Lest we lose our edens by Lia Faile

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Lest We Lose Our Edens, Part 2
by Lia Faile

Devon needed to take control of the situation before things deteriorated too far. She could trust Alonzo to keep his cool, but Walman and Baines were very close to Danziger. If Gaal pushed the right buttons someone could end up dead. She believed Gaal when he said that if anything happened to him, John was a dead man. The blood stain on his coat worried her. It had to be Danziger's blood, Gaal wasn't injured. How badly was Danziger hurt? Was he already dead, and Gaal was just using his coat to put the group into an emotional tailspin?

"Gaal, what do you want?"

Devon used her most no nonsense voice. The one that usually made Danziger whince whenever she used it on him. Hopefully it would have more of an effect on Gaal than it did on Danziger.

"You wanted the transrover before. I'll let you have it now, if you'll release Danziger. We'll even fill it with supplies and no one will go after you. You could go anywhere you want."

"My what a lovely offer, Ms Adair. Too bad it's several months too late! To think that you betrayed me to the Terrians like that! A fellow human being, one of your own kind!"

Alonzo couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"Hey! I refuse to claim you as a fellow human. You abused and killed the Terrians for the sheer pleasure of it! You were going to kill *us*! After we took you in, no questions asked!"

"So I see the good Doctor has worked one of her medical miracles on you, pilot. Too bad she couldn't do anything for that empty space in your head. Although, I suppose she's more interested in what you have between your legs than what you have between your ears. Yes, I imagine you're quite popular with the ladies, hm?"

"You sick f..."

"Alonzo, please! Let me deal with him!"

So much for counting on Alonzo to keep his cool.

"Gaal! I'm asking for the last time. What do you want in exchange for Danziger?"

"Your son."

Devon was totally stunned.

"Wha..what?! My *son*?! You want me to give you my son?!"

"Oh yes, and the Doctor too." A huge smile split Gaal's face. He was enjoying himself immensely!

Devon's amazement gave way to anger.

"You expect me to hand over my son and another member of my group to you?!"

"No, Madame I don't. I expect I'll have to kill you. Have to kill you all. Let's just call it an added bonus."

"Bonus? For what?"

Julia began to get a sick feeling in her stomach. She knew what was coming next.

"Why I think the Doctor knows. Don't you dear? Seems we have a mutual friend. A Mr. Reilly. Quite a nice chap. He offered me a full pardon if I could deliver the boy and the doctor to him unharmed. He didn't care what happened to the rest of you. Ergo, my bonus."

Devon was totally lost now. She didn't have control of the situation and it didn't look like she was going to get it anytime soon. He had to be bluffing about Reilly.

"I don't believe you about Reilly. You must have over heard Julia when she was talking to him in VR. How could you have gotten in touch with him?"

"With this."

Devon turned to see that Julia had moved forward and was now standing next to her. She started to open her mouth to demand an explanation from Julia, when her eyes fell on what Julia was holding up in her hand between her thumb and index finger. Devon's mouth snapped shut. She looked into Julia's pale pinched face.

"Where did you get that? I saw you throw it off a cliff. How long have you had it?"

"I..I did..but then I found it in my pocket this morning. I'm guessing that Gaal snuck into camp and put it there."

Devon snatched the tiny transmitter from her trembling hand and gave her an accusing look.

"You've known about it since this morning?! Why didn't you show it to me then?"

"I...uh...I was afraid that you might think I was still in contact with Reilly. I didn't want..to be abandoned again." She made a helpless gesture with her now empty hand and bit her lip to still its trembling.

Devon immediately felt guilty for her accusatory tone. She could see the anguish in Julia's face. After what had happened to her the last time, who could blame her?

"Julia, no one is accusing you of working with Reilly. You've more than proven your loyalty to the group." Her eyes fastened onto Gaal. "What I want to know is how you got a hold of this" Devon shook the transmitter at Gaal, who merely grinned idiotically and shrugged his shoulders.

"What can I say? Grendlers pick up the most interesting things."

"Devon, let's just beat the crap out of him until he tells us were Danziger is!"

"Don't you dare, Walman! I refuse to stoop to this cretin's level!"

Devon decided to reason with Gaal and point out the obvious to him. "Gaal, why don't you just tell us were Danziger is? What's to stop us from just following you to him?"

Again, Gaal grinned wickedly. "I've given that some thought." Reaching into his pocket he drew out a round silvery object that was about the size of a softball. "So you can imagine my delight when the Grendlers found this."

