The Road Not Chosen by Joan Powers

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The Road Not Chosen (3/11)
by Joan Powers

(Bess Martin)

The thought of Morgan, all alone in the wilderness, had frightened me more than I was willing to admit. I was relieved that Walman was going with him on the scouting trip, but it was still painful to watch my husband drive off into the unknown without me.

I wondered about what Morgan would find out there. I agreed with him that there didn't seem to be a valid reason to hold back from the investigation. Yet, in the back of my mind, some worries remained. Was there any credence behind the dreams of a nine year old child or Alonzo's instincts? Would my husband make it back to me?

Why was he even doing this? He didn't have to prove anything to me. Then again, maybe that was the point. Despite the trials that we'd already endured on this planet , perhaps Morgan felt he had to prove something to himself.

Walman took a swig of water from his canteen, then placed the container on the back seat of the Dunerail. Looking up, he impatiently shouted over to his companion, who was in the bushes, "Let's go Martin!" Within half a minute, Morgan joined him. "About time" he sarcastically commented. The government liaison ignored the jibe as the two men climbed into the Rail.

Walman started driving. "You know, except for these weird red vines, this place looks perfectly normal to me. I don't see what the big deal is. There's no sign of any diggers and we haven't had to go anywhere near that lake."

Morgan answered with a loud yawn.

"Geez, do you have to keep doing that?" Walman scowled.

"Doing what? Hey -- I didn't get much sleep during our so-called break this morning. Those stupid plants are bumpy and not comfortable." He glared towards the other man, who grinned slyly in response.

"Guess I'm not as sensitive as you are. Why didn't you just pull some of the vines out of the ground?"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Morgan responded sarcastically. "Of course I tried that, those things are stubborn. They wouldn't budge. I got some sort of weird powdery stuff all over my hands. I think I'm allergic to it, I feel itchy." He proceeded to roll up his shirt sleeves to display his flushed forearms.

Walman grunted, "I don't wanna hear about this. The doc said the leaves weren't harmful and she didn't say a thing about any 'pollen', so don't worry about it."

"Easy for you to say."

Walman started to respond, then thought better of it. He turned his attention to their surroundings as he drove the vehicle through the valley which meandered between the mountains and through a forest of pine trees. "Let's scout ahead for at least another full day or so. No use bringing the whole group out here only to run into another dead end."

"For once, I agree with you." Morgan leaned back to settle himself more comfortably in his seat.

Other than traversing the creek in the wee hours of the morning, the two men hadn't run into any impediments. Parts of the valley had been covered with fallen rock and debris, but there'd been more than ample space to maneuver the vehicle. They hadn't encountered many animals but edible vegetation abounded in the area.

The only unusual features they'd found were the hardy crimson vines which covered every inch of the ground; they practically served as a carpet. Their sturdy leaves were large, almost the size of the palm of a man's hand, and darker maroon veins ran throughout them. The stems resembled a member of the tuber family, yet they were much sturdier. In fact, even though the Dunerail had torn some of the leaves, none of the plants were up-rooted. As Morgan had discovered, the plants were firmly anchored in place by an elaborate root system.

The men traveled in silence for a while. Finally, either curiosity or boredom got the best of Walman. "Hey Morgan,"

"Yeah?" The government liaison forced open his drooping eye lids.

"Why did you insist on coming on this scout? Are you that desperate to get back to the Stations?"

Morgan furtively looked towards Walman. Sensing that the man's request contained a trace of sincerity, he replied, "At this point I'd settle for any form of civilization. I'm sick of living like a gypsy - packing up and moving everyday. The sooner we get to New Pacifica and I can at least live in a room which doesn't have nylon walls, the better. Besides, I think Devon's over-reacting. I get tired of her, 'I'm the Boss, I know what's best for everyone' routine. Especially after the stunt she pulled a few weeks ago. If anyone else had done that, they'd never have heard the end of it from her."

Walman eagerly jumped to her defense, "You're not being fair. You'd have been a little stir crazy too at that point if you'd been cooped up in your tent for over three weeks."

