NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
By
Alex Queirolo and Page Daro
Timeline: On way to New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: zeroburn@ix.netcom.com
AUTHOR's NOTE: Well people, here it is: (a) my first piece in almost a year and NO, it's not the continuation of HAVE YOU READ A GOOD BOOK LATELY and (b) my first active collaboration with my older sister, Page. Say hi, Page. Page says hi. ANYWAY, what this IS is the sequel to the BLACK SHEEP IN THE FAMILY. Now, I know awhile back someone asked for the rights but since I haven't seen nothing. Oh well. Onwards and upwards. Semper Fi. May the Journey continue.
**Dedication** I would like to dedicate this to my buddies on-line Shel, George and o' course, Vicky-girl.
Page and I would both like to also dedicate this to Lia for pushing us into this project. Turnabout is fair play my friend.
Page would like to dedicate this to the man who let her have the screensaver. She said you'd understand. I hope so. I sure as hell don't. ;). Read on.
Oh and as a side-note for all ya time-liners, this one takes place after someone(I don't care who) brings Devon outta cold-sleep. Our people are on their way to New Pacifica. EARTH 2 May The Journey Continue.."
NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS
By Alex Queirolo and Page Daro
"Blisters. Damn it, I got blisters. I never had them on the stations." He complained, sticking a lessthan pleasant smelling foot right in her face. She recoiled in irritation and glared at him.
"Well they wouldn't be so bad if you'd stop dragging your feet," Doctor Julia Heller muttered, studying his foot. It wasn't half as bad as he made it out to be but after all, this *was* Morgan. "They'll be fine, Morgan. Tommorow morning, why don't you start out in one of the vechicles."
For any of the other colonists, that idea would have been acceptable. Not for Martin. Someone had to be responsible for his feet hurting. Julia obviously wasn't sympathetic. He looked over his shoulder. Bess had left with Walman to search for food so that was no good. He saw Devon, thought about it and then rejected it. He spotted Magus and nodded to himself. Julia shook her head and sighed. Better her than me, she thought.
The day had been predictably hot and dry. So much so in fact that Devon had made an executive decision to set-up camp earlier than usual. After all the time together, she'd learned just how far she could push them. Julia wiped sweat off her forehead and then frowned as she examined the clear liquid on her hand that was speckled with dust. "I need a bath,"Julia told herself. She looked over at Devon, "I think Devon needs one too." She was of course rationalizing because per usual, Devon looked in better asthetic shape than any of the colonists. Julia was convinced that Devon had a hidden stash of cosmetics somewhere in all her stuff.
"Hey, Devon!" Julia cried, striding out of the tent. As she walked past the vehicles, Baines, John Danziger and Alonzo Solace all looked up to watch her pass. Alonzo made a show of waving to her and she smiled. "Devon, let's go take a bath."
Danzigers' eyebrow rose, "Oh really? Julia..." "Oh shut up, John." Julia replied quickly. "Devon, I'm serious."
"Hey doc, you need someone to wash your back?" Alonzo asked smoothly. Baines patted him on the back and muttered something like, "You da man."
Devon replied quickly, "No, that's alright! I..think you're right, Julia. I could use a bit of a clean-up. I feel all grungy and.."
"Yeah right, Devon. You look fine." Danziger replied gruffly. It sounded innocent enough and he wasn't looking at her but with their history and with all the tension that everyone(except them apparently) knew was there, it was anything but innocent.
Devon smiled at him. "I'll be right out, Julia." She disappeared into her tent. Alonzo smirked and watched as Julia fidgeted nervously under the scrutiny of the three bored men. Devon emerged with fresh clothing wrapped in a towel. "Don't you boys have something better to do than harass Julia?"
Baines lowered his hand below his hip and made some rude gesture that made Alonzo chuckle. Danziger glared, "She's right. Back to work."
"Let's go," Devon said. Julia walked beside her as they started towards the perimeter of camp.
"Hey, Julia!" Alonzo called out, looking up at her and rubbing grease off of his palms.
"Yeah?" She asked innocently, half-turning towards him. She should have known better. He was wearing one of *those* grins.
"You sure ya ladies don't need a towel boy. You know, to help ya dry off and get wet and..."
"Shut up, lover-boy, you're embarassing me," Danziger said from under the vehicle. Baines laughed loudly.
"That's okay, 'Lonz, girls only." Julia replied with a smile.
Alonzo looked hurt for a moment and then he shrugged and said with a grin, "Whatever floats your boat, lover."
Devon shook her head, "Psychos. I'm surrounded by perverted psychos."
The two women of the Eden Advance crew who were undoubtedly the most sophisticated of the entire crew had left their discarded clothing and white towels laying over smooth rocks on the dusty banks of the river. Yale and Zero had been down earlier to test the water and the results had been more than favorable.
Julia dove in first. Although she had always been loathe to admit it, swimming had always been one of her greatest hobbies and talents. And the strange thing about it was that she hadn't been programmed with swimming know how. Surely the Council and her mother would have frowned upon her indulging in such *regular* activities as swimming. To hell with them.