Yale recognized the spherical object for what it was. Quickly he pulled Uly to him and covered the boy's eyes with his hand. Yale squeezed shut his own eyes and adverted his head as he hollered a warning to the others. Just as Gaal threw it into their midst.

"Everyone! Cover your eyes! That's an illuminary grenade!"

Having spent years listening to Yale's consul, Devon hid her face in the crook of her elbow. The others either didn't heed him or they barely closed their eyes in time. Cries of agony erupted from the group. Their optic nerves had been overloaded with intense light causing pain and blindness. Devon lowered her arm. Even with the shelter of her arm she still had to blink as spots formed before her eyes causing them to tear and burn. She saw Walman, Baines, and Alonzo withering on the ground clutching their eyes. The others just seemed partially affected like herself.

"Julia! Do something!"

"I wish I could, Devon but. I can barely see myself."

"Yale! Are these affects permanent?"

The scholar walked up to her on shaky legs. "Thank God no! But it will take a painful while to heal.

"All right! Everyone who can somewhat see, help someone who can't! I want everyone back in the dome!"

Bess and True rushed out of the tent. Bess hurried over to Morgan. True stood there, uncertain of what to do. She looked around but saw no sign of Gaal or evident of his exit from the camp. Devon saw True searching the surrounding woods visually and decided she better give the girl something to do before True decided to try to find her father on her own.

"True! Come over here and help Julia treat the others. You can be her eyes."

Still in shook from Gaal resurrection, True again complied without questions or defiance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The main dome chamber was eerily silent. Everyone remained locked within their own thoughts. None of them happy ones. Many were sporting migraines and dealing with splotchy vision. Julia had done her best to speed up the healing process and to minimize the pain, but short of sedating everybody for 10 to 12 hours she couldn't reverse the hangover effect of the illuminary grenade completely. That required time.

There was a rap at the door and Eben got up to unlock it while Bess took up her position and stood ready to shoot in case it wasn't one of the scouting party returning. The sight of the huge Magpro in the petite woman-child's hands was comical. Until you got a good look at her. Her eyes were like flint, her mouth set, and she held the gun unwaveringly. This was an image of a young lioness determined to defend her pride from any threat at any cost. Eben looked at Bess who nodded that she was ready. The door swung open and Yale, Devon, Cameron, and Mangus stepped quickly inside.

Their return shattered the prior stillness. Everyone rushed up to the small band and began to speak at once furiously. Yale held up his cyberarm. It was always a real attention getter. He had come to recognize that and often used it for its effectiveness.

"One at a time! One at a time, please!"

"We didn't find any hint of tracks near the camp." Devon reported making herself look these people in the eye levelly. "There's been so much traffic in and about the campsite that it's nearly impossible to separate boot marks. None of us are Wild West bounty hunters."

"What are we sitting around for?! Let's go get Danz!" Walman yelled elbowing his way to the front and planting himself in front of Devon with arms folded across his chest.

"And where do you propose we *look* for him?" Devon shot back. "We weren't able to locate Gaal's trail and there is no signal; coming from Danziger's gear. We can't risk endangering him by making Gaal nervous if he catches us near his hideout."

"Hell, he's already endangered just by being near that wacko!"

An exasperated Devon turned her back on Walman. She reached up and massaged her throbbing temple. Her eyes fell on Alonzo. The pilot was seated next to Julia but looked as if he were a million light years away. He didn't even acknowledge the ruckus around him.

"Alonzo, could you contact the Terrians and see if they could help us locate Gaal? Judging by that new Terrian bone necklace they know he got away. Surely they have an interest in his recapture."

A pained expression clouded Alonzo's eyes momentarily as he came abruptly back to the here and now.

"I haven't been in contact with the Terrians for weeks...." He trailed off weakly.

Devon cocked her head. "They're still hibernating?"

"No, I just wasn't sure how they would react to me now. So I've been avoiding them. I have more control over the dream plane now. They can't force their way into my dreams if I don't wish it. And I don't."

"You never told me that." Julia interjected sliding her arm up his shoulder as she stared at him with deep concern.

"Why?"

"I don't know how they will treat me after what happened on the failed cargo pod 9 expedition. 'Don't harm.' Remember? They may not want anything to do with me when they find out I was party to the killing and eating of a Grendler."

Devon leaned on the table towards him. "Could you try? This is very important."

Alonzo nodded affirmatively. Julia laid her cheek on his shoulder and stroked his back.

