First Spat (1/3)
By Bernice Low
Alonzo was dreaming.
He must have been dreaming. Or so he thought.
He looked around.
Gone was the orange interior of Eden Advance tents - instead, he was in a duplex back on the stations. There was a table in the middle of the room, set for two places, the silverware contrasting with the white tablecloth draped over the table. A large window afforded a view of the beautiful stars outside.
He turned to look at his own reflection in the window and whistled. Gone was the beaten leather jacket, the faded jeans and steel toe capped boots. In their place were patent leather shoes, buffed and shiny, an pair of immaculately pressed trousers and a dinner jacket complete with bow tie.
Baby, Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven, Bryan Adams belted out somewhere in the background.
This definitely had to be a dream.
Soft clicking on the black marbled floor drew his attention - he turned around to find himself face to face with a beautiful brunette wearing the sexiest little black number he's seen in a long, long time.
Now this is what dreaming should be all about, he thought to himself as she approached him. He gave no thought to how or why the Dreamplane had brought him here - not with her looking at him like that. He had other things on his mind.
"Alonzo." she said softly. That voice.In a flash, it all came back to him.
"Jessica. Jessica - you look wonderful" he murmured and proffered her his arm as they made for the table. He remembered where he was now. This was to be the last time he would see her - she had been his last romantic encounter before he left on the Eden Project.
Well, not really his last. That title officially went to Lydia, who had been the last love of his life before he had left for G889. But Jessica had been special to him.
His cynical conscience reminded him that they had all been special, every last one of them, from the high flying businesswomen he dated on the stations, to the daredevil Amelia Earharts who sleep-jumped with the best of them. But cynical conscience had no place in this romantic setting, and with Jessica looking simply ravishing and her dark, brown eyes staring right at him, he needed all his concentration. After all, this would be the last time he would see her ever again.
"You're very quiet tonight Alonzo - what's on your mind?" she asked, inadvertently suggestive. "Oh nothing." he said casually as he picked up her hand and pressed a kiss gently to the palm of her hand. "Let's just make this a night to remember shall we?" She raised an eyebrow and Alonzo reflected on just how beautiful she was. A creature of God, perfect to the last detail. They were just getting started on making it a night to remember when, irritatingly, his conscience reminded him that they all had been beautiful.
He tried to ignore it and concentrate on the task at hand, in his case, getting from the living room to the bedroom. But it persisted in reminding him
...of Sheila....
Jessica's long slender fingers were loosening the bow tie at his neck.
Jessica....
Who was at this very moment now snapping the buttons of his shirt and sliding it off.
Lydia....
A lovely girl - bubbly personality but Jessica really knew how to kiss a man in just the right places
Julia...
Suddenly everything careened to a halt - like someone had pulled the emergency brake on a starship travelling at warp speed. His eyes snapped open, the gaudy orange interior of the MedTent floated before his eyes.
He was back in the present. Blinking, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He had just the lousiest timing he cursed. Just his luck to wake up just before the good bits had started.
The sign of a guilty mind? Alonzo dismissed the thought immediately.
He turned to see if Julia was still asleep beside him but she was gone. He touched the spot where she was sleeping and it was still warm - he could still see the indentation of her head where she lay on the pillow. Julia obviously hadn't been up long. He glanced at the chronometer on the table - it was early, and the camp was still quiet - but obviously, not early by Julia Heller Standard Time. He climbed out of the narrow cot and pulled on some clothes, grimacing slightly when he recalled that snazzy tux he had been wearing just seconds ago.
It flashed in his mind that Julia had only seen him in a tux once - at the Martins VR wedding reception. His thoughts briefly wondered to the VR blonde that he danced with - Virginia - that was her name. Not that it mattered; reminded his conscience - as a VR perception, she would have responded to any name he chose - Virginia, Hillary - even Julia.
Alonzo scowled briefly -what was wrong with him today? He had never had an attack of guilt where women were concerned before. He stepped in front of the small mirror on the table and ran his finger over his stubbled jaw. He pondered whether or not to shave. He knew an unshaven appearance gave him an reckless aura and a sex appeal that made him irresistible, particularly to the strait-laced Dr Heller. He raised an eyebrow at his reflection in a question mark...then decided he'd stick it out with his five o'clock shadow.
Stretching his slightly cramped muscles, he yanked on his boots and set out in search of Julia. He stepped out of the entrance into the morning light and looked around.
To the left, he could hear quite audible snoring from the Martin tent. It was a very distinctive snore; unique in it's combination pattern of sniffles and snorts. Initially, it irritated almost everyone in the team but now, they came to regard it as part of the natural nocturnal noises of the planet - like the rustling of a Grendler at night, or the soft squeals of the koba,the sound of Snoritis morganis now simply blended in with the symphony of noises that were heard as night fell on the planet.
