Legends III - Legends of Life by Nicole Mayer

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Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE. (4/5)
by Nicole Mayer

It was an impossible situation, Gillian reflected. She and Jessie had explained to John Danziger over and over their purpose, but he still wouldn't let them near the ship that housed Devon's coffin. Nor could he give a reasonable explanation for his being alive. He refused to believe that Gillian and Jessie had been called out their by Devon's spirit and accused them of trying to destroy his sanctuary.

Most puzzling, though, was the fact that he readily accepted that Jessie was Julia's descendant. There were gaps in Danziger's logic and Gillian was beginning to reluctantly concede that the legends were true. John Danziger was crazy.

The girl wanted to visit the Dreamplane to see if the Terrians knew why Danziger was alive. Jessie was trying it at that very moment and Gillian waited anxiously to hear what she had learnt. But in the meantime, she continued quizzing Danziger.

"How did you get here?" she asked, using a new tactic. Perhaps it was her "why" questions that were causing the problems. Whatever the problem was, she hoped she got past it soon. There was nothing more irritating than not knowing. "How long have you been here?" she tried again.

"I have always been here," replied Danziger enigmatically.

Gillian finally lost her patience. "What is that supposed to mean? I know all about you, John Danziger! I know how you crashed on this planet and hiked to New Pacifica! I know how you founded the town of Devon! I know that you watched your daughter grow up and marry Ulysses Adair! And then you made the statue of Devon for everyone to see! So don't you *dare* tell me that you've always been here, because I know it's not true.

"I expected more from you," Gillian continued bitterly. "Bess wrote of a strong, brave, kind and noble man. The type of person who would tell you the truth no matter what the circumstances. Now I know she was a liar."

"Bess is not a liar," Danziger said evenly. It seemed that Gillian's rage had not fazed him the slightest. "I have always been here," he repeated.

And then Jessie came back, the oddest expression on her face as she said, "He is *not* here."

"Not you too," Gillian groaned, burying her face in her hands. Jessie laid a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Trust me," she said. "Watch."

Jessie stepped close to Danziger, and although he glared at her sternly, he did not lift the mag-pro. He watched, seemingly uninterested as she reached out to touch his shoulder. Then Jessie grew bolder, and swung her hand downwards.

Her arm went straight through him.

"What?" burst out Gillian.

Jessie waved her arm around the whole area the image of John Danziger occupied and she encountered no resistance. The picture flickered a little and it finally dawned on Gillian that John Danziger, the man she had been speaking with, was nothing more than a virtual reality projection.

"Mr. Danziger - you're not real!" she breathed.

"I am here to protect," he said evenly. "I have always been here."

And that was the truth. Gillian stared at the figure, her thoughts racing. Someone had constructed a VR recording of John Danziger, and placed him out here at the ship. Someone who had given him the memories of the real John, yet in a sense, this image had only existed for one purpose and in one place. This also explained how Danziger - or a facsimile of him - could be alive after so long.

But who would have programmed such a warning device? And at this old age? There was only one man who could have done so, Gillian realised. John Danziger *had* been here. Somehow, he had crossed the plains by himself after the fire that destroyed his home.

She remembered the dreams of a man struggling through the desert until the wind overtook him. It may have been a metaphorical storm, emphasising the traumas John Danziger endured to, against all odds, reach this place where his Devon lay.

Was this where he had died? Danziger had been an old man. He'd travelled with virtually no supplies, and nothing to aid him on his quest for a lost love. It was an obsession that had taken his life from him.

Things were beginning to fall into place for Gillian as she sat and thought deeply, her gaze fixed on the image of John Danziger. His final act...to set up a lasting image of himself to still protect Devon's memory, and preserve her beauty for eternity.

If only Danziger had known what harm he was doing when he decided to put her back so long ago! Devon was a spirit trapped between two worlds, and if she had loved John Danziger, then *her* love had long ago passed beyond the veil.

A solitary tear tricked down Gillian's cheek. It was a tragic love story, for neither had ever had the chance to tell the other how they felt. Danziger's love had become a fatal obsession. And Devon - Devon was still trapped in those few moments before death. The moments when all revelations became clear, when her life would pass before her eyes and she would know that it was too late for most things. All she had were seconds to tell the truth within her heart - and Gillian believed that she had -and still- loved John Danziger. The planet, and the spirit of Devon, had showed the girl that.

Gillian had to tell Devon that Danziger loved her, and then she would die in peace. And if Danziger's spirit hovered anywhere near, then perhaps she would believe the truth.

Gillian recalled Jessie's cryptic words near the Valley of Dreams. "All but two...." Maybe by allowing Devon to die, the essence of John Danziger, wherever he was now, could also finally be at peace.

It was a bittersweet thought. Now Gillian was more convinced than ever as to what she had to do. All that remained was getting past the guardian of Devon's tomb.

Jessie again passed a hand through the image of Danziger. The guardian flickered, according to where Jessie's hand was. Using that information, the girls were able to track the source of the projection. Thankfully, it was situated on a part of the ship well away from the hatch that Danziger would not let them go near.

