The serpent beneath the flower by Bernice Low

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THE SERPENT BENEATH THE FLOWER, Part 3
By Bernice Low

"Move over Martin - you're blocking the entrance. Whaddaya doing here anyway?" Danzinger growled, giving Morgan a little nudge with his foot as he entered Devon's tent. Morgan scrambled out of the grumpy mechanic's way like a frightened rabbit - oohh, he hated it when Danzinger was in one of his mean moods.

Julia and Alonzo were already there - though Danzinger got the feeling his friend was going to be pitching his own tent for a while. The temperature between the the two of them seemed to have dropped to sub zero level, with Julia clearly giving Alonzo the cold shoulder.

Women, scoffed Danzinger to himself. They never understood that a man couldn't just walk away from a fight. A man's got to do what a man's got to do, reasoned Danzinger. He didn't know why Alonzo had got into a fight with Jameson, but Danzinger understood that Alonzo had to hit back. Men don't stalk away, sulk and bitch like women do. They get it resolved then and there. Out in the open. OK, so it's primitive, barbaric, neanderthal, whatever - but it works.

He made a mental note to query Alonzo about that fight later. Danzinger wondered why Devon had bothered to call Martin. The man was a paranoid nut at best and a whining, whinging moaner and trouble-maker at worse. He turned his attention to Devon, who was sitting on her cot in the corner of the tent.

"Adair, we've got to do something about this Daniels situation. It's tearing the camp apart." he said, getting straight to the point.

"I know." Devon said - she had emerged from her tent just as the fight was being stopped. "Bess told me it's getting to the kids as well." she added.

And not just the kids alone, thought Devon as she spotted Julia throwing a icy look in the direction of Alonzo.

"There must be something, someway we can do something. I can't sleep at night for god's sakes." Morgan complained.

Danzinger shot Devon an 'I told you not to ask him' look. "Julia? Has Alex given away anything?" Devon asked the doctor, trying to ignore Danzinger's scowl for the moment. Damn it - did he have to pick on every little thing and be so difficult to work with? Men. Why did they have to pick a fight with everything?

Julia shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing. It's almost as if he knows we know." "Maybe he does! Can't you see? He'll get us to do his dirty work for him!" Morgan said nervously." Drive us crazy with suspicion and make us turn on one another!"

"Gimme a break Martin huh?" Danzinger said dryly. Morgan and his paranoid delusions were really getting on his nerves.

"Maybe it's time we talked to Reilly." Julia suggested quietly, looking at Devon.

The three men looked at her in surprise. "What makes you think he'll talk to us?" Morgan asked, looking at Julia. "Julia.. no.." Alonzo added, looking at her with concern, because he knew that Julia would insist on speaking to Reilly personally.

"Alonzo's right - Julia, there must be another way around this." Devon said, looking at the doctor.

"She's right - we have to talk to Reilly." Danzinger asserted. "Danzinger..." Devon looked at him in surprise. "You think of a better way Adair?" he challenged. "Have you seen what it's like out there? People are frightened, we all are. And it's making all of us nuts." Danzinger near shouted.

She knew in her heart that Danzinger and Julia were right. Reilly offered at least some hope of confirming their fears.

"But we don't know if Alex is working with Reilly." chipped in Morgan. "Talking to Reilly might just tip him off."

"If it does, then we'll know for sure right?" Alonzo added optimistically. "Hold on a minute - even if we agreed to talk to Reilly, how are we going to contact him?" asked Devon, reminding them that Julia's transmitter was now buried somewhere in the sands of G889.

"It shouldn't be too difficult to rig up a micro-transmitter from the new stuff the Tech crew have brought. I'm pretty sure we could come up with something that would enable us to contact Reilly." Danzinger replied.

"What about our location? We don't want Reilly being able to track us." Devon asked.

"I'll contact him well away from the camp and move immediately." Julia supplied. "Besides, if Alex is working for Reilly, it wouldn't matter. He would already know where we are." she said, looking at Devon pointedly.

Devon was forced to acknowledge that Julia had a point there.

He would already know.

Devon found the thought to be a frightening one but she tried to put it out of her mind. She knew they've have to face off the Council eventually - she just wished that it wasn't happening so soon.

"OK." Devon gave her approval slowly. "I want you to contact Reilly on audio only Julia - no VR if you can help it. And I'll come with you." Devon insisted.

"Danzinger - how soon can you throw together that transmitter for us?" she asked, her mind already swinging into action to put their plan into operation.

