Escaping the Pyre by Jayel

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Escaping the Pyre, Part 3
by Jayel

Tara seemed deeply engrossed in whatever program was running through the gear on her head, but she looked up as soon as Danziger came through the tent flap. "There you are," she said, switching off. "Where's True?"

"Not here," he shot back. "And where do you get off showing her your science project? Are you out of your mind?"

"I thought you guys were all still trying to work that one out for yourselves," she answered glibly, removing her gear. "As for showing True the program, that was an accident. I was riding in the back of the truck this afternoon with this things tuned to a deserted channel, working on my science project as you so cleverly style it, when Miss True just suddenly appeared. She's a nosy little critter, isn't she?"

"You're saying she just walked into the program," he said, ignoring her question.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," Tara retorted. "She's smart,
too--that channel was secured."

"How much did she see?" he demanded.

"Not much--no more than a few seconds, I'd say. But it was enough for her to recognize her mother, and she demanded I tell her what was going on. Very forceful--she's definitely your daughter, big guy." She popped a gleaming platinum tube from her gear, the kind of top of the line hardware Danziger had rarely seen, much less used on the stations. "I suppose I could have conjured up a lie, but rumor has it you're a real stickler for truth-telling when it comes to your kid."

"Just what truth did you choose to tell?" he asked.

"I told her you had given me the old program for an upgrade," she began with a sigh. She reached out and took his hand, turning the palm up. "Here, just take this," she entreated, putting the tube in his hand and closing his fingers around it. "If you still want to kill me after you've seen it, I won't try to stop you."

"What did True say when you told her what it was?" he demanded.

"Why don't you ask her?" she asked, heading for the tent flap.

"I'm asking you," he retorted, catching hold of her arm just hard enough to stop her.

Her face went pale, then flushed. "Let go of me," she ordered, staring away from him, her voice soft but acid.

"Tara, what did she--"

"Damn it, Danziger, I said let go!" she shouted, loudly enough that anyone passing by outside couldn't help but hear. He released his grip on her arm, and she jerked away, rubbing her wrist. "Just don't touch me," she spat, her violet-blue eyes sparkling with anger or unshed tears.

"Just tell me what you said to True," he persisted, refusing to be taken in. "Did you tell her it was for her?" The thought occurred that Tara was reminding him more and more of a certain strawberry blonde Alex had tried to warn him away from back on the stations, a self-serving little vixen who had barely let him escape with his life, as he recalled.

"No," Tara answered impatiently. "I told her it was for you. She asked why; I told her I didn't know, but that I suspected it had something to do with Devon."

That explains a lot, he thought sarcastically. "Great," he said aloud. "Thanks a lot, Donahoe."

"You're welcome," she retorted. "You know, you people make me . . . forget it, never mind." She picked up her gear from where she'd dropped it when he caught her. "Let me know what you think of Eleanor," she said lightly, going out. "Or better yet, don't."

***

"Devon, I really don't see Tara becoming romantically involved with anyone right now," Julia was saying in the meantime.

"I didn't say I thought their involvement was necessarily romantic," Devon hastened to object.

"No, but you did imply it," Julia pointed out gently. "Devon, listen to me . . . I can't speak for Danziger, but if anyone in this group knows Tara, I do. And the last thing that's likely to happen to her right now is falling in love, or even lust. You never saw her with Val, or you'd realize . . . " She broke off, seeing Devon blush scarlet. As ridiculous as the conversation seemed to her, she couldn't help but be sympathetic, remembering how hard her own feelings for Alonzo had been for her to even accept, let alone express. "I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about," she finished.

"I'm not worried," Devon protested, but her embarrassed grin betrayed her. "Okay, so maybe I am," she admitted with a sigh. "Julia, I swear I don't know how this happened. One day he was just this incredibly irritating man I was stuck trying to compromise with at every turn, and the next . . . " She shook her head as if she still couldn't believe what she was saying. "I can't imagine being without him," she murmured, more to herself than to Julia. "I have no idea what his feelings are for me--I don't even know if what I feel could be called love. I just know that the idea of him being with someone else drives me crazy."

