Context (16/20)
by Deb Walsh
Mary touched her fingers to her cheeks and stared at the tears that glittered there. She looked up into Yale's compassionate eyes and shook her head. "Why?" she whispered.
Enveloping her trembling hand in both of his, Yale sighed heavily. "It's a complex question, Mary," he replied softly. "Humans ... don't always act with one mind. Humans have different ... agendas, goals," he attempted to explain.
"The Terrian way is better - one tribe, one mind."
"But not all the Terrian tribes think alike?"
Mary considered her answer for a moment, then shook her head again. "No. Not all tribes agree that curing Uly would guarantee their future. Some were against the idea. Others wanted to approach the penal colonists before this. That's how my parents were killed."
"But within the tribe, one thought reigns?" She nodded. "Then think of humans as each person is a tribe unto himself. Some humans can join together, while others choose a different path. Sometimes those paths result in conflict, in war."
"The Terrians do not war."
"But they did, sometime in their past, didn't they?"
She nodded again glumly. "Humans have not yet learned to live in harmony with their environment, Mary. That is something we can learn from the Terrians. It is something we can learn together."
"But what about the man who would kill the Terrians?
Can he learn?"
"We can only hope, Mary. We can only hope."
***
Alonzo closed his eyes tightly against the unbidden images: hundreds, thousands, maybe more ... Terrians, dead and dying. And the earth, withering away beneath their feet, the soil turning to yellow ash, crumbling into nothingness. Plantlife shrivelled and browned.
Grendlers starved to death, Kobas fell into permanent hibernation, and animals simply died, slowly and painfully. Within weeks, the planet was a lifeless dustbowl, the only animation the whirling dust and the indestructible insect life. Humans had left behind their indelible mark, and once again had left a planet in ruins.
He fisted his hands, pressing them against his ears as the cries rose up in an ululation of utter grief. But the keening came from within his mind, from the Terrians mourning the passing of their race, their planet. He couldn't tell for sure if it was real, or his imagination, but that didn't matter. The result was the same: Alonzo began to tremble violently, his teeth chattering wildly as a thin sheen of sweat popped out along his entire body.
"Alonzo?" Julia whispered softly, her warm hand suddenly resting on his chest, somehow magically stilling the shudders that wracked his body. He wrapped his arms around her hand, drawing it up to his lips. His whole body seemed to curl around that hand, his anchor to reality, to the here and now. To life.
Clinging to Julia's hand, Alonzo eventually fell asleep again, but sleep escaped the woman he loved. Julia remained propped up in bed, watching the tense expression on Alonzo's face with a growing tension of her own.
***
For the third time that night, Alonzo found himself on the dreamplane. He groaned with frustration, dropping to his knees and pounding the dusty't think straight anymore!"
"Alonzo, m'boy - get a hold of yourself!"
Whirling awkwardly, Alonzo dumped himself onto the ground. Out of the shadows stepped the Elder, the hems of his robes swirling around his ankles, creating tiny dustdevils as he walked. Alonzo found himself shuddering at the sight, images of death and destruction bubbling up from the pit of his nightmares.
"Elder - I thought you could only dream during the winter hibernation -"
"Normally, that's true. But the Terrians have allowed me to use the dreamplane to talk with you. Here, let me help you up," the Elder offered with an indulgent smile, extending a steady hand toward the pilot.
Alonzo grasped the hand, allowing the old man to lever him to his feet. He dusted off the seat of his pants, and nodded his thanks to the Elder. "Talk with me about what?"
"About what's been happening. The Terrians can't give me a clear picture, but we've all been having dreams, dreams about Devon, terrible dreams about the future.
And before that, we were dying. Five of us did, dreadful, painful deaths. None of the children born here were affected, though. Ragamuffin wants to know how his True-girl is. And I'd like to know about the rest of you - what's happening, Alonzo?"
Alonzo sagged wearily against the arched cavern wall, sliding down until he sat upon a rock jutting out from that wall. He dragged his fingers through his hair, shaking his head.
"True's fine. But we all got sick, and we lost one, too. Eben. It was a virus inserted into the Council computer orbiting G889. Inserted 50 years ago. It affected chips the Council inserted in _us_."
The Elder dropped down on his haunches to look Alonzo in the eye. "And what stopped the virus?"
