Andy's Fan-Fiction Archive

LEGENDS 3 - LEGENDS OF LIFE
By
Nicole Mayer

Timeline: Years after
Author's E-Mail: destiny@bluesky.net.au or destiny@wwdg.com.

Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE (1/5)
by Nicole Mayer (destiny@wwdg.com)
December 1996 and October 1997.
In memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

The night was cold and black, and Gillian Brody could not sleep. Knowing what she knew now: the tragedy, the pain, and the trapped spirit, she could not rest until she did all she could, to help Devon Adair. Even if it meant the woman's death.
She was supposed to die a long time ago. Only a freak of nature brought on by the misguided actions of her friends had trapped her soul between the worlds of the living and the dead, not even part of the Dreamplane, but in a state somewhere on the edge. On the outside, where it was cold, and dark, and full of terror. Gillian knew this, because she had felt that fear and anguish herself, when Devon's spirit had reached out to the land of the living.
Gillian had finally accepted that it *was* Devon who haunted the wind. It was the only explanation that would fit, and Gillian had fought her disbelief. G889 was a magical planet where strange things were normal, and maybe, just maybe, that included trapped spirits as well.
Slowly treading across to the window, Gillian stared out into the moonless night. The sky seemed empty without the friendly orbs she had become used to in only the few weeks she had been on planet G889. A tear trickled down her cheek as she recalled the tragedy of Bess Martin's story. Through reading it, and then accessing all visual records of Eden Advance's historic trek across the planet, Gillian couldn't help but feel as if she knew the people intimately.
It was crazy, she realised that. Recalling her earlier conversation with her family, she wondered why she had even bothered trying to explain her feelings.
"It's just so sad!" Gillian had protested.
"Gill, you didn't even know these people! How can you possibly be upset over their deaths that happened more than seventy years ago?" reasoned her mother.
"Yeah, Gilly, who cares about a bunch of dead people anyway!" her brother Lukas laughed.
Gillian's father's tone had been even more serious. "I think you're becoming obsessed with the past," he said gruffly. "You need to make some new friends. Lukas has fit right in at school, but you, Gillian, haven't even tried!"
She made one last attempt. "But they're not all dead! Devon's spirit is trapped, and we should help her!"
"That's enough of this nonsense!" snapped Gillian's father, and the girl had despondently gone to her room.
"I'll help you, Devon," Gillian whispered onto the wind. An idea suddenly struck her, a plan that entailed more risks than she ever had taken in her seventeen years. What if she were to go out into the desert, and find the place where Devon's body was trapped? That region of the planet was still wild and mostly unexplored, but surely she could retrace the original route. She could make a difference....
"Gillian!" A low voice below startled her from her reverie. Surprised, Gillian looked down. It was Jessie Solace. One of the Transformed. And a girl about whom rumours abounded, yet that never seemed to bother her.
"Uh, hi..." Gillian called down uncertainly. She'd never truly spoken to Jessie before, although Jessie had made eerie predictions about Gillian's life. The two girls had been curiously watching each other, and now Gillian wondered if finally some answers would be revealed.
"The Terrians want to talk to you," Jessie instructed. "We need you to come with us right now!"
Indecision flickered across Gillian's face. She'd heard the few vague rumours about Jessie and her friends, about rituals and weekly communals with the planet through the Dreamplane. Many of the other kids thought they were weird.
But as Gillian looked down at the earnest face before her, she sensed a kinship through their respective obsessions with the unconventional. Not allowing herself time to change her mind, Gillian jumped down from the window and felt Jessie grab her hand. The girls raced off into the night.

...great sadness...the trapped dark...crying...end it now... The images of things unknown swirled past Gillian in a whirlpool of colours and sounds, but two pictures kept appearing in Gillian's mind. The first, of an ancient space ship in a barren landscape; and the second, Devon Adair's haunted face.
...stop the pain... and those were the last words Gillian caught before the dream ended and her consciousness flew back to reality. Jessie's expectant face hovered before her. "Did they talk to you? What did you see? We couldn't get anything from the Terrians, except your picture and that it was of great importance." These were more words than Gillian had ever heard from the mysterious Jessie Solace, but she was too confused to marvel over the fact.
Gillian shook her head tiredly. "I don't know what I saw," she said weakly. "It was all too fast." She looked around at the gathering of teenagers, and wondered if their parents were used to them going out in the dead of the night to a deep cave and communing with Terrians through and with the Dreamplane.
A boy from the back of the group spoke up. "The first Dreamplane experience is always traumatic," he said with authority. "I'm not sure we did the right thing by bringing her here so soon."
"We *had* to," Jessie said vehemently. "It was the proper thing to do. Remember, I told you about Gillian years ago. We just didn't know who she was."
Feeling obligated to at least attempt to explain some things to her new friend, Gillian began, "It was like a distorted kind of reality, and I kept seeing two pictures over and over. A ship out in the desert...."
"Let me see it," instructed Jessie. Placing a hand on Gillian's temple and guiding her other hand to a wall, Jessie closed her eyes. Gillian almost gasped aloud as she realised she was touching a Terrian, now part of a Terrian ...and the sadness was coming again... but this time, Jessie's reassuring presence kept Gillian focused. This time, she saw. And she knew.
"You must go there." Whether it was Jessie, or Gillian herself who said the words, both girls knew the truth in their hearts that Gillian's destiny lay out there, with those who were meant to die a long time ago.

She dreamed. She knew she wasn't supposed to, she knew she shouldn't even be aware that she was alive, but her mind would not rest. In any case, the dreams were better than the terrible wakefulness where she was trapped forever.
In her dream, she could see the past. Close to two hundred years ago, she had taken her last breath in the living world. For all intents and purposes, she was dead, even though she wasn't ready to go.
So when they placed her lifeless body into stasis once again, the final flicker of determination - the fighting spirit for which she was so famous - did not let her die. Caught between the worlds of the living and the dead, her mind was trapped until she finished her quest.
One more moment was all she had asked. A few precious seconds to tell *him* what she should have said long ago, if only she hadn't been so stubborn. And the tragedy of events had ruined everything.
She knew that he, too, had not been able to tell her everything that he needed to. Perhaps now it was too late. For the years had passed and it had been too long. He lived on while she was still trapped until the years irrevocably tore them apart. No man could live so long, even if he was bound by love.
Now their story could never be finished. And she, the one alone, was destined to be trapped in darkness forever.

Jessie Solace walked the Dreamplane. Not in the literal sense - for there were few physical constants that applied to this realm. However, Jessie felt at home in the whirling whites and shifting scenes. She adored the Dreamplane and had been visiting it ever since she was born.
Yet there was something missing from Jessie's life. She had always felt apart from the other children, even those who were Transformed like her. Others spoke of a spiritual relationship with the planet, and sharing with the Terrians. There were no secrets.
But when the Terrians talked to Jessie, they told her things she did not want to hear. Showed her things she did not want to see. And always, but especially of late, the problems manifested themselves on the Dreamplane.
There was a hole in her mind. It had been there ever since Jessie was born, one of a long line of Solaces born on planet G889. And on the Dreamplane, this hole was so much clearer.
There was sweetness and light on the white plains. But in one corner, shadows loomed. Jessie never feared the shadows, yet she could never penetrate them either. There were secrets locked from Jessie Solace.
And as she walked the Dreamplane this night, Jessie wondered if maybe Gillian, the one prophesied, would also help Jessie conquer her own demons.
It was a heartening thought. She reached for the Morganite nestled near her heart, and it seemed to pulsate with a new beat that promised, "Soon."

