THE GIFT
By
Karen Tschudy
Timeline: On way to New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: TLibry@aol.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This is my first try at fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended, characters belong to Amblin and Universal.I've set this story shortly after the "Eve" episode, but for all intent and purposes, have ignored that particular ending to the season. My feeling is that the writers created a device to get Devon out of the way due to her pregnancy for the first part of the new season (if it had been renewed).
For all those who wrote great fanfics that dealt with thawing Devon out, just place this story further along the time frame.
The Gift, Part 1
by Karen Tschudy
Shortly before daybreak:
Morgan Martin found himself alone on a desert plane devoid of any vegetation, barren even of the low shrubs they had passed throught the previous day. He tried using his hands to block the glaring sunlight almost blinding him with its brightness. "Where are you Bess? Where is everyone?" he repeated over and over again, spinning in circles, approaching hysteria.
Suddenly directly in front of him, gushing up from the ground like a seven foot geyser of gray flesh was a Terrian and right after that another one and another, almost surrounding him. Morgan let out a scream and the Terrians drew back, giving him a little more breathing space. "Why do you always do that?" he shouted at them, "You could give a guy a heart attack, popping up out of the ground like that." As a rule Morgan wasn't alone when the Terrians came visiting. He may have had his troubles with Grendlers, but Terrians usually left him alone.
The first Terrian began trilling and moaning. Morgan stared at him horrified, "What do you want? I don't understand what you're saying. You've got the wrong guy. I'm Morgan, Morgan Martin, not Alonzo Solace." Morgan thought, maybe they didn't realize he wasn't Alonzo. Maybe most humans of the same size looked alike to them as all Terrians looked alike to him.
Just as suddenly as they had arrived, the Terrians dropped back into the earth, leaving only a slight depression behind them. Morgan found himself once again alone with the distinct impression that on this plane there was not another living soul. Terrified, he began flayling around shouting, "Bess, Bess, where are you? Don't leave me alone." At that moment he fell out of his cot and found himself on the hard floor of his tent.
Bess had just let herself into the tent to tell Morgan that she was about to leave for her morning jog and found her dazed husband sprawled on the floor muttering to himself.
"What happened, honey?" she asked, "What are you doing on the ground? Did you fall out of bed? Are you hurt, Morgan? Should I get Julia?"
Morgan paused before answering his wife, noticing her obvious concern and decided maybe he didn't have to milk this little mishap for all it was worth. "No, sweetheart, I'm okay, but the strangest thing just happened. Bess, you won't believe it, but I was just on the dream plane talking to some Terrians!"
Bess looked lovingly at her husband, "That's nice dear, but maybe you should take it easy today." She decided to humor him. He'd probably only had a nightmare but she'd watch him closely that day, maybe he had hit his head on the hard ground. Still, on G889 dreams were not to be taken lightly.
Julia's voiceover:
It's been one week since Bess and Morgan "made" Spring return to this strange planet. The air, becomes warmer and sweeter each day as we make our way toward New Pacifica. What tastes, what flavors we inhale with each breath. Sometimes I think I could live on the air alone. It's so different from the sterile recycled oxygen of the stations. How did we think mankind could continue to exist on those enclosed tombs, no wonder our children started dying.There had been attempts to terraform Mars, but how many centuries would it take engineers and scientists to achieve the living conditions we have found here already? It was also much easier for the council to control every action, almost every thought of the people living on the stations. Is that what they really fear--that they won't be able to control us anymore?
Julia stood outside her tent, watching the other members of her party going through their early morning routines before heading to the mess tent for breakfast. They were living the lives of American pioneers, to bed shortly after sunset and up with the sunrise.
Alonzo opened the tent flap behind Julia, slipped his left arm around her waist and said, "Morning, Doc, what's the rush?"
Julia chuckled and leaned back against him, molding her body to fit his, "I can't get enough of this--air--this Spring. Do you realize this is our first Spring on this planet. I have emotions I never thought I'd ever have or ever could have." She had been genetically skewed to the sciences and culturally trained to supress her feelings. Alonzo gently turned her around to face him. Brushing back a stray wisp of hair from her face, looking tenderly into her eyes and smiling broadly he said, "Spring never looked so good."
Aware of the movement surrounding them in the camp and afraid of responding to the feelings Alonzo was arousing within her at that moment, she attempted to lighten the mood with a humorous aside, "Bet you say that to all the women you crash land with."
