REFLECTIONS
By
Jeitiiea
Timeline: At New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: tressa@bit.net.au
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
*insert standard disclaimer here* Characters not mine, yadda yadda yadda. Hope you enjoy!
Reflections
by VickiNew Pacifica, 3 weeks after the arrival of the Eden Colony ship:
True Danziger reluctantly submitted to Doctor Heller's examination, squirming as the cool diag-glove touched her warm skin. She wriggled restlessly, waiting for Julia to complete her ministrations. Her father, John Danziger, hovered behind her anxiously, also waiting for Julia to finish.
"Well?" he demanded the instant she had. Heller glanced down at the diagnostic glove on her arm, then looked up at her friend, attempting a reassuring smile.
"I can't detect any virus or infection in her body. She seems to be suffering some sort of allergic reaction to something. Possibly a plant or flower somewhere around here," the young doctor suggested. Danziger frowned, the arm around his thin daughter's shoulders holding her to him. He'd never had to deal with True being ill. She hadn't suffered terribly much from the usual chidhood illnesses, which was just as well, since their tiny account back on the station could not have coped with extra's like medication or hospital bills. John found himself wondering how on earth Devon Adair had managed with her son, Ulysses, being sick so long with the Syndrome.
"What does that mean, exactly?" John demanded roughly. Where his daughter was concerned, he was very protective. But he couldn't save her from something he couldn't see.
"Exactly, that means just what I said, John," Julia said, smiling. "I'm sure she'll be fine. I'll give her an injection to take care of the symptoms," and, as she spoke, Heller readied a hypospray and pressed it to True's neck. The girl writhed away from it, scowling as its contents were sent into her bloodstream. "Just watch her carefully for the next couple of days. It's probably just something coming into season, or she would have experienced the reaction earlier." Heller frowned absently. "If the shot doesn't help her symptoms, we might have to try something else. Meanwhile, I'll continue analysing the new spring flowers and see if I can find out what it is that's making her feel so awful," and Julia gave the girl a fond smile. As the injection began to ease her blocked nose and her lungs relaxed, letting her breathe a little easier, True found herself able to smile back, just a tiny bit. The allergy attack had come on suddenly that morning, and it was an unusual experience for the normally healthy girl. For the first time, True felt sympathetic towards Uly, who must have felt this way his whole life. In that moment she generously forgave him all the things he'd ever done to annoy her.
"You're sure she'll be okay?" John demanded anxiously, looking at his daughter in concern.
"I feel better already," True offered in a small voice. She didn't like to see her dad so upset, especially not over her. She wanted him to think of her as tough and brave, not sick and clingy, like Uly used to be with his mom.
Heller smiled. "See?" She patted True's arm. "You tell your dad if you start to feel sick again, or come straight here if you have another attack. Got it?"
True grinned, starting to feel even better. "Got it!" "Okay. Take it easy for the next few days, though," Heller warned, and the stern glance from her father reinforced the condition. Scowling, True nodded. "Taking it easy" meant she couldn't play with all the other kids that were around here. The Syndrome kids, having been Healed by the Terrians as Uly had been, were still in the hospital, under supervision of the overanxious Dr Vazquez, despite Julia's and Devon's reassurances that the Change was permanent. But there were a few siblings of the Syndrome kids, some around her age, whom True had been sorta hanging around, much to Uly's disgust. She knew he thought she'd been ignoring him. Maybe this would give her a chance to play in VR with him, like they used to. Before the Colony ship arrived.
"Sure. Can I go now?" True asked, struggling against her father's arm to get out of the chair and stand. At Julia's nod, John lifted her up and deposited her on the ground, ignoring her indignance at being carted around like a baby.