"You hear me, Lukas? *Don't* give Mom and Dad this message until tomorrow night, okay?"
Lukas looked up at his big sister with his soulful brown eyes. "Are you running away?" he asked.
"No! I just have to see something, do something...I'll be back as soon as I can." Impulsively, Gillian leaned down and gave Lukas a hug. He squeezed her back, an action he had avoided ever since he started school, but now he seemed to realise the seriousness of the situation.
"Bye, Gilly..." he whispered as he watched her crawl out the window. Lukas fervently hoped that his sister would be alright. Slinging her pack over her shoulder, Gillian waved and slipped off into the night.
Jessie Solace was waiting for her behind a tree growing near the statue of Devon Adair. It was the statue that had begun the entire crusade and Gillian had decided it was an appropriate place to begin her quest. Besides, people rarely visited this place, a fact obvious when looking at the statue's state of disrepair.
It was a situation that Gillian intended to fix. But not now. Now was the time for running, for escaping into the darkness and chasing the figure of her dreams. To finally learn of the truth. "Gillian!" Jessie whispered, stepping out from the shadows. Weak moonlight played down across her face as she tossed her thick blonde hair behind one shoulder. "Over here!"
Gillian followed the voice, glad to see that Jessie had not backed out on her word. "Did you manage to borrow a vehicle?" Gillian had recently discovered that Jessie's parents were very rich, which was understandable considering the vast empire of the Solace Transport Corporation.
"Yes," replied Jessie, her solemn eyes showing an unusual hint of excitement. "It was no trouble. Have you heard anything else from the spirit?"
Although Gillian was now quite convinced that it was Devon Adair who was trying to contact her, or more accurately, screaming for help to end the torture, she was still unsure about voicing her beliefs. Especially since Jessie and the other Transformed children had such strong links to the Dreamplane whereas Gillian had only experienced the edges of it once.
Yet through all this, Gillian knew that Jessie believed her, and this gave her the strength to go on.
"I had another dream," Gillian began. "More images of Eden Advance."
"What time period was this?" Jessie asked. Gillian had told her of the dreams which brought into stark reality the story Bess Martin had written; and revealed so much more.
"It was the later years, I think. John Danziger was quite old, and I could see that he was, I hate to say it, crazy. It must have been some time close to the fire that destroyed his house, because I saw him shuffling to the statue and talking to it.
"Do you think," Gillian asked suddenly, "that the dreams are beginning to focus on Danziger for a reason?"
Jessie nodded slowly in agreement. "Perhaps you will also discover his fate," she said wisely. "It could be *your* fate to finally lay his bones to rest."
Gillian shivered. She didn't know if she could handle coming across a dead body, or, more correctly, the sun scorched bones of a man out in the desert.
Jessie stared into Gillian's serious face. "Don't worry," she said softly. "I know that everything will be fine."
Gillian wished she could believe that. A sudden thought struck her. "What about you, Jessie? Have you heard anything from the Terrians lately? Or the planet?"
"The Terrians are not involved," Jessie reminded. "Yet I can pick up fragments from the Dreamplane. You are the one who has been chosen to complete this quest."
Nodding, Gillian impulsively gave her reserved friend a hug. "Well, I guess I'd better get going," she said. Then Jessie surprised her once again.
"*We* had better get going."
"You're coming with me?"
"Yes."
"But why? It's not your problem, and it's dangerous out there...."
"More dangerous for a girl alone," Jessie reminded. "Did you really believe I would let you travel halfway across the planet by yourself?" Jessie did not mention her own reasons for accompanying Gillian - to perhaps learn the truth about her own heart. She felt an overwhelming sense that she, too, was meant to be a part of this quest no matter what.
The shard of Morganite around Jessie's neck flashed suddenly in the moonlight and Gillian was sure she could see a small glow. Looking up into Jessie's eyes, she suddenly had the sensation that Jessie was not just an ordinary girl. There was age in those blue eyes....
"Come." Jessie interrupted Gillian's reverie and took her hand. "Destiny awaits."

Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE. (2/5)
by Nicole Mayer (destiny@wwdg.com)

He sat, still, silent, shocked. The last vestiges of his world had crumbled, and now he had nothing left. Nothing but the memories of *her* and one single strand of hair.
It was clutched in the palm of his hand right now, the delicate strand, and held close to his heart. He did not know what demons had burned down his home, but he knew it was a sign. A sign that his destiny had not yet been fulfilled, and nor had hers.
For everything he'd done, everything he'd tried to do in her memory still wasn't enough. It was useless if he withered away and died a worthless old man, crazy, as the rumours went. And he was dragging her down with him.
No, he had to leave this place. Protect his friends from the darkness that had consumed his soul and go in search of *her*. He should never have left her side in the first place.
"John." Bess Martin's gentle voice broke his reverie. He glanced up at her, not noticing the grey hair and tired eyes, but instead the compassion and kindness in her face. She had done so much for him over the years. Tried to help him even though she could never understand the guilt he felt. Or the love in his heart that would not allow him to let Devon go. *She* deserved better than this, she deserved to be put up on a pedestal and loved forever. He loved her more than anyone else, anyone ever. If only he had told her when he had the chance.
"True offered to have you stay with her as long as you like," Bess said softly. "Until you get a new house built, or...."
"I'm not going to any damn nursing home!" he suddenly shouted. Bess was taken aback.
"No, no, we didn't mean that. What I meant was...." and she broke off awkwardly, not wanting to upset him any further because that was precisely what she *had* meant. Worriedly pushing her hair back from her face, Bess exhaled slowly then continued.
"You're staying here tonight anyway, with Morgan and I. It's too far to True and Uly's place." The Adairs lived south of the city of Devon in the rapidly growing town Freedom, where they were respected members of the community.
Danziger just nodded mutely. He had no wish to hurt all these people who cared so much for him, so he would go quietly, out of their lives once and for all. He suddenly took Bess's hand, and stared sincerely into her eyes.
"I want to thank you, Bess. For everything."
"John, I'll always do anything for you," she replied. "You know that. Just like you've always helped me." For a moment, the memories flooded past the two of them. How he had led the group to New Pacifica and been strong for everyone. The time she had been lost in a storm, and he and Morgan braved the weather to find her.
Working jointly to build a city. The construction of their houses close together; and then dropping in every evening for a chat on the way home from work once the colonists had arrived.
The surprise birthday party he threw for Bess. Godfather to her first child Ariel. And being there for her during the harrowing birth of her second baby, his namesake.
Bess gave him a gentle hug. "Want me to sit here for a while with you?"
He glanced at the clock and saw how late it was. "No, you go to bed. I'll be alright."
Hoping desperately that she could believe him, Bess kissed him on the cheek, not noticing his soot-streaked face. "It'll be alright, John. I promise."
He smiled sadly at her, and whispered goodbye under his breath. As much as he loved her, there was a deeper love than friendship that was tearing at his soul. He had to go.
When all was silent, he crept through the dark house towards the other guest bedroom, where he knew his daughter True was asleep. He was glad she'd been in town that day for a colleague's fiftieth birthday party.
She lay peacefully, and he imagined he could see her as a little girl again, back in the days where she was the most important thing in his life and nothing else.
He still loved her so much. Yet even she had her own life now and no longer needed him. No one needed him but *her*. Kissing True on the forehead, he was surprised to feel slightly wrinkled skin beneath his lips. Somehow, she had aged and he never noticed.
As he closed his eyes, he looked to the past for the innocent face of his daughter, with her sparkling eyes, sweet little nose and beautiful smile. "Goodbye, True-girl," he whispered. Brushing back her hair one last time and noticing the glint of the wedding ring on her finger, he knew she would be fine.
He padded out of the room. Now, it was time to leave. Common sense made him pack a few provisions, however he was unsure if he would need them at all. There was nothing left for him here, so he would go to embrace the darkness that had taken *her* from him.

