A True terrian by Lia Faile

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A TRUE TERRIAN, Part 7
by Lia Faile

Several hours later, Julia sat next to Devon's sleep unit watching the three systems' readouts rotate in her gear eyepiece. So far everything was going fine. The final cycle was getting ready to start now. Perhaps she was being over cautious but she had no desire to make anymore "mistakes". At least not medical ones. Danizger sat in a chair leaning back against the wall pretending to sleep. Alonzo was outside trying to contact the camp. Apparently the blackout zones could shift their boundaries unexpectedly. That would give the colonists communication headaches in the future when they spread out over the planet.

Suddenly an insistent beeping went off in Julia's ear piece and the control panel lights flashed in a frantic pattern. Julia popped up and tossed her gear aside and rechecked the panel beside the unit.

"Okay guys! It's getting ready to open up! I'm going to need help getting her out."

Alonzo hurried in from outside but Danziger was already standing in front of Devon's sleep unit. Impatiently he waited for the glass door to slide open. He reached in and lifted the unconscious woman in his arms. Even through his jacket, Danziger could feel the cold radiating from her. The feel of her cold cheek against his neck caused him to shiver and instinctively pull her closer in an attempt to give her some of his warmth. He had to keep telling himself there was no fear of hypothermia. The various chemicals in her body acted as antifreeze preventing her from becoming frozen solid. Though her extremities felt frigid, her core temperature was nearly normal. It would take a few more minutes for her reheated blood to reach every part of her body. Resisting the urge to keep her in his arms, he walked the few steps to the exam bed and carefully laid her down.

Julia slipped on her diagnostic glove. She ran her hand down Devon's body stopping at various key areas to assess the readings. She felt better being able to treat Devon with her own equipment rather than the antiquated ship's monitors.

"How's she doing?" Danziger asked as he hovered over Julia's shoulder.

"Her pulse and respiration are well within normal." Julia frowned then tapped anxiously at the controls on the wrist of the glove. "Oh no....her alpha waves have stopped rising."

"She's in a coma?" Alonzo asked worriedly.

"Not yet. But if her alphas start to drop..."

"Can't you give her something? A stimulant?" Danziger asked his face tense.

"I'm trying to *clear* her system of chemicals, not add more." Julia responded irritably. "I don't want to risk rendering the antigen ineffectual."

"Yeah, but if she slips into a coma that'll make that argument a moot point." Alonzo insisted.

Julia chewed on her lower lip debating her next move. Finally she pulled out the hypoderm and loaded it with the mildest stimulant she had. It was the equivalent of a cup of very strong espresso. She hesitated a moment and then injected Devon. Any signs of change were watched for on her glove. Devon's pulse and blood pressure jumped up in response to the stimulant but her alpha waves remained the same. Frustrated, Julia reached out with her gloveless hand and gave Devon's cheek a firm slap.

"Devon?! Can you hear me?!"

Danziger grasped Julia by the shoulders and gently moved her aside. "Here, let me try something." He muttered. The burly man laid a hand on either side of the unconscious woman and leaned forward until his nose nearly touched hers. Julia had the faint impression that he was going to kiss Devon. Instead, he yelled.

"Adair! Wake up!" He barked. "It's been 19 days and we've haven't even gone 10 klicks! Alonzo's teaching Uly how to play poker and pick up women in bars! Half the group wants to give up and settle in a nearby valley!" He paused to gauge the effect, if any, his words had on her. Then he turned his head and leaned even closer until his lips brushed her ear and her hair tickled his nose. Then in his deep gravelly voice he played his ace. "Hey Adair." He growled. "I'm not wearing my gear. I'm *never* going to wear it again and there's nothing you can do about it lying flat on your back."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Alonzo couldn't help but laugh at Danziger's tactics. If that didn't get a rise out of her, they might as well bury her now. Julia was about to ask them both if they'd lost their minds when Devon turned her head and her eyelids fluttered briefly.

"W-wha-what?"

Devon's mouth and throat muscles worked to form words but her tongue felt swollen and her mouth was so very dry. Her eyes finally focused on the rugged face that was mere centimeters from hers. Her brows drew together in vexation.

"What do you mean, 'you've only gone 10 klicks?!'" She demanded hoarsely.

Danziger didn't reply. He just grinned. "Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty."

Julia edged him aside and quickly took several readings. Devon grabbed Julia's glove forcing the woman to meet her gaze.

"Where's Uly?" Her motherly instinct coming to the fore.

"Devon, he's back at camp. Just let me make sure you're stabilized and we'll tell you everything, okay?"

Devon released Julia and looked at the other two. Here were three faces she'd thought to never see again. Who was she kidding? She never thought to see any faces ever again. Had this planet performed another miracle? Maybe they should consider naming the planet Serendipity she thought woozily. She found herself smiling at the thought.

