Lest we lose our edens by Lia Faile

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Lest We Lose Our Edens, Part 5
by Lia Faile

Alonzo sat down on the cot. He rubbed his hands nervously over his knees to wipe the sweat from his palms and to camouflage his jittery legs. Julia tried to observe him with her standard detached clinicialism, but she was finding that harder and harder to do these days. His discomfort affected her as surely as if it were her own.

"Would you like me to sedate you?"

"What?" Her voice forced Alonzo from his worrisome reflections. "No, no thanks. I want to be able to wake up in case..."

Alonzo voice trailed off and his eyes slid to the floor refusing to meet hers. Julia was finding this introverted Alonzo much more irritating than the Don Juan Alonzo had ever been. She was supposed to be the emotionally remote one in this relationship, not him. Alonzo was the one who was supposed to drawn her out of herself, get her to open up about her feelings. Irrationally she felt betrayed by his aloofness.

"In case...what?"

"In case the Terrians aren't in a welcoming mood."

"Alonzo, that's not it. Why won't you tell me about your dream last night?" Julia hoped he didn't hear the edge in her sharply voiced question.

Alonzo sighed. He knew she was upset that he wouldn't confide in her. "I'm sorry, Julia. It's just that I feel like if I talk about it, it'll happen." He tried to conjure up the old Solace charm, but his smile was a wan imitation. "I know I'm acting superstitious but humor an 'old man,' will ya?"

Julia came over and sat down next to him. She leaned towards him and reached up with her gloved hand and lightly stroked his bottom lip with her fingertips causing the diagnostic glove to beep frustratedly as it attempted to read his vitals from this inadequate contact.

"Don't I always?" She murmured quietly engrossed in his dark eyes.

Alonzo leaned even closer till their lips were barely touching. One hand slide up her arm, over her shoulder and along her neck until it tangled in her hair.

"I've forgotten. Remind me."

Before she could reply, he pulled her head forward and pressed his lips to hers in the gentlest of kisses. Julia shivered and deepened the kissed. Never breaking the kiss, Julia pushed him backwards onto the cot. Alonzo offered no protest. Alonzo tugged the diagnostic glove from her arm and tossed it unceremoniously to the floor. Soon hands and mouths became urgent. Neither noticed the door pushing open a crack and Bess poking her head inside.

"Psst, Julia. Is he asleep yet?" The vision that greeted Bess was all the answer she needed. "Oops, sorry!"

She started to pull the door back shut, when Walman came up behind her and shoved it wide open so the entire group in the main dome room got an eyeful of the groping couple.
Walman threw up his hand in exasperation and brought it smacking down against his thigh.

"Aw hell! He'll never get to sleep with you doing that to him!" He exclaimed disdainfully to Julia.

For her part, Julia literally flew out of Alonzo's embrace and sat hunched on the far edge of the cot self consciously wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Red-faced she stared fixedly at a bit of dirt on the floor. Sighing, Alonzo slowly sat back up. He didn't understand Julia's dislike of public displays of affection, but he tried to respect her wishes, when he could help himself. Turning and frowning at their unwelcome audience, Alonzo attempts to bluff his way through the awkward situation for Julia's sake.

"Julia was just prepping me for sleep." He said in his most professional sounding voice.

Bess' wide doe eyes widen even farther, and Walman's scowl melted into a smirk. Despite the seriousness of their plight or perhaps because of it, the room erupted in loud guffaws and snickers. Recognizing the foolishness of his own remark, Alonzo fought the smirk that tugged at his lips and glanced apologetically at Julia. Who fevourently hoped that the ground would open up and swallow her.

"All right, everyone! Let's give Alonzo some privacy!"

Yale's deep baritone sliced through the cacophony with a paternal authority that no one could refuse. As he ushered out the stunned Bess and sniggering Walman, he shot Alonzo a look that that said no more monkey business, mister!

"Pleasant dreams, Alonzo." Yale said as he pulled the door shut.

Julia stood and retrieved her diagnostic glove from under the cot where it had ended up during their ardent tussle. Making a show of checking it for damage, Julia once again slipped behind her mask of indifference.

"Well, since you don't want a sedative, I guess I'll be going, too." Julia gazed at the door glumly as if it lead to her execution. A few faint laughs could still be heard on the other side.

"Julia, wait. Pleas stay." He asked beseechingly. "I know you can't come with me on the Dream Plane, but I would feel better knowing that you were *here* with me holding my hand."

Putting words to action, he held out his hand to her. Not hesitating a moment, Julia took it and sat down in the chair next to the cot. He laid back down and gazed up at Julia, who gently squeezed his hand reassuringly. They sat there in companionable silence for a while. Gradually Alonzo's breathing slowed and deepened then his eyes fluttered shut. He was asleep. Now hopefully, he would reach the Dream Plane and encounter the Terrians.