"Take me a while, but I can have it ready for you by noon tomorrow." he said confidently.

"OK - while Julia and I are trying to contact Reilly, you'll supervise the packing here. I want us to be ready to move out as soon as Julia and I are back." Devon rattled off the instructions rapidly.

"Is *he* coming as well?" Morgan looked at Devon almost hopefully. He still held on to the possibility that Devon might be persuaded into accepting that was just so much much easier to just dump Daniels in the nearest Grendler pit and leave him there. At least Morgan would be able to sleep at night in peace.

Devon hesitated. She knew that Morgan, and most of the Eden Advance crew were thinking the same thing.

Let's just leave this problem behind and move on.

But they couldn't.
Devon couldn't help being haunted by the mistake they had made with Julia.

You're not God here.

The words rang in her ears.
Devon knew that she couldn't do it. No matter how frightened she herself felt, she knew that she could not allow the paranoia of the majority terrorise her into making that decision once again.

As if he was tuned into her thoughts, Danzinger caught her eye. "He's coming Martin. But only until we find out what's going on." he said slowly.

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The next morning, Devon casually informed all the members of the camp that they were breaking camp. Leaving Danzinger to supervise the packing, she and Julia made for the Rail on the pretext of scouting the route ahead. Instead, they would ride 20 kilometres away from the camp in a random direction to try and contact Reilly.

As they walked towards the Rail, Alonzo caught up with them. "I'm coming." he declared simply to the two women. Devon looked at Julia, who simply shrugged her approval and continued towards the vehicles. Devon glanced at the dark haired pilot - word had got round camp about their little tiff - and from where Devon stood, it looked like Alonzo had found the proverbial night on the couch, or in this case, his own tent, not to his liking.

"Julia!" Devon called to the doctor. Julia turned round in mid-step to look at Devon. "I've forgot my GEAR - give me five minutes ok?" she said to the doctor and trotted off in the direction of the communications tent, before Julia could raise a protest.

Adair, you're going soft, she said to herself, shaking her head. She snuck a look to see if Alonzo had taken the hint.

She saw the pilot jogging towards where Julia sat in the Rail silently. Just then, she spotted Danzinger coming towards the Rail, a scowl plastered on his face. She quickened her pace to intercept him.

"Adair - what are you still doing here?" he demanded, as she came up to him. "I forgot my GEAR."
Danzinger looked at her with a puzzled expression, his eyes straying to the GEAR unit clipped onto Devon's belt.

"Adair?" he queried, pointing at her waist. "You've got it right there." He looked up past Devon and saw Alonzo talking to Julia, and felt Devon's hand on his arm, tugging him away.

"John, walk me to the Comm tent will you?" she said, casting a backward glance at Julia and Alonzo, while dragging Danzinger by the arm.

"Jeez Adair, isn't it bad enough there's one matchmaker in the camp?" he grumbled, letting Devon lead him away. "Solace better be quick about it." he muttered under his breath as he walked away.

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"Devon!" Julia called to the rapidly retreating figure of Devon and frowned. They were wasting time. She could have sworn she saw the GEAR unit clipped to Devon's belt as they were walking to the vehicle.

She climbed into the DuneRail to wait for Devon as Alonzo ambled over. "Is it safe to come near?" he asked, standing a respectful distance. Julia fumed inwardly as she realised why Devon had suddenly decided to forget her GEAR unit.

Alonzo moved nearer and circled the Rail to hop into the driver's seat next to Julia, who paid no attention to him and continued to look straight ahead towards the mountains the Rail faced.

"I'm sorry about what I did yesterday." he said simply. He reached over and covered her hand with his, willing her to look his way. "I didn't mean to yell at you." he added softly.

But Julia still resolutely stared straight ahead, her head held high. "Why did you hit him?" she asked, still refusing to look at him. "He said some nasty things about you. I had to defend your honour" he said in a serious tone.

"What things?" she found herself turning to him and asking, out of curiosity.

"Unrepeatable things." he murmured in her ear as he inched closer to her. Alonzo didn't want to repeat back to Julia exactly what Jameson had said that so incensed him - no, Jameson had received what he deserved and as far as Alonzo was concerned, he felt no repentance for the punch he had thrown.

What he did feel terrible about was shouting at Julia. He hadn't meant to but he had been angry, angry at what Jameson had said, hurt by the confidence in Jameson's voice.

