As G-889 Turns
Episode #5: A Life Gambled
"You want to do what?" Julia snapped.
It seemed to John that Julia's tone was harsher than necessary, but he really couldn't blame her. It had been a pretty freaky couple of days for all of them and the stunt Alonzo proposed couldn't be expected to improve her mood any.
"It will only take an extra day," Alonzo insisted, "And it could save us months in the long run."
"I don't believe that the time involved is what Julia is objecting to," Yale offered. "I too am concerned about the risk."
"I'm willing to take that risk," Alonzo maintained.
Julia growled in exasperation.
"Alonzo," Yale explained gently. "There are only thirteen of us left. Only eleven adults. Everyone is important to the survival of the group, and the survival of the colonists who will be arriving on that ship. You may be willing to risk your life. We are not."
Alonzo threw up his hands. "Danziger, you have to see the advantage in this."
John sighed. A few months ago he would not only have agreed with Alonzo, he would probably have tried to join him. But he had seen too many good people die in too short a time. "Lonz, we don't even know that it'll do any good. You could scale that peak, presuming you make it to the top alive, and find nothing but a nice view. It's just not worth it."
"I say if Alonzo wants to go, let him go," Morgan interjected. "If he sees something unexpected, it could give us a chance to plan ahead. If he doesn't find anything new, we've only lost a day. And if he splatters himself into a fine mist on the rocks...," Morgan shrugged, "...it's just an added bonus."
Alonzo avoided his son's gaze. He'd learned soon enough that responding to Morgan's jibes only made it worse. Turning back to Yale and Julia, Alonzo said flatly, "I'll leave first thing in the morning."
"Oh, no, you won't," Julia insisted. "This has been settled. Majority rules. You stay put, flyboy." Looking to John, she added nonchalantly, "Make sure the perimeter's secure tonight before you turn in."
"I'll even take the night watch myself," John smiled.
"Wha...?" Alonzo was furious. They were keeping him prisoner! It was ludicrous. He had been sent ahead to help select their path, and now they wouldn't even follow his advice. He had found a peak, almost straight up, that he was sure would allow him a vantage point from which he could spot the best route through the mountains. But when he met up with Eden Project and told them the good news, they refused to let him go. It's my own life to gamble, isn't it? he fumed.
***
It was that awkward time of evening, late twilight, when it was too early to sleep, but quickly growing too dark to do anything constructive. Alonzo didn't know what to do with himself. Julia and Cameron were holed up in the med tent and he hadn't had a chance to speak to her since she'd thrown a fit about his plans to scale the peak. In fact, they hadn't really "talked" since Morgan dropped that bombshell on them.
Alonzo glanced back in the direction of the med tent. He knew that the work Cameron and Julia were doing was critical -- if they couldn't find a cure for this unknown disease, they might all die -- but he really needed to talk to Julia...and she really should take a break.
He had expected that he'd have to argue with her on that point, but he wasn't prepared for the reaction he received when he entered the med tent.
"Alonzo??!!" Julia yelled. "What are you doing here? I thought you were out walking the perimeter with Walman."
"We're done. It's just scrub brush around here so there's not much to search. I wanted to a talk to you." Alonzo gave Cameron a knowing get-the-hell-out-of-here-buddy look, but Cameron stood his ground and looked to Julia for instructions.
"I don't have time to talk to you, Alonzo. Cameron and I are kind of in the middle of something. We'll just have to talk later." Julia was trembling as she spoke and the dark circles under her eyes were growing.
"Julia, night is falling. You've already gone two days without sleep. You have to take a break."
"Not now! Cameron and I are in the middle of something," she repeated. "We can't stop now."
"At least let me help," Alonzo offered.
"No!" Julia insisted.
"But...."
"Alonzo!" Cameron snapped. The pilot was startled by Cameron's commanding tone. "You don't have the medical or scientific knowledge to be helpful. And if you're not being helpful, you're in the way. Please just leave us alone. We'll be done with this step before it gets too late, and I promise I'll see that Julia gets some rest afterwards. But for now, please just go."
Feeling like he'd just had his wrists slapped, Alonzo left the med tent. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Julia leave the tent after him. Hopeful that she'd come out to speak to him, or at least apologize for so harshly exiling him, he turned toward her -- only to see her wave Walman over to the med tent."
"Walman, we're about to begin a...a procedure," she told him. "And it's very important that we are not interrupted for anything until we're done. Can you watch the med tent and keep anyone from wandering in?" Walman nodded and stoically took up his post outside the tent.
As Julia reentered the tent Alonzo could see Cameron holding some kind of canister. "This one should do the trick," he told Julia.