Once more Alonzo found himself standing on the shimmering jerky desert Dream Plane. For a place that had once terrified him, it was becoming like his second home. He had missed it. He wondered what it must be like to roam these ethereal plains for months on end as the Terrians did during the winter hibernation season. If not for the emotional ties he'd forged with Julia, he might had given into the desire to join the Terrians. If only for a short while. Perhaps, one day he still would.

Scanning the horizon, Alonzo saw no sign of the Terrians, but he knew how to fix that. All he had to do was send out his thoughts and call to them. Closing his eyes he silently cast his cry of "I'm here" on the metaphysical wind. Faintly he heard a reply from the distance. Then the ground beneath him began to rumble softly. They were coming. He squatted down and pressed his palms to the earth. On the Dream Plane there could be no doubt that the planet was alive. He could feel its gentle pulsing, like a heart beating.

He recalled the one time he had moved through the earth like a Terrian. It had happened during the battle with the Dark Terrian for John Danziger's soul. It had been exhilarating! To feel the planet accept you, envelop you. He envied Mary's and Uly's genetic bond with the Terrians. They would achieve a closeness to them he never would. But Mary had been forced to chose between her divided soul and the emotional toll she paid had been great. Was there a similar crossroads ahead for Uly?

Alonzo was drawn out of his revelry by three Terrians bursting forth from the ground surrounding him. Smiling, he couldn't help but think of how much the Terrians resembled giant corpses. What would an ancient Christian had thought of them? That they were the dead walking the earth as a sign that the End Times had begun? Hell, hadn't *he* thought the very same thing when he'd first see them?

The Terrian were unable to grasp the humor behind the visions in his mind, so they trilled quizzically at him canting their heads to one side. Shaking his own head, he told them to "nevermind." It would take too long to explain, and he doubted if even then they would grasp the beliefs behind human theology. Most humans couldn't grasp it either.

One of them questioned him on his avoidance of them before now. Bracing himself for their rejection and derision, he opened his memories to them. Several long heartbeats passed afterwards, but nothing happened. Then the one who had asked the question moved towards him and placed his huge leathery hand on Alonzo's head as if giving him a benediction. *You did not harm. You did not kill.* Alonzo looked up in amazement. Terrians didn't make physical contact. Relief rushed through his soul. They didn't blame him! He hadn't killed the Grendler. That was apparently a deciding factor in their minds. But John had killed. Would they be willing to help them find him and save him? Only one way to find out. He started to tell them their situation and warn them of Gaal.

Devon and Morgan trudged into camp in the late afternoon. Uly was the first out the door to greet them. He flew into his mother's arms and choked her lovingly Devon swallowed the scolding about leaving the safety of the dome. Instead she hugged him to her fiercely, closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. *He still smells like my baby.* She thought silently to herself. I didn't come all this way to find a cure for him, only to have him snatched away by one madman to give to another and even madder one.

"Didn't you bring Whelan back with you?"

Devon opened her eyes and sighed. Time to be a mother later, hopefully.

"No, Yale. Apparently this fox is afraid of wolves." She smiled at Bess who was hugging and kissing her "brave" husband. "He did give me a map of where Gaal's hideout is."

"Well, let's not tarry overlong outside." Yale said as he scanned the surrounding woods with his optically enhanced eye. "Who knows who may be observing us?"

Yale herded the group inside like a mother hen shooing her chicks back into the safety of the coop. Inside, Devon scanned the chamber mentally taking a head count. Someone was missing.

"Where's True?" She asked with only the barest hint of panic in her voice.

"She's in her bed sleeping. We caught her twice trying to sneak out of camp. The last time she became hysterical. I sedated her so she could get some rest and to make sure she stayed put."

"Good idea, Julia. Just make sure someone is with her at all times. I don't want Gaal or a Grendler slipping in here and taking her."

"Zero's with her now."

Devon nodded her approval. Julia was turning out to be a good back up. Devon could rely on her professionalism and logical approach to a situation. She has also been given the unenviable duty of playing tie breaker between Devon and Danziger. Not a job for the squeamish or faint hearted, Devon mused ruefully.

"Alonzo, were you able to contact the Terrians?"

"Yes."

Irritated at the clipped reply she asked him sharply. "And...?"

"And they are aware of Gaal's escape. He's been killing them while they hibernate."

"My God."

"Devon, they can't help us. They know less about fighting than we do. Emotions like hate and revenge are totally alien to them." Alonzo got up and began pacing the room. "I wouldn't go so far as to say they're childlike, but they are very naive. At least when it comes to human ways. I don't want to be a party to the stripping away of that innocence that is so much a part of them."

"What are you trying to say?"

