Lest we lose our edens by Lia Faile

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Lest We Lose Our Edens, Part 6
by Lia Faile

The rest of the evening and much of the night was spent on arguing over who would comprise the rescue team. This type of sparing was Devon's specialty. She got her way on all counts. The team included Alonzo, Baines, Cameron, Julia, Magus, and herself. Julia was needed in case anyone, especially Danziger, required medical attention. If Julia was coming, Devon knew damn well there was no way to prevent Alonzo from coming as well. Seeing how shakened his dream-visions had made him, she couldn't deny him the right to come along.

Magus and Cameron were both level-headed and less likely to just arbitrarily start shooting. That was the main reason she had left Walman behind. He'd turned terribly hot-headed the past few weeks. Devon didn't want to have to deal with a loose cannon *and* a homicidal maniac. He had kicked up a fuss until she convinced him that she needed him to remain behind as backup in case the rescue attempt failed and Gaal came after the rest of the group. He fell silent at that and went off in a corner and began to clean his gun. Baines came from a military background. He handled a magpro better than anyone in the group. Plus his fuse wasn't nearly as short as Walman's.

Devon had insisted on going because she felt it her duty. She *was* the reason they all were here. That had been the hardest fight of all because it put her up against Yale. She never could intimidate him nor could she get him riled enough to throw him off guard. He finally relented when he saw how determined she was to go. O'Neil had been her friend and Gaal had killed him. Yale knew that she and John had formed a somewhat unorthodox relationship that at first glance looked as if they could barely stand one another's company. But he sensed that that was merely a ruse on both their parts to cover up feelings that neither one was ready to admit to just yet.

When he realized that Devon was adamant about going, he too had wanted to come. After all he had military training as well. Since his memory block had been removed the weapons aversion and other yale programs had failed also. In his mind Devon was still the head-strong little girl charging off in any direction that suited her without fear. He still tried to look out for her. It was nice to know that his love and concern for her well-being was real and not a part of his programing. She was his heart-child and would always remain so. Without her he would never have gotten this second chance at life.

Devon had vetoed Yale's coming. She wanted him here to take care of Uly and the others if the rescue group didn't make it back. It would be Yale's duty to move the group out and get them to the Elder's cave. Maybe once there, he could persuade some of them to accompany the Eden group to New Pacifica. They would need all the hands they could get to set up the colony in time. She only hoped the Elder would forgive her for dumping her problems on his door step. Something told her that he would.

So the Eden group had split up. The smaller group trudging through the woods to hopefully save a life. The larger group remaining behind sitting on pins and needles, praying for everyone's safe return. Both groups trying not to think about the possibility of never setting eyes on the other again.

Out of necessity, the small band followed a meandering route in silence. Devon didn't want to take the chance of running into Gaal or his cohorts en route to his den. So they avoided anything that remotely resembled a path. They waded through the thick underbrush and squeezed between the tightly packed trees and saplings. Baines lead the way with his gun armed and held at the ready. His eyes constantly scanning. Devon came next with her side arm tucked neatly in its holster as she concentrated on Whelan's map searching for matching landmarks.

After Devon came Julia, who was lugging an extremely pared down medical kit and a knapsack full of the precious containers of blood. She was looking everywhere except behind her. Firstly because she knew that with Alonzo at her back she didn't need to fear attack from that direction. Secondly because she was still incredibly pissed off at him. Alonzo for his part barely took his eyes off the rigid determined back of the woman in front of him. Relying mainly on that sixth sense that all good pilots seemed to possess to warn him of any danger.

Acting as rear guard came Magus and then Cameron. Both looked extremely uncomfortable and hoped that they wouldn't prove Devon's trust in them as foolish. Neither one had signed on this mission wishing for the chance to play marine and either one would gladly trade places with Walman. Not that they didn't care for Danziger or that they wouldn't do what they could to help him. They were just plain scared. There was no way to deny such an honest emotion, the best one could hope for was to try to use it to their advantage by counting on it to keep them on their toes.

As they started to crest a small hillock, Devon grabbed Baines' arm and motioned for the others to stop as well. Everyone moved in closer and followed her lead when she crouched down. She indicted by pointing to the map that their destination was on the other side of the hill. Slowly they crept to the top. The leafs and twigs rustled and snapped beneath six sets of elbows and knees. Devon swore to herself that they couldn't make anymore noise if they had a marching band accompanying them.

Once at the top, Devon forgot her own rule about no talking.

"There's the cave." She whispered excitedly.

"Yeah, and there's the welcoming committee." Baines drawled as he pointed to the two Grendlers squatting at the cave entrance. Then he raised the large gun up and sighted down on them.