Devon sooned joined the young doctor in the river. Her dive wasn't quite as perfect but it was nice. As Devon bobbed to the clear blue surface, she threw up her arms and water splashed away from her...and into Julia's face. "Hey!" Julia cried out in amused shock. It was weird to her why people minded being splashed, afterall, they were already in the water.
"Sorry," Devon said sheepishly, treading water a few feet from the doctor. Suddenly she laughed.
"What? What?" Julia asked with apparent confusion creasing her wet face. She hated being out of the loop.
"So tell me, what was that whole thing with Alonzo all about. He seemed kinda, well, I don't know..horny?" Somehow or another, Devon managed to say this with a straight face.
Julia blushed about three different shades. "Devon." She breathed. "I can't believe you just said that."
Devon just shrugged her shoulders and smirked at Julia, "Well why not. I mean, *come on*, Julia."
Julia raised her eyebrow and got a mischeivious twinkle in her icy blue eyes. "Oh..well hey, Devon, what about John. He sure seemed eager to follow."
"No he didn't!" Devon protested. "I know..I was just messing with you. It got a reaction though. Frankly, I don't know why..hell, I can't believe I'm even saying this to you..I don't know why you and John don't just.."
She never got the opportunity to finish her sentence before Devon splashed her. Julia laughed and splashed back. Within moments the two friends were splashing each other like they were children. It was a strange, likeable sensation for Julia. After awhile, they got out of the water, talking and giggling like school-girls.
"Hey," Devon said, her voice taking on a serious edge, "It's getting dark. We should get back before the boys get worried. And uh, so you can settle things with 'Lonzo."
"Sure, whatever." Julia replied. For once, she and Alonzo Solace were doing fine. They were happy and reasonably content despite the long, hard, hot days.
"Hey, Julia." Devon said. There was something odd about her tone. Something that creeped Julia out and made the blonde hairs on the nape of her neck stand up and take notice.
"Devon? What is it? What's wrong?" Julia asked, all the laughter gone. She was worried. She turned towards Devon.
"I'm not gonna point and I don't really think you should look, not for more than a minute anyways but I have a really bad feeling that someone is watching us. In fact, I kinda know. And I, uh, don't think he's one of ours."
"Damn, damn-double-damn," Julia muttered under her breath. Devon rose an eyebrow and shook her head. Some really weird verbal expressions were coming out of mouths of the Eden Crew.
"Damn damn-double damn. Where did you get that one from?" Devon asked nervously. Then she said, "Did you see him?"
"Yeah, I say we get the hell back to camp. Like now."
Devon frowned, "Yeah, I agree. We'll uh, come back with the boys."
"Yeah, I agree. They have the mag-pros. We need the mag-pros." Julia said. She looked over her shoulder at the tall form standing on the hill. "Okay, Devon, let's walk calmly and cooly back to camp. We don't want to scare or..."
A twig snapped behind them. Devon screamed, "Run damn it, run!" Before the words were even out of her mouth, the two women were running back towards the camp faster than they ever dreamed possible.
As they reached the perimeter of the camp, several colonists looked up confused but neither Danziger nor Alonzo were anywhere to be seen. Julia looked at Devon and muttered, "Oh yes, that was very calm and cool."
Devon replied,"Didn't exactly see you walking, doc." Julia scowled and Devon laughed. "Let's find the guys."
Bess arrived behind them, "They're in Baines and Walmans' tent playing poker. What's going on?"
"Hold on, wait a couple minutes, Bess." Devon replied, moving away from Bess. Bess frowned, made a face and said something rude about sticks and rearends. It was one of those days and she was just trying to be nice and..Bess ran off. She needed caffeine.
"You son of a bitch, you stacked the deck. Admit it, fly-boy." Danziger charged, still holding his losing hand in his right fist. Alonzo placed his palms straight out in front of him in a futile declaration of innocence.
"Fight, fight, fight.." Baines chanted under his breath. Walman gave him a look but Baines just shrugged and said, "Ten and a brew on the burly mechanic. In the left corner of course."
"You're on, c'mon Solace!" Walman cried. Danziger grabbed Alonzo by his shirt, "Fess up, c'mon."
"I swear. Why would I? You just naturally suck.' Alonzo taunted. He was grinning but Danziger wasn't amused. He shoved into Alonzo and threw a fist. Alonzo ducked quickly, looked at Walman and said, "Well come on, man, start rooting." Walman nodded. Alonzo grinned and then launched himself at Danziger.
"Stop, stop." Baines hissed suddenly. Walman gave him a stupid look. "No, man, I'm serious, Dev and Julia are comin'. I'm serious." Walman heard it and shut up but Alonzo and Danziger were completely oblivious.
"Oh great! The one time we acutually needed the guys, they're kicking each others' asses." Devon yelled suddenly from the tent flap. "You boys remember what I said last time you fought over poker? I said I'd take the cards for a week. Well, come on now, give them over."
Danziger and Alonzo separated quickly, barely scratched, not even slightly angry at each other. Danziger glared at Devon, "You're crazy, Adair. I'm not giving you my.."
