Yesterday's return by Maggie C

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Yesterday's Return (5/8)
by Maggie C

John's thoughts were in turmoil. He knew that Devon and True were dead, that nothing could bring them back, but part of him wanted desperately to believe Alonzo's words, crazy and impossible as they were. ~Why did he do this to me?~ Danziger thought, tears in his eyes. ~They're dead, why would he say what he did?~ He was still sitting by the graves, but he jumped up when he heard footsteps, ready to lash out at whoever was going to disturb him now. John immediately calmed down, however, when he saw that his visitor was Uly. "Hi, Uly," he said, trying to bring out a smile for him.

Uly nodded to John, but his wide-eyed gaze was riveted on the two graves. Actually seeing a grave with his mother's name on the marker was frightening, to say the least. ~It's not real, it's not real,~ Uly kept repeating to himself. He forced himself to look away from the graves and turned to John. His gaze was also fixed on the graves, and he had a resigned, almost defeated look on his face that worried Uly. Uly went over to him and John sat down and pulled Uly into his lap.

"You holding up okay, champ?" John asked. Uly nodded, but didn't say anything. His mind was racing, trying to figure out some way to make John see the truth. Then he got an idea. "Um, I need to ask a favor," Uly said. John looked questioningly at him, his curiosity peaked. Uly continued to speak. "Would you come with me onto the dreamplane? The Terrians said they have something to show me, and I don't want to go by myself."

"Why don't you ask...nevermind." John was about to suggest that Uly ask Alonzo to go with him, but then he recalled what Alonzo said earlier. The last thing John wanted was for Alonzo to start feeding Uly false hopes. John sighed and said, "I guess I'll go with you, if you really need me there." He wasn't thrilled at the prospect of going on the dreamplane, but for Uly's sake, he would. Uly nodded gratefully. He stood up and looked at John expectantly. "What, now?" John asked. "Here?"

Uly nodded and said, "Yes, we should go now. I'll bring you on, and you won't even notice it." ~That's because we're not actually going anywhere,~ Uly thought. If he could bring up memories and show them to John, maybe then he would remember. Uly was pretty sure that he would be able to get rid of the nightmare images, and show John the memories that he wanted to. ~I hope,~ Uly thought.

"All right," John said. He stood and took Uly's hand. He closed his eyes like he saw Uly doing, and waited. When he heard Uly say, "Okay, we're here," John opened his eyes. Uly was right, he hadn't noticed a thing. He looked around and saw that they were standing in the same spot as before, with one noticeable difference. Devon and True's graves were missing. "So now what?" he asked Uly.

The boy shrugged. "The Terrians want to show me some stuff. I guess we wait for them to start." Uly was trying to decide what memory to show John first. He wanted to help John to remember, and Uly wasn't sure which memories would help the most. He decided on one in particular and then concentrated.

The scenery shifted and John, startled, jumped back slightly. Instead of unoccupied scenery in front of him, he saw a desert expanse, with their camp set up right there. He looked closely and he could see Bess, Morgan, and... himself? He was surprised, and then he looked closer and saw Uly and True splashing each other, and Yale trying, unsuccessfully, to stop them. He smiled then. He remembered this, although he didn't have a clue why the Terrians would be showing this to Uly. It was right after that trip for water. ~Any minute now,~ he thought, and smiled as he watched himself go up to Devon and then drench her with that tin full of water. ~The expression on her face was priceless,~ John thought. He laughed slightly as he watched Devon run after him, and then again as everyone else got drawn into the water fight. He felt tears stinging his eyes as he saw True and Devon, looking so vibrant and alive.

Uly let the memory play out, and then looked at John. The older man's gaze was locked onto the scene before him, and he had a bittersweet expression on his face. Uly had wanted to get him used to seeing memories played out in front of him before he showed him the next memories. Uly concentrated, and the scene before them suddenly shifted.

