Perchance to Dream by Etain Antrim

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Perchance to Dream, Part 8
Etain Antrim

Julia was relieved when Morgan and Bess charged into the cave the next morning, waving a thermos of what she hoped was Grendler saliva.

"We got it! But I've got to tell you that fly-boy owes us big for this one. That Grendler was a tough bargainer!" Morgan was exuberant in his excitement.

Bess followed closely behind her husband, smiling and happy. She took Julia's hand in both of hers, "We're in time, right?"

"Yes. I'm so glad to see you. Here, give it to me. I'll go process it." She grabbed the thermos and hurried off with it, leaving the Martins looking blankly at each other.

Devon moved to reassure them, taking Bess' still extended hand in hers. "I hope this works. He's in pretty bad shape, and you two are our only hope."

"Where is Alonzo?" Morgan asked.

"He's down the hall a bit. John's with him now."

"Can we see him?"

"I don't see why not. Follow me."

Morgan and Bess meekly followed her into the small cavern where Alonzo still lay in the Terrian bed. The pilot looked no different, although John and Devon knew that he was rapidly losing strength. But Morgan and Bess were aghast at the condition they found him in. His pallor, bruised eyes, and the dramatic way the hollows on his face were lit in the room were shocking, but even that wasn't as bad as the constant insane murmur of his delirium. John stood as they entered the room, and shook both their hands warmly.

"I've got to tell you that you are the best thing I've seen in a couple of days. You did get it, right?"

Bess nodded. "Julia is processing it now. John, you look exhausted! Has it really been bad here?" Her expressive face was unhappy.

John looked at her wryly, "Actually, after sharing one dream with 'Lonz here, I wasn't in the mood to see any others."

"God, I told you it had something to do with Alonzo, Bess!" Morgan turned toward Devon and John, "We were sharing the same dreams all night, and they were always from Alonzo's perspective. What nightmares!"

Devon and John just nodded, too tired to explain the whole story. "We'll tell you all about it later. Let's just get him well first." Devon said wearily.

Bess' eyes widened as she and Morgan exchanged a glance, then she nodded. "Is there anything we can do to help here now?" she asked.

"We're just applying wet compresses to help keep his fever down. It doesn't require more than one person, but I'll happily turn it over to you if you want." John said.

Bess nodded, and took over the work while John walked out to stretch his legs and clean up. Devon and Morgan sat with her while she worked.

Julia came running into the small cavern a few minutes later, excitedly waving her hypo-spray. "It works! Bess, Morgan! It works!" She wrapped her arms around a very surprised Bess, then let go of her to hug Morgan. She let go of the bureaucrat, and walked over to Alonzo. "Well, here goes nothing," she said as she applied the serum to Alonzo's neck.

"How quickly will it work?" Devon asked quietly.

"We should see results within an hour."

"Okay. I guess we should keep applying the compresses?"

"Yes, until his fever breaks. But I can take over now. I'll let you know when I see a significant change in his status.

"Actually Julia, I'd like to sit with you, if you don't mind."

"Of course not Devon. You and John and Bess and Morgan have kept Alonzo alive. We're all part of the team."

An hour later, Alonzo's fever had begun to drop, as had his cerebral energy readings. Although he was still caught in the throes of a delirium, judging from his reactions this one was less threatening.

***

Cameron was surrounded by bright colors and sharp, well defined shapes. It was all so dazzling that he couldn't distinguish what he was looking at until his mind sorted the chaos into familiar images. Alonzo and Julia were in their tent, sharing a cot. As he unwillingly watched, Alonzo took Julia into his arms,

"Have I told you how beautiful you are yet today?"

Julia blushed and lowered her eyes, but a tell-tale smile crept onto the corners of her mouth. "'Lonzo, I love it when you tell me that, even if I don't agree. I still can't believe I deserve you."

"You don't, Doc. But you're stuck with me none-the-less." He bent over her and tenderly kissed her eyes, then worked his way across her brow to nuzzle her ear.

"Hey fly-boy, I *love* being stuck with you," she purred. She lifted her head to kiss his neck, then pulled his face toward her so she could press her lips to his. She moaned as he ran his hands down her side, and over her belly. He moved to caress the smooth skin on her back, and drew her even closer.

Julia ran her hands down his back and over his flanks, tugging him over her as she wrapped her legs around him. "I love you, 'Lonzo."

He groaned with pleasure as he captured her lips again with his, and deepened the kiss, catching her lower lip between his teeth.

Cameron groaned in his sleep, repelled and fascinated by what he was seeing. The shy man didn't want to see this at all . . .

***

Uly walked into the small room where Alonzo and the rest of the adults were, and stopped in the entrance. "Mom. Julia. I've been watching, and I think Alonzo can leave the dreamplane now. The Terrians think so too. Are you ready now?" He looked at Julia.

The doctor nodded at him. "Whenever you're ready, Uly."

Two Terrians appeared in the passageway outside the room, and walked over to Alonzo in the Terrian bed. Together, they and Uly dropped their heads in unison and entered the dreamplane.

