Freedom by Sabrina Sestito

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Freedom (2/3)
by Sabrina Sestito

Alonzo was becoming very weak. He had been a fool. His love of freedom had cost his life and his love. Julia was his first and true love. Would she forgive him for leaving her? Would she take him back? As Alonzo began to lose consciousness, he thought that he would never know the answers to these questions.

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Early next morning Julia, Devon and Danziger took the Dunerail and drove to the Terrian cave. It took them a few hours to reach their destination. It was mid-morning when they arrived at the cave. The three Eden Advancers cautiously proceeded into the Terrian cave.

Even though both Devon and Danziger had been in this cave before, they did not know the way to the Terrians' beds. In fact, they did not know which way to go at all. After an hour taking wrong turns and ending up in deadends, they finally turned a corner and found a group of Terrians standing in a wall of the large cavern.

"Are these their beds", queried Danziger.

"It sure looks like it", answered Julia as she inspected the Terrians along the wall. Suddenly she gasped and stopped cold in her tracks. Devon and Danziger ran to her side. They all saw that Alonzo was indeed in the Terrian bed and by the look of him, was in great pain.

"Alonzo", cried Julia, "what are you doing here?" She slowly put her hand on Alonzo's face. She screamed in pain and pulled her hand away.

"What's wrong", shouted Devon.

"It burns", cried Julia. "Its feel the same as the Terrians' energy staffs." Julia paused, looking at her hand. "How are we going to help him", she then asked.

Devon then reluctantly suggested that they should bring Uly here and that he should try to contact Alonzo. The others agreed that that should be tried. "OK then", Devon said, "we will return back to the Biodome and get Uly. OK?" She looked at the others. "Lets go."

Devon and Danziger then turned back towards the way that they had come. Julia, however, did not move. Devon returned to Julia's side and said "Come on Julia. We will be back soon."

"I can't leave him", Julia cried.

"Julia, we won't be away for long." Devon then tried to pull Julia towards the exit. But Julia would not budge.

"No, Devon" Julia said firmly. "I am waiting here."

Devon looked at Danziger, who shrugged his shoulders. Devon then looked back at Julia. "OK, Julia, but I don't like this. Are you sure that you will be OK."

"Yes, I'll be fine. See you later." Julia then sat with her back to the wall and stared up at Alonzo.

Devon and Danziger reluctantly left Julia in the Terrian cave.

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While Julia was waiting for Devon and Danziger to return, she was hoping that Alonzo would talk to her. She had thought that her physical closeness to him would aid in communication. However, this was not the case.

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It was mid-afternoon, when Devon and Danziger returned to the cave with Uly. Devon noticed that Julia had not moved. "Are you OK", she asked the young doctor.

"I'll fine, Devon" Julia said, as she got up.

"OK, then." Devon smiled fondly at her friend. "Uly," Devon turned to her son and said "I want you to try and talk to Alonzo."

Uly then closed his eyes and quickly entered the Dreamplane. Even though he tried, Uly could not communicate with Alonzo. It was as if the pilot was hiding. Uly left the Dreamplane. He said, "No luck, Mum. I couldn't find Alonzo." He paused and then said "maybe if I touched him, I would have better luck. What do you think?", Uly asked his mother.

"OK Uly", Devon answered, "but be careful."

Uly gave his mother a large smile and said. "No problem!" Uly then went towards Alonzo. As Uly put his hand on Alonzo, both Uly and Alonzo cried out. Uly pulled his hand away.

"Uly, Uly, are you alright?" Devon asked her son.

"I'm OK Mum. But I couldn't put my hand on Alonzo. It hurt too much." Uly looked at his hand and Devon saw that it was burnt.

"Julia, come and help Uly. He has burnt his hand", cried Devon.

Julia came over and quickly examined Uly's hand. She applied some medication. She then said to Uly, "You'll be OK, Uly." Julia then looked at Devon and said. "He will be OK. It is only a minor burn. It is not as severe as the one that I got when I touched Alonzo."

Devon then looked back at Uly and said, "Hey Champ, I knew that you would be fine. Now, did you manage to make contact with Alonzo at all?"

"The only contact I had with Alonzo was full of pain. Alonzo is suffering, but I don't know why. Sorry, Mum." Uly then looked at Julia and said "Sorry Julia."

"It's OK Champ", said Devon, "thanks for trying." Devon bent down and gave Uly a kiss.

Julia also gave Uly a hug and said, "Thanks Uly."

Devon then walked Uly out of the Terrian cave.

Julia then turned to Danziger and said, "What can we do now?"

Danziger shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, Julia. Did Alonzo talk to you at all?

"No, he didn't. I thought that since I was so physically close to him, that he would talk to me. But no, he did not say anything." Tears formed in Julia's eyes. "What are we going to do?"

Danziger went over to Julia, hugged her and said, "it will be OK. You'll see."

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That night, Danziger stayed with Julia in the Terrian cave while Devon took Uly back to the Biodome. The next morning Devon returned with fresh supplies. Devon asked them whether Alonzo had spoken to them and once again, they said no. They were quickly losing hope of being able to help Alonzo. They did not know what to do.

As Devon and Danziger went exploring the Terrian Cave, Julia stood guard over Alonzo.

Julia said, "Alonzo, I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you to tell how I can help you." She looked at Alonzo and she could see the pain in his body as it twitched with the Terrian dreaming. "Please, Alonzo", she cried, "I want to help you but I don't know how." Julia then started crying.