Inside, Julia sunk onto the cot and whispered. "God, that was just too close."
"Don't worry," Cameron reassured her. "It will work."
***
The silence at the campfire was oppressive. Alonzo and Morgan sat at opposite sides of the fire. They were as far apart as they could get without either sacrificing the warmth of the fire. But their position also made it convenient for Morgan to stare hatefully at the pilot. Alonzo, for his part, was still sulking about his aborted mountain climbing expedition, not to mention the cold shoulder he had gotten from Julia.
John was working on his third cup of coffee and, Alonzo felt, making a deliberate show of the fact that he wouldn't be nodding off anytime during his watch.
Yale returned to the fire and joined them.
"Got the kids in bed for the night?" John asked.
Yale rolled his eyes slightly. "If they're not, it's not for lack of effort. Uly insisted on three bed time stories."
John nodded. He'd been worried about Uly's reaction to Bess's illness, and the memories it might bring back. As expected, the boy had seemed more introspective all day -- but no more so than the rest of them.
"And True?"
"True Danziger is far too grown up for silly bedtime stories. Thank you very much." Yale attempted a serious expression as he said it, but was unable to keep the twinkle out of his eye.
John allowed himself a grin. He felt bad leaving her alone in their tent. What with Bess and all, "grown up" or not, True was bound to be scared. They all were. But there was something in Alonzo's hotshot demeanor that told him this was necessary. Alonzo hadn't backed down from his determination to leave at first light, and John wouldn't put it past him to try and sneak out of camp before first light in order to get his way.
And the more he thought about it, the dumber and more dangerous Alonzo's plan sounded. Some of that rock looked like it went straight up. It would be a difficult climb even for someone who knew what they were doing, which, unless the pilot had left something off his resume, he was sure Alonzo did not. And with everything Alonzo had on his mind, John doubted he had the concentration needed to complete the task either. He'd promised Adair that he'd look out for her kid -- and though she hadn't said it, he understood that that encompassed taking care of them all. Alonzo couldn't be allowed to screw it up for the sake of his machismo.
As much as he wanted to be with True, he knew that he had to be the one to handle this watch. Morgan would be perfectly happy to let Alonzo get himself killed. Baines wouldn't stop his friend from doing something he wanted to do. And as for the others...well...Magus...Mazatl.... They were all good people, but John just felt he had to stay on top of this one himself.
After another moment's silence Magus asked Yale, "How is Uly?"
"Scared." Yale said simply. "Like all of us."
"I'll look in on him after I say good night to True," John said, taking another swig of coffee.
"I think he'd appreciate that. He looks up to you. I think he's come to look upon you as the father he never had." There seemed to be the faintest hurt in the tutor's voice.
Is Yale jealous? John wondered suddenly. "You know Yale, you raised his mother. I think he thinks of you as his grandfather. If he considers me more of a father figure, I think it would just be because I'm a few years closer to him in age."
Yale was in the process of responding with, "Define 'a few years,'" when Morgan snorted and stalked off to his tent.
John realized that he'd inadvertently stepped right back in the middle of one of the subjects they'd all been avoiding. Reflexively, they all turned to watch Alonzo's reaction.
Finding himself the center of their attention, Alonzo asked, "What did I do? He's the one who's being belligerent."
"He just left the woman he loves, comatose and helpless in the care of ambivalent aliens," John said. "Cut him some slack."
Alonzo was about to respond, when John added, "I need you up first thing in the morning to re-pack the supply crates on the transrover." And that way I can keep an eye on you, he thought.
"Morgan already did that."
"Well, he didn't do it right. They were shifting and rattling on the ride here. We can't risk anything getting damaged. I need you to re-pack them tomorrow...early."
"Get Morgan to re-pack them. He did it wrong. Make him put it right."
"He'll just do it wrong again. He's got a lot on his mind."
I don't believe this, Alonzo thought. Danziger is taking Morgan's side? "He packed those crates before Bess got sick," Alonzo pointed out. "He didn't do a half-assed job because he had a lot on his mind. He did a half-assed job because he's a lazy, irresponsible bastard."
"Who's fault is that?" John rumbled.
Alonzo wasn't sure if he was being held accountable for "lazy", "irresponsible", or just "bastard", but he suddenly understood the hostility he'd been sensing from the mechanic all day. Mister high-and-mighty John I'm-the-world's-best-dad Danziger was blaming him for Morgan's personality flaws!
"I don't see your kid winning any responsibility medals," Alonzo snapped. "At least Morgan doesn't run around with convicts and bring dangerous animals into camp."
