Julia's Narration

Physician's Log:

24 hours ago, we took the desperate measure of placing Devon in cold-sleep. It was the only possible action to take, drastic as it was, to preserve her precarious state of health. She was probably only minutes away from total organ failure. The entire group, as affected by Devon's sudden turn for the worse as I was, did not object when I made the suggestion.

I still have no idea what caused her systemic failure. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before. Devon's sudden collapse and loss of motor control does somewhat mimic a disease that was known back on Earth as Multiple Sclerosis, a progressive neurological disorder...but that would not explain the suddenness of its onset, nor the rest of the puzzling symptoms and effects.

I made one notable and shocking discovery that I would never have known to look for had it not been for Elizabeth Anson: Devon does not have a bio-stat implant. This means that whatever was causing her initial symptoms like the rest of us was clearly unrelated, and it means I am once again chasing a phantom.

There are so many questions that are burning inside me. They have kept me awake since we put Devon into that cryo-chamber...

"Julia?"

Alonzo gently shook the young doctor's shoulder.

"Mmm?" Julia lazily stirred from the workbench in the Med-Tent, her ponytail askew, tendrils of her dark-blonde hair spilling around her cheeks.

"Julia," Alonzo said, taking in her slumped body position and exhausted expression.

She raised her head and turned to face him, wiping a hand across her face. She blinked at him, bleary-eyed, and noticed how intently he was observing her; how he made no attempt to hide his concern.

"Don't say it," Julia preempted him, already guessing his reasons for being there.

"Don't say what?" Alonzo appeared slightly flustered. His eyebrows shot skyward, and he glanced away briefly.

"Oh, please," Julia said with mild irritation, as she moved her hands to re-secure her unruly hair. "Give me a little credit. These conversations are getting to be so predictable. How many times have either you, or someone else from the group told me: 'Julia, you need to get some rest. Real rest. Falling asleep in the Med-Tent with your head on the table doesn't count', or words to that effect?"

Alonzo gave a sheepish grin that she found irresistibly disarming. "You got me, Doc," he said simply. "Yes, I did come to try to convince you to take a break."

"Well, I appreciate everyone's concern," Julia said, not wanting to fight him on the subject. She smoothed back her hair and brushed off some non-existent dirt from the thighs of her pants. "It's just that I can't stop thinking about everything that's happened in the past couple of days. I need time to sort through it all... Sleeping seems a waste of precious time."

"Well, it doesn't look like we're going anywhere too soon," Alonzo said with a slight shrug. "We've barely recovered from the effects of the faulty bio-stat implants. Danziger doesn't seem eager to leave, either, and so far no one's questioning him about it."

"I just feel like it would be wrong to rest while Devon is so ill, and I'm getting nowhere," Julia continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Alonzo, I'm worried, and not just about what's happened to Devon..."

The handsome pilot frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It has to do with what Elizabeth Anson said*," Julia responded. "She seemed to think that it was hopeless for humans to exist on this planet. She said G889 would ultimately reject us. But that can't be right, Alonzo."

Alonzo folded his arms across his muscular chest. "Franklin and Elizabeth worked for the Council, right?"

"Yes," Julia answered, and recounted what they knew about the doomed expedition. "Franklin Bennett and his crew were the first of the Council-sanctioned operatives to be here. They were here for eight years before they concluded that G889 was rejecting humans."

"And that was fifty years ago," Alonzo added. "They didn't have a link to the Terrians and to the planet like we do now."

Julia nodded. "Elizabeth never knew about what the Terrians did for Uly. There was no time to fully explain. Alonzo, she was wrong about this planet. She has to be... but then there's also..."

"There's also...What?" Alonzo prodded her to continue her train of thought when she fell silent.

Julia stood, her hands on the table behind her, supporting herself. Alonzo's question hung in the air several moments. Finally, Julia looked up at him and sighed aloud. "It's just... everything: EVE, Reilly, The Council, Eben... Devon falling ill like that... even how we found Bennett's ship in the first place..."

"What about it?"

"Well, Morgan said he'd been contacted in VR... but when Bennett woke, he seemed to have no knowledge of that initial contact at all. In fact, he emphatically denied it... but somehow, I don't think Morgan was making up that story. How else would he know the codes to activate the cryo-chambers?"

Alonzo placed his hands on Julia's shoulders and searched her face. "I don't know how Morgan knew. Maybe it was EVE. Maybe she... it... whatever, was waiting for us to reach this zone. Maybe she was transmitting a VR signal that Morgan chanced to pick up. Maybe any one of us could have picked it up. But you know what a VR addict he is..."

Julia listened to Alonzo's suppositions, and smiled slightly at his mention of Morgan Martin's 'hobby'. "You're probably right," she said. "But there's one thing that's been bothering me about EVE..."

Her thoughts flew back to the encounter they had with the artificial intelligence from the Council satellite.

EVE...

Franklin Bennett's creation, intended to be the Council's monitoring hub, orbiting above G889. Fifty years ago, Bennett uploaded a virus in an attempt to kill the program, hoping he'd be long gone by the time the virus became active. Fifty years ago, Bennett and his crew were trying to flee this planet, believing that it could never be a viable option for human colonization.

But Franklin and Elizabeth didn't know what we know now. They didn't have the link to the Terrians, and ultimately, to the planet, that now exists; a link that is thriving through Ulysses Adair.

"Only one thing's bothering you about EVE?" Alonzo asked, quirking an eyebrow. "That program terrorized us. You, especially."

"I know," Julia said pensively. "But 'Lonz, I've been over in my mind every single encounter I had with Reilly since we landed on this planet-"

"You mean with EVE," Alonzo corrected, removing his hands from her shoulders.

"No," Julia countered with a shake of her head. "One time sticks out in particular: I'd entered VR, fully expecting to find Reilly waiting for me. He wasn't there. I had to wait for him to show up. When he finally did plug in, he seemed surprised that I'd made contact with him in such quick succession. Alonzo, a computer program just doesn't behave like that."

"What are you thinking, that EVE and Reilly aren't the same? Even after what you saw?"

"I know what we saw, but... Look: one time, when Reilly was trying to convince me to... remove Uly's pineal gland, he... he told me that twelve years ago, he himself had removed the pineal of a child penal colonist." Julia shuddered at the memory.

Alonzo reacted with disgusted grimace, but said: "Couldn't that still have been EVE playing the Reilly persona to convince you of his intentions?"

"Just... Hear me out," Julia said, putting up a hand, indicating her arguments were still not finished. "When we were inside Bennett's ship, EVE only switched to the Reilly persona after we showed up. Do you remember how he greeted us? He said 'hi' to Devon and me, but didn't seem to know the rest of you, which makes no sense at all. Remember what happened when we confronted him in VR after the Z.E.D. incident? He saw you, Devon and John, and he reacted quite strongly when you showed your support for me... and Alonzo, you offered to spell out your name for him in case he missed it."

"Yeah, I did..." Alonzo scowled at the memory.

"As a Council satellite, EVE would have access to Council personnel files," Julia continued, giving free rein to her theories. "All she had to do was pull Reilly's profile. She could have built a composite of him from all the data the Council has on him, from his appearance to his psychological traits, everything... The Reilly I saw beaming down from EVE was not the Reilly I encountered in VR. It was close, but EVE's Reilly was... benign. If it's even possible, EVE's Reilly looked somehow younger than the VR Reilly."

"I don't know, Doc," Alonzo said, doubts clouding his thoughts. "Bennett did say EVE was infected with a virus he created... Maybe what we saw on the ship was a glitchy EVE."

But the more Julia thought about it, the more convinced she became. "I know what I'm talking about. EVE tricked us. You were there in VR when... You heard how... menacing Reilly was. He accused me of treason. There was none of that malice with EVE; no threats issued of any kind. It was as if we'd never even had any battles over Uly and control of the planet."

Alonzo ran a hand over his mouth and let it linger on his chin. "So what does this all mean?"

"I don't know," Julia replied sullenly. "I guess I'm... concerned that the real Reilly is still out there, monitoring us."

She looked away from Alonzo, not wanting him to see the depth of her worry.

"Hey, Doc..." Alonzo said soothingly, reaching out to touch her face. Julia brought her hand up to meet his and allowed herself a brief moment of comfort the contact brought. "Whether Reilly's 'out there' or not, you know we'd never let the Council get their hands on you – or Uly, for that matter."

Uly.

My heart aches for the child. He is only nine years old, and he carries a heavy burden. Whether he senses it or not, the fate of an entire race rests on his tiny shoulders: the human race. His connection to the Terrians is likely our one chance at survival.

His cries for his mother when she fell ill were painful to hear. He was brave in his acceptance of the unanimous decision to place Devon in cold-sleep. He was quiet and reserved as he placed the walking stick at the door of Devon's chamber.

Unless I am able to find a cure for Devon, I fear it may very well become her tomb...

"Uly..." Julia murmured. "I can't even imagine what this is doing to him. He's only a child. How much can he understand of what's happening?"

"He seems to be bearing up okay. He's quieter, but Danziger's been looking out for him. I mean, we all have, really."

"'Lonz," Julia started tentatively, "the bond you and Uly have with the Terrians... do you think maybe there's a way you could ask them for help? Maybe they know something about this planet. Maybe they know why Devon's so desperately ill."

"I don't know," the pilot replied. "We've already asked them for so much. They've already done more than we could have hoped..."

Julia let out a sound of exasperation. "I know... I just thought it might be something worth exploring. I know so little about everything we've encountered. I hate feeling so helpless."

"It is worth a try," Alonzo said encouragingly, trying to bolster her spirits. "Besides, I bet Uly will want to do something -anything- that could potentially help his mom."

"So you'll do it? You'll try to contact the Terrians?" Julia asked anxiously.

"Absolutely," he said, grinning with pleasure at Julia's hopeful expression. "Anything for you, Doc."

"Thank you," she said simply, smiling back at him, feeling her heart swelling with affection.

"But I thought Bennett said EVE and Reilly were one and the same," John said, furrowing his brow.

Julia had just finished laying out her theories to the mechanic about their encounter with the Council satellite.

"Yes, but Bennett never said that he created the Reilly persona. He just called EVE a 'clever girl'. That, and there was nothing threatening about him at all. The Reilly we encountered in the past in VR was livid that I'd betrayed the Council... yet when we were inside the ship, he made no mention of that transgression at all. The Council doesn't forget that easily."

"Sounds really far-fetched," John said, rubbing the stubble on his jaw. He saw Julia's face fall, and tried to salvage the conversation. "Look, it's not that I don't trust your instincts on all things Council-related, but don't you think you're bein' a little paranoid? I thought you'd be relieved to find out that the Council wasn't orbiting up there; that there is no Reilly." John pointed skywards and made a cork-screw motion with his finger.

"I am relieved," Julia protested. "I mean, I would be, if I could be positive about it. But I'm not."

"So what are you suggesting?" John asked.

"I'm suggesting that we be cautious and vigilant," Julia said carefully.

John rolled his eyes. "We've been 'cautious' and 'vigilant' since we got here, Heller. We've got Zero constantly monitoring our surroundings, and everyone who's not still sick in bed doin' sentry duty. We've got the zone perimeters on at night, too. What else is there that we can do?"

"I think we should set the perimeter during the day, too," Julia said, not at all fazed by his bluster.

"Aw, come on," John groaned. "That's gonna suck more power than we can spare if we run 'em during the day and night."

Julia bit her lip. She had to admit he was right.

"Look, Doc," John said, taking a more gentle tone, "I know you've been working yourself to the bone, trying to find out what's happening to Devon. It's wearin' you down. You barely gave yourself a chance to recover after those brain implants went haywire. Don't borrow more trouble than you need right now, okay? The Council doesn't have to be this dark presence overshadowing everything. You'll make yourself crazy if you start lookin' for danger and conspiracies everywhere."

The Council...

This planet has taught me far more about myself than I ever thought possible. I thought I knew who Julia Heller was. I was born on the Stations, the daughter of a member of the Council's Board of Regents. My genes, for lack of a better phrase, were 'skewed'; altered so that I would be genetically predisposed to the medical arts. My destiny was laid out for me even before I was born. And I was taught that it would be the highest honor to fulfil that destiny, as the Council saw fit...

I followed the directives of the all-powerful Council with complete, blind faith. Here on the planet, that loyalty was tested. I came to see that the goals of the Council were utterly reprehensible and untenable with my own new-found sense of truth and loyalty. My loyalty lies with the Eden Project, and all the members who rely on me for their health and well-being. I broke their trust once, and thankfully regained it.

I will not break it again.

I'd rather die first.

Alonzo found himself in an underground cavern. Reddish-brown walls of solid rock surrounded him, and he knew he was dreaming. He looked around, and saw Ulysses Adair standing nearby.

"Uly?" he called softly, the sound of his voice echoing against the hard surfaces.

The boy did not reply, and stood solemnly in place. Instead, he closed his eyes, and trilled.

The ground stirred beneath their feet, and two Terrians 'swam' to the surface, staffs in hand. The tall creatures raised their heads and calmly regarded the two humans.

"We're here to ask your help," Alonzo said, giving voice to his thoughts, though he knew that the Terrians were more adept at perceiving emotions than spoken words.

Uly trilled once again, and the Terrians twittered back a reply.

Alonzo felt an answer enter his own thoughts, but was unable to decipher its meaning.

Uly smiled, and vocalized his 'thank you' in the strange, unintelligible language.

With that, the Terrians sank into the floor of the cavern and disappeared from sight.

Alonzo opened his eyes. He sat up on the cot and met Julia's expectant gaze.

"What happened?" she asked, running a cursory scan of his system with the diaglove. "Did you get anything?"

Uly sat up on his own cot and yawned. "Yeah," he said casually. "The Terrians are pretty sad, because they know I'm sad. You know, about my mom and all..."

Julia smiled softly at the boy and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "That's why we're doing everything we can to help her get better, Uly."

"I know," Uly replied, with nod that caused his blond curls to bounce on his head.

"Well, what did the Terrians tell you?" Julia asked, as she moved to scan him.

"'Ask Mother'," both Alonzo and Uly answered in tandem.

"And you really think finding a chunk of Morganite is going to work?" John asked dubiously.

Julia shrugged. "It's the only thing I can think of."

"'Ask Mother', huh?" John sniffed, repeating the message Alonzo and Uly brought back from their dreaming.

"Yes," Julia said. "Remember how we used the Morganite to decode the geolock the Martins had activated? I can't explain how it worked, but it did. When Morgan interfaced with the locking system and touched the rock, he was tapping into what we theorized was – for lack of a better term – the vast communication system of the planet, connecting us to its cerebral cortex."

"And you're thinking, what, that tapping into this 'communication system' will help you diagnose Devon's ailment?"

"Yes. At least, I hope so. John, I want to try. I see no reason why we shouldn't trust the Terrians."

John grunted. He was skeptical. But deep inside, hope that Devon might be cured blossomed, whereas before he had been dismally resigned to believing she would never be revived.

"Fine," John said. "I guess it's worth a shot, no matter how crazy it is."

Julia nearly laughed. "Well, I wasn't looking for your explicit approval, John," she said. "Alonzo's already gearing up to take the ATV out to some caves that are in the vicinity. He's hoping to find some Morganite to bring back to me."

"Make sure he stays on Gear," John warned.

This time, Julia did laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a confused scowl.

"John, you're the main offender when it comes to neglecting to check in on Gear," she chuckled.

"Yeah, well..." he trailed off, scrubbing the back of his neck. "Things haven't been too great for our group lately, you know?"

Julia noted his serious expression. It suddenly struck her that she had been completely oblivious to his emotional state. It was no secret to her that he harboured certain complicated feelings for their felled leader. And now he had taken on the responsibility of caring for Devon's son. He'd become the default leader overnight, and Julia didn't envy him that. She knew the members of the group looked to her for medical solutions, but they were now looking to John to guide them to New Pacifica.

It was a task that he shouldn't have to shoulder alone.

"Hey, Danziger," she called mildly, causing him to pause and turn back to her. "I know what Devon means to you. You're not in this thing alone. You know that, right?"

John schooled his features and nodded curtly, his lips pressed into a thin line. He departed without offering a verbal reply.

Julia stared after him for a long time after he disappeared through the tent flap, hoping he had taken her words to heart.

Alonzo sped along the dusty terrain in the ATV, heading due south towards a rocky formation that held the promise of containing caves with a Morganite deposit. He smiled to himself. It was a silly name, really, but he knew that their group would probably forever refer to the unusual rocks by the name that Morgan had egotistically bestowed upon them.

"Solace to base camp," he spoke into his Gear mouthpiece.

There was a delay, and he waited patiently. Then Julia's face flashed into the eyepiece display.

"Hi, Alonzo," she said cheerily. "Are you there already?"

"No, but I figure it'll be another hour or so. I'm just 'checking in', since Danziger's turned into such a mother hen about all this."

"I'll tell him you're alright, then," Julia said, smiling.

Alonzo grinned back. "Thanks. I'll beep in when I reach those caves. I really hope I don't come back empty-handed."

"I hope so, too," the young doctor said.

"Doc?"

"Yes?"

"I thought you said you were going to get some rest while I was away."

"And I will," Julia said.

"When?"

"As soon as you sign off."

"Hmm. Alright," Alonzo said, unconvinced.

"What, you don't believe me?" Julia retorted with mock indignation.

"Knowing your track record? No. You allow yourself rest about as often as John remembers to turn on his Gear. Admit it."

Julia suppressed a giggle. "Okay, I promise I'll rest as soon as we finish this conversation if it makes you happy."

"Fine," Alonzo said.

"Fine," Julia repeated.

"Doc?" Alonzo spoke tenderly.

"Yes?" Julia responded, an unconscious smile tugging at her lips.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," Julia replied, feeling an unexpected, but welcome warm rush of emotion for the handsome pilot.

"Solace out."

The connection was broken, and Julia was once again staring at the walls of her tent as Alonzo's image disappeared.

She swung the eyepiece away and returned her attention to her work. She told herself she really would take a little nap, just not yet. Her brain was still too active. On the table was her hand-held medical scanner and her diaglove. Julia was puzzling over how she would be able to use either device in conjunction with the Morganite in order to investigate the reasons behind Devon's sudden collapse.

When Morgan had used one of the rocks to break the coded tiers on the geolock, he'd simply touched it with his bare hands, and used the VR Gear to interface with his conscious thought patterns. Those thoughts were amplified and enhanced through the VR simulator into a visible representation of the geolock's complex schematics. The Morganite somehow learned the language of that complex coding system, aided by Morgan's own knowledge of the technology.

His hands had been burned by the prolonged contact with the stone, but they had since healed without any long-lasting effects.

Should I just touch the rock and hope to get some sort of answer? Julia thought to herself.

Ask Mother.

It sounded so vague. And ludicrous. The last thing she wanted and needed was false hope.

If only I had more sophisticated equipment at my disposal, she thought. Nothing I have is really geared for advanced diagnostic functions...

If there was ever a time she wished she were back on the Stations, now was that time. On the Station hospitals, she would have had access to the best diagnostic tools and technology. She could also consult with other medical professionals who were much more experienced.

Frontier medicine, she thought sardonically. She'd already exhausted her own medical databases as well as Yale's library. While they were both extensive, Julia knew that they were far from being complete and comprehensive.

Nothing she'd experienced in medical school or Council training simulations had even remotely prepared her for life on G889. VR could never truly capture, for instance, what rain felt like: how it smelled; how it sounded when it pattered on the tents, or the effect the droplets produced when they beaded on the windows of the TransRover.

The rumble of thunder or the flash of lightning still evoked a primal fear and an eerie fascination in all of them, including Bess Morgan. Even though the former Earth-res had experienced storms, such events on Earth's surface hadn't been pleasant. Earth's rains had turned so acidic that when they fell, it was always cause for fear and consternation.

Julia reflected on other new experiences and sensations, like the call of a wild bird, the brush of the fresh wind through her hair, or how the warm rays of G889's sun tanned their skins.