To the right, were the Danziger and Adair tents, pitched, charmingly, next to each other. Devon was probably already up since Uly was a habitual early riser. He was sure both the Danzigers were still dead to the world - it would be a cold day in hell before John Danziger got up this early. And it would be hell for everyone else if he did since he was a notoriously bad morning person.
He walked to the centre of the camp where the dying embers of the campfire were getting their second dousing of coffee for the day, from Julia. She sat with her back to him, talking to Devon, who sat on a log opposite her, nursing a cup. He crept up behind Julia and surprised her with a bear hug. To his surprise, she did not respond to his affections, but simply sat and stared at the bottom of her tin coffee cup.
"Morning Devon." he said cheerily as he sat himself next to Julia on the log. To his surprise, Devon simply got up, emptied her cup into what once was the campfire and left without a word. Alonzo watched her leave and turned to Julia.
"What I say?" he asked, puzzled but Julia simply shrugged and stood up wordlessly, seemingly intent on walking off. Alonzo grabbed hold of her hand before she could leave and regarded her with a quizzical expression.
"Julia?"
Her reply was short and her tone sharp. "I've got work to do Alonzo."
Not the softly spoken protest that was usually a subconscious invitation to pester her further, not a request to be left alone that held a promise of fun to come, not her usual affectionate rebuttal - this was a clear ‘get lost' if Alonzo ever heard one. She extricated her hand from his grasp and strode off before he could say another word.
Her words caught him by surprise but just as quickly, he recovered and bounded after her.
"Julia! Wait!" he called. His long legs easily caught up with her and he grasped her firmly by the elbow and propelled her around so that she stood facing him. She stared at him insolently, like True whenever her father caught her doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing.
"Julia - what's going on?" he demanded. "You're acting very weird this morning."
"It's nothing Alonzo." she said flatly - but he knew that there was something, except she wasn't going to volunteer to tell him what it was.
"Julia - have I done something wrong?" he said, changing his tone, trying to sound less interrogatory, hoping to coax the whatever it was out of her. All he got was a cold stare. "I've really got to be going Alonzo." Julia stated point-blank. With that, she turned around and marched off in quick steps, leaving Alonzo staring after her.
The rest of the morning proved just as strange, if not even stranger. Not only was Julia refusing to speak to him, but she managed to avoid even seeing him for the whole morning - no mean feat considering the fact that the Eden Advance campsite consisted of not more than 10 tents pitched in a circle.As the morning went on, it became increasingly apparent to him that *no* member of the female sex would talk to him. Everytime he went up to Devon or Bess, he even tried Magus, they would simply shrug their shoulders and walk off, or walk past him as if he wasn't there.
Alonzo Solace was not used to being ignored, particularly by the opposite sex and he was slowly getting the feeling that in the last 24 hours, he had committed some cardinal sin against the sisterhood.
He sighed.
Only one person could help him now.
***
Yale looked up from the inventory lists that were preoccupying his attention when his young charge burst through the door, running with the speed that a year ago, would have seemed a far off impossibility. Uly displayed the same energy and enthusiasm that a young Devon had - still has - he reminded himself. All which was fine and good, but extremely exhaustive for the tutor-mentor-hand-holder-family retainer who has to keep up - not with one, but both of them.
Today, the object of Uly's fascination was the moon.Or to be more precise, the moons of the planet.
"Yale, did you notice how they were exactly opposite each other last night?" Uly asked excitedly.
"Hmmm, it would seem to be a complete contrast to Moon Cross. How interesting." his tutor replied. "Perhaps it has a special significance too" he wondered aloud.
Within minutes, Yale had accessed his data banks and cross referenced the information on astrology and star signs. "This is very interesting indeed." he said to himself.
"What is Yale?" inquired a female voice. Yale looked up to see Devon standing at the entrance of the tent. She gave her son a hug and asked him what he was up to.
"Uly noticed that the moons of the planet were, at odds last night. At complete polar opposites to each other." Yale replied smoothly. " I've just been studying the information in my data banks - it seems that following the normal Earth Gregorian calendar, we are now in the month of March."
"And?" Devon raised an eyebrow.
"Today, is the Ides of March - the 15th day of the third month of the year - usually not a good day. It was on the Ides of March Julius Caesar was stabbed in the back by his best friend Brutus. Thus, beware the Ides of March." explained Yale.
"Whose Caesar?" asked Uly "He was a great Roman general." replied Yale. "We'll find out more about him when we get to Roman civilisation."
