In the Beginning, Part 1
by Vicki Firth
Copyright 1995
John Danziger brought the Dunerail to a halt and looked at the woman beside him. "That's the end of this road, Adair."
Devon Adair frowned and looked slowly around her. They'd been on a scout since early that morning looking for a pass through the mountain range they'd come upon a week before. Yale had said the mountains were something similar to what the Rocky Mountains on earth had been, before they'd been mined and almost levelled in places. The group had been searching for days trying to find a pass that the vehicles could make it through.
The route Devon and Danziger had been travelling that morning had looked hopeful. They'd been moving steadily upwards but the inclines had been manageable. But for the past hour or so they'd been in a canyon of sorts with steep ranges on either side and a veritable wall of mountain ahead had just brought them to a dead stop.
"Danziger, are you sure that slope I pointed out to you a couple hours back was too steep for the vehicles? It was the most promising route we'd seen all day."
"The rail and the ATV might make it, but the Transrover won't," Danziger answered. He got out of the vehicle to stretch his legs. "We're going to have to go over Yale's probe date again back at camp, maybe there's something we overlooked. I sure hope there is, or else this journey ends here. C'mon, lets get out of this sun for awhile, let the rail charge up a bit and then head back."
Devon got out of the vehicle and followed Danziger over to a shady spot at the foot of the mountain. She looked around at the natural features of the mountain range and wondered how such a beautiful spot could be such a source of trouble. "This isn't stopping us," she muttered.
Danziger was flopped on his back with an arm thrown over his eyes. He peered out at her. "Unless we find a pass or you've found a way to make the Transrover fly, I'd say we're stopped for now."
"Can't you ever think positively about anything?" Devon glared at him. She didn't know why she'd picked him to accompany her on this scout. 'Because he knows the vehicles best,' a voice in her head told her. 'Because you wanted a chance to be alone with him,' a voice in her heart said.
"When something's realistic then I can think positively about it," Danziger said cooly. "I'm not a dreamer like you."
Devon ignored him and started thinking about a way out of their predicament. She wished she *could* make the vehicles fly, then they'd only have to see the mountains from above.
"Wait a minute, John! We're going about this the wrong way! We've been looking for a pass from the ground when we should be looking from above."
Danziger wrinkled his brow as he looked at her. "You hiding an aircraft somewhere you're not telling us about?"
She shot him a withering glance as she jumped to her feet and started walking along the base of the mountain, sizing it up.
Danziger stayed reclined on the ground, watching her. The sun glinted off her hair picking up the auburn highlights as she walked slowly away from him, searching for something. Sometimes he thought she was right crazy, bringing them here to G-889 with an unplanned crash-landing on the planet. Sometimes he was almost glad they crashed, because every day more and more he seemed to find a reason to seek out her company. Sometimes with thoughts like that he thought he was the crazy one.
She called to him from about 100 metres away. "John, come here!"
He hauled himself up and strolled over to where she stood impatiently waiting.
"Look John! This incline might be too steep for the vehicles, but it's not for us on foot. We could climb to the top and then we'd have a view of the terrain for miles around. We just might be able to spot a good pass!" She smiled broadly at him.
Danziger sighed. He knew now from experience that he probably couldn't talk her out of it and besides, when she looked at him like that he found it awfully hard to refuse her.
"Let me get my pack from the rail, it looks like a long hike."
By the time he'd returned from the vehicle Devon had already started up the mountain. He quickly caught up with her. "Whoa, Adair. I'm going first. Walk where I walk." He slipped past her and walked briskly up the mountainside, slowing when he came to narrow ground as the trail he blazed went around boulders and outcroppings of vegetation.
'Stubborn man,' Devon thought. 'He always has to be in the lead, even in dangerous situations.' She kept silent though and her gaze focused on his broad shoulders and the mass of golden curls that touched the back of his shirt. She found herself wondering what it would be like to have her arms entwined around those shoulders and be able to run her finges through that hair. She shook her head to dispel herself of the notion but could not ignore the slight race of her heart at the thought.