Then there was the snow that socked them in while making their way through higher elevations. The sheer whiteness everywhere and the silence due to the sound-dampening effect of the snow was profound. The wintry weather and chill seemed to seep into the very marrow of their bones, and turned their breaths to icy vapor. The atmospheric controls on the Stations meant the temperature was constantly maintained. Deviations were simply not part of the programming.

She thought of evenings spent around the fire after evening meals, sharing stories under G889's twin moons. The lesser, third moon hovered in a lonely orbit on the other side of the sky, always dwarfed by its larger sisters. Julia recalled its pale light had shone down the night of Bess' trek while under the influence of the strange substance she and Danziger had inhaled.

Even gravity felt different on the planet's surface. The Station gravitational controls mimicked Earth's gravity, but Julia had to admit that the natural pull on G889's surface was nothing like the artificial pull created by the gravitomagnetic G-forces on the Stations.

The best part was the air: fresh, clean, unfiltered air. The air on the planet even had extremes, something quite foreign to their senses. When she, Alonzo, Devon and John had made their unsuccessful trip to find New Pacifica through the spider caves, the sea-breeze on the shore carried a warm, moist, salty tang. It was different from what she was used to, but pleasant. The mountain air, in contrast, was drier, thinner and more crisp. It took more effort to comfortably breathe for the first little while in both instances.

Then also was how the perfume of the flowers and trees carried effortlessly on the winds, tickling their noses. Such a variety of aromas would never be available to them in the recycled, characterless, sanitized air of the Stations.

How could Franklin Bennett and Elizabeth Anson so desperately want to abandon such a beautiful planet?

Julia wondered for the umpteenth about Elizabeth's dire warning, and again she convinced herself that the other doctor had been wrong; her conclusions flawed because she had been lacking sufficient information.

She didn't see what I got to see, Julia thought to herself. She didn't see the planet give a part of itself to heal a hopelessly sick and dying boy. Elizabeth didn't know that a connection was possible. She didn't understand what sort of sacrifices were necessary... She didn't know that this planet could show compassion to humans... and if she had known, would she have fought the Council tooth and nail to protect it?

Julia wanted to believe Elizabeth's answer would have been a "yes".

An hour-and-a-half later, Alonzo slowed the small, solar-powered vehicle to a stop just outside a natural entrance to the caves he'd been seeking. He got out and stretched his cramped legs, then switched on the Gear to inform the Eden base camp that he'd reached his destination safely.

To his surprise, Magus answered. "Hi, 'Lonz," she said to him.

"Oh, hi, Magus. I was expecting Julia," Alonzo said, having not believed for a second the younger woman's promise to take a nap.

"Believe it or not, our good doctor is dozing," Magus explained Julia's absence.

"Well, good for her," Alonzo said, genuinely pleased to hear Julia had chosen to get some shut-eye after all. "I'm just checking in. I'm at the caves now. If I find some Morganite, I'll call in again."

"Sounds good, 'Lonz," Magus said. "Be careful in there, okay?"

"Will do. Solace out."

Alonzo approached the mouth of the cave, which was really a narrow opening he barely managed to squeeze through. He had to position himself sideways, and with a little effort, guided his shoulders, then his hips and legs inside. He turned on a luma-light and flashed it around the interior of the cave. It was considerably cooler inside, and Alonzo was glad for the respite from the unrelenting rays of the sun. The luma-light revealed a natural tunnel to his immediate right. Dauntless, the pilot took off in that direction, keeping his eyes peeled for the all-important Morganite rocks.

After about five minutes of creeping along the cavern, he started hearing an almost-familiar pulse. The sound started low, then built to a crescendo, and dissipated once again.

Another spider tunnel? He wondered. His question was answered when he came upon a chamber with a giant web spun across the entrance to another tunnel that branched off to the left. Alonzo heard the rush of another energy wave; saw the flash of light, and then it was gone as quickly as it appeared. He'd be avoiding that tunnel for the time being - he had no way of knowing where he'd end up, even if there was a remote possibility it led to New Pacifica.

Alonzo opened a channel on his Gear. "Solace to base camp... I'm in the caves, and I've found another one of those spider tunnels..."

There was no reply.

"Solace to base camp," Alonzo repeated. "Anybody there?"

Again, nothing.

Alonzo pouted. Something was hindering his Gear signal. It must be these caves, he decided. Must naturally dampen the transmission... Great. Just hope I don't end up trapped in here with no way to call home for help.

Avoiding the spider tunnel, Alonzo instead continued along a branch of the cavern that twisted again to the right. He used his Gear to log his progress so he could find his way back on the return trip.

His efforts were soon rewarded when he saw the tell-tale signs of a bright, glowing vein running along the side of a wall he came across. Alonzo grinned at his discovery. Good news had been in such short supply recently, he was glad for the emotional boost.

Alonzo used a chisel tool to loosen a chunk of Morganite. He chipped away gently, and used a pair of tongs to place the stone inside a heat-resistant pouch for the return trip.

Ask Mother, the pilot thought about the Terrians' message. Well, I sure hope this will help us do just that, once I get it back to Julia...

On his way back to exit the cave, Alonzo paused for a moment in the cavern that branched off to the spider-web tunnel. The vacuum current pulsed at regular intervals, just as it had with the spider tunnel they had encountered so many months back.

We'll have to come up with some way to safely test where you go, Alonzo thought, but for now, Devon is our priority. He squeezed back through the opening and out into the afternoon sun, and keyed his Gear.

"Solace to base camp," he said, and waited for a reply.

"What's going on, Alonzo?" Magus' face flashed in the display field.

"Good news! The caves had a deposit of Morganite. I'm bringing one of the stones back right now."

"Hey, that's great!" Magus said enthusiastically. She turned to inform the rest of the crew. "Hey, everyone! Alonzo found some of those sunstones. He's coming back with one right now."

Alonzo heard background exclamations of rejoicing. "I should be back in about two hours, give or take," he informed Magus. Then, "Is Julia still asleep?"

"She sure is," Magus said, "you want me to wake her to tell her the news?"

"Nah," Alonzo said, starting up the ATV. "The more rest she gets, the better. She'll probably be working overtime once I get back with the Morganite as it is."

"True enough."

"Solace out," Alonzo said, and logged off.

The dull grey, rounded hull of the Venus-class ship that had once belonged to Council researcher Franklin Bennett sat quietly in the distance, partly shrouded by indigenous shrubbery. A relic from the past that the Edenites would never have found had it not been for Morgan Martin's still unexplained VR encounter, the ship was now Devon's sole means of survival.

Julia hoped that was about to change. With Alonzo and John, she made the short trek from their camp to the ship; the Morganite specimen secured in a heat-proof pouch. Alonzo led the way as he released the locking mechanism that granted them access to the interior. Single-file, the trio descended into the darkened innards of the craft.

It took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the lack of light, although several display panels produced some illumination, punctuating the dimness with bright dots of colour.

Julia felt a pang of guilt as she viewed the empty chambers that had held the members of Bennett's crew. All except Franklin and Elizabeth had died during the re-animation process, and she had been unable to stabilize their metabolics because of her complete unfamiliarity with the dated systems. She'd watched helplessly as pod after pod failed, and as life signs plummeted and flat-lined.

All three members of the Eden Advance crew stood in silence, gazing upon the banks of empty pods, their former occupants now buried in marked plots near Eben's little grave. Slowly, they at last turned to face Devon's chamber, not whispering a word by some tacit agreement. The walking stick Uly had placed as if to guard his mother was still propped up against the door to her chamber.

Devon's still, frozen form was wrapped in a white robe, visible through the frosty, reinforced glass panel. Her skin tone appeared a pale and sickly blue due to the glow of the pod's interior lighting function. Her eyes were closed, and her face looked peaceful and worry-free. It was at complete odds with the turmoil Julia felt stirring in the pit of her stomach.

The doctor took a deep breath, nearly gagging on the still musty, stale air of the ship. After being shut for so long, there hadn't been much opportunity for fresh air from the planet to circulate.

John folded his arms and hung back in the shadows, not wanting to get in the way. His eyes, however, never left Devon's face.

"Alright," Julia said, "let's see if the Terrians' advice will work for us." She activated her VR Gear and brought the scanner up to the pane of Devon's cold-sleep chamber.

"Ready?" Alonzo asked.

"Yes," Julia said with a decisive nod, knowing he was referring to her readiness for the Morganite.

Alonzo opened the pouch and gripped the orange, glowing rock with a pair of tongs and held it up for Julia. She gingerly reached for it with the tips of her diagloved fingers.

"Preliminary scan," she said, feeling a strange warmth emanating from the stone. The datapad of the scanner produced lines of medical code related to Devon's state of hibernation, all of which were within normal parameters.

"Celluar scan," Julia spoke. More lines scrolled across the datapad's screen.

John stood by placidly, trying to keep himself from shuffling his feet. He wondered how long this was going to take, and if this pet-rock, hocus-pocus was even going to work.

Suddenly the datapad readout became obscured; scrambled. "What - ?" Julia started.

"Everything okay?" Alonzo asked in a controlled voice. He figured it was too early to panic.

"Oh," Julia said softly, as the visual display on her VR Gear brightened and intensified. It began inexplicably transmitting images on a cellular level, almost as immediately as Julia's own conscious thoughts expressed the desire to see them. She had been momentarily surprised by the sudden change in the visual output, but had quickly recovered her wits when she intuited what had transpired.

"What is it, Heller?" John stepped forward, body tense.

"I can see everything. I don't know how, but I can see Devon's cell structure..."

"That's a good thing, right?" Danziger's uncertain tone of voice caused Julia to give a little smile.

"It's a very good thing..."

"Are you sure?"

"Let her be," Alonzo said, trying to calm the other man. John shot him an annoyed look, but held his tongue.

"Magnify," Julia said, unaware of John's attitude. She continued to let her thoughts direct the path of the newly-formed connection between Mother and their Earth-manufactured medical technology. Fascinated by the power the link afforded, Julia used her new diagnostic 'tool' to visually scan as much as possible as she tested various theories. She confirmed what she already knew, which was that Devon did not have a neural implant. Her cerebellum and brain stem were completely devoid of the presence of the chip and its tendril-like 'net' that meshed with a subject's own natural neurological pathways. But something else caught her attention, and Julia zeroed in on it.

"Oh my God...!" Julia tensed, her fingers flexing almost imperceptibly on the Morganite.

"What?" Alonzo queried. "What do you see?"

"There's something that's been attacking the myelin sheath..."

"And what is that, exactly?" asked John, as an uncomfortable, crawling sensation wound its way through his stomach. He didn't like the sinister sound of the word 'attacking'; not when it had to do with Devon.

"It's what coats the axons of the neurons in our bodies," Julia mumbled distractedly.

"Why sure, of course that's what they are... Now tell us in layman's terms, Doc," John grumbled.

"The myelin sheath is - okay, think of it in terms of - of electrical insulation. You strip that away, you're going to have problems. Myelin helps with the transmission of impulses along our nerve pathways. What I'm seeing right now in Devon is demyelination..."

John's brow buckled. "Caused by what?"

Julia's lips formed a taut line. "Nothing natural." She removed her hand from the Morganite, turned off the scanner, and slipped the VR Gear from her head.

"'Nothing natural'? What does that mean?" John was staring at Julia, his features clouded in angry confusion, visible even in the limited illumination. He silently wondered why she was stopping. That couldn't be it; something was wrong. She finished too soon, hadn't she?

"Is your hand okay?" Alonzo asked softly, before Julia could answer the mechanic.

"It's fine," she responded. Then she turned to Danziger. "Devon's system has been compromised by something I've only seen in theoretical, computerized models. Even now, I'm still not sure I believe what I just saw."

"Quit being so shankin' cryptic!" John fumed. "What made Devon collapse?"

Julia looked between Alonzo and John. "I don't know how or when it happened, but there are millions of foreign bodies in Devon's system. They're dormant now because she is in a suspended state-"

"'Foreign bodies'," John repeated. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"If you'll let me finish," Julia said sternly, "by 'foreign bodies', I mean something that's not supposed to be there. From what I can tell, these foreign bodies are an evolutionary step in nanotechnology. And they've been programmed to do one thing: attack and destroy. These in particular have been stripping away the myelin coating of Devon's nerves. This would produce multiple symptoms, including some of the ones we observed."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" John asked.

Julia averted her eyes and her shoulders dropped. "There's nothing I can do. Someone, somewhere programmed those things to kill Devon... and I have no idea where to even start. I'm a doctor, not an engineer in the field of nanotechnology. The research being conducted back on the Stations for the medical applications of this sort of thing was still in its infancy when we left... Or so I thought..."

"You're saying someone - for lack of a better term - infected Devon with those ... nano-things before we left the Stations?"

Julia nodded gloomily. "It's the only thing that makes sense. It couldn't have happened here. There's been no one here who could have possibly done it."

"That's just shankin' terrific!" John blurted.

Julia looked at him helplessly. "I'm sorry, John... I wish I had a better answer... I just... I just – this is something I am totally ill-prepared to fix..."

The Ops crew leader sucked in a breath, sent a fleeting look heavenward, then expelled the air from his lungs. "You tried, Doc," he whispered, his voice gravelly and raw as sandpaper. He turned to climb the rungs to get out of Bennett's ship. "You tried. That's the best any of us can ask of you."

Julia bit down hard on her trembling lip. She could feel that awful, foreign feeling rising inside her again: emotional pain.

D*mn it, I'm not supposed to be able to be susceptible to these feelings, she thought, shocked to note that her tear ducts were starting to react as she felt the sting of the salty moisture. In shame, she turned away from Alonzo, not wanting him to see her loss of control.

"Hey, Julia," he said gently, "it's okay to feel... you're entitled to feel rotten about this..."

"I know," she mumbled in a quiet, low voice from deep inside her throat. "I'd just hoped that this would work; that I'd find an answer that would help restore Devon's health. But all I've done is confirm that she's still desperately ill, and that my skills are totally useless."

"Come on, Julia," Alonzo countered, pulling her gently towards him, forcing her to look at him. "We do know more than we did. We know now what's caused her to collapse like she did, and I think we have a pretty good idea who's behind it, too."

Julia pouted, having already privately come to the same conclusion Alonzo had. "The Council," she said with disdain.

"Yeah," the pilot replied. "My thoughts, exactly. Guess they really mean to thwart us at every turn, don't they?"

"I never saw that sinister side to the Council when I was on the Stations," Julia said with a shake of her head. "Never. I'd heard whispers, but... My mother was always there to explain away the discrepancies. There was always a counter-argument during the rare occasions I voiced a concern. I was so blind..."

"You weren't 'blind', Julia. You were just misled every step of the way."

"That's a rather naive way of looking at it," Julia said, chagrined. "...I was naive..."

Outside Bennett's ship, Danziger ran a hand over his forehead. The cheerful brightness of the sun seemed to mock him as darkness shrouded his heart.

You're a d*mned fool, John, he berated himself.

He pulled himself up to his full height and continued on towards the gathered members of the Eden crew, who were waiting expectantly just outside camp.

Yale's eyes were hidden behind his dark glasses, but there was an intensity about the older man that told John he was also on a razor's edge of anticipation.

Uly's face was bright and hopeful. The child left the tutor's side and dashed forward.

"Did Julia find out what's wrong with my mom?" he asked eagerly.

John looked pityingly at the boy. He also met the gazes of every other individual, his heart sinking as he knew he was about to dash their hopes as his had been minutes earlier.

"Yeah, Champ," John finally answered, dropping to one knee to be at eye-level with Uly. "She knows what's wrong."

Expressions of relief and joy erupted from the group. John knew he had to quickly put a stop to their preemptive celebration, as Alonzo and Julia exited Bennett's ship at that moment.

"But," he added, raising his voice above the din, "Julia has no way to treat Devon's condition."

A dead calm fell on the group as tongues were silenced in mid-sentence.

"John," Yale said in a controlled voice, "what did Julia find?"

The mechanic gave Ulysses a brief hug and a pat on the head before addressing Yale. He stood and cleared his throat. "Julia says that Devon's system is playing host to millions of foreign bodies. Some kind of nanotechnology, or somethin'."

"Nanotechnology?" Yale repeated. "How is this possible?"

Julia approached in silence, taking in the forlorn stares of the people she had come to call friends. Having heard Yale's question, she took a moment to formulate a reply before speaking. She steeled herself against her sorrow, and said: "I was able to see what's made Devon fall ill. At some unknown time, a rather aggressive form of nanotechnology – nano-bots, if you prefer – was introduced into Devon's body. I won't get into medical jargon, but they've done terrible damage to the vital networking material of Devon's nervous system."

"What?" Morgan Martin hissed. "How could this have happened? First there's these implants in our heads none of us knew about, and now tiny machines inside Devon's body no one knew about?! This is crazy. How do we know the rest of us don't have these nano-things inside us, too?"

Julia had to admit she didn't know. "We don't," she said earnestly. "The best I can do is scan everyone for the presence of the nano-bots, too."

There was an unsettled murmuring and muttering among the group.

"Is my mom still gonna be okay?" Uly asked tentatively.

The young doctor looked at the boy. "I think so, Uly. As long as she remains in stasis, so will the nano-bots. I just have no idea how to arrest their aggressive attacking mechanism, how to re-program them to stop, or even reverse what they've been doing. I don't dare wake her until I have those answers."

More expressions of dismay went up from the Eden crew.

Alonzo spoke up:"Look, everyone. We know what's wrong; we just don't know how to fix it. Yet."

"That's all well and good," Walman said, "but that doesn't answer the question of how this happened, or why. Who'd do something like this to Devon?"

Julia rolled her eyes in Uly's direction, telegraphing to the other man: not now.

"We'll discuss our options later," Alonzo said hurriedly, picking up the slack. "We don't want anyone to panic, right, Julia?"

"Right," she answered.

"Well, I for one want to know right now if my blood is teeming with things that shouldn't be there!" Morgan whined, then noticing Alonzo's glare: "Uh, we can talk about how they got there later...if there are any..."

The sun had already dipped below the horizon by the time Julia completed her scans of all the members of the Eden Advance crew. All her results came back negative for the presence of the nano-bots. Everyone was able to eat the evening meal in relative calm, and many of them slept peacefully, their personal fears assuaged.

The next morning dawned bright and clear, like so many other mornings in their particular region, but their meagre breakfast was eaten in silence. Hearts were still heavy over news that Devon's condition might not be rectified any time soon, and some were wondering if and when John Danziger would call for them to start moving forwards to New Pacifica.

Bess Martin volunteered to look out for True and Uly while the rest of the group met to discuss in detail Julia's findings and her suspicions, as well as John's thoughts on how they ought to proceed.

Yale had gone through his own repository on nanotechnology the night before, and had to sadly report that he had come up empty.

Julia voiced her concern that the Council somehow had a hand in Devon's illness, and her suspicion that the nano-bots had probably been programmed to become active after a particular time period had elapsed. "Whomever was responsible probably didn't take into account that Devon would be in cold-sleep for 22 light years," Julia posited.

"Another 'faction' we never heard about within the Council?" Morgan spat derisively.

Julia ignored the implied barb. "Yes. Probably," she replied honestly. "If someone – someone like Dyson Blalock, for instance – wanted to curry favor with the higher-ups, that someone could have found a way to administer the nano-bots in an attempt to assassinate her. To a lot of Council members, Devon was a thorn in their collective side for years with her plans to re-locate Syndrome families to G889."

"I can't believe you used to work for those people," Morgan muttered.

"Let's not dredge up the past, huh?" John said. "What's done is done."

"Yeah," Magus agreed. "Julia's made it clear she's done with the Council."

Julia sent grateful looks to the pair. Alonzo draped a protective arm around her, and sent a dark look Morgan's way.

"Hey," he squeaked, raising his arms defensively, "I'm just saying! I was a civil servant back on the Stations. I'd hear things! I know that the Council had a hand in everything – good and bad."

"Morgan," John snapped, "can it."

Morgan shut his mouth.

The group discussed at length what their next move should be, and John declared they'd spent enough time camped in the area around Bennett's ship.

