Devon walked along the beach happily. They had finally made it! After such a long, hard journey, the group had made it to New Pacifica. She watched the waves crash against the sand and idly glanced at her chronometer. Darn, she had missed dinner. Turning around, she started walking back to camp, hoping there would be something left over.
The scene she saw when she returned convinced her she was living a nightmare. Bodies were slumped over on tables and lying on the ground. She rushed over and checked, they were all dead. Julia, Alonzo, Baines, Yale, . . . Uly. Everyone was dead. Then Devon saw John moving at the edge of camp. She was so overjoyed to see someone else - alive - she felt like kissing him. As it was, she ran toward him and almost hugged him. “John!”
He whirled around and looked at her in surprise. “Devon!” he exclaimed.
“John, what happened?” Devon asked.
John looked at her with an expression of disappointment on his face. “You didn’t eat dinner,” he guessed.
“No, I went for a walk. What was wrong with dinner? What happened to everyone?” Devon demanded, practically numb from what she had seen.
“Damn,” John swore softly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to do it this way,” he said, and then pulled out a pistol and aimed it at her.
Devon stared at the gun in shock. That was it, she had to be dreaming. “John, what’s going on?” she asked quietly.
“You couldn’t be allowed to colonize this planet, Adair,” he replied.
Something in the way he said that rang a bell with Devon. Her eyes widened and she shook her head, “No, you can’t, you can’t be . . .”
“Council?” John finished for her. “I can be, and yes, I am.”
Please, let this be a dream. Please, please, please, this could not be happening. “I don’t understand,” Devon said, stalling for time. “What about True, how could you be . . .?”
“What about True?” Danziger asked, seeming confused by the comparison. Understanding dawned, and he continued, “You think I killed her along with the rest? Hardly. She’s asleep, I sedated her. I’ll explain what happened to her when the ship lands to take us back to the stations. It should be here soon.”
“The colony ship?” Devon asked, her mind running on autopilot, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“No, of course not. The colony ship was sabotaged, just like the Advance ship. You didn’t actually think we would let it land here untouched, did you?” John was keeping the gun leveled at her, watching for any sudden moves, but Adair seemed to be stunned by her newfound knowledge. “The navigation console was tweaked a little,” he explained. “They’re not going to come anywhere near this planet, they’ll just drift through space.”
“Why?” Devon asked, starting to realize that, unfortunately, this was no dream.
John sighed. “Okay, my life story, condensed version. I grew up in a council family and was chosen to become a ‘drone’ to infiltrate a subversive group that was rumored to be trying to overthrow station government. Wentworth was part of my team, and Firestein was a high up in the organization. It wasn’t the chip in her head that caused her to sabotage the cargo pods, by the way. She did that on her own. Along the way, I fell in love with Eleanor Moore and was going to marry her when one of my enemies arranged a little ‘accident’,” Danziger’s face darkened. “He didn’t like the idea of someone of my status marrying someone from the immigrant class. Amazingly, though, he didn’t seem to dislike it as much right before I killed him. I found out about True, decided to keep my daughter, and here I am today.” He looked at Devon and couldn’t help but be amused by the expression of total shock on her face.
“How could you . . .” Devon motioned back to the scene behind her.
“Kill everyone?” John finished, still amused by the whole situation. He wondered if Adair really was hearing what he was saying or if she was just trying to delay the inevitable. //Probably a little of both,// he decided. “It was easy, Heller found a plant a few days ago that was highly toxic to humans. I added it to tonight’s dinner, sedated True so she wouldn’t eat any of it, and waited for it to take effect.” Danziger sighed again. “I wish you would have just been here for dinner, we could have avoided all this.”
Danziger had looked away from Devon for half a second and that’s when she made her move. She threw herself at him, kicking and hitting him, trying to disable him and to recover the gun. Then she was on the ground, gasping and clutching her stomach. For some reason, Devon had never really thought he would hit her back. She looked up into John’s angry gaze.
“Adair, don’t try that again,” he warned.
“Or what, you’ll kill me?” Devon managed to get out. God, this couldn’t be happening, this was *John*.
“No, or I’ll let you live,” John returned. “You have no idea what a favor I’m doing for you by killing you all. Some members of the council are too bent on vengeance,” he explained.
“Reilly?” Devon asked around the burning pain in her chest. It felt like a couple of ribs were broken.
“Reilly?” John almost laughed. “Reilly doesn’t exist, he was just a ruse to get Heller to betray us. We knew she would do it eventually.” He shook his head. “The council doesn’t want anyone to colonize this planet. We’re going to keep people on the stations, where we can keep control.” Danziger glanced at his chronometer and said, “Well, it’s been nice talking to you as always, Devon, but if you’ll excuse me, I have a ship to catch.” He pulled the trigger before Adair even had a chance to react, and her lifeless body fell to the ground. Danziger stood there a moment. //Crazy woman,// he thought. //I don’t know why someone didn’t stop her earlier.//
True was shaken out of sleep by the sounds of a ship landing very close to her. She saw that her dad was carrying her to the ship. “Daddy?” she asked sleepily.
“We’re going home, True-girl, back to the stations,” he said, smiling down at his daughter.
She smiled back at him. “Is anyone else coming?”
“No, it’s just you and me, kiddo,” John replied.
“Good,” True said, she had her dad all to herself. Then True drifted back off to sleep in the safety of her father’s arms.
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: All characters, names, and trademarks are the copyrighted property of Amblin/Universal. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.