"Mr. Danziger," Gillian tried one last time. "You have to let us inside the ship - it will help free Devon. She's alone and afraid and she needs release. Please?"

But the guardian had been programmed to keep everyone away at all costs. He replied, "No," and Gillian said sorrowfully, "Then I'm sorry." She nodded to Jessie, who disabled the VR device and John Danziger's ghost flickered out of existence.

"That's it, then," Gillian called to Jessie. "The last problem overcome." A sudden thought struck her. "Unless he rigged the ship hatch to explode on contact!" She was only half-joking. Jessie was more solemn. "The story is about to end," she gravely said. "John Danziger's fate is no longer a mystery."

"No," agreed Gillian, nodding her head. "Somehow, he made it out here, whether the planet or the Terrians helped him, or perhaps it was the force of his own will. Then he constructed the security system."

"And then what?"

"And then...he must have died. Here." Gillian shivered. She didn't want to come across a skeleton, for there would be no cairn of stones to mark his passing. No nicely dug grave, nothing but a pile of withered bones.

John Danziger blearily rubbed his eyes, feeling the dirt that encrusted his face and seemed to be all over him. The sandstorm was passing and he could finally see again. He stood tall (or as tall as he could manage with his aged, aching back) and surveyed the horizon.

The old space ship lay before him. He stumbled backwards in surprise. How had he arrived there already? The last thing he remembered was struggling through the desert...and the wind...and....

Something had transported him halfway across a continent. Danziger uttered a silent prayer of thanks to whatever force that had done that for him and then smiled in contentment. He was finally home.

It was the place where it had all started. The beginnings of the love that took over his life, and even now, Danziger refused to recognise it as an obsession with what he could not have. He believed his love to be pure and steadfast, telling himself that Devon had felt exactly the same way. And what did it matter anyway if she hadn't? Those moments for truth had ended in the past, with her death. Now he would die while protecting her memory.

He couldn't wait to see her face again. All he had left was one strand of dark hair that was fragile beyond belief, yet he kept it close to his heart and could not bear to lock it away, even if to preserve it.

Danziger suddenly recalled a dream he'd once had, the second time he came out here. Just before Devon died.

....He could see her, just on the edge of his vision, a wraith in the moonlight that danced away from him constantly. She was nothing more than a spirit that could never be caught...Danziger's gaze returned to the ship as he fell to his knees in defeat. He heard the seductive calling of destiny....

And now he was back here to fulfil his destiny. He would complete his life near her, and perhaps they could be together somehow.

Danziger entered the derelict spacecraft, a smile appearing upon his face as he realised that, even after another half-century, the systems still operated and the cold sleep capsule was working perfectly. Devon's body lay untouched.

He let his gaze fall upon her, and sighed deeply. Her face remained haunted, her features frozen into the tragic image that had haunted Danziger himself for half of his life. He loved her so much.

"I missed you, Devon," he whispered, imagining that she could hear him somehow. "I did everything I could to bring you back, I tried, I really did. But the medical advances have been slow. And I guess I'm too damn old now." He pressed his hands against the glass, leaning against it for support as his aged knees trembled. "This is how it ends, huh Devon? All our hopes, and our dreams, they crashed down around me the day you got sick.

"I may have lost you," he went on softly, "but I never stopped loving you. I built a statue of you in the city - did you know that we named the city after you?

"Devon," Danziger sighed, "I have so much to tell you. Uly got married - to True, of all people! Isn't that wonderful? It's as if the Danzigers and Adairs were meant to be together somehow. You and I couldn't but our children could and they fulfilled a destiny.

"You should see their children. I swear, there was a little girl who looked *just* like you. Diana, they called her. She had your eyes, and I suppose that's why I never visited True and Uly that often. It hurt too much. I was much closer to Bess' kids - Ari, John and Wendy. We had some great times together."

Danziger's voice took on a more sombre tone. "But they all grew up, and they didn't need me anymore. Only you did, Devon. I could hear you calling to me and that's why I had to come. We'll be together for eternity..." he promised.

Danziger spent the next few days examining the old ship and pulling out pieces he decided he could use. He was aware of his body failing and knew that death fast approached. But he did not care. With painstaking carefulness, he constructed the devices designed to guard Devon's new shrine. The motion sensors and the cannon, and then finally, the guardian projection. He gave the image his own memories of happy times of Eden Advance, hoping it would prove to be a legacy of their lives. He wanted everyone to become a revered legend as they deserved.

During these days, Danziger neither ate nor slept. It was as if he could sense his own death nearing and did not wish to waste any time on things that would soon have no meaning for him.

Finally, everything was finished. Devon would be protected forever, and he, John Danziger, was by her side as it was meant to be. He took one last look at Devon's image behind the ice, and gently pressed his lips to the cold, cold glass. "I will find you again, Devon," he promised. And then he completed his physical journey and fulfilled his destiny. The tragic soulmates would lay side by side forever.

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