"Since it's clear there's nothing we can do for Devon now, we need to get goin'," he said. "New Pacifica isn't coming to us, and those colonists are gonna be expecting accommodation."

"About that, John," Alonzo started, suddenly remembering the spider-tunnel he'd encountered, "while I was searching for the Morganite yesterday, I found another one of those vacuum currents. I think we should explore the possibility that it leads to the west coast before we leave the area."

Julia expressed her surprise. "How come you never said anything about this earlier?"

"I tried to at the time," Alonzo said. "For some reason, those caves prevent the Gear signal from transmitting... and it left my mind over all the excitement about finding out what was wrong with Devon."

John, however, was unimpressed. Thoughts of getting trapped in a cramped tunnel invaded his thoughts. His own experience with the spider-tunnels hadn't been terribly positive. "No one's going anywhere in those spider caves," he said.

"This doesn't sound like you, John," Julia chided. "You're not usually the one to play it safe."

"Look, Doc," he said, "I didn't ask to be saddled with the responsibility of seeing you all through to New Pacifica. We've already lost enough people on this journey. I'm not losin' anybody else."

"But, John," Alonzo cut in, "if those tunnels are a way to New Pacifica, we're wasting an opportunity -"

"Yeah, and those tunnels could also be a way right into the middle of the ocean, or inside a cave wall."

"Let's put it to a vote," Magus said diplomatically, sensing a face-off was looming.

Cameron and Baines nodded.

"I vote to just forget about the caves and move along like we've been moving," Walman said.

"Me, too," Denner said softly.

"That's two," John said. "Anybody got anything different to say?"

"I think we should consider giving the tunnels a try," Julia ventured.

"Of course you would," Morgan said with a scoff and a roll of the eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Julia retorted.

"Well, it was only your boyfriend's suggestion in the first place," he said.

"That's not why," she tried to argue, but realized it would be futile. The rest of the group seemed to be reaching the consensus that moving onwards to New Pacifica and forgetting the caves was the way to proceed.

Cameron, Mazatl, Baines, Morgan, Yale and Magus were also all in favour of travelling on as per usual.

"That's everyone except you two," John said to Alonzo and Julia, after taking a tally.

"And I know Bess would agree with my decision," Morgan added eagerly.

Alonzo looked disappointed, but conceded to the majority. "Fine. The group has decided," he said graciously. Julia remained silent, pushing back an odd worry that suddenly troubled her mind.

"Fine," John said, relieved the democratic process had gone so smoothly. "We leave first thing tomorrow morning. Pack up anything you don't need today. Anyway, you know the drill..."

The meeting adjourned, and Julia went off to her tent with Alonzo following closely behind.

"Something's eating at you," he said to her once they were out of earshot.

Julia sighed and hugged her arms to her sides. "I can't put my finger on it," she answered. "I just feel like we're being watched. I feel like no matter where I turn, the Council is there. They were there for my conception, genetic manipulation and birth. They were on the Stations to oversee my upbringing and education. They were on the Advance Ship in the bomb and in Alex Wentworth's compulsion chip. They've been here on G889, and most likely still are – wherever Reilly's hiding. At any rate, they're present in EVE, monitoring us from orbit. I just can't escape them."

Alonzo looked at Julia with a helpless expression. "Come here," he said, and she allowed him to hold her. She leaned her head against his strong shoulder, confused once again by the emotions that were raging inside her. No words could put to flight the demons of worry plaguing her mind, but somehow Alonzo's presence made things more bearable. They stood together like that for a long time.

After lunch, Alonzo made the solitary trek back to the caves to return the Morganite specimen after assuring John that he wouldn't also take a detour through the spider tunnels. While most of the other group members started the task of packing items that would not be needed during the night, Julia sat at her workbench, reviewing the results of the scans she'd done of Devon. She soon became totally absorbed in her work, as she was wont to do, and time slipped away.

A sudden cacophony broke out from the camp, snapping Julia's concentration. It sounded like everyone was suddenly scrambling madly around.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh shank!"

She heard the unmistakable expletive come from Walman's mouth.

"Get down!"

That's Magus, Julia thought, as she stood up in a flash from her workbench.

"Take cover!"

Baines.

"Someone help me get Walman to Julia!"

Cameron.

"Daddy!"

True.

"I'm okay, True-girl! Just sit tight with Yale and Uly. Do not move until I tell you to, okay?"

John.

"Ulysses! Stay down. True, come!"

Yale.

Julia's mind was a turbulent whirlwind of competing thoughts and memories. This was starting to sound like a replay of what had transpired when they encountered the Z.E.D. unit so many months ago.

Oh, God, please tell me it's not another one of those emotionless killers... She dared not leave her tent to look outside, deciding that it would not be prudent to place herself in unnecessary peril. She already guessed that Walman was hurt; how badly, she didn't know. She hurriedly prepared a pain-block vial for the hypo-spray, and slipped on her diaglove. Her preparations were well-timed as a moment later, Cameron and Mazatl appeared at the entrance of the Med-Tent, supporting an injured Walman.

"We're under attack," Cameron grunted. "We think it's another Z.E.D.!"

"Put him down right away," Julia said, indicating one of the cots. She tried to push back the fear that the attack originated from a Z.E.D. unit as Cameron surmised. Walman's face was a mask of pain, and his left leg dangled uselessly. There was a hole in his trousers that was clearly caused by a bullet – a bullet that was still embedded in his leg.

Cameron and Mazatl complied with Julia's request, and they hefted their friend to the cot.

"Get this bullet out of me now, Doc," Walman managed to say through clenched teeth, cheeks puffing.

"I will," Julia said calmly, as her genetic engineering predisposed her to keeping cool in a medical crisis. "I'm going to administer a pain-block, because I need you to keep absolutely still. We know from past experience that the less you move, the less it hurts."

Walman's jaw was working, and his fists were tight balls; knuckles white. A sheen of perspiration covered his agony-creased brow. "Do whatever! Shank, this hurts!"

Cameron fingered his beard nervously, and Mazatl stood back in silence, allowing Julia access. With a smooth hiss, the medication entered Walman's system, and moments later, he became more relaxed.

Julia examined the site of the entry wound, which was just above the left knee. The Ops crew member's clothing was already stained with his blood, but Julia was relieved to note that not much had been lost.

"Laser cut," Julia instructed the diaglove. The device complied instantly. A neat incision appeared as she glided the finger along the surface of Walman's thigh, separating skin and muscle.

"Do you feel anything?" Julia asked, always conscious of her patient's comfort level.

"Nothin'," Walman answered, almost dreamily. "Didja find it?"

"Yes," Julia said, concentrating intensely, "I almost have it."

"Good," he answered, awash with relief.

Julia's fears that it was indeed a Z.E.D. firing at them were confirmed when she noticed the tell-tale feature of the killer cyborgs' choice in ammunition: the incendiary worm bullet.

"Got it," she triumphantly exclaimed, pulling out the offending projectile with a pair of forceps. A grimace crossed her face as she held it up. No matter how many times she saw them, the sight of the slowly revolving, bore-like bullets always made her stomach roil in disgust.

"Give it to me!" Cameron said, desperate to be rid of the thing. He yanked it from the forceps and made a mad dash for the opening of the tent.

"Be careful!" Julia yelled after him.

Outside the tent, the rest of the Eden Advance crew hunkered down between stacked storage crates, vehicles, and machinery. Bess and Yale huddled with the children. Magus, Baines and Danziger crouched in positions throughout the camp, Magpros on the ground within arm's reach. They'd learned from their earlier encounter with the Z.E.D. unit who'd taken John captive that armed members of a group were usually the first to be targeted.

Gayle Denner and Morgan Martin had taken refuge next to the TransRover, and were eventually joined by Mazatl.

"Zero! What do you read?!" John hissed at the robot.

"I read motion. There are seven individuals, west-northwest, approximately fifteen-hundred meters away," Zero's mechanical voice advised. "Moving east-southeast at an approximate rate of two meters per second."

"Great," John muttered.

Seven of them, all probably armed to the teeth. We're sitting ducks here.

They'd already come through so much... to be under attack again was almost too much to bear. The second that Zero had raised the alarm several minutes ago, warning of an incoming projectile, the whole camp had panicked. Then Walman had been struck, and John had all kinds of flashbacks to his ordeal with the one killer Council cyborg who'd interrogated him after having shot him. He absent-mindedly rubbed that thigh, though the wound had long since healed.

John wondered about the seven individuals Zero had been able to pin-point. Could they all be Z.E.D.s? Was it possible they were hunting in groups? He'd seen Cameron dash out of the Med-Tent tent and away from the camp. He correctly guessed the man had gone to dispose of an incendiary bullet.

Was it also possible the seven were penal colonists? There were so many unknown variables on this planet.

"Warning," Zero's vocal simulation announced, "incoming projectile..."

A sudden yell of pain fractured the already fragile psyche of the group.

"Who's hit?" John bellowed, strain evident in his voice, but there was no answer. He cast quick, careful looks around camp. When he didn't initially see anyone down, he tried a roll call.

"Sound off!" he shouted. He called all the Ops crew members' names first, and was met with silence when he called Cameron's.

"D*mn it, Cameron!" John swore. "Where is he?"

"I saw him taking off in that direction," Magus yelled, pointing west. "I think he was going to get rid of the bullet Julia pulled from Walman!"

"Somebody's gotta go get him!" Baines said, worry drenching his words.

"Stay put!" John warned. "Nobody's moving yet."

"But John, he needs help now!" Magus pleaded.

Movement caught John's eye. Cameron staggered back into camp, clutching his left bicep, blood streaming between his fingers. "I've been hit," he mumbled.

Magus broke cover and went to assist the bearded man. "Come on," she said encouragingly, "let's get you to Julia."

"Keep your heads down!" John barked. "For God's sake, don't give 'em somethin' to aim for!"

"I'm running out of cots," Julia said wryly, as Magus presented the hurt Cameron.

Julia disinfected her hands, and followed the same routine with Cameron as she had with Walman.

Knowing that the Z.E.D.s were programmed to eliminate the largest, armed males first, Yale decided it would be safest for the children to be with an unarmed female inside a tent, which at least afforded the illusion of protection.

"Go to the Med-Tent and stay with Julia!" Yale ordered forcefully, and the children knew it was not open for discussion. "Do not come out until one of us tells you it is safe!"

True and Uly took off for the doctor's tent without a word of protest.

Julia took in their pale, terrified faces, and tried to allay her own fears. With Walman and Cameron out of commission with the sedatives she'd administered, they would be absolutely useless in a fight.

And I don't even have a weapon, she thought in desperation.

The fact that they'd barely been able to get a jump on the Z.E.D. unit the last time was only due to careful planning and stealth, and even then the plan had almost completely backfired. Julia remembered that the cyborg could very easily have killed Baines had she not bluffed her way into making it think she was in good standing with the Council. Even though she'd been swift when she pressed the hypo-spray to the non-armoured patch at the base of its skull, the brute still had lightning-fast reflexes that surprised her, and she'd paid the price with a snapped wrist.

No, Julia knew that this time around, it would be too dangerous to attempt a ruse on her own.

The children clung to the young doctor as the trio huddled together in the tent behind a heavy piece of medical equipment, waiting for word that it was safe to exit.

Julia had tried earlier to raise Alonzo on Gear, but to no avail. She'd hoped to contact him; warn him... Her Gear was sitting on her workbench, and she wasn't about to move from her position just to retrieve it, even though the thought had crossed her mind.

The sounds coming from outside the tent in the camp were becoming unbearable to hear. There were yells and screams accompanied by the sound of Magpro fire and other assorted weaponry.

Julia closed her eyes, and tried not to put visuals to what she was hearing, but it did little good. After so many months of travelling together with the same group of people, she could easily identify the characteristic timbres and pitches of their voices. These were her friends who were crying out in pain and terror, the very same friends she had sworn to protect. And every cry and every weapon blast was like a bullet to her own heart. It sounded like an all-out massacre, and any minute, she feared her hiding-place with the children, Walman, and Cameron, would be uncovered.

"Julia," True whimpered, her eyes brimming with tears, "why are they shooting at us?"

"I don't know," Julia answered carefully, her mind growing increasingly frantic about their chances for survival.

"I'm scared," True gulped, then whispered: "...I think my dad...I think my dad's been... I heard him, and then..."

The tent flap suddenly snapped open, and a tall, imposing figure was silhouetted against the afternoon sun.

True shrieked, and Uly sucked in a ragged breath. He tightened his grip on Julia's arm, burrowing his head against her side. She could feel both youngsters trembling uncontrollably.

"Stand and be identified."

The voice of a Z.E.D. unit was unmistakeably flat and lacking in any kind of empathy, and the one standing before them was pointing its weapon at them.

"Uly; True, stay behind me when I get up," Julia instructed in a low whisper, then mustered all the courage she possessed. She gently disengaged herself from the children and said in a hushed tone: "It's okay... I have a plan..."

She shakily stood from behind the piece of medical equipment and faced the emotionless menace.

"Z.E.D. unit," she raised her voice, projecting confidence she did not at the moment feel she possessed, "stand down. I am Council appointee Dr. Julia Heller, I.D. Delta 04917."

The Z.E.D. seemed slightly confused, then regained its composure. "That is a physician's code... Accessing... Dr. Julia Heller, Council appointee assigned to monitor the Eden Project. Tasked with procuring the child, Ulysses Adair, for the purposes of advancing the goals of the Council... Penal codes associated with Dr. Julia Heller... Julia Heller, you are to be taken into custody where you will await execution for your numerous crimes against the Council."

Julia stiffened as she heard the cyborg recite a litany of 'charges' she had allegedly committed in violation of Council laws and statutes.

"I'm not going anywhere," Julia declared. "And you're not taking this boy, either."

"You have no authority here, physician," the cyborg's monotone was starting to annoy Julia. "Surrender or be killed."

"No!" True wailed.

"Be still," Julia admonished with a subtle flick of her hand. But the girl jumped up impulsively, and railed at the Z.E.D., kicking at it, flailing her arms, pounding at its armoured body with her small fists.

"True! Stop!" Julia shouted in dismay, terrified for the girl's safety. Julia lunged forward to pull True away from the cyborg. Like a giant swatting away a gnat, the Z.E.D. shoved True aside, sending her cartwheeling away through the air. She slammed bodily into the workbench, and slumped to the ground.

"True!" Julia and Uly cried in unison as the girl remained quite still.

"You will stop this defiance," the Z.E.D.'s toneless voice grated on Julia's ears. She was about to move to attend to the unconscious True when she felt the soldier's hand on her shirt, restraining her. In a swift, fluid motion, it lifted her off the ground and brought her face-to-face, closing a hand around her throat.

"Put her down!" Uly's pleas reached Julia's ears. "Don't hurt her!"

Julia was gagging and gasping for breath, and could see into one of the empty, soulless eyes of the Council super-soldier. The other eye was hidden, covered with a cybernetic optical enhancement. She then realised that the Z.E.D. wasn't actually strangling her; just maintaining a secure hold. Julia knew kicking or striking the Z.E.D. would be futile. If it wanted to, it could instantly snap her neck much like the other Z.E.D. had snapped her wrist. She was trapped.

"I see you understand that it is useless to fight, physician," the Z.E.D. said. "Instruct the boy to cooperate now, and perhaps the Council will be lenient with you."

"Mr. Walman! Mr. Cameron! You have to get up! Julia's in trouble!" Uly tried to rouse the sedated men. Julia heard his panicked terror, and it cut her to the core.

Instruct Uly to cooperate? Julia thought of the Z.E.D.'s unusual word choice. Then it dawned on her: the Z.E.D. had most likely been programmed not to harm Uly in any way.

"Uly," Julia managed to choke out, still held aloft by the soldier, "you have to get out of here. It won't hurt you. I think it's part of its programming. The Council needs you alive."

"Very perceptive, Citizen." An amused voice just outside the tent caused Julia's blood to run cold.

The tent flap parted, and in stepped the Watcher.

"Reilly," Julia breathed. Her stomach did a somersault, and his icy smile sent shock waves through her.

Even after all her own ruminations and theorizing, there had still been a tiny part of her that hoped the Council member was all a creation of a berserk satellite A.I. Now, she knew with certainty that he existed in flesh and blood.

"I told you I'd find you, Citizen," he chided, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "At last, we meet in person."

Uly cowered by Cameron's bedside, and stared up at Reilly with wide eyes.

"You must be U-lyss-es Ad-air," Reilly crooned, stressing the consonants in the child's name and stretching the vowels, as if savouring the sounds.

"Don't you touch him!" Julia exclaimed hoarsely.

"My dear, sweet, treasonous Doctor Heller," the Council member tsk-ed, returning his gaze to her, "your affection for the boy and the rest of this rag-tag gang of misguided fools has been your undoing. And you had so much promise. The Council invested quite heavily in your future, Julia. Your mother will be extremely disappointed that her legacy has been so tarnished."

"My mother is living out her retirement years on the Stations by now, if she's even still alive at all," Julia ground out. She was starting to grow weary of being suspended in the air by the Z.E.D., but the cyborg showed no signs of tiring of the uncomfortable position whatsoever.

Reilly had a look of amusement on his face. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Citizen," he chortled, the skin around his eyes crinkling as he smiled.

"What do you mean by that?" Julia frowned in confusion.

"After today, it won't matter to you one way or another," Reilly said, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal.

"How did you find us?" Julia asked, trying another stalling tactic. "Was it EVE? Is she monitoring us through our neural implants?"

Reilly's smile intensified. "EVE has the capability of monitoring you all from orbit. But there are natural black-out zones and areas that she can't detect you. That little problem was compounded when Bennett's little virus started playing havoc with her systems. When she started going on the fritz during that last winter, we lost all contact with her from the surface. That was a problem, because we still had scant information on where you were. Out of self-preservation, EVE implemented two strategies before the virus completely crashed her critical systems. First, she started broadcasting a looping VR signal, hoping to snare someone with it and entice them to wake Bennett. The other was to amplify the biostat monitoring signal. That, unfortunately for all of you, adversely affected your health. But once the fix was uploaded, we were back in business, so to speak. And now, here I am, ready to take what belongs to the Council."

"He doesn't 'belong' to anyone but his mother," Julia said through clenched teeth, appalled at Reilly's audacity.

He ignored her comment, moved past her and the Z.E.D. and stalked towards Uly.

"Uly, run!" Julia heard her voice breaking.

The child scurried away from Reilly, but the Council member was fast. He deftly snatched at Uly, and managed to get a hand on the collar of his sweater.

"Gotcha!"

"Julia!" Uly called out.

"Leave him alone!" Julia yelled desperately. "If anything happens to him, humans will never be able to settle here! Reilly, you can't control this planet!"

Reilly did not dignify Julia's warning with a response.

Uly wriggled under Reilly's steel-like grip, trying to free himself, demanding to be let go, but the man merely smirked at his vain, ineffectual efforts. He approached Julia's workbench instead, and pored quickly over the contents. His eyes moved past Julia's Gear, and finally found what he was looking for. He picked up a hypo-spray, already loaded with a sedative capsule, and pressed it against Uly's neck.

Julia heard the gentle hiss of the spray, and then silence. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Hmm," Reilly observed, "that's much better. I think I like him much more when he's quiet. Don't you?"

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to shake.

Two Terrians emerged, their staffs charged with the strange and terrifying lightning.

Julia caught a glimpse of them through her peripheral vision, and her heart leaped when she saw them appear.

Uly must have summoned them on the Dreamplane. They won't let Reilly take him!

Momentarily startled, Reilly froze in place, and stared at the Terrians with a mix of horror and fascination. The creatures' mouths opened, and they vocalized something in their own language.

"I don't understand you," Reilly said condescendingly, "but the boy is mine. Now go back to wherever you came from! Get!"

One Terrian cocked its head to one side, the staff in its hand crackling with energy. It reached out to the sedated boy with the other hand.

Reilly swung Uly aside possessively. "Back off!" he snapped. "You don't know who you're dealing with."

"Reilly, let Uly go," Julia begged, her throat dry and raw. "The Terrians have a connection with him that you won't be able to find under a microscope!"