Julia picked up the deck and began to shuffle them, "These you mean, John?"
"Oh Julia, come on, love, that's not neccesary. I mean.."
"Don't even think about it fly-boy." She handed the cards to Devon.
"Well," Devon said, "That was certainly fun. I think we'll just leave you boys alone now. Without your cards. Maybe you can find a pad of paper and play tictac -toe."
Danziger began to advance on her, "Adair, gimme my cards.."
"Uh, Devon, we have something to do, right." Julia said quickly, grabbing her friends' arm and pulling her quickly out of the tent. Once outside, they both looked at each other and sighed. "Now, what are we gonna do?"
"Handle it ourselves." Devon replied simply. "I mean, where in the book does it say that we need *boys* to protect us." She was being defiant, obstinate. Danziger was probably fuming.
"I agree. Completely. Let's get one of the magpros. We'll take care of this ourselves." Julia said. Devon nodded.
"I'll tell Bess where we're going. Just in case."
"Damn woman. I could..I could just..." "Kiss her." Alonzo asked, lying on his back on the floor of the tent. Walman and Baines were both sitting on one of the beds acutually playing tic-tac-toe. Walman's excuse was that there was nothing else to do.
"Shut it, Solace. I'm not in the mood. 'Sides, it was your woman who took the cards."
"No pookie for her." Baines said, not even looking up. Alonzo laughed.
"I know but I go by the old philosphy that what comes around goes around."
Walman looked up, "I think I like that." "Me too," Danziger said darkly. "Say, just what do you have in mind." Alonzo leaned forward and was about to speak when a female voice pierced the air.
"John, Alonzo!" Bess Martin rushed into the tent. Great, Danziger thought, just what I want to deal with, a Martin. Bess quickly apologized for her intrusion and then said, "I don't know if it matters, I guess it does but uh, well.."
"Out with it, Bess." Danziger said shortly, images of his hands around Devons' throat in his mind.
"Fine. Devon and Julia left camp in search of something..I don't know what but they were pretty psyched. And..Julia took the mag-pro!"
"What!" Danziger exclaimed.
Alonzo cursed in Italian and then looked at Walman who was shaking his head. Alonzo clarified it for a confused Bess, "I don't think Devon knows but Walman is just starting to show Julia how to fire one of those things. Last time.."Walman finished the sentence, "Last time that psychotic trigger-happy doctor nearly shot off my damned foot!"
Bess suppressed a laugh drawing a glare from Walman.
"Well boys, lets' go. I guess we gotta go bail them out." Baines said with a smile. Then he said, "Ooh, juicy gossip. I can just..ooh..feel it."
"I'm gonna ground that woman." Alonzo muttered. "You're gonna what?" Danziger said with disbelief. He shook his head, "No sense wasting more time then 'cause Alonzo here, well, he's got it in his head to ground Julia. And this..this I want to see."
Alonzo scowled.
The two women stared at the foot of the hill, gazing at it and wasting time. They'd already been there for a few minutes, wasting time and talking about strategy.
"They are going to be really pissed." Julia said. Her tone implied that she wasn't really worried. She was a fiercely independent woman and the boys' ego problems were the very least of her concerns.
"Ah, to hell with them. They were too busy acting like boys in the school-yard." Devon replied with a smile. Sometimes, the little tousles amused her. Not always. Not now. "Well I guess we should stop stalling if we want to figure this whole thing out."
"Right, okay, you wanna climb the hill?" "We should have come back in the morning." Devon said sensibly as she began to walk towards the hill. "Shoulda. Didn't."
"Right. We're wasting time. The guys'll be looking for us back at camp soon..."
"The guys are looking for you now." Someone said, placing a hand on Julia's shoulder. She never hesistated. Pure instinct took over. She grabbed his hand and flipped him over her back.
"Julia, no!" Devon yelled, seeing the eerie light of Danzigers' flashlight. She watched in disbelief as Julia tossed Alonzo and then the pilot reached back and grabbed Julia, bringing her down beside him.
Danziger laughed and quipped, "Well, 'Lonz, I guess you really did ground her." Alonzo glared at him and rubbed his neck. Then he turned to Julia and started to curse in Italian. Julia just stared back at him with wide eyes.
Finally she managed, "What? I can't understand a single word you're saying." That just seemed to annoy him more and his words collided into each other.
"Ooh, bad, my papa warned me once 'bout pissing off Italians." Baines said, shaking his head. "Real bad."
Devon leaned over and helped them both up."Well, that was certainly dramatic. What are you doing here?"
Danziger shook his head in disbelief. Had he heard her right? "What are we doing here? You really are crazy, Adair. It's dark and you're going off looking for God knows what. You tell me what is wrong with this picture."
Devon stepped forward until she was less than a foot from him, "I'll tell you what's wromg, John. Julia and I get to camp thinking we'd go out with the men to check out a potential problem and what do we find but boys arguing over poker."
"Oh Devon," Danziger replied in irritation,"You need to chill out. Relax on the caffeine. Something on you is *way* too tight."