Morgan snorted and added a sarcastic, "Right. Anyway, do you seriously think I'd be out here if I thought we'd be in danger?"

The other man smirked, "True. But she may be right."

Somewhat unsettled, the government liaison responded, "Based on what? Uly's dream? Besides, we haven't had any trouble yet....Why did you decide to come if you thought she might be right?"

"Figured it was worth the risk. You're being too hard on Devon, she's been through a lot these past few months. And she usually tries to do what's best for the group."

"Uh, yeah," Morgan replied, lacking conviction.

Walman swallowed his annoyance and tried to direct the conversation elsewhere. "You gonna stay after the Colony ship arrives?"

Morgan pursed his lips and thought a moment. To his surprise, his wife's words immediately came to mind. New opportunities. A new life for us. "I..don't know. A lot could happen between now and then." Memories of their escape from the Station, and the horrible crash came to him. More thoughtfully, he added, "A lot already has happened."

Walman heartily agreed, "That's for sure."

More to himself, Morgan mumbled, "Even back on the Stations, I knew the Council was trouble but I never thought they'd actually try to kill us."

"Think they'll be waiting for us at New Pacifica?" Walman asked, grimly.

Horrified, Morgan groaned, "Christ Walman, are you trying to make it impossible for me to get any sleep these days? I don't even wanna think about that. "

"Doesn't mean it can't happen." He grinned, taking pleasure in the other man's obvious discomfort.

"Is it possible Julia? Or do we have to wait?" Devon intently asked the doctor, who was seated on a camp stool across the Med-Tent from her. Noticing that the young woman seemed distracted, she checked, "Is everything all right? You don't look well."

She responded evasively, "I..didn't sleep well last night." Sensing that the older woman didn't believe her, she added, "Okay, I'm a little worried about Walman and Morgan."

"Me too." With some irritation, Devon continued, "I can't believe they took it upon themselves to investigate that passage. Without telling a soul either. I find that hard to believe. Bess knows more than she's telling us."

"What are you going do? Send people in after them?"

"No, that might make matters worse. I've been trying to convince Bess to get them to return on their own, as soon as possible, once they make contact with her again. She says they were okay this morning. I think they'll come back soon." She frowned as she added, "Still, they're not responding to any of our hails. Who knows what they might be encountering now." With some urgency, she asked, "Has Alonzo gotten any more messages from the Terrians? I haven't seen him today."

Julia turned to finger her clipboard, "Um...no, not really. Nothing that makes any sense, that is."

She sighed, "This is so frustrating. Uly says the Terrians warned him again last night. This time they specifically said not to use that pass. No reason, just don't use it."

The doctor faced Devon, "That's strange. Why would they tell this to Uly, but not to Alonzo? They've usually spoken to us through him." Tentatively, she asked, "Are you sure Uly's not reading more into this than there is? I know he's eager to help but he is new at this. And he does have an active imagination..."

Devon chuckled in response. She was fully aware of her son's talents in that respect. "He claims the Terrians he helped cure are the ones dreaming to him. Supposedly he has a special bond with them. He says they 'talk' differently and that they're even escorting us to New Pacifica. Does any of this make sense?"

Julia's eyes widened as she remarked, "He may be right. Uly did forge a unique relationship with them." She remembered those creature's pitiful cries. "They've already gone out of their way for us, by healing you. And they do have a reason to be grateful to Uly."

While Devon was suspended in her cryochamber, the group had discovered the deserted remains of Independence colony, a settlement built at least fifty years earlier by another group of human refugees from the Stations. As Eden Advance proceeded to investigate the village, everyone had terrible nightmares. Uly's dreams and his introduction to a young boy who happened to be at that location, had lead him to discover a group of quarantined Terrians. Exposure to radiation from the Independence colony's nuclear waste site had damaged their skin and impaired their ability to interact with their mother "Earth" and other Terrians. Those Terrians were nearly insane, driven half mad by their lack of spiritual nourishment. They were also unable to communicate with Alonzo.

