Final Fights by pal fow

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Final Fights (5/12)
by palfow

Back in the camp:

Bess lay awake in bed next to Morgan who had been turning around all the time. He was dreaming. Heaven knew about what. She thought of Devon and what this whole mess did to John. She had to talk to him as soon as he was out of cold-sleep. Maybe she should have done this before he entered...well, she had talked to him, but hadn't been able to tell him everything since Julia had rushed her.
Well, anyway she had to tell him that...

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhrg !!!!!!!!!!"

"Jesus, Morgan, what's up?" she looked at her husband who sat up straight in bed from one second to the other, his face pale and his eyes having quite a shocked look.

"I...I... I have been dreaming...." he breathed fast, trying to calm down.

"The dream's over now... You can relax."

"Bess, I dreamed about you getting ill, too..." There it was ... finally. She had almost waited for this. Well not exactly that way, but similar. She had thought he'd came up with the idea of him getting ill.

"But I feel okay, Morgan. I am not ill. And I won't get."

"Oh Bess, I hope you're right." He slowly calmed down, laid back into his pillow and for a few seconds closed his eyes. Then he sat up, and hugged Bess.

"Morgan, you didn't happen to dream of yourself getting ill?" she still couldn't believe this.

"No Bess. Not at all. Really." She looked into his eyes for several moments but didn't find the sign that always told her when he was lying. He was actually telling the truth this time.

*It's unbelievable how much he has been changing since we crashed down here...*

"Okay, I believe you. We should get up now. Julia and Alonzo will be back soon, it's already light..."

"Bess, I love you."

"I know Morgan. How could I forget?" yeah, how could she forget the second, she first met, no better stumped over Morgan? She remembered it as clearly as if it had been yesterday:

***

Morgan Martin, lawyer, just out of law school had to go down to Earth, or what had been left of Earth. He hated the thought alone. Earth was dirty, polluted and not a nice place to stay. He feared the acid rain, the poison in the air but he had no choice. He had to struggle his way up to where he hoped to land once. He was going to be on the top, the sooner the better. The fact that they had chosen him to go down here proved that. It wasn't a mission any lawyer could manage to do. They needed somebody who was quite well with codes. With encoding. He was that person. He got out of the space ship. How bad everything smelled here, how dark and unfriendly everything looked. Jesus, he was glad he didn't have to live here.

The place where he was had once been a desert. There had been a canyon near it. Grand Canyon or something like that. He didn't think that was the name but who cared? That place didn't exist anymore. So what. And he wasn't going sightseeing anyway. He waited impatiently for the guy who should have been here when he arrived. The pal didn't show up. Perhaps he ...

"What's that????" he looked around at the sudden noise. A siren was on. He panicked, screamed at some people who hesitated to get into the building. He looked up at the sky. Dark clouds hung over his heads. He didn't like that.
No, not at all.

"Shit !!!" he grabbed his suitcase and began running to the building, too. He didn't know what kind of building it was, but he was sure he was going to get shelter. At least he wouldn't get wet and acid burned there. The person 200 meters before him entered and then closed the door. When Morgan came nearer he realized it was not a building. It was a cottage. Nothing of worth. And the people in there were workers. Poor people. Rats. That was what he'd always called them and he knew at once they wouldn't let him in. He looked just too wealthy for them in his Armani suit. He was right. The guy had locked the door.

"Lemme in !!!" he demanded. Maybe he could offer some money to them, but he was quite sure they didn't have a credit card reader. Well, maybe his jacket would do it although he hated the thought to give away his clothes.

"See this jacket. I'll give it to you, but let me in!!!" The man shook his head and grinned at him. Maybe he wanted more. "What about the jacket plus the tie???" he wanted in!!! The first drops were already falling. Those people were the last thing. He'd sue them if anything happened to him.

Suddenly a vehicle, a real ancient vehicle, appeared from nowhere. A woman was driving it. A quite young woman sat on it. That she was poorly dressed was the first thing Morgan noticed about her.

"Jump on!!!" she shouted. He waited a second to make sure she meant it. Then he threw his suitcase on the vehicle and jumped on it. The rain was very close now. He didn't know what would happen when they didn't get to where the girl was headed.

She drove this thing like a lunatic. He wasn't used to that. Hell, he had never been on such a thing before and he didn't even know what it was called. He knew he had heard it somewhere but couldn't remember right now. He had to check that up as soon as possible. He didn't care for the planet, but he was sure he should know the name of this thing and if it were just to tell a judge what damaged, or what he hopped, saved his life. Either way, he would sue somebody for what was happening to him right now. Somebody had to pay for this.