###
Devon sat in the front passenger seat of the rail with her knees tucked up under her chin. Valiantly she tried to keep her teeth from chattering madly. Even with the others' jackets draped over her, she still shivered uncontrollably. She knew that the sensation was more psychological that physiological, but that didn't change the fact that she felt like a living snowman. Julia kept leaning forward from the back to check her vitals about every five minutes it seemed like. Devon herself was unconcerned. Just as before when she sensed that her death was close at hand, she now somehow knew that the danger had passed. All that she cared about now was getting back to her son and holding him once more. She tried to make sense of the jumbled story the three had tried to tell her all at once. Somehow Shepard had taken a hand in her rescue. Quietly she offered up a prayer of thanks to him. The other person she had to thank was True. Looking over at John in the moonlite night, she pulled her wind-tossed hair from her face.

"I can't believe you allowed True to take such a chance."

"I didn't. She insisted. I was dead set against it." Came his clipped answer.

"I'm sorry to say, I wouldn't have risked Uly for your sake, John even if he had insisted." She said this honestly hoping he could tell she didn't hold his parental concern against him.

"If you had," Danziger grumbled, "I would have taken you over my knee and beaten some sense into you."

Deciding to join the conversation, Alonzo lead forward between the two front seats. "So Devon, I guess this makes you a Danziger now, huh?" Alonzo smiled like a Cheshire cat when both John and Devon looked at him incredulously and hollered simultaneously, "What?!"

"Well, True's got your genes, and now Devon's got True's genes in her." He continued pointing first at Danziger and then at Devon. "That makes you guys related, right?"

"I don't think so..." Devon replied weakly, the color draining from her face.

Ignoring Danziger's darkly threatening glare, Alonzo leaned back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest and turned his boyish smile towards Julia. "What *would* their genetic relationship be, Julia? Father-daughter? Brother-sister? ...Kissing cousins?"

Julia glanced at the older couple in front of her. Devon looked torn between fainting and jumping out of the moving rail. She was more concerned with Danziger's frame of mind. He looked ready to climb back here and separate Alonzo's head from his shoulders with his bare hands.

"No...no." She insisted. "Genetically they aren't related. Except for the Terrian flag chromosomes, True's altered DNA is inert. Only Devon's would be passed on to any offspring."

Relief and an awkward silence permeated the couple up front as they both turned back to face the front. Julia nudged Alonzo with her elbow and then inclined her head towards his. "Why must you torment them?" She scowled softly.

"Cause it's fun!" He laughingly replied loud enough for the others to hear.

Danziger pressed hard on the accelerator sending the rail racing through the night as he cataloged new uses for his favorite #9 wrench.

###
The sun was just cresting the hills on the right of the narrow rift that ran through these scraggy foothills leading back to camp. After periodic attempts to hail the others had failed, they decided to simply surprise everyone when they arrived. Devon watched the pinks and golds of the dawn blend with the blue of the sky and white of the clouds. It was so beautiful. How could people live all their lives without experiencing such an event? Some of the others preferred sunsets, but she was partial to sunrises. Sunsets were endings. Sunrises were beginnings. They heralded a fresh new day full of promise. She couldn't wait till they reached New Pacifica. Until they set up the colony. Until she could share the sunrise with all the other Syndrome children and their parents. To see hope shine in their faces once more.

Unable to contain this incredible feeling surging through her, Devon grabbed the dash of the rail and stood up startling the others.

"Adair! What the hell are you doing?! Sit down before you fall!" Danziger bellowed as he reached up and grabbed her by the belt in case she did fall.

Devon beamed down at him. "I don't want to sit down!" She hollered back laughing. "I want to stand up and shout! I want to do silly irresponsible things! I want the wind in my hair!" She laughed again as she tossed her wildly flailing auburn hair out of her eyes.

Worriedly Julia sat forward and tugged on Devon jacket. "Devon please sit down! I think you're having a toxic reaction to the altered DNA. That's why you're having these feelings of euphoria!"

"No she's not!" Alonzo said as he too stood up hooking his arm around the roll bar. "Life's pretty sweet after a dance with death, eh Devon?!" He shouted over the roar of the wind and flashed her an ebullient smile. "Go ahead! Let the whole world know that Devon Adair's alive and kicking!" He tilted back his head and let loose with a cowboy-like whoop. Devon laughed and let out one of her own. Danziger and Julia exchanged we-are-the-last-sane-people-on-earth looks and then grinned in spite of themselves.

Apparently the planet didn't like such racket just after dawn because the earth in front of them jumped up and rained down on them in big clods of dirt and shattered rocks. Danziger just avoided a gaping hole that had opened up in front of the rail. He brought the vehicle to a semi-controlled skidding stop. Devon and Alonzo had dropped down to their seats when the dirt first started to pelt them.

"What was that?!" Danziger coughed as he brushed debris from his hair and face.

"Don't stop!" Alonzo shouted. "That was a mortar blast!"

Danziger trounced down on the accelerator and raced for the cover of a nearby rock formation. A second later there was another hole right where he'd stopped the rail a moment before.

"It's coming from the camp's direction." Julia noted detachedly as if being shot at was becoming part of the daily routine.

"Who'd be shooting at us from camp?" Devon asked, trying to peer around the rocks.

"Morgan." Danziger snarled. "He's probably on watch."

