn't want anyone to dote over him. There were so many possibilities, all of which did nothing to decrease her worry.

The uneasiness continued to grow within her as she jerked the crease of the tent open and barged in, unsure as to what she would find inside.

"Well, it's about shankin' time," came a holler from the opposite side of the almost pitch black enclosure that was equal parts amusement and annoyance. "If you hadn't shown up in the next ten minutes, I was gonna go out there and personally drag your ass back here."

Devon was frozen in place, totally unprepared. God, how she sometimes hated John Danziger's ability to expertly and effortless twist her head around until she no longer knew which way was up.

"I, uh," she staggered out as she scrambled to regain her bearings. "Hold on. You've been waiting for me?"

"Damn right," he replied.

The unpleasant shrill of rusty, well-weathered springs retracting to their original shape alerted Devon that he had risen from his cot and was now crossing the room to meet her at the tent's threshold. Her eyes adjusted to the lack of light and she was at last able to make out the details of Danziger's silhouette as he arrived directly in front of her. She decided that it would most certainly be in her best interest to retake control of the situation as quickly as possible.

"You're not supposed to be on your feet," she said in a challenging tone, her eyes almost daring him to take issue with her words. Luckily for the both of them, John had no such intention.

"I don't plan on standing for very long," he revealed with a sideways smile, just before arching forward to place a soft, but confident kiss on Devon's lips.

After parting, his mouth remained mere inches from hers and he waited for her response to the gesture. Devon's initial shock almost immediately transformed to desire and she permitted her instincts to take over. She reclosed the distance between them, burying her hands in his hair while he snaked his arms around her waist to pull her hard against him.

It briefly flashed in her mind that at this time yesterday, she was laying alone in her bed, consumed with sadness and regret over Danziger's loss and of how much he'd meant to her. There was so much that she had wanted to tell him; so much that she'd wanted to hear. Never in a million years would she ever have imagined that she'd be in his arms right now. It was like she'd somehow been granted a second chance and it truly made her feel like the luckiest person in the world.

Yet despite her current good fortune, Devon still couldn't resist issuing orders. "You really should be in bed right now," she insisted in between ever-deepening kisses.

"Goin' back there right now," he muttered against her mouth as he began to drift backward, gently tugging at her to match his movements.

At first, Devon didn't offer any resistance to his efforts as they ambled back across the room. But when she heard the sound of Danziger's legs coming into contact with his bed-frame, she forced her head to catch up to her heart before her emotions had completely spiraled out of control and she would no longer be able to stop herself.

"Wait, we can't do this now," she gasped almost pleadingly, as John's mouth forged a trail down her neck toward her shoulder. "I have to go. The kids-"

"-are taken care of," the mechanic interrupted, only half-listening, his mind clearly centered on other things at the moment. "I'm sure Yale knows that you're staying with me tonight."

Devon's entire body involuntarily stiffened, mostly because she was horrified that Yale, her life-long mentor and surrogate father, was seemingly aware of plans in which she was spending the night with a man. Although she wasn't sure why, Devon suddenly felt as though she was a teenager sneaking off without permission in the middle of the night with her non-approved boyfriend, instead of an accomplished woman in her mid-thirties who was spending time with a good man whom she was deeply in love with.

"I am?" she gulped, her face suddenly flushed.

Now it was Danziger's turn to regain control of the situation. He raised his gaze back up to Devon's, but didn't loosen his grip.

"You are," he assured in a low, determined voice.

Devon remained flustered and was still attempting to digest the newest turn of events when she blurted out, "Did you conspire with the group to get me into your tent?"

Danziger had the good taste to be slightly offended by the accusation. "I didn't have to say or do a damn thing. I'm sure that everyone figured out that you'd end up here." He added with a raised eyebrow, "Except for you, I guess."

His words brought about a hesitant chuckle from Devon, effectively lightening the mood. John took the opportunity to tentatively reach out to delicately trace her smile lines with a calloused thumb before edging forward and planting several kisses along her cheekbone.

"So are you stayin' or not?" he whispered into her ear in a voice thick with passion, sending shudders throughout her entire body. "I want an answer right now."

Devon closed her eyes, her senses reeling as if she was in the midst of riding a VR roller-coaster that had crested and was now plummeting full speed toward the earth. Sure enough, thanks to John Danziger, her head was completely twisted around yet again. And the best part of all was that, as befuddled and downright discomposed as he often made her feel, she knew that she wouldn't have it any other way.