John started as the water fight scene disappeared. They were suddenly back at the ship. John saw Julia running towards him, yelling frantically that she had found a cure. He shut his eyes tightly, not wanting to see the morning's events again. Uly saw this and tugged his hand, forcing John to open his eyes and look down at him. "You have to watch," Uly said. John saw the little boy's determined gaze and forced himself to turn gaze back to the scene before him. ~What good will closing my eyes do?~ he thought heavily, tears filling his eyes again. ~I'm already reliving this morning over and over in my mind, anyway.~ He saw Julia run into the ship followed closely by Alonzo and himself. The scene shifted to the interior of the ship, and John waited for Julia to stop suddenly, seeing Devon's body, but she never did. John watched in shock as all three entered the room with Devon still sleeping, unharmed, in the cold sleep chamber. Julia administered the drug that she thought might save Devon's life as Uly rushed into the chamber. "Is my mom going to be okay?" he asked hopefully. John continued watching in shock as his alter image smiled at Uly and responded, "We'll know in a little while, champ."

John turned to the Uly standing beside him. "This isn't what happened, Uly, what's going on? What are the Terrians trying to show you?"

"I don't know," Uly lied. John wasn't totally refusing to consider what he was seeing. ~Maybe he's starting to remember,~ Uly thought hopefully. "We have to watch and see," he said.

John just shook his head and turned to watch, mesmerized, as the half-hour Julia expected to see results passed by. He saw Yale rush in the chamber, followed closely by True, who threw herself in his alter image's arms. "What did you find, Julia?" Yale asked.

Julia turned to explain what she suspected to the growing group of people crowding in the small chamber of the ship. "Well, I think she has enbeeseaosis." {See Author's Note}

"Enbeeseaosis," Yale repeated thoughtfully. "Isn't that the disease that was associated with that peacock massacre about a century ago?"

"That's right," Julia replied. "People thought that peacocks carried the disease, but it was never proven, one way or the other. What we do know is that it's a viral disease, and it attacks with no rhyme or reason. It's a very hard disease to detect, and most patients die before their doctors find it. By putting Devon in cold sleep, that gave me the time I needed. And if I'm right, and it is enbeeseaosis, then what I administered will cure her," Julia finished with a smile.

Everyone smiled back, and voices rose, praising Julia's expertise and perseverance. The doctor began to blush from all the compliments. "Hey, save the compliments for if it works," she said with a smile, showing everyone she was almost positive it would work. With that, everyone fell silent, but the smiles remained.

John watched as everyone in the ship waited for the half-hour to be up. Then the time was over, and he saw a huge smile come across Julia's face as she scanned Devon. She turned to the group gathered inside the ship and announced, "She's okay!" As John watched everyone rejoice at this news, he fought the tears that threatened. ~This isn't what happened!~ he thought, although the scene was disturbingly familiar. 'They're still alive. Both True and Devon are fine.' Alonzo's words drifted back to him, but John refused to hope. ~No, they're dead, nothing can change that,~ he thought, but a small part of him was starting to believe, and remember.

John continued to watch the memory play out in front of him, forgetting for the most part that Uly was still there. He watched as his alter image removed Devon from the cold sleep chamber and got an extreme sense of deja vu as she regained consciousness and smiled at him. He watched as everyone welcomed Devon back to the living. ~This can't be real, it just can't,~ he thought, but that small part of him was growing larger as he watched the memories unfold before him.

Uly saw that John was almost ready to remember, so he concentrated again and brought up the next memory.

A new scene appeared, and now John saw an amused Alonzo watching his alter image pace nervously back and forth in a tent. He saw True and Uly come in the tent and watched as True soon ran off. He listened to the conversation, but didn't want to believe that this scene was what he suspected it was. Then he watched himself exit the tent and his suspicions were confirmed. This was his wedding. His heart caught in his throat as he watched Devon walk down the aisle. He watched the ceremony, and wished with all his heart that what he was seeing was real. ~Maybe it is,~ a voice in his head whispered, but John paid little attention to it. He watched the reception, and waited for Yale to announce that he had a special song prepared for them so John could watch their first dance together as husband and wife. ~No,~ John thought, realizing what had just went through his head, ~it's just my imagination running wild.~ Then Yale got up and announced the first song, and he saw himself dancing with Devon and holding her close, exactly as he remembered. ~Exactly as I remember,~ he thought. "Oh my God," he whispered, "I remember." And he did remember. He remembered that first night with Devon, and how he had mumbled a proposal the next morning while half asleep. He remembered deciding with Devon to follow Morgan and Bess' lead and marry for life. And he remembered that after the wedding, Devon and he had gone on a scout for a few days. ~If you could call it a scout,~ he thought to himself, smiling. ~After all, neither of us was really putting any effort into scouting.~ He finally noticed Uly's presence beside him, and smiled down into his concerned face. ~Uly must have come on to help me remember when I threw Alonzo off,~ John thought. He knelt down to face Uly. "It's alright Uly, I remember," he said.