She shook the images of murder out of her mind. Oh but how good it would feel to indulge in them.
A shot errupted in the dark startling the six colonists and even making Devon jump. Danziger muttered, "Told you that you needed us." Devon glared at him but he held his ground. He was royally pissed. What the hell had the woman been thinking. "Baines, stay here with the women while.."
"Not on your life, John Danziger." Devon replied indignantly. She walked in front of him. "Julia, you coming?"
"Yeah, oh yeah." Julia replied, a smile playing across her lips. She smirked at Danziger. Alonzo let go of her hand, "Oh John, we make a great team, I grounded Julia and good buddy, you really put Devon in her place. Yes, you did."
Baines laughed, "Right and I'm Madonna." Walman lifted an eyebrow, "Who?" "Hey, while you two are doing your routine, the women just dusted us and I hate to tell you but, they still have the mag-pro. Especially Julia." Danziger remarked sharply.
"Oh. Okay." Walman said meakly. Baines added, "Sorry."
Alonzo started laughing, "And for this I gave up piloting. Sweet Lord."Danziger said, "Smart Solace. Don't say that while the Doc's around. She might give you a good ol' black eye and she's not likely to fix it up for ya."
"Hey, let's go."
"Hey, John, did I mention that I don't know nothing about rock or hill climbing?" Baines asked."Oh great. Fine, take it slow and easy. Devon'd certainly read me the riot act if you fell and that'd annoy me," Danziger said, steering the boys to the hill. "Solace, you take the point. JUst in case Julia's waving that mag-pro around. She's not likely to shoot you."
"Okay."
"There, Julia, look!" Devon exclaimed. She extended a hand towards a small, grey freighter ship nestled in the shrubs and greenery of the side of the hill. It looked like it had crashed. The twin moons cast a strange reflection off the exterior.
"It's a sleep-jump ship. I think. Non-council specs. Looks like a resistance ship. Small, old, effecient. Barely." Julia said under her breath. She ran a hand over the metal.
"It got us here, didn't it." A soft voice said from behind them. They started to turn so he added, "Slowly ladies. Very slowly. I'm packing."
Devon mouthed, "Packing?" Julia just shrugged her off but Devon thought she saw something in the doctors' eyes. Something like uncertainity and recognition.
Julia replied, "So are we."
"I can see that. I'm thinking you don't know how to use it.""Try me." Julia pushed, praying he wouldn't. Julia felt the dust next to her stir as Devon moved her foot away.
"Alright ladies, turn around."
"Why? What are you going to do with us?" Devon pressed. He fingered his pistol and a thought ran threw his mind. No, he said. Peaceful. Peaceful."Come on, lady, it's late, okay. I'm tired and I really gotta secure you 'fore I hit the sack." The soft voice said sarcastically. Once again Julia stirred restlessly. There was something about his voice and something about the dry way he spoke. She just couldn't place it.
Slowly she and Devon completed their turn holding the mag-pro down, much to Devons' chagrin. She hadn't discouraged Julia at camp but she *had* heard the story about Julia trying to shoot off Walmans' foot.
"Drop and hit the ground, okay. Sure, I guess you're gonna get a little dirty. I'll take you to the river later.."
"Pig.." Devon said.
"Oh lady, deal with it okay, I'm not interested in doing you, okay." He said tiredly. "Now please, get down."Julia loooked over at Devon who appeared to be speechless not to mention a little taken aback at the mans' outright assurance that he wasn't in anyway interested in her. She and Devon slowly lowered themselves down and at one point the mag-pro hit against Devon and she cringed. Above her the man shook his head and resisted an urge to throw the irritating woman off a cliff. Any cliff.
He moved towards Devon and was leaning down towards her to check for weapons when he felt a hand grip his ankle. His knees buckled hard and his feet slipped out from under him as Julia pulled him down and shoved him hard against the dust.
"Hey, damn it!" He cried out, trying to regain some of his composure. She quickly straddled him and put the mag-pro against his throat. Devon moved to the opposite side of the gun and stood over Julia and the man.
"Well, I guess we took care of that," Julia said proudly. She grinned at Devon and then turned to face the mysterious man whose face seeemed to be mostly shadowed. She reached around her and turned on the magpro. It did have a light on it. She reached forward, jammed her knee against the mag-pro thrusting it further against his throat and then grabbed his chin, "Who are you? Identify yourself?"
"You're council." He replied. She leaned further forward but he was still struggling. His voice sounded suspicious.
"Who are you?" She repeated. If she had to resort to council interrogation methods, so be it.
Behind her, Devon said, "Hey, Julia, calm down, I think you're hurting him..."
"He was gonna hurt us, Devon." Julia replied tightly. "Who are you? Are you a convict?"
"You are council. Oh Jesus." He jerked suddenly away from her, his motions frantic and scared. The suddeness of his motions sent the mag-pro flying in the air.
And it discharged. Much to Devons' chagrin. All three of them watched in horror as the bright beam ripped across the night sky towards the edge of the cliff. Moments before it approached, Alonzo Solace pulled himself up onto the hill. Julia's eyes widened and her jaw fell. Her throat dried.