Alonzo found himself standing in the Terrian caves on the dreamplane, shifted suddenly from his dream with Julia. As he stood, wondering what was happening, two Terrians and Uly appeared in front of him. Uly walked over to him and took the pilot's hand in his small one. As the boy stood there with him, one of the Terrians spoke.

"You are very tired. Do you want to leave the dreamplane now?"

And suddenly, Alonzo realized that he was tired, he was so tired that he didn't understand how he could still be standing. Grateful for their help, he nodded mutely.

Back in the physical world, Julia saw Alonzo's cerebral energy readings drop quickly to stabilize at readings consistent with normal sleep. She sighed in relief and turned to the others. "It looks like Uly and the Terrians were successful. Alonzo's in normal sleep now."

Uly and the Terrians raised their heads and looked at Alonzo. Uly nodded, "It worked. Now you can move him out of the bed and into his own." He looked at Danziger, who indicated that he was ready, and at Julia who also nodded, then took the pilot's hand once again, this time physically, and pulled gently.

Luckily Danziger was right there, because Alonzo collapsed limply out into the room. The big mechanic caught him easily, then cradled him in his arms like Alonzo was a child. "He has lost a lot of weight, he weighs nothing. Martin, bring the IV stand." Morgan grabbed the stand as Danziger moved toward the corridor, and the two of them walked in tandem to Alonzo's room, where Danziger gently lay the sick man on the pallet they had prepared for him earlier.

Julia shouldered her way to her patient, and scanned him thoroughly. "His temperature is normal, his respiration is fine. He's just very weak now, and will need a lot of time to recover. We need to be sure that all the rest of us take the serum soon, just in case this virus is contagious." Her gloved hand was still resting on the pilot's arm when she suddenly felt his muscles contract. She examined his arm more closely and found that his muscles were cramping. The rest of his body quickly followed. "Damn! Devon, hand me my bag. He's got severe muscle cramping, probably caused by toxins that built up while he was unable to move in that bed. I'm giving him a muscle relaxant, which should help, but we may need to massage him to help move the toxins out." She applied the medication while she spoke, and those clustered around her could see the pilot relax under its influence.

***

A small group of unhappy people were silently clustered around the fire in the center of camp. Their eyes were red and heavy, and their faces clearly showed exhaustion and dismay. They looked up when Yale came out the the common room and walked over to them.

"It's over. The Martins were successful, and the Grendler saliva worked."

"Does that mean we can sleep now without being forced to see Alonzo's dreams?" Walman asked belligerently?

"Yes, Walman, it does. Devon tells me that it will be a while before Alonzo is strong enough to make the trip back to camp. That will allow us to catch up on our sleep."

"You know, Walman," Baines began, "Alonzo doesn't have any more control over when the Terrians come into his dreams than we did just now."

"Shank! Just shut it Baines! At least they don't dream continuously, do they? Huh?" Walman stuck his face in Baines'.

"We don't know that, do we? It sure did seem like he had a dream every night at times there, and he looked tired, and we didn't care. All I'm saying is that we need to be a little more appreciative of what he does for us."

"I'm not in the mood to hear it. God!" Walman got up and stalked off, heading for his tent.

"He'll feel better after he catches up on some sleep. You know Walman, he likes his Zs." Magus tried to smooth over the conflict.

"I thought the dreams were interesting. The dreamplane wasn't what I expected." Cameron spoke quietly. "It was like watching a holovid with piped in emotion. Is that what it's always like?"

"I don't know. I guess we could ask Uly." Yale had been watching the group, and thought that they needed to talk out some of what had happened before Alonzo got back. "I would guess that, as a human, Alonzo's dreams are different from the Terrians'."

"Yeah, one of the dreams I saw had a Terrian dream inside it, and it was different. There was less color, none of the clarity of Alonzo's memories." Several of the people sitting had seen the same dream as Baines, and although none of them wanted to discuss the content, which was just too painful, they did remember how different the Lydia dream looked from the rest.

"Yale, did you share the dreams too?" Magus asked quietly.

"Yes, I did. In fact, I probably saw most of them. They didn't upset me as much as they seem to have some people. I had already guessed a lot of what Alonzo dreamed."

"Maybe that's the problem. We feel like we should have already known most of this, but we didn't, and now we feel guilty." Mazatl seldom spoke, he was even more quiet than Cameron, but when he did, people listened.

"But you must also realize that what we saw was Alonzo's world. Each of us would put a different perspective on events. I suspect that Alonzo would agree. I know he will be very unhappy that we know so much about his private life. If he didn't tell us how he was feeling, it's because he didn't think we needed to know. Our challenge will be to find some comfort in that, and to let him know that we understand. We can't, and shouldn't, berate ourselves for what we didn't see long ago. We should just try to learn from this and not let ourselves get caught acting the same way in the future. It's simply the 'Golden Rule'." Yale stood up from the log he had sat on and stretched. "And now, I think most of us should take this opportunity to catch up on our sleep too. I'll stay awake and monitor communications now. Baines, perhaps you could relieve me in a couple of hours?"

Baines nodded, and the group dispersed to their tents.

End of Chapter 8.

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