Legends III - Legends of Life by Nicole Mayer

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

Gillian and Jessie cautiously stepped inside the antique spacecraft. The hinges on the hatch were rusty with age and dust covered most of the floor inside. The air was stale and Gillian pushed the hatch open further in hope that a small breeze would circulate fresh oxygen throughout the room.

Gillian's eyes were drawn to the blinking lights and she smiled. The system *still* worked. Perhaps it was magic, or maybe this place was truly sacred to the memories of the first colonists of G889 - not only Eden Advance but those who had come before them. The planet worked in mysterious ways.

She looked around for Devon's cryo-chamber and uttered a short cry of surprise. Two cold sleep capsules were lit up. Racing to the nearest, she wiped away the dust that obscured the face.

Devon Adair. It was the strangest feeling to look into the true face of the woman who had haunted her ever since she arrived on G889, and perhaps even before. The likeness to the statue was uncanny, but more than that, she looked exactly the way Gillian had pictured her. Exactly the way the planet had shown her.

"She's here!" Gillian announced unnecessarily. She examined the lighted panels, having studied ancient technology on the journey out. The instrumentation showed perfect preservation...of a body. No life was indicated. Gillian could only pray that what she had 'seen' was true - that Devon's heart would beat once more if only given the chance.

Gillian stepped back. If Devon was in the first capsule, then who was in the second? She approached it slowly, glancing at the readouts. They showed a person in perfect hibernation....

She rubbed clear the glass. And for the second time that day, looked upon the face of John Danziger.

She gasped. "It's him!"

"Who?"

"Danziger! He's here and he's still alive!" Neither girl could believe it. The story truly *was* unfinished, because both Devon and Danziger were still alive. Each had one more moment in time left to them, to finish their stories and conclude the legends of their own lives.

"He set up the guardian system - and then placed himself in cold sleep just before he died," realised Gillian. Everything finally made sense. John Danziger was asleep and that was why his spirit could not reach Devon's, for she was trapped between death and life.

And now, it was time to end the pain. It was time to awaken Devon and time to let her die. It was time to awaken Danziger and let him die in peace. And through this, both could somehow live again.

"Are you ready?" asked Gillian in a breathless voice. There was no more waiting to be done - *this* was why two people had been called out to the desert to help people with which they had no explainable connection.

"Yes," whispered Jessie in reply. "It is time for the story to end." Slowly, Gillian keyed in the sequence that would revive Danziger and free Devon's body from its icy prison. As the lights brightened and the humming noise increased, both girls moved toward the capsules, hearts pounding with fear.

It was at this moment, when the past and the present would become one. Legends would live again. Gillian stared solemnly at Jessie Solace, Julia's descendant, and together they turned to face Devon Adair and John Danziger. Their ancestral heroes, yet real people as well. It was a moment of profound silence.

Devon Adair fell forward first. Arms caught her, yet she seemed so heavy and so silent. There was no violent coughing this time, no fighting desperately for a breath against the pain. It was as if she had nothing to live for anymore, which was in essence true. Every friend she had loved was long dead, except for one....

John Danziger burst forward from his cold resting place with a gasp. He roughly drew in the deep breath of air, as if challenging the universe to tear life from him as he struggled against the effects of cold sleep. He was unaware of the young steadying hands on his arms, determined to stand by himself. He turned...and saw Devon.

She lay on the floor, so still, not moving, not even breathing. Her eyes were closed to the world above and only the breeze gently wafting through the open hatch caused her hair to ever so slightly flutter.

Danziger fell in love with her all over again, reliving the moments of the past, entranced by her beauty anew. He dropped to his knees and for the first time in over a century, he reached out and touched her. No miles of desert separated them now, not even the walls of glass. He took her hand and whispered, "Devon." Her heart moved. Its last beat. Devon's eyelids fluttered open.

Danziger stared deep into her eyes, one so innocent blue meeting the tired, yet eternally hopeful, blue. In the mere space of a heartbeat that followed, a lifetime of possibilities whirled before the soulmates.

...I never stopped loving you...

...We could have danced on the beach...

...kissed in the waves...

...Been married...

...had children together...

...Watched them grow and learn...

...see our friends grow too...

...Explored our world together...

...been guardians of the future...

...Grown old together...

...but even the years did not keep us apart now...