He pushed the incident from his mind and concentrated on Julia. "Kiss and make up?" he asked teasingly, his lips getting closer all the time to hers. His lips touched hers gently and Julia found it increasingly hard to stay mad at him.

I suppose he's had his punishment, she thought. One night of sharing a tent with Walman [who was notorious for grinding his teeth in his sleep] was enough to turn anyone back onto the straight and narrow.

"Don't think for a moment that this means you'll get away with being flip with your doctor..." she murmured and kissed him back, her fingers tangling through his silky dark hair as he leaned closer to her, only to hear him wince in pain.

Pulling back, she saw him clutch his side. "Alonzo?" she said, her voice heavy with concern. She gently rested her hand on his chest as he recovered from the stabbing pain.

"It's ok. I guess I did take a bit of a beating yesterday." he conceded with a weak smile, as he relaxed his grip on his side.

He leaned over to kiss her again, staying clear of the DuneRail's gearshift which had prodded him where Jameson's elbow had landed in the fight.

"A small price to be back in your good books again Doc." he murmured. "Ready to go you guys?" a familiar voice interrupted. Alonzo looked up to see Devon standing next to the DuneRail watching them both with a raised eyebrow. He grinned and slowly leaned back over to his own side of the Rail,

Resting his foot on the Rail's accelerator, he leaned back into the driver's seat and nodded. Devon climbed into the Rail.

"Ready?" he asked Julia. She nodded. He turned to Devon to see if she was settled in the seat. 'You owe me big time' Devon mouthed to him jokingly and he winked back at her and smiled broadly.

As Alonzo pulled out of the camp, Julia twisted round in her seat to look at Devon, who simply looked innocently back at Julia when their eyes met. Smiling, she shook her head and turned her attention back to the terrain before them.

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"We've just about hit 20 clicks" said Alonzo, looking at Devon over his shoulder as the DuneRail skidded to a stop on the sandy ground.

Devon and Julia stepped out of the rail and surveyed the area. They were in dessert like terrain, with a few lone cacti scattered around.

"Julia?"
"Let's do it." she said firmly.
She fixed the transmitter to her GEAR unit and pulled it over her head. When she was sure she had it on the right frequency, she began speaking.

"Reilly. Are you there?" Julia listened intently through the ear piece for any response from the Councilman. But all she received as static.

Devon, who was tuned into the same frequency shook her head. "Julia, are you sure you've got the right bandwidth?" she asked. Julia nodded affirmatively.
"He's there Devon. I know he is. Reilly talk to me, I know you're there." For the next ten minutes, Julia repeated her message while Devon and Alonzo scanned different frequencies for any signal from Reilly.

All they got was static and more static - and Alonzo finally suggested that they give up and head back to camp.

"Devon - Reilly can hear us." said Julia firmly. "He could be trying to trace us via the audio signal." Devon said with concern as she removed her GEAR.

"He's not responding Julia - and we should get out of here soon." Alonzo said firmly.

"Because he wants to me to go into VR." Julia explained." Devon - let me at least try to contact him through VR."

Devon hesitated.
She had wanted to spare Julia of a face to face confrontation with Reilly and even though she knew that no harm could become of Julia in VR, Devon could imagine what Reilly would say to her.

Traitor.

You betrayed our trust.

The very same thoughts that had run through everyone's minds when they discovered Julia's secret identity.

Devon nodded reluctantly. Replacing her own GEAR unit over her head, she nodded to signal to Julia to enter VR while she and Alonzo eavesdropped on audio.

Slotting in the additional eyepiece, Julia reached up and altered the setting on the GEAR unit to enter VR.

The familiar sensations of VR hit her senses and she soon found herself standing in the same grey room where she had conducted her clandestine meetings with Reilly. Only this time, the room was empty.

No Reilly standing there, arms crossed, waiting to greet her and interrogate her on her activities - no waiting Watcher in the shadows.

"Reilly!" she called out.
Rrrrr-eeeeiii-llllyy... iiiiilllyyyy... The sound of her own voice echoed through the empty space. "Heller..."
Julia jumped at the sound of Reilly's voice and spun round to see Reilly standing behind her, arms crossed over his chest as always, just as if he had been expecting her all along.

"Heller... Heller... ." Reilly tsked "You never used to be so jumpy." He paced the room, circling her slowly, eyes never moving from her. "Did Adair trust you to keep your transmitter?" he asked sarcastically. "I forgot, they're *your* friends now, your family did you say?"

