The Road Not Chosen by Joan Powers

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The Road Not Chosen (8/11)
by Joan Powers

"We have to do something!" Bess demanded with her hands firmly planted on her hips. She stood before the members of Eden Advance who were gathered about the camp fire, some seated on dead logs or crates, others standing in the background. Even though she was frightened about her husband's predicament, she wasn't hysterical; she remained in control. Her fears were tightly bound in a knot within her. Her voice was firm and unusually authoritative as she emphasized, "I can't raise them on gear. They've missed two check-ins. Something's wrong."

"Bess, you should've come forward with this information much sooner. It was foolish not to," Yale reprimanded.

She bristled as she remarked, "That's not the point, is it? Two members of our group are out there -- in trouble. We have to them to help them."

With a degree of caution, Cameron tentatively asked, "Are you sure they're actually in danger? Julia said if they had the flu, they'd be fine in a day or two. And they did go out on their own, against the wishes of the rest of the group."

"If something in that area has caused a new type of disease, sending others after them could only make the situation worse. They could contract the illness as well and then where would we be?" Yale advised.

Bess glared at the tutor with thinly veiled hostility, while others commented loudly amongst themselves.

"They knew the risks when they went out there," Mazatl claimed.

"But they're part of our group!" Denner objected.

"Then why did they take off by themselves in the first place?" Cameron retorted.

Bess nearly shouted back, "They did what they felt was right, Cameron."

"Hey!" Danziger stood and spoke louder to command everyone's attention. "Let's calm down. It doesn't matter who's right or wrong. Deal with that later. The men are out there. We have a situation -- let's deal with it. Period. Julia, do we have any way to determine their current medical status?"

The doctor stated, "I've examined some of Bess' gear recordings, but it's not much to go on. Some of the memory loss is rather disturbing, but it could be attributed to an ordinary fever." Turning to Yale, she mentioned, "I was thinking, those bio-stat implants are designed to monitor body functions. Is there any way we could access that information, maybe get into Eve's memory banks, so we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with? We did download a lot of data about her programming while we were at Independence Colony."

The Teacher's eyes lit up. "An intriguing possibility. Unfortunately, the person best qualified to implement such a plan would be Morgan. Otherwise, it'd take too much time to set the system up."

"Do we have any reason to suspect that something in that area has caused some new type of disease? What has Alonzo learned from the Terrians?" Bess directed her questions towards Julia.

The doctor answered, "It's not clear." Bess rolled her eyes, indicating her disbelief. "It's the truth," Julia insisted. "The Terrians were showing him something but they got interrupted. What they have shown him doesn't make much sense. He believes that the message has something to do with the passage. That's all we know."

"In other words, we have no solid reason to believe that the Terrians are connected to what's happening with Walman and Morgan," Danziger summarized.

"I wouldn't say that, John," Yale objected.

"Based on what?" the mechanic challenged.

"Currently all we have is Julia's impression of Alonzo's dreams. But sometimes that's all we‘ve had to go with on this planet. In a few days, Alonzo could continue his visit and find some answers to our questions," Yale explained.

Bess protested, "A few days? Morgan might not have that kind of time. His sickness could be caused by some unusual type of vegetation that they've encountered -- like those spring flowers Danziger and I found on our scout at the winter camp. The two events may be completely unrelated."

"Unless Alonzo could go back sooner --" Yale looked hopefully towards the doctor, who shook her head.

Julia added, "He's showing some improvement but we can't push him. We'll have to wait at least two or three days before he tries again. I don't want to risk it."

"Understandable," The tutor agreed.

Bess wasn't going to let them off the hook that easily. "So what are we going to do? Morgan and Walman went out there for all of us. They wanted to help us get through these mountains. I think we owe them."

"How does Devon feel about all this?" Yale asked John.

"She doesn't know all the details but she's committed to going after them. She's convinced that the Terrians are involved and that bringing the men back in might be considered some kinda sign of good will, or something like that."

Bess had reached her limit. "Okay. Enough discussion. When Baines and Magus get back with the ATV this afternoon, I'm going after Morgan and Walman. Anyone gonna join me?"

"Bess, that's not a wise course of action," Yale objected.

"I will." Danziger resolutely announced, without hesitation, as others turned to stare at him. "They're part of our group. We can't afford to lose anyone."

Morgan groaned as he attempted to move. He felt awful, his head throbbed and his limbs were stiff and sore. His mouth was painfully dry and he felt uncomfortably warm. Water, he needed water. He fumbled about the side his bedroll for his canteen. After retrieving it, he gulped down several soothing swallows.

"Man, I feel lousy."

The voice startled Morgan. He turned to see where it was coming from.

"How're you feelin'?" The person asked him.

His throat was still so parched, it was difficult to project any sound. He shrugged his shoulders, instead. With some difficulty the other man collapsed beside him, on top of his own blanket.

An annoying electronic bleeping commenced.

"Shank-- make it stop!" The man demanded as he fumbled around, searching for the source of the noise. Likewise, Morgan was anxious to terminate the jarring sound that painfully reverberated in his head.

Within a minute, he'd located the instrument. Some sort of headset with flashing lights. He pressed all of the buttons at once, desperate to eradicate the piercing cry. Having limited success with that tactic, in frustration, he threw the device on the ground and pounded it with a rock.

Relief at last.