"No," he replied in a similar spirit, "Only the beautiful women doctors, but then you're my first."
Bess out for her run, spotted the couple, waved and jogged out of camp by herself. She also pass John Danziger heading directly to the med tent. "Hey, Solace, thought I'd find you here. I could use some help with the vehicles."
With great effort Alonzo turned his attention toward the mechanic and said, "Yeah, let me get some coffee and I'll be there in five minutes." He moved closer to Julia and whispered in her ear, "We'll talk more about Spring this evening."
Walking hand in hand to the mess tent each grabbed a cup of coffee and headed toward the small group gathered around the folding table. Yale, Devon, Baines and Magus were going over a land mass projection emanating from Yale's bionic arm. They had learned by now not to trust much of the data received from council. Even official maps were filled with disinformation, protecting or camouflaging who knows what ahead of them. Each morning, members of the group gathered together to modify the information stored in Yale's memory with corrected details of where they had been and where they were going. Baines and Magus had been the previous day's team to scout ahead looking for any problems along their projected trail.
All turned to look at the young couple approaching them, except for True, who was perched half asleep over her bowl of dry cereal. "Hi, sunshine," quipped Alonzo as he ruffled her unbraided hair. True grimaced and snapped, "I don't do mornings."
"Tell me something we don't know," he answered back with no further response from her except a withering glare.
"What's goin' on?" he directed his casual question to Yale.
"Last night Baines and Magus reported that we're about ten kilometers from the edge of what looks like a dried river bed. They're concerned that the bank may be too steep for the vehicles to decend safely," he replied. "John is checking them out to be sure everything is in good condition."
"Yeah, he just asked me to lend a hand. Maybe when we all get there, things will look better in full daylight." Alonzo downed his coffee, gave Julia's hand a squeeze and headed toward the vehicles. On his way he spied a couple of late risers, including Uly Adair and Morgan Martin.
As he approached the Transrover he shouted out, "Any problems big guy?" Danziger raised his hand in a lazy salute and said, "Nothing that new parts and a complete overhaul wouldn't fix. But for now, I just want to make sure nothing's loose enough to shake off. Here, grab this," he said as he tossed Alonzo a torque wrench. "You finish up here and I'll start on the other two."
A familiar voice piped up from behind them asking, "Hey, has anyone seen Bess?"
Danziger replied, "Yeah, she finally left you for a Grendler, Martin. What are you doing out so early? Shouldn't you have your head buried in one of your VR programs?"
"That's uncalled for, I haven't used VR in weeks, or, or at least four or five days," Morgan stammered defensively. He turned away and headed for the mess tent.
As far as he was concerned, Danziger would always be possessed by the evil terrian. An attitude that the mechanic rather enjoyed cultivating. He had no use for bureaucrats and had no patience with people who cowered in his presence. Morgan fit both categories as though born to them.
The Gift, Part 2
by Karen Tschudy
When Bess returned from her morning run, she found most of their gear packed and ready to go. Every so often her husband surprised her with an act of kindness that no one seemed to appreciate but Bess. Their love for each other had grown enormously over the months they had been on G889, each making up what the other lacked. She often reflected back on their former life on the space stations, Morgan, council's liason with the Eden Project, and herself, a transplant from the working classes still forced to make a meager living on the polluted surface of a dying planet.
With implementation of asteroid mining, the space stations were no longer dependent upon earth as a source for raw metals. Even the new steel processing plants were located off planet. Bess's father, although reluctant to see her marry Morgan, had been happy that she would be living in the safer cleaner environment of the stations without committing herself and two or three generations of her descendents to industrial servitude. People who didn't work or serve the greater good of the stations were not tolerated and, it was assumed, shipped back to earth. Perhaps some of them were among the numbers of helpless penal colonists on G889 or other even less hospitable planets around the universe.
Bess wondered what her father would think of his daughter trekking half way across the surface of a strange planet by foot. He certainly had trained her well. Although the Eden advance group hadn't needed many of her survival skills, she certainly was not a hothouse plant. Actually all of the men and women in the group had special skills or talents that put together contributed to the well-being of them all. Was it just good luck that Devon's group had survived so far when others they had encountered had failed or gone crazy, or was there some special purpose in store for them?
Still, Bess often felt remorse at not being able to see or speak to her father again even over the net. She had been dreaming of him alot lately. If only there were some way to reach out over the distance of twenty-two light years. Maybe he wasn't even alive anymore. Would she ever know? Tears welled up in her eyes and began to tumble down her face.