Gillian glanced at the horizon, and seeing the sun dipping below the edge, she sighed. "Mom and Dad will be starting to freak right about now," she told Jessie.
Smiling serenely, Jessie told her not to worry. "My parents will call them. They will make them understand that it is alright." Gillian wasn't too sure about this, but she realised that any influence Jessie's parents had would be good. The Solace family had always been strong dreamers with undeniable links to both the Terrians and the planet. It was a Solace whom the Terrians had first contacted.
"How much further do you think we should go tonight?" Gillian suddenly asked. The lights on the vehicle were powerful and the technology much more advanced than that of the original colonists' transport. As a result, they could make the several month journey in significantly less time.
Staring over the plains before them, Jessie decided, "We can travel for a few more hours yet. We need to."
"Did you dream it?" Gillian asked expectantly.
"No, I just have the desire to get there as fast as possible," Jessie smiled serenely. "There is a great pain out here, I feel it grow stronger every day."
"You're right," agreed Gillian. Squinting to see beyond the glare of the vehicle's lights, she decided, "So how about we get to the foot of the next mountain range?"
That, Gillian knew, was the site of the fabled Valley of Dreams. It was rumoured to be more beautiful than any other place on G889, yet no one had travelled there since it was discovered, initially because of the tragedy associated with the place, and later, because everyone had forgotten.
The legends still existed, but somehow, the exact records had lain untouched until the valley was considered a children's story. Gillian suspected she was one of only a few who knew of that place's true significance in the history of G889 - she hadn't even told Jessie the whole story.
Gillian's eyes were again drawn to the darkness. Closing her eyes, she could imagine the brave trek of the five adventurers who crossed the desert to save their friend. A mission that had ended in tragedy for all of the party, especially Julia Heller.
They had done so much for the planet and humanity that Gillian was still struck by the unfairness of it all. Heroes such as Eden Advance deserved to live happily ever after with the ones they loved. As the girls travelled onwards, Gillian again shed a tear for the trouble-plagued group.
Suddenly, Gillian's vision blurred and she caught sight of a shape in the dark. Something tall, shuffling along determinedly....
"Jessie!" Gillian gasped, and just as quickly as it had come, the vision was gone.
"What?" the other girl asked.
"Did you see that? It looked like a person..."
Jessie shook her head in response. "I did not see it. I suspect you are being granted memories of times before. The past is a strong force here, for these ways have not been travelled for fifty years. It makes sense that the planet chooses to show us her memories...Oh!"
"What is it?" Gillian asked frantically as Jessie clutched at her own head. Fear began to appear in the cerulean blue eyes, and it was an expression Gillian had never seen on the calm girl's face. The mountains were almost upon them, huge monoliths rising up into the black night, and with them, came a sense of danger. "Those mountains...I feel something," Jessie whispered softly. "I know them!"
Gillian stared at her in stunned silence. Jessie had never mentioned anything remotely connected to those particular mountains before, and they were quite a distance away from the purpose of their mission. Gillian had planned to travel close simply out of curiosity. Yet now it seemed that something greater was at hand. Watching the emotions flicker over Jessie's now distraught face, Gillian felt a glimmer of recognition. She looked so much like her ancestor Julia Heller in those moments that a shiver travelled throughout Gillian's whole being.
"Jessie," she began softly.
"Not Jessie!" the other girl replied vehemently. "J-" She couldn't seem to get the word out. Bewildered, Gillian took the girl's hand. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"
In response, Jessie jumped from the moving vehicle and began heading north, rounding the base of the mountain with a sense of confidence as if she had been there before.
"Vehicle, stop!" ordered Gillian and she too left the vehicle to chase after her friend. "Jessie! Talk to me! What's wrong!" Jessie continued running, and Gillian lost sight of her around the base of the mountain. "Jessie!"
When Gillian finally rounded the corner, she skidded to a stop. Jessie was kneeling on the rocky ground, sifting the dirt through her fingers as her tear-filled eyes looked to the moon. Gillian approached her slowly, but it appeared that Jessie's flight was over.
Hearing Gillian's footsteps, Jessie turned her head to face her. With her blonde hair highlighted by the moonlight, she seemed like a ghost of the past. The Morganite by her heart burned brightly in the night as an eerie sense of recognition touched Gillian's mind.
Lifting out her hands in a beseeching gesture, Jessie finally spoke. "I died here." Her words were simple, and the echo of truth in them could not be ignored. Jessie again returned her fingers to the ground, until she came across a fragment of metal buried by the century of shifting sand.
"It's my earring." Lifting carefully, Jessie/Julia held it up to the moon. Her other hand clutched the Morganite as her bright eyes turned upwards. "Was Uly okay?"
"Yes," Gillian automatically replied, while inside, she was gasping in astonishment.
"And Alonzo?"
"He loved you. That never changed. He never forgot you, but he was okay."
"Good..." whispered Julia. "I loved all of them."
Swallowing hard, Gillian told her, "They knew. I promise you, Julia, they all knew." Staring at her blonde friend, Gillian was overcome by an immense sense of joy and completion. As if Julia, unable to rest until she knew the end of her own story, was finally set free.
Jessie closed her eyes as her features took on an even wiser expression. "The story never dies."
"The story?"
"All of us. Jessie is here now, but Julia is a part of her, will always be. Ties carry strongly in families and in friends. You know it too, for you are connected to the past and the spirits that never die."
"Is Julia happy?" Gillian had to ask the being now shining with an eerie brightness.
"Yes, yes.... And now Jessie can be at peace, for she has discovered a part of herself." The figure sighed quietly, its outline becoming blurry as the silvery light began to dim.
"Who are you?" Gillian implored.
"I am all of you," it replied cryptically. "All but two. Help them, Gillian... and remember, nothing really dies...." The ghostly words faded out as Jessie slumped to the ground. Approaching her nervously, Gillian asked, "Jessie?" She took the girl's hand in her own, and was rewarded by movement.
As Jessie got up, she gave Gillian a beautiful smile. "It's alright now, Gillian. I understand so much more!" Looking with wonderment at the earring in her hand, she continued, "Now that I know the memory of Julia is a part of me...my heritage...it makes sense."
Gillian nodded slowly, still very confused at what she had seen. Jessie boldly stood up. She had a lot of thinking to do, but now the emptiness in her mind was gone.
"Time to move on, Gillian. We have a mission."
Bewildered, Gillian allowed herself to be led away. And dreamed of a time decades earlier....

Sweat was pouring down John Danziger's face as he struggled onwards. The ground was harsh and dry as the angry sun baked it with incessant ferocity. Even the sparse shrubs and clumps of grass had a defeated air about them.
Danziger's life was over. He finally understood that now. His daughter was practically a grandmother, his friends had all led successful lives and now there was nothing left for him. Nothing but *her*, the one person who would have made his life complete. He would never get over leaving Devon in the desert, or burying her there for eternity. She didn't deserve to be alone, not when she had lived and loved so much.
"I will protect you forever," Danziger promised into the still air. Wearily, he trudged one foot in front of the other, over and over, his mind focussed on nothing but her image. A wind began to blow.
For weeks he had been trekking the vast wilderness while driven by the love in his tormented heart. Weeks that had vanished in a haze as he focussed on his goal. His body was withering and dying, something in which Danziger took a perverse form of pleasure. Time was ticking down for him and all was as it should be. As long as he could reach *her* before he died, and then his own spirit could chase her through the darkness and bring her home to love.
"John," he heard her voice dance in his memories. His heart leapt, she sounded so close! But there was nothing but the angry orange haze of the desert and the dust that billowed everywhere, threatening to choke him. It filled his eyes and nostrils, and then he saw a shape in the shadows.
"Devon?" he called in a hoarse voice, for he had not spoken for many weeks. "Is that you?"
A musical laugh sounded, and Danziger shook his head in confusion. What demons were tormenting him now? Why couldn't they just leave him alone!
He blindly struck out his hands in front of him as he imagined more mysterious shadows. "Who are you?" he shouted. "What have you done with her?"
...she is ours as long as she is part of the dark... The cloud seemed to descend over Danziger, clogging every pore in his body and he coughed as he fought for air. Swinging around wildly, he could not even see the sun.
"DEVON...!"