"Wait!" Devon hissed at him as she shoved his gun barrel to the ground. "You might not get both of them. Or if you do, you might just succeed in warning Gaal if he's inside."

"Might, might, might doesn't cut it, Devon!" He spat back. "We need to take some action."

"Too bad there's not a back door." Cameron jested to cover his own anxiety and to try to defuse the tension building between Devon and Baines.

Missing the jest, Devon pounced on the notion. "Maybe there is. Baines you, Magus and Cameron stay here and keep an eye on the Grendlers. Alonzo, you and Julia come with me."

The trio crept off and started to make a lazy bypass around the knoll that the cave was built into. They searched for any hint of a secondary port of entry with both their eyes and the scanner that Julia carried. About a third of the way around they were getting discouraged of finding such a miracle when Julia spotted what looked like a small landslide partway up the knoll. They hiked up to it and spent about 20 minutes clearing away the rocks and dirt. By now they were hot and sweaty despite the chilly weather. All of a sudden Alonzo began to curse fluently in several languages.

"All this trouble for a damn rabbit hole!"

"Let me see."

Devon moved past the pilot to look at what their efforts had revealed. She saw a very small, very dark tunnel. Sure enough, a "rabbit hole" as Alonzo said.

Staring at the hole, Devon refused to give in to the despair that hammered at her from some traitorous corner of her soul.

"I could fit in there." She whispered, more to herself than to her companions.

"Yeah, well, Danziger *won't*!" Alonzo shot back irritably as he slapped dirt off his clothes.

"Could we enlarge it?" Julia asked.

Alonzo shook his sweaty dirt streaked face absently. "It would take too long and be too risky. We'd have to worry about noise and cave ins."

"Julia you've been scanning the hill, are you certain it goes anywhere?" Devon interjected as she motioned in the rabbit hole's direction.

Julia double checked the scanner's readings. "Yes...it's tight but it opens up into a larger passageway after about 12 meters. Where that passageway leads to I don't know. That's the extent of the scanner's range."

"What about life signs?" Devon asked next as she stared at the hole that appeared to shrink the harder and longer she gazed at it.

"Nothing. Something in the geological makeup of the bedrock here is interfering with that function."

"Wonderful. It's like the planet is toying with us sometimes." Alonzo grumbled.

"Okay, I'll go in, find Danziger and use the scanner to locate the main entrance."

"Devon, I really think I should go. John might need immediate medical care."

"No!"

Both Alonzo and Devon exclaimed in unison causing Julia to frown in irritation.

"Julia, we can't risk our only doctor. Especially with Gaal hoping to get his hands on you. I want you to go back with Alonzo and put your plan into action so that when we're ready to head for the exit, we don't have to worry about the Grendlers."

"Alright."

Devon peeled off her bulky outer coat so she would have more maneuverability. She double checked her sidearm before slipping it into its hostler. The scanner was also secured to her belt.

"Here, you should take the magpro." Alonzo held out the larger gun.

Devon waved him off. "No, it'd be too awkward in there. Besides, I've been practicing with the pistol. I feel more comfortable with it."

"Remember, any trouble go ahead and signal us. We'll come running."

Alonzo patted her on the shoulder and blessed her with a wink. She smiled at this unexpected return of his flirtatious nature.

Switching on her lumalight, Devon started the long cramped crawl into the unknown interior. She tried not to cough as her progress stirred up the dusty earth beneath her hands and knees. Pieces of gravel and dirt bit into her palms and knees while her back was jabbed by the occasional protrusion from above. The tunnel narrowed more and Devon was forced to continue on laying on her belly and inching forward with her toes and elbows. A growing feeling of claustrophobia compounded with her fear of the dark had Devon on the verge of hyperventilating. She stopped, lowered her head to her forearms and tried to moderate her ragged breathing.

She'd be all right so long as the tunnel didn't narrow any farther or dead end. She didn't want to have to try to back out or get stuck. Stop thinking so much Devon. To calm herself, she started to hum a song from her childhood but stopped when she thought about the sound carrying. Though it had felt like ages, in reality she'd only been in the restricted space for about 10 minutes when it opened up into a larger passageway like Julia had predicted. Devon scrambled to her feet and leaned against the rock wall to give her trembling legs and jangled nerves a chance to recover.

While Devon slowly made her way through the rabbit hole, Julia and Alonzo were racing back to join the others. Once back, Alonzo went up to Baines and patted his shoulder.

"So what have the two Dromios been up to?" Alonzo asked referring to the Grendlers.