Whatever John might have said was stopped short when Magus broke into peals of laughter. "Lonz, sweetheart," she giggled in between snorts. "You realize you're comparing a grown man with an eleven year old girl...and quite frankly, he still doesn't come out looking so hot."
Even Mazatl was giggling as Alonzo stormed off.
***
Alonzo stepped out of his tent into the predawn darkness and was immediately greeted by John Danziger. "Ready to set to work on those crates?"
"You're enjoying this," Alonzo grumbled.
John smirked. "I just want to see us back on the road without delay."
Alonzo headed for the transrover and was annoyed to find that John kept an eye on him the whole way. You really wanna do this the hard way, don'tcha big guy?
He climbed up into the back of the transrover and looked over the contents. "I don't see a problem here."
"The stuff Walman put in there the other night is fine," John explained. "It's the stuff that Morgan loaded in the night before that rattles...the stuff behind there."
Alonzo groaned as he realized the full extent of what John had in store for him. He was expected to unload and re-pack the entire transrover just because John claimed that a few crates in the middle rattled. Suddenly he didn't feel so bad about what he was about to do.
After he had removed a few crates, he called out, "Hey, Danz, give me a hand with this one will ya."
John leaned into the rover to see what the problem was...and a wrench solidly connected with the side of his skull. The big man crumpled. Alonzo grabbed him under the arms and caught him before he hit the ground. Getting John's limp form all the way up into the rover was going to be something else altogether though. Too late Alonzo realized it probably would have been a better tactical plan if he'd lured John inside the rover before knocking him out. After a good deal more time and effort than Alonzo had planned on, he finally hefted John into the transrover. It wasn't a graceful job but it was accomplished. When he awoke, John would have more lumps and bruises to blame on Alonzo than just the one on his head. Alonzo pulled John as far back out of sight as he could manage and then replaced the crates around him so that he wasn't visible to a casual observer. With any luck, no one would find him until he woke up by himself...by which time Alonzo intended to be long gone.
Returning to his tent, he quickly grabbed the ropes and pack that he had set aside earlier. I suppose it's a good thing Julia slept in the med tent after all, he thought to himself, knowing that getting past her would've been trickier than getting past their mechanic.
***
His timing was perfect. The way was just beginning to become steep and rocky as the morning light poured over him. He also found a crevice that appeared to run the vertical length of the peak. It would not only afford him with numerous handholds, but it would also shield him from the camp's line of sight.
***
"Julia?" Walman whispered. "You awake?"
"Mmph." Julia reluctantly opened one eye as Walman gently shook her.
"It's morning," he offered.
I figured that out, Julia thought as she blinked in the harsh light. She tried stretching and yawning but that didn't help either. She still felt like she needed another night's sleep.
Her head felt thick and heavy and it was a long moment before she thought to herself that it was odd that Walman was the one to wake her up. He didn't seem hurried or agitated as he would be if he were waking her for a medical emergency. Indeed he seemed perfectly content to just kneel by her cot and stare at her.
It finally got to be too much for even her sluggish senses. "Walbert?"
"Hmm?"
"What?" she demanded hoarsely.
"Breakfast is almost over," Walman said. "Everyone's done except the kids."
Ye gods, Julia groaned. I've overslept and I'm holding everyone up. Alonzo's probably still sulking about me throwing him out last night, so he didn't want to come in himself. Once I explain it all to him, I'm sure he'll understand. Oh, but I do owe him an apology for snapping at him like that. If only all this nonsense with Courtney hadn't come out at the same time....
"Julia?"
Julia whimpered faintly as Walman shook her again.
Forcing her eyes open a second time, she was embarrassed to realize that she'd allowed herself to drift away again. With a start she remembered they were suppose to be leaving in the morning.
"I have to get everything packed!" Julia jumped to her feet.
Walman caught her by the elbow just as she began to totter. "Whoa there! Have a little coffee first."
"No," Julia moaned, still half asleep. "Danziger wanted to leave as soon as possible."
"We can't find Danziger."
"What?"
"Coffee first. Explanations later," Walman said as he lowered Julia back onto her cot. He crossed the room in a few paces and returned with a thermos. He poured Julia a cup and waited until she'd had a few swallows before he continued. "We can't find Danziger. He had the watch last night, but he was gone when we woke up this morning." Seeing Julia's look of concern he added. "There's no sign of a Grendler attack or anything. We just can't find Danziger...or Alonzo."
"They're both gone?"
"They're both gone."
Staring into her coffee, Julia slowly followed his logic. "Shank."
***
Dressed, but only slightly more awake, Julia approached Lenina Magus at the radio.
