Contact by Laura Pickering

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Upon hearing her son's frantic shouts, Devon had immediately left the Comm. Tent in search of him. When she found him talking to Bess Martin, she was somewhat confused. Upon hearing the course their conversation was taking, her confusion heightened.

"Uly, you talked to Alonzo on the dreamplane."

The younger Adair hadn't heard his mother approaching, and jumped when she spoke. "Yes, just now" he replied, his heart beating wildly from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "He said... I... He..." the boys words tripped over each other in their efforts to be heard.

"Uly calm down. Take a deep breath" Devon instructed. As her son's breathing became regular, she tried again. "Honey, what did Alonzo tell you?"

Uly looked up at her, his large eyes filled with sadness. "He.. He said he was dying."

"Dying? Wha.. Why? What happened?"

He choked back a sob, trying to remain calm. "I don't know, he was shot. Alonzo said that the Council were waiting at the ship, they took Julia and shot him." He couldn't hold the tears at bay any longer, each sob racked his delicate frame.

Devon took Uly by the shoulders and pulled him to her, gently soothing him with nonsense words. When she looked up, she saw Bess staring at her, wide-eyed.

"Oh my god, Devon. What are we going to do?" Bess asked quietly. Tears welling up in her eyes also.

"I don't know" Devon replied honestly. "Lets just hope that Yale and John get to Alonzo before it's too late."

Bess nodded her head causing a tear to slide down her cheek. She turned away from the Adairs and slowly walked back to her tent. Her husband lay ensconced in blankets on their cot, Bess sat in silence for several minutes listening to Morgan's steady breathing

Mrs Martin couldn't quite believed what the young boy had just told her, Council members were on this planet. She, as well as the rest of Eden Advance had all but convinced themselves that they were going to be safe now. The colony ship was going to arrive, hundreds of sick little children would be made well, and they all would live happily ever after. That was the plan, that was what Bess had hoped and prayed for, she had seen enough misery and death back on Earth to last her a lifetime, here it was supposed to be different. That, she now realised was obviously not going to happen, the ball was already in motion. Alonzo had been injured and could well die, and Julia, well she may as well be dead now too, they won't see her ever again, the Council will make sure of that. *Who will be next? When will it be our turn?* those were the thoughts that ran through the young woman's head, and the answers or lack thereof were what kept her awake all night.

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"I really don't recommend this."

"Fine doctor, your opinion is duly noted. Now just do it." Mitchell demanded. Dr Ramirez pressed the sedi-derm to Julia's neck and applied another dosage to her system.

"Keeping a person sedated for lengthy periods is very hazardous. In the past it has been known to cause complete system failure." The young man intoned quietly as he checked Julia's vitals. Thankfully her readings were acceptable thus far, but he was worried what the continued use of the chemical could do to her.

"I am well aware of the possible repercussions." The soldier replied, Ramirez could have sworn he saw a flicker of a smile pass over Mitchell's face.

The door to the infirmary slid open as Thompson entered. He was suprised and a little concerned to find Mitchell standing in front of him. "Sergeant Mitchell, what are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be assisting Ferro and Frost in the cargo bay?"

Mitchell masked his annoyance. "Yes sir. I was just checking on Heller."

"There is no need for 'you' to check on anyone. I'm sure Dr Ramirez can manage on his own."

Mitchell locked eyes with the doctor, but Ramirez said nothing. Mitchell scowled at him before nodding at Thompson. "Sir."

After Mitchell had left, Thompson walked over to the only occupied bed in the room. He quietly studied the sleeping woman for several minutes before turning his attention back to Ramirez. "Were you here the whole time Mitchell was?"

"Yes sir." The young doctor replied.

"Good. I don't want Dr Heller left alone with Mitchell, unconscious or otherwise."

"Yes sir. May I ask why sir?"

Thompson gently tilted Julia's chin and turned her face towards the light, the swelling around her left eye had gone down slightly. The cut on her cheek had been cleaned, revealing that it wasn't as deep as he had thought. "Lets just say they don't get on very well."

Ramirez nodded, and rearranged the blankets covering the young woman. "I don't think its a good idea to keep her sedated like this." He ventured, hoping to fare better on the subject with Thompson.

The older man frowned and pulled his hand away from Julia's face. "No neither do I, but Reilly doesn't want her seeing or hearing anything until we reach the Satelite. Keeping her sedated is the best way to accomplish that."

"Reilly sir?" the doctor questioned.

"Councilman Reilly, our liasion's awaiting our arrival on the Satelite, we should reach it in approximately 3 days."

"What does he intend to do with her?"

Thompson turned towards the doctor, his frown deepening. "I don't really think that's any of our concern, do you?"

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It had been over three days since they had lost contact with the pilot and doctor, and over two days since Uly had spoken to Alonzo on the Dreamplane. Danzinger and Yale had been making good time up to that point anyway, but after Devon had told them about Alonzo's injury, and Julia's possible abduction the pair had pulled out all the stops. They hadn't interrupted their progress for food or rest, they just continued travelling, only stopping to occasionally recharge the ATV.

As the two men neared the fractured vessel, the first thing they noticed was the seemingly deserted Dunerail. On closer inspection they found that the vehicle was still in perfect working order. The back seat still filled with the young couple's possessions. Yale hefted out Dr. Heller's medical kit. "Lets hope we don't need it." Danzinger stated grimly, as he caught the cyborg's eye.

As they rounded the gigantic craft, they were drawn to a halt by the crackling of a terrian light staff. Danzinger's eyes flashed in anger at the sight before him. A terrian was crouched down low over the inert form of the pilot. The creature's hand resting on Alonzo's blood-soaked stomach. The mechanic tried to approach the two, but the staff emitted a bright flash of light which landed just infront of the men.