"Yale - you don't really think all this lunar mumbo-jumbo is for real." Devon snorted.
"According to the astrological calculations, we are in a rather unusual cosmic time of the year - Mars and Venus are in the same house." "Mars and Venus?" Devon repeated. "The God of War and the Goddess of Love are sharing the celestial influences." explained Yale. "And one must prevail."
"Prevail?"
"Or else, cosmic chaos. Venus and Mars are opposing forces - exerting two very distinct and different influences. If neither force can prevail then there is prolonged antagonism as the powers struggle to secure supreme domination over the beings of the universe." Yale rattled off.
"Somehow I doubt it will go that far." Devon remarked casually, as Uly squirmed from her arms and raced out into the sunshine.
"Relationships will falter as Mars sets to wreck havoc where Venus has previously triumphed." Yale intoned, sounding uncannily like a soothsayer. Devon looked up from the map she was looking at - for some reason, that rang a bell in her head.
"Yale - where did all this suddenly come from?" Devon inquired, somewhat surprised that her old tutor was overnight an expert on starsigns.
"An old 20th century text written by one Mystic Meg. It's quite a fascinating read."
Devon raised her eyebrows. "Well, celestial influence or no celestial influence, I can tell you right now that the minute Danziger wakes up, he and I are going to have an argument." Devon said dryly as she walked out of the tent.
***
"The great Alonzo Solace - loverboy extrodinaire, the man my wife declares is 'every woman's type' - is asking *my* advice about women... I don't believe this. Why it's almost a good enough reason to get up at this un-godly hour." gloated Morgan as he tossed off the blankets and almost energetically, got to his feet.
"This isn't about advice Morgan." grumbled Alonzo as Morgan put on his shoes at top speed. "And it's almost lunch time."
"How about a consultation then? Consultation sounds so much more.." Morgan searched for the word "...professional? Well then, tell us what the problem is." Morgan said gleefully, as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation of some torrid, sordid information about to be revealed by Alonzo
"Jeez Morgan, what's with you? Got up on the right side of the bed?" muttered Alonzo in a surly tone as they exited Morgan's tent.
"I'm basking in the glory for as long as I can." replied Morgan smarmily. "Come on loverboy, tell Dr Martin what the problem is."
Briefly Alonzo informed Morgan of the events that had taken place so far.
"Hmmmm..."
"What do you mean 'hmmmm'?" demanded Alonzo.
"I mean it sounds like you're in the doghouse tonight my friend." Morgan replied.
"That serious?" There was a slight hint of concern in the pilot's voice.
"Could be a passing thing - you know, some female problem that's completely alien to us. In such cases, avoidance is usually the answer. Walk on eggshells, don't answer back and don't make a move until you're told to." Morgan intoned with all the authority of a married man.
"They can't all be having the same problem." Alonzo muttered. "I mean, Julia, I can understand - but I can't get any of the women to talk to me."
Morgan shook his head. "You wanna tell your old buddy what is was you did?" Morgan asked seriously.
"What are you talking about Morgan? I haven't done anything." Alonzo near shouted. "I'm an innocent man."
"Look, Alonzo - it's probably some little nuance that you and I wouldn't regard as actually wrongful - but which they probably think is a prime example of just how low the male species can sink to." Morgan explained slowly. "Come on Alonzo - man to man - I'm not going to tell on you." Morgan's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.
"There's nothing to tell Morgan - I honestly haven't done anything." Alonzo reiterated.
"Are you sure?" Morgan prodded. "Think - it could be any little thing." Alonzo retraced his actions in the last 24 hours quickly.
"I don't know Morgan - up till last night, everything was fine." Alonzo informed him. "I went to bed. Next thing I know, this morning, I can't even get a word out of her. Or any other woman."
Morgan pursed his lips and thought hard. "The only thing that I know that really bugs women is infidelity - well, there's forgetting their birthday, wedding anniversary, Valentine's Day, not telling them they're young and svelte looking, reassuring them you still love them.... - but those are usually forgivable. Infidelity - that's a tough one."
"Morgan - who the hell would I cheat on Julia with? Hell - do I look like I have the energy?" Alonzo said in an exasperated tone.
"Why? Are they making you do too many chores?" Morgan asked, a picture of angelic innocence. "Or maybe Dr Heller is a little difficult to 'keep up with'?" he winked at Alonzo slyly.
"I am not unfaithful to Julia." Alonzo stated firmly.
"In body, mind and soul?" Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow in apparently innocent query. "You've never once thought about another woman? At all?"