The pair of Terrians produced another series of low, lyrical sounds together, and joined their staffs. The tips glowed more brightly at the point of contact as the charge built to maximum levels.

Even though Julia didn't understand their 'words', she could almost sense the meaning, and she perceived the Terrians had just issued Reilly an ultimatum; a sort of 'last chance before we fire' warning.

Also realising what was about to happen, Reilly shouted to the Z.E.D.: "Shoot them, now!"

"No!" Julia cried. But without hesitation, the deadly cyborg drew a weapon, took aim, and shot the first Terrian while still maintaining its hold on Julia. The creature shrieked upon being struck, and immediately sank into the earth. The next instant, the second Terrian was also hit, and it quickly followed its kin below the surface, letting out a bass-note groan.

"Well, that's more like it. Filthy creatures," a more composed Reilly mused with a sneer. "Their kind will be eradicated from this planet – as soon as we find out what makes Ulysses Adair tick."

Julia felt a torrent of hot, fiery rage building inside her. It coursed through her veins, and sought full release and expression. I will not allow you to butcher Uly! I will not allow you to slaughter an entire race of beings! In a moment of clarity, she knew what she had to do.

With a sudden motion, Julia thrust her diaglove-clad hand into the Z.E.D.'s face, deliberately jabbing her finger in its exposed eye. "Laser cut!" she commanded.

"Stop, physician!" the Z.E.D. droned.

"What are you doing?!" Reilly demanded in a loud voice.

Julia heard a hiss and a pop, and felt the membrane give way as the laser burned through the conjunctiva. She grimaced as she shoved her finger deeper inside the cyborg's eye socket, pushing through the gelatinous vitreous humour.

"St-stop-stop-op, physician-nan-nan-an..." it stuttered.

I hope the laser is frying your brains and your programming, Julia thought angrily, somewhat discomfited that the killer soldier wasn't struggling in any way, or showing any signs of suffering pain from its now destroyed eyeball. Then the nauseating stench of burning brain matter entered her nostrils, coupled with disquieting sounds of fizzling...

"Citizen Heller, stop this now!" Reilly roared.

The Z.E.D. convulsed once, and its limbs started contracting and seizing. Its face twitched involuntarily, and Julia's air supply was cut off as the cyborg's hand clenched more tightly. Julia was being slowly asphyxiated, but still kept the glove's laser function running.

"You're killing it!" Reilly howled furiously.

That's the idea, you idiot, Julia thought with grim satisfaction. I just hope I kill it before it kills me!

Reilly made a decisive move towards the pair, but stopped in his tracks as the Z.E.D. let out a guttural groan, shuddered, and then pitched forward and collapsed to ground, pinning Julia beneath him.

Reilly was livid. "You've just added wilful murder to your lengthy list of crimes against the Council, Citizen," he spat venomously.

Julia couldn't answer. She was being smothered by the dead cyborg, and she could feel her hold on consciousness slowly slipping. The hand that was closed around her throat had jarred loose when the Z.E.D. had fallen, but now his shoulder was pressed against her nose and mouth. Her diagloved arm was awkwardly caught between the ground and the Z.E.D., and Julia could feel that her finger was still uncomfortably embedded deep in his eye socket.

She tried to shove the cyborg's head aside with little success, but every push granted her a little more breathing space.

"Laser function: terminate," she mumbled, when she was at last able to draw an unobstructed breath.

Julia heard Reilly exhale in frustration. She couldn't see where he was, but knew he was hovering nearby. Then his shadow darkened what little she could see, as he blocked the slanted rays of the afternoon sunlight that were streaming through the partially-open tent flap.

She raised her eyes, and saw Reilly standing over her, Uly slung under one arm, limply hanging at his hip. He was holding the Z.E.D.'s pistol with his free hand. It was pointed at her forehead.

"I suppose I could just execute you right here," he said airily, pausing to let his words take the desired effect. "I could shoot you in the head and that would be the end of it. But you know what I think? That would be too merciful a death for you...I wonder how long it's been since that first worm bullet was fired? Since they were all fired? I doubt you've been keeping count of how many minutes have elapsed. Even so, you can't know with absolute certainty.

"So, here's what I'm going to do: I'm going to take our boy, and leave you here to ponder with what little time you have left all the things that might have been, if you'd only been obedient to the will of the Council. Yes, I think that will make a most fitting and satisfactory punishment. You see, pretty soon, all those incendiary bullets that are still lodged in the limbs of your dead friends will detonate; it's inevitable. I told you once you'd die running, Citizen. It seems I was wrong about that. Instead, you're simply going to die in a pathetic heap on the ground, disgraced, dishonoured, in the middle of nowhere."

Without further fanfare, Reilly turned around and retreated with Uly.

"Reilly!" Julia hollered, though her voice was still muffled against the Z.E.D.'s shoulder. "Reilly... Stop! You can't take Uly! Reilly...!"

Julia struggled again to shove the dead Council assassin off herself. Survival mode had kicked in, and she could hear her pulse pounding in her ears.

This can't be happening! I can't let them win!

'You see, pretty soon, all those incendiary bullets that are still lodged in the limbs of your dead friends will detonate; it's inevitable.'

Reilly's words mocked her, and Julia felt hot tears stinging her eyes. The crushing dead-weight of the Z.E.D. was inconsequential in relation to the weight pressing on her heart, mind and soul. Her friends were dead; murdered by a ruthless organization that sought ultimate control of everything – everything that she had vowed to herself she would protect and preserve as long as she lived.

Alonzo.

Julia's heart skipped a beat.

Alonzo was still out there! Bitter tears of heartbreak flowed. If Alonzo somehow managed to avoid detection, he would come back to find nothing - nothing but empty craters and a series of blackened blast zones. The incendiary bullets would see to that.

No! It mustn't happen like that! Julia's mind raged in protest. Her tears stopped, and again she pushed with all her might against the Z.E.D.

But no matter how hard she shoved, her efforts came to naught. The Z.E.D. was simply too heavy, and she didn't have the proper leverage.

A soft moan caught her attention before she was able to sink into total defeat.

"True?!" Julia called out hopefully. The girl was starting to stir! "True, can you hear me?"

"Mm-mm...hmm?"

"Please, True, try to wake up! You have to!" Julia tried not to sound hysterical. She honestly didn't know how long they had before the first bullet Cameron had disposed of would go off, nor the rest of the bullets. She didn't want True to be around when they exploded.

"Oww...Julia, my head hurts," True groaned.

"It's okay, True," Julia said soothingly. "You're going to be okay."

"Julia!" True gasped, as she sat up and saw the doctor trapped beneath the dead super-soldier. She could see the top of Julia's blonde head, eyes and nose, but not much else of her.

"I'm okay, True," Julia reassured the girl. "I'm not hurt. I'm just stuck."

"Is it – is it dead?" True asked in trepidation.

"Oh, he's quite dead," Julia said reassuringly.

True approached and started yanking at one of the cyborg's arms, hoping to help, but she could barely budge that single limb.

"Ugh! It's like this thing weighs a ton!" she exclaimed. "I can't move him, Julia."

Julia hid her crushing disappointment. She'd also hoped the girl could offer assistance in moving the carcass. Now she knew this was not going to happen.

"Don't worry about the Z.E.D.," Julia finally said.

"What's happened to Uly?" True asked fearfully, her brown eyes roving around the tent. "Where is he?"

Julia sighed sadly. "Reilly," she whispered. "I couldn't stop him..."

"What about everyone else?" True queried.

"I-I don't know," Julia answered, "I haven't been able to see outside the tent – wait, True, no! Don't look!"

The girl had been about to run outside, and Julia was relieved that she paused before going any further.

"True," Julia said, tone gravely serious, "listen to me: you have to leave the camp right now. Head for the Morganite caves. Do not stop for anything, do you understand me? Run. Don't stop until you find Alonzo. He should be on his way back. Tell him that the Council... tell him Reilly was here, and that we were attacked by the Z.E.D.s. He also needs to know that two Terrians were shot with worm bullets. If they're not taken care of... I have no idea what would happen with an underground detonation..."

"Julia, I can't leave you and Walman and Cameron!"

"Yes, you can!" Julia countered. "You have to. Those worm bullets are going to go off anytime now, and they're going to obliterate everything in their blast zone."

True's lip was quivering, her eyes shining with tears. "But..." she protested weakly.

"You're a brave girl, True Danziger," Julia said encouragingly, "and you're strong, just like your father. He raised you to be smart and resilient, and you are. You can do this."

The girl swiped at a tear that had fallen down her cheek. She sniffed once, then squared her little shoulders.

"Okay," she said, drawing a shaky breath.

"Good girl," Julia commended. "Remember what I said: Don't stop for anything. Reilly could still be monitoring, but he's already got what he came for. He won't be looking for you, at least."

True nodded resolutely. Her face was terribly stricken but very solemn as she said: "Good-bye Julia," and turned to exit the tent.

"True." Julia called out one last time, mentally kicking herself for selfishly delaying the child even a single second longer than necessary.

"Yes?"

"Tell Alonzo... tell Alonzo I love him...and that I'm sorry that I...I..." She couldn't finish her sentence.

True gave a sad smile. "It's okay. I promise I'll tell him," she said, and took off running.

Julia released the breath she'd been holding when she could no longer hear True's footfalls. She closed her eyes and waited silently for death.

She tensed when she heard the first explosion, indicating the bullet Cameron had disposed of had reached the end of its hour-long cycle.

A few seconds later, she heard the beeping of her Gear from the workbench, and knew it could only be one person attempting contact.

Alonzo... My love...

Her thoughts settled on their first real contact after their cold-sleep capsules brought them out of a 22-year hibernation. He'd been cocky and presumptuous, and had tried to make a pass, offering that they go 'celebrate life' together before everyone else woke. She'd rejected him immediately. Her mind was already full of her responsibilities, and of her own hidden demons. 'Celebrating life' was not on her list of duties and priorities, and certainly not a part of her Council agenda.

She heard another unsettling 'boom' from the bullet that had struck Cameron. Magus had taken care of that one, but hadn't gone very far out of camp out of fear of the Z.E.D.s. The ensuing tremor rattled the equipment in the tent. She could feel the shock waves reverberate through the ground and through her body.

Not much longer now, Julia thought in quiet resignation of her fate.

My loyalty lies with the Eden Project, and all the members who rely on me for their health and well-being.

I broke their trust once, and thankfully regained it.

I will not break it again.

I'd rather die first.

Julia heard the Gear chirping again.

Oh, Alonzo... You reminded me of that conversation we had so long ago... How I revealed to you I didn't want to feel things for you that you didn't feel for me... that I didn't want you to break my heart.

You said again that you weren't going to break it...and I believed you.

I never thought I'd be the one to break yours...

Julia did not hear the final series of explosions that instantly eradicated the entire Eden Project camp.

Alonzo Solace was cutting across the desert terrain at a moderate rate when he heard a far-off eruption of some kind. He slowed the ATV and came to a stop. In the distance, he saw a cloud of dust rising. His breath caught in his throat.

That came from the direction of the camp... Without aid of the Jumper monocular, he wasn't able to pinpoint the precise location. Still, every nerve was on edge. He keyed his Gear and tried to reach Julia.

"Solace to base camp... Julia, do you read?'

Silence.

He waited a few more tense moments, not for a moment believing she could actually be taking a nap.

"Doc, come in..."

Silence. He kept staring towards base camp, willing someone to answer his call.

"Julia, please..." he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

He slipped off the device and scrutinized it, making sure it was in working order. Satisfied there was nothing wrong with it after turning it over in his hands several times, he placed it back on his head.

A sudden, distant flash of light drew is attention, then the roar of another explosion finally reached his ears. A cold, dreadful feeling crept up his spine, coupled with the certainty that something was very amiss. Some part of his brain went numb, preventing him from thinking about anything other than reaching base camp and Julia.

He keyed the Gear once more. When he again received no reply, he wrenched the communications device from his head and flung it down in the sand in anger. He was close to hyperventilating, and his shoulders heaved as he tried to steady his breathing.

After a few moments when he'd calmed enough, he bent down and retrieved the Gear.

He slipped it back on and once again tried to get in touch with the Eden Advance crew.

"Solace to base camp... does anyone read?!" Desperation turned his voice into a high-pitched cry.

Frantic now, Alonzo engaged the ATV and pressed it to maximum speed. He hadto get back to the camp... All instincts about danger or safety shut down, and all energy was diverted to keeping the vehicle going at top speed. He'd deal with John Danziger's anger over his recklessness later.

On the horizon, Alonzo thought he caught a flicker of movement. It was a mere smudge against the background of dirt and sky, but it looked to him like it was in motion.

He kept going, knowing that whatever it was he had sighted would eventually meet up with him at some point. The smudge on the horizon kept getting closer, and a small part of Alonzo's consciousness idly wondered if it was a lone Grendler, out on its daily gatherer-trader wanderings. But it was too small to be a Grendler, he realised.

True?

Alonzo squinted. Heat waves shimmered, distorting his view as sand and sky melded together.

Yes, it was definitely True Danziger, and she was running.

A new series of explosions lit up the afternoon sky.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Alonzo counted as the sounds ripped through the air, ominously rumbling like distant thunder.

He could clearly see True, now. He pulled the ATV to a stop and continued on foot to meet her.

"Mr. Solace!" she choked out breathlessly.

He saw her pale, tear-stained face.

"True! What happened?!" he cried as she crashed into him, throwing her arms around his middle. She held on to him as if her very life depended on it.

Her sobs distressed him greatly. Alonzo carefully pushed her back and knelt so he was eye-to-eye with the girl. There was sheer terror reflected there.

"True," he said steadily, trying not to further traumatize her, "tell me what happened!"

True sniffled, swallowed and took several moments to catch her breath. Tears continued to stream from her puffy, swollen eyes.

Alonzo was at a loss as to how to comfort her; he couldn't ever remember having to soothe a child. He was already terribly worried himself.

"There- there were Z.E.D.s... They came and they shot Walman and Cameron!"

"What!" Alonzo shouted.

True nodded. "And then Yale made me and Uly go stay with Julia..."

Alonzo gripped True's shoulders more tightly than he intended upon hearing Julia's name. "Is Julia alright?" he asked.

"She told me to find you," True answered. "She killed one of the Z.E.D.s, but she was trapped underneath his body..."

"All those explosions," Alonzo started to say, and True dissolved into tears again.

"I think everyone is dead," she whispered sorrowfully. Then, an almost guilty-sounding whisper: "I saw their bodies..."

The pilot bit down hard, trying to stave off the scream of overwhelming grief, fury and disbelief that was building inside. His neck muscles went taut with the strain, and he shut his eyes tightly.

"No," he spat, shaking his head vehemently. "No!"

True looked at him fearfully; watched him clench and unclench his fists. She was completely incapable of dealing with his rage. "Julia told me to tell you that it was Reilly; that it was the Council. They took Uly."

Alonzo shot a sharp glance at her. "The Council! They took Uly?!" he repeated, barely over the shock of the revelation that the Council had been responsible for the attack.

"And Julia also said that the Z.E.D. shot two Terrians with worm bullets. She was afraid of what would happen if they exploded underground."

"I'm going back right now," Alonzo stated, almost as if he hadn't heard True's last statement.

"But... what if they're watching? What if they're waiting?" True was shaking.

"I said I'm going back!" Alonzo snarled, and made to return to the ATV.

The girl flinched as if she'd been struck, her mouth caught frozen open in silent protest. She called after him: "I don't want you to go back there. Please, don't leave me. I don't want to go back!"

When he didn't stop or respond to her plea, she jogged after him and caught him, arms encircling his waist, hoping to slow him down. "Don't gooooooo..." she wailed, as her feet dragged an uneven trail in the dust.

Alonzo stopped and sighed in resignation. "I have to go back, True. I need to know for sure..." He swallowed the lump in his throat and pried the girl's arms off himself.

I have to know for sure if Julia... He looked down at the shell-shocked expression on True's face, and was moved by the utter sense of loss he perceived. He knew he couldn't abandon her.

"We'll go together," he finally said.

"Okay," True whispered, and rubbed her face with her heels of her hands.

Alonzo sat in the driver's seat, and True clambered up behind him. She braced herself there, holding onto the struts of the ATV for support. They had just started rolling when the ground ahead of them was disturbed, and four, five, six Terrians shot to the surface.

"What the-" Alonzo exclaimed, and hit the brakes. The vehicle shuddered in protest and stopped a mere foot from the row of indigenous life-forms.

Before Alonzo could say another word, he was transported to the Dreamplane.

Dozens of the local Terrian tribe moved about and encircled him, dance-like, trilling and twittering. An unspecified multitude of emotions swelled around Alonzo and pressed upon him until he felt he could bear no more.

"Stop this!" Alonzo cried out, holding his head. "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

But the confused communication between the two species did not cease, and Alonzo could make no sense of the muddled messages.

"I don't know what you want from me," Alonzo spoke aloud. "You have to let me go back. My people were attacked -"

The empathic Terrian messages intensified, and Alonzo groaned due to its force. Then he remembered what True had said about the Z.E.D. shooting two Terrians.

"Two of your members were attacked, too," he said, and felt the tension of the imperfect method of communication ease slightly. He was gaining confidence now, that he was comprehending their distress, and they, his. "They were shot with a terribly destructive weapon. They need medical assist-" his words came to a halt. What kind of medical assistance could be offered to a species they knew nothing about? And Julia...

The Mother has healed our wounded.

"Oh," Alonzo replied, relieved that he was at last comprehending even this small portion of the Terrrians' agitated communication.

The tone of the Terrians' messages then turned to what Alonzo could only interpret as accusatory.

"No, wait," he begged for a chance to explain. "Your tribe was attacked by the same people who attacked my group... My people had nothing to do with this-"

The link is in peril.

"You mean Uly," Alonzo said, feeling a blazing anger at the thought of what had happened to the boy, and what might be happening to him at that very moment. "When they attacked my group, they took Uly..."

The link must not be harmed.

"I know! That's why I have to go back; before it's too late to find the ones responsible." But even as he spoke these words, Alonzo felt defeat settling darkly in his heart. How could he possibly hope to mount a rescue mission against a force much more powerful than he was?

The link must not be lost.

"Do you know where he is? Can you find him?" Alonzo asked, desperate for something concrete.

A wave of sadness and confusion rolled like a tidal wave from the Terrians and washed over him.

The Mother does not carry him.

"What does that mean?" the pilot cried. "What do you mean 'Mother does not carry him'?!"

But the indigenous creatures gave no further reply or explanation.

Alonzo opened his eyes and realised he was no longer on the Dreamplane. True Danziger let out a sob of relief.

"You're alive! I thought you'd..." she stopped herself as she came to the realisation he'd been merely dreaming with the Terrians.

"Yeah, I'm alive," Alonzo mumbled, and gave his woozy head a shake.

"You were talking with them, huh?" she ventured to ask.

"Yes," Alonzo answered, lost in his thoughts and impressions of this latest encounter.

"Are we still going back?"

"We have to. We've got to find Uly, so that's where we'll pick up the trail."

Wordlessly, Alozno started up the vehicle again. He hadn't known what to expect when he got here, but when he finally pulled to a stop at what was once Eden Advance's camp, he felt as if his world was collapsing.

On shaky legs, he stumbled out of the ATV and went a few paces. Slack-jawed and silent, he gazed at several large, perfectly round craters of dead, scorched and blackened earth. The ground seemed to rush up and connect solidly with his bent knees, jarring his bones and forcing the air from his lungs.

There's nothing left. There's nothing left!

Hands that had become rough and calloused over the months of manual labor on the planet wiped at vain tears that flowed freely from his eyes.

"Julia..." Alonzo whispered, hugging his arms to himself tightly. He remembered how Julia clung to him the night he'd returned after the awfully misguided group decision to abandon her. He's sensed her residual terror and her relief; intuited that she hoped he would never let her go, and part of him wanted to oblige her. He thought of her healing touch, the bright smiles that were reserved for him, and her incredibly blue eyes.