"Remember what I said about taking it easy!" True heard Julia call as she left the building. True called a vague reassurance over her shoulder, hurrying down the hallway towards the exit. In the year since the Eden Advance crew had reached New Pacifica, it had changed dramatically. In her mind's eye, she could remember what it had looked like: clean, untouched, perfect and beautiful. Now, it was still beautiful and clean, but the signs of humanity's presence were everywhere. Devon and her dad, as well as a lot of the Advance crew, had been determined to keep it as it was, and try not to destroy its beauty with ugly buildings and structures, but New Pacifica was a growing town. There was only one large building, and that was the hospital, out of which True now emerged, already looking around for Uly. His mother had built their house a few klicks away from the main centre of town, but it wasn't quite finished yet, and they still lived in town, like most people. True frowned absently to herself, as she always did when she was lost in thought, and turned her head, scanning the township for any signs of her friend.
~Maybe he's over at the stables~ she thought, and, turning on her heel, headed in that direction in her usual determined gait, if a little slower than normal. Both she and Uly had been delighted to discover that the Colony ship's cargo included more frozen horse embryo's, and they'd watched excitedly as more horses, like Pegasus, grew. These ones hadn't been damaged in any crash, and they didn't get sick, like Pegasus had. Although the horses officially belonged to the entire Eden community, True and Uly had picked out their "own" horses. Uly's was a big, brown horse, with a star, like Pegasus. True's own favorite was a petite white mare with splotches of brown that delighted her. She'd named her Angel.True had been right. Uly was in the stables, slowly and methodically brushing down Aramis, 'his' horse.
"Hey Uly," she called, pausing a few feet away from him. The little boy, who was no longer quite so little, having had several growth spurts over the past year, stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. "Hey True." He resumed grooming the horse. "Whatcha been up to?" the girl asked, biting her lip. She really should have paid more attention to him lately. But when the Colony ship had come, and there'd been a whole heap of other kids for her to play with, True had remembered what it was like on the Stations, with all the other Drone kids, and space brats to hang around with. It'd been a little weird having only Uly to play with for so long, but she'd come to enjoy it. When they weren't fighting. He was, in a weird kinda way, her best friend. Whenever the new kids said something bad about him, True always defended him. In fact, she'd gotten into a couple of fights the last week or two because of that, and had a feeling she was beginning to alienate her new friends. It just didn't seem like she could win.
"Nothing," Uly replied with the casual coolness he'd been developing over the past month. True wasn't sure if it was something he'd picked up off his mother, something to do with his growing up, or because of his connection to the Terrians, but he had developed the ability to detatch himself from everyone else, and the annoying habit of seeming to look straight through a person. It irritated her when he used it on her, even though she knew she probably deserved it.
"Wanna go for a ride?" the girl offered hopefully, knowing even as she said it, that she shouldn't. She still didn't feel all that great. "You're too sick," Uly answered, a glimmer of concern in his huge dark eyes. "You went to see Julia, didn't you?" True nodded and said down on the hay-strewn floor, leaning against the wall and watching him continue grooming the horse. "Yup. She said I had to take it easy," and she made a face.
"So you can't play with all your new friends, right? So you came to me so you wouldn't be bored, right?" Uly sneered, turning his back on her. True frowned, unexpectedly hurt by his cut-down. "It's not like that... I'm sorry I've been ignoring you lately, but there's just so many new people..." That was the wrong thing to say. She knew it when she saw his thin back stiffen and his hand momentarily stilled on the horse's side, before he relaxed. "You don't like it, do you? All the new people, I mean."
"The other sick kids needed to come here to be Healed by the Terrians," Uly replied implacably.
True looked at him. "Yeh, but don't you sometimes wish they'd all go away and everything could go back to how it was? Y'know, just you and me?" she asked. Although she'd spoken in an attempt to draw Uly out, True realized in a flash that she sometimes did wish it were just her and Uly again. There were times she'd taken a group of kids along the river and shown them places she and Uly had played, and had felt like she were betraying something. Times when she'd watched them running around and thought bitterly "get off our planet!" Was that how the Terrians felt? she wondered. It wasn't really her planet, but it was more hers than it was theirs!