The spire glinted from afar and Gillian couldn't help but give a scream of excitement when she saw it. She grabbed Jessie's arm and shouted, "There it is!" Gillian stood up in the moving vehicle and uttered a long cry of happiness.
"We made it!"
Jessie joined her friend's jubilation, laughing aloud. The whole expedition had been crazy from the start, but at last, they were almost there. Their fears over the dated directions were now unfounded as both Jessie and Gillian recognised the downed spaceship from their dreams.
"We're only the third group of people *ever* to be out here," mused Jessie. She gazed around intently at the surrounding terrain: large rocks were randomly strewn about the ground and wilted plants struggled for life amongst the small pockets of shade. Then she closed her eyes and listened for traces of the unknown, the spirit whose destiny had become intertwined with Gillian's and therefore her own.
"Can you feel anything?" Jessie asked when she drew a blank. Gillian shook her head no. "There's nothing at all. Perhaps she can only reach me when it's dark."
"What if she's not even there..." Jessie suddenly thought aloud.
"But the ship is here and so are we," reminded Gillian, her eyes flashing excitedly. The gleaming beacon grew closer, its surface little tarnished by the years of exposure to wind and rain. Gillian almost felt as if she was approaching a revered place, a temple or shrine where legends of the past were laid to rest. She took a deep breath and ordered, "Vehicle, stop." It complied immediately as Jessie turned to Gillian and asked,
"What are you doing?"
Running her fingers through her windblown hair to smooth it down, Gillian replied seriously, "I just feel like - we should honour Devon Adair's memory. Not just casually drive into her resting place...if this was a cemetery, wouldn't we be walking quietly?"
Jessie nodded in agreement. "We walk." Both girls carefully jumped down from the vehicle and proceeded onwards to the ship in silence. The air was deathly still, as if all of nature had taken a hushed breath and was waiting in quiet reverence. Until a huge explosion rocked the world.
Screaming, Gillian threw herself to the ground and was vaguely aware of Jessie copying her movements. However, most of her attention was drawn to the smoking hole in the ground only metres in front of them. A siren was wailing shrilly, the sound coming from the direction of the ship while a voice repeated, "Perimeter alert!" at regular intervals.
"Stay down!" hissed Gillian, her face in the dirt. "We must have set off some sort of motion sensor!"
"But why?" Jessie's eyes were filled with confusion. "And when? Your book never said anything about this!"
"I don't know!" the girl replied, nervous and upset. The dust was beginning to settle, and she could see no signs of any weaponry that could have fired such a blast. She cautiously lifted her head higher and noticed that the sound of the alarm was gradually fading.
"What do we do now?" Jessie asked in a fearful voice.
"See if you can sort of wriggle backwards. Slowly, this time! If it happens again, the blast might not miss."
The girls awkwardly shuffled backwards, destroying their clothes in the process as numerous sharp rocks dug into them. However, it was better than being blown apart by an unknown enemy.
Finally, they were back at the vehicle. Gillian was shaking and she grabbed onto the framework for support. She had never anticipated this kind of trouble.
Jessie lay her head against the warm metal with an air of defeat. "I did not think something like *this* would happen." She was prepared to fight ghosts of the dreamplane and monsters of the dark, after all, the Terrians and the planet could be counted on to help her. However, against an aging technology that still provided deadly force, her allies were useless.
Thinking hard, Gillian's brow furrowed. "What if we can somehow shut the system off?"
"Do you have the knowledge?" asked Jessie, beginning to recover her composure.
"No... we could always destroy the system if we have to! The vehicle has an emergency laser installed into it, we could aim it at the controls...." Gillian's eyes flashed excitedly as a plan began to form in her mind. She scanned the area for suitable implements.
Jessie lay a steady hand on Gillian's arm. "Gillian," she began, "perhaps we are not meant to interfere. We can turn around and go home now." She was being a voice of reason as she considered their situation - two teenage girls alone in the desert faced with a deadly enemy. It was a wonder Gillian's parents hadn't come after them long ago.
"No!" Gillian burst out. "You know I was called here, you felt it too!" She implored, "We cannot leave her until we help Devon!"
"How?"
"By letting her die." There. Gillian had finally said it. She had come all this way to release Devon Adair from her prison and then, no matter how hard it was, kill her. It was the only way. For Devon was meant to die two centuries ago.
Jessie nodded, silently relieved that Gillian had stood up to the test, the last test the planet had insisted she perform. Without a doubt, Gillian was the one.
"What is your plan?"
The girls gathered a small stockpile of rocks and then prepared the laser for use. They stood squarely together in front of the vehicle, facing the ship and prepared to take action.
"Ready?" asked Gillian, picking up a large rock. "Fire!" She hurled the rock in the direction of the ship, and was rewarded to see an immediate blast in exactly the same position as before. Jessie launched her own projectile, which was rapidly fired upon. A quick succession of rocks were thrown in all directions, allowing Gillian and Jessie to determine exactly where the blasts were coming from.
"It's over there," pointed Gillian as the dust finally cleared. She could see the evil glint of metal in the sunlight of an oldstyle cannon with plenty of firepower. "Let's take it out." She threw one more rock for reassurance, then knowing she was right, Gillian returned to the vehicle and adjusted the controls.
"Full power," suggested Jessie and Gillian cranked up the levels.
"Systems check okay, target okay..." She looked to Jessie. "Want to do the honours?"
Jessie shook her head, so Gillian muttered, "Well here we go... Vehicle, activate laser."
A brilliant orange beam soared across the clearing, causing the girls to shield their eyes as sliced straight through the cannon. "Stop laser!" commanded Gillian, looking up. The cannon was gone.
"We did it!" she shrieked in happiness, and threw another rock just to be sure. There was no return fire. "Ready for a second approach?"
This time, they walked much more slowly out of fear and worry rather than reverence. The girls didn't want any more unexpected surprises. They passed the barrier of the first attack with no problems, nothing, that is, until they reached the ten-metre circumference around the ship.
A projectile whizzed past them.
"Go away!" shouted a strange voice as Gillian and Jessie dropped to the dirt again. "Leave this place! It's cursed!"
Another shot rang out. Gillian heard pounding footsteps ahead of her, a noise that seemed to round the ship itself. "GO AWAY! Leave Devon in peace!"
Devon? Gillian almost jumped up at the mention of her name. How did this mysterious person know Devon's name? Unless it was... no, that wasn't possible.
"You hear me? Go! GO!" A random shot whizzed over the girls as a figure shuffled into view. Lifting her head ever so slightly, Gillian squinted at the shape.
A mag-pro was slung around his shoulders, but that was not what drew Gillian's attention. Instead, she focused on the man himself. The crazy, blue eyes, the wild, curly, grey hair, the tall stance...Gillian recognised him!
Against all possible odds, against every rational explanation, John Danziger was here, in the desert and *alive*.

Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE. (3/5)
by Nicole Mayer (destiny@wwdg.com)

Gillian's hand snaked through the dirt and found Jessie's. "It's alright," she whispered, although her heart was pounding in amazement. "I know who that is."
"Who?" asked Jessie nervously.
"I don't know how, I don't know why, but that is John Danziger."
Jessie's jaw dropped. "But he should have been dead years ago! It can't be him...the planet, the Terrians, they would have known. They would have told me!"
"Or me," realised Gillian. A startling new thought struck her. "Perhaps it *was* him I was called to find."
"And not Devon?"
That caused Gillian to pause. She had been so sure that Devon was calling to her, searching for release from her coffin. But perhaps it was Danziger who was trapped instead...some strange phenomena that suspended the advancement of his years and caught him in a living hell. Anything was possible.
The man was still shouting and raving, screaming at the girls over and over to go away.
"Uh...Mr. Danziger?" began Gillian, her face still buried in the dirt.
He paused as he recognised his name. "What do you want?" Danziger snapped, not lowering the mag-pro.
Gillian looked to Jessie, suddenly at a loss for words. "What do we want?" she hissed.
"To help," offered Jessie. Gillian gave a half-nod in agreement.
"Mr. Danziger, we came out here to help you."
"I don't need any help," he snarled. "I'm here to watch over *her* and that means you're not coming any closer, whoever the hell you are!"
"You don't understand," protested Gillian. "We want to help Devon, too."
"Devon?" Danziger repeated. His expression changed into one of great hope. "You mean...you can save her? You can bring her back?" He began to tremble, an old man overcome with the possibility of having his love returned to him.
Gillian watched his reaction, and felt her heart breaking. This was the man who's story she had read. A man she had admired for his brave actions, and cried with when he lost so much. She had even cried *for* him.
And now she was the one to tell him that Devon could never be saved.
Slowly, Gillian lifted herself out of the dirt. "No," she said as calmly as she could, but even so, she could not stop her voice trembling a little. "I can't bring her back. But I can help."
"How?" barked Danziger angrily. "Why? What do you have to do with Devon?"
"I can't explain it," Gillian replied. "But Devon called me out here. I heard her in my dreams...and my nightmares. She's in pain." Gillian tactfully neglected to mention the Terrians, for she knew well of John Danziger's wariness of the race.
Jessie finally decided to face Danziger. As she got to her feet, she said, "We can talk about this, if only you would put the magpro down...."
But he had already done that, a stunned expression on his face as he got his first good look at Jessie. "Julia?" And seeing her brought back so many memories....