You can't be gone. Not after everything we've been through. I didn't think that I'd ever find someone who would make me want to give up the stars... Julia...

Alonzo did not hear the soft, approaching steps of True. He did not react when she placed a tentative hand on his slumped shoulder.

"Mr. Solace?" True said quietly, unsure of herself and if it was even the right time. "Juila wanted you to know something before I came to find you..."

When Alonzo did not reply, True continued anyway. "She told me to tell you she was sorry, and that she loves you."

Alonzo gasped as an almost physical pain exploded from the core of his being. This was too much. The agony of defeat and loss was too much. As he knelt in the scorched, arid soil, he prayed that the ground would simply swallow him whole.

And it did.

The daytime heat was oppressive. In this arid, desert region, Julia knew such conditions were conducive to what was known on Earth as heat-stroke. She was thankful for even the minimal shade inside the Med-tent as she scrutinized for the umpteenth time Devon's medical information.

Perspiration started to seep onto her brow, and Julia impatiently brushed aside a trickle that was threatening to crawl down her right cheek.

The Eden Project doctor huffed in frustration and exhaustion, blowing a tired breath of air upwards that barely disturbed the limp strands of hair hanging over her forehead. She was no closer to an answer as to why Devon had fallen ill than when she'd first started, and she was starting to despair there would be no answers.

Soon, she knew John Danziger would come to the conclusion that they were just wasting time waiting for her to find a cure that didn't exist, and he would give the order to move on to New Pacifica. Not even a misplaced sense of sentimental loyalty to Devon or consideration for Uly's feelings would be sufficient to sway a man like John; he was quite intractable once he'd made a decision.

I'm just so tired, a weary Julia thought, closing her burning eyes for a moment. I'm a doctor, and I don't know how to save Devon. Maybe if I just put my head down for one minute… If I could rest, maybe I'll be able to think a little more clearly…After all, everyone keeps telling me I need to sleep…

Julia gently pushed aside some equipment to make some space. She leaned over on the worktable and buried her head in her folded arms, allowing herself to sink into the sweet slumber her mind and body had craved for so long. Her cares and concerns slipped away as if she were shedding a heavy cloak from her shoulders.

When Julia raised her head, it was with a sense of contentment that she couldn't recall experiencing in a very long time. She felt calm, yet alert, as if all her senses were honed to a fine point.

"Julia."

The doctor turned at the sound of her name.

A solitary figure stood at the entrance way to the tent. His face was gaunt and lean. The dark eyes held a haunted look that brought Julia's heart to the brink of breaking in sympathy to some fathomless, unspoken pain. His clothes hung from what was probably once a toned, muscular frame.

"Julia, tell me it's really you..." the voice was paper-thin; a cross between whisper and a plea. He extended a hand towards her hesitantly; as if afraid she might suddenly vanish like some apparition.

In shock, Julia scrutinized the figure, and her eyes widened in recognition. "Alonzo? What is this? What happened?" She was on her feet in an instant, about to bolt towards him.

Without replying, Alonzo crossed to her and caught her up in his arms, crushing her to himself, letting kisses fall on her head, her face, and her lips. Astonished by this unexpected display of affection, and by Alonzo's unkempt appearance, Julia pulled herself away from his embrace.

"Alonzo, stop," she ordered. Alonzo opened his eyes and stared back at her, stung by her apparent rejection, and Julia felt a sense of self-recrimination when she saw her actions and words had wounded him.

"You look terrible!" Julia blurted out, "what's happened to you?"

She was about to reach for her diaglove, worried he was perhaps suffering the effects of heat-stroke, or a relapse of the condition caused by EVE's malfunction. She prayed it wasn't a more serious ailment, but Alonzo held her hands tightly with a sort of quiet desperation.

"I'm not sick," he said plainly, gripping her wrists with more force than he intended.

"You're not sick?" Julia countered, wrenching herself away from him. "Have you seen what you look like? You look like you've had the life sucked out of you."

"I know… I'm sorry about that. I – I should have realised you would have been worried."

Julia kept staring at him, listening to his almost incoherent talk with increasing anxiety. She considered the possibility that he might be delirious, but let him continue.

"I've just missed you so much…" his voice trailed off. He reached out for her again and gently held her face, gazing at her longingly.

"What do you mean you've 'missed me'?" Julia repeated with a frown and a puzzled expression that caused her eyebrows to furrow. "I know I've been busy, but it's not like I've been completely isolating myself from everyone while I look for a cure for Devon."

"That's not what I meant, Julia… I … I remember…" came his voice, softly.

Julia studied him closely. "You remember… what?"

Head bowed, Alonzo continued: "I remember this day."

He gave a short, mirthless laugh. "I remember every damn detail about this day, because it was the last day we had before… This was the day we decided to try to use the Morganite to diagnose what was wrong with Devon."

"What are you talking about? Alonzo, you're not making any sense." Julia cut in, her confusion over his physical state in no way dispelled.

"I know. I know I'm not making any sense," Alonzo said with impatience, exhaling loudly. "Just listen to me, and I'll try to explain: I'm dreaming to you right now."

Bewilderment flitted across the doctor's face. "What do you mean you're dreaming to me? This is a dream?"

Alonzo nodded. "Yes. I don't know how it's working, but somehow I am communicating with you through the Dreamplane… and I'm dreaming to you through time; from the future. You have to understand that even though this is a dream, it's really happening. It's not – it's not fake."

"By 'fake', you mean this isn't my own subconscious creating all of this. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"Yes, that's what I mean," Alonzo replied, showing relief that he hadn't lost her completely with his explanation. "Juila, what I'm about to tell you is the truth: you were right about the Council. We're all in very terrible danger. Reilly is real. He's here, on the planet, and he's coming for Uly."

"What?" Julia gasped, a stab of fear striking at her heart. "H-how do you know all this?"

"Because," Alonzo said mournfully, "I've seen it happen. There was an attack on the camp. Z.E.D. units executed everyone. Reilly took Uly."

Julia stared at Alonzo after this revelation in disbelief, struck dumb.

"Everyone needs to evacuate camp, immediately," Alonzo continued, "don't spare another minute. Head for the caves; anywhere but here. Reilly cannot get his hands on Uly; not again."

"How am I supposed to get everyone to do that?" Julia asked dismally. "You know they'll never believe me. 'Dreaming through time'? They'll think I just had a nightmare; or worse, that I've lost my mind."

"Then you'll need to find a way to prove it's true," Alonzo declared. He appeared to be deep in thought, then said: "I know how to do it. I know how this day played out. When you wake up from this dream, I'll be about to check in with you to try to convince you to go lie down for a real break. You'll try to convince me that Reilly and EVE are distinct entities. You'll also ask me to try to contact the Terrians to assist in diagnosing Devon..."

"…And what then?" Julia prodded. "Do they help us?"

"Sort of," Alonzo replied. "Uly and I got two words: 'Ask Mother'."

" 'Ask Mother'?" Julia repeated. "That's all? How is that going to help me convince anyone, especially John?"

"Easy. Before Uly and I contact the Terrians on the Dreamplane, you just tell John you already know what answer we're going to get. When we wake up with confirmation, he'll have no choice but to believe you."

Julia sent Alonzo a look of consternation that spoke of her reservations about the whole affair. "I can try," she finally said. "But, Alonzo, what if it doesn't work? What if no one believes me?"

"You have to. You have to make them," Alonzo replied forcefully. "Otherwise…" he let his words hang in the air, knowing the alternative was all too terrible to contemplate.

The pilot drew her close again, and she pressed her head to his shoulder. For a dream, he certainly felt oh-so-real and solid and warm.

"I believe in you," he whispered. "You can do this."

"Julia?"

The doctor heard her name being called from behind the haze of a woolly-headed slumber.

"Julia," the voice repeated, softly.

"Mmm?" Julia raised her head and tried to recover her senses. The voice sounded like Alonzo.

Wasn't I just talking to him? Julia wondered to herself.

She raised her head and turned to face him, hair tumbling across her field of vision. With a lazy hand, she swept her bangs aside and tried to focus on Alonzo. He was looking at her quite intently; an expression of worry reflected in his dark eyes.

"Alonzo…I was just dreaming about you," she said, stifling a yawn. "I guess I fell asleep…"

"If you fell asleep, you probably needed it. That's why I came, actually. I wanted to check on you to make sure you weren't working yourself too hard. Even doctors need to rest now and then, you know, even genetically-engineered ones."

"Well, thank you for your concern," Julia replied. "Now that you've seen I am fully capable of taking breaks all on my own, maybe you and everyone else can quit harassing me about it."

Alonzo grinned in a disarming way that she always found to be much too irresistible. "Alright," he said, "you're right that we do get on your case, but it's only because we care about you. We don't want you to burn out…"

"I won't," Julia said. "Burning out is not an option. Not when Devon's survival is at stake."

Alonzo nodded, his expression sombre as his thoughts also moved to the tragic turn of events over the past few days, including Devon's turn for the worse 24 hours earlier.

Looking to change topics, he grinned broadly. "So… you were dreaming about me, huh? Anything good?"

Julia's face took on a reflective appearance. "Yes, I was dreaming about you, but… it's strange…"

Alonzo's grin faded. "What's strange?"

"It wasn't like any dream I've had before. It felt so real. I mean, I've had dreams that felt 'real' before, but then you wake up, and you realise just how un -real they were. This dream… was nothing like those."

"Tell me about it," Alonzo prodded.

Julia bit her lip. "You were you, but you weren't really yourself. You looked terrible, actually, like you were half-starved and had been through hell. You told me - this is going to sound crazy – that you were using the Dreamplane to communicate with me through time… from the future."

If the notion sounded crazy, the pilot made no indication of it whatsoever.

Encouraged by this, Julia continued. "You told me that my fears about the Council and Reilly were accurate, and that we had to evacuate the camp because we were in danger, and that they were coming for Uly…"

Alonzo made no comment.

"See," Julia said with a soft, humourless laugh, "I told you it was crazy."

"No," Alonzo countered seriously, "It isn't crazy. Do you have fears about the Council and Reilly?"

The question gave the doctor cause for pause. Truthfully, she had to admit to herself she'd had some fears about the Council, EVE and Reilly that had been festering since Franklin Bennett and Elizabeth Anson had died. She hadn't been ready to tell anyone yet, but now that Alonzo had raised the issue…

"As a matter of fact," she began slowly, "I do. I don't want to sound paranoid, but I keep feeling like we're being watched. There are so many discrepancies about EVE that I just can't put my finger on one thing… but… but I'm beginning to doubt that Reilly was merely a program of EVE's making."

Alonzo crossed his arms. "If EVE didn't create Reilly, then…"

"Then Reilly is probably still out there, and he probably still desperately wants to get his hands on Uly. And according to the message your dream-self gave me, he's going to send Z.E.D. units to massacre everyone." Julia finished. "Your dream-self was quite forceful that we clear out of camp, now; head for the caves or something."

"Hmm… Was there anything else about the dream; anything else 'I' said to you that was important?" Alonzo asked, perturbed by the mention of the killer cyborgs.

"Yes," she answered. "There was something about asking the Terrians for help and using Morganite to help diagnose Devon's sickness. It's not a bad idea, actually, and one I was just starting to consider before my nap. We know it worked before to help Morgan with the geolock; maybe it could help us once again; maybe the planet knows how to heal her."

Julia stopped there. Ask Mother. The words spoken by the dream version of Alonzo resonated within her. She wouldn't tell him that specific part, not yet. She decided she would only tell John Danziger, because she felt it might be the only way to convince him about the validity of her dream.

"So, if we're to believe that some future version of myself is dreaming to you, we need to get everyone out of here to safety," Alonzo stated.

"You believe me, then," Julia said.

"Of course I do, doc," Alonzo replied. "You're the last one who would make up something like this."

"Bringing John around won't be easy," Julia said hesitantly, "but I think I have a way that might work."

" 'Ask Mother'?" John said questioningly. "That's it? 'Ask Mother'?"

"Yes," Julia affirmed, trying not to be put off by Danziger's usual brusque manner. She sought him out as he was tinkering around with one of the pieces of equipment that had something-or other wrong with it.

"I think you've been spending too many nights listening to your boyfriend's Digger-dreams," the mechanic scoffed, "they're startin' to influence yours, too."

Julia flinched at John's use of the word 'digger' for the Terrians. It was a phrase she actually found to be somewhat offensive, though she realised the Terrians themselves probably wouldn't feel slighted by it.

"John, this wasn't like any other dream I've ever had," she insisted, "I told you that."

"You expect me to believe that the Council and Reilly are out there still, and all you've got is a couple cryptic words? I'm not evacuating the camp on the basis of two words, Heller."

Julia sighed, knowing the time had come to try her last argument. "What could it hurt to let Alonzo and Uly try to contact the Terrians? If they dream with them and come back with nothing, then I'm wrong about all of this and we can forget I ever mentioned it… but if they do come back with 'Ask Mother', then I think you need to seriously consider what I dreamt was real."

John looked away from her and scowled, knowing she had a made a reasonable point. He kicked his boot in the dirt while he considered her terms. Julia folded her arms and watched him expectantly.

He ran a hand through his unruly curls and returned his glance to her. "Fine," he said at last.

Julia's smile was one of relief.

"But if 'Lonz and Uly come back with nothin' from the Terrians, I'm holding you to your word that you won't mention this again," John warned, jabbing a finger at Julia. "Last thing we need is for the rest of the crew to catch wind of this and set off a panic."

"Of course," Julia said, "I promise."

"I suppose it is worth trying," Yale said in his soothing, accented voice after listening to Julia's plan to have Uly and Alonzo attempt to make contact with the Terrians. "Although it seems they generally only offer their assistance on their own terms."

"I know," Julia said. "I know there's still so much we don't understand about them; so much we can learn from each other… but I have a hunch they'll give us something."

The older man gave a long shrug indicating he neither agreed nor disagreed with Julia's assessment. "All I know is that I was able to make peace with my past; that my memories were healed, thanks to the sunstones. The Terrians themselves… their concept of forgiveness… penance, or reconciliation… it does not exist in the same terms as it does for us. But for Uly's sake, I hope they are willing to help."

"Let's go," the doctor urged, swinging her medical kit over her shoulder. "Thanks, Yale, for agreeing to let Uly go through with this."

The tutor smiled as they approached the Adair's tent. "I may be his 'legal' guardian due to Devon's illness, but I assure you: Ulysses makes his own decisions when it involves his mother and his bond with the Terrians."

They entered to find Alonzo already chatting easily with the boy, explaining to him that they were hoping to ask the Terrians for assistance.

"I think it's a good idea," Uly said earnestly. "After all, the Terrians are my friends. I bet if I ask them, they'll help if they can."

The three adults couldn't help but smile as his naiveté.

Julia donned her diaglove and ran a preliminary scan of both Uly and Alonzo, and then the two reclined on their respective cots, instantly falling into the Dreamplane.

"Wish I could fall asleep that easy."

Julia turned at the sound of Danziger's voice.

"There you are," she said, seeing him standing at the opening to the tent. "You're right on time."

"Hello, John," Yale greeted the mechanic.

"Yale," John replied in kind, and stepped further inside, relaxing in the marginally cooler interior temperature of the tent.

"I wonder what it is they see in their dreams," Yale pondered aloud. "Are they like normal, human dreams?"

"I don't know," Julia answered, looking affectionately at Alonzo's slumbering form. His eyelids flickered without opening, and his breathing was slow and even. "I don't think we'll ever fully comprehend Terrian dreams when we still barely have a handle on our own."

She reflected on Alonzo's claim that he'd lost his 'dream button' after so many sleep jumps, and how the Terrians had healed that impaired part of him so he could dream with them. She thought also that even after her own ill-advised attempt to make contact with the alien life-forms by using Uly's altered DNA, they never dreamed to her in that temporarily altered state.

And they probably never will, she thought wistfully, looking now at the child they had chosen to be the special link between the species.

"Reilly took Uly."

Alonzo's words from her dream startled Julia out of her ruminations.

"Reilly cannot get his hands on Uly; not again."

Uly and Alonzo chose that moment to wake. They both sat up together, and Julia pressed her glove to Uly's neck to check his vital signs; then did the same with Alonzo.

"So?" she said, a hopeful expression on her face, "did you get anything?"

"Yeah," Alozno said, exchanging a brief glace with Uly.

Danziger watched them closely; Yale looked calm; expectant.

"They weren't real communicative," Alonzo continued almost apologetically, "but they gave us two words…"

Julia's heart leapt a fraction.

"Ask Mother." Uly and Alozno said together.

"Well, I'll be…" Danziger whistled under his breath.

"Mr. Solace?"

Alonzo stirred. A young girl's voice was calling him out of a dream, and for a moment, he cursed that voice.

I was just with Julia…

A finger prodded him; tentative at first, then insistent.

"Mr. Solace…" True Danziger whispered fearfully.

With a groan, Alonzo roused himself and sat up from the hard, cold floor of the underground cave.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the semi-darkness, he saw the reason for True's alarm: several Terrians stood over them, staffs in hand.

In the months since the attack on the camp that had left everyone dead - save himself and True – the Terrians had been eerily silent after their worrisome message about Uly's safety. In a way, Alonzo had been glad that they hadn't intruded. His grief had been too raw; too close to the surface. Julia was dead; everyone was dead, murdered by the ruthless Council. Having the Terrians inside his head in addition to his anguish would have driven Alonzo crazy.

He always sensed their presence on the periphery, though, silent sentinels, observing him and True as the two struggled to survive without their friends and loved ones.

The mismatched pair had avoided total starvation in their new 'home' by finding edible roots and tubers, and they slaked their thirst from a tiny stream that flowed through the cave. The Terrians themselves had no need of consuming solid foods and water as these alien homo-sapiens did, and while they understood Alonzo and True required such sustenance, they did not provide it.

Alonzo now uneasily regarded the group of assembled Terrians, pondering the reason for their sudden appearance. The link that had been formed with Uly was now broken, and Alonzo knew that they would never consider True a suitable replacement. John, her father, was dead, thus destroying any connection to kin, and humanity at large. It had happened this way with Mary; True would be no different, and Alonzo felt the weight of this additional loss heavily on his heart.

D*mn you, Reilly, he thought darkly. If I ever find you, you will pay dearly for what you've done.

True shifted so she was closer to Alonzo, cowering against him in the presence of the Terrians, unsure of their motives.

That these native beings even took them in after the massacre at the camp was an unexpected act of mercy that surprised Alonzo. The Terrians owed them nothing, and they owed them everything.

While still in thought, Alonzo felt himself being drawn, unbidden, onto the Dreamplane…

All around him was sand and sky so bright, it seemed almost bleached white. From the ground emerged members of the local tribe of Terrians.

We know of your travels, Dreamer, the 'voices' of the beings echoed in his mind.

Alonzo instantly knew they spoke of his projecting his consciousness through time by dreaming.

"I didn't even realise I could do it," Alonzo managed to articulate to them, unsure if their message was one of approval or opposition.

Mother suffers from the loss of the link.

"I couldn't stop it from happening," Alonzo said plaintively. "You know I was too late."

Your dreaming is the key. Your connection to the Time Before must be protected. It is the only way to restore the link.

"Why me?" Alonzo asked. "You guys are the ones who know how to use the Dreamplane. I'm just a novice. I didn't even know I could dream back in time – back to 'the Time Before' like that. If you know it can be done, why don't you go back and save Uly and everyone else?"

We do not have the same connection as you, Dreamer. Your bond with the other one is the reason you were able to establish the pathway to the Time Before through the Dreamplane. Our kind do not forge these same bonds as you.

At the words 'the other one', Alonzo was instantly filled with a familiar, intense and passionate emotional longing that set his heart afire. They mean Julia! he thought, as her face filled his mind.

"I've already warned her," Alonzo spoke up, "but how will we know if anything has changed? How do we know if it even worked?"

The Terrians offered no reply, appearing to be considering how to best answer in a way he would understand.

"How will we know?" Alonzo demanded again.

This will cease, came the reply, and the blinding whiteness that surrounded them blinked out of existence.