"Sometimes," Uly said so softly she almost didn't hear him. He turned around and looked at her, silent for several moments. "You're well enough to groom Angel, aren't you?" he asked, smiling just a little. True nodded. "Sure am. I just can't do much running around and stuff." And, smiling back at her friend, she stood up and walked over to where Angel was stabled. Leading her horse out, she tied her next to Aramis and picked up one of the brushes Uly wasn't using. She hesitated a moment, since big gooey emotional outpourings weren't really something she was good at, but smiled at Uly. "I'm glad we're still friends," was all she said. His answering smile made her glad she'd said it and, with a calm heart, True stood near him as they groomed their horses in comfortable silence.
True dreamed she was being suffocated by a giant koba. It was lying on top of her and, much as she struggled frantically to dislodge it from her face, it stubbornly refused to move. She gasped, whimpering fearfully, trying to breathe. She batted her hands around, feeling the satisfying thunk as they connected with something.
"Ow! True, watch it, sweetheart!" she heard a familiar voice say, and awoke with a start. She was in her father's arms, being carried somewhere, and the feeling of suffocation from the dream was still with her. Gasping for breath against the pain of her lungs and her stinging eyes, True began to feel a little disoriented, a little detatched from reality. She wasn't sure whether she was still dreaming or not, as her dad rushed her through the night to the hospital, rousing Julia with his yells as he set her down on a bed. Julia must have been sleeping nearby, because she arrived quickly, strapping on her diag-glove and examining True. The sense of detatchment increased, and True felt like she was floating on a soft, fluffy cloud, far away from all the frantic activity going on around her as Julia and another medic tried to help her.
"... never seen such a strong allergic reaction...." "... get Vazquez..."
"..... help her!"
Words floated in and out of her hearing, though they were being spoken right next to her. True didn't even think to wonder why she felt so strange, she just kept floating pleasantly. "True? True, look at me!" Someone grabbed her face and forced her to look at them. True scowled. Couldn't they just leave her alone? She felt so nice and warm now. But they pinched her hard, and she let out a yelp, focussing on her father's blurry face.
"Daddy?" She began to worry. Why did her dad look so scared? He never looked scared. Something was very wrong. "Julia, please, do something!" John begged the doctor, clutching his daughter close to him.Heller glanced up at Danziger, taking note of his frightened expression, and matching it with her own. "I'm trying, John!" She looked up with relief as she saw Dr Vazquez enter, along with the medic she'd sent to fetch him. "What's going on?" the man demanded.
"She was just brought in. She's suffering a severe allergic reaction to something - I still haven't identified what. None of the usual treatments seem to be working." Julia stopped suddenly, seeing a small face peering around the corner. "Uly? What are you doing here? You should be in bed." It was, after all, the middle of the night. But Uly just stepped into the room, drawing everyone's attention. Even True glanced distractedly in his direction, trying to work out what was going on, and why everyone was crowded around her. "I can help her," he explained and stepped close. Julia watched him in confusion. "The planet is making her sick," Uly told her, matter-of-factly, his gaze taking on that far-away look she'd often seen when he was in what she privately termed 'Terrian-mode.' "The planet can heal her," he continued. Julia then saw that he had a handful of dirt in his hands, and had a flashback to the day a Terrian had rubbed dirt over a relapsing Ulysses, instantly making him a little better. Dr Vazquez moved to stop the boy from going to True, but Julia held him back. Although Vazquez had read her reports of the past two years, and had seen, with his own eyes, the healing of the Syndrome children, he still distrusted the Terrians, as did quite a few of the parents.
"Let him do what he has to," Heller hissed at him, holding him back as Uly stepped up to his friend. Danziger moved away, still keeping one hand on his daughter's shoulder, as the boy gently, almost tenderly, pushed True back, so she lay down. Then he let the dirt in his hand sift fall lightly across her chest, while one finger trailed a line of dirt across her forehead. Almost instantly, the girl's desperate gasps stopped, and she began to breathe just a little easier. The improvement grew more pronounced with each passing moment, as Julia strapped on her diag-glove, urging Vazquez to do the same, and examined her. Smiling with relief, for she'd had no idea how to help the sick girl, Julia bent down next to Uly. "Uly?" He looked up at her, already losing the Terrian-expression in his eyes, and looking more and more like a little boy. "How did you know True was sick?"
