Context by Deborah Walsh

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Context (14/20)
by Deb Walsh

True and Uly sat side by side on a rock by the small lake, swinging their legs in the cool water. The day had turned out perfect - bright sun, blue sky, cool breeze, interesting clouds scudding by above, and a reasonably understanding adult to supervise them. The water was perfect, too - not too deep to make the adults crazy with worry, but deep enough to make the swimming challenging enough to be fun. There was nothing worse than always being stuck playing at the baby end.

Well, yeah, there were worse things. Like having a Mom who was sleeping in a cryo-crypt in a really old spaceship, and you didn't know when - or if - she was going to wake up. And having a Dad who was forced to have scary dreams with aliens to save her, and watching it tear him apart. Uly and True didn't talk about such things, but the awareness of them was there between them. Uly's Mom was sick, really sick, and True's Dad was trying to help her, so it placed on them a solemn responsibility to remain at truce. For his Mom and her Dad.

Not that either one of them ever _planned_ to cause trouble. It was just that sometimes, it was too easy to not notice trouble coming to find them. But right now, both of them were keeping an eagle eye out - whatever that was - to avoid trouble. They both knew that there was enough trouble abroad without helping it along.

Bess was swimming laps now, cutting easily through the calm water as her arms reached up, cut down, over and over again, her legs kicking in time to the slice of her arms. True settled back against the sun-warmed rock and watched her, the steady rhythm and the heat of the sun making her drowsy. They'd been silent for a long time, just sitting there watching, and when Uly spoke, True almost fell off of her perch with surprise.

"If the Terrians turn my Mom into one of them, I don't think I want to be Terrian anymore."

"I don't think you have much choice, do you? I mean, they cured you."

"Yeah, maybe. But what good's being healthy if my Mom doesn't care about me anymore?"

The kid had a point. True couldn't imagine what it would be like if Dad suddenly didn't love her anymore.

She remembered how lost and angry she'd been when they'd arrived here on G889, and Dad had seemed more interested in Uly than her. But if it was real, it'd be a thousand, no a million times worse.

"That's not going to happen, Uly," True answered him impatiently. Better not give in to his self-pity, after all. "The Terrians are showing us options," she added, mimicking the tone of voice used by one of the supervisors back at the stations. "Alonzo says they're not done yet. Maybe they'll have a better one to offer."

"Yeah, maybe," Uly said again with a frown. "Y'know, your Dad is okay. I know these dreams hurt 'im a lot.

Y'think maybe I should make him a present, to say thank you?"

True grinned. "Sure! And I'll help - I know what Dad likes. C'mon - let's go."

"We'd better tell Bess ..."

True was about to say, "Forget it, she's too far away," but then she remembered they were trying to be good, to watch out for trouble. "Okay," she finally said, proud of her maturity. "Let's wait for her at the shore and tell her what we want to do."

***

It was late afternoon by the time Alonzo, Yale, Julia and Morgan exited the cavern system. Mary walked alongside silently, not so much withdrawn as selfcontained. They'd agreed to come back to the cavern the next day to see if Morgan could use the sunstones to crack the security codes in Yale's data bank - the information it might contain on the chips would be invaluable before attempting to take the deactivation program any further. Alonzo had already asked the Terrians if it would be acceptable to them for Eden Advance to make use of the stones again, and the Terrians had approved.

Twenty minutes later, they were straggling back to camp, where Danziger, Magus, Denner and Mazati were all outside, attending to various tasks. Magus was the first to notice them, and raised a hand in greeting, a hand that froze in mid-air as she noticed Mary. She called over to Danziger, who looked up from his work on the generator and frowned. Wiping his hands on the ever-present rag stuffed in his back pocket, Danziger straightened and walked calmly out to meet them.

With a glance toward Mary, he nodded a greeting.

"Where've you been? And where did you find Mary?"

"Up on the hill," Julia explained. "There's a deposit of sunstones up there and we got permission from the Terrians to use them to -"

"Help crack the security codes on my data bank. For information about the biostat chips," Yale completed quickly.

Danziger's eyes narrowed, as though suspecting something was up, but he said nothing. Gesturing toward Mary, he asked, "Are you planning to join us?"

Mary glanced toward Alonzo, who inclined his head encouragingly. "If I am welcome," she answered.

Danziger grinned at her. "Sure," he replied, his voice warmer than it had been in days. He thrust out his hand to her and added, "Welcome aboard."

Mary stared at the hand, obviously unsure of what the gesture implied. Alonzo guided her hand to grasp Danziger's, telling her, "It's a form of greeting among humans. Of welcome."

"In ancient cultures, it meant that both parties held out open hands and bore no weapons against one another," Yale elaborated.

"Ah," Mary said, and grasped Danziger's hand firmly.

"I bear no weapons. I do not have lightning anymore."

Danziger chuckled at that and grinned more broadly.

"I'm glad of that. Look, we've started dinner, but it won't be ready for a while - maybe you'd like to go clean up ... ?"

Mary looked uncertainly about her, and Julia stepped in then, placing her hands on the young woman's shoulders.

"Another human custom - to come to a meal with clean hands and body. There's a lake nearby - you can wash up there."

"With ... bubbles?" Mary inquired hopefully, her eyes lighting up with the memory of her previous experience with a bath.

