Forgiveness by Katherine Tate

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Forgiveness, Part 2
Katherine Tate

Alonzo spent the better part of the day helping Danziger chop wood and working with his new discovery. By evening he felt he'd accomplished a great deal. Thanks to Danziger's gruelling pace they had a new wood pile. And Alonzo had a necklace for Julia.

"Will you show me how to make one?" Uly asked. "I could give it to Mom."

"Sure thing, kiddo." Alonzo promised. He didn't miss True's look of appreciation either. He'd make another one for her tomorrow. It would be good to make that kid smile. She was feeling the strain of Danziger's foul mood. As well, getting shot at couldn't be that much fun.

Julia's reaction to the necklace was only lukewarm, but Alonzo didn't seem to notice. She was still a little upset that he hadn't found anything for them to eat. Although she couldn't deny it was a beautiful piece of jewelry, she also couldn't bring herself to wear it; it seemed very out of place in this wilderness.

"Don't worry so much." Alonzo said, softly, reaching up one hand to stroke her cheek. So he wasn't indifferent to her anxiety after all.

"When I think about . . . about the lengths that we've gone to in order to survive. What if it comes to that again?" Julia held the hand on her face. He had no answer to that. Julia's attention shifted suddenly from her worries to Alonzo's hands. "What happened to you?" she asked, pulling him into the light. His palms and fingers were chapped and raw with blisters.

"It was that ax that Danziger gave me. Man, I think he was imagining every log to be Morgan Martin's head!" Alonzo chuckled. Seeing the alarm in Julia's face, he added. "It doesn't hurt that much, really."

Julia's response to that was to administer some cream. 'Silly macho bravado! How could it not hurt? Men!' she thought.

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As with the previous night, True lay awake listening alternately to the night watch and her Dad's breathing. It was going to be trickier tonight for many reasons. First of all, it wasn't Morgan but Devon on the watch. Secondly, Dad was due to relieve her for the pre-dawn watch. But perhaps most importantly, everyone was on the edge because of last night.

True couldn't afford to wait very long because if Dad woke up for his guard duty and found her missing there'd be BIG trouble for sure. She waited only until she couldn't hear Devon's footsteps and then poked her head out of the dome.

Devon was standing near the fire pit warming her hands. Her back was to True. True figured she could make it to the perimeter sensor without Devon spotting her, as long as Devon didn't turn around.

Once at the sensor controls True easily deactivated the dangerous beam. The light beam remained but it was harmless and would not sound the alarm. True passed through the beam without hesitation and disappeared into the forest.

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Devon kicked her feet around the fire in an effort to keep them warm. The Grendler that Morgan had spotted last night was staying away; it had been an uneventful watch. Devon was just as happy that nothing was happening. The group needed some resting time. She worried that the winter camp would make people a little stir crazy; she didn't need any more crises to facilitate nervous breakdowns. Morgan was very near the end of his tether and obviously Danziger was not going to throw him any rope. Last night Devon had been so sure that John would cool down. She was feeling less confident now.

To warm her feet and to calm her anxieties Devon did another tour around the perimeter. When she got to the sensor control pod she found to her surprise that the beam was turned down. What had caused that? She'd have to tell Baines about this; obviously, he hadn't worked out all the flaws. She flicked a switch and the beam reactivated.

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True got very close to the sensor before she realized that it had been reactivated. Fortunately, she'd been travelling at an angle to the control pod and so the alarm had not sensed her yet. She stopped immediately when she heard the high pitch of the beam. That one would burn her if she tried to cross it. And the alarm would go off. That is, if it was working properly. There were no guarantees that Baines had worked out all the kinks.

True didn't want to take any chances. She didn't know if she was more worried about being burned, or Dad finding her outside the perimeter of the camp. If she had to make a choice it would probably be Dad.

However, if she didn't hurry up and get back into bed, Dad was going to find her; alarm or no alarm. He was due to relieve Devon any time now.

True hesitated only briefly. If it came down to explaining herself to Devon, or to Dad, Devon was far preferable. Dad was wound up like a spring these days and last night's scare hadn't helped him relax at all.

True picked up a small cone that had fallen from the tree. Yale had taught her and Uly that the cones held tiny seeds to form new trees. Uh, what do you know, some of the school stuff must be sinking in. She throw the cone up over the beam. It landed just behind Devon making her jump.

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Devon had made her way back to the fire and was waiting for Danziger to appear. Despite being tired she figured she would give him a bit of extra time. He didn't look as though he'd been sleeping all that well these days.

Suddenly, a noise behind her made her nearly jump out of her skin. Devon whirled around, bringing the MagPro up into her hands, quite uselessly as she hadn't powered it up. She saw a pine cone roll towards her feet.

Devon lowered the weapon to bring up her lumalight. Shining it beyond the brightness of the perimeter sensor she saw True standing just outside the sensor's range. Now Devon dropped the MagPro altogether and marched over to the control pod. She switched the beam completely off (not knowing True's trick of leaving the light beam on) to allow the girl to enter the campsite.

"You've got some explaining to do young lady!" Devon said, her voice low but still filled with that parental authoritative tone that True hated.

True would have preferred to go straight back to bed, but she supposed that would have been too much to ask. She walked towards the fire instead.

"True?"

True hesitated. She decided to be honest.

"I was looking for the Grendler."

At this, Devon forgot all about finding out just how True had managed to make it past the sensor beam and then reactivate it.

"What?! Why were you doing that?" Devon remembered, as well, that this wouldn't be the first time True had gone looking for a Grendler.

True looked at the fire; she looked at her boots; she looked everywhere but at Devon's face.

"He's starving." she said finally. "I was taking him some food."

"Oh, True." Devon said sadly.