Julia was thinking of how determined John had been to rescue this anxious woman from EVE--in her mind's eye, she could still see the look on his face as he used an axe to break her free of the ship he knew in his heart would destroy her. "I think I know how you feel," she said aloud with a smile. "There were a couple of months when I thought I would die anytime I saw Alonzo so much as smile at another woman. That day with the spiders, when John punched him? I can't tell you how much I wanted to punch you."

"I know," Devon grinned. "I could tell."

"The point is that given time, it worked out," Julia continued. "And so will this. If you and John Danziger are, heaven forbid, meant to be together, you will be, and nothing and no one can stop it."

"You're absolutely right," Devon decided. "And if we're not, my worrying this way won't help."

***

Uly had spent the past hour doing True's share of the camp-making chores as well as his own, so by the time he found her, a lump of pure misery huddled behind the wheel of the transrover, he was too annoyed to be very sympathetic. "What are you doing in there?" he demanded, climbing up to join her.

"Waiting for my dad," she answered irritably. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," he admitted, settling into the seat beside her. "What did you do to make him leave you in here?"

"None of your business," True retorted. "And he didn't leave me here, really--I could leave if I wanted to. I just don't." She paused. "Uly, do you miss your dad?"

"How could I?" he asked. "I never met him."

"I never met my mom, either," she pointed out. "But I miss her all the time."

"I know," he admitted. "But Tara isn't her."

"No kidding, doofus," she shot back. "Like I don't know that . . . I just wonder about Mom sometimes, that's all. What do they do with you on the stations when you die? Just burn you up with the rest of the garbage?"

"I'm not sure," Uly answered. "Probably--I know what they used to do with dead people back on earth, though. Yale gave me a holo about it."

"Gross!" True exclaimed, making a face.

"No, it's really interesting," Uly insisted. "I asked for it back when the Commander died that first time. It shows you these mummies, and about how other ancient people used to bury their dead in big clay jars. And the Vikings, they were really cool. If you were a Viking warrior, they would put your dead body with your sword and armor in a wooden ship and set it on fire."

"That's disgusting," True said.

"No, the holo was really beautiful," he protested. "The funeral it showed was at night, so the fire was burning on the water against a black, black sky with stars. They thought by doing it that way, they were sending the warrior to Valhalla, warrior heaven. The only ones I thought were gross were the Hindus, and Yale said that was because I didn't understand their beliefs."

"What did they do?" she asked, interested in spite of herself.

"Lots of different things," Uly answered. But the pyre was what got me . . . they would burn their dead, too, just like the Vikings, but instead of putting the dead guy on a ship, they would build this big pyre right in the middle of town, and all of the dead guy's relatives would gather around and watch him burn."

"Gross!" True repeated. "Did they show that in the holo?"

"Yeah, and it gets worse," he said, his eyes wide just remembering the image. "Sometimes the guy's wife would get so freaked out watching him burn that she'd jump on the pyre alive and burn up with him."

"You're lying," True decided. "Why would anyone do that?"

"I'm not lying, and I don't know," he answered, feeling queasy. "That was the part Yale said I didn't understand."

"Yeah, well, I don't understand it either," True said with a shudder. "I can't believe Yale let you look at all that stuff."

"I don't think he realized how much detail was in the holo when he gave it to me," Uly admitted.

Suddenly their conversation was cut off by the sight and sound of Bess storming out of her tent.

"No, really, Morgan, I don't mind," she yelled back sarcastically. "I wouldn't want to endanger your delicate health any further with my unnatural desires."

"Bess, wait," Morgan pleaded, coming out just in time to watch her storm out of camp. "Bess!" He looked up and saw True and Uly staring at him curiously. "Hey, you kids get out of there!" he ordered. "That transrover is not a toy."

"Come on, True," Uly said. "Let's go find something to eat. Your dad will find you."

***

But Danziger was still standing where Tara had left him, staring down at the platinum cylinder cradled in his palm. Twice now he had made the decision to pick up his VR gear and get it over with--he had even reached for the gear once. But finally he dropped the cylinder into a secured compartment on his backpack. "Secured to my voice print only," he ordered. "True Danziger access specifically denied." That done, he went to find his kid.

End of Part 3.

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