"Mr. Solace?"

Alonzo stirred. A young girl's voice was calling him out of a dream, and for a moment, he cursed that voice.

I was just with Julia…

A finger prodded him; tentative at first, then insistent.

"Mr. Solace…" True Danziger whispered fearfully.

With a groan, Alonzo roused himself and sat up from the hard, cold floor of the underground cave.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the semi-darkness, he saw the reason for True's alarm: several Terrians stood over them, staffs in hand.

In the months since the attack on the camp that had left everyone dead - save himself and True – the Terrians had been eerily silent after their worrisome message about Uly's safety. In a way, Alonzo had been glad that they hadn't intruded. His grief had been too raw; too close to the surface. Julia was dead; everyone was dead, murdered by the ruthless Council. Having the Terrians inside his head in addition to his anguish would have driven Alonzo crazy.

He always sensed their presence on the periphery, though, silent sentinels, observing him and True as the two struggled to survive without their friends and loved ones.

The mismatched pair had avoided total starvation in their new 'home' by finding edible roots and tubers, and they slaked their thirst from a tiny stream that flowed through the cave. The Terrians themselves had no need of consuming solid foods and water as these alien homo-sapiens did, and while they understood Alonzo and True required such sustenance, they did not provide it.

Alonzo now uneasily regarded the group of assembled Terrians, pondering the reason for their sudden appearance. The link that had been formed with Uly was now broken, and Alonzo knew that they would never consider True a suitable replacement. John, her father, was dead, thus destroying any connection to kin, and humanity at large. It had happened this way with Mary; True would be no different, and Alonzo felt the weight of this additional loss heavily on his heart.

D*mn you, Reilly, he thought darkly. If I ever find you, you will pay dearly for what you've done.

True shifted so she was closer to Alonzo, cowering against him in the presence of the Terrians, unsure of their motives.

That these native beings even took them in after the massacre at the camp was an unexpected act of mercy that surprised Alonzo. The Terrians owed them nothing, and they owed them everything.

While still in thought, Alonzo felt himself being drawn, unbidden, onto the Dreamplane…

All around him was sand and sky so bright, it seemed almost bleached white. From the ground emerged members of the local tribe of Terrians.

We know of your travels, Dreamer, the 'voices' of the beings echoed in his mind.

Alonzo instantly knew they spoke of his projecting his consciousness through time by dreaming.

"I didn't even realise I could do it," Alonzo managed to articulate to them, unsure if their message was one of approval or opposition.

Mother suffers from the loss of the link.

"I couldn't stop it from happening," Alonzo said plaintively. "You know I was too late."

Your dreaming is the key. Your connection to the Time Before must be protected. It is the only way to restore the link.

"Why me?" Alonzo asked. "You guys are the ones who know how to use the Dreamplane. I'm just a novice. I didn't even know I could dream back in time – back to 'the Time Before' like that. If you know it can be done, why don't you go back and save Uly and everyone else?"

We do not have the same connection as you, Dreamer. Your bond with the other one is the reason you were able to establish the pathway to the Time Before through the Dreamplane. Our kind do not forge these same bonds as you.

At the words 'the other one', Alonzo was instantly filled with a familiar, intense and passionate emotional longing that set his heart afire. They mean Julia! he thought, as her face filled his mind.

"I've already warned her," Alonzo spoke up, "but how will we know if anything has changed? How do we know if it even worked?"

The Terrians offered no reply, appearing to be considering how to best answer in a way he would understand.

"How will we know?" Alonzo demanded again.

This will cease, came the reply, and the blinding whiteness that surrounded them blinked out of existence.