Morgan dropped what he was carrying and rushed to her side, encircling her with his arms, "Bess, honey, what's the matter."
"Oh, nothing to worry about Morgan. I was just thinking about my dad and how I'll never see him again."
He held her close to his chest and his thoughts turned briefly to creating a VR program especially for Bess that might bring her more comfort.
"Okay everybody, gather round." Devon called the group together for a very short briefing before heading out. "We may have a little problem facing us this morning. Magus and Baines were stopped last night by a dry river bed about half a day's travel ahead of us. They scouted in either direction without finding a suitable crossing, but we really won't know what's in store for us until we get there."
Uly and True got into the back of the Transrover with Yale, to review yesterday's history lesson. Although True was almost two years older than Uly, she had avoided formal education due to the status and mobility of her father, who's work contract had been owned by the Adair Corporation. Just as he had been raised, John Danziger took True along with him to whatever space station was being constructed or remodelled. She learned whatever he or family friends had time to teach her, this included reading, math, astronomy and practical mechanics and engineering. She had little knowledge or interest in history and the arts. If it wasn't related to something she could use to help her dad, then she wanted no part of it. The fact that Uly excelled where she faltered, in her mind, had more to do with her lack of interest than ability.
Yale enjoyed the challenge of teaching these two spirited youngsters, who had been the primary focus of their respective parent's love and devotion all of their individual lives.
The Transrover this morning was being driven by Alonzo with Julia at his side. John Danziger and Devon Adair walked together behind the vehicle talking about possible obstacles awaiting them. Yale casually observed the dynamics taking place between the parents of his two charges. Occasionally, John would place his arm protectively around her shoulder to prevent her from losing balance on the rocky terrain. Balance would not have been a problem for Devon, if she paid more attention to the path directly in front of her instead of the subtle expressions that played across John's face during their conversation. Ever since their excursion on the planet's unique rapid transit system, when they had incorrectly assumed that they had made it to New Pacifica, each had begun to seek the other out, usually for prolonged verbal sparrings.
His body was close to her's a few inches within her personal space, but she didn't flinch or pull away as Yale had observed her do with all other men. Yale had been more than just Devon's teacher. He had been her surrorgate father, filling up the spaces left by her very busy and very social parents. This John Danziger was someone to reckon with. The old tutor, like any proud father felt a twinge of jealousy that his former student would have another man to share her dreams, her confidences.
The morning passed quickly. Soon everyone was gathered along the edge of the old dry river bank speculating how to cross it.
"Looks like it's about a four meter drop to the river bed," estimated Baines, "And the width varies from thirty to forty meters across as far as the horizon in either direction."
"No point in wasting a good part of the day looking for a better place to cross," said Danziger, "We've gone down steep banks before. Walman and Cameron can blast the banks with mag-pros to increase the incline and we can ease the vehicles down and up again with ropes."
All agreed and the two men started blasting away at the ground. Before the dust had time to clear, two Terrians had sprung up from the ground on the opposite bank.
"What the hell do they want now," fumed Danzier. "Are we about to enter some holy ground or cross a sacred dead river? Or what?"
The two creatures leaped down the opposite bank without a twinge, covering the distance of the dry bed in what seemed to be two heartbeats and approached the two armed men. Alonzo placed himself between Cameron and Walman and the two Terrians, asking with great understatement, "Is there a problem here?"
One of the Terrians placed his hand on Alonzo's forehead and the former pilot found himself transported to the dream plane. He tried asking them whether they had done anything to offend their tribe and received a multitude of images in reply. As quickly as he had entered the dream state, he was returned and the Terrians stood aside passively while Alonzo explained what had occurred.
He began, "It's not what we thought. They're not upset with us. They came to thank us or actually to thank Bess and Morgan."
"Thank Morgan for what?" snorted Danziger.
"For bringing Spring back, I guess," Alonzo continued. "Even though they live underground and are not greatly affected by the winter, they understand the need of the change of seasons for all that lives on the surface, None of our kind had ever helped to complete this cycle before. They had believed that we only knew how to kill, not to bring life. They have a gift for Bess and Morgan."
"A gift?" piped up Walman, "Don't that beat all! What is it?"
"They haven't told me, but they want to take me where they will give them the gift." Alonzo answered.
A concerned Julia asked, "Do you really think it's safe to go?"