John Danziger hesitantly knocked on the door of Julia and Alonzo's small house in the growing town of Devon. In the four years since the colony ship had arrived, the growth in G889's population was incredible. Ariel Martin had the notable distinction of being the struggling colony's first baby, but since her birth three years ago, there had been a literal explosion of children.
Life was thriving on G889 and all Council threats were forgotten long ago with the revelation that Reilly was nothing more than a computer. When the colony ship arrived, they had docked with the orbiting satellite and disabled the program manually. The members of the Eden Project were now safe in the knowledge that they were on their own and the Council was a danger that lurked long ago.
Danziger listened intently and heard light footsteps approach the door. It could only be Julia, because Alonzo was away on another of his long exploration treks. Danziger wondered why Julia had invited him over, because even though all of Eden Advance were close, he and Julia were never especially good friends.
"Hi," she said softly when she opened the door. She looked tired and there was more than a trace of loneliness in her eyes. She was missing Alonzo.
"Julia, hi," he replied, shifting from foot to foot.
"Come in," she motioned, and led him through to the sitting room. The house was small, as were most houses at New Pacifica, but it had been built by Alonzo and Julia themselves a few months before their marriage.
They sat awkwardly, Danziger still wondering what it was all about. Finally, Julia began to speak.
"I'm not sure if I should be telling you this, John, but, well, you're the closest thing Uly has to a father, so I was wondering if you could have a talk with him or something."
Danziger frowned. "Is there a problem at the hospital?" Recently, Uly had expressed an interest in learning to be a doctor and helping sick children as he had been helped when he was younger.
"No, nothing like that," quickly assured Julia. "What I'm trying to say is that Uly is growing up. And he's starting to see...me...in a more-than-friendly-way." The last part of the sentence came out in a rush, and Danziger stated dumbly at her for a moment. Then the truth dawned on him.
"You mean that Uly has a crush on you?"
Her cheeks coloured, Julia nodded. "I never even saw it coming," she admitted. "We've always been close, particularly after he lost his mother. I thought we were just good friends, but lately, well, you know," she trailed off.
Danziger fought the impulse to laugh aloud. He'd noticed that Uly seemed secretive lately - he was growing up and beginning to notice girls for the first time. True, of course, teased him mercilessly and seized every opportunity to irritate her 'adopted' brother.
"I knew someone was special to him, Julia," said Danziger, "but I never guessed it was you." He suddenly remembered something. "Was it you who he gave that bunch of flowers to a few days ago?"
Julia nodded ruefully. "He was so proud when he presented them to me! He said he grew them himself, and they were to cheer me up while Alonzo was away. And he's always doing other small things for me - today, he held out my chair at lunch before I sat down!"
It was obvious that these small gestures were really beginning to trouble Julia. While both the doctor and Danziger knew that Uly would grow out of his infatuation, Julia was uncomfortable with the current situation. Something needed to be done.
"Uly's been spending most of his spare time at the hospital lately," Danziger realised. "Come to think of it, he doesn't bring home friends in the way True does."
Julia nodded. "So do you have any ideas about what I could do? Uly has the potential to be a wonderful healer one day and I don't want to take his life at the hospital away from him."
Rubbing his chin (which was in need of a shave, Danziger reflected), he suggested, "Is Uly aware how much you care for Alonzo?"
"Of course he is, he was part of our wedding party!" Julia promptly replied. "I'm sure he knows how much 'Lonz and I love each other."
"Maybe he needs to hear you say it," said Danziger thoughtfully. "You could begin by telling Uly how much you miss Alonzo." Julia leaned closer to Danziger, her blue eyes wide.
"Can I trust you to keep a secret?" Julia asked. Of course she could, but she needed verbal confirmation.
"You can trust me," replied Danziger. "Shoot."
"I'm pregnant. With twins."
Danziger's eyes almost popped out. Julia was one of the last people he'd expect to consider motherhood. She had her hands full running the hospital and determining exactly what impact the Terrian links were having on the Transformed children. There were still many families wary of the Terrians and the planet, although more open-minded parents encouraged their children to learn about the Dreamplane.
"Does Alonzo know?" Danziger asked.
"No. I haven't told anyone yet. I don't even know if I want to be a mother!"
Danziger sat back, a little stunned. When he'd learnt that Ellie was pregnant, there'd been no questions as to whether to keep the child or not. Danziger had known in that moment that a child would be the best thing that ever happened to him.
But he could understand Julia's dilemma, too. With such a full life and an all too often absent husband, it was no wonder she was having doubts.
Danziger paused to phrase his next question diplomatically. "Do you still have a choice?"
Julia nodded, and replied, "That's why I'm so scared. I feel like I should discuss this with Alonzo, but I don't want any pressure. This has to be *my* decision, and mine alone."
Nodding, Danziger silently agreed with her. He'd been pressured by so many people to let baby True go: doctors recommending abortion in case of brain damage, friends telling him he wasn't fit for fatherhood, and his own guilt over bringing her into a world where life was so difficult. Suddenly, he felt compelled to tell Julia all of this.
The doctor listened quietly as Danziger shared his own experiences. "True is the best thing that ever happened to me," he said vehemently. "So if you have even the slightest desire to be a mother, then go for it. I guarantee it's worth it."
Julia smiled at him. Come to think of it, she'd never met a parent who regretted having children. She felt the edges of her apprehension begin to slip away, and for the first time, was able to view her own pregnancy as a good thing.
"I could have children!" she said in an awed voice. "Little people, to love, to teach, to watch grow up." Julia was suddenly struck by an intense feeling of excitement along with the fear of motherhood.
"Imagine," she continued softly, "having a daughter. Loving her, giving her the chance to do the things that I never could. Like making her dresses for her first dance, teaching her to braid her hair...."
Danziger smiled, liking this sentimental side of Julia that was often hidden. "You'd be a great mom," he reassured her. Julia turned to him and again smiled, her blue eyes glowing with so much feeling.
"Thank you John, thank you so much." Her voice was low and sincere as she took his hand. "I feel like everything's beginning to make sense now."
"And Uly?"
"Uly...I could tell him that I'm going to be a mother. That might help him realise that his crush will never amount to anything."
"Just one more point, Julia," interrupted Danziger quickly.
"What's that?"
"You should tell Alonzo *first*...."
They both laughed at that. "I can't wait to see his face when he hears the news," Julia chuckled. "I don't think he ever imagined being a father!"
"Ah, 'Lonz will love it," predicted Danziger. "He's done a hell of a lot of growing up ever since we crashed here."
"You're right," nodded Julia. Her eyes misted over. "I wish he were here."
As she spoke of Alonzo, Danziger saw the light in Julia's eyes and felt a touch of sadness. There was something similar missing from his own life yet he couldn't quite fathom what it was. Someday, he would remember.