Yet, somehow, they'd been able to recognize Uly's biological link to them. So they dreamed to him, pleading for the help which their own species was unable to render. Through Uly's persistence and bravery, Dr. Heller was able to study the creatures and design a compound to reverse the damage done to their epidermis. The therapeutic agent had acted quickly, within days, one of the members of that group appeared to Julia and revealed to her the poison lodged in Devon's cells. Those same Terrians then escorted Uly, Julia, Danziger, and Alonzo back to the Venus class spacecraft to revive and heal Devon.

"Okay. But why wouldn't the other Terrains give Alonzo the same message?" Devon asked, with some suspicion.

"I wish I knew," was the doctor's soft response.

"If you see Alonzo before I do, tell him I need to know everything that he's experiencing over the Dream Plane. We have to put all these pieces together to make more sense of this situation." Devon urged.

"Um, okay..." The doctor's professional guise slipped back into place, "Now --let's get back to what we were talking about before. It's possible to do more tests to search for residue of the poison delivery system in your body. But I'm not gonna lie to you Devon. They're not pleasant. Most would involve you ingesting several compounds, which would be pretty vile, then you'd have to lie very still for a few hours while I methodically probed you with my scanner. Nausea, cramping, dizziness would all be practically guaranteed side effects. Are you sure you don't want to wait to do this until we reach New Pacifica? There ought to be some better scanners on the Colony ship which could make the tests last only an hour or two rather than almost an entire day."

Devon was firm in her reply, "No. Besides, the longer we wait, the more likely it is that evidence will be destroyed. The southern scouting team may be gone for over a week, and Morgan and Walman ought to be returning soon. Rather than just sitting around waiting, I'd like to get some answers."

"Of course, you realize that we may not find anything," Julia sternly advised.

"Of course."

Julia tried one more tactic, "Since you're finally starting to feel better, are you sure you're up for this? As your doctor, I think it would be advisable to let your body continue to strengthen before undergoing such a procedure."

"No. I want to do this. Let's plan on doing it tomorrow." Considering that discussion done, she changed the subject and asked, "Have you had any thoughts about our other....idea regarding my illness?"

Taken off guard, Julia replied, "Huh? Oh -- not really."

Lowering her voice and moving closer to the doctor, Devon half whispered, "Doesn't it seem strange to you that Morgan Martin is on an unauthorized scouting expedition?"

"True, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's a spy. I don't think we have any substantial reasons to suspect any one at this point. Morgan can be annoying, but...a spy set out to kill you? I don't think so. I'm just as bothered as you are by that possibility, but we have no indication that this may've been the case. All we can do is keep our eyes open."

Devon began to pace about the tent, "Have you learned anything more about those bio-stat implants?"

"I've been reading about them from the Independence data bank information and Elizabeth's records. At this point my biggest concern is figuring out ways to get them safely out of our heads but I'll need more sophisticated instrumentation to conduct additional experiments. Hopefully the Colony ship or some of our other cargo pods will have what I need. Right now, if something were to happen to Eve, we'd be in big trouble." The two women paused, each dwelling on her own fears regarding the unpredictable nature of the Council satellite which orbited G889.

Thoughts of Eve prompted Devon to ask, "Have you ever been able to account for why Morgan saw Franklin in VR?"

"I wish I knew Devon. I'm just as frustrated as you are by our lack of answers. I can't explain half of what I see on this planet. Personally, I think Eve was broadcasting to Morgan over VR to lure him over to the ship to revive Franklin and Elizabeth so they could repair her."

"Okay. I think that makes sense. Does that mean that Eve can jump into VR, at will, whenever she feels like it?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible, considering the fact that she was also able to project the image of Reilly to me while we were in the supposed black-out zone."

Another thought occurred to Devon, "Could Eve manipulate us using those bio-stat implants in our heads?"

A crease appeared in Julia's forehead as she considered the idea. "I...doubt it. If she could, why did Reilly go to all the trouble of trying to get me to reveal our location to him? Why bother to create Reilly at all? She could've simply 'programmed' me to give up that information...and do other things too. So far, Eve has only tried to reach us using images on virtual so I doubt that she could manipulate us on the subconscious level. The prototype implant was designed to monitor basic life signs - such as heart beat, respiration, EKG activity, and relay this information to the computer. Though, we are dealing with a presumably 'new and improved' version.... which is hooked into our neural network; and I'm not sure what exactly caused that horrible feedback which made us so sick..." The blonde doctor bit her lip nervously as she imagined unpleasant possibilities.