"Nay, he'd have shot his foot off first before he'd figure out the grenade launcher." Alonzo replied bringing the jumpers to his eyes and scanning the surrounding hills. "Besides, I doubt if Yale would trust him with it."

Grabbing the magpro, Danziger hopped out of the rail and started a creeping forward advance.

"John, where are you going?!" Devon demanded.

Reminding himself he was *really* glad that Devon was back with them, he took a deep breath then turned around to address her. "I"m going up around that bend to have a look at the camp and maybe figure out what's going on."

"I don't think that's necessary, John." Alonzo drawled. His tone covering the worry he felt. "It's not Morgan taking pot shots at us." He lowered the jumpers revealing deadly serious eyes. "It's a ZED."

Danziger snatched the jumpers from the pilot's grasp and frantically scanned the hills hoping Alonzo had imagined what he'd seen. Finally he caught sight of a lone ZED. It faced his direction and its dead eyes bored through the jumper's lenses into Danziger's soul. It was unafraid. It was always unafraid. It knew that it was out of magpro range and didn't care if it was spotted. Danziger watched as that ZED was joined by another. The mechanic felt like he'd just stepped out of an airlock without a suit on.

"DAMN!" He turned angry eyes on Devon. "Your dead lover lied to me."

"Shepard is not my lover." Devon hissed. "What's wrong?"

"Well, he still lied. He said if True were altered by the Terrians and you were revived, it would change things. 'Pick another mountain he said!'" Came the snarling reply.

"You're not making any sense." Devon snapped at him while Alonzo and Julia exchanged looks of dread.

Reigning in his anger at Shepard's betrayal, Danziger soften his voice. "I didn't tell you everything I saw in that last dream, Devon. I didn't think it would be necessary." He paused remembering what he'd seen. "Shepard said that the camp would be attacked by six ZEDs."

"Six?!" She gasped. "We barely survived an attack by one!"

"Devon, the group didn't survive in the dream." He whispered.

A wild horror filled look crept across Devon's face as the meaning of his words sunk in. Giving a hoarse choking cry that sounded like "Uly," she tried to run towards the camp. Danziger caught her around the waist and tossed her not too gently into the backseat of the rail.

"You're staying put, Adair!" He hollered at her shaking his index finger in her face. "We just got you back."

"My son is out there!" She yelled back as she pulled herself out of the rail and tried to rush him, but he easily blocked her with his massive frame. Catching her by the upper arm with his free hand, he gave her a shake.

"You are not the only parent on this planet, Devon." He told her tersely. For a split second his hard features melted and reflected her own dread and fear.

"True..." She whispered falteringly.

Danziger nodded and once more his face grew hard. "You give orders real good. Why don't you try taking them for once?" He paused to give her a chance to snap back at him. When she didn't he continued. "We need to find out what condition the others are in and locate those other four ZEDs."

Devon stared into his eyes for nearly a full minute. Then she reached out for Danziger's coat and pulled out the gear set that was stuffed in the pocket. Setting it on her head, she turned on just the audio and tried to keep her voice from quavering as she spoke.
"Adair to Camp. Please respond."

After a pause it crackled to life and Denner's scared and surprised voice sounded in her ear. "Devon?! Where are you?"

Devon's eyes closed briefly as relief washed through her at the sound of a familiar voice. "We're about an eighth of a kilometer from camp. Right around the bend to the Northeast. Is anyone injured?"

There was a pause followed by the sound of a hand covering the mouth piece. Devon could tell that a hurried garbled discussion was taking place.

"Denner? Is everyone okay?" Devon demanded more firmly this time.

"Yeah, Devon. As far as we know. When the ZEDs started firing we scattered and got pinned down in several groups. Not all of us had gear on." The younger woman hesitantly explained.

Devon glanced at Danziger as if accusing him of being a bad influence on the others. "Denner, is Yale with you? Let me talk to him."

The sound of Magus' voice filled Devon's ear instead of Denner's this time. "Devon...the kids are the ones without their gear. Yale and Mazatl went out to look for them. Walman and Baines have been trying to draw the ZEDs' fire to keep them from locating the kids."

Devon pulled the gear off her head and pressed a trembling hand to her mouth as she fought for composure. She laid her hand on Danziger's arm. "Our children are out there--alone." Her voice cracked on the last word. Danziger wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. He wasn't certain if he were trying to comfort Devon or trying to be comforted himself. A faint "Devon?" could be heard coming from the gear she still clutched in her right hand. Julia pulled on her own gear and continued to talk with Denner and Magus.

###
Danziger, Devon and Julia cautiously worked their way along the hilly ridge towards camp. After successfully arguing that he was a better driver than Danziger and that Danziger was better with the magpro, Alonzo was going to attempt to race into camp on the rail. With only himself and no passengers or cargo to slow him down, he felt he could evade the ZEDs' mortar shots. Besides, if he wasn't visibly armed, they may not pay any attention to him at all. Julia hated the idea but relented when she realized that the longer they hung around the more likely a ZED would stumble upon them all. So the foursome broke up and hoped that they would all be reunited shortly.

###

end part 7 of 8 - A True Terrian by Lia Faile

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