"Where are your little friends anyway? They seemed quite happy to join the party the last time." Reilly looked around the room. "Perhaps they're just eavesdropping on the audio channel." he said with casual precision.

Reilly shook his head mockingly. "Sneakiness does not become of you Heller. After all, we have no secrets here..." He waggled his finger disapprovingly at Julia.

"So what brings you running back to me? No, let me guess..." Reilly pretended to stare into space, as if deep in thought, fingers stroking his chin. "Run into another unstoppable killling machine? The natives turning nasty on you? Some virus you can't deal with Dr Heller? Problems with your personal relationships? - tell Uncle Reilly ..." Reilly stopped in front of Julia, looking her in the eye as he goaded her.

"We need some information from you Reilly." Julia was forced to conceded. "I need you to confirm the identity of someone who travelled on the intermediary ship." Julia asked as calmly as she could. She clenched her fists by her side, willing herself to stay cool.

"Confirm the identity of someone... ." Reilly mumbled to himself and nodded. "Did the Council send Alex Daniels as another spy? Someone in addition to myself to monitor Eden Project?" Julia asked, getting straight to the point. She saw no reason to dally with Reilly, eventhough she knew that the hidden implication of her question was that the Council had not trusted her as their spy.

"Ahhh - Citizen Daniels. Another of our born and bred Patriots of the Council. If my memory serves me, a good friend of yours Heller." Reilly looked at Julia, all wide eyed innocence.

"If he one of yours Reilly?" Julia said, rapidly changing the subject - she knew that both Devon and Alonzo were listening on the audio channel to their conversation.

"Don't get impatient with me Heller" Reilly warned "Or you'll be looking for another VR partner... ."

Julia gritted her teeth.
"Remember - you need me for this Heller. So we play my games or we don't play at all - you understand?" he said, his voice raising, betraying the anger he had been holding back.

Julia said nothing. She knew Reilly was using this opportunity to get back at her for her betrayal. In the past, it was he who was dependent on her - for information and details of Eden Project. Now, their positions were reversed and Reilly was once again, in control of her. But she willed herself to hold her ground.

"What makes you think I'll help you hmm?" he asked her outright. "Have you forgotten your treachery Heller?" Reilly walked around Julia, his eyes never leaving her.

"How you betrayed me? Betrayed the Council? Adair and her little band may have forgiven you, but the Council hasn't." His steel grey eyes bored into Julia

"And *I* haven't..." he added softly. "Was it Adair, Heller? Did she put those ideas into your head? Convinced you that what you did was the right thing?" Reilly questioned, his tone accusing.

"I chose to make that decision Reilly." Julia defended, trying to hold her anger in check." The Council isn't interested in resettlement here. It wants power and control. It wants to rule this planet like it controls life on the stations. I won't help you do that - I won't help you control these people like you, like the Council controlled me!"Julia said, her voice raising slightly, her blue eyes full of determination.

"The Council owns you Heller - make no mistake about that." He watched her reaction." Everything you are, is because of us. Every last cell in your body belongs to the Council. We can break you just as easily as we made you." he snarled.

"Dammit Reilly - we could go on forever about this. Will you help us or not? Because I don't need this Reilly... ." Julia snapped.

Silence.

Julia took a deep breath as she fought to control her feelings. Reilly abruptly turned around and stood, his back to her, his hands linked behind his back - as if he was thinking, pondering his next move.

"The answer you are looking for is no." he stated simply when he turned around once again to face her, calm and collected.

"Daniels isn't here to spy on us?" Julia asked tersely. She found it hard to believe that Reilly would give up the information so readily and she found his sudden coolness unnerving.

"Citizen Daniels to my knowledge has no involvement with Eden Project." Reilly confirmed.

"Then why is he here?" Julia wondered aloud. "You of all people should know Heller... ." answered Reilly cryptically, regarding her with a raised eyebrow.

"Wha... ."
"Goodbye Heller..." Reilly said softly and abruptly vanished in a flash of light.

Damn, thought Julia, as she yanked off the GEAR unit. "What did he mean Julia?" asked Devon immediately, her dark eyes turning to the doctor as she and Alonzo pulled of their GEAR sets. But Julia seemed to be deep in thought.

Julia crouched down on her knees, the GEAR unit resting gently between her fingers as she pondered Reilly's cryptic statement about Alex.

"I don't know Devon..." she said absent-mindedly, eyes focused on the grainy ground, looking intently at the fine light sand, her mind a million miles away.