She cupped John's sizable, still-bruised jaw in her small hands and forcibly returned his eye level to hers.

"I'm not going anywhere," she promised before leaning in to kiss him, eagerly prying apart his lips with her own.

It instantly became a testament to the art of multi-tasking as the two began to hungrily kiss and rediscover one another's bodies, while simultaneously attempting to discard both their own and the other's various articles of clothing. As John yanked his shirt over his head and let it fall at their feet, he could see and feel Devon as she valiantly engaged in a losing battle to remove her shoes. Hoping to assist her and, more importantly, to speed the process of clothing removal along, he scooped her up into his arms, raising her several inches from the dirt floor to enable her to more easily kick off the offending items. But rather than accept the presented opportunity, Devon all but forgot about the shoes and, instead, began a different struggle; and this time it was against Danziger.

"John, stop. Put me down," she commanded as she started to squirm against him, reaching up to lightly shove at his shoulders with her hands. "You need to be careful."

Despite Danziger being in the midst of nibbling on Devon's earlobe, the only partially feigned annoyance could clearly be discerned. "Jesus Christ, Adair, for once in your life, would you stop tellin' me what to do?!?"

He somehow resisted the urge to unceremoniously drop her on her backside and, instead, chose to roughly lower her to the ground. Meanwhile, Devon ceased her wrangling and delicately wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her forehead into his non-injured shoulder.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I don't want to accidentally hurt you. There's no way that you aren't in pain right now," Devon relayed with concern, her voice muffled against his chest. "Are you okay? I mean, are you well enough to do this?"

As she spoke, her obvious anxiety over his welfare evaporated any true irritation that Danziger might have harbored at the moment and he briefly chastised himself for misreading the situation. He then took a much needed moment to marvel at how, even now, Devon Adair still managed to surprise him regarding the depth of her feelings for him, as well as how deeply he had fallen in love with her.

Danziger's body relaxed as he returned Devon's warm embrace, kissing the top of her brow at her auburn hairline. He arched his shoulders backward just far enough to allow him to snake his hand in between their bodies. Gently placing his thumb and index finger beneath her lowered chin, he slowly directed Devon's gaze back to his.

"Just don't sucker-punch me in the gut and I'll be fine," he declared with a devilish gleam in his eye, lightly stroking her cheek.

Devon's mouth arched into a coquettish grin. "I'll try to resist the temptation," she bantered back, her eyes still half-closed as she enjoyed his delicate caress.

"Thanks in advance," he responded while they simultaneously tilted forward and shared a tender, lingering kiss.

This time their emotions as well as their actions were much less frenzied as they carefully and with deliberate control began to cast aside the rest of their clothing, including Devon's problem footwear. Once the task was finally accomplished, Danziger edged his way back onto his cot with Devon mirroring his path backward until she was laying directly on top of him.

As their embrace continued, Danziger could sense that Devon remained concerned about her touch causing him physical discomfort and she was obviously refusing to allow most of her weight to directly press against his stomach, ribs and formerly dislocated shoulder. Hoping to ease her stress as well as to enhance the experience for both parties, John gingerly inched his way out from beneath her and rotated his frame until he was on top gazing down into her sapphire, slightly unfocused eyes.

Devon's apprehension dissipated, only to be replaced with an all-encompassing need, and she arched her head forward, kissing him vigorously. She began to draw him to her, desperately seeking to mold his body perfectly with her own. However, just as they were about to be joined into one, to Devon's great surprise, John pulled back, his attention suddenly diverted elsewhere.

"John?" she asked breathlessly as the mechanic performed a quick scan of the darkened room. "Is everything all right?"

There was merriment in Danziger's eyes and more than a hint of snark in his voice when his gaze returned.

"Just taking a quick mental inventory of where my clothing is," he declared. "I seem to remember the last time I was in a situation like this, some of my stuff went missing."

Devon's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open which only added to Danziger's amusement. He angled forward, his dirty-blond hair brushing against and causing a tickling sensation along the sensitive skin of her cheek.

"But I guess you don't know anything about that, huh?" he furthered in a tone saturated with cynicism.

Devon took a second or two to form an appropriate response. She certainly had no intention whatsoever of providing John with a confession which would undoubtedly relinquish what she'd considered to be her current upper hand in their continuous battle of wills. As such, she made a valiant attempt at forcing her features to form a deadpan expression. She wasn't even remotely successful.

"Not a clue."

Devon could feel the husky chuckle deep within John's chest as he relowered himself to her, carefully arranging his frame until the entire lengths of their bodies were once again in direct contact.