After sending Uly on his way with Yale for his daily lesson, Julia, John and Alonzo remained inside the Adair's tent for several minutes, trying to come up with a plan of action. The boy did not seem to be affected by the two-word message offered by the Terrians; neither did he offer any personal insights on the matter.

"So, you believe me?" Julia tentatively asked John, referring to her own troubling dream of doom and gloom.

The big man shrugged. "I've seen a lot of crazy things on this planet; things I couldn't explain. Guess I don't have a choice with this one, now, do I? Based on what just happened, I'd be a fool not to believe that dream of yours. If I didn't believe it, I'd be placing the entire group in jeopardy."

Alonzo broke in: "So what do we do now? Tell the whole group we're moving because Julia's dream warned her that we're going to be attacked?"

John scowled. "That's the last thing we're going to do, Solace. That would just make everyone panic, and I don't need that. What we're going to do is just get everyone to pack up right now, nice and easy, and head for the caves. Once we're safe in there, then we can tell everyone."

Julia nodded in relief. "I like that idea," she said, "because I've been thinking…"

"About what?" John said warily, bracing himself for some totally new idea that might throw a wrench in the works.

"I was hoping to be able to explore the caves for a deposit of Morganite."

"What for?" he snapped, indicating this was probably the last thing he expected to hear.

"Because of what the Terrians told us," the doctor replied calmly, not rising to Danziger's ire. "If they're telling us to 'ask Mother', we should follow their advice and trust them. I think those rocks might be the key to helping us unlock the mystery of what's happened to Devon. I'd like to bring back a sample and -"

"Now just hang on a shankin' minute, Heller," Danziger interrupted, "you're the one who was saying we needed to evacuate the camp, ASAP, because your dream told you that the Council and Reilly were coming after Uly, and I believed you, too. Now you're saying you want to stick around so you can test your theory about those rocks?"

"In a word, yes," Julia answered simply.

"Unbelievable," John snorted, throwing his hands into the air.

"Look, John," Julia said, trying to reason with him, "this could be a real opportunity to find a cure. We theorized that the Morganite helps us form a connection of sorts with the planet, like tapping into its cerebral cortex, for lack of a better term. It's got to be a way of communicating with whatever 'Mother' is."

John gave one of his patented grunts in reply.

"It worked to help Morgan decode the geolock," Julia pressed, and was met by another unconvinced grunt.

"It's something I have to do," Julia said decisively, trying one final argument she hoped would move the Ops crew member: "I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't exhaust every possible avenue. Think of Uly. He trusted us when we told him we were looking to the Terrians for an answer to his mother's illness. I can't betray that trust now."

At the mention of Uly's name, John's expression softened. He looked like he was at war with his own thoughts for a few moments, then: "Fine. You and Lonz' get in the 'Rail, and you go find those rocks. You get 'em, and you get back. No sight-seein' or stopping for anything, got it? I aim to get us outta here as soon as you're done whatever it is you think you'll be able to do with those rocks, and it had better be quick. Your dream didn't exactly give us too many details on when we were supposed to expect this Z.E.D. attack tomorrow, so I'm not taking any chances."

"Fair enough," replied Julia, glad her argument had won out over his sense of caution. She turned and left a still-flummoxed Danziger staring after her.

I gotta be crazy, John thought to himself, as he watched her hastily prepare for the trek out to the caves.

"And make sure you stay on Gear!" John barked. I'm turning into a shankin' mother hen…

"I can't believe you convinced him to let us go," a relieved Alonzo said to Julia as they drove towards the caves.

"I know," Julia uttered, "but I would have felt terrible if I'd only used that message from the Terrians to prove to John my dream wasn't simply the product of an overworked mind. I couldn't just ignore something that might help us discover what's wrong with Devon."

Alonzo nodded in understanding. "I think we all know things are more than a little complicated with John when it comes to Devon."

"I don't even think John himself realises just how complicated," Julia said reflectively. "You saw his face when I mentioned what Uly must be going through... He's bonded with that boy much more than I think he ever thought possible."

"Uly looks up to him, too," the pilot added. "I don't think he's ever had much of a father-figure before John."

"And Devon has never spoken about who fathered Uly," Julia continued, wondering not for the first time what might have happened to the man who was half-responsible for the boy's genetic make-up.

Probably heard the word 'Syndrome' and left, Julia mused, then chided herself for such uncharitable thoughts. You don't know the circumstances... Devon's private life is none of your business, even if she is your patient…

ooo

"Where are they off to?" Morgan Martin asked John, seeing the dust trail of the dune-rail in the distance.

"Ehhh… Julia's got some crazy notion that those sunstones might help her find out what's wrong with Devon," John answered distractedly.

"Why do I get the feeling you're not exactly comfortable with the idea?"

John's eyebrows quirked up involuntarily. Sometimes, the level-four bureaucrat surprised him with his insight. Absently rubbing the stubble on his jaw, John said: "Ah, it's nothin'; just not real keen on the two of them goin' off like that on their own so soon after what happened with EVE…"

He stopped just shy of mentioning what Julia's dream from the future had related about the terrible danger they were in due to EVE, Reilly and the Council. That would make the usually spineless liaison panic uncontrollably, and John didn't need a hysterical Morgan just then.

"Right," a dubious Morgan muttered. "That whole thing just gives me the creeps. If you ask me, we should just shut down that program for good!"

"Not a half-bad idea, Martin," John said, amused to find himself agreeing with the other man, "that is, if he, she – whatever it is – lets us shut 'er down."

"What do you mean 'if' it lets us shut her down? It's a computer program, for crying out loud! 'Reilly' is just a computer program, right? I thought we decided this."

"Franklin Bennett tried to kill it with that virus; look where it got him," Danziger stated. "That program must have fail safes and redundancies in abundance to prevent someone from attacking it. It was built to last. Obviously our Council 'friends' needed something reliable. They must have inserted code Franklin knew nothing about, even though it was his design."

Morgan thought carefully and had to concede the point. "I guess you're right," he ground out, "but just the same, I don't feel entirely safe knowing it is still up there… Maybe I could convince Yale to help me try to crack some of the coding, you know, program 'Reilly' to maybe perhaps behave in a more… benevolent fashion… What do you think?"

John just looked at the other man with incredulity. "You wanna know what I think? Me, personally, I'm not going anywhere near that computer interface. And Yale risked his life dealing with that thing once already. Besides…"

"'Besides' – what?" Morgan pressed, when John did not continue his thought.

"Ah, nothin'," John replied, realising he'd again nearly told the perennial worrier that he was almost totally convinced of the validity of Julia's dream warning that EVE and Reilly were not the same. His final shred of hope that there was no real threat was rapidly starting to disintegrate as he pondered the possibilities:

The bomb on the Advance ship… Alex's compulsion chip… whatever it was that was killing us, and whatever killed Franklin and Elizabeth… all the unanswered questions about the penal colonists, the Elder and his band, not to mention the Z.E.D.s… the Council had to have someone to constantly oversee its G889 project. They would never have just trusted it to a computer, no matter how complex the programming…

"Don't you have somethin' you could be doing?" John said irritably, noticing Morgan was still standing there. "Like pack up your tent?"

"Pack up?" Morgan repeated. "You mean you're moving us onward? So soon? But - but, we're barely over whatever it was that was wrong with us. Bess is still not feeling up to par, and Devon…"

Danziger frowned at the mention of their leader's name. "Devon would want us to continue," he said forcefully. "I'm not gonna let her dream die. Not while I'm still alive and kickin'."

Abashed, Morgan didn't say anything else. Not waiting for any further prompting from John, he turned and moved off towards the tent he shared with his wife. With uncharacteristic efficiency, he immediately gathered up non-essential items and readied them for transportation.

ooo

Alonzo gently nudged Julia. "We're here, doc…"

Julia slowly opened her eyes and yawned. The bright sunlight was harsh against her sleep-laden eyes, and she blinked furiously.

"Have a good nap?" the pilot asked jovially as he climbed out of the 'rail.

"Hardly feels like I rested at all," she replied ruefully, following him to a small opening in the caves, stretching her arms.

"Well, it's better than nothing. I was almost tempted to let you sleep while I went in by myself."

Julia smiled in spite of herself. "You wouldn't dare… Some guy you are, thinking of leaving a sleeping woman alone in the middle of nowhere, no protection…"

Alonzo grinned, taking her teasing in stride. "Come on; let's go."

"Whew, nice to get a break from the sun," Julia sighed, as she and Alonzo squeezed inside the narrow opening to the caves.

"Yeah, you're right about that," he said in agreement, also glad to be out of the sun's relentless rays. "Hey, we should probably let Danz' know we made it."

"Oh, of course," Julia said, and cued her Gear. "Eden Advance, this is Heller, checking in… anybody read?"

She got back nothing except static, so she tried again. "Eden Advance, this is Dr. Heller… do you copy?"

"What's the matter?" asked Alonzo, after several failed attempts.

"I guess these caves must be blocking the signal," she surmised with a shrug. "I can't raise them."

"Do you want to head back?" Alonzo realised that being out of contact for too long would worry John. "I mean, you don't think anything could be wrong back there, do you?"

Julia shook her head. "No. But let's be quick about this. We turn back after an hour, okay?"

"Fine with me," the pilot said. "Lead the way."

"Alright, let's go this way," Julia instructed, shining her luma-light down the only tunnel they could find, which curled to the right. "Keep your eyes open for the sunstones."

"Right."

The light danced along the cave walls as they followed the tunnel, unsure of where it was taking them, but hopeful it would lead to the discovery of a deposit of Morganite.

Julia dutifully used the POV function on her Gear to log their progress so they would easily be able to find their way back should they become lost or disoriented.

"Hey, doc, did your dream tell you we'd actually find any of those rocks?" Alonzo asked.

"No," Julia answered, "but I have a feeling we will find some. I don't think the Terrians would have sent that message if it weren't possible to 'ask Mother'."

"Is that a guess?"

"Well, it's an educated one, at any rate. I'm dying to prove my theory about the rocks, and cautiously optimistic about what it could mean for helping Devon."

"If we find some, have you thought about how you're even going to use -"

"Wait a minute," Julia interrupted, suddenly halting.

"What is it?" Alonzo tensed, stopping quickly, narrowly avoiding bumping into her.

"Shh… Listen closely… Do you hear that sound?"

He paused and tried to distinguish between the sounds of his own breathing and what Julia's keen sense of hearing was obviously detecting.

"No," he whispered, after a few moments of what to him seemed like total silence.

"Wait," Julia said softly, "there it is again…"

This time, Alonzo did indeed hear something: a rushing noise that built and then faded away, but it was faint.

"I heard it that time. I know that sound…"

"I do, too," said Julia. "It's probably another one of those vacuum currents, and it's up ahead somewhere. We'll have to be careful; we don't need to be swept up if that's what it is. God only knows where we'd end up."

Like in a bloodthirsty Grendlers' foul abode, she thought with a shudder, recalling with distaste her frightening encounter with a couple of the planet's hulking, slobbering inhabitants.

"We'll be careful," Alonzo said, continuing to match Julia's pace, "but I'd sure like to know where it leads. The last time was a disappointment, but what if this one brings us closer to New Pacifica? We could send a scouting party again to check it out."

Julia smirked. "Are you volunteering? Good luck convincing Danziger on that one."

"I'm just saying that if we're going to be evacuating the camp to these caves anyway, we shouldn't pass up the opportunity to see where it goes."

"One thing at a time, flyboy," Julia said affectionately, not wanting to entirely put the brakes on his suggestion. She had to admit she privately agreed with Alonzo; she just wasn't sure the time was right with the threat of an attack hanging over their heads.

She sucked in a breath as details of the dream surfaced again, and with it, all the frightful theories she had about the Council's presence on G889.

If Reilly is really going to be staging an attack tomorrow in order to take Uly, how did he find us? Is it EVE? Is he able to track us with our neural implants? If we can be tracked, then we won't be safe in these caves, either…

Julia was pulled back to the present moment asthe rushing sound of the vacuum currents was gaining in intensity; the flashes of light from the energy it produced were now visible up ahead.

In another thirty seconds, the tunnel led the pair into a rather large chamber. The luma-light brightened two more tunnels opposite them. One branched off to the right; the other to the left. Wordlessly, they crept deeper into the chamber and observed a large spider-web spun partly across the mouth of the tunnel that curved off to the left.

Presently, there was a rush like the sound of wind accompanied by another bright flash of light that receded quickly.

"Guess we're avoiding that one," Alonzo quipped, as they confirmed they were indeed dealing with another of the mysterious and naturally-occurring 'transportation' systems found on the planet.

"Thanks. I don't want to have to explain to John how we managed to get side-tracked because we got sucked into another one of these things," Julia remarked.

Alonzo found himself smiling. "Come on," he said, "let's move on. The sooner we find those rocks, the sooner we get back. That'll make John happy."

Ignoring the spider tunnel for the time being, the couple continued their search for the enigmatic sunstones through the passageway off to the right.

ooo

A little over two hours later, the doctor and the pilot pulled up into Camp, happy that their trek to the caves had been a successful one. At once, they noticed that all of the tents except for the Adair's tent and the MedTent had been taken down and the contents packed.

The Edenites were mostly ambling around or sitting at makeshift tables, holding idle conversation while trying not to complain about the heat of the afternoon.

Danziger approached as Alonzo halted the vehicle, a look of relief he didn't bother to hide registering on his uneven features.

"Glad you made it back in one piece," he said to them quietly. "Can't help feeling a little edgy lately, if you know what I mean. Did you get any of those rocks you were so stubborn about wanting to find?"

"We did," Julia answered with a small smile, holding up the heat-proof pouch.

"Well, that's good… Look, I haven't told anyone exactly why we're moving out soon, but I got 'em to get packing so we could leave at a moment's notice."

"That was good thinking, John," Alonzo with an approving nod.

John shrugged off the compliment. "Doc, how long do you think it's gonna take to do your thing with the rocks?"

To Julia's ears, he sounded anxious, and she wasn't entirely sure it was due to her dream warning. She was struck by the sudden thought: His apprehension is because of Devon! I only hope this wasn't a complete waste of time and that I find some answers…

"Just let me get my diaglove and med-scanner," Julia answered, "and then we can head over to the ship. It'll just take a couple minutes."

John and Alonzo watched as she hurried off towards the MedTent.

"I made her take a nap both ways," Alonzo said casually, "she's been driving herself way too hard."

"Well, she wouldn't be 'Julia' if she wasn't always busy at somethin'," Danziger commented dryly.

"Funny, that sounds like you, too," Alonzo countered with a grin.

True to her word, Julia was back with her glove and scanner in less than two minutes, but still apologized for the delay. "Sorry; I had to move quietly in there. Bess is asleep on one of the cots. She's still not quite back to normal yet, and I didn't want to disturb her."

"Yeah, strangely enough, Martin packed up their tent," John said by way of explanation.

"Morgan did? All by himself?" Alonzo asked. "Guess he's got it in him after all to pull his weight."

"Alright… I'm ready to go, gentlemen," Julia said, antsy to start. "Shall we?"

With a nod from them, Julia began leading the two men towards the waiting Venus-class ship.

"Where's my dad going with Julia and Mr. Solace?" True asked Yale. The departure of the trio hadn't escaped her notice. The daily period of instruction was over, and the children were simply passing the time listening to Yale recount stories about what Earth used to be like before its ruin.

"Julia wants to try to see if she can discover a way to help Devon," the tutor stated. "I think your father just wants to be sure nothing goes wrong."

"The Terrians told me and Mr. Solace how to help my mom," Uly said cheerily. "That's why he and Julia went to get some of those rocks from the cave."

"If that's all they were doing, then why's my dad been so worried?" the girl asked, casting another glance towards the retreating figure of her father.

Yale's brow creased and he pursed his lips at the question. Behind his dark lenses, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he pondered how to best respond. The younger Danziger could read her father's moods extremely well, he realised.

"I am sure your father was only concerned about how Alonzo treats the vehicles," he explained smoothly, though he knew True would probably see right through him.

"Yeah, right," she replied a roll of her eyes. "My dad worries, and then my dad worries… Something's got him all messed up, but he won't tell me what."

"True, sometimes there are things a father does not tell his children for their own protection," Yale explained, hoping to end the discussion. "If your father wants you to know that there is something troubling him, he will tell you when he is ready. Alright?"

"Sure," True mumbled, coming to the unsatisfactory and disappointing conclusion that Yale would say nothing more on the matter.

"It's okay, True," Uly said kindly. "Your dad's just worried because my mom put him in charge of everything..."

The girl sighed. She knew Uly was only trying to make her feel better; the problem was he didn't seem to understand that her father really was worried about something, and it had nothing to do with his leadership abilities whatsoever.

ooo

Strained and skeptical conversation dominated the camp late into the afternoon. News that Julia had indeed discovered what was ailing Devon had been welcome, but the cause of the ailment came as a shock. At Morgan's insistence, Julia tested him and everyone else for the presence of the nanotechnology that had been assailing Devon.

Once Julia had cleared the entire group, John assembled them all around the evening fire. Bess was feeling quite a bit better, and joined her husband while the group ate a meagre dinner in subdued silence.

"I know you're all feeling down about what Julia found out about Devon," Danziger announced, "and I'm just serving notice that what I am about to say isn't going to be anything pleasant, either."

Julia, knowing John had made the executive decision that they would tell the group about her dream warning, nodded at him encouragingly.

"What is it?" Morgan asked uncomfortably, a nervous edge creeping into his tone.

"We're moving out at the crack of dawn tomorrow; heading to the caves where Julia and 'Lonz picked up those rocks."

Surprised murmurs rose up from the group.

"The caves?" Morgan asked with a frown, voicing the question that was on almost everyone else's mind. "What for?"

"For our protection," John answered. "This isn't easy for me to explain, and I'm not gonna sugar-coat it. So listen up, and hold all your questions 'til I'm done explaining, okay?"

A hush fell over them, and John could see he had their undivided attention. He searched all their faces briefly, trying to gauge the mood. When he came to his daughter, he could see she was gazing at him with a wide-eyed, worried expression.

Taking a deep breath, John began. "Here's the situation: Julia had a dream earlier today, only it wasn't an ordinary dream. It was a warning, and it was from the future… Doc?"

At this invitation, Julia stood. She slowly began to recount without embellishment the warning of an impending attack as revealed in the dream, though she purposely left out the part about Reilly coming for Uly. With the boy present, she didn't want to upset him further since she could do nothing to eradicate the nanotechnology that had felled Devon. She did go on to explain how the future version of Alonzo spoke of asking the Terrians for assistance, and that the dream-Alonzo told her he knew how they would respond.

"I know it probably sounds crazy to you," Julia said, "but when Uly and Alonzo dreamed with the Terrians, they did indeed get back the message to 'ask Mother'."

Uly and Alonzo nodded at this, a tacit confirmation to assure the group that Julia was indeed being truthful.

The young doctor continued: "So, I'm with John. One part of the dream has already borne out; I don't think we should risk the rest of it by remaining here. We need to leave, and the caves are the best option for now."

A few of the members of Eden Advance seemed on the verge of protesting, wrestling with how to refute what had been said. John waited patiently to see if any of them would raise an objection.

Walman finally spoke up. "So lemme get this straight," he said haltingly, "Julia had this crazy dream that we're all gonna get killed by a bunch of Z.E.D.s, and that Councilman Reilly is behind the attack?"

"Yes," Julia replied quietly.

"So how come Alonzo was able to dream to you? How'd he survive if we're all supposedly attacked and killed?" Walman asked.

"I-I don't know," Julia stammered, the thought honestly never once having occurred to her. "He didn't explain how he managed to escape when the rest of us didn't, but you should have seen his condition. The Alonzo in my dream looked malnourished and ill, as if he'd been wasting away for weeks and weeks."

"Okay, let's say we buy that," Magus put in, "why now? What possible reason would Reilly – and excuse me if I have a tough time believing he's really out there – what reason does he have for coming after us with those Z.E.D.s now?"

Alonzo, Yale, Julia and John sent uneasy looks to each other.