To try to lighten up the mood, Julia added, "You know, Morgan doesn't agree with my explanation about Franklin's VR appearance to him. He has some bizarre theory that what he experienced had something to do with a 'link' between Franklin's subconscious mind, the Dream Plane, and VR. He thinks that subconsciously, Franklin wanted to be released from the limbo of suspended animation, so he himself sent the message. Of course, that's the extent of his explanation, and he has yet to offer any sort of proof to support his claim. But he's completely convinced that he's right."

Devon cracked a weak smile and began to giggle. "Hope I didn't send any 'messages' while I was in suspended animation." She started giggling louder and Julia joined in, even though she hadn't thought what Devon said was especially funny. Suddenly the two women couldn't stop laughing. When the fit began to subside, one of the women would look at the other, and it would start anew. As they cackled, the tension within each them began to dissipate.

Finally, Devon said, while wiping tears from her eyes and gasping for air, "I guess we needed that."

"You're right." Julia agreed. The doctor turned to start organizing her equipment for the next day's test. As Devon approached the entrance of the tent, Julia quickly asked, "By the way, when did you realize that you didn't have a bio-stat implant?"

Devon froze, the lines of tension rapidly returning to her face, "Julia...I never told anyone that. I only guessed it because I wasn't in pain while you, John and Yale were screaming in agony as we were fixing Eve. Is it true? And if it is, how did you know this?"

Julia was confused by her reaction, "But...Danziger was so certain. You must've told him. Maybe when you first collapsed, or later when you rejoined the group? You were pretty groggy." Devon firmly shook her head. "I guess you'll have to ask him about it." Wanting to change the subject, in a lighter tone, she added, "Speaking of John, is there anything else you need to talk with me about? As your doctor....?" She began to grin knowingly.

"Well..." Devon's pale face turned red.

Julia let her off the hook, "Danziger stopped by yesterday. Congratulations."

After waiting for what seemed to be a decent interval, or at least a sufficient amount of time not to run directly into Devon, Julia slipped out of the Med-Tent to search for Alonzo. The pilot had been pretty dazed that morning but insistent that she tell no one about his Dream Plane experiences until he himself could figure them out. The entire episode had left her with an uncomfortable feeling. She'd never seen Alonzo react in such a fashion during a visit to the Dream Plane, his breathing had become so ragged last night it'd woken her up. God only knows what might've happened to him if she hadn't shaken him to wake him up then given him a sedative. She swallowed hard, then plastered on a congenial expression as she passed Denner and Mazatl, who were gathering firewood.

His behavior had seemed unusual to her as well. Why was he being so secretive? After all, this message was supposedly for the whole group, something which would affect everyone. It was almost as if he didn't want to share it.

She peeled back the flap of their tent to peer inside. Nothing. She was getting annoyed. Where was he? His condition had improved significantly by morning, but he still needed rest. He had the oddest gleam in his eyes as he told her about the glowing bubbles and the tremendous surge of energy he'd experienced when he touched one. He kept murmuring that he had to go back -- despite his weakened condition, despite her objections. She'd made him promise not to attempt such a thing unless she could monitor him, but knowing her headstrong young pilot...

"Hi Julia!" Uly called. The young boy was practicing his karate kicks in a clearing by her tent.

"Hi Uly," she responded in a distracted fashion. "Have you seen Alonzo?"

"No. Have the Terrians told him anything about the pass?"

Julia stopped, "Not really." More intently she asked, "What've they told you?"

"Just that we shouldn't go there." He answered as he tried another kick.

"Not bad. You're getting pretty good at those." She praised his form as she stepped closer to him. "Have you asked them about anything else? About other routes we could take through these mountains?"

"I can try again. They didn't say much the last time." He answered eagerly, earnestly wanting to help.

"Is there anything else you remember? Anything at all?" she prodded.