"Nothing much." Baines replied without looking up and continued to watch them from his prone position under the cover of an evergreen shrub.

Cameron leaned over and joined the conversation. "Looks like they're playing a game of some type. They've been tossing pebbles like dice and moving those sticks around forming different patterns." He handed Alonzo the jumpers so he could get a better look.

Just then the scared Grendler broke out in a raucous laughing fit while the other squawked in displeasure. Annoyed at being laughed at, it picked up the sticks and threw them at the other hitting it in its face. The scare faced one promptly stopped laughing, let out a bellowing shriek of rage and jumped on its assailant. They fell to the ground bellowing at, drooling on, and smacking each other

"Charming pair." Alonzo commented dryly.

Looking around, Magus noticed that Devon had not returned with the other two.

"Where's Devon?"

"We found a small tunnel that lead into the cave. Danziger won't fit, so we came back to make sure that the front entrance is clear." Alonzo explained.

"She went alone?!"

"Alonzo was too big and they both vetoed me going."

"What if she runs into Gaal?"

"We'll just have to hope that she won't."

"Well, time for me to go to work." Julia said as she unpacked a vial of blood.

"What's the plan?"

"I hope to lure them away from the cave by letting them see what I have."

She motioned towards the knapsack as she said this. She took the one vial and began to pour some blood into a smaller container. Alonzo picked up the knapsack while she did this.

"I'm going with you." He stated flatly.

"No way! You'll scare them off waving that magpro around."

"Then I won't take it."

Alonzo handed the gun to Magus without breaking the staring contest he was waging with Julia. Julia lost the contest when her gaze followed the gun's transfer to Magus' hands. She fidgeted with a loose lock of hair and made a grab for the knapsack. Alonzo refused to release it.

"If you're unarmed why go? It doesn't make sense!"

"You're the one making up the rules, Julia. You say no gun, I don't take a gun. But there is no way you're going down there alone. I don't care if you never speak to me again. I'd rather have you give me the cold shoulder for the rest of this trip than to spend my whole life kicking myself in the ass for not doing something I feel this strongly about."

"Alonzo, you don't understand. It's important that I appear alone and harmless so they won't get suspicious."

"He's right, Julia." Baines piped in. "Those Grendlers can move pretty fast when they want to. I doubt you could get away from two of them if they decided to rush you. They could snap your neck before we got halfway down there."

"Alright, alright! Only stay out of sight and downwind!"

Julia exclaimed as she shook her index finger at him. She gave the knapsack an angry yank and Alonzo released it this time. She stormed off down the hill without a backwards glance. Magus handed Alonzo the magpro back. He gave the angry young doctor a decent lead and headed off behind her staying close to cover.

The Grendlers stopped their wrestling match once Julia was sighted. They both jumped up and took defensive stances. Julia held up her hands and smiled nervously. She pretended to stumble and fall making sure that the small container of blood she held in her hand rolled conveniently to one of the Grendler's feet. The Grendler reached down and snatched it up as the other one looked on quizzically. The container was opened, its contents were sniffed, and then guzzled. The other Grendler roared and thumped its greedy companion on the head to no avail. Once it got the vial, it was already empty.

The empty container was thrown to the ground in disgust. Julia thought they might go back to fighting again which wouldn't accomplish her goal. Instead they appeared to fall into a deep discussion while casting speculative glances her way. Alonzo didn't like the sly looks the Grendlers were giving Julia. He prepared himself to sprint to her side if the need arose. Then the smaller Grendler disappeared into the cave.

Julia sat up straighter and didn't have to fake the worried look she wore. Was it going to get Gaal she wondered. That thought nearly sent her scurrying for Alonzo's protection, pride or no pride. The missing Grendler reappeared shortly after its sudden departure. Alone, but with its arms full of miscellaneous items. They were going to attempt to trade with her for more blood.

They conferred once more. In order to plan their strategy it seemed. Maybe Bess would have been the better choice for this, since she had dealings with Grendlers before. Only the thought of having to revive Morgan every time he heard a noise was just too ridiculously mindboggling. A coward Morgan might be, but he was loyal to Bess and he would not have stayed behind while she endangered herself. Their plan hammered out, they cautiously approached her making low gurgling noises that must have been meant to sooth her.

Choosing to play the frighten lost human female to the hilt, Julia gave a choked shriek then jumped up and ran deeper into the woods. Remembering to take the knapsack with her. The shocked Grendlers recovered quickly and took off after her eating up the ground with large loping strides that didn't seem possible for such stubby legs. Although the one burdened with the goods lagged behind the scare faced one a bit.

