SERPENT OF EDEN
By
Alex Queirolo
Timeline: After "Brave New Pacifica" (Week 11-14)
Author's E-Mail: CUVH94A@prodigy.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Well, here is my second contribution for today. I was searching for another of mine but i couldn't find it. Oh well, I'll keep searching. It's a good one too. Just a warning y'all, the first paragraph may psych some people out. Relax and keep reading. Thanx.-Alex. As usual, all thoughts are welcome, either by e-mail or by posting.
THE SERPENT OF EDEN
by Alex Queirolo
EARTH 2: The Serpent Of New Pacifica Dreams were good to Doctor Julia Heller most of the time but tonight, and for the past few nights, they had been horrible. This one was the worst. So bad, in fact, that it had left her trembling in John Danziger's arms.
They had left Base Camp less than nine hours ago for an overnight scout to the east and they had shacked up in a cavern. Julia had dozed off a few hours after the darkness of night had surrounded them and Danziger had smiled. Julia was a beautiful sleeper. He made a fire and just sat by it, his mind whirling with thoughts of other things besides their scouting expedition.
Julia had fallen asleep thinking about her lover, Alonzo Solace back at camp. He had wanted to come with her but Devon and Danziger had decided that more would get acutually done if Danziger and Julia went. She had hoped that Alonzo would be in her dreams because those were good dream nights.
He was in her dreams, alright. All of the colonists were. They had made it to New Pacifica and everybody was celebrating. Their were shouts of pure joy in the air. She and Alonzo had been walking across the beach barefoot. He had been wearing shorts and a tanktop. He had kissed her and pushed her into the water. She had climbed out and they had tumbled to the wet sand where the tide came up. Danziger had seen a beautiful smile cross the sleeping doctor's face.
Julia had pulled away from the kiss to look at Alonzo and she had screamed in horror. It wasn't Alonzo anymore; it was Citizen Reilly, her Council contact. Her eyes grew wide in disbelief and she fell away from him, stumbling to her feet and trying to get away. Reilly was grinning wickedly at her. He said, "Look around you, Citizen."
She hadn't wanted to but she was in no way in control of her dream and so she had felt her head swivel to the side and take in the horrorific scene displayed. She had swallowed hard and begun to breath hard. Everybody was dead. That was the truth. She saw all of the people who had become her family and friends lying dead around her. Danziger, Devon... Bess...
"No..no...damn it..no..what did you do? What did you do!" Julia had screamed. Danziger had noted that the doctor had begun to toss in her sleep and he thought that was odd but did nothing but throw another log on the fire. Maybe she was cold.
"You did it, Heller." Reilly cackled. "You brought this about. It's your fault."
She had turned suddenly to try and get away from the awful sight and she had tripped over something. When she pulled herself up from the sand, she had screamed. It was Alonzo who was lying dead at her feet. She had put her head to his chest desperately but his eyes, glossy and sightless had told her all she really needed to know. He was looking up at the night sky. He would do that forever and it was too much for Julia. She grabbed him in her arms and pulled him to her, crying hysterically while Reilly laughed.
Danziger shook her awake, scared himself. He had never seen her like this and frankly, it scared the hell out of him. She was shaking uncontrollably and sobbing hysterically. It looked to him like she was trying to speak but the words were incoherent. "Come on, Doc," Danziger pleaded, "Get a grip on yourself. Pull yourself in. Come on."
She looked up at him, her face swollen with tears and she exclaimed, "You're alive!" Puzzled, he brought the shaking woman to his chest and held her there.
"Yeah, Julia, I'm alive. It's okay. It's only a dream. It's okay." Danziger whsipered.
He watched as she took a deep, heaving breath and pulled herself together. She swallowed and pulled herself away from him. "I'm sorry." She mumbled, embarassed." I should have better control...and I apologize."
"Don't." Danziger reprimanded harshly. She had been vunerable for a moment. The defensive wall that Julia Heller had constructed had collapsed for a few moments and he had found it both comforting and disconcerting to get a glimpse of the woman behind the wall. He wished to God that it was Devon whose wall had collapsed in front of him. He would love to obliterate it himself. Alonzo had once told him while they had been on night watch together that while he valued and adored Julia's strength, it was the vunerable, passionate, free woman that he liked to spend his nights with.
He grabbed a branch and tossed it into the fire. "Do you want to talk about it?" He looked at her, his hazel eyes full of concern.
She licked her lips in frustration. "I don't know. I ..uh..." She took a deep breath. "It's about Reilly, John. He was in my dream."
"Reilly..why?"
" I keep having dreams in which he's coming after me..us. I...he's waiting at New Pacifica for us..." Julia shook her head; she couldn't continue. That was alright, Danziger didn't need her to; he understood perfectly.He sighed. He and Devon had spoken about it before. Reilly was furious. It was only logical that he would try to get back at them. Especially Julia Heller who had turned the tides on Reilly because of friendship and love. Those two things were not included in her genetic programming so she had learned them and used them to defeat Reilly. Danziger touched her gently on the shoulder, "It'll be alright. I promise you that. No one is going to die. Not if I have anything to say about it."
She nodded, "There's something else, John. In most of my dreams, I just see death but in a lot of them, I'm looking down at a specific person but I don't know who it is. I don't know...."
"Don't worry, Doc. It'll be alright. You just got to believe that." Danziger reassured.
She nodded but the truth was, she wasn't at peace. Neither was he. Fifteen minutes later, they made the decision to head back to camp early. They packed up and put out the fire and set out.
Julia slept in Alonzo's arms that night, holding onto him tightly. He didn't know why she seemed so scared and when he asked, she assured him that she was fine. He didn't believe her but he didn't push. When she pleaded him to just hold her, he did so willingly.
John Danziger went into his tent and watched True sleep for a few moments. God she was growing up fast. It was hard to see her sprout up. When they returned to the stations, if they decided to, she would catch the boys' eyes like magnets and to be honest, John wasn't sure he was ready for that. He pulled the covers up to her chin and walked out towards the dome. Devon was there. He greeted her and poured himself a cup of coffee. He chatted with Devon but the truth was that both he and Julia Hellers' minds were many miles away. they were thinking about New Pacifica and what lay ahead for them and they were praying to God that whatever it was, they could triumph over it as they had the rest of their seeimingly insurmountable obstacles.
END
-Alex Queirolo
April 1, 1995
3:50 P.M.Cheers.
"No matter where you go, there you are."
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.