"Really?" Uly asked.

John nodded and said, "Yeah, you did good, kid."

Uly was ecstatic. He grinned and shouted "Yes!" as he threw his arms around John and hugged him.

John laughed and returned the hug. ~They're alive!~ he thought joyfully. Alonzo had been telling the truth. He was just stuck on the dreamplane. ~What am I doing on the dreamplane, anyway?~ he wondered. He thought back, trying to recall the last thing he remembered before that nightmare. When he finally did, he went pale. He pulled back and looked at Uly seriously. "Uly, we've got to get off of here."

Uly concentrated and looked away for a moment. When he looked back, he was close to tears. "I can't," he said. "You're stuck on here. Alonzo tried to get you off, and he couldn't. And I can't either."

John stopped himself from swearing. ~I should have known he'd do something like that.~ He smiled reassuringly at Uly. "Hey, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You have to leave, though."

"But..." Uly started to speak.

"I don't want you here, champ," John interrupted. "Look, send Alonzo on, okay? But you have to promise me that you won't come back here. Promise?"

"I promise," Uly reluctantly agreed. He exited the dreamplane.

Uly opened his eyes to see Julia and Alonzo looking worriedly at him. "So how'd you do?" Alonzo asked.

Uly smiled. "It worked! He remembers. But I can't get him off," he said.

"That's okay, Uly," Julia said. "Maybe if you and Alonzo try together, you can get John off the dreamplane."

Uly shook his head. "No, I can't go back. John made me promise. And he told me to tell Alonzo to go on the dreamplane."

Julia looked to Alonzo, and he shrugged. "Okay, I'll go talk to John," Alonzo said. He grinned. "I just hope he doesn't slug me this time!" Uly grinned back and Julia just rolled her eyes at him.

Uly's grin faded, and he said, "Alonzo, I didn't tell him about Mom and True."

"Don't worry about it," Alonzo reassured him. Inwardly, he wasn't that happy about it. ~This should be fun,~ Alonzo thought dejectedly. But Danziger needed to know, so Alonzo would tell him. "I'll take care of it." Then Alonzo closed his eyes and entered the dreamplane.

The first thing Alonzo saw when he came onto the dreamplane was Danziger, pacing back and forth. John spotted Alonzo and quickly walked over. "Alonzo, he's after them, Devon and True. You have to make sure he doesn't get them, please," John pleaded him. He paused when he saw the expression on Alonzo's face. "What?" Danziger started to panic. "Alonzo, what happened?" he demanded.

Alonzo hesitated and said, "True and Devon are missing."

John turned pale. "Oh God, no," he said. Images of the nightmare he just escaped from flooded his memory. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block the scenes from his mind.

Alonzo hurriedly explained how True was upset last night and that Devon went after her. "They're probably just lost. We'll find them," he assured.

John shook his head. "No," he said quietly but emphatically. "He has them."

"Who has them?" Alonzo asked.

"Bryan Gibson," Danziger spat out.

"Who?" Alonzo asked.

John realized there was nothing he could do for Devon or True right now. He tried to push his worry and fear aside and sat down. "He's Uly's father," John replied.

Alonzo was shocked. "Uly's father? But I thought that she was artificially inseminated."