Julia's voice was hard when she answered the other woman. She realised she could hide it no longer, even with Uly present. "His reason is that the Council is still interested in Uly."

Ulysses gaped at her. "Me? How come?"

"You know why, Uly," Julia said, infinitely sorry he had to be burdened with the explanation. "The Terrians healed you, and the Council wants to be able to control those changes in you because they want to be able to control this planet.

"This goes all goes back to when I decided to try to make myself the link between humanity and the Terrians," Julia continued, feeling a rush of shame from the memories of the time of her misguided betrayal of her friends' trust. "Councilman Reilly does exist, and he hasn't given up his search for our location. We'd be placing Uly and ourselves in grave danger if we didn't take immediate steps to avoid detection."

Thick silence fell like a pall over them at the revelation that the child was still at the center of the Council's insatiable quest for dominance. Julia cast apprehensive looks over her friends. Each looked concerned and upset, but thankfully, they seemed to have been convinced about the dangers her dream portended.

"Well, we're not gonna let 'em," Walman spoke up harshly, pounding a fist for emphasis. "Those bastards aren't gonna waltz in here and just take Uly away to do God knows what!"

"Which is why we're leaving at first light," John said calmly. "We take the vehicles for half the journey and then we do the rest on foot. I'm not happy about abandoning 'em like that, but if we park 'em by the caves, we'd be too easy to track."

"Which also begs the question of how they know we're here in the first place," Morgan drawled. "It's like I told you earlier, Danziger: we should shut down EVE for good!"

"And I told you that it's too risky," Danziger retorted. "No offense, Morgan, but none of us here knows how to do it. We'd be putting ourselves at risk, and I'm not going to add to the list of casualties."

With that, Morgan kept his tongue and Bess pressed in close to him, rubbing his back in a soothing gesture. "He's right, honey," she said quietly. "I know you're great at cracking codes an' all, but… I don't want anything to happen to you…or anyone else."

"Danziger," the usually silent Mazatl said, "don't you think it would be wiser to travel under the cover of darkness?"

As soon as the words were out of the other man's mouth, Danziger gave himself a mental slap. Of course it would be wiser, his mind scolded. Why didn't I think of it sooner?

It was no use trying to save face, and John didn't want the crew member to think his advice wasn't sound or that he had spoken out of turn.

"H*ll, Mazatl," John responded humbly, "you're right. It would be wiser. But I don't know if we're all up to it. Most of you were knocked pretty flat when we started getting sick… I just figured another nights' rest would do us all some good."

"Hey, if those Z.E.D.s are on their way, I wanna be as far away as possible," Baines interjected, "and I don't care if I have to walk all night to get to those caves to be safe."

There was a chorus of "yeahs" and murmurs of affirmation in agreement with Baines' position, and John realised he needed to quickly reel them in before things had a chance to spin out of control.

"Okay, people, calm down…" he said, appealing for silence. "Let's vote on it, then. All in favour of leaving now raise your hand."

Though some were hesitant at first, every hand eventually went up.

"Alright, then," John said, glad that there weren't any dissenters among them. "I guess we're moving tonight."

John's Narration:

Travelling under the cover of night is not without its own set of risks.

Even though Solace had covered the ground ahead of us earlier and was able to report that there was nothing to be concerned about as far as the terrain was concerned, Julia's dream had us all spooked.

We weren't safe at our present Camp site; that much we could assume. The caves seemed to be the only real choice for the time being. But after that…

I don't know what we'll do once we reach the caves, but staying out in the open will probably be suicide.

*Sigh*

Just when we thought things couldn't get any worse after losing Adair like that…

I know one thing, though: those Council bastards aren't going to get their filthy hands on Uly. I promised Adair I'd look after her son, and I'll be damned if I'm going to renege on that promise.

I don't pretend to understand what those Diggers did for him, but I do know that he needs to make it if the rest of us humans are gonna have any chance of making it on G889; if my own daughter is gonna have any chance of growing up here in safety.

This crew needs a leader, but they're stuck with me: a shankin' drone from the Quadrant.

There's no way we can take on the Council on our own down here, and it'll be a miracle if we even make it to New Pacifica. Maybe we were never meant to make it. Maybe humans as a species have had their time, and we're just prolonging the inevitable by tryin' to colonize this planet.

Maybe Devon Adair is a fool, and I've been taken in, just like everyone else…

Scant illumination was provided by the twin moons riding high in the night sky, less than quarter-full. The wary travellers were weaving a cautious and roundabout path to the eventual destination of the caves.

John was further disheartened by the irrevocable conclusion they'd arrived at, which was that they'd have to abandon the vehicles at some point in their journey and make up the rest on foot. It was decided they would trek several kilometers past the caves and then double back, in the hopes that this might foil the attempt by the Council and Z.E.D. assassins to locate them.

The TransRover and ATV had not been in use for several days and their solar cells were fully charged. While the Dunerail had seen some use earlier in the day by Alonzo and Julia, it had spent several hours standing idle and would be able to run; the scant moonlight would at least provide a limited amount of the sun's reflected rays to partially charge the solar cells.

Knowing the slow pace of the robot's mechanical stride would slow them down unnecessarily, John disconnected the Zero unit's head from its body for easier transport. "Zero will be on constant scanning mode; he'll alert us if there's any movement out there that might be hostile," he said, as they were preparing for departure.

"Affirmative," the Zero unit's head intoned, as if John's statement required qualification.

"True; Uly, you ride with Baines," John instructed the children, and they trotted off obediently. Peter Baines took Zero's head with him and followed the kids into the TransRover. The large vehicle with its bright headlights would take the lead, a beacon for the rest of them to maintain their bearings as Baines followed the path they'd programmed into Zero's navigational function.

Alonzo, Julia, Bess, and Morgan rode in the 'rail while John, Gayle Denner, Yale, Michael Cameron, Derek Walman, and Mazatl Perez followed on foot; Valerie Magus, armed with a Magpro, brought up the rear in the ATV.

John hefted a second Magpro as he walked, keeping his eyes peeled; Julia's dream warning had rattled him more than he was willing to admit. He wondered if moving to the caves would even make a difference. It might buy them some time, but in the long run, how much of a difference?

No time to start second-guessing yourself, Danziger, John thought, and trudged on, keeping up the pace.

The twin moons continued their ascent; the smaller, third moon began its own lonely ascent on the opposite side of the inky night sky, barely noticed by crew. Wispy clouds floated high above them, motionless due to the absence of any wind. Save for the low hum and whine of the vehicles' engines and turning gears, silence reigned amongst the moving company. A kind of cold fear borne of the deadly scenario Julia's dream portended had stripped them of any desire make idle chatter with each other.

Hours dragged by in monotony. The first leg of the journey concluded when they reached a sort of gully that would be used temporarily—or so John hoped— to park the vehicles.

Baines roused the children after he stopped the TransRover, and they sleepily lifted their eyelids, temporarily disoriented by the unfamiliar location. "Time to get up, you two," Peter whispered. Both youngsters yawned and stretched, not yet willing to stir. John approached the cab, still shouldering the Magpro.

"Everyone okay in here?" John asked, as Baines opened his door.

"Yeah," Peter replied, "I think they just need a couple minutes to wake up."

"We don't have a lot of time to waste," he muttered. "Come on, True-girl. Get a move on. You too, Uly."

True groaned, but managed to comply without complaint. "C'mon, Uly," she said, giving the younger child a nudge, "we gotta go."

"Mmm-kay, I'm coming..." the boy lazily replied. He crawled after True out the driver's side door, and John gave him a hand to assist him in his leap down to the ground. The children sluggishly trailed behind John, while Peter followed.

"Everybody doin' okay?" asked John as he approached the assembly, though the Edenites knew it was a perfunctory question.

A few tired "yeah" and "I'm fine" replies came back, so he issued the order to simply keep moving. Without any fuss or fanfare, a more rested Baines carried Zero's head and took point with Alonzo, who held a luma-light. They corralled the children in the middle of the group, with John at the tail end of the moving party.

Those who had been traveling solely on foot were particularly exhausted when they at last reached their destination of the caves. A few sat down on the sandy earth to rest their tired feet.

"This is the entrance I used to get in earlier," Alonzo said, directing the beam of his luma-light to show them the exact location.

John looked at his company. Nobody seemed eager to make a move, so he took the first step towards the opening. "What are you all waiting for? Move it. Single-file."

As if shaken awake, they all quickly fell in line and squirmed through the opening one by one. "Follow me—this way," Alonzo urged, taking the lead from John, and heading into the tunnel that curled to the right. "Watch out, though, 'cause we're going to be approaching one of those spider caves soon. Just stick with me and stay clear of it, since Danziger doesn't want any of us getting lost in here."

John ignored the implied ribbing and attempted to overcome the stifling, claustrophobic sensation that descended upon him. The cave walls somehow felt too close, too narrow. It took a conscious effort on John's part to banish the notion that those rocky walls were going to slowly crush him to death.

"How much further?" Morgan asked tiredly as he shuffled behind Bess, John, and Alonzo. "Couldn't we at least stop for a break? We're inside the caves. That should be enough for now, don't you think?"

John heard the grousing. He had to honestly admit to himself he was tired too; he knew the rest of the crew felt the exhaustion. Morgan had a point, John realised, but didn't yet feel safe enough to stop.

"I hear ya, Morgan," he finally replied, peering back at the other man. He did his utmost to sound reasonably empathetic. "Look, the more distance we put between us and whatever is out there, the safer I'll feel—for all of our well-being. We're gonna stop, eventually; just not yet."

"Fine," Morgan huffed. "I guess I can walk a little more. Before my feet fall off…"

Satisfied that he probably wasn't going to hear more complaints from Morgan for at least another ten minutes, John carried on, still unsure of this entire side trip, still harbouring doubts about his own suitability to lead the group.

Devon, I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know if this is going to work out. But you trusted Julia after she proved herself to be loyal to us… you'd probably be trusting her now, too, even though this is all so shankin' insane… I just hope that one day when all this is done, I'll be able to look you in the eyes and tell you I did my best, and that my best was good enough…

John soon became aware of a low, pulsing sound, followed by what could be described as a noisy rush of wind.

"We're close to the spider cave now," Alonzo said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Everyone keep to the right."

The Edenites did as instructed. They were all very aware of the misadventures Devon, John, Alonzo, and Julia had endured on the previous encounter with the strange phenomenon; none were eager for a repeat.

Soon enough, Alonzo led them around a familiar bend in the tunnel which opened to the area of the cave where he'd discovered the vein of sunstones. "Here's where I found the Morganite," he said. "It's probably a good place for us to rest, Danziger."

Picking up on the pilot's comment, Morgan said in a wheedling voice, "Oh, yes, please!"

John could hear similar murmurings from a few other members of the tired crew. The cave itself had widened at this point, and stretched on ahead of them for a distance he could not determine. At any rate, there was ample space for all of them to settle down, and it was far enough away from the spider tunnel for his personal level of comfort. Mind made up, he halted his own forward progress and lowered the Magpro.

"Okay, gang," the reluctant leader stated in a commanding tone, "we stop here."

"Finally," Morgan breathed with relief, dropping his pack of belongings. He turned to Bess and quietly asked how she was doing; the former Earth-res replied she felt physically okay except for the overall weariness brought on by their trip and the after-effects of the illness they'd all endured. The rest of the members of the group expressed relief in their own ways, and most of them took the opportunity to sit down and relax after their lengthy night trek.

John kept alert, knowing he could not afford to lower his guard, even in the apparent safety of the caves. His daughter sought him out and was now burrowing her head against his side, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. He placed a strong but gentle arm around her, inviting her to snuggle as close as she wanted.

After a few moments of allowing everyone to catch their breath, Julia began unobtrusively going around to each of them, asking routine questions about how they were feeling, paying particular attention to those who had been at the tail end of the curve of the illness that had flattened them. She was most concerned about Bess, but was relieved to see that the other woman was fine, apart from general tiredness. With a twinge of sadness, Julia thought of Eben, and how she'd been the very first to start exhibiting symptoms.

There's nothing you could have done, the pragmatic, medical professional side of Julia's brain admonished her. Put away the feelings of guilt.

Easier said than done, Julia thought, still grappling with the conflicting emotions and feelings that she feared would compromise her competency as the lone doctor in the camp. She forced herself to take a deep breath, thinking about all the times in the past that she had maintained a cool head in a crisis. Eventually, she shuffled over to Alonzo after completing her 'rounds'. He was the last one to be checked, and like the rest of her friends, he was in as good health as could be expected.

"And how are you feeling, Doc?" asked the pilot softly, putting a hand under her chin in order to get her attention and look her directly in the eyes.

Julia had to admit she was caught off-guard by the unexpected question. "Uh, I-I'm fine," she answered, realising that she rarely heard someone else express concern for her well-being.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "Sounds like you're not really sure."

"Well, I haven't scanned myself to be absolutely certain," she said, half-joking, "but I think I'm fairly good at self-diagnosis, Mr. Solace."

"All right, Dr. Heller," Alonzo said with a small smile, letting her off the hook. "I trust your personal diagnosis."

"Good," Julia said, leaning into him. "I do have a medical degree, after all: summa cum laude."

Alonzo planted a kiss on her head and encircled her in his muscular arms. "So, I'm in love with a genius. If only my old friends could see me now," he chuckled. They sat like that in silence for a while, and Julia was almost able to let her nagging worries ebb away as she lay in the comfort of Alonzo's arms.

Soon, Gayle Denner and Peter Baines began handing out some provisions; Julia took the opportunity to advise everyone to make sure they stayed hydrated. She voiced her concern to John that the first order of business—once everyone was rested enough—should be to look for a source of water. Appetites hadn't quite returned to normal, so she wasn't yet concerned about food, but dehydration was an enemy to be avoided, even if they were out of the heat of the planet's scorching summer sun.

True was still snoozing on John's lap, so he issued his next directive from a seated position: "We sleep in shifts, like usual, with one person on sentry duty," he said. "I need a couple volunteers to poke around these caves for a water source as soon as we've all got some decent shut-eye."

Out of the group, Valerie Magus and Derek Walman put up their hands immediately for water-scouting duty.

"Okay, you two are it," John affirmed.

Michael Cameron put in: "It would have been my turn for watch duty back at camp. I'll stay up for the first shift."

Danziger looked at him gratefully. "Thanks, buddy. I'll relieve you after six hours."

Cameron nodded once, grabbed a Magpro and a luma-light, then headed back around the bend in the tunnel. Everyone else began to settle down in earnest though the accommodations were rough, even with the bedding some had chosen to carry with them.

John kept waiting to hear complaints from Morgan, but to his surprise found that the other man was already sound asleep next to his wife, curled up on a blanket. Alonzo and Julia were getting cozy against one of the cave walls nearest the vein of sunstones. Yale had spread out a blanket for Uly and had just finished covering the boy, whispering some comforting words to him.

"Now, go to sleep," the tutor instructed soothingly, as he wrapped a frayed shawl around his own shoulders. "I'll be right here the rest of the night."

Uly yawned and uttered a sleepy 'goodnight' to Yale, though in reality, it was closer to dawn. The remainder of the Ops crew, minus the sentry Cameron, had sacked out in their own fashion. Walman was already snoring lightly, earning a kick from an irritated Magus who was trying to sleep nearby. The burly man grunted and rolled over, and the snoring ceased, much to Magus' relief.

Luma-lights were extinguished. Apart from a very low, warm orange glow from the vein of sunstones, the cavern was plunged into gentle darkness.

It amazed John how easily everyone had seemingly adjusted to the new situation. They'd looked to him for leadership, and they'd trusted him even through all this craziness stemming from Julia's precognitive nightmare.

How did they ever follow this insane plan? What did I ever do to earn such blind faith from these people? Devon, I sure wish you were here. This responsibility is crushing me.

Eventually, he fell into an uneasy doze; his brain unable to completely switch off. Julia's dream warning that they were all in danger of being slaughtered by the Council—because Reilly apparently still wanted Uly—made it impossible for Danziger to truly relax. Yet still, his shallow sleep managed to produce fragmented dreams.

One dream he dearly wanted to hold onto was about Devon. They were standing in the cave together, and he was at first confused as to how she could be there with him when he knew they'd left her behind in the cryo-chamber aboard Franklin Bennett's ship. He tried to say her name aloud, but his voice wouldn't come. But now that she was here, John felt relief. Devon was their leader. She could take over again and all would be set right. Uly would be happy and they could finally move onwards to New Pacifica. In the dream, John watched as Devon raised a hand and pointed past him.

"Danger is coming, John," she stated in a solemn, authoritative voice.

"Danger?" John repeated the word. "How do you know?"

"Protect my son, John," Devon spoke again.

"I will," John said with strong emotion. "Devon, I'm glad you're back—"

Just as he uttered these words, she faded from sight. John lunged forward to try to grab onto her to keep her from vanishing, but it was no use. She was gone. With a start, John awoke, his eyes snapping open, blinking in momentary confusion that is customary of dreamers who wake suddenly.

True must have felt his movement, for she stirred slightly. The girl sat up and asked her father if everything was all right.

"Yeah, True-girl," Danziger whispered. "Just dreaming, that's all. You can go back to sleep if you want. It's almost time for me to relieve Cameron."

"Okay," she said, and curled up into the fetal position next to him, resting her head on her folded hands.

John rubbed at his bleary eyes. He thought of the content of his dream now, and tried to dismiss it. Obviously, Julia's own warning had inspired it, right? Somehow, his unconscious brain had created the scene where John's own natural fears were being confirmed by Devon, the person he had to admit to himself he trusted the most, even though they frequently butted heads.

And now, trying to cope without her being there…

How much stock should I actually put into that dream? John pondered. We've already seen that dreams work a little differently here on this planet. That 'Dreamplane' or whatever it is that 'Lonz' and Uly get taken away to by those Diggers… What if… what if Devon can communicate with me that way, too?

The mechanic snorted. I'm gettin' too fanciful, he derided himself. Why on earth would Devon want to dream to him? What was he to her, other than a glorified fix-it-man-drone from the Quadrant who took on the job of leading the group because no one else wanted the responsibility?

He shook his head vigorously and got to his feet, picking up his Magpro on the way. It was time to relieve Cameron.

When the morning hour arrived, Bess Morgan and Gayle Denner passed around some rations for breakfast to a very quiet assembly of people. No one really quite knew what they ought to be doing; no one knew how long they would need to stay inside the caves, and it started to become clear to John that at some point, they would need to come up with a plan of action. Either they were in danger if they remained in the open, as per Julia's dream warning, or they were not, and this precautionary measure of taking refuge in the caves was just a waste of time. He decided not to put stock in his own dream warning from Devon, convinced that it was just his own mind's way of coping with the stress of leadership duties, and of not wanting to let her down.

After eating, Valerie Magus and Derek Walman prepared to set off deeper into the cave's tunnels to look for a source of water.

"Stay on Gear," John advised them before they departed. "I don't want you two gettin' lost in there. And be on the lookout for more of those stupid spider caves. Don't go near them, ever."

"You got it, Danziger," Derek said, donning his Gear.

"Should we take a weapon?" Valerie asked casually as she tested the power on a luma-light.

John shrugged. "Never know what you might run into," he said honestly. "Sure, take my Magpro." The woman took the weapon from John and thanked him. Both she and Walman then turned and trudged off on their little mission.

"I hope they find an underground pool or stream, or something," Julia commented, coming up to stand beside Danziger. "I'm pretty sure we'll be able to find some edible roots or tubers down here so we don't starve, but without water…"

"Yeah, I know, Doc," John sighed, remembering the time he and Devon had gone off in search of a water source… Devon encouraging him to lie down next to her on the blanket he placed so she could rest in the shade… Waking up after being rendered unconscious by the Terrians, restrained by cords of native vines and roots; Devon lying so close to him, her head on his shoulder…

"Dying of dehydration isn't pretty," Julia uttered grimly. She hugged her arms around her middle, attempting to counteract a chill that crept upon her unexpectedly.

