::Hello?::  Alonzo thought.

The way ahead under the shifting, wind blown dream sky was splintered. Hazy. It seemed that the usual mental layers were fracturing, as if they were being tugged back and forth between opposing energies. And there wasn't a single Terrian in sight, even though he could feel some in the distance.  The Terrian awareness of his unannounced presence spread through their network in a wave like Alonzo wanted. Soon it inflamed a single alien contact. Alonzo's mental eyes widened as he felt a new sudden fear that wasn't his own.  One glimmer was being both harried and protected, a bright spark of maternal focus that was unique amid the foggy soup that was the warring angry/terrified Terrians' ebb and flow. It was both grieving and defiant in waves. A Terrian name was dream broadcasting very clearly by both sides of the pair of warring clans. The sole speck over which they fought howled in an oddly human dream voice. It was the nuturing Terrian who had raised Mary.

Alonzo began to Speak respectfully, turning around on his feet on the pitching, wavering landscape full of sand and yellow sky. ::This is directed at Mother-By-Choice. Please forgive my intrusion.::

Solace was rebuffed into a dust storm, a mental stifling meant to test his resolve.  He gasped and fell onto his knees as he fought to keep dreaming with both the hostile Others and the Pool Clan. ::If you can hear me, Mary's alive.:: Solace reassured the lonely Terrian. :: The human girl is not going to die from the harming action that was taken against her. We are healing her wounds right n--.::

A loud buzzing filled his head with painful pulses, timed with his heartbeat.  Solace dropped to the translucent soil, gripping the base of his skull. It was a very familiar agony. ::Eve?:: he thought. ::Why are you--::  Another jolt shot through his biostat implant, pinning Alonzo into a deep net of strangling sedation.

Mother-By-Choice's mental presence suddenly loomed very close and enveloped him like a shield, sharpening his consciousness back to normal.  Eve's probing faded out.

Alonzo opened his dream eyes once more and saw Mary's dream self hovering over him, watching with mild curiosity.  Her hair was melted down close to her skull by acid but Mary did not seem to be in any pain nor was she cold in her naked, muddy state. A sisterly empathy from her swept through the pilot. ::No. Don't reach for.. that one.:: said her dream voice.

::What's happening?:: Alonzo said, accepting Mary's hand to return to his feet. He did not let go of it again. ::I'm with you. We all are. Mary, tell me what's going on?::

Mary's dream blurry form met his eyes with hers. ::The sky mind wants me to be as the boy. Another bridge:: she replied. Then she tapped the back of her head awkwardly. ::But I am hurting. Here. Inside. And it is frightening the Others.::

Alonzo quailed in unpleasant shock. ::You have a biostat implant?::

Mary's lizard like body movements and head tilting continued as she failed to process the unfamilar term. ::What?::   She folded into Mother-By-Choice's finger caresses as the Terrian examined her like the blind with a beloved, favorite toy.

Solace explained it. ::A piece of human machine. A mental and physical conduit.:: he struggled to articulate into simple terms. :: A spider web in your mind. Do you have one?::

The Terrianized girl crouched onto the sand and it became more solid underneath them, increasing the clarity between their dreams. Mary balanced deftly on her burned palms and bare feet, looking up at him. ::Yes. I-it began to .. to...bite one moon cross ago. I.. tried to hide but Mother-By-Choice was p-pulled in.  Her blood went...bad.  Now it is poisoning us. I was to be culled to protect the All.::

::Do you mean the planet's sentience?:: the pilot asked. ::It's being effected by your bond with Mother-By-Choice and Eve's manipulations?::

Mary's face dropped in confusion. ::All there is. All around us. The people are the All and All who made us is burned. ::

Solace sighed a dismissive and took Mary's burned hands into his own. :: I understand. Mary, you weren't born here. Not like they were. Like I said before. You are one of us. A human. And that's why Eve wants to control the Others and the All through you.::  The computer must have decided that it can't yet, with Uly, he realized.

Mary broke away from his touch. ::That is not Good! That is an abomination...:: she cried, sudden frightened tears welling out of her red eyes. ::I must be ended. Now.:: she shivered, suddenly feeling cold.

Mother-By-Choice suddenly crooned and crouched by her adopted daughter, stroking Mary's scarred cheek with large, soft fingers. She placed the comforting glow of a sun stone into Mary's hands for warmth. Its lurid heat made Mary's fear flee.

Alonzo carefully reached out and took Mary's hands that were around the fiery rock, into his own. It did not burn him. ::Easy, Mary. You do not have to die. Eve is just a machine. She is not alive. So she can't really hurt the All. The only ones who can are us, while being afraid of Eve.::

::The sky mind..:: Mary sobbed,.. "The sky mind is in me!::  she quailed miserably.

::Shhhh.:: Alonzo embraced Mary tenderly and afterwards he felt Mother-By-Choice envelop them both into a protective shell of mental strength.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Splash!

Alonzo Solace sputtered awake, spitting out the icy water that had just been thrown onto his face with a bucket. "What did you do that for?!" he shouted.

"We weren't about to waste good medication waking you up from your fool hardy stunt." John Danziger snapped, unsympathetically. The big man threw down the metal pail in disgust.

"Now get up. We've got Mary loaded into the Transrover for the trip back to camp. And before you even think about reaching for a blanket to dry yourself off, go refill that pail back up. We need something to drink with supper tonight." he growled.

Alonzo shot to his dripping feet. "Wait a minute. I learned something big in there about Mary. She--"

"Save your breath. We've already found Mary's implant. Bioglove scans, remember?" Danziger scoffed, wiggling mock fingers as if he were wearing Julia's. "And we've already got the doctor into a head set on gear jam so Eve can't try any tricks using her Uly/Terrian pituitary graft."

"Oh, uh, great. I think."

"Definitely not great. We all think the fun's just beginning."

"Why?"

"Why? Because none of our radios work. We think camp's been under an attack of some kind. Move it! We're leaving in five minutes." John ordered.

Hastily, Solace snatched up the bucket to do his bidding. ::Now I know how Morgan feels.:: Alonzo thought.