"Whatever you say, Devon," he murmured just before capturing her mouth in a passionate kiss.

The struggle for control between the two strong personalities was immediately and willingly abandoned in favor of more pleasureful pursuits. The pounding strength of their intermingling heartbeats filled their ears and caused a pulsing sensation which reverberated throughout their bodies, though they chose to follow a decidedly different rhythm. Very few words needed to be spoken between them. Instead, they used their bodies as their instruments of communication, articulating their deep affection and unwavering devotion with every subtle shift and with each gentle yet powerful caress.

As their lovemaking progressed and intensified, Devon and John continued to explore one another, eagerly searching every inch of their partner in the hopes of discovering any and all hidden places which could serve to heighten their experience. And when such secrets were revealed, the action was gleefully exploited until their lover begged for either reprieve or relief, serving to fuel their own desire in the process.

Their breaths evolved into strained gasps and they tightened their grips on one another as their mutual need for release could no longer be held at bay. Once achieved, the pair collapsed into exhaustion, their aching bodies still actively seeking out one another to continue their thirst for closeness. Danziger briefly left Devon's side in order to retrieve a lightweight blanket that had been temporarily banished to the foot of the cot. He smoothed out the fabric, draping it over them both as he returned to his former position, wrapping his arm and leg around Devon, pulling her as close as he could without disrupting the bandage covering his abdomen. At that moment, there was so much that the couple wished to say to one another. But as their desire quickly surrendered to mutual fatigue, their words would have to wait.

For now, there would only be sleep.

______________________________________________________________

Devon was momentarily surprised when she awoke in a bed that was not her own. But once her disorientation faded and she'd remembered where she was, as well as how she'd gotten there, she realized that she didn't mind in the least. In fact, she could get used to it.

She turned over expecting to find John asleep at her side and her confusion returned when she found herself alone. She sprang up to the seated position in the cot, tucking the blanket primly under her arms to cover herself as she searched the room for his presence. Danziger somehow chose the very moment that Devon's eyes panned across the entrance to make his appearance, breezing in between the tent's crease bearing two coffee mugs filled to the brim.

"Mornin'," he welcomed, acting as though he hadn't noticed her state of undress as he placed one of the cups into her outstretched hand.

The two exchanged a smile before Devon took a sip of the steaming brew. "Good morning," she said, glancing over his shoulder to view the small amount of light filtering in through the slit of the tent fabric. "Did I oversleep?"

"Nah, I just got up extra early," he relayed with a shrug. "I've been up on and off all night. I checked on the kids a few times. Then I saw that Magus was on duty and I hadn't really talked to her since-"

He paused, his expression briefly darkening. "I just wanted to make sure that she was okay. The last time I saw her, things weren't goin' so well."

Danziger took a healthy swig of coffee and seated himself on the bed next to Devon. "Anyway, she filled me in and I feel a lot better now. I'm also glad to hear that she finally set things straight with Walman."

His face displayed his relief before shifting to a deep resolve. "And speaking of setting things straight, once we break camp, I figure that it might be a good idea for you and me to spend the day together, so we can get some things hashed out."

Devon's head arched back, intrigued. "Like what?"

"Well, sleeping arrangements, for one thing. Once that's decided on, we're gonna have to pull the kids aside and fill 'em in on what's going on between us."

Devon had to admit that she was a bit startled by his directness. Although he'd rarely held back his opinion when it came to the matters of the group, she certainly wasn't accustomed to his candor when it came to matters of the heart. But again, Danziger laying all of his cards on the table wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She just wasn't used to it.

"They already seem to know," Devon was at last able to stumble out. "At least, True does."

As the words left her mouth, for the first time, Devon considered exactly what her son did know when it came to her feelings for Danziger, as well as what his reaction might be to the news. She figured that he'd be thrilled to have John take an even larger role in his life, but one could never be certain with children.

Meanwhile, Danziger continued, "Yeah, that'll make it easier, that's for sure."

He gently pulled Devon's mug from her grasp and set both cups on a nearby crate. He then leaned in toward Devon to ensure that he had her complete attention. This was no time for even the slightest distraction and he was careful not to mince his words.

"I know you said that the Rules Of Engagement were out the window, but last night at the campfire, things sorta seemed to be goin' back to the way they were before," he expressed with confidence and sincerity. "You were holdin' back and I don't know why. Maybe you were worried about how I felt or how the kids or the group would react. But I'm tired of hidin' how we feel about each other; especially since there's no reason for it. Everybody knows. And they completely support our decision to be together."