"Devon Adair, I love you," he finally told her and she was alive to hear him. She smiled even as twilight threatened to slip back over her again, because at last, she had the chance to reply.

"John..." and her voice was so thin, she had to struggle to say each word. But behind the words were an emotion that had lasted beyond time. "I love you." Devon smiled, tears blurring her vision. She did not notice how old Danziger was and had no idea of the time that had passed. All that mattered was that *finally*, she had said everything she needed to say. The last part of her life was completed and now she could rest in peace.

Danziger bent down so that his face was so close to hers. He gathered her in his arms and their lips met in their first and only kiss. One moment of perfect beauty. Devon sighed with joy and in that sigh, exhaled her last breath. Her thoughts were only of John as her eyes closed that irrevocable moment.

Tears appeared in Danziger's eyes as he watched the woman he loved die for the third and final time. Yet now, they were tears of joy for everything had ultimately been said. He pulled Devon close, his eyes unfocussed, almost as if he were looking into the distance. To a future that was beyond this world, for his time too was over.

Danziger got to his feet, and somehow, stood tall on tired, frail legs. Purposefully, he walked towards the hatch exit from that cold dark room where dreams died and legends were born. He was taking Devon into the sunlight - somewhere she had been kept from for so many years.

He paused in the doorway and, illuminated by the light, looked back for a fraction of a moment. "Thank you," he said simply. Then he turned and walked outside. Into the sunshine, where dreams and laughter would play forever.

It was over.

The last of Eden Advance died that day, more than two centuries since they first crashed upon the planet. It was an incredible story - with much that was inexplicable yet Gillian believed it fully.

Even the disappearance of Devon and Danziger's bodies did not disturb her. As the planet suggested, it was meant to be. Devon had been released from the darkness and all traces of her physical being no longer mattered. The two lost souls were finally able to rejoin their companions and become part of the greater story of life.

Sometimes Gillian thought of it as a sick, twisted tale. So much unnecessary tragedy had occurred - if only Danziger hadn't been so insistent Devon be put into a cryo-chamber after she 'died' the first time, if only he'd released her when he returned, if only True and Bess had realised Danziger made it across the desert to the ship....

But all these things had happened, whether by fate or some greater force controlling them all. John Danziger lived a sad life of an obsessed man, and Devon Adair had most of her life taken from her.

Yet Gillian couldn't be unhappy for them in the end. She had been witness to the completion of both lives, where for the first time in years, each truly lived again if only for a moment. The legends were given the life to love one last time and the loss was erased. Gillian would never forget the light in John Danziger's eyes as he had his one moment with Devon, and then stepped to face his own future.

The journey back to Devon was a quiet, but not lonely, trip for Gillian and Jessie. Each girl reflected alone on the things they had seen, the stories they had heard, and the epic tale that had somehow become intertwined with their own lives. Stopping briefly near the Valley of Dreams, the girls had climbed that great mountain and seen for themselves the place where legends were borne.

Reverently, the girls retraced the steps of Uly and Julia. Stood near the edge and watched the horizon on a brilliant day with no signs of a storm, shivered as they cautiously peered down the side of the mountain and saw echoes of the past, Julia's struggle to save Uly.

"Everyone has a story," Gillian told her friend. They stood above the Valley of Dreams and found it to be as beautiful as Bess had narrated, the story told to her by Ulysses Adair himself. They remembered.

And then they moved on again, past the mountain range and closer to New Pacifica and their home. Reaching the city outskirts Gillian closed her eyes and imagined Devon as a growing town with Morgan and Bess coming to greet her. She pictured Ulysses returning home from a long absence and True greeting him with a kiss. She saw Yale, Baines, Magus, everyone who had been part of the journey which no longer continued in Gillian's world, but lived on in a realm far beyond. And she knew they were happy.

Few people believed the tale when Gillian and Jessie initially returned to the city of Devon. This did not bother the girls. They put every effort into sharing the story of Eden Advance, writing their own epilogue to Bess' original work and promoting the story everywhere. Gillian initiated the restoration of Devon Adair's statue and began a campaign to create awareness among the citizens of G889 as to what their ancestors had endured to create the world they all now adored.

Names such as Morgan Martin and Julia Heller became well known once again, sparking a new trend in childrens' names. Babies called True, Ulysses, Alonzo and Devon gurgled happily all over G889 and the Terrians watched over each one.