The vehicle rattled over the street with potholes everywhere. His hands packed something, trying to keep his body on this hellish thing. After what seemed hours, but was only half a minute they got to another cottage. The girl stopped the car and rushed him into it. The moment they were in it began raining. He let out a relieving breath and then turned around to the girl. Only then he noticed how beautiful she was. With the right clothes she could easily pass as one of his kind. "Thank you" he brought out.

"That's all right. My name's Bess."

"Morgan Martin, I'm a lawyer from the stations." Better to tell her the truth.

"Oh really?" she laughed when she saw his puzzled face. "Hey, don't worry, I was just kidding. I smelled it miles away that you were from there..."

"Oh, yes, ah, yeah...sure." he nodded, suddenly embarrassed. And most embarrassing was that he didn't know why exactly he was embarrassed.

"Ah,... Mrs. ..."

"Just call me Bess, okay? We're taking it somewhat cool with names down here on Earth."

"Yeah, so,...Mrs., ah, excuse me, Bess, how long does it normally rain?" Again she laughed. He liked the sound of her laugh. And he liked the accent she had.

"Morgan, funny name, no offense, really, it can be minutes or hours. Nobody knows. Can I offer you something to drink?" He wasn't sure what she would offer him and he didn't want to appear impolite if the stuff looked to undrinkable so he just declined. She must have somehow sensed what kept him thinking because she got into some room which had to be a kitchen and seconds later came back with a glass.

"Take it. It won't kill you..." she looked at the kid. Normally those people from the stations were real snobs, acting quite rude to her and not seldom making those offers she always refused. But that kid was different. He was a snob, too, but he seemed to be nice. A gentlemen. A species that had died out down here long ago. He was cute to some point.

Carefully he nipped at the drink and then took some big gulps. It seemed as if her secret tasted him after all.

"It's okay, ain't that bad, really." he smiled at her. It was a warm smile. Not one of these nasty smiles most men shoot at her, as if saying "Hey, what about us two?". She hated that. But that kid seemed to be really different. Innocent. Handsome.

"So, Morgan, why don't you take off your coat and sit down. I'm going to cook us something now. Seems as if the rain was going to last some time."

"Oh, really, Mrs. ....ah.... Bess, that is not necessary. I suppose your husband should be home soon, or?" Again that nice laugh. He grew to like it.

"I'm not married. I live here with my father." That was maybe even worse. A father was sometimes much more a threat than a husband. He had experienced that once.

"Is he around here?" She just had to grin at his scared face. As if her father could harm anyone.

"No, and he won't be home until next week. You wouldn't have to fear him anyway. But really, Morgan, you should take off your coat and sit down. I have to prepare something to eat, I don't know what it's with you, but I'm hungry."

"Hmm, I'm not hungry right now, but thank you very much."

"Yeah, no problem." She smiled. She'd just cook for two. He would eat something. She could tell it from his eyes. She could read people's eyes and these told her he was hungry.

She cooked the meal and he ate it, just as she had predicted. They talked for hours. The rain didn't stop that day, so she prepped some sofa for him to sleep on it. But they didn't sleep much. He kept telling her about the stations and she had asked him question after question, curious if live up above was what she thought it was like.

The next day she brought him to were he was expected. He did his job and after work went out with Bess. She showed him some places, even this ex-canyon, the name had indeed been Grand Canyon, laughable when you looked at the remnant. He acted as if he was interested in that because he liked her.

Morgan had to stay two weeks on the planet and after that time he was lucky to go back. Not only because he hated that ball of dirt called Earth, no, he took Bess with him. He only met her father once and that had been one time to often.

Bess was really anxious to get to know the life there. It seemed like a fairy-tale to her. Perhaps she would even get to see this Devon Adair once. The woman was quite often on TV and she was said to be the second-wealthiest woman on station subspace zero. She'd seen many reports of her and often wondered what life must be like when you're so rich.

Bess got used to her new life fast. But she didn't meet, nor even see Devon Adair, besides of course on TV, until Morgan was assigned to the Eden Project.