John looked at Alonzo, surprised that he knew that, but did not comment on it. "She was," he said. Alonzo stared at him, still totally confused. John sighed. "Sit down, I'll tell you all about it. But, Alonzo, look, this is just between us, alright?" Alonzo nodded and John continued speaking. Danziger explained that Devon had told him the whole story. "Devon had dated Gibson for a while back on the stations, before Uly was born. Her father introduced him to her, and she thought she really cared about him for awhile. Then Gibson began to change. He started becoming obsessed with marrying Devon and starting a family with her. Devon wanted children, but Gibson was acting crazier and more obsessed by the minute. She dumped him, and he did not take it well. Gibson got mad at her and stormed off. A few months after that, she decided that she wanted a baby, and didn't want to wait around. She went to the doctor and was artificially inseminated." John paused to take a breath. "Unfortunately, Gibson was still keeping tabs on her, because he found out about it and bribed the doctor to use his sperm for the procedure. Devon became pregnant with Uly, and then she noticed that Gibson was following her. One night, she was walking back from a restaurant, and he grabbed her. Took her to some motel, and he told her what he did. He said that they would be a real family." John stopped again as he remembered how scared Devon had been when she told him about this part. She had been terrified. "He kept her there for a couple days. He never laid a hand on her, thank God, but he kept rambling on and on about their future. Anyway, one day, he locked her in when he went out for food and he never came back. Devon got out the next morning, and she found out that he had walked into a store and started shooting people, mostly men with their families." John looked at Alonzo and shook his head. "The authorities told her that he was dead, but it looks like he was sent here. It figures."

Alonzo needed a moment to absorb all of that. "And he's the one that attacked you?" he asked. It seemed like too big of a coincidence, but then, stranger things had happened on this planet.

"Yeah, small world, isn't it?" John began to tell Alonzo what happened to him that day three weeks ago. "I was out scouting. I had been out for about an hour when Gibson came up behind me and knocked me out. I woke up with my hands tied inside some cave. Gibson was there, and so were a few Terrians." He looked at Alonzo intently. "I don't think all of them were alive, and they had the same collars on that Gaal used. They couldn't go into the earth." John paused a moment. "When Gibson noticed I was awake, he came over to 'greet' me." John snorted derisively. "He told me that I had stolen his family and that he was going to take his wife and daughter back."

Alonzo stared at him in shock. "Wife and daughter?" he asked incredulously.

John laughed without amusement. "Yeah, for some reason this guy believes that True is his and Devon's daughter." He looked at Alonzo. "This just keeps getting better and better, right?" he asked ironically. "He said he was going to take them away from me, just like I had taken them away from him. He must have sent me to the dreamplane then, because the next thing I remember is living that nightmare."

Alonzo absorbed what Danziger had just told him. "Um, look, Alonzo," Danziger fumbled, "I'm sorry I went after you before. I..." Alonzo interrupted him, "You don't have to apologize," he said. "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine." John nodded at him gratefully.

After a pause, John asked, "So, Uly says I'm stuck here?" While Danziger didn't doubt Uly's word, he was finding it hard to just sit here and wait. Patience had never been his strong suit, and now, with Devon and True in trouble, his patience was wearing extremely thin.

Alonzo could tell that Danziger was extremely concerned about Devon and True. He was convinced that Gibson had them, and Alonzo hated to admit it, but John was probably right. "Yeah, Gibson's keeping you here on the dreamplane somehow." Alonzo paused to think for a moment. "I wonder how he's doing that?" Alonzo wondered. "I wouldn't have thought that was possible. And he forced you to live a lie too. Lying on the dreamplane takes up so much energy, it's practically impossible to do." He looked at John expectantly.

John just stared at him. "What, you expect me to know? You're the resident expert, Solace." Danziger shook his head. "The only thing I can think of is that he had a necklace of Terrian bones and there were some pieces of sunstones on there too." He shrugged. "Maybe that had something to do with it."

"Yeah, maybe," Alonzo agreed. Something Danziger had said triggered his memory. "Wait a minute. If Gibson had you in a cave, how did you end up on the path where Morgan and Bess found you?"

"I have no idea," John replied, surprised. "I'm in camp?" he asked. "How long have I been stuck here?"

"Three weeks," Alonzo replied.

"Three weeks?!" Danziger exclaimed.

Alonzo looked at him guiltily. "Yeah, I'm sorry, man. I should've realized what was going on sooner."

