Face to Face by Linda FFF

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Face to Face, Part 7
by Linda

Morning began to dawn. The two children tossed and turned through the landscape of their dreams until one of them, feeling the sun begin to shine, awoke to face the day.

Devon Adair looked around at the rain-drenched land, at the trees that surrounded her through the night. She thought again of her son, of John Danziger and the rest of Eden Advance, and then of her mother. Despite strains of fear, she resolved to return to camp to face both past and future, to find answers to the questions that had destroyed her peace of mind in the last day. Walking around the Dunerail, she examined the ground to try and figure out from which direction she had come, but her tracks had vanished in the night's flowing waters. She looked at the sun to judge direction, climbed in the Dunerail and began to drive in a direction she believed would take her back to those she loved.

Devon had driven no further than 20 feet when a lone Terrian rose from the ground in front of her. Devon stopped the 'Rail, wondering what was going on. She attempted to drive around the figure, but another Terrian rose from the ground and blocked her way. Devon's frustration mounted, and she wished for Alonzo -- or even her son -- to help her understand what the Terrians wanted, for the creatures of the Earth would not let her pass. Once more, Devon attempted to drive around them, to go back from whence she came, but the Terrians did not allow her to make any progress. The first Terrian trilled at her, and Devon sighed in frustration, for she had no idea what she was being told. She listened intently to the sounds, certain they would give her some information if only she could unravel their mystery. After a while, the Terrian stopped his communication, but Devon still had no comprehension of what the Terrians wanted. She made one final try at circumventing the figures in her way, but more Terrians arose from the ground, forming a line obstructing her path completely.

"I need to return to my friends." Devon watched as the Terrians stood impassively in her way. She wondered if they understood her at all. "I need to go back to my son, to Uly."

The first Terrian trilled at her once again, and then one of his mates lifted his staff and pointed in another direction.

"But my camp is that way." Still Devon was uncertain of her directions after her careless flight and the night's rains. She looked in the direction of the staff, and wondered if they were trying to help her home or had some other purpose for their instructions. Frustrated, she decided to follow their lead, for she had no other choices besides standing still or running over the Terrians with the Dunerail. And while she might temporarily wish to follow the latter course, doing so was not a viable option if she wanted to continue human life on this planet. Silently, she turned the Dunerail and began to move slowly in the direction the Terrian had indicated.

"Did you hear from the diggers?" John Danziger growled at Alonzo the moment the pilot walked into the grub tent. He had unhappily asked Solace to try to contact the Terrians to see if they would help find his daughter.

"They didn't talk to me." Alonzo looked at his friend, the worry etched across both men's faces.

"Why not?"

"I'm sorry, John. I don't know. Maybe they don't know anything. Maybe this is a problem they feel we have to solve ourselves."

During the men's exchange, all of the remaining members of Eden Advance had slipped into the tent to consume their morning meal. Behind John's back, numerous glances of concern were exchanged until Cynthia Adair walked in and all eyes focused on her. The woman stood straight and erect, trying to avoid confrontation but at the same time unwilling to back down from what she saw as the challenge in the eyes of her daughter's friends. Yale had lent her some of Devon's clothes, and the tan pants fit her snugly, while the blue shirt pulled out the bright color of her eyes.

"Ulysses, could you go and check on...."

"It's OK, Yale. I explained it to him last night. I figured he was going to find out sooner or later." John cut off the tutor.

"That was not your place. I believe it belonged to Devon."

"Well, she's not here. Is she?" John growled the last two words through clenched teeth, his anger and fear threatening to emerge from every pore of his body. "And I wasn't going to let him overhear it when someone made a careless remark."

"It's OK, Yale." Uly tried to be grown-up, although he was scared for his mom and for True. He went over to hug his tutor, his real link with his mother, but he didn't want them to hold up the search because of him. "I'll talk to Mom, too, when she gets back." From within the comfort of Yale's embrace, he glanced unhappily at his new grandmother, silently but clearly blaming her for his mother's disappearance.

"OK, every one. Let's get started." Julia was unwilling to wait until someone gave John the excuse he needed to hit someone. While she was glad to see he had left behind the inactive despair of the previous night, the doctor figured she had handled enough broken bones already during this adventurous and unexpected journey. "Baines and Magus, you guys take the ATV and go after Devon. John fixed it early this morning." Julia figured she might as well join in on the matchmaking, as well as send a good team to find her friend. "She's on the 'Rail so you'll need a vehicle to catch her. I'm worried where she might have ended up with the rains and everything else. But you were there yesterday and know where she started off, so you'll have a good chance of finding her."

"I want to go, too." Cynthia Adair spoke the words calmly, with threads of steel running through them that reminded her audience of her daughter's determination. Cynthia glanced at Uly, aware he would have nothing to do with her as long as she was associated with his mother's vanishing act, desperately wishing to get to know him as well as to reacquaint herself with the daughter she had once given up hope of having in her life.