"Don't cry, Julia", a voice suddenly said.

Julia looked up and saw an image of Alonzo floating in the cave.

"Alonzo, is that you?", Julia asked.

"Yes, Julia it's me" the image replied. "Your pain drew me to you." The image of Alonzo then asked, "Do you forgive me for leaving you?"

Without hesitation, Julia responded "Yes, I forgive you. Can you please come back now."

The image of Alonzo looked relieved. It then said, "Julia, I needed to try this Terrian bed once again. But I became stuck. Last time, Mary pulled me out. But I can't do it on my own." The image of Alonzo started to fade "Julia, can you help me. I think that all you need to do is...."

"What Alonzo, what do I need to do", shouted Julia as the image of Alonzo faded out. "Alonzo, come back. I don't know what to do!!"

At that moment, Devon and Danziger returned for their exploration of the cave. Julia told them what Alonzo had told her.

"Try calling him again", suggested Danziger.

Julia tried again, but there was no response. "Maybe, we could try together" suggested Julia, "maybe together, we will be able to reach him."

All three then starting calling Alonzo. After a few moments, the image of Alonzo appeared. It said, "Devon, John, it's so good to see you."

"Solace, what the hell are you doing?", asked Danziger angrily.

Devon put a hand on Danziger in order to quieten him. She said to Alonzo, "It's good to see you also, Alonzo. Now, how can we get you out of there?" Devon, as usual, was a no nonsense type of person who got straight to the crux of the problem.

Looking at Devon, Alonzo said, "Devon, I don't really know. Maybe, you simply need to convince the Terrians to help me. Maybe Julia can convince them that I am important to her, that without me, she will not survive." The image of Alonzo then looked at Julia "Can you do that?"

"I can do that. Just hold on." Julia then went towards the image of Alonzo.

"No, stay back", yelled the image of Alonzo. "Don't get too close. You will be dragged in as well." The image moved away and then said "I can't come to you again. The Terrians will not let me. The first time they allowed me to take this form because they sensed Julia's pain. This second time, I begged them. They will not allow me a third time." The image started to fade. "Please help me. I have no physical energy left at all. I am losing my will to leave. Soon, I will not be able to leave at all. I will become one with the Dreamplane. Please, help...." The image of Alonzo faded out.

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Alonzo awoke and found himself in a strange room. He slowly looked around and saw lots of equipment around him. He felt very light-hearted and dizzy. He then heard a door opening on the other side of the room. He turned his head and saw a blond lady in a doctor's lab coat coming towards him. "Julia", he cried, "is that you?" As the lady got closer, Alonzo saw that is was not Julia.

The lady said "Hello, Mr. Solace. I'm glad that you are awake. You have been out for quite a while. Do you know where you are?"

"No", replied Alonzo, as he looked around. As he looked back to the lady, he said "Who are you."

"I am Dr Jill Henley. I have been looking after you since you arrived."

"Where is here?"

"You are in Hospital on the Earth Space Stations."

"What", cried Alonzo, "how did I get here?"

"Don't you remember?" asked the doctor. After Alonzo nodded no, she continued saying "You returned to the Space Stations on the Colony Ship which returned from planet G889."

"I came back!" cried Alonzo. He paused, letting that information sink in. "But why I am here, in this hospital?"

"From what we can determine from the ship's records, for the last week on your trip, you experienced heighten brain activity." She paused, looking at Alonzo closely. "Do you remember anything from this."

"I thought that I was still on G889 and that I was stuck in a Terrian bed."

"What are the Terrians?", asked the Doctor.

"They are the indigenous creatures which inhabit G889."

"Now I remember", said the Doctor, "I saw them on the news."

After a few moments, Alonzo said. "Let me get this perfectly clear. I actually returned on the Colony ship and I am now on the Space Stations." The Doctor nodded her head. "What about the others. What about Julia?"

"Sorry, Mr Solace, I do not know who else returned. Now, you will need to stay here for another few hours while we make further tests."

"OK, Doc", replied Alonzo. He cringed as he recalled his pet name for Julia.

After the Doctor left, Alonzo felt back asleep.

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After lunch, Devon, Danziger and Julia contemplated the situation.

"What about Mary", queried Danziger, "could she help?"

"Mary was expelled from the Terrians for helping Yale. You know that John", said Devon.

"But, she still may be able to get Alonzo out of that bed!", replied Danziger.

"But we have no idea of where she is!"

"We could look for her, Devon. Why are you refusing to consider this? You have not come up with any other way to get Alonzo out."

"Look, John, back off. We are all concerned about Alonzo. We need to consider all possibilities."

Both Devon and Danziger glared at eachother.

Meanwhile, Julia was not really listening to Devon and Danziger. Alonzo said that she could help him. But how, she wondered. She got up and walked around the cavern. She looked at the Terrians closely and saw how calm and settled they were. When she reached Alonzo, she noticed that he was different. She called Devon and Danziger over.

"What's wrong, Julia?", asked Devon.

"I think that Alonzo is different from the first time that we saw him."

"How?", asked Danziger.

"Well, when I first saw Alonzo, I noticed that he was twitching and physically responding to the Terrian dreaming. You both know that this is common when Alonzo communicates with the Terrians." Both Devon and Danziger nodded. Julia continued, saying "Well, now, he is completely still. He is not moving at all." She paused to let Devon and Danziger look at Alonzo. "Something has happened."

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