"I'll never forget that day, Julia," Danziger said sincerely. "That was one of the closest times we had. And remember the twins - Lissa and Ethan - you were radiant when they were born."
Gillian, listening to the vivid testimony, stifled a sniff. These moments had not been in Bess's book, but were a poignant reminder of how wonderful things *could* have been if the circumstances were different.
Julia never did have the chance to see her daughter grow up. She died when the twins were barely four years old. Life wasn't fair sometimes. Tragedies happened and there was nothing anyone could do to prevent it. All you could do, thought Gillian, was bear the pain and someday, hope you could smile again.
She watched as Danziger, old, old John Danziger, smiled hopefully at Jessie. "I didn't think I'd see you again," he said. A small frown crossed his forehead. "Why did I think that?" he asked, more to himself than the girls. Then his eyes grew wide. "You died," Danziger said simply.
Jessie nodded. "*Julia* died," she emphasised. "My name is Jessie and I am one of her descendants. But!" and she held up her hands before Danziger could protest, "Julia's legacy lives on. Her work, her spirit, is not forgotten."
Danziger stared at her deeply. "Well if you're not Julia, then why are you here?"

Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE. (4/5)
by Nicole Mayer (destiny@wwdg.com)

It was an impossible situation, Gillian reflected. She and Jessie had explained to John Danziger over and over their purpose, but he still wouldn't let them near the ship that housed Devon's coffin. Nor could he give a reasonable explanation for his being alive. He refused to believe that Gillian and Jessie had been called out their by Devon's spirit and accused them of trying to destroy his sanctuary.
Most puzzling, though, was the fact that he readily accepted that Jessie was Julia's descendant. There were gaps in Danziger's logic and Gillian was beginning to reluctantly concede that the legends were true. John Danziger was crazy.
The girl wanted to visit the Dreamplane to see if the Terrians knew why Danziger was alive. Jessie was trying it at that very moment and Gillian waited anxiously to hear what she had learnt. But in the meantime, she continued quizzing Danziger.
"How did you get here?" she asked, using a new tactic. Perhaps it was her "why" questions that were causing the problems. Whatever the problem was, she hoped she got past it soon. There was nothing more irritating than not knowing. "How long have you been here?" she tried again.
"I have always been here," replied Danziger enigmatically.
Gillian finally lost her patience. "What is that supposed to mean? I know all about you, John Danziger! I know how you crashed on this planet and hiked to New Pacifica! I know how you founded the town of Devon! I know that you watched your daughter grow up and marry Ulysses Adair! And then you made the statue of Devon for everyone to see! So don't you *dare* tell me that you've always been here, because I know it's not true.
"I expected more from you," Gillian continued bitterly. "Bess wrote of a strong, brave, kind and noble man. The type of person who would tell you the truth no matter what the circumstances. Now I know she was a liar."
"Bess is not a liar," Danziger said evenly. It seemed that Gillian's rage had not fazed him the slightest. "I have always been here," he repeated.
And then Jessie came back, the oddest expression on her face as she said, "He is *not* here."
"Not you too," Gillian groaned, burying her face in her hands. Jessie laid a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder. "Trust me," she said. "Watch."
Jessie stepped close to Danziger, and although he glared at her sternly, he did not lift the mag-pro. He watched, seemingly uninterested as she reached out to touch his shoulder. Then Jessie grew bolder, and swung her hand downwards.
Her arm went straight through him.
"What?" burst out Gillian.
Jessie waved her arm around the whole area the image of John Danziger occupied and she encountered no resistance. The picture flickered a little and it finally dawned on Gillian that John Danziger, the man she had been speaking with, was nothing more than a virtual reality projection.
"Mr. Danziger - you're not real!" she breathed.
"I am here to protect," he said evenly. "I have always been here."
And that was the truth. Gillian stared at the figure, her thoughts racing. Someone had constructed a VR recording of John Danziger, and placed him out here at the ship. Someone who had given him the memories of the real John, yet in a sense, this image had only existed for one purpose and in one place. This also explained how Danziger - or a facsimile of him - could be alive after so long.
But who would have programmed such a warning device? And at this old age? There was only one man who could have done so, Gillian realised. John Danziger *had* been here. Somehow, he had crossed the plains by himself after the fire that destroyed his home.
She remembered the dreams of a man struggling through the desert until the wind overtook him. It may have been a metaphorical storm, emphasising the traumas John Danziger endured to, against all odds, reach this place where his Devon lay.
Was this where he had died? Danziger had been an old man. He'd travelled with virtually no supplies, and nothing to aid him on his quest for a lost love. It was an obsession that had taken his life from him.
Things were beginning to fall into place for Gillian as she sat and thought deeply, her gaze fixed on the image of John Danziger. His final act...to set up a lasting image of himself to still protect Devon's memory, and preserve her beauty for eternity.
If only Danziger had known what harm he was doing when he decided to put her back so long ago! Devon was a spirit trapped between two worlds, and if she had loved John Danziger, then *her* love had long ago passed beyond the veil.
A solitary tear tricked down Gillian's cheek. It was a tragic love story, for neither had ever had the chance to tell the other how they felt. Danziger's love had become a fatal obsession. And Devon - Devon was still trapped in those few moments before death. The moments when all revelations became clear, when her life would pass before her eyes and she would know that it was too late for most things. All she had were seconds to tell the truth within her heart - and Gillian believed that she had -and still- loved John Danziger. The planet, and the spirit of Devon, had showed the girl that.
Gillian had to tell Devon that Danziger loved her, and then she would die in peace. And if Danziger's spirit hovered anywhere near, then perhaps she would believe the truth.
Gillian recalled Jessie's cryptic words near the Valley of Dreams. "All but two...." Maybe by allowing Devon to die, the essence of John Danziger, wherever he was now, could also finally be at peace.
It was a bittersweet thought. Now Gillian was more convinced than ever as to what she had to do. All that remained was getting past the guardian of Devon's tomb.
Jessie again passed a hand through the image of Danziger. The guardian flickered, according to where Jessie's hand was. Using that information, the girls were able to track the source of the projection. Thankfully, it was situated on a part of the ship well away from the hatch that Danziger would not let them go near.
"Mr. Danziger," Gillian tried one last time. "You have to let us inside the ship - it will help free Devon. She's alone and afraid and she needs release. Please?"
But the guardian had been programmed to keep everyone away at all costs. He replied, "No," and Gillian said sorrowfully, "Then I'm sorry." She nodded to Jessie, who disabled the VR device and John Danziger's ghost flickered out of existence.
"That's it, then," Gillian called to Jessie. "The last problem overcome." A sudden thought struck her. "Unless he rigged the ship hatch to explode on contact!" She was only half-joking. Jessie was more solemn. "The story is about to end," she gravely said. "John Danziger's fate is no longer a mystery."
"No," agreed Gillian, nodding her head. "Somehow, he made it out here, whether the planet or the Terrians helped him, or perhaps it was the force of his own will. Then he constructed the security system."
"And then what?"
"And then...he must have died. Here." Gillian shivered. She didn't want to come across a skeleton, for there would be no cairn of stones to mark his passing. No nicely dug grave, nothing but a pile of withered bones.