The man still lying flat on his back with only Julia's knee jammed up against him screamed, "Get down!"
Alonzo must have heard him because he hit the deck and hard. A cloud of dust sprayed up around his body and then the beam passed over him, knicking the shoulder of his leather jacket. For a few long moments, no one moved. Alonzo sunk against the dust trying to figure out if he was still alive. Once he determined that he was, he looked up and stared at Julia. "You shot at me?" He said in disbelief.
"Sorry?" Julia asked, not quite sure what to say. The three other men climbed up on the hill and brushed dust off of them.
Danziger said, "Hell, 'Lonz, I knew Julia was a bit irked at you but I didn't think she was that mad."
Baines muttered,"Okay, Walman, you're continuing the classes with her. You know how I said I'd help? No way. No shanking way."
Devon signaled John over to her and pointed towards the man on the floor. "He attacked us. That's who we saw earlier."
"I'll take him, Julia." Danziger said. Julia nodded and climbed off the man. She crossed over to Alonzo and began to speak to him in a calming manner. After a few moments, she seemed to remember something. She looked over at Danziger and Devon who were both trying to get the young man to speak but failing miserably. He was moving about too quickly, too easily. Julia reached into the med-kit she'd packed and drew out a sedi-derm. She approached Devon.
"Let's say we take him back to camp." She pushed the sedi-derm against the mans' neck causing him to freak out. AS she pulled the sedi-derm away, a bit shocked by his extreme reaction, she noted the numbers on the side of the sedi-derm container. It was a Council issue sedi-derm.
Devon nodded, "Julia, I want to talk to you for a minute, okay? John, will you?"
"Yeah, Adair. Come on, guys." Danziger said dryly, "We got ourselves a prisoner." Alonzo approached, rubbing his shoulder and muttering Italian curses about blondes and guns, ready to help.
"What is it, Devon? Julia asked although she could guess. She stood in the middle of a patch of grass, gazing up at the beauty of the stars above her. She gulped in the fresh air.
"Are you okay?" Devon asked.
"Yeah, I guess I just freaked out there for a minute. I don't know why. I..guess I just felt so helpless. Like I felt with the Council. And when that guy freaked out about the whole Council thing, I don't know, it was really weird..I can't explain it.""Are you okay now?" Devon asked, concern in her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm cool. I'm me."
"Well of course you are, you're Julia. Aren't you?"Julia laughed, "Yeah."
"Good, because I'm gonna need you. The men are already going to read us the riot act and well, I could really use you to come up with a good excuse to explain why we didn't tell them about a gun-toting psychopath.""Okay." Julia laughed.
"Good. Let's go back an.."
"Julia!" Alonzo cried out loudly. "Get over here!" Devon rose an eyebrow and both women broke towards where the men had been trying to lift the stranger. Alonzo was bent over the man, practically in his face. Of course the man couldn't mind because Julia had knocked him out but Devon thought it was still kinda annoying."Alonzo, what is it?" Julia asked. She bent down next to him and he pulled her closer so that she could look into the strangers' face.
"Does this man look at all familiar to you?"Alonzo asked, gently placing a hand on her arm.
"Well," She said, "Now that you mention it, yeah. Kinda. I don't why though. Do you kn.."
"Oh Christ, Julia, he's your brother." Alonzo said sharply.
Julia blinked, "Huh?"
Baines turned to Walman, "What did he just say?" "I don't know. Something about brothers and stuff.""This is better than a soap opera." "A what?"
"Chill, bro, I'll explain later. Just watch, she just kicked the crap out of her own brother. Now, she'll either get really pissed or she'll faint. Standard soap procedure.""Oh really?" Danziger said drly. "I don't want to know. Don't tell me. Don't tell me."
Julia neither screamed nor passed out though. She just stared down in shock until Alonzo squeezed her arm. She blinked again and then leaned in, "Oh my God, Joshua. The..the last time I saw hime was all messed up and he still looked like a little boy and..oh, 'Lonz."
"Well, no sense beating yourself up about this..."Alonzo started.
Walman muttered,"No, just him." Adair gave him a nasty look and said,"What was your first job? Toilet cleaner?" She moved towards Julia and shook her head. Figures, she thought, the pig who insulted her was Julia's brother. And Alonzo, as if reading Devons' mind turned and gave her a dirty look.
"Let's get him back to camp." Danziger said, "Alonzo, help me carry him. Walman, you take the magpro. Please." Devon breathed a visible sigh of relief as did Alonzo.
"Joshua." She said, striding into the medical tent. He hadn't been really injured, just a little beat up but he had taken the full effect of a full sedi-derm and it had caused him to sleep until noon the next day.
The young man who in acutual living years was somewhere between nineteen and twenty looked to his left. His blue eyes burned angrily but then seemed to relax when he saw who was sitting next to his bed. "Alonzo?" He asked, completely ignoring the female standing above him. Afterall, she had beat him up and he wasn't real big on making conversation with people who did that.