"That's it!" Alonzo exclaimed. "Well are you going to share it?" "Last night, I had a dream where I saw one of my old girlfriends - Jessica. We were back on the stations - it was my last dinner date with her." he explained. "I might have said her name out loud - maybe that's why Julia's so mad." Morgan was shaking his head and tsking to himself. "All I have to do is explain to her that it was all a dream." Alonzo thought out loud. "Right?"
He looked to Morgan for re-assurance. Morgan looked sternly at his friend. "Alonzo. Sit down." Morgan said firmly. Alonzo, hearing the serious tone in Morgan's voice, decided perhaps he ought to listen to any advice Morgan might have to offer.
"Look Alonzo - you love her - Julia - right?" Morgan queried, seriously, sounding like a father interviewing a prospective son-in-law.
"I guess so - yeah." he replied slowly.
"Good - and this Jessica character - she's just some passing fantasy right - I mean you're not in love with her or anything?" Morgan continued, still sounding solemn.
"No! Of course not. It was just a dream." Alonzo said vehemently.
"Alonzo - I understand. Most men would understand. If you had just had a moment of mental infidelity while you were off chasing your fantasy nubile maiden, probably even Julia would understand. But yelling out the name of another woman in the throes of passion while you're sleeping next to the love of your life? "Morgan shook his head.
"What?" Alonzo was listening intently.
"It's the kind of thing that makes women kill." Morgan said in a lowered voice.
"No way." Alonzo blurted out.
"Listen fly boy, I've seen the look they get." Morgan opened his mouth to continued but suddenly stopped and looked down at his shoes. Alonzo was just about to prod him on when he noticed Magus and Bess walking past.
By reflex, he smiled and was about to open his mouth to greet the two women but the stare they gave him was colder than the arctic winds. This wasn't staring daggers, more like being eyeballed by Medusa at close range.
"As I was saying - I've seen the look." Morgan repeated slowly. "Uh huh - I think I know what you mean." Alonzo replied, as he watched Magus and Bess round the corner.
"So what happened?" he asked.
"Bess caught me looking - just looking -" Morgan emphasised ".. at this female one day while we were in the restaurant. I mean I barely blinked at this girl - who incidentally had fabulous you-know - I mean fabulous. Anyway, I looked for just a second - it wasn't even a look - it was a flutter of the eyelashes. Next thing I know - I'm sleeping on the couch for the next week and eating frozen rations."
Alonzo raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, and suspension of all 'other privileges' for a month." Morgan added.
"'Other privileges'?" Alonzo looked slightly puzzled "You know..." Morgan gave him a side long glance. "Oh - those privileges." Alonzo nodded with understanding and swallowed hard. He had to admit that for all his travels, his liaisons and affairs, long term relationships were a mystery to him. He knew women inside out, he knew how to attract them, how to flirt with them, how to charm them - he thought he understood them. But obviously, he had absolutely no insight as to how to live with them. You weren't around long enough, reminded his conscience.
"So what do I do now?" Alonzo asked, seemingly unconscious of the fact that he was now actually asking Morgan for advice. "Beg."
"You mean.."
"I mean grovel. Prostrate yourself before the sisterhood and declare yourself totally and utterly unworthy."
Alonzo looked at Morgan incredulously.. “That's all the advice I can give you I'm afraid. The rest is up to you." Morgan said, slapping Alonzo on the back.
"Hey Morgan..." Alonzo called as Morgan headed off to find food to fill his growling stomach. Morgan turned around. "Thanks pal." Alonzo said gratefully, starting to think that perhaps Morgan was not quite as bad as everybody thought him to be. Morgan smiled and started for the camp centre.
"Anytime - I just hope it works for you. Sure as hell didn't work for me." he chortled and walked on.
End of Part 1.
Story Notes:
Hello...
I hope this address is right - I haven't posted or seen posts on the E2-Fanfic list for a while - either I'm not on it or something odd is happening. Anyway, hopefully [fingers crossed] this one goes okay.
Some acknowledgements [short this time :)] - thanks to the FanFic Critique Group who ran this story through the gauntlet and helped track some notorious errors in spelling, grammar etc - and for all the discussions on moons and Gods...just when I thought I'd never write another E2 story, here comes this one...
Comments appreciated.
Onward then....
I hope this address is right - I haven't posted or seen posts on the E2-Fanfic list for a while - either I'm not on it or something odd is happening. Anyway, hopefully [fingers crossed] this one goes okay.
Some acknowledgements [short this time :)] - thanks to the FanFic Critique Group who ran this story through the gauntlet and helped track some notorious errors in spelling, grammar etc - and for all the discussions on moons and Gods...just when I thought I'd never write another E2 story, here comes this one...
Comments appreciated.
Onward then....