He felt the need to add, "And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't care if they didn't support us. I'm not looking for their approval."

Devon's mouth had gone agape and her brain was in overdrive as her mind quickly revisited their behavior at the campfire the prior evening. Was John correct in his interpretation of her demeanor? Had she been the one holding back yet again? Unfortunately, there was no time to effectively reach a conclusion. Instead, she remained as still as a statue, completely riveted to Danziger's words which, unbeknownst to her, was a speech that had been inwardly practiced over and over again.

"This past week, I had a lot of time on my hands and it gave me a chance to really think about things, including my future. And you're a big part of that. I made a promise to myself that if and when I saw you again, things between us were gonna change. And those changes start now. "

He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and went for broke. "I love you, Devon," he declared. "And I know that you feel the same way, even though you don't seem to be able to say it to me. Honestly, I don't give a shit if you never do. I don't need to hear the words. As far as I'm concerned, actions are what matters most."

As nervous as Devon's silence made him, John was glad for it because it enabled him to keep going with his confession. He did his best to ignore Devon's large, shocked eyes and the fact that she had begun to physically shake so much that it was causing the cot to rock.

"I would hope that you've figured out by now that I'm not leavin' on the colony ship," he furthered. "I'm here for the long haul. I want us to be together. Starting tonight, I want us to share a tent. And after we get New Pacifica off the ground, I want us to share a house."

His face briefly darkened again. "I also know that when the Jamestown gets here, we'll probably have to deal with some crap from the blue-bloods who aren't exactly gonna be thrilled that you've taken up permanent residence with a Drone. But I can take it as long as you can."

Devon's head was continuing to reel, and she was so caught up in the other revelations that it took her a few moments to process his last statement. It had honestly never occurred to her that a relationship with Danziger might be a problem with the colonists. But obviously Danziger had considered it to be enough of a concern to cite it as a possible roadblock to their happiness, so she filed the knowledge in the back of her mind to give the issue a more thorough examination at a later date. Right now, her brain was too busy absorbing something much more important.

"I'm not gonna lie to you. This isn't gonna be easy for either of us," he relayed in a tone that was somehow brutally honest, yet warm-hearted at the same time. "We're both hardheaded and pretty damn set in our ways. Neither of us are all that easy to get along with. I'm sure that we're gonna keep fighting like cats and dogs. Hell, we'll probably come close to killin' each other more than a couple of times. But I think that this can work."

He tentatively reached for her still quivering hand, delicately running his thumb along her knuckle. "I know that this can work," he assured.

Normally a man of few words, Danziger was pleased that his feelings were finally out in the open and he was even more pleased that Devon hadn't tried to constantly interrupt him. Now that he was finished, all that was needed was an appropriate response from Devon. However, unfortunately, no immediate reaction was forthcoming and this began to worry him greatly, prompting the pit of his stomach to begin performing cartwheels to the point of inducing nausea.

Though she'd remained speechless and motionless for only a few moments, it seemed like an eternity to Danziger. He literally felt as though he'd just been given a last second reprieve from the gallows when Devon finally yanked her hand from his grasp and lunged forward, framing the sides of his head with her hands before capturing his lips with her own.

A succession of quick, but emotional kisses followed and John could sense her mouth smiling against his, as well as the fact that she was no longer trembling.

"So I guess we're in agreement on this?" he chortled in between brief partings, relief as well as desire coursing through his body as he gently ran his fingers along the bare skin of her exposed back, tracing the arch of her spine.

Devon halted their embrace and leaned back slightly, nodding her acknowledgment. "But we still have a long way to go when it comes to communication," she whispered.

Hey, speak for yourself, lady, John inwardly scoffed, but wisely kept from voicing aloud.

"Well, we have lots of time to work on that," he offered, breaking into a gentle, vulnerable smile which he rarely shared with anyone other than True and Uly.

"Yes, we do," she said, mirroring his grin.

Devon was awestruck as she studied his chiseled features, fascinated by the openness of his expression, along with the wide range of emotions that he somehow managed to simultaneously display. There was no doubt in her mind as to how deeply he cared for her... nor was there any question as to how deeply she cared for him. And it was time for her to let him know it.

She reached up to brush back several strands of dirty blond curls which had fallen forward, partially blocking his eyes. Her hand remained just below his temple, lightly stroking his stubbled cheek.