"Hey buddy, how are you feeling?" "Tired. Sore. Ow. You know." Joshua Heller replied dryly. "What are you doing here, man. I was told that the Eden Advance was destroyed upon departure."
"Blalock lied, man. We..the Eden Project made it here. Kinda we, uh, we crashed."
"Oh, well that sucks. What is this place. A council camp?" His words were tight and angry and Alonzo remembered just how much the youth hated the Council and everything it stood for.
"No, " The woman said, "This is the Eden Project. The council doesn't control us, Joshua."
He turned ever-so-slightly but didn't look at her,"Oh to hell with that. You're about as Council as anyone I've ever met, lady."
Julia threw up her hands,"Fine. Just as stubborn as ever. Devon.."
"The psychotic dark-haired chick?" Josh asked Alonzo. Alonzo nodded. "She's crazy, Solace."
Alonzo smiled, "I know."
Julia shook her head impatiently, "Fine. I'm outta here." Alonzo looked up at her but then decided to let her go. He knew that he had to talk some sense into Joshua Heller.Julia stormed out of the tent and made it half-way to Devons' tent and turned right around. "He's my brother. My little brother. I'm older. I still get to be in charge." She strode back into the tent. "Alonzo, excuse us for a minute."
"Uh, I don't know if that's a good idea." Alonzo said desperately. He saw the look in her eyes and he feared for his friend. Julia meant to take it to him.
"Now."
"Fine, fine. Josh, I'll be right outside." "Right, man. Don't worry. Not a woman I can't handle..'cept maybe the psycho-chick..what did ya call her, Devon?""Yeah. Her." Alonzo left.
Julia sat on his bed, "Let's get something straight right off..""Okay lets, I don't really give a damn what you Council egg-heads want. You are wasting both of our time and energy..."
"I'm not Council you stubborn asshole!" She yelled, grabbing his shoulder. He was still weak and a little groggy from a pain-killer she'd given him earlier. He'd seemed to have minor injuries he might have sustained from his shuttle crashing. That and beating him up surely couldn't have helped.
"Well you could sure as hell fool me! You act Council." He replied, hotly, eyes blazing. His blonde hair messy and hung over his eyes and she had an obcessive urge to push the strand back.
"Listen to me, I know who you are, Joshua. And..and I think you should know..you're my brother."
He started laughing.
Outside the tent, Baines leaned away and said,"Even soap operas don't have lines that *bad*."Julia stared at Joshua with a pained look in her eyes. He stared back at up her, "Well, what were you expecting me to say? 'I know? Somehow I've always known?' Hello, AVON calling. We call this a reality check."
She hit the table with her fist, "I'm Julia, you block-head. When did you get so stubborn."
He replied quietly,"If you were really Julia, then you'd know that I've always been this way."
"I guess so. Wait a minute." Julia looked at the table, her mind whirling. "I know how I can prove it to you. Alonzo! Get in here fly-boy."
From outside Alonzo replied, "Wait a minute. Devon gave us the cards back early for good behavior."
"No, now. Hold on." She rushed out of the tent only to return moments later pulling Alonzo by his shirt.
"Okay, okay, you can let me go now. You are now officiallly strangling me." Alonzo gasped.
"Good." She replied. She shoved his head down towards Josh, "Look at his tags. You gave them to him..I mean wrote on them. For me. It was the message you sent back for me."
Josh turned the tags over in his hands while Alonzo squirmed. Finally he let him go. Julia thanked him and dismissed him with a pat on the butt. Outside, Walman said, "No pookie?"
Josh stared up at her,"I'll be damned. You look.." "I know. Awful."
"No. Better, Julia. More natural. It was weird seeing y'all dressed up in doctor whites and all. Of course, you could use a bit of hairspray and make-up.""Oh, Devon has all that. If she's nice, we get some but that's not often," Julia quipped.
"Oh. She's weird. Man, you really kicked my..." "I know. I'm sorry. Oh God, I missed you so much." She moved towards him and swept him up into her arms.
"Yeah, me too. When, when did you break away from the Council?"
"When I got with this group. I guess that's what it took for me to realize just how manipulative the Council really is. I've found friendship and love and..."
"Aw, ain't that sweet. Ain't it 'Lonz?" Baines said. Josh looked up at Julia with a confused look on his face.
"That's Baines. He's our local gossip madam. Of sorts."
"Oh. So, who..who are you in love with? Not the old curly dude, right?"
Julia chuckled. "No, now, that's Devons' man." "Oh. Poor guy. Give him my sympathy." "Oh, she's not so bad. Anyway, you know who I'm.." The tent flap opened and Alonzo stepped in, "Lunch is on and if you two are ready to join us." Julia nodded. Alonzo grinned and then leaned over and kissed her. "Great, Doc. I'll be there." He smiled again and then ducked back under the tent.
"You're doing Alonzo?" Josh blurted out. "Well, sorta, kinda, yes. I would have put it a different way but ultimately, yes, we are *more* than together."
"Right on. You watch out for him though, Julia. He's a restless boy."
"I know. I think we'll be okay. I've dealt with all that and I don't think I can deal with it again. I believe he'll stay. I'd like to think that I'm enough incentive."