"The scientists who created the computer - the computer never let them leave. One of them died from cold-sleep syndrome. We convinced the other scientist to repair the computer before she died."
"But the Council's computer is still in orbit, eh?" the Elder asked, glancing upward. He shivered. "They didn't think the ZEDs were enough? They had to put a computer in charge?" He shook his head. "It's not like any of us can get off this planet, not in the flesh. Why d'you suppose they did that?"
"To monitor the planet. To control it. They aren't interested in us, not really, just in controlling the Terrians, and through them, the planet."
"Then they're looking to control the boy, too." The Elder whistled softly. "Times like this, I wish Shepherd were still around."
"Why's that?"
"I'm gettin' a bit too old to have so many lives in my hands, son." He sighed heavily. "Seems we aren't quite as in charge of our own destinies as much as we thought. I take it the computer's stable now?" Alonzo nodded. "Ah. Then that isn't what's wrong with Devon, is it?"
"No," Alonzo replied, scrubbing his face with his hand.
"We don't know what's wrong with her. Elizabeth - the scientist who fixed the computer - said that the planet will reject us. Julia thinks maybe that's what's happening."
"But why you and not us? We've done very well here, all things considered. Our population hasn't grown dramatically, but it has grown. Our children grow more numerous every year, many of us have lived to be, well, old. Like me. I've lived here more than 20 years.
Never felt fitter. So what makes us different?"
"Don't know. And I don't know if what she said is true, just that Devon collapsed after it was all over - complete system shutdown. We had to put her in cold sleep to save her life."
"And the Terrians have been dreaming with us all ever since. Why?"
"To understand us. To understand why Devon means so much to us. To understand why we can't afford to lose her."
"And do you?"
"Do I what?"
"Do _you_ understand?"
"Mary asked me what Devon meant to us."
"Mary?"
Briefly, Alonzo explained about Mary and her history with the Terrians. The Elder nodded few years ago, turned up a week later raving mad. Absolutely uncontrollable. Now that I think about it, the child had undergone some sort of medical procedure. He died a few months later."
"Julia said something about Reilly experimenting on a child. She didn't seem to have many details."
"No, I don't imagine she did. So you didn't answer my question. Do you understand what Devon means to you all?"
"I told Mary that Devon was the will of the group.
She's the one who got us here, the one who got us this far. I don't believe any of the rest of us could convince the colonists of what needs to be done as well as Devon could."
"And what is that, Alonzo?"
"To live in peace with the Terrians, live in harmony with the planet. For the parents to let their children be cured by the Terrians."
"You think Devon can really do all that? One person?"
"If she can't, no one can."
"No one person can carry that much responsibility, Alonzo. Not and stay sane. Perhaps that is what is ultimately wrong with the Council - they haven't remained sane. D'you think it's fair to put the responsibility - the entire responsibility - for the success or failure of mankind on this planet on Devon's shoulders?"
"I -" Alonzo faltered, looking at the Elder closely for the first time.
"D'ye see, Alonzo? Y'got it right when y'said Devon was the will of the group, but y'can't just let her do it alone. Each of you has a role to play, a place in the history of humankind on this planet. As I suspect do we all."
***
Alonzo awoke again, this time feeling more at ease. He was still exhausted, but his contact with the Elder somehow made him feel less alone. Less alone, and less afraid. Perhaps Elizabeth had been wrong about the planet rejecting them - if the Elder's colony had thrived here on G889, why couldn't they? He turned then toward Julia, and was surprised to see her watching him intently.
"Another dream?" she asked softly.
He nodded, smiling faintly into the darkness. "This time with the Elder. Seems the Terrians have been broadcasting our dreams to his people. They lost five to EVE, by the way. And none of the children born here were affected."
She lifted herself up onto her elbow and looked down at him with serious eyes. "Five? They've been on this planet for what - 20, 30 years? How long has the Council been using those implants?"
Alonzo sighed. "Since Elizabeth and Bennett left the stations, I guess - remember, you told me Elizabeth designed them."
"Yes," Julia agreed, unconsciously mimicking Alonzo's sigh. "How many people live on this planet, Alonzo?
How many were affected?"
"I don't think there's been a census done on G889, Julia. There could be penal colonists all over the planet. There might even be other survivors from the Advance ship."