Danziger was shocked. ~I've been here three weeks?~ he thought. It only felt like a day or two. He looked at Alonzo and considered getting angry with him, but decided against it. It wasn't Alonzo's fault that he was stuck here, it was Gibson's. He shook his head and said, "'Lonz, it's not your fault, don't worry about it."

"Thanks, but that still doesn't explain how you ended up on that path," Alonzo said. "I mean, it doesn't seem like Gibson would just leave you where we could find you."

"Yeah, I know," Danziger agreed. He was about to speak when he suddenly felt a presence behind him. He whirled around and saw a Terrian standing there. He jumped to his feet and swore. He started backing away from him, and the Terrian trilled.

"Danziger, wait," Alonzo said.

Danziger whirled around to face Alonzo. He noticed that the pilot was staring at the Terrian incredulously. "What did he say?" he asked.

Alonzo was astonished. He wasn't sure that he heard right. The Terrian trilled again and repeated what he had just said. Alonzo turned his eyes to Danziger's curious gaze. "He said that he's the one who moved you to that path." John's eyes went wide in surprise. The Terrian trilled, continuing his narrative, and Alonzo translated. "He said that Gibson had captured all of his tribe except himself and two others. When Gibson captured you, they decided to get you away from him. So they went, and this one grabbed you while the others distracted Gibson." Alonzo was surprised, to say the least. These Terrians acted of their own initiative to stage a rescue attempt for Danziger, risking themselves in the process. This was amazing. The Terrian continued to tell his story. "He says that he was going to take you back to camp, but Gibson was still locking you into place on the dreamplane when he grabbed you. Consequently, he was drawn onto the dreamplane too. He could only get to the path where Morgan and Bess found you before he got completely stuck on the dreamplane." Alonzo shook his head and looked to a shocked Danziger. "By the way, you were right. The sunstone necklace is why Gibson can keep you here." Alonzo continued to translate the Terrian's trilling. "Apparently, the Terrians gave him the sunstones so he could communicate more easily with them on the dreamplane. Unfortunately, they didn't know what he was really like then, and he quickly learned how to abuse the sunstone's ability. He found out that Devon was here through the dreamplane. When the Terrians tried to take the sunstones back, he discovered that Terrian's couldn't harm their own, so he added the bones to his necklace." Alonzo shook his head as the Terrian described Gibson's actions. This guy was truly twisted.

Danziger still couldn't get over the fact that the Terrians had risked their lives for him. "Alonzo, what happened to the rest of them?" he asked.

Alonzo waited for the Terrian's reply, and then answered. "They didn't make it," he said sadly. "He's the last of his tribe."

John had to sit down. Terrians had died, just to rescue him? He was grateful, of course, but he just couldn't understand why they would do it. "Why?" He directed the question to the Terrian standing before him.

Alonzo, who was handling his surprise a little better than John, was wondering the same thing. The Terrian's only reply was "the link". "What?" Alonzo asked. "I don't understand." The Terrian elaborated. He told Alonzo how when the decision about curing Uly was made, his tribe had been the one tribe who was completely in favor of making the boy a part of the mother and accepting the humans here. His tribe had kept tabs on Uly, and they took it upon themselves to do whatever they could to protect Uly and his "tribe", the Eden Advance group. The boy was too young, and untrained, to do the job himself. Alonzo relayed this information to Danziger, and he could see that it surprised John as much as it surprised him. However, the Terrian wasn't quite finished. Alonzo listened to what the Terrian had to say, and a smile broke out on his face. John saw this and immediately asked, "What did he say?"

"He wants to thank you," Alonzo replied.

John looked from the Terrian to Alonzo in shock. This Terrian was one surprise after another. "Thank me for what?" he asked.

Alonzo's smile stayed in place as he looked at John. "For watching out for Uly."

With this statement, John understood, and a small smile appeared on his face. Thank him for what? For spending time with and watching out for a kid that he loved like a son? He addressed the Terrian again. "You don't have to thank me for that."

"Well, well, well, isn't this nice." Alonzo and John whirled around to face the unexpected voice.

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