Drifting back through time, sifting through the memories buried deep down inside - memories she wanted to just banish from her mind...to never remember.

Yet every detail seemed committed to her memory, with intense clarity. The blonde hair, so like her own which shone in the artificial light of the stations, never a strand out of place. The piercing blue eyes - the brilliant mind, the sharp wit. The looks that made him the best looking senior medical student. The attraction between them...

The things drew them together - skewed chromosomes, a mutual love of doughnuts - she remembered the joke about how their chromosomes must have been skewed by the same icing sugar dusted hands.

A mutual destiny - to serve the Council.

She remembered how flattered she was that he had shown an interest in her, how approving her mother was when she discovered who Julia was spending her time with.

Then she remembered the fear she felt when she learned the truth about him. Who he really was.
What he really did.
How he... .

"Julia?"
Alonzo's voice brought her back to present and she saw him crouched down in front of her, looking at her with concern.

"Are you ok?" he asked tenderly. He had heard the entire conversation - heard Reilly deriding her, goading, provoaking - and he had wanted to go into VR and be there with her.

Actually, what he had really wanted to do was give Reilly a good beating. "Hmmmm?" Julia looked up and squinted against the glare of the sunshine. Alonzo reached out and grasped her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. She gave him a weak smile. She straightened up and faced Devon.

"Do you believe him?"
Devon looked at Julia, then Alonzo. She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know Julia. Reilly has every reason to lie." "Guess that doesn't bring us any closer to the truth." chipped in Alonzo. "I know." Devon said, a slight tone of frustration in her voice. She pulled back on her GEAR and contacted the camp.

"Adair to Danzinger."
"Danzinger here - what's the news Adair?" came the gruff tone of the mechanic.

"Well, the good news is Reilly says Daniels isn't a spy. The bad news is, we don't know if he's lying." Devon said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Great - looks like we're back to square one." Danzinger grimaced, one blue eye watching Alex Daniels carrying some equipment across to the Trans-Rover. "You guys headed back now?"

"Yeah - we're on our way. Adair out." Devon removed her GEAR set and sighed. Every warning bell in her head was pealing at top volume, screaming 'DANGER!' - every instinct told her that Reilly was lying, had to be lying.

She climbed into the DuneRail and stared at her two companions. "We don't have a choice do we?" she posed the question to Julia and Alonzo. "There are just too many ifs Devon." Alonzo said, looking at Devon, his expressions serious.

Devon nodded as she stared out to the horizon as Alonzo started the DuneRail and headed for the camp.

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"Citizen - it's good to see you. Had a pleasant journey from Earth I trust?" Reilly was all smiles, all politeness. "So good of you to check in on time."

"I am here to serve the Council." came the reply. "Ahhhhh... . It's so refreshing to be able to work with someone who has a sense of priorities." Reilly chuckled approvingly. "Welcome to G889 Citizen"

The young man, who stood in the shadows of the room inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the Councilman's welcome.

"There's been a change in your duties Citizen." Reilly said, as he paced the room slowly. "You will continue to monitor Eden Project and keep me informed of their progress or any further contact with the Terrians. The boy of course continues to be of interest to us and you will continue to observe him and his behavior and interactions with the natives. However, your priority shall be to bring Citizen Heller to justice for her betrayal of the Council."

Reilly cross his arms over his chest. "Citizen Heller is now a traitor to the Council. She must be dealt with as befitting a traitor. I trust Citizen you are aware of the circumstances surrounding her traitorous actions." he said, looking at the figure in the shadows of the room.

"I am."
"Then you agree with me that such actions cannot be left unpunished by the Council. It would jeopardise our entire system of operations. Justice must be done." Reilly said, studying his new VR partner intently.

"Good - I'm glad we understand each other" Reilly beamed, at the nod of agreement." I am sure you are familiar with the penalty for treason - and I hope Citizen that you're not too squimish when it comes to such matters. I would hate to be disappointed. Again." Reilly emphasised the last word.

"My loyalty to the Council is absolute and without compromise Reilly." came the reassurance. "Heller will be dealt with as demanded by the rules."

"Excellent Citizen - Your personal record with the Council is exemplary and I have full faith in your abilities to bring Heller to me to be dealt with." Reilly said with confidence.

"I'll be in touch." came the reply as the stranger vanished in a flash of light.

Reilly stood alone in the room as he contemplated the orders he had just issued.

"You'll die running Heller - I'll make sure of that."

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