John Danziger blearily rubbed his eyes, feeling the dirt that encrusted his face and seemed to be all over him. The sandstorm was passing and he could finally see again. He stood tall (or as tall as he could manage with his aged, aching back) and surveyed the horizon.
The old space ship lay before him. He stumbled backwards in surprise. How had he arrived there already? The last thing he remembered was struggling through the desert...and the wind...and....
Something had transported him halfway across a continent. Danziger uttered a silent prayer of thanks to whatever force that had done that for him and then smiled in contentment. He was finally home.
It was the place where it had all started. The beginnings of the love that took over his life, and even now, Danziger refused to recognise it as an obsession with what he could not have. He believed his love to be pure and steadfast, telling himself that Devon had felt exactly the same way. And what did it matter anyway if she hadn't? Those moments for truth had ended in the past, with her death. Now he would die while protecting her memory.
He couldn't wait to see her face again. All he had left was one strand of dark hair that was fragile beyond belief, yet he kept it close to his heart and could not bear to lock it away, even if to preserve it.
Danziger suddenly recalled a dream he'd once had, the second time he came out here. Just before Devon died.
....He could see her, just on the edge of his vision, a wraith in the moonlight that danced away from him constantly. She was nothing more than a spirit that could never be caught...Danziger's gaze returned to the ship as he fell to his knees in defeat. He heard the seductive calling of destiny....
And now he was back here to fulfil his destiny. He would complete his life near her, and perhaps they could be together somehow.
Danziger entered the derelict spacecraft, a smile appearing upon his face as he realised that, even after another half-century, the systems still operated and the cold sleep capsule was working perfectly. Devon's body lay untouched.
He let his gaze fall upon her, and sighed deeply. Her face remained haunted, her features frozen into the tragic image that had haunted Danziger himself for half of his life. He loved her so much.
"I missed you, Devon," he whispered, imagining that she could hear him somehow. "I did everything I could to bring you back, I tried, I really did. But the medical advances have been slow. And I guess I'm too damn old now." He pressed his hands against the glass, leaning against it for support as his aged knees trembled. "This is how it ends, huh Devon? All our hopes, and our dreams, they crashed down around me the day you got sick.
"I may have lost you," he went on softly, "but I never stopped loving you. I built a statue of you in the city - did you know that we named the city after you?
"Devon," Danziger sighed, "I have so much to tell you. Uly got married - to True, of all people! Isn't that wonderful? It's as if the Danzigers and Adairs were meant to be together somehow. You and I couldn't but our children could and they fulfilled a destiny.
"You should see their children. I swear, there was a little girl who looked *just* like you. Diana, they called her. She had your eyes, and I suppose that's why I never visited True and Uly that often. It hurt too much. I was much closer to Bess' kids - Ari, John and Wendy. We had some great times together."
Danziger's voice took on a more sombre tone. "But they all grew up, and they didn't need me anymore. Only you did, Devon. I could hear you calling to me and that's why I had to come. We'll be together for eternity..." he promised.
Danziger spent the next few days examining the old ship and pulling out pieces he decided he could use. He was aware of his body failing and knew that death fast approached. But he did not care. With painstaking carefulness, he constructed the devices designed to guard Devon's new shrine. The motion sensors and the cannon, and then finally, the guardian projection. He gave the image his own memories of happy times of Eden Advance, hoping it would prove to be a legacy of their lives. He wanted everyone to become a revered legend as they deserved.
During these days, Danziger neither ate nor slept. It was as if he could sense his own death nearing and did not wish to waste any time on things that would soon have no meaning for him.
Finally, everything was finished. Devon would be protected forever, and he, John Danziger, was by her side as it was meant to be. He took one last look at Devon's image behind the ice, and gently pressed his lips to the cold, cold glass. "I will find you again, Devon," he promised. And then he completed his physical journey and fulfilled his destiny. The tragic soulmates would lay side by side forever.

Legends III : LEGENDS OF LIFE. (5/5)
by Nicole Mayer (destiny@wwdg.com)

Gillian and Jessie cautiously stepped inside the antique spacecraft. The hinges on the hatch were rusty with age and dust covered most of the floor inside. The air was stale and Gillian pushed the hatch open further in hope that a small breeze would circulate fresh oxygen throughout the room.
Gillian's eyes were drawn to the blinking lights and she smiled. The system *still* worked. Perhaps it was magic, or maybe this place was truly sacred to the memories of the first colonists of G889 - not only Eden Advance but those who had come before them. The planet worked in mysterious ways.
She looked around for Devon's cryo-chamber and uttered a short cry of surprise. Two cold sleep capsules were lit up. Racing to the nearest, she wiped away the dust that obscured the face.
Devon Adair. It was the strangest feeling to look into the true face of the woman who had haunted her ever since she arrived on G889, and perhaps even before. The likeness to the statue was uncanny, but more than that, she looked exactly the way Gillian had pictured her. Exactly the way the planet had shown her.
"She's here!" Gillian announced unnecessarily. She examined the lighted panels, having studied ancient technology on the journey out. The instrumentation showed perfect preservation...of a body. No life was indicated. Gillian could only pray that what she had 'seen' was true - that Devon's heart would beat once more if only given the chance.
Gillian stepped back. If Devon was in the first capsule, then who was in the second? She approached it slowly, glancing at the readouts. They showed a person in perfect hibernation....
She rubbed clear the glass. And for the second time that day, looked upon the face of John Danziger.
She gasped. "It's him!"
"Who?"
"Danziger! He's here and he's still alive!" Neither girl could believe it. The story truly *was* unfinished, because both Devon and Danziger were still alive. Each had one more moment in time left to them, to finish their stories and conclude the legends of their own lives.
"He set up the guardian system - and then placed himself in cold sleep just before he died," realised Gillian. Everything finally made sense. John Danziger was asleep and that was why his spirit could not reach Devon's, for she was trapped between death and life.
And now, it was time to end the pain. It was time to awaken Devon and time to let her die. It was time to awaken Danziger and let him die in peace. And through this, both could somehow live again.
"Are you ready?" asked Gillian in a breathless voice. There was no more waiting to be done - *this* was why two people had been called out to the desert to help people with which they had no explainable connection.
"Yes," whispered Jessie in reply. "It is time for the story to end." Slowly, Gillian keyed in the sequence that would revive Danziger and free Devon's body from its icy prison. As the lights brightened and the humming noise increased, both girls moved toward the capsules, hearts pounding with fear.
It was at this moment, when the past and the present would become one. Legends would live again. Gillian stared solemnly at Jessie Solace, Julia's descendant, and together they turned to face Devon Adair and John Danziger. Their ancestral heroes, yet real people as well. It was a moment of profound silence.
Devon Adair fell forward first. Arms caught her, yet she seemed so heavy and so silent. There was no violent coughing this time, no fighting desperately for a breath against the pain. It was as if she had nothing to live for anymore, which was in essence true. Every friend she had loved was long dead, except for one....
John Danziger burst forward from his cold resting place with a gasp. He roughly drew in the deep breath of air, as if challenging the universe to tear life from him as he struggled against the effects of cold sleep. He was unaware of the young steadying hands on his arms, determined to stand by himself. He turned...and saw Devon.
She lay on the floor, so still, not moving, not even breathing. Her eyes were closed to the world above and only the breeze gently wafting through the open hatch caused her hair to ever so slightly flutter.
Danziger fell in love with her all over again, reliving the moments of the past, entranced by her beauty anew. He dropped to his knees and for the first time in over a century, he reached out and touched her. No miles of desert separated them now, not even the walls of glass. He took her hand and whispered, "Devon." Her heart moved. Its last beat. Devon's eyelids fluttered open.
Danziger stared deep into her eyes, one so innocent blue meeting the tired, yet eternally hopeful, blue. In the mere space of a heartbeat that followed, a lifetime of possibilities whirled before the soulmates.
...I never stopped loving you...
...We could have danced on the beach...
...kissed in the waves...
...Been married...
...had children together...
...Watched them grow and learn...
...see our friends grow too...
...Explored our world together...
...been guardians of the future...
...Grown old together...
...but even the years did not keep us apart now...
"Devon Adair, I love you," he finally told her and she was alive to hear him. She smiled even as twilight threatened to slip back over her again, because at last, she had the chance to reply.
"John..." and her voice was so thin, she had to struggle to say each word. But behind the words were an emotion that had lasted beyond time. "I love you." Devon smiled, tears blurring her vision. She did not notice how old Danziger was and had no idea of the time that had passed. All that mattered was that *finally*, she had said everything she needed to say. The last part of her life was completed and now she could rest in peace.
Danziger bent down so that his face was so close to hers. He gathered her in his arms and their lips met in their first and only kiss. One moment of perfect beauty. Devon sighed with joy and in that sigh, exhaled her last breath. Her thoughts were only of John as her eyes closed that irrevocable moment.
Tears appeared in Danziger's eyes as he watched the woman he loved die for the third and final time. Yet now, they were tears of joy for everything had ultimately been said. He pulled Devon close, his eyes unfocussed, almost as if he were looking into the distance. To a future that was beyond this world, for his time too was over.
Danziger got to his feet, and somehow, stood tall on tired, frail legs. Purposefully, he walked towards the hatch exit from that cold dark room where dreams died and legends were born. He was taking Devon into the sunlight - somewhere she had been kept from for so many years.
He paused in the doorway and, illuminated by the light, looked back for a fraction of a moment. "Thank you," he said simply. Then he turned and walked outside. Into the sunshine, where dreams and laughter would play forever.
It was over.