"I love you, too, John," she said sincerely. "I should've told you before now. I wanted to but... I guess that I was afraid of making things between us more complicated than they already were. A part of me was afraid that you weren't ready to hear the words and that I'd end up pushing you away. It all sounds so ridiculous now."

Now it was Danziger's turn to be surprised and it was blatantly obvious to Devon that he hadn't expected her to match his candor. The pupils in his eyes had all but vanished and he hadn't seemed to exhale a breath since she'd spoken the word 'love.'

Meanwhile, as she recalled her various motives for delaying a relationship, the somber events of the past week came flooding back to her, along with the accompanying emotions.

"Losing you like that, so suddenly... the fact that I was never going to see you again..." She paused, slightly choked up. "It broke my heart. I felt as if I'd died inside. If it wasn't for the children and for my responsibilities to the group, I'm not sure how I would have gone on without you."

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat and continued in earnest, her voice saturated with affection, "But now that you're here and we've been given this amazing gift-- this second chance-- I'm not going to waste it. I'm sorry if I was sort of distant last night at the campfire. Old habits die hard and these new changes are going to take some getting used to. Plus, I think that part of me was still in shock that you were alive. I could hardly believe that you were there sitting next to me. I'm still having trouble believing it."

She took another deep breath, furthering, "But no matter what's said or done-- or what isn't said or done for that matter-- please don't ever doubt how I feel about you. And everything that you just said that you wanted for us and for our new life together, I want that, too."

The words hung in the air for a few seconds and Devon watched as Danziger at last visibly exhaled, temporarily closing his eyes as he slowly let out a full breath. Devon further noted that John's expression and overall body language appeared to be completely calm, despite the weighty subject matter. It wasn't as if he was trying to convey a nonchalant or disinterested attitude. In fact, he wasn't trying to convey anything at all. It was almost as if Danziger was finally allowing himself to be fully relaxed and Devon couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever really seen him that way before.

"Okay. Good," he exclaimed with a resolute nod of his head as he rose to his feet. "Go ahead and get yourself dressed. I promised that I'd check in with Julia this mornin' before we break camp, so if I miss you at breakfast, we can meet up at the 'Rover when we're ready to go."

And he accuses me of being bossy, Devon grumbled good-naturedly to herself.

"Sounds like a date," she answered, instead.

Danziger shuffled his way toward the tent's exit while Devon began to scrounge around the general area of her cot in search of the clothing which had been eagerly discarded the prior evening. The mechanic had just peeled back the nylon flap when Devon called out to him in bewilderment.

"John, do you know where my underwear is?"

He paused for a few moments, his gaze shooting skyward before slowly craning back to face her. Though his expression was deceptively neutral, there was no mistaking the mirth radiating in his eyes.

"Not a clue," he deadpanned with an exaggerated shrug of his shoulders.

A sideways smirk escaped Danziger's lips just as he stepped beyond the threshold and out into the awakening campsite.



As the fabric fell to a close behind him, Devon couldn't help but let out a chuckle. She reinitiated her quest to locate her clothing, amused and amazed at the events of the last twenty-four hours, as well as at how truly happy she'd felt. Back on the Stations when she was organizing Eden Project, if someone had foretold the details of what her current life would be like, she would have dismissed the talk as the rantings of a lunatic. In her wildest dreams, she could never have imagined that things would turn out this way. And her journey was far from over.

Devon relaced her boots and let out a sigh as she considered the many future trials and tribulations that Eden Advance might encounter as they continued their pilgrimage toward New Pacifica and beyond. Moreover, she was in complete agreement with John that the two of them would have a difficult road ahead of them as they forged a more permanent partnership which included a personal as well as a professional relationship. And stir in their temperamental and unyielding dispositions and it could very likely be a recipe for disaster on a grand scale.

Then again, Devon had never been one to seek out the easy route, especially when there was an alternate path which offered an infinite amount of enriching, life-enhancing possibilities, including love and a family. Despite all of the possible obstacles to come, Devon was reminded of a beautiful moonlit evening many weeks before in which she'd stood on a sandy beach with Danziger, surveying the sights and sounds of the East coast ocean. When her optimism had ever-so-briefly wavered, John had offered these comforting words: "It won't be so bad getting there."

She couldn't agree more.

One thing was for certain: It was going to be a bumpy, unpredictable, exhilarating adventure and Devon couldn't wait to experience it all. And apparently it would be accomplished with one less pair of undergarments.

"Seize the day," she whispered as she stepped out into the morning sun.



THE END