"Walman tells me that we now have two macho, idiot, self-destructive shankheads off their leashes."
Behind her, Walman shrugged, "Well, not in so many words."
"It would seem that way. They also didn't take any gear with them. We're not picking up any signals outside of camp," Lenina said.
"It's just like Alonzo," Julia muttered.
"I personally expected better of Danziger," Lenina said. "I mean he has two kids to look after now. You'd think he'd be a little more responsible than that.
"Damn them both," Julia said flatly and stalked back to the med tent.
***
It was, Alonzo had to admit, a harder climb than he had expected. He scaled the rock by hand without being able to rest. He wore the coil of rope slung over one shoulder like a sash. He'd been embarrassed to realize that he had no idea what to do with it. There was certainly nothing to tie it to. But he was making progress and with that in mind, he continued.
***
Cameron poked his head into the med tent to find Julia hovered over her equipment. "Good morning."
"That's debatable," Julia mumbled.
"Why don't you get some rest? It doesn't look like we're going anywhere today. You might as well take a breather."
Julia shook her head. Cameron walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "How are you doing?"
"Physically? Emotionally? Or spiritually?" Julia smiled weakly.
"All of the above."
"Physically? I've certainly had better days, but I've been worse. I'll be fine. Emotionally? Neurotic, enraged, stressed, drained.... And spiritually? Now you're getting into some really scarey territory."
"And everything here?" Cameron asked nodding at the equipment in front of Julia.
Julia held her diaglove over a metal canister and tilted her arm to show Cameron the readout. "It seems to be working," she said. "Of course, this was the easy part. We still have to identify the cause of Devon's Disease. Locate a cure, or failing that, at least some preventative measure to keep the rest of us healthy, and then...well, there's no point even thinking that far down the road yet. In the meantime, we still have samples to analyze."
Cameron nodded and picked up a datapad.
***
It was late afternoon when, hot and exhausted, Alonzo finally reached the summit. The view was spectacular and a few stray wildflowers seemed to grow right out of the rock, but Alonzo was oblivious to it all. He'd managed to occasionally swig from his canteen on the way up, but he'd never found a place to rest in order to get at the food he'd packed. Ripping open his rations he scarfed them down ravenously. He sat on the rocks in something of a daze for a few more moments.
I made it! They didn't think I could do it, but I did, he thought exultantly. That thought was quickly followed by another. Danziger is going to kill me. Judging the time by the sun, he figured that John had raised the alarm several hours before. Alonzo smirked a little at the thought of John probably having to be held back from breaking his own rule and scaling the mountain himself just to get his hands on him. He sure hoped that John would cool down a little before he returned. But of course he wouldn't. One thing about John Danziger. The man knows how to hold a grudge. Alonzo knew he'd be walking on eggshells for a long time where John was concerned. It kind of made him feel a twinge of empathy for Morgan -- being on John Danziger's enemy list played hell with the nerves.
Ug. Morgan. I don't even want to think about Morgan. This is just some twisted nightmare. But just as he was resolving to block the past out of his mind, his eye finally settled on the small orange wildflowers that were scattered at his feet. They were the sort of flowers that Courtney used to draw. Ugly little things. He could never understand Courtney's obsession with flowers, least of all scraggly Earth flowers that were just a fraction the size of real nursery-grown flowers. But Courtney used to pour over old vids of extinct flora and then fill up whole sketchbooks with her doodles. And then just when she'd attained some semblance of realism in one of her pictures, she'd go and stick a dumb pixie in the middle of it and ruin the entire effect. It was so pointless.
But then, everything Courtney did was fairly pointless -- art, poetry, music.... The kid was full of boundless energy which she persisted in directing into trivial miscellany. He'd found it endearing at first too. The kid was just so darned...cute. That was the word he always came back to. Courtney was cute...and perky and giggly and vivacious. She was the bounciest, happiest person he knew. None of which had managed to rub off on her son apparently. Our son, his mind echoed, and he shuddered. And then his mind replayed other things -- the way Courtney used to pout when she didn't get her own way, the infuriating way she could ignore all aspects of reality, and that nerve jangling way her husky voice could break into that squeaky whine. There were certain resemblances.
Alonzo shook his mind clear. This isn't why I'm up here. He'd wasted too much time on the slow ascent already. He couldn't afford to waste any more time just sitting here daydreaming about the past. Pulling his jumpers out of his pack, he began to survey the land on the far side of the range.
***
"There," Elisha Denner said suddenly.
"What?" Mazatl asked.
"There," she repeated.