The last of Eden Advance died that day, more than two centuries since they first crashed upon the planet. It was an incredible story - with much that was inexplicable yet Gillian believed it fully.
Even the disappearance of Devon and Danziger's bodies did not disturb her. As the planet suggested, it was meant to be. Devon had been released from the darkness and all traces of her physical being no longer mattered. The two lost souls were finally able to rejoin their companions and become part of the greater story of life.
Sometimes Gillian thought of it as a sick, twisted tale. So much unnecessary tragedy had occurred - if only Danziger hadn't been so insistent Devon be put into a cryo-chamber after she 'died' the first time, if only he'd released her when he returned, if only True and Bess had realised Danziger made it across the desert to the ship....
But all these things had happened, whether by fate or some greater force controlling them all. John Danziger lived a sad life of an obsessed man, and Devon Adair had most of her life taken from her.
Yet Gillian couldn't be unhappy for them in the end. She had been witness to the completion of both lives, where for the first time in years, each truly lived again if only for a moment. The legends were given the life to love one last time and the loss was erased. Gillian would never forget the light in John Danziger's eyes as he had his one moment with Devon, and then stepped to face his own future.
The journey back to Devon was a quiet, but not lonely, trip for Gillian and Jessie. Each girl reflected alone on the things they had seen, the stories they had heard, and the epic tale that had somehow become intertwined with their own lives. Stopping briefly near the Valley of Dreams, the girls had climbed that great mountain and seen for themselves the place where legends were borne.
Reverently, the girls retraced the steps of Uly and Julia. Stood near the edge and watched the horizon on a brilliant day with no signs of a storm, shivered as they cautiously peered down the side of the mountain and saw echoes of the past, Julia's struggle to save Uly.
"Everyone has a story," Gillian told her friend. They stood above the Valley of Dreams and found it to be as beautiful as Bess had narrated, the story told to her by Ulysses Adair himself. They remembered.
And then they moved on again, past the mountain range and closer to New Pacifica and their home. Reaching the city outskirts Gillian closed her eyes and imagined Devon as a growing town with Morgan and Bess coming to greet her. She pictured Ulysses returning home from a long absence and True greeting him with a kiss. She saw Yale, Baines, Magus, everyone who had been part of the journey which no longer continued in Gillian's world, but lived on in a realm far beyond. And she knew they were happy.
Few people believed the tale when Gillian and Jessie initially returned to the city of Devon. This did not bother the girls. They put every effort into sharing the story of Eden Advance, writing their own epilogue to Bess' original work and promoting the story everywhere. Gillian initiated the restoration of Devon Adair's statue and began a campaign to create awareness among the citizens of G889 as to what their ancestors had endured to create the world they all now adored.
Names such as Morgan Martin and Julia Heller became well known once again, sparking a new trend in childrens' names. Babies called True, Ulysses, Alonzo and Devon gurgled happily all over G889 and the Terrians watched over each one.
Commemoration Day came around again, and this time, people really stopped to think what it meant. Gillian and Jessie gave an impassioned speech that was broadcast to the entire planet. Together, they represented both the past and future of G889 - Jessie through her proud heritage and Gillian through her recent arrival.
"Almost two centuries ago," Gillian began, "aliens arrived on this planet."
"We were those aliens," contined Jessie. "Eden Advance arrived without any hint of knowledge of the trials they would face. Council influence, renegade colonists and their keepers from a time long ago, even the unique indiginous races of G889 were a mystery to the first ones. Every day was a new challenge, a new fight for survival in a world where everything was different. But through their struggles, we can now call G889 home."
Gillian took up the story. "Today, we are here to remember not only the history but the people as well. Devon Adair, who launched the project to save her son. Ulysses Adair, the first of the Transformed and the beginning of a wonderful process of becoming one with this amazing planet.
"Julia Heller, who fought for her independence and won by defeating the Council, and then making revolutionary discoveries about this planet. Alonzo Solace, who learnt to balance life on the ground with G889's future in space.
"We cannot forget Morgan Martin, the first Administrator of Devon, the man who put forward the constitution. Bess Martin, whom many consider Morgan's strength, the mother of the first child on G889.
"Walman, Baines, Magus, Cameron, Matazl, Denner, Eben - we don't know much about their lives but they were there, part of the incredible journey that shaped the future.
"Yale, the gentle teacher. True Danziger, the sharp young engineer who contributed so much to society. And John Danziger, who founded our city and built the statue to commemorate Eden Advance's journey.
"Today we celebrate their lives, celebrate their journey, and mourn their deaths. They have passed into the status of legends but we must remember that they were *real* people, people who lived and loved as passionately as we do now. They aren't just names in a textbook, they were the founders of our world."
There were tears in the eyes of many people across G889 as Gillian and Jessie finished their impassioned speech. Somehow, a difference had been made.
Even Jerry was able to get most of his test answers correct and Lukas fully embraced the idea of learning everything he could about his new home planet. In the short year Gillian and Lukas had lived there, it became everything to them.
Gillian's dreams continued for a while, but eventually began to peter out. Instead of dreaming of the tragedy, somehow, she saw happier times for Eden Advance. Like the time Morgan Martin decided that, as First Administrator of the city, he should take up a dignified sport. Yale provided him with thousands of options from Earth's earliest history and Morgan had finally decided on golf.
He'd conned Danziger and Alonzo into playing a few rounds with him, confident that he'd display his prowess on the golf green. Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out that way. Gillian laughed aloud every time she pictured Morgan's tantrum over losing, which led to his unceremonious tripping over a golf ball and landing in the river amidst applause from the other men.
It would have made a great picture.
Gillian's favourite dream, however, was one that she couldn't rationalise with true history. In the dream, she saw a beautiful house where children laughed and everything was right. And in the midst of the house were two people, so happy and in love. Devon and Danziger.
It was a possible future for them that had never happened, but Gillian still liked to believe they were together now, wherever their souls were. It made everything worth it.
Gillian never quite knew why the spirit of Devon Adair reached out to her. She was only an ordinary person who had fallen in love with tales of a people in a place far away. She had laughed with them and cried with them, all through the power of the stories of another. And always felt that special connection to Devon.
Jessie once suggested that it had been a dreamplane link between Gillian and Jessie. Gillian's ancestors had once been connected with that of the Adairs - a tenuous connection at best, but perhaps enough family blood ties had remained for Devon to reach Gillian. A dreaming that was not quite there, only a desperate cry from a trapped spirit who somehow reached a girl with an open mind. They had been irrevocably connected.
It was a sharing of the mind, the beliefs, and the essence of the Adair -or whatever name it may have- spirit. A spirit that could not be diminished by time, or any other force. One that would live throughout the ages no matter where its owners now were.
Life, or death, it was all the same thing really, Gillian realised. True spirits never died and Devon had been reborn into some greater world than the one she had fought for to save humanity.
Gillian could smile and truly know that she had done the right thing in letting the tale end. The legends were over, but life would go on for all of Eden Advance.
"Nothing really dies as long as it's remembered," Bess had written so long ago. How true that was, Gillian smiled. She made her own promise.
May Eden Advance live in our hearts and minds forever.

END "The Legends Trilogy"

Amen to that! -Nicole, 1 September 1997.

This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.