"I had a Dream," he told her calmly, smiling. "I know what's wrong with her, but she has to go see the Terrians to get better. I just helped her for now. She'll get sick again if she doesn't go to them." Heller frowned, beckoning Danziger closer. She watched Uly carefully. "What do you mean, Uly? What did the Terrians tell you?" The child shrugged his thin shoulders. "That there's something in the planet making her sick, something in the air. It's going to come every year to this place. If she wants to stay here, she has to go to them. They can help her body accept the planet, sorta like with me." Danziger tensed beside Julia. "Like with you? Uly, True doesn't have the Syndrome! She's fine! She's just allergic to something... Julia said a plant or flower or something..." The man trailed off, when he saw both Julia and Uly shaking their heads.
"I've never seen such a reaction, before, John," Julia told him quietly. "We all suffered allergies when we first landed, and there's been a rash of them lately, with spring arriving. But none as bad as True's. From what Uly's said, it sounds like she's especially succeptible to some factor in the air that comes with spring, something local to this area, since it didn't effect her last spring. Maybe the Terrians can help her..." "They want to," Uly said quickly. "They don't want her to feel sick. They know she's my friend." He looked at John, whose face registered reluctance and fear. "Please, Mr Danziger, they won't hurt her. They didn't hurt me." "But -" John couldn't express his fear of seeing his child Changed, as Uly had been.
"They won't change her like they did me," Uly added with that odd appearance of mind-reading he'd been exhibiting lately. "They'll just teach her body how to accept the planet, and not fight it. They'll add something of the planet to her, so it's a part of her, and that way she won't get sick again." Having, apparently, said all he intended to, the boy turned away and walked over to True, talking to her quietly. Danziger looked at Julia. "What do you think?" The doctor shrugged. "We still don't know exactly what they did to Uly, John. I can't tell you what they'll do to True, but from what he says, the change won't be as pronounced. I don't think she'll be able to Dream with them, or use Lightning, like Uly can," and she smiled quirkily. "But I can't think of any other way of helping her... None of our medicines helped her tonight... If Uly hadn't come in when he did...." And the doctor trailed off fearfully.
Danziger's big frame shuddered at the thought of what could have happened. He glanced over at his little girl, swallowing convulsively. "Okay." John turned his intense blue gaze on the doctor. "Okay, if the only way for her to get better is through the diggers..." He stopped, and Julia read the depth of the battle raging within him. John did not trust the Terrians, he never had. But he loved True more than life itself. Giving something he cared so deeply about to something he trusted so little was very hard for him to do... But he had no other choice. Julia put a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him silently, and looked over to Uly, who was talking to True. She only hoped Uly knew what he was doing. Or that the Terrians did.True was feeling better with each passing moment, and, when Uly approached her, she was becoming aware of her surroundings. "Uly?" She wondered what she was doing in the hospital. Then, taking a deep breath that caused her to cough, True figured she must have had another attack. "What're you doing here?"
Her friend looked at her with those dark, Terrian-like eyes. "I helped make you better this time. The Terrians can make you better forever." The girl's eyes widened. "Terrians?" She bit her lip. Her father's distrust of the Terrians and Gaal's loathing of them had effected her, and True had always been afraid of the huge, corpse-like aliens. And a little nervous around Uly when he started talking about them. "They're the only ones who can make you well again. Like they did with me." Uly sat down next to her, unconcernedly playing with the red ribbon tied to his homemade Terrian staff.
"Do I have the Syndrome?" True asked, fear making her go very pale. But he shook his head.
"No, don't be silly, True. You're born with that!" Uly smiled. "It's this planet making you sick, and the Terrians can take you with them and make you better. You'll go, right?" He looked at her now with something akin to anxiety, recalling her terror of the Terrians. "They won't hurt you, y'know... They just wanna help."