"No." Julia's voice was equally firm, backed with the full support of all of Eden Advance. "Devon will talk to you when she returns, but you've already ambushed her once. Besides, the ATV only takes two and they need to move quickly."

After a pause, Cynthia nodded her assent, unwilling to do battle with a group that was clearly anxious about their members, certain in the knowledge that she would somehow see Devon again and find a way to explain the unexplainable. Julia glanced at Magus and Baines, and the twosome slipped from the tent to begin their search.

"The rest of us are going after True. She's on foot, so she couldn't have gotten very far. We'll team up in twos."

"Uly and I will stay back in camp in case either of them return," Bess volunteered. "We'll get some food prepared and monitor communications."

As Julia nodded her agreement, Cynthia looked at John Danziger's concerned face. She remembered when her daughter was True's age, a parent's worry and fear always just beneath the surface.

"I'd like to help search for your daughter, since you have been such a help to mine." As Cynthia spoke, John could see traces of Devon in her face. "I know the area well and I wouldn't be any use to anyone sitting here."

After staring at her for a moment, John nodded his assent and Julia continued her instructions. "Mazatl and Yale; Alonzo and Morgan, John and Cynthia, Denner and I. OK?" As everyone nodded and began shuffling their feet to the door, Julia felt compelled to add something more. "I know at this moment Devon's in no place to be reminding us all to have our gears with us at all times, but we really don't have the manpower to search for anyone else right now. So please follow the rules. Keep in touch. And be careful."

Two by two, eight individuals left the security of camp to search the great unknown for one small girl.

As they searched for her, True tossed and turned, her body shaking with chills while drenched with sweat. When morning arrived, she briefly opened her eyes and saw a Terrian standing guard over her. She felt pain in her stomach and closed her eyes once more. When she briefly considered the Terrian, she figured she was still caught up in her universe of nightmares. It was an understandable mistake since she quickly returned to that unhappy dream world once more, sustained by the combination of loneliness, fear and an illness unlike any the youngster had ever known.

"Dad." Alone, True wandered through trees looking for her father. She wandered and wandered, with no sign of the man who had loved and raised her. After a while she sat down to rest her tired legs before resuming her search, calling out for her father every few seconds. Soon, she crossed a ridge and looked down, seeing before her not only the end of the dark forest, but the sandy shores that marked the ocean of New Pacifica. Playing in the water were her father and Devon Adair. They were splashing each other and laughing, giddy with the knowledge that they had finally arrived at their destination. Excited to see her dad, the young girl took off at a run, launching herself into the water, practically plowing into her father.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Danziger yelled at her, a frown coming to his face as he shifted his attention from Devon to True.

"I couldn't find you, but now we're all together here. And now, I can have a pet." True was as excited as the adults. "A cat, right Dad?"

"I don't know what you're thinking. We left you behind on purpose. You're old enough to be on your own now, True." Danziger snarled at his daughter. "I wasted enough years of my life on you. Now there's only room in my life for one woman. And that's Devon. Go find yourself a new home."

With that, John pulled Devon into his arms for a long, passionate kiss, and then the pair walked off, leaving her behind once again. Slowly True walked out of the water, sat down on the sandy shores all alone and began to cry.

Suddenly, the child shifted from one dream to another and was returned to the middle of the woods, alone with a few supplies in her backpack. Sadly she looked around once again and finding herself solo, she began to search for her father and the rest of Eden Advance. "Dad! Devon! Uly!" The young girl called out in the feverish dreams of her mind.

As True dreamed, Devon traveled. Every once in a while, a Terrian would rise from the ground and force her to shift directions. Devon prayed that the Terrians were guiding her home and not into some bizarre adventure, for she had enough on her mind without pondering the consequences of too many dealings with the Terrians without Alonzo's assistance. At least their interference meant that Devon no longer worried about what direction she should follow, leaving her mind free to examine the previous day's events, from Danziger's unexpected kiss to her mother's far more unexpected appearance on G889. "Well, no one can ever say my life has been boring lately," Devon muttered to herself.

"Devon!"

Lost in her thoughts, Adair almost didn't hear her name. But when the weak voice repeated it, she stopped the Dunerail in its tracks.

"Who's there?" She didn't hear any response, but a Terrian once again rose from the ground and pointed his staff. Unwilling to take the Dunerail any further, lest she lose that voice, Devon climbed out and began walking in the direction the Terrian had indicated. In a few seconds, she spotted the cave.

"Dad! Devon!"

Although the voice was weak, this time Adair had no trouble identifying its owner. She broke into a run as she headed into the cave, where she found the young girl tossing and turning, caught in the beginning stages of her thematically repetitive nightmare. When Devon touched her hand to True's forehead, she felt the child's fever burning through her brain. Quickly, Adair searched the girl's gear for communication equipment. Finding none, she grunted in frustration, then went outside to talk to the Terrians, but they had disappeared, their mission accomplished. As she pondered her options, she heard True cry out once again.

"Devon, no. Please, don't take my dad away from me!"

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