***

And now she was here, on a new planet and Devon had become one of her closest friends, something she never really had. Bess smiled as she remembered her first encounter with Morgan. It was the day she fell in love for the first time. Well, she'd thought she had loved other men before but they were never the real thing. And she never let them closer, kept them at quite a distance, frightened that they would hurt her as soon as they got to near. She hadn't felt that fear with Morgan for she knew he wouldn't harm her. It wasn't his way. And even now she could depend on his need for protecting her from whatever might come.
She loved him.

"I love you ,too. And I know that you love me. You show it to me every second of my life." She kissed him. He wanted to stay in bed but she pulled him out. It was really time to get up.

***

In the distance one single Terrian stood behind a tree. He looked different from all the other Terrians on this planet. It wasn't like he just was from another tribe or something like that. No, there was something that just didn't belong to a normal Terrian, something that didn't seem to make any sense at all.

He was wearing clothes. And he had a metallic ID planted into the left side of his head. This thing had confused the Terrian at first but he had gotten used to it. It told him what he had to do. It had told him to mix the SOMETHING into the water the woman with the brown hair had been drinking. And now it was telling him to do the same with the other woman, the blonde one. But that was somewhat more difficult cause this man was always around her. And if he got too close to this guy his secret would be out. The same for that small male. These two he had to avoid cause they could dream. And if they dreamed then the others would know about him and would be able to help the woman with the brown hair. And that was something his GOD had told him should never happen. He got back to the place where he could survey the camp best.

***

Outside their tent Alonzo and Julia were coming back. Alonzo waved to True. She came running to them. "You really took your time, or? I've been growing roots meanwhile."

"How long have you been up?" Julia smiled at her. She thought she knew what kept True awake. The same that didn't go out of her mind, too.

"I dunno. When do you wake dad?"

"I was thinking that I'd be able to eat something first, but when I look at you I can put this thought to rest.."

"Right, are we going?"

"Kinda impatient, aren't you?" Alonzo grinned at her. She only grimaced back and then went straight towards the ship. At that moment Bess and Morgan got out of their tent.

"Morning Bess, morning Morgan. We're going to wake dad now, are you coming with us?"

"Yes, of course." Bess smiled at her.

"But Bess, I'm hungry, can't we eat something first. I mean, John doesn't run away from us and I think he... mhpf.... wouldn't mind to spend as much time with Devon as possible, or?" Julia let out a short laugh.

"True, I think you gotta wait another half an hour. Okay, then we can wake the others, too and get breakfast ready..."

Finally everybody was assembled around the ship. Julia didn't want to have everybody filling the tiny room and therefore allowed only Alonzo and Walman to join her. Inside she pushed a number of buttons, entered some codes until both doors slid open. Alonzo and Walman took care of John while Julia got Mary out.

"John, hey, John, are you alright?" Alonzo shook him on his shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm okay." John stood up, still very weak. He tried to walk out of the interior and made it just to the door of the ship then he had to make sure his hand grabbed the door frame so that he didn't fall. Julia was at his side immediately. Just as Alonzo. Together they brought John back to a nearby table where they laid him down. Julia checked him up while Alonzo talked insistently to him, urging him to tell him what was up.

When Julia didn't find anything alarming John sat up again. "Devon wants us to travel on to New Pacifica." That was all he said and then he left, this time without any problems, leaving his friends wondering what had happened.

Meanwhile Mary had slowly gained consciousness. She turned around and let one of these strange Terrian sounds out. Immediately Uly showed up. He led her out before Julia was able to check her. Alonzo followed them. He had to ask Mary something. Uly led her far away from the camp, then he left.

"Mary..." Alonzo began.

"Dream!" How stupid of him to forget that. Yeah, she didn't like talking in the real world. But then the dreamplain perhaps was a real world to her. So he closed his eyes and found himself seconds later in it. "Now you talk."

"Mary, why did the Terrians owe Uly something?"

"Trrrrrrrrrr.."

"Mary, come on, you know it, so tell me."

"Trrrrr..."

"Mary,... we need to know it. It's important."

"No, it is not. You wouldn't understand it."

"Try to explain Mary...please."

She hesitated, not sure if she would be able to explain what no human could understand. Then she went on with a shrug, as if to say "you wanted it so, then don't blame me when it puzzles you even more..."
"He made them understand."

Was this a puzzle, a game he didn't know how to play? "Come on Mary, understand what?"

"You."

"Us? He made them understand us and therefore they owed him something? That doesn't make sense..."

"I knew... you wouldn't... understand it. He explained, showed them why you are here. And they learned something they didn't understand before..."

"And what did they learn?" This was like one of those stupid Quiz Shows he never liked.