True quickly hid her uncertainty, not wanting him to see it. She hated anyone seeing her scared. "I'm not scared," she told him irritably, rubbing at her eyes, which still stung her a little. "I'm just..." She could not tell him that just being in any Terrian caves frightened her, that she felt shivers down her spine anytime a Terrian came near her. "I'll go with you, if you want," Uly offered. True smiled shyly. "Promise?"
He smiled back and his small hand found hers and held it tight. "Promise."Danziger watched his daughter talking to Uly and sighed, turning away. He lurched back in surprise as he realized he'd almost walked into someone. "Dev?" John looked down at the petite Devon Adair, and smiled tiredly. "You lookin' for Uly, huh?"
Devon's eyes lost their somewhat frantic expression. "He's here?" John nodded, jerking his head in the direction of her son and True. Adair relaxed completely upon catching sight of her son, her panic at waking and finding her son missing from his bed receeding. She wondered what was going on, and looked up questioningly at John. "What's going on?" He didn't answer. "John? There's something wrong with True?"Glancing over his shoulder at True, who was being well taken care of by Julia and Uly, John put his arm around Devon's shoulders and led her out into the hallway outside. There, in a quiet voice, he explained the midnight attack and Uly's surprise remedy and offer of a cure. Once he'd finished speaking, he looked up from his hands and saw Devon staring at him, wide-eyed.
"Oh gods, John, I'm so sorry!" Devon reached out to him with the sympathy of one parent who'd already gone through the agony of a sick child. John let her hug him, all the more touched by the tactile comfort because Devon generally disliked physical contact.
"Thanks, Adair," he murmurred, his arms encircling her to hold her close. Devon shook her head at this tragic, unexpected turn of events. John would never allow himself to show it, of course, but she felt his fear. "The Terrians won't hurt her, John. You have got to believe that." Devon rested her head lightly against his chest, using their physical closeness to reassure him of that certainty.
"They'd better not," Danziger growled back.
True bit her nails nervously as she watched the sun rise slowly. Then she realized what she was doing and pulled her hand away from her mouth, scowling because she'd been trying to grow her nails. True glared at the ragged nails. A year ago she wouldn't have cared what her nails look like, but lately she'd started to take an interest in how she looked. She'd even been watching a few of the older brothers of Syndrome kids with interest, though she tried to hide it, afraid it was a symptom of Growing Up. "True?"
She looked up, to see Devon standing beside her. It was a few minutes before sunrise, when they'd been told to meet the Terrians here, a few klicks away from New Pacifica. Two Dune Rail's had left New Pacifca half an hour ago, carrying True, John, Devon, Uly, Alonzo Solace and Julia. "Yeh?"
Devon sat down beside her on the ground. "How are you feeling?" True shrugged. "Okay." Whatever was in that dirt Uly had covered her in, it had made her feel much better. But Julia didn't think the effects would last more than a few hours, so she'd had Uly go out and contact the Terrians immediately on the Dream Plane. Their response had been swift and sure, calling True and Uly and their people to this meeting place at sunrise.
"You nervous?"
True's gaze slid sideways to the woman beside her. Over the past year, as True grew and approached her teenage years, she'd often sought out the company of other women. There were some things her father just couldn't help her with. Although Bess had been very helpful, True had found herself turning, most often, to Devon for advice. Perhaps they filled in each other a need, Devon for a daughter, and True for a mother. "Yes."
Devon put an arm around True's shoulders and hugged her. "It'll be okay, True. We'll meet you here at sunset, just like we said." The girl leaned against Devon, seeking comfort. "You won't leave?" and her voice was small and frightened. Devon could understand that. She suspected she'd be frightened too, if she were going into an unknown situation with the unnerving Terrians.
"Of course we won't leave, True," Devon told her, privately startled that the girl could think such a thing. "I don't think your father would let us, anyway," the woman added with a touch of humor that brought a small smile to True's lips.