He grinned, "You sound like my Mom."

Feeling a little silly, she tried to prompt him. "Anything about bubbles ?"

He looked at her strangely, "Huh?"

Julia bent to ruffle his hair, "Don't worry about that. See ya later, kiddo."

Finally she discovered Alonzo lounging in a nearby meadow which was filled with wildflowers. She grinned as she settled down beside him on the ground. She gave him a friendly poke on his arm, "Hey there, you're a hard fellow to find." He groaned as he opened his eyes and propped himself up on his elbows. His disappointed expression lead her to ask, "Aren't you glad to see me?"

He grumbled, "Of course. It's just that I've been trying to get back to the Dream Plane and I keep getting interrupted. "

Rather than taking offense, she sternly responded, "I thought we agreed that you'd wait for me to monitor you."

Alonzo insisted, "Come on Julia, the Terrians won't let anything happen to me. And now that we have two men in that area, we need to find out what they're dealing with."

"Has there been any news?"

"Bess says they're fine and that they're planning to return soon. They're convinced that the passage is safe to travel. Some of the others in the group are starting to believe it too."

Julia frowned. "That conclusion may be a bit premature. But I'm glad they haven't run into any problems." More cautiously, she asked, "What do you think happened to you last night? I've never seen anything like that."

"I don't know. It's part of some bigger picture. Something vital to this planet." His eyes glazed over with a far away haze.

"Do you think these 'bubble' chambers actually exist, or are the images merely symbolic?"

"Don't know doc. Maybe you can give me a sediderm to put me under. I'm getting nowhere otherwise," he urged.

The subtle pressure he was exerting made her reluctant to drug him, so she stalled, "Maybe it's because you're too tired. You bypass REM sleep. That was the only way to avoid the nightmares at Independence colony -- remember? Besides, the sediderm doesn't always work to bring you there."

With obvious disappointment, he agreed, "You're probably right. I just want some answers Julia. You of all people know what that's like. All the times I've watched you working away over half the night, trying to solve some problem. I can't even count the number of times that I've had to pull you away from your work. Or that I've found you asleep over it, with your head on top of your lab table. Do you think it's been easy for me to watch you wear yourself out? But I know your work is important to you, so I've tried to be supportive. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, that I'm the one who's trying to put most of my energy into solving an important problem, you're acting like something's wrong with me."

Julia's cheeks became flushed as she realized that he was right. She hadn't considered his point of view; and in the past many times she'd been so absorbed in her own work that she may've even taken some of his support for granted. Laden with guilt, she replied, "I'm sorry. I'm just...concerned." She leaned forward to grasp his hand. More softly, she added, "I just don't want anything to happen to you."

Alonzo laughed gently and tenderly said, "Now you know how it feels. Don't worry doc, you're not gonna get rid of me that easily. Wanna take a nap?" With a knowing glance, he gestured to the ground beside him.

She smiled. "Very tempting flyboy. But if I stay, I don't think you'll get any sleep. And I need to check some calculations then synthesize some compounds for tests I'm performing on Devon tomorrow. I'd better take a rain check on that offer. Tonight?"

"Your loss." He grinned.

Hidden behind some rocks on the far side of camp, under the cover of darkness, Bess spoke into her gear. "What was that Morgan?"

He yawned loudly, "I'm sorry. I'm really tired. Other than that, we're fine. There are no Terrians, no Grendlers, no..." Another yawn interrupted his statement.

"Why are you so tired? Are you getting sick?"

"I dunno. Probably just bored. All this driving. And Walman's not the most stimulating travel companion. He thinks he's so funny with his asinine jokes." His expression began to brighten, "This is it Bess. Our ticket through these blasted mountains. We haven't run into any problems. We've found the way."

She smiled, "I'm so proud of you. You've been so brave, venturing forward to protect the rest of us. You've proven that it's safe for us to use that pass. So when are you coming back?"

"Walman wants to scout ahead a little further, just to be on the safe side. So we're gonna drive a little further west tomorrow, then probably head back the next day."

More softly she added, "I miss you."

He yawned. "I miss you too."

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