He grinned, "Oh, you think you're that good, huh?" At first, she was a bit shocked and then he laughed. She punched him in the shoulder. "That's sick,little brother. Come on, let's get some food into you. I'm sure Devons' got some questions for you."
"Oh goodie! I can't wait. Afterwards, I think I can die a fulfilled man." He replied.
"Be nice." She gave him a hand and pulled him up. Using her as support, they moved out of the tent and towards the campfire where the rest of the colonists were gathered around Baines listening to him dish the dirt on their visitor.
Devon Adair approached with John Danziger. They had been arguing on the other side of camp. Devon said, "Alright people, we'll know everything soon, enough. Relax." She sat down on one of the logs and John sat on one at the other side of the unlit campfire pit.
Josh leaned over,"I thought you said they were together?"
"Oh, they are, they're just battling their wild animal-cravings." Julia replied with a laugh as she remembered a favorite expression of both Walman and Baines.
"Oh, got it. Not like you an' Alonzo. You just get down and.."
"Julia, come over here." Devon said, mercifully interupting her brother. She steered her brother over towards Devon and ignored his urgent pleas to get away from Adair.
After they had all sat and passed out dinner, Devon figured that she should get right down to it, "Why are you here?"
"Direct. What a woman." Josh replied dryly. He turned towards Danziger and was about to say something when Julia pinched his arm. "Alright, fair is fair. I'm one of the leaders of the Council Resistance or at least I was until someone sabotaged us. My crew all died while in cold-sleep. My chamber malfunctioned and woke me up two weeks early. Our objective was to ensure peaceful settlement of G889 without Council interferement. We wanted to create a dialog and peaceful co-existance with the aliens."
Devon nodded, "How did you plan to go about this?" He stared back at her, "Lady, you sure you're not Council trained? You sure don't waste words on small talk."
"Apparently not." Devon replied tightly. "Yeah. No hairspray." Baines muttered to Walman. "Alright, consider this. Half of this planet is populated with dangerous criminals while the other half is made up of political prisoners. Rebels like myself. Except they usually don't come like I did. Most are tortured to the breaking point before they arrive. Sanity becomes insanity and well, I guess you can figure it out. My people, if they still exist, believe that we can save some of them. Together, we can drive the Council away."
Devon nodded, "It won't be easy." "No but I guess you understand that all too well. I guess what this ultimately means is that as soon as Julia clears me, I gotta take off, you know. Look for the others." Josh replied. He squeezed Julia's hand. He could tell by her expression that she didn't approve of his plan. "Ms.Adair, your plan for a New Pacifica is the first step but we want to ensure that no one will be watching from above, dictating what comes next."
"Okay. We'll help you out however we can." "Just don't ask for hairspray." Bess muttered grouchily. Her hair fell over her eyes.
"I appreciate that. I have plenty of supplies back at the ship though. I should go back and retrieve them." Josh said.
"Not alone!" Julia replied quickly, grabbing his arm. "You're still not well."
"I'll go with him," Alonzo voluntered. Julia frowned and then finally backed down. "Fine but I want you on your back the minute you get back to camp, Joshua."
"I bet she wants someone else on their back too." Baines said under his breath. Magus pinched him.
"Okay, okay. Really Julia, you worry too much." Josh said calmly.
"About you two. Not enough is more like it." Julia replied flatly.
Devon smirked and then said, "Alright, when you two leave, take water rations, it's going to be a hot one."
"I got my pilots' wings just a few months before the resistance decided to send a ship to G889. I was their first choice to lead the mission, just not to fly it. Some other guy got the call so I found him in a bar and I provoked him into starting a fight. I ended up getting the job." Josh said with a grin. The two pilots crossed over the dusty terrain in long strides. They were making good time.
"Oh hell, Josh, I've done that before. Julia calls it the typical fly-boy approach." Alonzo said. He unscrewed the cap of his canteen and took a long sip.
"Hey, yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that. It's really weird, I mean, she looks so different." Josh exclaimed, disbelief peppering his blue eyes.
"So do you. Last time I saw you, you still had that boyish look on you. You look like a man now. Flight school training beefed you up, huh?"
"Oh, you could say that. I had this really crazy instructor who used me to make me run miles in my jocks. You know, Alonzo, I think she liked me."
"And I thought I had an ego."
"You do. But seriously, promise me you'll take care of Julia, okay? I don't think I'd be alive if it weren't for her. She's a good woman, Alonzo.""I know. You don't have to worry. Julia has nothing to fear from me. I'll move heaven and..G889 for her."
"I know but us, fly-boys, 'Lonz, we got a way of straying. It gets us into trouble but it's almost like instinct. Don't do it to her, man."
"I won't. I'm tied down. I can promise you that. Julia doesn't know this but I've made my decision about New Pacifica. Once we get there and the transport comes, well, it doesn't matter, I'm staying here. With her." Alonzo said seriously. Then he grinned. "Besides, I get it *good* whenever I want it."
"Didn't want to know that. You gonna marry her?" "Yeah, eventually."