"I guess not."The girl blinked suddenly as the first rays of the new day's light reflected off the APC parked in front of her, momentarily blinding her. As she closed her eyes and rubbed them, the rumbling sound of Terrians moving through the earth filled her ears. True's eyes popped open, but they had already arrived. Six Terrians stood before her and Devon.
Alonzo, Julia and her father were beside them in an instant, even as Uly stepped forward to greet the aliens. The boy trilled something at them, and they responded. He listened for several moments, before turning back to the humans, his eyes focussing automatically on True. "Are you ready?"
He was distanced, aloof, taking on those attributes through his link to the planet and the Terrians. But he was still more human than the 7 foot creatures behind him. True swallowed nervously, squeezed her fathers hand, and nodded.
"Yes." Her voice was a little croaky, but True ignored this as she released her father's hand and stepped up behind Uly. "You're still coming with me, right?" she asked quietly. The boy smiled calmly at her and nodded, holding one of her hands in his. True relaxed and let him pull her closer to the semi-circle of Terrians. They trilled something at her, and she had the odd sensation that they meant to reassure her.One impossibly huge Terrian hand clutched True's free hand and the girl jumped, cringing away from it. The soothing whale-like noise increased in tempo, and then True was being pulled inexorably down towards the earth, only she hadn't moved. Then everything tilted and blurred into blackness, and True realized with shock that she was inside the earth, travelling through it as the Terrians did. And she was still holding Uly's hand, still held by the Terrian, even though they were passing through the ground. Only it was more like the ground was passing through her, becoming her for that short time.
And then she was tumbling out of the wall into a Terrian cave, Uly still beside her, helping her keep her balance as she fell. The girl looked around her, her body shaking in violent reaction to that unexpected journey through the ground. Wide-eyed and trembling, True quickly realized they were in a Terrian cave.
"Uly?" she whimpered, clutching tightly to the boy's hand. There were more Terrians appearing, more than she'd ever seen, and she didn't understand how they could all fit in this cave. They surrounded her, circling, trilling their eerie music. Desperately, True clutched at the one human voice, Uly's.
"It's okay, True. You're safe, now," the boy was telling her, reassuring her over and over again, pausing occassionally to join in the Terrian song. The Terrians remained just far enough away that they weren't touching her for an interminable time, circling, singing. Then one reached out and grabbed her shoulder, and True was falling.... falling...She could never accurately remember what happened then. The next hours were disjointed, chaotic, confusing. It was like she was asleep and dreaming, only her dreams were real. Reality came to her in flashes. Once, True found herself all alone in a dark cave whose walls reflected red light from somewhere. And it was silent. So silent that silence itself was deafening. Another time she was in a place so bright, so bleached-white that wherever she looked, she was blinded. She cried out from a pain that somehow seemed to be coming from all around her, and then tumbled back into the unending darkness. The next thing she was aware of was being on the ground in another Terrian-cave, with the tall creatures all around her, as they let whisps of dirt fall through their huge hands. The few particles of dirt became many as they fell on top of her, until the dirt buried her and consumed her. Through it all, Uly's voice spoke in her ear, though he didn't seem to be anywhere near her, that she could see. And the Terrians song sounded in her veins, travelling along her body until it felt like she was the song, that the girl known as True was just a memory of the song, that all her life was just one fragment of the song she now was. Slowly, as the song ate along her body and became her, True had a single, terrifyingly beautiful flash of reality that she was the planet. The planet was her body, the ocean her tears, the dirt that covered it her skin, the caves her veins....
Finally, all the bewildering glimpses of something she couldn't understand coalesced into a single vision. She lay on the ground in a Terrian cave, and there was silence, and Uly stood over her. There were no Terrians around. True blinked dirt from her eyelashes, checking to see if she was hurt. The girl discovered she felt stronger and healthier than she could ever remember, like the little sick part of her had been replaced completely.
"Uly?" True sat up, looking around. "Where are we?" Uly was kneeling beside her, helping her stand. "We're going home now, True. It's almost sunset."
