Earth Who by Douglas Neman

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Chapter 7

Ten minutes later, even with a fire going strong, Julia was cold. She held herself, shivering.

Then she felt a gun barrel at her ear. "State your name." It was a woman's voice, emotionless.

"Dr. Julia Heller," she answered plainly, "appointee of the council, ID Delta 04918." Her shivering was gone. Being faced with certain death if she said the wrong answer had a way of giving her an icy smoothness. She used it to her advantage.

"That is a physician's code. You have no authority in this field. State your business."

Julia stood and faced the ZED for the first time. It was remarkable. Despite the armor and the cybernetic enhancements visible around her eyes and forehead, she was still quite pretty. Short, slender, with short brown hair and brown eyes.

Eyes that seemed to probe deep beneath her, and yet were flat and lifeless at the same time.

Uly was lying on the ground a few feet behind her, still unconscious. This ZED was indeed a very silent mover.

"Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have irretrievably lost my communication device," Julia explained. "But I knew of your mission, and elected to join you for the trip up to report to Reilly personally, and replace my lost communicator. It was fortunate you were in the area."

"You are the physician with Eden Project, and I saw you myself at their campsite when I abducted the boy. I know you could not have gotten here before me, yet you have. How?" The gun was pointed at her heart.

With perfect calm, Julia replied, "Are you aware of the Terrians' ability to travel through the earth?"

"I am."
"Well, I don't know how much Reilly briefed you before this mission, but I was experimenting on copying their methods, by injecting the boy's DNA into my own system. I, too, am part Terrian -- and I traveled through the earth to get here. It's a much faster way of travel than even you can run."

On board the TARDIS, Devon, Danziger, Alonzo, and the Doctor held their breaths. Would the ZED buy it?

The ZED did not react in any way that Julia could see. The gun remained steadily trained on her heart -- which started to beat a little faster.

Finally the ZED lowered her gun. "Understood," she said. She went to one of the locked crates, as Julia silently let out a sigh of relief.

On board the TARDIS, the others did the same. So far, so good.

The ZED unlocked the crate and pulled out a device of some sort, which Julia assumed was a homing beacon for an automated shuttle. The ZED wasn't completely turned away from her -- she could still see Julia out of the corner of one eye. Julia stood perfectly still.

"I was fully briefed on Eden Project's history in preparation for this mission," she said.

Again, Julia tensed. Just how fully briefed? She couldn't have known of Julia's deception, or she'd be dead by now. Wouldn't she?

"The details of how Eden Project defeated ZED Unit 428 are sketchy. However, the name of Dr. Julia Heller is known to me." The ZED closed the crate and set the device down on top of it. "And I have a message for you from Reilly."

The ZED whirled in a lightning move and punched Julia in the face.

Julia went down with a cry, blood gushing everywhere, and the ZED proceeded to beat Julia all over with her armored fists, pummeling her so fast that Julia felt like she was being beaten by five people instead of one. With the precision of her cybernetic enhancements, the ZED never broke a bone, but rained down about 25 hammer blows all over her body in about five seconds, before Julia broke and ran, screaming.

The ZED watched her go, barely breathing hard at all. Then she snatched the device she'd pulled from the crate and sprinted after her.

"Go go go now! She's in trouble!" Alonzo yelled to the Doctor, who was already dematerialising the TARDIS.

The ZED heard it, stopped, and turned. A blue box groaned into life in her campsite, it's back to her, between her and the boy. It was the same box whose owner had somehow evaded her attack earlier that evening.

Devon was out the door first, disregarding any danger, and saw Uly lying on the ground. She sprinted to him and started dragging him inside. Alonzo was right behind her with a mag pro, looking for Julia. He glanced around the TARDIS to look behind it -- and saw the ZED aim and fire.

He pulled back, already knowing he was too late. But the ZED hadn't been firing at him, specifically. She had simply fired a worm bullet in their direction, knowing it would circle in for the kill. Already Alonzo could hear that nightmarish buzzing, whining sound as it circled in the air, looking for a human to strike.

"Inside, now!" he yelled. Danziger was in the doorway with Devon, pulling Ulysses inside. Alonzo dove in after them, and the worm bullet smashed harmlessly against the closing TARDIS doors.

The mysterious blue box faded away. The ZED narrowed her eyes and watched it go, remembering every little detail for future analysis. She also noted the boy was gone. She turned and ran after Julia, whom she could clearly hear panting and moaning her way through the woods ahead.

Inside the TARDIS, Devon sobbed and sobbed on the console room floor, holding Ulysses, stroking his hair and rocking him back and forth. He was alive. In fact, he would probably have no memory of the entire ordeal. She could barely believe it.

"We have to rescue Julia," Alonzo panted. "We don't even know if she's alive," Danziger said softly.

Julia stumbled on, half sliding, half running, knowing that heading downhill was her only chance. She was so wounded, uphill would have been impossible. She desperately tried not to panic, but found herself crashing blindly on. There was no help for miles, and no way that she knew of for the others in the TARDIS to reach her.

She was going to die.
A high-pitched buzzing noise filled her ears, like an irritating insect she couldn't see. Just as she realized what it was, her front left thigh exploded in pain. She tumbled head over heels and slid downhill, screeching in agony.

Don't pass out, she thought. Oh, God, Julia, don't pass out! She breathed deeply and promptly choked on the blood covering her face. She turned halfway over and coughed it out, wiping it off. Every inch of her body hurt to move or touch, including her arm, but she had no choice. She wiped blood onto her sleeve as best she could.

She lay on her back, her body pointed down the mountainside, her feet above her head. Through the trees above her, she could see the stars. They were so peaceful. She suddenly went numb all over, felt so oddly relaxed. Slowly she began to accept that her life was about to end.

Trembling, she reached into her jacket pocket for the sedaderm. She could at least try to take the ZED with her. She might yet get one chance.

But as soon as she pulled the sedaderm out of her pocket, a boot crushed her wrist, pinning her hand to the ground. She moaned softly. She had no more screams left in her.

The ZED knelt down. She was so infuriatingly calm. Julia saw that the device in her hand was a communications device. The ZED put it over Julia's head, then turned it on. Then she activated her own.

Blackness surrounded them. They were in virtual reality. The ZED said, "We're in." A few moments later, a third figure joined them.

Reilly.
"My, my!" he said slowly. He walked around her for a few seconds, then knelt down to take a closer look at her. "You know, Dr. Heller, I do believe you have looked better."

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