Perchance to Dream, Part 10
Etain Antrim
Three days after the Terrians' visit, Danziger drove Julia and Alonzo back to camp. Julia sat in the front passenger seat, while Alonzo lay on the two back seats. The pilot was still very weak and slept most of the return trip. He was well wrapped in blankets; his weight loss meant he chilled easily. The camp got quiet as they rolled in, and everyone walked silently to the 'Rail as it came to a stop in front of the Medtent.
Alonzo could feel the eyes of his crew mates on him, some apologetic, some accusing, and some frankly curious. "Okay, people, lets give Julia and Alonzo some room." Danziger's voice boomed out. "Hey Baines, stick around and give me a hand with 'Lonz."
Julia rushed ahead to check out the Medtent, but found that Yale had everything set up for her. She sighed with relief, and went back out to the 'Rail. "Looks like Yale did a great job of getting the tent set up. Let's move 'Lonzo into bed."
Danziger and Baines carefully helped the pilot out of the vehicle; he was still too weak and shaky to walk on his own. One on each side, they gently moved him into the tent. Danziger eased him down on the cot and helped settle him in. Alonzo lay there, his eyes closed, panting from the exertion but pleased to be home.
Danziger and Baines walked out together, leaving Julia alone with the pilot. "He looks terrible. How could he have lost so much weight so quickly?" Baines asked.
"Julia said he had lost some before he got sick, but most of it was because he dreamed for 3 days straight, and that's a huge strain on him. She said he just burned it off from the higher metabolic rate his dreaming creates. She had an IV on him, but it's not meant to maintain that sort of drain." Danziger put his arm out and stopped Baines, who turned to look at him. "Yale said you guys all saw Alonzo's dreams here too. How are folks doing? Is Alonzo ever going to be able to look people in the eye? He's pretty upset about it, but there's nothing he can do to fix it. It just happened, you know?"
"I know. We've all talked about it. Walman is still pretty unhappy, but everyone else seems to be coping. I think most of us are just trying to forget what we saw, at least enough to deal with him. It's hard though. After some of the things we saw . . ., heck, after some of the things we saw ourselves do . . . Well, it's just going to take time. And poor Julia. Folks got a pretty good eyeful of who *she* is to 'Lonz. She likes to keep her privacy, but it's hard to forget how different she can be." Baines blushed, but didn't break his gaze on Danziger's face. "How 'bout you?"
"Well, we had the advantage of seeing 'Lonz while he was dreaming, so we knew how sick he was, and that there was nothing he could do to stop it. But, yeah, it was pretty uncomfortable. I tried hard to stay awake until it stopped. He scared the piss out of me on the first one . . . But, of course I did end up seeing a hell of a lot more than I wanted. I'm most worried about True and Uly. How much do they understand? Do they know how to interpret what they saw? A lot of it was pretty intense, one way or another."
Baines nodded in agreement.
"I'm really surprised at Morgan. He and Bess saw several of the dreams while they were in the camp to find the Grendlers, and I don't know if it's because he and Bess were together, or if Bess found some way to explain it all to him, or what, but Morgan is taking it all great. Adair says that he's used to people telling him that he screwed up, so it wasn't a shock to him. I'm not sure I buy that though.
Baines laughed at Devon's words, then sobered. "So what should we do now? Should we talk to 'Lonz about it or just leave it alone?"
"I don't know. Maybe we can talk about it as a group." The two men turned and walked toward the common room.
***
In the Medtent, Julia was sitting on the side of Alonzo's cot, stroking his hair while he dozed. His eyes opened, and his calm brown eyes found her. "Hey fly-boy."
"Hey Doc. You know, I love seeing you first thing when I wake up. It makes me think everything's okay." He smiled at her and took her hand in his. "Doc? Do you think they'll ever forgive me? That was a pretty chilly reception. I got the evil eye from several people."
"'Lonzo, just give them time. They know you didn't do it on purpose. Actually, we got less animosity than I was expecting. And there was some real sympathy there too."
"I know. I am so embarrassed. And I feel so bad about dragging you into the middle of it too." He reached up and cupped her cheek with his hand as she blushed. "That's the worst of all."
"They knew what we do when we're by ourselves anyway, now they've just seen it, or at least seen your extremely complementary version of it." She smiled, then leaned over and kissed him tenderly on the lips. "I'd prefer to keep our private life private, but I'm not at all embarrassed that I love you."
"Julia, you amaze me. I love you more every day. Sometimes I thank heaven that we crashed here, so I could get to know you." Alonzo laughed weakly at his own joke, then looked back up, a serious expression in his dark eyes. "And that's the truth, I swear." He picked his head up to capture her lips again.
"Okay, fly-boy. Time for you to rest. I'm going to get you some soup. Bess promised she'd have some waiting for you when we got here." Julia smoothed the blankets down over his chest, gave him a quick kiss, and stood up. "I'll be right back. Do you need anything else?"