"Good, you'll have cute kids."
"How could we fail what with my great looks.." "Julia's brain.."
"Great body.."
"Intelligence."
"Oh shut up. Come on, there's your ship."
Devon Adair extended her hand, "I know we didn't exactly get off to the best start but I'd still like to wish you luck." Josh hesitated and then took it. Julia nodded and smiled.
"Hopefully, I'll be able to join you people at New Pacifica eventually." JOsh replied, moving away from Devon quickly. He slung a framed back-pack over his shoulder. Julia had examined its' contents earlier and put in medical equipment. "For your protection," She'd insisted, acting way too much like an older sister.
Julia hugged him, "I wish you weren't doing this but I understand why you are."
"It's okay. Alonzo, you take care of her..I'll hunt you down,man."
"I know, bro." He took his hand and then pulled him into a hug. "Take care of yourself."
"I will. Well, I guess that's my swan song. Farewell," He kissed Julia on the cheek and then began to move out of camp. Suddenly he turned and looked at Danziger, "Just do her, man."
Devon rose an eybrow, "Who ya doing, Danziger?" "Oh Christ," Baines muttered, "She really *is* that dense."
Alonzo put an arm around Julia and walked with her away from the group, "He'll be okay."
"I know. Devon game him a set of emergency gear. I know he'll be okay but that doesn't mean I don't miss him."
"I know." They walked around the back of the tent and sat down. "Come here." He reached out and pulled her into his well-muscled arms. Then he said, "Oh man, you need a bath."
Devon Adair was the first to notice that her clothing was no longer lying on the flat rock. At first, she was merely confused and then she was angry. "Julia, someone stole our clothes!"
Julia bobbed up from the water. "What? Are you sure? Maybe they just fell.."
"No, they're not here. Someone took them." "Grendlers?"
"Worse. Men. Danziger!"
"At your service, Adair." Danziger said, stepping out around the bushes. Alonzo was standing next to him. "Say you're sorry.""Not bloody likely." Devon retorted. "Where are Walman and Baines?"
"Right here, Devon." Walman replied. "Taping this. I mean this is good. For eternity purposes and all."
"Come here fly-boy, I got something for you." Julia said seductively, still treading water in the middle of the river.
"Stand your ground, Solace." Danziger instructed. "No pookie on the job, 'Lonz." Baines said in a suprisingly dead-pan voice.
"Oh come on, Alonzo." Julia said softly, reaching out a dripping hand for him. He started to move but Danziger put out an arm.
"This was your idea."
"Yeah. No go, Julia. You ladies admit what you did was stupid and.."Devon laughed, "When Grendlers learn to fly." "Fine. Have it your way. You get to walk back into camp strip- nude and..."
Julia and Devon exchanged a look and then stood up. Alonzo blinked and Danzigers' jaw hit the floor. Walman said,"Right on."
"Tape this, tape this." Baines said quickly. Alonzo moved in front of him and blocked his view.
Devon suddenly reached forward and grabbed Johns' wrist. She shoved into him and threw him down on the ground." Now, if you don't mind, we're done with our bath." She took the clothing out of his hands and then she said,"But I think you need one." Still too stunned to react, Danziger stood no chance when both of the women threw their weight into him causing him to fall in to the water. Alonzo tried to move but Julia tackled him.
"This, I like." Walman said. "Naked wrestling." "You're next, Walman." Devon threw him in. Baines shrugged and just threw himself in. Devon laughed, "See you boys back at camp." She handed Julia her clothes and they bothed dressed quickly.
"I can't believe they just did that!" Alonzo fumed.
"Stupid idea, Solace. Stupid, stupid, stupid." Danziger ranted. Walman turned to Baines and grinned.
"I got it all on film, bro. All of it."
As it always did on G889, it cooled down at night. Someone had made a reasonably well-made campfire and all of the colonists were gathered around listening to stories and such.
The men had been laughed at and asked questions but everyone had kept quiet about the exact details. People were bound to find it weird that four big men had been overwelmed by two naked women.
Danziger sat next to Devon."Adair." He handed her a cup of coffee. She thanked him and then smiled.
"You're a good sport." She commented. "Oh, I wasn't back at the river. I had ideas." He said with a tight smile. "Given the opportunity, I might have not been so *good* about it."
"Just the same. Alonzo is okay?" "Oh yeah, he and Julia are playing cards with Walman and Baines. see." He pointed to the other side of the campfire where Julia was staring down at five cards and shaking her head. "For all her intelligence, she's not very good at cards."
"Hey,"Devon said suddenly. "How did you get the cards back?"
"Oh, well Alonzo told Julia that you gave them back to us for good behavior but uh, we really took them back. We bribed Uly."
"John!"
"Sorry," He replied with a wink. He settled back and stared at the leaping flames. A ghost story was just beginning to form in his mind when a voice broke through the tranquility of the air."Fly-boy," Julia yelled, "You stacked the deck." Baines grinned, "Fight, fight, fight!"
-The End-
July 06, 1996: 01:00-06:30/11:30-13:16
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.