Danzinger stared at the scorched ground at his feet "What the hell?!"

Yale grabbed the other man's arm. "John don't move, I think he believes we mean Alonzo harm."

"Well, what are we gonna do now? 'Lonz is dying, we have to get him back to camp."

"I don't believe he is in any danger for the time being."

"Yale, he's bleeding to death!"

The cyborg held his grip, not allowing Danzinger to move. "No, he isn't." He replied patiently. "Look at Alonzo's shirt, the blood there is old, dried out. I am not sure how, but the terrian is stopping the flow of blood."

"We still have to help him."

"Yes, but if we move, I fear the terrian will shoot us."

"Then what do you suggest?" Danzinger asked, exasperation evident in his tone.

"I suggest that we convince the terrian that we are Alonzo's friends, that we are not going to hurt him."

"How?"

Yale took off his sunglasses and slowly massaged the bridge of his nose. With a deep frown he replied. "I'm afraid that could prove to be the difficult part."

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Alonzo could hear voices, voices he was sure he recognised but couldn't quite place. The pilot tried to clear the thick fog from his mind, but found it very difficult to do, the concentration necessary drained more of his precious energy.

"Do you think he can hear us?" the first voice asked.

*Who is it? Come on think goddamnit!* Using all the effort he could muster up from his damaged body, Alonzo focused on the two voices.

"I'm not sure, why do you ask?" a much deeper tone replied.

*THINK!*

"Well, if we can make 'Lonz hear us, perhaps he can tell the digger to back off."

In his minds eye a picture appeared. A tall man, thick set, with unkempt blond hair. A mechanic, he was a mechanic - that much Alonzo could remember, now if he could just remember his name.

"That could work John, what do you propose?"

He picked up the man's words *John* he repeated. *John. John Danzinger!* his mind screamed victoriously. Completing that task, brought reality screeching back to him. *Danzinger and Yale, they're here. Thank god, the cavalry's arrived.

"This..." Danzinger started shouting at the top of his lungs. "'Lonz can you hear me? Hey Solace, if you can hear me, tell the digger to back off so we can get to you."

*Digger?* He felt the gentle touch of the terrians hand still covering his gunshot wound. *The terrian is protecting me.* In an attempt to make the creature understand that the two men were not a threat, he opened his mind. "Let them help me, they are my friends, they will not harm me."

"You are in pain, must stay here." The terrian responded flatly.

"No, they can help me, you must let me go with them."

Almost apprehensively the terrian removed the dreamplane's protective shield from the pilot. Alonzo's eyes shot open as his whole body was engulfed in pain.

Yale frantically dug through the contents of the medi-kit. There was a soft hiss as a painkiller was injected into the pilot's system, and within seconds the searing pain in his stomach was reduced to a dull ache.

"Quick we have to stabilise him, I need a tent setting up." Yale instructed.

Danzinger ran to the Dunerail and took out the tent, within minutes he had it setup and Alonzo was carried to the awaiting cot. Yale spread out all of Julia's medical supplies on the ground by the side of the cot and began accessing his medical files to ascertain which ones would be useful.

As Yale scanned his databases, Danzinger attempted to clean the pilot up. Using a knife he cut the bloodsoaked shirt off, the mechanic let out a long breath as the gaping wound underneath was revealed. Although the blood flow had been previously stunted by the terrian, it was flowing freely now, the deep red in stark contrast to the pilot's deathly pale face.

"That is a very nasty wound, I very much doubt that Alonzo would have survived up until this point if it wasn't for our friend out there." Yale stated.

Danzinger turned his gaze towards the open tent flap, the terrian had not moved since they had taken the pilot, remaining crouched down, palm pressed against the sandy earth. *The silent sentinal* that thought sent a shiver down the mechanic's spine. "How do you think he did it? How'd the digger stop 'Lonz bleeding?"

"Well I have one theory, totally unsubstantiated I'm afraid." Danzinger nodded, silently instructing the cyborg to continue. "Well, I believe that while in the dreamplane the terrian was able to induce Alonzo into a comalike state, all of his systems reduced to a tenth of their normal capacity. While in this barely functioning state his condition did not worsen."

"Like putting Devon in cold sleep." Danzinger added, catching Yale's drift.

"Exactly. But now that Alonzo is out of the dreamplane, his systems are back to normal. Therefore unless we stop the bleeding he will die."

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"You found him?" Devon's face flashed into focus on Danzinger's Gear feed, as he made contact with base camp.

"Yeah, but he's in pretty bad shape. Yale's working on him now." Danzinger replied with a slight grimace.

"Any sign of Julia?"

The hopeful expression evident on Devon's face, promptly vanished as Danzinger frowned. "No, not a sign."

"Do you think what Uly said was right, that the Council have taken her." The notion that Council operatives were on the planet, frankly scared the hell out of her, but she tried to remain calm. At this very minutes Baines and Cameron, both armed, were watching over her son.

"Well he was right about Alonzo." The mechanic reminded her.

"Does Alonzo know what happened to her?"

"I'm not sure, he hasn't really regained consciousness yet. He called out for her in his sleep a couple of times. Yale's keeping him sedated though, so he's pretty much out of it at the moment."

Devon sighed deeply. "OK, when are you coming back?"

"Not for a couple of days. Yale doesn't want to move 'Lonz just yet."

She nodded her head in response. "Take care John" she told him quietly with a small smile. "Adair out." The connection terminated, leaving Danzinger standing alone next to the desolate ship.

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