The other man began to talk again, but Morgan was having difficulty keeping track of his words. For a while he politely focused on the man, watching his moving lips; he nodded at occasional intervals, as if he were actually following the conversation. But a more fascinating sight captured his attention.

As the man brushed his hand against the red leaves of the ground covering, Morgan could see a shimmering powder-like residue, which sparkled. The tiny sparkles permeated the man's hand, as if his skin was not a barrier at all. Morgan grinned, the other man didn't appear to notice this miraculous sight. He wondered how it would feel to have those glowing particles inside of him.

Morgan tentatively brushed his own hand against the plant to produce the same effect. The mystical particles penetrated his hand. He was disappointed, he didn't feel anything in particular. He wondered where the shimmering glitter had gone.

Minutes later, as the other man droned on, the mystery was solved. Morgan burst out laughing. Unbeknownst to the other man, a glowing orange bubble, about the size of an apple, was emerging from his nose.

Uly stirred, someone was calling his name. Was it his mom again? Earlier that evening, she'd left her tent for the first time in days to move about and get some fresh air. She hadn't been pleased to hear about the latest developments at camp but at least she was starting to sound like herself again --- a reassuring sign. She'd tucked him in bed personally that night. He wondered if she'd come back to see him again.

He opened his eyes to discover that he hadn't heard her voice. In fact, he wasn't really awake -- he was on the Dream Plane.

"Hello?" He was confused and a bit scared.

A Terrain from his tribe came to the head of the corridor to greet him.

"Why am I here? What's going on?"

The Terrain reached forward for his hand as he trilled to convey his purpose.

The boy protested, "What? No, you don't understand. He's not ready. He could get hurt. Please!"

The creature ignored his protests and simply reached for his hand.

Reluctantly, Uly grasped it and the two traversed through the wall to another chamber. The duo was greeted by other members of the Terrian's group, who had Alonzo in tow.

"Hey Uly," the pilot drawled, still in a seemingly drunken stupor.

Uly turned to the nearest Terrian, "It won't work. He won't be able to understand. Don't you see?"

They didn't heed his cries. Instead, the Terrians closest to Uly began to shepherd him towards another chamber. The other members followed as they formed a protective circle about Alonzo. He joked with them about his confinement.

"Hey, I'm not gonna bother anyone. What are you guys anyway, guards dogs? Woof, woof." The pilot snickered to himself.

Their band met the other tribe of Terrians, the guardians of the area, at the opening of a new chamber, which they proceeded to enter. Almost immediately, the brilliant glare in the chamber caused Alonzo and Uly to stop and stare.

They were in the mysterious bubble chamber which was filled with hundreds of bubbles. There was a huge variety of colors and shapes. They floated by the men, each one twinkling and sparkling with its own unique inner glow.

Uly had only been shown a few of the bubbles during his previous Dream Plane visit. "Wow," his mouth hung open, he was captivated by the sight. There were hundreds, if not thousands of the twinkling orbs.

"Isn't it the most beautiful sight you've ever seen?" Alonzo breathed as he subtly tried to move towards them.

"Don't let him touch them!" Uly cried. The Terrian guard managed to hold Alonzo back.

"Can you hear them?" Alonzo asked, with a mesmerized look on his face.

The boy crooked his head. Yes, he could actually hear them - they resonated with a melodious sound.. It was beautiful. In fact, it was so hypnotic that he found himself subconsciously stepping towards them. His Terrian escort immediately grabbed his arm to detain him.

The guardians of the chamber began to trill to Alonzo, earnestly trying to convey their message. Yet the pilot seemed unable to concentrate, he simply stared at the glowing orbs with his mouth hanging open.

"This isn't gonna work," Uly complained to his escort, who paid him no attention. The party proceeded to travel down the corridor, following the migrating bubbles. Uly's group was in the lead, so he kept peeking over his shoulder to assure himself that Alonzo was alright. The pilot was acting strangely, but the Terrians were able to contain his actions -- at least for now.

The corridor became narrow, so the group proceeded single file. The passage led to a much larger chamber. It reminded Uly of MoonCross, the same sort of mist covered the lower portion of the chamber. Yet it was evident that there was more to it than that. "Look!" Alonzo cried in awe, pointing towards a frothing caldron.

All of the bubbles landed in the natural well, which resembled a large soup pot. They dissolved as they contacted whatever liquid media the earthen hollow contained. The mixture swirled vigorously, as if it were being agitated by some sort of natural current. The guardian Terrians trilled urgently towards Alonzo, but he was captivated by the sight of the caldron.

"What is it?" Uly half-whispered to his escort. His question was ignored. Sometimes he hated being a kid.

The contents of the swirling well fed into the misty pool. A Terrian dipped his lightning stick into the liquid then held it up to show the visitors. It glowed with power.

The guardian Terrians attempted to Dream with Alonzo, but he wasn't cooperative. His attention was still fixed on the churning pool, and he was making stronger efforts to break away from his guards to reach it.

Uly was getting annoyed. "I told you this would happen," he muttered under his breath.

Then one of the guardian Terrians grasped Alonzo's hand and led him to the edge of the misty pool.

"Hey!" Uly cried, trying to move towards them. But it was too late, Alonzo was submerged into the mysterious liquid.

"No! You can't do that! Stop!" the boy cried with all his might. "You're gonna hurt him!"

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