Alonzo still hadn't told anyone about the suicide he had tried during the depression he experienced shortly after they had all crashed and how the Terrians had saved him. They may have healed Uly physically, but they had healed him emotionally. "Julia, I trust them with my life."
The two Terrians began to trill to Uly, who answered them back and then the creatures made a sudden departure into the earth, leaving behind a very bewildered Alonzo.
"Uly, I thought they were going to take me somewhere with them right now. What do they want me to do?"
Uly simply replied. "It's time. They want us to follow them into the earth."
Alonzo stuggled with his reply, "How? I'm not like you Uly. I don't have any Terrian DNA as you have."
Uly looked up a him and smiled as though he were the one over 100 years old. "You don't have to do anything, Alonzo, she does it all."
"She, who's she," questioned Alonzo, becoming more confused.
"The mother. Here, hold my hand, I'll help you." Uly patiently instructed him, "Do as I do." He put his small hand into Alonzo's larger one, closed his eyes and tilted his head backward, as they had seen Mary do, and before anyone could react they descended into the ground.
"Uly," screamed Devon. She sought to throw herself on the ground and to begin digging in the dirt as she had done the first time the earth had swallowed him up, but Danziger held her in his arms. She struggled briefly, realizing but not wanting to accept the fact that Uly had gone under his own power. Although grateful for her child's cure, she was terrified what might occur in her son as a result of it. Other than his relationship and communication with the Terrians, Devon had not witnesses Uly performing anything any other human child might not be able to do. This passing through a solid surface and taking Alonzo with him was a sign of his moving away from Devon personally and also away from her definition of humanity.
Danziger, as a man more comfortable with action than speculation, turned to the group and said, "Instead of standing around waiting and worrying let's move the vehicles over to the other side and set up camp. We can wait on the other bank and they'll easily see us when they return. That way we'll be ready to move on later today, tomorrow or whenever."
He divided everyone into two groups, one for the two smaller vehicles and the other for the larger Transrover. Once on the other bank, they unloaded just enough gear to make their wait more comfortable.
Morgan took this time to go off by himself to work undisturbed on the VR program he had been thinking about for Bess. Before returning to camp he decided to treat himself to a few moments playing the drums. About half way through a session, he realized that he was not alone. He felt a hand on his shoulder and pulling off his VR gear he saw the cadaver like form of a Terrian touching him.
"Oh, my, god!" he exclaimed and each creature, one human and one Terrian took off in opposite directions both in complete terror.
The Gift, Part 3
by Karen Tschudy
Later that night as they gathered around the central campfire, instead of telling stories or planning for the next day, each member of the Eden Project sat in silent reflection.
Without any warning Alonzo shot up through the ground in their midst. His head was tilted slightly downward with eyes closed as though in meditation. He was alone. Before everyone could recover from their shocked silence, he shook the dust from his body, beaming from ear to ear, exclaimed, "Man, what a rush! I feel like I did the first time I soloed."
The first to speak was Devon, "Where's Uly? What have they done with my son."
Attempting to ease her anxieties, Alonzo quickly assured her, "He's fine Devon. He wanted to stay for a while longer. Devon, he's just a kid. He wants to spend the night with some friends. He'll be okay. If he doesn't return before we're ready to leave in the morning, I'll go get him."
Julia, who had left briefly to get her diaglove, approached the two and reaffirmed what Alonzo had said, "He should be just fine, Devon. When he was ill you had to watch him closely or leave him in the care of someone qualified to handle a chronically ill child. But he's okay now, like every parent you have to start letting go, just a little."
Yale place his arm around her, "He loves you Devon, he'll return. He's still a little boy, he's not ready to leave the nest."
"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it tonight anyway, I might as well turn in. I want to thank you all and I really do appreciate and understand all that you've tried to say." Devon turned to leave and was accompanied by Danziger to her tent.
"Knowing you, Adair, you probably won't sleep tonight," he took a deep breath and continued, "Look, Devon, if you want I'll take a magpro and blast those "diggers" out of the ground. We care about you and we're...I'm here for you. Just tell me what you want."
She nodded her head and said, "I know, John, but there really is nothing we can do tonight. Thank you."
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. She leaned against him briefly and entered her tent. He paused before turning away and thought, "Another time."
One by one, other members of the party turned to their tents for the night. Julia and Alonzo returned together to the med tent.