The climb was easy for the first hour or so, the mid-afternoon sun warm. They climbed in relative silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts or daydreams. Later in the day though, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and an intermittent sprinkling of rain began. The grassy slopes they were climbing gave way to more rocky terrain which slowed their progress. Eventually Danziger came to a stop.
"Devon, if we keep going we're going to have to climb looking for handholds and footholds. This mountain is turning into a cliffside."
Devon looked upwards to see how much further it was to the top. They were almost there. "We only have about 300 meters to go. Keep going. We can make it."
Danziger shook his head. "Look, this rain's starting to come down harder. Those rocks are going to be slippery. Even if we do make it up, we're not going to make it back down before sunset."
"So we camp up top tonight. You've got gear with you, we just let base camp know we'll be coming back tomorrow. We can't stop now if it means we can find a pass."
She gazed at him levelly, trying to will him with her eyes to agree. She knew that stubborn as he was, if he decided they shouldn't go any further then he'd probably pick her up and carry her back down the mountain if she disagreed.
He stared into her eyes and saw a sign of determination there. He knew if he didn't bring her to the top of the mountain and make sure she got up safely he'd probably be chasing her up it instead.
Danziger sighed. "Listen to me. We'll go up but we're going slowly. I'm going to find the places where we can climb and you don't move up until I tell you to." He turned his back to her and started climbing.
A quick smile flashed across Devon's face. Though she really didn't mean to she mentally noted one more battle won.
The climb was slow and not without its precarious moments. At one point Danziger inadvertently dislodged a chunk of rock which almost brought Devon down the mountainside with it as it tumbled free.
After almost an hour of clawing their way among nicks and indents in the mountainside, Danziger hauled himself over the top. He was immobilized for a moment at the scene that greeted him. The spot they had climbed to was a mountaintop plateau, with trees and wildflowers all in bloom. Despite the rain, the beauty of the area was almost worth the climb in itself.
He turned to remark upon this to Devon, who had just pulled herself over the top and was standing up at the edge of the cliffside. In a heartbeat she had risen, then the ground below her tore away and she began to fall down the cliff they had just battled and won.
For a split second Danziger felt as though his legs were paralyzed then he sprang into action, throwing himself to the ground at the edge of the cliff. Devon had managed to cling to the ground that had not torn away but it was with a precarious hold and her hands were slipping.
"Devon, hold on!" Danziger crawled to the side of the cliff as quickly as he could, aware that his additional weight might erode more of the already unsolid ground. He didn't think for a moment about his own safety. The second he had seen Devon going over the edge all he had thought about was losing her.
"No John! Get back! You'll go over too," Devon cried. She looked up and saw his face above her. Her concern for his safety momentarily outweighed her own predicament. "Get away from the edge," she yelled at him, "dammit John, for once in your life stop being so stubborn."
"I'm not letting you go!" he growled back at her. He reached down until he had a firm grip on her arms just below the elbow. "Listen to me. I'm going to lift you up until you can lock your arms around my neck. Then don't let go. Just trust me Devon!"
She trusted him with her life. She always had.
Devon felt herself lifted upwards slightly. She strained her arms until they were around his neck then she clung to him in a death grip, her body still hanging free over the cliffside. She felt chunks of rock being dislodged from the cliff, sliding away and down the mountain.
Danziger noticed that too. 'Please,' he thought, 'if I am gonna die on G-889, please let her be safe first.'
After she had a secure hold on him he let go of her arms and grabbed her about the waist. Then he slowly began to roll away from the edge of the cliff, bringing her with him. He put every muscle he had into it and in a time that seemed like forever he had her over the top. He quickly rolled their two bodies together away from the edge.