Julia smiled. "If we can find Beth, I think that can be arranged."

"She's still down by the lake with the kids. I'll get Zero to bring the tub and heater down in a few minutes," Danziger offered.

As Julia guided Mary toward the lake, she looked back over her shoulder at Danziger, smiling gratefully.

After they'd gone, Danziger turned back to the other men, his face serious once more. "How long has she been tracking us?"

"She's been _following_ us since we left the Biodome," Alonzo replied. "Living on her own. We found her up in the caves. She said she needed to be on her own for a while to find out who she is. Now she's ready to live with other humans."

Danziger turned and looked toward where Mary and Julia were disappearing into the trees, and shook his head.

"You don't think there's any connection with the dreams? After all, she showed up in the one I had last night."

"She mentioned that. She said the Terrians are showing her the dreams, too, but she has no control over it.

Seemed pretty sad about it, actually," Morgan spoke up.

"To be cut off from the dreamplane and unable to swim the earth ... for someone raised to do that, it's pretty tough," Alonzo offered. "But she understands the Terrians better than any of us, John - and if we can help her understand about Devon, it could help us make the Terrians understand, too."

Danziger considered that silently, then nodded crisply.

"Agreed. You guys successful?"

Morgan, Alonzo and Yale exchanged a quick glance.

Morgan shrugged, and Alonzo nodded. Yale said, "Somewhat. Progress, at least. We plan to go back tomorrow and see if we can get further. The Terrians are willing to help us with this - part of their attempts to understand us, perhaps."

"Good." Danziger started to turn away, then paused, looking back at them. "Next time, keep your gear on, and take one of the weapons with you. You don't know what else might be up in those caves."

"Mary's been living in the caves the last couple of days. It's okay, John," Alonzo protested.

"Even so."

***

Julia and Mary found Bess at the shore of the lake, toweling her hair dry as she talked earnestly with Uly and True. Uly noticed them first, and whooped a greeting as he suddenly raced toward them. He threw himself at Mary, causing her to stumble back a step or two, and he hugged her fiercely as she looked down at him, confused.

"Mary! I've missed you!"

Bess and True were coming up at a much more sedate pace, but Bess's face was alight with pleasure. True was a little more reserved, but she didn't appear to be openly hostile.

"Mary!" Bess welcomed, still drying her hair. "Where'd you come from?"

Julia glanced at Mary, who was still trying to make sense of Uly's enthusiastic greeting, and smiled.

"Mary's been following us. We came across her when we went up to the caves on the eastern slope. She's been trying to find herself," Julia added meaningfully.

"And now you've found us again," Bess said warmly, reaching out with both hands to take Mary's. "I'm so glad!"

Uly hadn't let go of Mary, although he wasn't squeezing the life out of her anymore, either. With her hands caught in Bess's, Mary seemed frightened, trapped. Her eyes shifted back and forth like an animal about to bolt. Julia put her arm around the young woman's shoulders and squeezed with what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "Humans are ... demonstrative in their greetings, Mary. Uly and Bess are happy to see you. You have nothing to fear."

Mary relaxed slightly, and nodded. "I do not understand this ... touching. What does it mean?"

Uly, whose arms were still wrapped around Mary's waist, looked up at her and grinned impishly. "Hugging means you like somebody."

"And this?" she asked, raising the hands that were still held in Bess's.

"The same," Bess told her warmly. "There are many forms of greeting among human cultures. But they all basically mean that we're happy to have you among us."

Mary nodded, tightened her hold on Bess's hands, and attempted a smile. Bess returned it with extra wattage, then released Mary's hands. With visible effort, Mary then put her arms around Uly and hugged.

"I am happy to see you, too, Uly."

Uly finally released Mary and stepped back, looking expectantly at True. When True didn't move, he nudged her with his foot.

"Hi, Mary," True waved her hand at the woman. "Welcome back."

Mary looked at her intently, spread her hands, and asked, "You do not like me?"

True's eyes widened at that, then she shrugged. "Yeah, sure," she said, and walked into a brief hug with Mary.

Now that the social amenities had been observed, Julia announced, "Danziger said that dinner will be ready soon. We thought maybe Mary could have a bath before we eat. We were hoping that, well, maybe you wouldn't mind ... ?"

"Letting Mary have a bubble bath?" Bess completed with a grin. "Sure. Is he going to bring down the tub?"

Julia nodded. "Then I'll go get the bubble bath and be right back. And you two," she added to Uly and True, "had better get dressed. Swimming's over for the day."

"Aw, Bess -" Uly started to protest.

"You're both going to look like prunes if you swim anymore today," she told them sternly, and steered them up the slope toward the camp.

As they marched away under Bess's iron gaze, Julia could hear True ask, "What's a prune?"

After they had gone, Julia turned to Mary and smiled encouragingly. "We really are happy to have you with us, Mary."

"Why?"

Julia blinked in surprise. "Well, because we like you.

When you like someone, you enjoy spending time with them."

"But I have nothing to offer to the tribe. I have no lightning. I cannot dream, unless the Terrians let me.

I cannot swim the earth."

"Perhaps not, but you do understand the Terrians better than we do. And we need that understanding, Mary. You don't come to us empty-handed."

Mary stared at her for a long time before nodding, a small smile forming on her lips. "Good."

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