"Too bad that's a dry river bed. I sure could use a bath to clear all this dust from my hair and clothes," Alonzo mused.
"I'm just happy to have you back in one piece, flyboy," Julia said warmly as she began to unbutton his jacket. "Is it really possible for you to go back for Uly the way you came?"
"I'm counting on it. As Uly said it's not anything I do, it's what this place allows me to do. It has something to do with harmonics or the symmetry of this planet. It's not entirely clear to me, but I'm going with the flow. Julia, the things I've seen and done today have really opened my eyes and given me a new sense of purpose. I know we'll make it to New Pacifica. Each of us may be tested in ways we can't even imagine, but I know we'll make it."
Julia was aware of his almost mystical union with the Terrians. It was impossible not to be caught up in his enthusiasm. She felt so vulnerable when she was with Alonzo, no amount of chromo-tilting or study prepared her for love.
"Look at you, you're vibrating with cold. You must be freezing," Alonzo said as he put his arms around her.
"It's not the temperature, Alonzo, it's you," she replied.
"Well, I have a cure for that, doctor," was the last thing he said before lifting Julia off her feet and carrying her into the tent.
Uly did return under his own power as promised shortly before sunrise. He and his mother were at breakfast with a number of the Eden Advance group listening to Uly's retelling of his night with the Terrians.
"It was a little colder underground, but they used their fire staffs to warm some rocks around me and I felt okay."
Julia asked, "Did you have anything to eat or drink while you were down there?"
"Sure," he replied, "There was plenty of water from an underground stream and they cooked up some mushrooms and other stuff for me over those glowing rocks."
"Mushrooms, yuck!" responded True.
Walman piped in, "I know, I bet they tasted just like chicken."
Uly rolled his eyes, "No, but they were good."
Devon, ever the concerned Mother, asked Julia, "How would they know what kind of mushroom would be safe for humans to eat?"
She answered, "I'm sure they wouldn't give Uly anything that would harm him. They seem to know a lot more about human physiology than I know about Terrians'. Also we're not the first people they've interacted with, they've been observing humans for a long time."
"If Uly were to have an adverse reaction to the mushrooms he ate last night it would already have occurred." Yale added, "I for one would enjoy the addition of mushrooms to our diet. Do you think you could find some more for us, Uly?"
"Sure, no problem. Next time we come to some caverns, I'll pop down and get some." Devon reached across the table to give her son's hand a little squeeze.
John Danziger stood up and announced, "Well, are we going to sit around all day shooting the breeze or are we going to hit the road?"
As everyone started to move to load up their gear, Devon turned to John and said, "Isn't childhood wonderful. Here we adults worry about life and death struggles and they're just having one grand adventure."
He responded, "You know if we didn't give our children a strong sense of security, they wouldn't be as independent as they are. You're doing okay, Adair. Just don't worry so much."
"Right, Danziger. Easier said than done."
As Julia and Alonzo were driving along in the Rail, their conversation strayed to something she had said earlier that morning.
Alonzo asked, "What did you mean when you said the Terrians have been watching us a long time. Did you mean just us, the Eden Project, or that penal colonist have been here a long time?"
Julia hesitated slightly before speaking, "Alonzo, awhile back, before I experimented with Uly's DNA, I did something that I'm particularly ashamed of. Reilly tried to get me to remove Uly's pineal gland. It's located in the brain at the roof of the third ventricle. It's function is uncertain, but some believe it's where the human soul resides. I couldn't do it. I lied to Reilly and said that Uly's gland was missing and implied that the Terrians must have removed it when they healed him."
Alonzo broke in, "But you didn't do it. So stop beating yourself up about it. We all trust you now, well, most of us do."
"That's not all Alonzo, during the procedure a Terrian appeared before me and told me that Uly is the key to our survival on this planet, that he is the beginning of an extraordinary evolutionary change which will affect our entire species. As dramatic a change is occurring now as one they had witnessed in humans millions of years ago. How is that possible? How could they witness something twenty-two light years away and millions of years ago. And if they could, how would they retain that memory?"
He somberly replied, "I do believe it is possible. I may not have all the answers for you, but maybe a small part has something to do with the "gift" the Terrians have for Bess. Which reminds me, I have to talk with Morgan before we get there."
"Get where, Alonzo?"
"You'll see."
"Oh, you are so exasperating sometimes!"
He flashed a devastating smile and went off in search of Morgan.