They ended in a heap with Devon half atop his body, both breathing heavily from exertion, fear and shock. They lay together with their arms and bodies still entwined for many long minutes, amidst a sea of wildflowers in a light fall of rain.
Danziger brought a hand to her face and softly smoothed back her hair. "When I saw you go over that cliff I thought I had lost you," he whispered to her. "I thought I was losing a part of myself."
Devon raised her head to look into his eyes. She saw honesty reflected there, and something else. Something that she also felt deep inside, something that had long been caged but was now ready to be freed.
Although she had always been quick with her defense where John Danziger was concerned, right now she could only whisper his name. But her eyes spoke volumes and her heart beat an accompaniment as he slowly turned her to his side and lowered his face to hers.
Their lips brushed softly together once, then again. Devon knew then that although what she had been seeking for the past nine years was New Pacifica, it had not yet been found. But on the road there she had now discovered something perhaps even more valuable to her as a woman. She had found a man who seemed to be her other half.
They were both in awe of the feelings their gentle kisses set free but as they lay there exploring each other the passion that had simmered unanswered between them for so long could not be denied. The hunger deepened and soft kisses turned to something more as their bodies pressed together, both yearning to know the shape of the other and mold to it.
He had never admitted to it before but John knew all of his former impatience with Devon and disdain for her ideas had been a mask for his true feelings for her. Now holding her and touching her and tasting her, he knew that mask had slipped and he would not be able to wear it again. He didn't want to wear it again, he just wanted her.
The soft fall of rain had turned to a floodgate from the heavens but both were oblivious to it until John felt Devon shudder. After one more tender kiss he cupped her cheek in his hand and gazed softly at her. "Devon, I could stay here forever with you like this but we're getting soaked and you're freezing," he said.
"We've got to find some shelter and stop your shivering."
Devon knew that she hadn't shivered from the cold but she kept silent about that. She smiled, almost shyly, at him. "I hope it's not always going to take falling off a mountain to get your attention."
He threw back his head and laughed. "You will always have my undivided attention and in the future I don't want to see you going to such extremes to prove it."
Despite the fact that she was soaked to the skin from the rain and was actually pretty cold once she took the opportunity to think about it, Devon felt more alive than she had in years. It was as if she had been missing a piece to the puzzle of her being and finally found it.
They stood up to survey the area and John saw an opening in the rock face of a small hillock atop the mountain. Arm in arm they walked over to it to investigate and saw the opening of a cave. John went in first with his lumalight and shone it around. It was simply an alcove of sorts cut away from the face of the rock, with no tunnels or smaller chambers leading from it.
"I know it's not exactly what you Adairs are used to when you're away from home, but I believe this is your suite for the night."
Devon swatted at him playfully, catching the humour in his tone. 'Before,' she thought, 'I would have taken offense to a remark like that.'
John was digging in his pack and found something that made him chuckle. He grinned at Devon. "I let True pack for me. She always thinks of things I should have in case of emergency. Here you go."
He handed her a shirt and thin blanket. She looked at him questioningly.
"Devon, you have to get out of your wet clothes. Since we don't have any shops in the immediate area, that's gonna have to do. I'm going to try to find some dry wood for a fire."
He turned and left the cave. By the faint glow of the lumalight he had left behind she quickly stripped out of her wet things and put on his shirt he had given her. It reached to her thighs. She wrapped the blanket around herself for added modesty.
She sat down to wait for his return and considered for a moment that he had managed to get her half undressed in an effort to seduce her. 'No,' she thought, 'not his style.' He was a direct man, not the type that would use subterfuge to get what he wanted. 'But if he was trying to seduce me, would I mind?' She contemplated that thought as she awaited his return.
End Part 1, cont'd in part 2 - **
Story Notes:
(1) This is my vision of Devon and Danziger *finally* getting together. If you are not ready for that yet, then you shouldn't read on! (2) Most of this story was written before "All About Eve" and "Flower Child" aired. Through some editing I believe I have managed to preserve continuity.