"Who cares what the Terrians think?! They probably let that goof ball go! Some leader *you* turned out to be! Man, I should have known not the sign on where some blue-blooded ditzy female was in charge. But I figured O'Neil would be running the show.."

"Don't talk to Devon like that Walman. She's done the best she could given the circumstances. You can't expect her to have predicted something like this happening."

"Shut up, Cameron! You're just her personal lackey! Hell, you'd lick her boots clean if she told you to!"

"Hey, Walman! That's uncalled for! Cameron never voices his opinions. He's entitled to a say in this. I wasn't part of the original landing group either, but there's nothing wrong with the way Devon's handled things!"

"ENOUGH! I'm sick of you people and your righteous indignation! No one twisted your arm or held a gun to your head and forced you to come here! I'm *sorry!* I didn't plan on bombs, or spies, or homicidal maniacs! So sue me! You have a problem with my leadership, Walman? Fine. I'm not leader anymore! I wash my hands of all of you. So Walman, what's the plan? How are you going to get Danziger free without getting him and half the group killed?! Where are you going to look for him?! Huh, Walman?! WHERE?!"

Devon fired her questions three inches from Walman's face. She jabbed him in the chest with her index finger during the entire tirade. She had backed the man up against the table until he couldn't go any farther. He lost his balance and plopped down heavily onto the bench. He stared at Devon with wide scared eyes and a gaping mouth.

"I...I never said I wanted to lead the group."

"Well *someone* has to Walman. Cause I'm not!"

Yale stepped up behind Devon and place his hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently.

"Devon, please! This is not the time or place for this. I know how stressful this situation has been for you. Up until now, the only thing in your life you haven't been able to control, overcome, or get around has been Uly's illness. We need to stay together for John's sake."

Devon brushed her hair from her face and patted Yale's hand with hers. Looking around she saw the damage her little tantrum had inflicted on the others. There were looks of fear, pain, and confusion. She was suppose to be keeping these people *together* not driving more wedges between them. Where had her control gone? She'd never lost it like that before.

"Ahum, sorry... I didn't mean to do that. Does any one have any suggestions?"

"What about the penal colony living with the Terrians?"

"No, I'd thought of them too, but the Elder is having a power struggle himself since both Sheppard and Katrina died. I wouldn't want to add to his woes. Besides, they don't like to venture out above ground unless absolutely necessary. And then not very far. I'd like to keep their existence from Gaal. That way if things go really badly, the rest can go there for safety."

"How are we ever going to find them?!"

"Well, my grandmother always said 'if you want to know who's stealing your chickens, ask a fox.'"

"Bess, you've never seen chickens or a fox."

"I *know* Morgan. It's just an expression!"

"Bess is right. If we want to find Gaal, we need someone who's lived here a long time. Knows his way around, how to track, where good places to hide are, can do want is necessary to survive."

Devon slowly paced in a lazy circle as she ran down her list of qualities for a Gaal hunter.

"Who's like that? Another penal colonist? Isn't that just as risky?"

"Actually, I had Whelan in mind."

"Whe..Whelan? The man-in-the-iron-mask, Whelan?" Morgan asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, sort of a takes one to know one idea. If anyone could find Gaal, it'd be him."

"Brilliant plan Devon, but how can you be sure he will cooperate?"

Smiling at Yale Devon replied, "You of all people should know how persuasive I can be!"

"Well, you can't go alone. And you'll need to wait till morning. You'll never make it there and back before night fall. We don't know if Gaal is out there waiting to pick us off one at at time. You stand a better chance in broad daylight."

"I don't know Yale, Whelan is pretty skittish. If I go up there with an armed escort he may shoot first and never ask any questions. I think I should go alone."

Bess leaned over and nudged Morgan. "Morgan I think you should go. Whelan knows you."

Morgan looked at his wife as if she had suddenly sprouted fangs and a tail. "The man hung me from my feet in a tree, Bess! That hardly makes us bosom buddies!"

"That's why I think you should go. He didn't hurt you the last time, that means he isn't threatened by you."

"No! My place is here, with you."

Morgan patted Bess' thigh and smiled. Bess grabbed his hand and yanked him towards her. She placed her lips against his ear and whispered so only he could hear her words.

"Morgan, if you *ever* want to glimpse "paradise" again, you'll go."

Morgan pulled away from her and scrutinized her expression while he slowly digested her meaning. Morgan stood and turned to Devon.

"Devon, I..I think I should go with y..y.you."

Glancing back at Bess he added. "I *insist* on going with you."

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