Commemoration Day came around again, and this time, people really stopped to think what it meant. Gillian and Jessie gave an impassioned speech that was broadcast to the entire planet. Together, they represented both the past and future of G889 - Jessie through her proud heritage and Gillian through her recent arrival.

"Almost two centuries ago," Gillian began, "aliens arrived on this planet."

"We were those aliens," contined Jessie. "Eden Advance arrived without any hint of knowledge of the trials they would face. Council influence, renegade colonists and their keepers from a time long ago, even the unique indiginous races of G889 were a mystery to the first ones. Every day was a new challenge, a new fight for survival in a world where everything was different. But through their struggles, we can now call G889 home."

Gillian took up the story. "Today, we are here to remember not only the history but the people as well. Devon Adair, who launched the project to save her son. Ulysses Adair, the first of the Transformed and the beginning of a wonderful process of becoming one with this amazing planet.

"Julia Heller, who fought for her independence and won by defeating the Council, and then making revolutionary discoveries about this planet. Alonzo Solace, who learnt to balance life on the ground with G889's future in space.

"We cannot forget Morgan Martin, the first Administrator of Devon, the man who put forward the constitution. Bess Martin, whom many consider Morgan's strength, the mother of the first child on G889.

"Walman, Baines, Magus, Cameron, Matazl, Denner, Eben - we don't know much about their lives but they were there, part of the incredible journey that shaped the future.

"Yale, the gentle teacher. True Danziger, the sharp young engineer who contributed so much to society. And John Danziger, who founded our city and built the statue to commemorate Eden Advance's journey.

"Today we celebrate their lives, celebrate their journey, and mourn their deaths. They have passed into the status of legends but we must remember that they were *real* people, people who lived and loved as passionately as we do now. They aren't just names in a textbook, they were the founders of our world."

There were tears in the eyes of many people across G889 as Gillian and Jessie finished their impassioned speech. Somehow, a difference had been made.

Even Jerry was able to get most of his test answers correct and Lukas fully embraced the idea of learning everything he could about his new home planet. In the short year Gillian and Lukas had lived there, it became everything to them.

Gillian's dreams continued for a while, but eventually began to peter out. Instead of dreaming of the tragedy, somehow, she saw happier times for Eden Advance. Like the time Morgan Martin decided that, as First Administrator of the city, he should take up a dignified sport. Yale provided him with thousands of options from Earth's earliest history and Morgan had finally decided on golf.

He'd conned Danziger and Alonzo into playing a few rounds with him, confident that he'd display his prowess on the golf green. Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out that way. Gillian laughed aloud every time she pictured Morgan's tantrum over losing, which led to his unceremonious tripping over a golf ball and landing in the river amidst applause from the other men.

It would have made a great picture.

Gillian's favourite dream, however, was one that she couldn't rationalise with true history. In the dream, she saw a beautiful house where children laughed and everything was right. And in the midst of the house were two people, so happy and in love. Devon and Danziger.

It was a possible future for them that had never happened, but Gillian still liked to believe they were together now, wherever their souls were. It made everything worth it.

Gillian never quite knew why the spirit of Devon Adair reached out to her. She was only an ordinary person who had fallen in love with tales of a people in a place far away. She had laughed with them and cried with them, all through the power of the stories of another. And always felt that special connection to Devon.

Jessie once suggested that it had been a dreamplane link between Gillian and Jessie. Gillian's ancestors had once been connected with that of the Adairs - a tenuous connection at best, but perhaps enough family blood ties had remained for Devon to reach Gillian. A dreaming that was not quite there, only a desperate cry from a trapped spirit who somehow reached a girl with an open mind. They had been irrevocably connected.

It was a sharing of the mind, the beliefs, and the essence of the Adair -or whatever name it may have- spirit. A spirit that could not be diminished by time, or any other force. One that would live throughout the ages no matter where its owners now were.

Life, or death, it was all the same thing really, Gillian realised. True spirits never died and Devon had been reborn into some greater world than the one she had fought for to save humanity.

Gillian could smile and truly know that she had done the right thing in letting the tale end. The legends were over, but life would go on for all of Eden Advance.

"Nothing really dies as long as it's remembered," Bess had written so long ago. How true that was, Gillian smiled. She made her own promise.

May Eden Advance live in our hearts and minds forever.

END "The Legends Trilogy"

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