"Sunset!" But they'd only just left, hadn't they? True frowned to herself, experiencing that odd sense generally following a dreaming sleep that both no time, and a great period of time had passed while she slept. She was very confused but, she realized with some surprise, not frightened at all. "Yes. C'mon. Mom and everyone else is waiting for us," and he tugged on her hand gently, getting her to dazedly let him pull her along through the tunnels. He seemed to know where he was going, for he never once faltered in the short journey through the tunnels. True followed the smaller figure, too dazed to really take notice of where they were. It was only when they emerged from the caves into the painful glare of the setting sun that True looked up from the ground in surprise. Uly didn't stop, even then. He simply tugged again on her hand and took her around a clump of trees, until they could see their people.
"Daddy!" True cried, startled out of her distracted confusion at the sight of her father, pacing wearily beside an APC. His head jerked up at her cry and, catching sight of her, he let out a yell and ran to her, picking her up in his arms like she weighed no more than a feather and crushing her to him.
"Oh, True-girl, you're safe, you're safe," he growled in her ear, hugging her tightly to him. She hugged him back, not caring that he was practically crushing her thin body.
"I'm back, Daddy, I'm okay," she told him, burying her face in his neck and trying to comfort him. True wasn't afraid at all, she realized. She hadn't been since the Terrians touched her in their cave, however long ago that had been. But her father was.
"I won't ever let them near you again, I promise, baby," he told her, and True pulled back to look at him. Had her dad been crying?! She stroked his cheek, reassuring him, like she were the parent and he the child. "They didn't hurt me, Daddy. I feel better now. They made me better," the girl tried to comfort him, but he only trembled and clutched her to him again.True was aware of Devon, Julia and Alonzo gathering around them, maintaining a discrete distance to allow father and daughter this reunion in peace. After a while, her father released her slowly, putting her down on the ground and kneeling before her. His sharp blue gaze ran over her, checking to see whether she was okay, whether she was hurt or injured. "I'm fine, Daddy," True insisted.
"Julia!" John called, ignoring her words. Doctor Heller was beside them in an instant, apparently having waited for just that summons, trying to extricate True from her father's arms to run the diag-glove over her. She partially managed to do so, and, after a moment or two, smiled and relaxed her tense muscles.
"She's right, John. She's fine. No signs of allergy, nothing. In fact," and Heller frowned thoughtfully. "I don't recall ever seeing True's vitals this strong."
Danziger frowned, peering uncomprehendingly at the readout on Julia's diag-glove. "What did they do to her?" he demanded, holding his daughter tightly to him.
Julia hesitated, glancing over at Devon and Uly for an instant. "I read minute changes in her DNA... Not to the degree of Uly's or the other Syndrome childrens transformations, but it is there..." Heller stopped suddenly and looked over at Uly, catching the boy's expression. "Perhaps you'd better ask Uly how this will manifest itself, since the Terrians seem to be unavailable to answer questions." Giving her a dirty look for her humor, John turned to the child. "Uly?" His usual gruffness was, as always, softened in the boys presence. "It's up to True. She can stay the way she is, or she can learn to Dream with the Terrians, and travel through the Mother...." The boy shrugged, idly twirling his mock-Terrian staff around. Danziger's frown deepened as he watched his daughter, who was biting her lip thoughtfully at this news.
"John..." Julia tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "The changes are barely noticable. But I'll watch True for a few days, if you'd like -" and her lips quirked when she saw Danziger nod vehemently. "I think she's gonna be okay." Julia smiled at the young girl under discussion. "How do you feel?"
"Strong," True answered immediately, her eyes locking with Uly's over her dad's shoulders. The boy smiled back. This was how he had felt, two years ago, when the Terrians had taken and healed him? And no one had believed him then. At least she had the benefit of people who'd had two years experience with Terrians, and their abilities. In that instant, that look of silent understanding, a new kinship was formed between them. Though True may never be as deeply in tune with the planet as Uly was, the connection was there, in her body, in her blood. A connection to the planet, to the Terrians. And to Uly, who had stood with her throughout it all.
-The End-
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.