He shook his head "no" and closed his eyes. He was still very tired.
Julia walked into the middle of a meeting, one that had everyone in attendance but Alonzo and her. Walman, who was standing speaking, fell silent when she walked in. "Am I interrupting anything?"
"No Julia. We just thought it might be healthy to talk about the last few days. It's been difficult for everyone." Devon explained.
Julia nodded. "Talking about it is a good idea. Should I leave? I just came in to get 'Lonzo some soup."
"Julia, I think it would be good for you to stay. Is Alonzo all right by himself?" Yale asked.
"I'd prefer to not leave him for long. If this takes more than, fifteen minutes, say, then I'd like to have someone watch him."
"Uly. True. Would you go stay with Alonzo?" Yale urged.
"Tell him I'll bring the soup soon if he's awake. He's probably asleep though." Julia added.
The kids ran out, eager to leave the weird meeting they had been stuck in. They didn't understand everything they had seen on the dreamplane, but had accepted the dreams as just that, and were already tired of talking about them. Julia turned back to the crowd.
Devon looked at her. "Julia, folks want to know how much of what we saw was a dream and how much was truth. In other words, can Alonzo add to the dreams? Actually I'm doing a bad job of saying this." She ran her hand through her hair in frustration.
"Let me try. Julia, is what we saw how Alonzo remembers events?" Danziger tried to keep his tone even and calm.
"I . . . I think so. Yes. He once told me that he can't lie on the dreamplane. I'm pretty sure that what we saw is exactly what he remembers." Julia saw several downcast expressions at that, and hastened to add, "But don't forget that most of what we saw were the bad memories. Because of the illness he seemed to be replaying all his most difficult times. Like all of us, he also has plenty of good memories. We just didn't see many of those." Julia blushed furiously; she knew exactly which good memories they did see. She pressed on though, "Alonzo is really worried about this. He was just asking me if I thought you'd be able to forgive him. He had no control over what was happening, and would never have burdened you with those thoughts if he had. Please, give him a break."
"I agree with that," Yale spoke up. "I intend to go on like nothing happened. The only piece of this I want to keep is the knowledge that I can help those around me if I pay attention to what is happening to them. This is one of those times when we can help."
Devon walked to the front again. "Okay, who is in favor of dropping it? Let's see a show of hands." Most of the hands went up. "Walman, would you like us to do something else?"
"No, I don't know what I'd rather do. I'm just going to think on this for a while, okay?" Walman could tell that he was in the minority, and he frankly couldn't think of a better way to deal with it. But he still wasn't happy.
Devon sighed, then turned back to the group as a whole. "Okay, that's settled. Any other camp business? Meeting adjourned." She grabbed Julia's arm before the doctor could escape. "Julia, tell Alonzo what happened."
"I will. He'll be relieved to hear it. Now, maybe he can start to put his energy into his recovery."
"What's your prognosis?" Danziger and Yale moved closer, they wanted to hear this too.
"It's going to take months before he'll be completely recovered. A weight-loss like his is basically muscle atrophy. He'll be up and around in a week or so, but it will take significantly longer than that before he is able to fully recover his stamina. I expect that I will need to develop some physical therapy to help him, and I know he's going to get frustrated at how long it takes. Patience with disability is not his long suit." Her listeners all smiled at the understatement. "But he *will* make a complete recovery."
***
A week later, Alonzo was sitting quietly in the common room, watching his crew mates as they went about their various tasks. He was enjoying himself immensely, this was the first day Julia had allowed him out of the tent. Yale walked over to him, and as Alonzo nodded "Hello", said,
"May I join you?"
"Please!" Alonzo slid a chair over to the tutor.
"So Julia finally let you out. She is even stricter than I had thought she'd be."
"I think she was pretty frightened. I'm just glad I was out the whole time, or I'd have been worried too. Danziger told me pretty bluntly that he was considering what to put on my tombstone." Alonzo smiled gently. "I figure I owe it to her to just go along. I'm not going to fight back until she looks like she can take it."
"Alonzo, have you heard from the Terrians?"
"Yes . . . They were pretty upset too, as far as I can tell. They are not very emotional in general, but they let me know, plenty clearly, that they have seen more human behavior than they wanted to." The pilot laughed, "but, hey, that's one of the reasons they wanted me there in the first place. That and to increase my control over the dreamplane, and I'd have to say they got that too!" He settled back into his chair, "Give them what they want, and they're still not happy."
Yale looked at him searchingly, but Alonzo looked at peace. The pilot and the Terrians had come to some sort of understanding. The tutor nodded contentedly. "That's true of sentient beings in general then, I'd guess. Alonzo, it is good to have you back." He relaxed back into his chair too, and he and Alonzo watched the parade of life together.
-The End-
Chapter End Notes:
Please send any comments to Etain Antrim.