"And until we reach every last one of them, we can't even think about destroying EVE. Even if the program Morgan and Yale extracted from the sunstones works, EVE will still be there."
Alonzo reached up and touched her face gently. She didn't have to say it, but he could hear it in her voice. And with EVE, Reilly.
Julia closed her eyes and pressed her face against Alonzo's hand; he could feel the smooth silkiness of her skin, and felt a wave of wonder wash over him again. With all the hazards they faced on this planet, with all the unknowns ahead of them, he wouldn't trade any of it. Because G889 brought him her.
Her eyes opened suddenly, and she looked at him curiously. "The children were unaffected? Children.
The Elder's colony has been growing, not dying, not until EVE, right?"
"Right. And I know what you're going to say next - the Elder didn't know why Elizabeth would think the planet would reject us when it obviously hasn't rejected them."
"Yes, but - could you contact him again?"
"Not tonight, Julia. I juleep. Doctor's orders."
"I could, on the other hand, be persuaded to -"
"I thought you needed sleep, Flyboy -"
"Man does not live by sleep alone," he told her slyly, and pulled her down into a kiss.
***
Clouds moved in overhead during the night, and the dawn broke over a gray and misty landscape, smudged into indistinct shapes by low-lying ground fog. Fitful smoke curled up from the dying fire in the center of camp, and Morgan, on lone guard duty, huddled under a canopy, hugging the Mag-Pro to him to ward off the chill. The outer surfaces of the tents took on a greasy sheen as dew and condensation collected on the waterproof fabric.
As he sat there in the shelter of the canopy, Morgan thought about the previous day's activities. He'd experienced something he'd never expected to on G889 - a sense of discovery and accomplishment. Something he'd sought in his life on the stations, but had known he'd never find in station bureaucracy. Law had been his family's choice, not his.
He'd promised to keep their experiment a secret, and although it had been hard not to tell Bess, he'd kept his promise. That left him with only his fellowconspirators to share the excitement, and he waited
with uncharacteristic impatience for the night to end and the day to begin. For them to start on the next step of their experimental program. Morgan was gradually realizing that G889 had more to offer him than he'd ever dreamed possible, and he found his yearning to return to the comforts of the stations waning.
The camp was silent for a long time, as though the fog deadened sound. As the sky grew grudgingly brighter, a strange, diffused light stretched across the sky, and the sounds of small woodland creatures separated themselves from the overall hush. Soon, the noises of awakening humans joined in, and Morgan relaxed. Bess was the first to rise, greeting him with a warm kiss and the promise of warmer coffee. The new day had begun. And with it, new horizons.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here at last are the next few sections of "Context."
Yes, the saga continues, and it's not done yet. Sorry it's taken me so long - between the holidays and illness, I haven't been able to work on it, and then I just had trouble getting through a couple of the sections here.
Sections 1 through 18 of "Context" are available by ftp from ftp://members.aol.com/debfic. Each section is saved as a file (i.e., cont1.txt, etc.). If you find you're missing any sections, please feel free to retrieve them from the ftp site, rather than ask me to send them to you - that got to be pretty expensive for me when I was posting sections regularly.
I would love to hear comments!
Without further ado, here's "Context" part 16 of ?
Deb W.
Yes, the saga continues, and it's not done yet. Sorry it's taken me so long - between the holidays and illness, I haven't been able to work on it, and then I just had trouble getting through a couple of the sections here.
Sections 1 through 18 of "Context" are available by ftp from ftp://members.aol.com/debfic. Each section is saved as a file (i.e., cont1.txt, etc.). If you find you're missing any sections, please feel free to retrieve them from the ftp site, rather than ask me to send them to you - that got to be pretty expensive for me when I was posting sections regularly.
I would love to hear comments!
Without further ado, here's "Context" part 16 of ?
Deb W.
Chapter End Notes:
Sections 1 through 18 of "Context" are available by ftp from ftp://members.aol.com/debfic. Each section is saved as a file (i.e., cont1.txt, etc.). If you find you're missing any sections, please feel free to retrieve them from the ftp site, rather than ask me to send them to you - that got to be pretty expensive for me when I was posting sections regularly.
I would love to hear comments!
I would love to hear comments!