"To forgive."

Yeah, this made at least a little bit sense. Perhaps Mary was right. Perhaps he could just not understand it. Nobody's perfect. But maybe it was better that he pretended he had understood what she had told him.
"I see."

"I should go now. Terrians wait."

"Mary, wait...What happened on the dreamplain between Devon and John?" He just had to know why John was acting that way. Then he could perhaps help him.

"Trrrrrrrrr, even when...I knew...what happened....I wouldn't tell you..."

"Come on, Mary, I only want to help John..."

"You cannot help him by prying...ask him..."

"Yeah, sure. If I asked him right now, he'd probably punch my lights out once more..."

"I have to go."

"Mary, tell me. Now." He demanded it now. He'd see if that impressed her, if not then it was okay, too, then he would just ask John and risk his life...

"They argued, I didn't understand anything. But at first they were close and then he went away."

"Thanks Mary. You really can't help Devon, can you?"

"No. Terrians can't get to her."

"Okay, we both have to go now. I know you're always around, so if we should need you or you should need us, we dream again."

"Yes. Good-bye Alonzo."

They both left the dreamplain and Mary went into the ground just in front of Alonzo and he felt the earth shacking. He went back to the others.

John was walking around like crazy, barking commands into every direction, being unfriendly to those who in his opinion weren't fast enough, ignored True, ignored Alonzo, in short ignored everyone who tried to start a conversation. He was in one of the worst moods he had ever been. Maybe this was really the worst.
"True, can't you put down that tent a little bit faster???"

"Dad, what's up with you? We are no slaves!!! Put down the darn tent your-self!!!" Now she got angry, too. She had tried everything to make him feel better but he had just shouted at her to hurry up and refused to just listen to her. That was just too much for True. She ran away from the camp as fast as she could. John cursed, but didn't run behind her. He would deal with that later... maybe.

True was still running, running to get rid of her anger. She only stopped when she saw that strange creature, trying to hide. Then the creature sank into the earth.

*Just a Terrian.*

She thought she had seen clothes, too, but wasn't that sure about it since tears filled her eyes and had worsened her sight. She breathed deep in and slowly approached the spot where the Terrian had disappeared. Nothing unusual. Just the normal softened earth. She shook her head.
"True !!"

*Bess*

She didn't know whether she should like that or not. Quickly she shuffled off her tears and called back. Seconds later Bess was at her side.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just great. Just great."

"You know, your dad didn't mean any harm..."

"I know that better than you, but it's still so ..."

"Frustrating."

True nodded. "He and Devon might have had a little fight."

"Yeah, but I think that's none of our business." Of course they had had an argument. Even a blind person would be able to see that. And not that it was none of their business. True would talk to her dad later. After all that was her father and thus it was her business. Just not Bess'.

"Maybe you're right."

"Come on, Bess, we'd better go back not that he gets mad at you, too."

"I wouldn't care about that. I think he just needs some time to get over it."

"Yeah, sure." As if Bess knew what her dad needed. What he really needed was a conversation under four eyes with his daughter and after that he'd be healed from his mood. That had worked before and True was sure it would work this time, too.

Half an hour later the group was ready to start again. Start again to cross this planet, to walk many miles each day, to go on braving an unknown world. It was going to be a hard time, without Devon but instead with John in a very bad mood. Even True's little conversation didn't work. For the first time in her life, True wasn't able to bring her dad to his senses and she kept thinking why that was so. She came always to the same answer: Devon. She didn't know if she should hate Devon for that or not.

So it came that True forgot about the Terrian.
The Terrian stood there and watched the people pack their stuff. He told his GOD what was going on and asked what he should do about it. The answer needed a long time. But he was patient. He could wait, well, at least so long as the people didn't start to move... which they were doing just at that moment. Again he reported his GOD what was happening.

>Follow them, and then do as I told you. But be careful< It didn't mean much to the Terrian. And even if he cared he wouldn't have been able to protest. It was the way he had lived for many years now. He couldn't remember anything else than that.

The colonists left. Uly took one final long look into the direction of the ship where his mother was. He didn't complain to John for having to leave her. He closed his eye and dreamed.

"Uly, come on, we're going." True laid her hand on his shoulder, shaking him softly. At this moment she couldn't be angry with Devon any more. Not when she looked at Uly who had to live from now on without his mother. She knew what that meant. He opened his eyes again. Took True's hand and together, hand in hand the kids began walking.

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