Alonzo ran his hand through his dark hair and took a deep breath. "There's more at stake here than John's life, or our reaching New Pacifica. They *are* learning about humans. If we fail to stop people like Gaal and Reilly, the Terrians will start associating *all* humans with them and we may just end up having to fight them too. I don't want to see that happen. They mean too much to me."

"None of us wants that, Alonzo. So either way, we have to stop Gaal. That should put an end to the question of whether we go after Danziger or not." Devon's gaze went slowly about the room holding each person's eye briefly. "So we have a map, now all we need is a plan. Anyone have any suggestions?"

Everyone looked mutely at one another.

"I have an idea." Julia rose as she said this. "Only it would require everyone to contribute in order for it to work."

"What did you have in mind?" Devon asked, very curious about what this 'contribution' was supposed to be.

"We know that Grendlers like human blood. What if it's more than them just developing a taste for it? What if it's more of an addiction? That would explain how Gaal keeps control of them."

"You mean that human blood acts like a narcotic on Grendlers?"

"Yes! That's exactly what I mean, Yale!"

"So they're a couple of ugly dope fiends! What's great about that?" Morgan asked, shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes.

Devon, catching onto Julia's drift, answered for her. "It means they would be loyal to whomever was supplying them with blood. We could effectively bribe them. Is that what you had in mind, Julia?" Devon asked excitedly, feeling hopeful with this glimmer of a plan.

"Exactly! If not bribe them, at least get them so 'drunk' they wouldn't pose a threat to the rescue team."

"How much blood do you think that'd take?"

"That's the tricky part. I don't know much about Grendler physiology. But I figure if I get a pint from everyone that would be enough to give them a good buzz that would last long enough for us to get John out."

"Excellent plan, Julia, but how do you propose to deal with Gaal?"

Julia met Yale's gaze. Of all the colonists he was the one she felt closest to. They both were both products of the Council and had been viewed with suspicion by the others. He's scholarly background meant he dealt with life more on a intellectual level than an emotional one. She found his spiritual nature a bit perplexing but then, she'd been raised to view the Council as her God.

"I thought I could be used as bait to draw him out and away from the cave."

Alonzo jumped up and slammed his fist on the table. "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Julia was taken aback by the force of his objection. "Alonzo, it makes logical sense...I'm something Gaal wants."

Alonzo was pale and trembling with fear. A wild look filled his eyes, as if he were seeing something no one else could. "Screw logic! You aren't going anywhere near Gaal or those Grendlers."

Sparks flew from Julia's eyes as she felt unfamiliar anger flush through her veins. "Alonzo, I am just as much a part of this group as anyone else! John needs our help and I'm going to do everything in my power to help him! Even if it means risking my life for his! All of us owe him that much!"

In the face of her sudden fury, Alonzo's had retreated. He lowered his voice and spoke entreatingly to her. "Julia...you don't understand..."

"Then why don't you enlighten me?!" She spat out.

"What she proposes is risky Alonzo, but the best chance we have. We'll take steps to ensure her safety." Devon interjected.

"It won't do any good! She'll still end up *dead*!" He cried out.

"What are you talking about? How do you *know* I'll be killed?"

"It was in my damn dream! The one you've been pestering me to tell you about."

"What dream?" Devon demanded.

Alonzo moved around the table till he was standing in front of Julia. He took her hand in his and stammered out his dream to her.

"In my dream, you were dying. You'd been shot. Where the collar bone meets the neck. At the time I didn't realized that it was Gaal that had done it." Choking on unshed tears, Alonzo pulled Julia to him by her collar and laid his head on her shoulder. Hugging her tightly, he continued. "I couldn't help you Julia. I didn't know what to do! There was so much blood! You just laid there staring at me, helpless! And then I heard that sick bastard laughing!"

Stunned and oblivious to their audience for a change, Julia stroked his back and kissed his damp cheek.

Devon was confused by his emotional outburst. "Since when did you start having premonitions?"

"The Gaal part came true, why not the Julia part? I'm not gonna watch her die for real!"

"You don't know that it happens outside the cave, Alonzo. Maybe it will happen if I don't go. Besides, I have to go. John will definitely need medical care, and anyone who get injured during the rescue mission. Isn't forewarned, forearmed?"

Looking concerned, Devon voiced another option that made her equally nervous. "We could use the transmitter and contact Reilly. Maybe pretend to make a deal with him." She pulled out the tiny pill shaped device and held it up in front of her.

"NO!" Now it was Julia's turn to have a tantrum. "He's too cunning and deceitful! I'd rather take my chances with Gaal. He doesn't have a small army of ZEDs to back him up."

Devon and everyone else nodded in agreement. Yale reached out and took the transmitter from Devon's hand and set it on the table.

"Then it's settled then." He said as he made a fist and brought his metallic cyborg hand crashing down on the tiny device smashing it into even tinier pieces. Julia sighed with relief.

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