Daring to sneak a quick glance back, Julia noted that they were uncomfortably close and getting closer still. Baines hadn't exaggerated when he said they could move fast. Even with her increased lung capacity, Julia was feeling the strain of trying to keep ahead. She began to question whether this was such a good plan as real fear crept into her mind. As a physician she knew what addicts were capable of if desperate enough. Plus her own personal experience with addiction when she was experimenting with Uly's DNA gave her first hand knowledge of what extremes ethical people could be driven to. Seeing that they associated with Gaal, she doubted if these two Grendlers represented the moral backbone of the Grendler community to start with. She just hoped Alonzo was able to keep up.

The minute Julia and the Grendlers bolted, Alonzo dropped all pretense of trying to keep to cover. He broke out into a full gallop as he strove to keep up with his quarry and dodge trees at the same time. As his gasping lungs began to burn, Alonzo was filled with admiration for Julia's physical prowess. He wondered just how much was due to genetic enhancement and how much was due to having two slobbering Grendlers hot on her tail.

The weight of the magpro was slowing him down but he didn't dare drop it. Knowing he couldn't keep this pace up much longer and not wanting to let them get too far away, he hollered at Julia.

"Julia! Stop! I'll cover you from here!"

Hearing Alonzo's winded shout, Julia's mind understood his reasoning, but had a difficult time getting her legs to comply. Logic didn't carry much weight with one's instinct. Finally she managed to stop next to a large sequoia sized tree.

Assuming a guarded posture, she turned to face her two pursuers. Only now their attention was focused behind them on Alonzo. They started for him growling menacingly. He raised the gun and shouted a warning for them to stop. He was breathing so hard he was having trouble keeping them in his sights. Not sure how far they had come Julia didn't want the sound of gunfire to warn Gaal that they had found his sanctuary. Plus worried that Alonzo might get one but not the other, Julia decided to drawn their attention back to her.

"Wait!" She hollered. "Here's what you want! I'll give it to you! Just leave him be!"

Julia held the knapsack high and shook it. Then she threw it at the Grendlers' feet when they turned at the sound of her voice. Forgetting both Alonzo and Julia the two fell on the sack and began to consume the vials greedily. Each one fearful that the other would get more than its fair share.

Watching the slurping Grendlers feed on the blood Julia was reminded of the time she was forced to ingest Grendler blood to survive. She was thankful that the addictive nature of human blood to Grendlers didn't work in reverse. Cautiously she worked her way around the frenzied Grendlers to join Alonzo. All past quarrels were forgotten as they embraced. Alonzo let his gun drop as he hugged her to him tightly lifting her several inches off the ground. With his eyes closed tight Alonzo whispered in her ear.

"I love you, Julia."

"I love you too, Alonzo."

The words came so free and easy to both of them, a bystander would never be able to tell that this was the first utterance of those three words either one had ever said to another person.

After several long personal moments, they parted and observed the effect that that much human blood was having on the Grendlers. Like Julia predicted, human blood acted as a narcotic. The gorged Grendlers sat leaning against the tree in a drunken stupor sighing and belching contently.

"Boy, I bet they regret this in the morning." Alonzo joked.

Later, Alonzo could never say what it was that tipped him off. Whether it was a snapped twig or if he recognized the surrounding area from his vision. All he knew was that he threw Julia to the ground a milisecond before the air where her head had been exploded. Several more shots followed them as Alonzo sent them rolling towards the safty of a fallen tree. He cried out in pain as one shot found its home in his leg.

"They're going to regret it sooner than that, pilot."

Gaal then pointed the gun at the Grendlers and let loose a barrage of gun fire into their bodies.

"You two have disappointed me for the last time."

He then turned his attention back to the human couple.

"Step away from him doctor, I don't want to hit you by accident like I nearly did earlier. You're too valuable to me at the moment. Thank you Mr. Solace for looking out after my interests."

The harder Alonzo tried to push her away from him the harder Julia clung. This time it was her shielding him with her body. Sighing with irritation, Gaal walked towards them. He only got about 4 paces when several wild gun shots whizzed by him as Baines, Cameron, and Magus came crashing through the woods firing as they ran. Realizing he was way out numbered, Gaal snarled and took off in the opposite direction. Baines and Cameron hot on his heels. Magus stopped to help Julia and Alonzo.

"Did you bring my medical kit?"

Magus handed the kit to Julia who opened it with shaking hands and took out her diagnostic glove.

"How badly is he hurt?"

"I don't know yet."

Julia answered worriedly as she torn open his pant leg. Alonzo cried out and grabbed his leg protectively.

"Damn it! The *same* leg! Why does it have to be the *same* leg all the time, Julia?!"

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