Alonzo left Julia with Bess while he drove off with Morgan. He used the excuse that they would be scouting ahead, but he wanted to enlist Morgan's help for that evening's surprise.
As they drove along Alonzo asked, "Did you first meet Bess on Earth or the Stations?"
Morgan reflected back , "She was visiting the stations, as a representative for her father and I was the council's liaison to the group."
"You mean you were the tour guide," Alonzo interjected with a grin.
"Not exactly," he said slightly offended. "I was expected to show them around the station and to recruit the most promising visitors for station duty."
"Indentured laborers?" Alonzo added again.
"Do you want me to continue, or are you going to interrupt me every five seconds?"
Alonzo just laughed and motioned for him to go ahead with his story.
"Where was I? Oh, yes, the first time I saw Bess, she was walking off a shuttle from earth with about thirty other union reps. She looked like an angel, her hair seemed to float around her head and her eyes were wide with excitement at all she was seeing," Morgan paused, lost in the memory of that moment. Alonzo jabbed him with his elbow to get him talking again.
Although Morgan felt more comfortable with Alonzo than almost anyone else in the Eden group, he was not one to share deeply felt emotions with anyone except Bess. He was quick to broadcast surface irritations, but that was just his way of keeping other people at arms length and maintaining a degree of privacy on the crowded stations.
Morgan continued, "Well, almost from the beginning I wanted her to stay. I knew I couldn't live on Earth, so I pulled some strings......I know a few well connected people......and got a six month internship for Bess. When it was time for her to return to Earth, I was hooked and I asked her to marry me. She talked me into going Earthside to ask her dad's permission. They were very close. It's been over twentytwo years since she last saw him. He's probably dead by now."
Alonzo rubbed the side of his face with the back of his fingers, "Who would have thought it, Morgan, love at first sight. You have some potential, man."
Within the next hour they had arrived at the entrance to the cave.
Toward the end of the day the terrain had changed slightly. Everyone could feel it in their muscles and in their slight shortness of breath that the grade had increased somewhat. As the evening hours approached, the Eden group began to think of making camp.
Zero indicated that the Rail was located at the base of the next rise. When they reached it they found Alonzo and Morgan with a campfire burning. Days were shorter on G889 and the nights still a little chilly. A warm fire was just the thing to brighten the spirits of the weary pioneers. Even more so were the mushrooms and root vegetables the two men had found in the cave. Julia quickly verified that the food was edible.
Danziger said with a wink to Devon, "Fresh food and a warm fire. I just might start liking this place."
After dinner, some of the group turned in early and others gathered around the fire to talk. Morgan quietly pulled Bess aside and on the pretext of taking an evening walk, gently guided her toward the cave entrance.
Morgan turned on the Lumalight and they walked in. Bess asked if this was where the mushrooms were found. He said it was a little further in, then he stopped, drew Bess close and kissed her tenderly, "Bess, I want you to trust me."
"Of course I do Morgan, don't be silly."
He said very seriously, "I mean, Bess, I want you to trust me now. You know I would never do anything to hurt. Close your eyes, I'm going to take you a little deeper into the cave."
"Morgan Martin, now you're beginning to scare me. You remember what happened the last time we were in a cave. We froze that Terrian alive with that geolock box and almost got Yale killed."
"It's okay this time. We have permission. Come on, Bess, you have to trust me if this is going to work."
"Okay, Morgan, my eyes are closed."
They turned a corner and walked about twenty feet further into a chamber with sleeping Terrians lining the walls. Morgan approached the first one and placed one of Bess's hands on the sleeping creature's arm. To Bess it felt like cool, damp clay. She wanted to pull away, but listened to Morgan's voice as he said, "Now, Bess, imagine you're in VR, reach out with your mind and recall the images of your home on earth and your father."
Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at her husband in disbelief. He nodded with quiet confidence so she closed her eyes again and concentrated.
After a few moments, Bess did see her father. He looked much older, even more weathered than the last time she was with him. She called out, "Daddy, is that really you? I've missed you so much. I want you to know we made and we're both okay. I have so much to tell you......"
Morgan let go of her other hand and slowly backed out of the chamber to allow Bess time alone with her father on the dream plane.
Julia's voice over:
We landed on G889 almost six months ago to claim a planet we were told was ready to be designed according to our needs. Except we find now that we are the ones being tested and changed. As time goes by some of us may be affected more dramatically than others, but none will remain untouched.-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.