Elisha pointed upwards. Mazatl followed her gesture until he too spotted the small silhouette atop the ridge. Mazatl shook his head. "I hope it was worth it. Personally, I can't get that dumb song out of my head."
"What dumb song?"
"About the bear that went over the mountain."
"Eh? I don't think I know that one."
Mazatl looked around to make sure he didn't have a larger audience before he proceeded to embarrass himself. Leaning in a bit closer, he sang in a quiet voice, "The bear went over the mountain. The bear went over the mountain. The bear went over the mouuunnntAAAAAIIIIIN...to see what he could see."
Elisha giggled. Mazatl shrugged.
"So what did the bear see?"
Mazatl smirked and sang, "He saw another mountain. He saw another mountain. He saw another mouuunnntAAAAAIIIIIN...'twas all that he could see."
***
It was dark by the time that Alonzo straggled back into camp. He wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed, but there was one more obstacle to be met, one that would be far more challenging than the mountain he had conquered.
Doctor Julia Heller stood waiting for him. She did not walk forward to greet him, but merely stood with her hands on her hips like a petite statue. The walk into camp was the longest walk of his life with Julia's cold eyes boring into him.
He let his pack fall to the ground as he approached the tiny blonde. "Hey, Doc," he said, flashing his best dimply grin.
She said nothing. Not "hello", not "well?", not even "I hate you." She just starred at him with pure cold fury. Her meaning was clear. She would say something when he said something worthy of a response.
Alonzo cleared his throat and addressed the camp at large. "Yale was right. Taking the pass to the left around this mountain is the clearest route. We'll have to be careful though. If we follow the curve all the way back around, we'll get led down a dead end and have to backtrack. We need to keep an eye out for another pass across a stream. It'll be hard to see from ground level I think, but it's there. We'll also want to plan ahead and get some kind of planks ready to get the vehicles across the stream without getting stuck."
Alonzo rambled on but Julia's expression remained fixed. The others also remained silent, either out of deference to Julia or simply as a means of conflict-avoidance. It was True who finally interrupted his monologue.
"Where's Dad?"
"What?" Alonzo turned back to find True anxiously looking in the direction he had just come from.
"Where's my dad?" True demanded again.
Alonzo looked around and realized that John was not among them. Confused, he only shrugged.
This finally broke Julia's wall of silence. "Isn't Danziger with you?"
"I haven't seen Danziger since I left this morning."
"What?!" they all echoed.
"C'mon, Lonz," Walman insisted. "You must know where Danziger is. He hasn't been in camp since you took off."
"I have no idea. I left him in the transrover, but that was before dawn. All I can think is that he musta been so mad when he came to that he came after me without telling anyone..."
"'Came to'?" Julia repeated.
"...But I didn't see him on the way back. He must have taken a different route, but I don't see why he wouldn't have come back when it started to get late.
"'Came to'?" Julia repeated, louder this time. "Alonzo, did you sedaderm him or something?"
"Well, I would have but you wouldn't let me get into the med tent alone long enough to get a sedative. So, I just kinda whacked him."
"You 'whacked' Danziger?" Morgan was incredulous. "You have more guts than brains, old man."
"He's gonna make you pay for that one the hard way," Baines mumbled.
"I better check the rover," Walman said.
"Alonzo," Yale growled. "We agreed as a group that you were not to climb that crest. Are you telling me that you not only disobeyed us, but that you resorted to violence to do so?"
"Will you guys lighten up? I don't care what you say now. When you rely on my scout mission for information later, you will thank me."
"So what did you find besides a stream and a second pass?" Morgan asked.
"Beyond that, the view is obscured by other mountains."
Elisha attempted to repress a laugh and turned it into a snort.
"What?" Alonzo turned on her defensively. "Isn't that enough?"
But before she could respond, a long, high shriek filled the camp. Startled, they all ran in the direction of the screams that continued to ring out.
Walman reached the transrover first. Finding True sitting atop a crate, he climbed up in beside her to see what she had found. With a look of horror on his face, he quickly jumped down and began yanking boxes out of the rover.
"True, what's wrong?" Yale yelled.
True continued to scream.
"Walman, wha...?"
But then they all saw.
Alonzo was stunned. There, pale and still in the same position in which he'd been left, lay the limp form of John Danziger.
True's eyes locked onto Alonzo and her voice went suddenly silent. He thought she'd worn herself out, but she drew in another deep breath and let loose with a scream equal in volume and greater in intensity.
"YOU KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!"
CONTINUED IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT
Author's Chapter Notes:
WARNING: This is a continuing soap opera. If you haven't read the prior installments of the As G-889 Turns saga yet, this will make no sense whatsoever.