"It was only right." the girl insisted, now facing Devon. "Dad had to kill one because the scouting party was starving. We have to help this one; we can't let him die."

"True, I don't need to tell you that we don't have a lot of food for ourselves . . . "

"If he was a human you wouldn't think twice about sharing with him. Why are you condemning him just because he's a different kind of animal?!" True was dangerously close to raising her voice. Devon put a hand on her arm to calm her. There was a certain sick irony here, she thought. Danziger had killed a Grendler for food; now True was smuggling food to a Grendler. "Please don't tell Dad." True was begging her. "I don't want to upset him."

"True, you can't keep sneaking out of camp in the middle of the night to take food to a Grendler. Especially not without your Dad's knowledge and consent."

"He's alone. He doesn't have anything. The other Grendlers won't share with him because he doesn't have anything to trade. They think he's worthless and so he's an outcast."

"How do you know all this?" Devon asked, amazed at True's connection to a species that they hadn't been able to understand since their first encounter.

"I don't know." the girl mumbled. "I just do."

"You know, True, as much as we all want to - we can't bring back the Grendler your Dad killed." Devon spoke gently.

"That's not it at all!" True burst out. "You just don't understand."

"I'm trying." Devon said, pulling True over to sit by the last flames of the fire. Something suddenly occurred to Devon. "True," she asked slowly, "was a Grendler with you last night?"

True hung her head again. That was all the answer Devon needed.

"Oh boy." she said. It certainly put a different twist on things.

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Danziger was having a nightmare. This wasn't some Terrian induced dream plane dream; this was an old fashioned horror of the mind. In it he was in a cave, looking for something. He needed to find it. It was going to save his life. Ahead he saw a shadow. He stopped moving and raised his weapon. Even while his mind screamed NO! he felt himself fire. His prey fell forward towards him into the light. It was True.

Danziger sat up, waking abruptly, covered in sweat. His heart was pounding. Breathing deeply he turned towards True's cot. She was gone. Still feeling the after effects of the dream, Danziger left the dome to find her. The fear which had leapt to his throat at seeing her empty bed relaxed somewhat when he saw her sitting with Devon by the fire.

He strode over to the two of them. Putting his hands on True's shoulders he tried, without much success, to adopt an easygoing manner.

"What're you doing out here, True-girl?" When she didn't answer he looked at Devon. Devon's face was wearing a sad expression. Studying it Danziger missed the plea that went from his daughter's eyes to Devon's.

"Just a little girl talk, John." Devon said easily. "Nothing serious." Oh, how simply the lie fell from her lips!

Danziger was feeling something like relief mixed with tinges of jealously. True had always come to him in the past for any kind of sharing. After all, who else did she have to talk with? Well, that had changed. Now she had a whole troupe of adults in whom to confide; including Devon Adair. Now that he knew she was OK, Danziger couldn't help but feel a little resentment rise in him. Why was True talking with Devon in the middle of the night? Why wasn't she talking with him?

"Go back to bed." He told his daughter, squeezing her shoulders gently. She leaned one check over onto his left hand.

"Goodnight Dad."

"Goodnight pal." He kissed the top of her head. She hesitated, seeming about to say something else to Devon but then walked towards the dome without another word.

Danziger over looked at Devon but she was obviously not going to open up and tell him. So he took the light and the MagPro from her and told her to go to bed as well. He wanted to be alone.

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In the morning, Alonzo went with Uly to collect some more stones for more necklaces. It was snowing lightly, softly. It added to the atmosphere of silence that was so powerful in the camp. True was thrilled with her necklace, showing more appreciation than Julia. But, like Julia, True didn't put hers on. She tucked it away under her blanket. She had an idea.

Devon's enthusiasm made up for both True and Julia and she instantly put the stones around her neck and her arms around a very proud Uly. Even if they weren't edible, the pretty stones had provided a distraction from their worries.

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Alonzo stumbled into Julia's tent. He was wheezing.

"Whaaat?" Julia stood up with concern. "What the heck?" Alonzo struggled to catch his breath.

"I ... don't ... think ...ah ... Julia ... wrong ... something's ... wrong ... help ... Julia." He fell forward into her arms as Bess entered the tent.

"Bess, help me!" Julia ordered urgently. The two women struggled with the now unconscious Alonzo, turning him over and laying him gently down. Julia strapped on her diaglove. "He's having some kind of allergic reaction to something." She turned to her table, eyes searching, searching, searching - there it was! She seized a syringe, pressed it to Alonzo's neck and scanned him again with her glove. Bess watched her anxiously.

After a long moment, Julia let out her breath; she hadn't even realized she'd been holding it.

"He breathing normally."

Bess leaned over Alonzo to rub Julia's arm. The doctor was shaking.

"What happened to his hands?" Bess asked.

"That's from chopping the wood yesterday. Maybe he reacted to the cream I was using. That doesn't make any sense though, a reaction should have occurred a lot quicker . . . " Julia was musing aloud.

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Morgan paced back and forth a short way from the camp. He was supposed to be looking for plants but he was not feeling optimistic so he wasn't putting a lot of effort into it. He was also a little wary because he didn't know where Danziger was. Morgan didn't want to come across the mechanic unexpectedly. Bess had gone to talk to Julia about exactly what they should look for with regards to the plants. Morgan decided to wait for his wife's return before putting any energy into the search.

He was startled by the sudden appearance of True around the corner of the last tent. She looked equally surprised to see him and hesitated. Then she continued, her path cutting over to his right.

"Where are you going, True?" Morgan asked. She had a pack on. What could she be doing with a pack? Was she on a hunt for food too?

"Nowhere special." was her cryptic response.

Morgan watched her disappear into the forest thinking sadly about the near miss the other night. She might very well be dead thanks to him. She seemed to be taking it better that her father, of whom Morgan was now terrified.

End part 2

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