"Yeah, I know, Doc." John repeated himself with a faint edge of annoyance. He didn't add that if it weren't for Julia's dream, they'd still be at camp with access to their hydro-compressor. The bulky machine clearly was not going to accompany them into the caves; they'd had to bring what little water they could with them in their canteens for eventual rationing.

Julia seemed to take the cue from John's nearly curt reply that there was really nothing more to say on the matter, and returned to Alonzo's side against the cave wall they'd staked out for themselves.

John rubbed his chin as was his habit, growing uneasy again at the thought that everything was on his shoulders. All their problems and concerns were being brought to him, making it seem like their survival would depend entirely on his ability to solve those problems.

Shank it all, he thought angrily. I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

By mid-morning, Magus and Walman returned. "Good news, everyone," Valerie announced cheerfully. "We found a pool fed by a stream of water—cool and clear—in a tertiary tunnel about an hour's hike deeper inside."

The group received the news happily, and Julia eagerly took a sample from Derek so she could test it for potability.

"We followed the stream little further up to see if we could find the source, but we turned back when we came upon another one of those spider-caves, just like you said we should, Danziger," Valerie said.

"Yeah, this cave system is massive," Walman added with an air of wonder. "It would probably take us weeks to map it all. I bet if we went looking, we might even find a spot that's more comfortable than where we are right now… That is, if you think we should stay in these caves long-term, Danz'…"

John could feel his frustration levels rising again. "This doesn't always have to be my decision," he said bluntly, irritated at how quickly Walman was deferring to him. He'd known the other man for years living on the Stations in same block of the Quadrant; Derek was the third person John had told about his intentions to put in for the Eden Advance Crew; Les Firestein and Alex Wentworth had been the first. They'd all been equals there. Here on the planet, he'd been their 'leader' for a total of a day-and-a-half, and in John's opinion, Walman was already treating him like a member of the almighty Council Board of Regents.

Scratch that, John thought better of the comparison between himself and the Stations' governing body members. Those people are pure evil…

Walman looked slightly taken aback by John's touchy reaction. "O-kay," he said slowly. "No need to get so defensive, pal. We can put it to a vote again, right?" He looked over at Valerie for backup.

"Right," Magus said, hoping as Walman did, that John would be placated. "We can gather everyone and see what we could do next…"

With a wry twist of his mouth, John realised he'd probably overreacted, but he couldn't help how he was feeling. Still, he tried to relax his tense facial muscles; forced his voice to soften. "Fine," he finally stated. "Get everyone together if you want. We'll talk it over. See if we all like the idea of hiking deeper into the caves."

Without giving a verbal response, Walman and Magus went to round up the rest of the group, fairly relieved to be out of John's presence for the time being.

"I'd forgotten how shankin' grumpy he can be sometimes," Derek whispered to Valerie.

Magus gave a short laugh. "'Sometimes'?" she quoted Walman's assessment of their old friend.

"Okay, so he never had the reputation of being 'Mr. Cheerful'," Derek conceded. "But I didn't think he had a problem with taking over from Devon."

For the time being, Magus held her tongue. She'd noticed the way John acted around Devon, and like several other members of the group, had intuited a growing attraction between them—an attraction Derek evidently missed, or dismissed. Valerie realised she shouldn't have been surprised: taciturn, loner John wasn't the type to share such things with the rest of the group, much less the males of the Ops crew.

It didn't take long to get everyone into 'meeting' mode as they were all more or less sitting together, anyway.

"Walman and I think it would be a good idea to go deeper into caves and find a better place to settle," Magus declared. "Anybody have any thoughts on that?"

"Well, we know other humans like the Elder and his clan spend winters in an underground cave system," Julia mentioned, feeling a return of the apprehension from her dream about Alonzo, along with her unanswered questions about Franklin's conclusions about G889. "And the farther away we are from the entrance of the cave, the safer I'd feel. At least, for Uly's sake.

"And the Terrians sleep down in caves, too," Uly chirped upon hearing his name. "We could stay down here forever. They won't mind if we do, I bet."

The adults apart from Alonzo still somehow regarded Uly's implicit trust of the Terrians with various levels of trepidation, so anything the child said about the indigenous beings usually brought about uneasy musings.

"As long as they leave us alone," Morgan sniveled. "I guess… I mean, it wouldn't hurt to find a bigger space if we're going to be cooped up in here for a while. Maybe a little alcove to ourselves; after all, I think we all agree a little privacy would be great." He put an arm around Bess, and she obliged his action by inching in closer to him.

A low murmuring started up amongst the group, each member considering Magus and Walman's suggestion; many of them agreed with Morgan's input. Danziger was listening to the proceedings in silence, awaiting a consensus. This was one decision he figured the rest of them were perfectly capable of coming to one accord on their own. He didn't even want to hear them ask for his seal of approval. He just wanted some part of the burden of responsibility lifted from his shoulders.

"Well," Magus eventually ventured when the chattering died down a little, "should we put it to a vote, then?"

"Wait, what does Danziger think of all this?" Michael Cameron asked, noticing for the first time that John was hanging back from the proceedings.

John waved aside Cameron's inquiry. "Leave me out of this one, Mike," he answered with a tired but patient sigh. "I'll go along with whatever you guys decide. I don't wanna have to micro-manage every decision this group makes."

Morgan had already dismissed John's non-participation. "So are going to vote, or what?"

"Fine," Magus said. "All in favor of heading deeper into the caves, raise your hand."

All hands went up.

"It's unanimous," Derek Walman declared, and glanced over at John. "It looks like we're moving on, Danziger."

John merely shrugged. "I told you: I'm not going to meddle every time a decision has to be made. You guys decided it was a good idea to move on and find a better spot inside the cave, so that's what we're gonna do."

Ten minutes later, their scant belongings and provisions had been picked up, and the group was on the move, led by Magus and Walman. As they walked, Julia mentioned that it would be great if they could settle near the water source, but that everyone should also keep their eyes open for anything that looked edible.

It was early afternoon when Valerie announced that they were nearing the pool of water and the stream that fed it. They'd passed several off-shoots that proved the earlier point Derek Walman had made, which was that the cave system was massive and labyrinthine.

"We'll be near the stream in a minute or so," Valerie Magus said, still guided by the route she'd mapped out on her Gear for the return trip.

For Julia, this brought relief. Her earlier test of the sample brought back by Magus and Walman revealed the water was safe to drink, so being close to the source eliminated any worry she might have had about losing someone to dehydration.

When they reached the stream, Julia had everyone filled their canteens after conducting one final test to be sure her earlier results hadn't been a fluke. The group rested there, happy for the break and the chance to drink fresh water that hadn't been filtered out through the hydro-compressor.

"Wow," Peter Baines marvelled, after taking a long draught from his canteen. "I never knew water could taste this good."

"This is what the old stories back home on Earth used to talk about," Bess remarked. "Those times when people used to be able to drink from streams before everything became too polluted…"

"We've all heard those stories on the Stations, too," Gayle Denner said. "It almost seemed mythical to me that there could be clean water flowing through mountains and across vast stretches of land like what we saw in holopictures."

Uly and True were growing restless now that they'd had their fill to drink. Mischievously, Uly sent a spray of water from his canteen in True's direction. Though his aim was off, True knew she had been the intended target, and fixed her mind on a retaliatory strike.

"You are in for it," she growled, taking up her own canteen. She sloshed the water around loudly to show she was fully 'armed', and that she meant business.

"If you can catch me," Uly chortled, and sprinted away, following the stream a little ways up from the pool. True tore after him, both kids laughing all the way.

"Children," Yale called after them, adopting a very stern, serious tone.

Both kids stopped in their tracks at the sound of their tutor's voice. They knew that tone very well, and immediately headed back to the group.

"Thanks, Yale," John said to the older man. "I don't need them to get lost in here." He knew from Valerie and Derek's earlier scout that another tunnel up ahead was pulsing with the strange vacuum currents that were still very much a mystery, and a danger. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing True sucked into one of those things without knowing where on the planet she might end up…

"Warning," the Zero unit's head verbalized suddenly. "There are seven unidentified individuals advancing on this position."

Everyone heard the robot's announcement and momentarily froze.

John's heart-rate spiked.

Julia felt the stirring of fear deep in the pit of her stomach. Could it be that in spite of their precautions that they'd been found, anyway? Part of her had still dared to hope that her dream warning had been all the product of stress and an over-tired mind.

"How close, Zero?" John asked, trying to keep sheer panic from invading his voice.

"The seven individuals are approximately five hundred meters away, moving at an approximate rate of two meters per second," replied the robot.

"We're gonna have to work on your tracking range," John muttered. "Can you tell if they're armed, Zero?"

"My scanning systems are currently being jammed," Zero replied.

"Jammed?!" Morgan screeched. "How could Zero be jammed? Is it the Council?"

John didn't know how to answer Morgan's question, a question which gave voice to everyone's fears: that Julia's dream warning was playing out in spite of their precautions.

"True and Uly, you stay right here with me," John demanded, and both children were at his side in seconds. He bore the Magpro with one arm and put the other around the shoulders of the children, hugging them to himself.

"John, what should we do?" Derek Walman asked, stress evident in his voice. "We can't stand our ground here. We don't have the firepower. We're sitting ducks."

"We don't know what it is that's coming," John replied, though he knew it was foolishness to assume they were not in impending peril.

"The last time I checked, Terrians don't jam Zero units!" Morgan howled in a desperate attempt to get John to take some sort of action.

"John," Alonzo said, putting a hand on the leader's shoulder. "The spider caves. We have to chance it."

John shot the pilot a scathing glare. "No way! I'm not jumping into something without knowing where I'm going to end up!"

"John—" Alonzo tried again, but was cut off.

"Back off, Solace. This is my call."

Grudgingly, Alonzo stood down.

"Walman; Cameron, you two are the next best shots," John said. The other two men armed themselves with the group's remaining Magpros. "The rest of you, stand behind us. Yale, I want you with the kids. Be ready to scatter into one of the other tunnels behind us on my cue."

Wordlessly, the unarmed members of the group shuffled behind John, Michael, and Derek. As instructed, Uly and True and went with Yale to the rear of the group. John could feel his heart thudding inside his chest. Was his decision to stay and face whatever was coming a sound one? There was no time to go chasing off right now into some unexplored part of the cave where they might get hopelessly lost, he reasoned, much less into the vacuum current which could deposit them anywhere on the planet, including inside a wall. Without the aid of Zero's scanning function, John no longer had any idea when the seven interlopers would arrive.

They could just be seven of those Diggers out for an afternoon stroll, for all we know, John thought, then recalled Morgan's words that Terrians didn't go around jamming Zero units.

"This is a bad idea," Julia spoke up. "If those 'seven individuals' coming our way are Z.E.D.s along with Reilly, then the three of you holding those weapons are going to be their first targets." It was one thing to deal with bullet wounds in the Med-Tent with all her equipment and medications available; it was something else entirely to deal with it inside the cave with almost nothing.

"Don't you think I've thought of that, Heller?" John growled. "I'm protecting you all; Uly, in particular."

The sound of footsteps now echoed in the tunnel. Everyone tensed at the sound, not knowing with any certainty who or what would emerge from around the bend.

John chose that moment to issue a declaration: "This is John Danziger of the Eden Advance Crew; stop where you are and identify yourselves! We are armed! I warn you, we are armed!"

The sound of the footsteps intensified, and one figure finally appeared around the curve, dressed in a pristine grey tunic, black shirt and belted black pants. His hands were raised; a smug smile tugged at his lips.

"'John Danziger', you say?" Councilman Reilly asked as he took in the members of Eden Advance. "At last, we meet in person. So you're the one who's taken over leadership of this bunch after Devon Adair. Pity about Ms. Adair…"

John stared at the man he'd interacted with only once in VR, his finger tensing on the Magpro trigger. He's real, John thought in crushing dismay, and immediately trained his weapon on the man.

Julia saw The Watcher and instantly knew that things were not going to end well for the group. There was something about the smile on his face that made her blood run cold. After all, this was the man who had nonchalantly mentioned how he'd slaughtered a penal-colonist child in order to determine how the Terrians' change in him had occurred and if it could be duplicated. This was a flesh-and-blood man, not a simulation from a malfunctioning satellite program.

"So, how'd you find us, Reilly?" John asked. "Have you been tracking us all this time?"

Reilly grinned even wider, pleased with himself that there was something he knew that John didn't.

"You know those bio-stat chips you all have in your heads? Those come in very handy when the Council wants to find someone. Now, fortunately for you, and unfortunately for me, there are several, natural black-out zones on the planet. For quite a while, we didn't know where you were hiding, and thanks to a malfunctioning Council satellite, we were having trouble getting any sort of readings. Some kind of virus we think Franklin Bennett was responsible for. We found his grave at your last campsite, by the way. How kind of you all to bury him…

"Anyway, we lost track of you again late last night, and that could only mean one thing: you had entered another black-out zone. The only area that fit the bill in this region was these caves, as the composition of the rocks prevents signals from being transmitted and received from the outside.

"So now, I have six soldiers just behind me around that bend in the tunnel, and they're all armed, just waiting for my signal to advance," Reilly stated casually. "I have no desire to start a war with you, John Danziger, or the rest of your group. But you're in possession of something that belongs to the Council; plus, you're harboring a traitorous criminal. So just hand over to me Ulysses Adair and Julia Heller, and you'll all be free to go on your way."

"Yeah, I don't think so," John replied testily, maintaining his grip on the Magpro, which he'd kept pointed at Reilly. "Ulysses Adair and Dr. Heller aren't going anywhere with you."

"Be reasonable, John," Reilly tried to sound conciliatory, waving his raised hands. "Do you really want to sacrifice yourself for a criminal like Heller? And for a boy that's no longer really even human? You'd do that knowing that the Council can provide a very comfortable life for you and your daughter back on the Stations should you choose to return there? Think about it, now..."

"I have thought about it," John said, remembering his promise to Devon. "We're not standing down."

"Have it your way," Reilly said with a shrug. Then, "Z.E.D. units: Advance!"

"Wait!" Julia cried out, choosing that moment to dash forward to the front of the group. "Reilly, stop!"

Six Z.E.D. soldiers entered the cavern, but on Reilly's orders, halted in their tracks.

"I'm surrendering. I'm giving myself up with Uly," Julia said to the Council member.

"Heller!" John ground out, "what in blazes do you think you're doing?!"

Julia ignored John's protest, and the protests of the rest of the group that reached her ears. But there wasn't time to explain to them was she was thinking. Her nightmare had been too real. The warning from the future-Alonzo had left an indelible impression that they were all going to die at the hands of the Council soldiers. It mustn't happen, Julia thought. If I can at least make Reilly believe I'm a Council ally again, maybe I can convince him that Uly needs to live if they're going to discover how the link between humanity and the Terrians works…

"I'll go with you," Julia said again to Reilly, "on the condition that I get to be the one to experiment on Uly, on my terms."

"Julia," Alonzo hissed from his place in the huddled group, "are you crazy?"

But Reilly's eyes were burning with zeal. "That's a tempting offer, Citizen," he finally said. "But may I remind you that the Council made you. The Council owns your ethical choices. I thought I made that clear once before. Besides, you're not even qualified to be of service to us anymore. The moment I had you charged as a traitor, your Council medical license was revoked. You have no standing in the medical community either here, or on the Stations."

"You know I can help you," Julia said, trying a different tack. "I know more about what's happened to Uly than anyone else, Reilly. You won't get any answers without my help—"

"Julia, I'll be damned if I let you take Uly to these murders," John interrupted passionately. "If you're not with us, you're against us. Stand aside."

Julia chanced a glance back at Danziger, her eyes begging for him to trust her. Please, John, she was dying to say, they don't care about any of you. They'll kill all of you to get to Uly. This way, we all stand a chance of survival.

"This little dispute is getting us nowhere," Reilly said calmly. "I decline your 'offer', Citizen Heller, tempting as it was, but I really can't trust a traitor. You're under arrest, pending execution for crimes against Council laws and statues. As for the rest of you, you have two choices: hand over the boy or die!"

At that moment, a strange coo broke free from Uly's lips. Yale looked down at him in surprise, noting the boy seemed as if he were in some kind of trance. Two seconds later, the ground between Julia and Reilly erupted, and eight Terrians emerged instantly. The creatures clutched their staffs which glowed brightly with energy.

Reilly pounced back at this surprise appearance. He pulled out a sidearm with one hand, and with a gesture of his other hand, ordered the Z.E.D. units forward. "Open fire!" he commanded.

Bedlam followed.

Over the barrage of weapons fire and power staff bolts, John shouted: "Fall back! Fall back!"

Members of the Eden Advance group tried to turn and flee.

Terrian bodies fell and sank back into the ground.

More shouts and cries of alarm, pain, and panic.

Humans fell and did not move again.

"Morgan!" Bess cried out.

"Keep moving!"

"The spider tunnel, everyone!"

"No, wait!"

"It's our only chance!"

"Solace, don't you—"

"Go after them!"

"Yale! Yale!"

Uly seemed to trip over the cyborg's fallen body. Danziger scooped him up with one arm and ushered True ahead of him.

"I want that boy!"

"In here, hurry!"

John heard Alonzo's shouts.

"It's coming! Everyone together, now!"

Against every instinct, John followed after the retreating members of the group into the spider cave. A bright wave of light bore down upon all of them and engulfed them.

An instant later, John felt himself being thrust out of the current's wake onto a sandy surface. Warm, humid air with a salty tang tickled his nose. The roar of surf pounding on a nearby shore filled his ears. Uly tumbled out of his grip. Without thinking twice, John hurriedly got to his feet and aimed the Magpro at the spider web that was spun across part of the cave mouth they'd just exited. He fired once, destroying the web.

"Why did you do that?!" Alonzo's furious yell startled John.

Danziger turned and looked at the pilot, who was clearly dismayed at what had just happened.

"I had to, or they would have followed us here!" John explained in an indignant tone.

"But there are still people back there—" Alonzo took a quick look around. "Julia, Yale, Morgan… Denner, Cameron… Baines… they're all still back there. Now we can't go back to help them!"

"It was too late, and you know it, Alonzo," John said grimly. "There's nothing anybody could have done. You know that."

Bess was sobbing now. "Morgan… didn't make it… He got shot by one of the Z.E.D.s…"

"Daddy!" True cried out in a voice full of terror.

"What is it?" John said, his heart plummeting at the anguish he heard coming from his daughter.

"Something's wrong with Uly!"

Shocked, John looked down at the boy. Uly hadn't moved from where he lay after they'd been transported by the vacuum current. John got to his knees beside the boy who remained deathly still. The remaining adults crowded around, not knowing what to do, especially since Julia was gone.

Then they noticed the bloodstained sand beneath Ulysses.

"No," John whispered in despair. What was it they did before they used diagloves? John tried to remember. Something about the carotid artery in the neck, wasn't it? Feeling for a pulse could be done that way, right? With shaking hands, John extended his fingers to touch Uly's throat.

Nothing.

Maybe he was doing it wrong.

"No, you have to feel for a pulse here," Alonzo broke in. He knelt beside John and touched the side of Uly's neck along his windpipe.

He put his ear to the boy's nose and mouth to listen for the sound of breath.

After a few more seconds, Alonzo shook his head, tears coming to his eyes. "We failed. Somehow, Uly got hit by something. He's dead."

The surviving members of Eden Advance were plunged into deeper mourning at the news of this fresh loss.

"Is it a worm bullet?" Derek Walman finally asked in alarm.

"I-I don't know," Alonzo replied, nearly choking on his sorrow.

"Then we need to assume it is," Danziger said solemnly, eyes wet; bitter regret a fuel that fed the fires of rage against the Council. He picked up True, who cried into his shoulder.

"Well, what do we do about it?" an anxious Magus asked. "And where are we, anyway?"

John had already been thinking about that. He'd already recognized the sights and smells of a sea-shore. And unlike the other coastline he, Alonzo, Devon, and Julia had been transported to the previous time they'd space-folded, this time, the sun was going in the right direction.

"I think," he said slowly, "I think we're at New Pacifica…"

to be continued...