ONCE UPON A DREAM
By
Nora (Northstar)
Timeline: At New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: Northstar889@hotmail.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This story is based on Dawn Pell's "Deceptions: Chronicles of Eden Project" and if you haven't read it recently you might want to take a glance at it before starting this fanfic. The title comes from a song from "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde", *not* Disney's Sleeping Beauty. It's mainly a relationship story, touching on all the main characters at least a little. I hope to (someday) write a sequel.
Unfortunately I don't own Earth 2, Amblin and some other rich corporations do. I also don't own the song Julia sings. It's called "River in Judea", a beautiful, soft, lullabyish gospel song that some of you might know from church.
Thanks goes out to Dawn, for letting me use her story and helping me so much with mine. Big thanks to Andy as well, for posting this for me.
Please send comments to
Thanks, Nora
Once upon a dream (1/4)
By NoraFrom "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde"
Once upon a dream
I was lost in love's embrace
There I found a perfect place
Once upon a dreamOnce there was a time
Like no other time before
Hope was still an open door
Once upon a dreamAnd I was unafraid
The dream was so exciting
And now I see it fade
And I am here aloneOnce upon a dream
You were Heaven sent to me
But it wasn't meant to be
Now you're just a dreamCould we begin again?
Once upon a dream?
Dr. Richard Vasquez woke with a start, glancing around, not able to tell up from down. Then the realization hit him : G889, New Pacifica... they had made it! He leapt from his sleep-chamber bed, groaning and grasping for its stable surface as the disorientation hit him again. "Slow down Vasquez," he cautioned himself under his breath. He carefully released his death grip on the cot and took a few apprehensive steps. He looked up around him and saw the familiar rows of cold-sleep chambers, filled with sick Syndrome children and their families.
Shuffling his way over to the nearest surveillance terminal he quickly glanced at the records. Holding his breath he looked at a readout of the chambers. Miraculously, not a single red light showed. He smiled, they had all lived this far, there was hope yet! With new found energy in his heart, he set about waking up the rest of the Eden colonists.
Devon Adair stretched cat-like as she drifted out of peaceful sleep. A quick sniff of the bright morning air told her that the Bess Martin had already started breakfast, and as she pried open her eyes, she could see the radiant sun shining into her tent. She yawned, stretching again, and looked across the cot at John Danziger. Smiling, she slowly twisted her engagement ring around her finger; only a piece of silverish coloured metal that he had melted and then re-shaped to fit her hand, but she loved it.
He seemed to sense her watching and opened one eye with a light moan. Devon couldn't help but laugh as he rolled over and shoved a pillow over his head. At the same time, Uly Adair and True Danziger came crashing into the tent and pounced on John. This time a loud groan escaped his lips as the not-so-little kids landed on him. Not missing a beat he rolled over again to tickle them as they squealed with delight. Devon giggled, and moved to a small curtained area to change for the day.
In the stillness of the morning, Alonzo rolled over in his sleep, waking as he met the sleeping form of his wife. She mumbled incoherently for a moment, then cuddled a little closer to him, seeking his warmth in the crisp air of their tent. He smiled and kissed her forehead softly, pulling wisps of her soft blond hair away from her face. "Rise 'n shine, Jul," he whispered in her ear. She craned her head slightly and returned his morning kiss.
"Morning," She grimaced slightly.
"What?" he asked in concern, propping himself up on one elbow, "You okay?"She nodded, using him as an anchor to push herself up into a sitting position, "I'm fine, no problem." Julia smiled sweetly to emphasize her point.
"As long as you're sure..." he added, his deep brown eyes filled with worry. Julia laughed, pushing Alonzo back on the bed and sitting on his legs, her smile turning seductive.
"Do you want me to prove it?" She asked with a tantalizing smile, leaning forward to kiss him passionately.
"Mama? Daddy?" A small voice interrupted them. Julia quickly rolled off Alonzo and sat up on the edge of the small bed. Alonzo jumped out of the cot and ran over to swing his little girl through the air. She giggled and squealed in turn before he plopped himself back down on the bed with her piggy-backed on his shoulders. He looked around in mock confusion.
"Uh-oh," he over dramatized, "Where's Ashley-Jane? Is she... under the bed?" He swung himself under the bed as if to look for the toddler, holding securely to her legs all the time. He ran around the small tent, looking in every nook and cranny, as his daughter swung around him in hysterical giggles.
Julia looked on in pure joy, watching the little girl and her father playing. Ashley was two now, she could barely believe it. Sometimes she felt so much older than her twenty-seven years. It seemed like yesterday that they had arrived on this planet; she the withdrawn, apathetic Council operative, he a wild, promiscuous cold-sleep jumper, determined never to slow down. Somehow they had found love here. This planet never ceased to amaze her.
Julia waved at her daughter, putting a finger to her lips conspiratorially when Ashley looked her way, suggesting she stay quiet so her father wouldn't 'find' her. Her daughter imitated the gesture, then burst into a new round of noisy giggles as Alonzo decided to check under the bed again.
The doctor couldn't believe how much Ashley looked like a complete meld of her and Alonzo. She had her bright blue eyes and fair skin with Alonzo's soft, dark brown hair and adorable dimples. Together they created a head-turning, dramatic effect, and Bess probably hadn't been kidding when she said the child would be breaking hearts in no time.
Ashley was quick minded too, already speaking in fairly understandable sentences. At least Julia thought that she was fairly fast for her age. She didn't have many records on child development and had only studied it briefly in medical school. That meant she had to go off of the combined experiences of Devon, John, and Yale as well as her own gut feelings, which she found fairly disconcerting at times. Julia looked again at the dynamic duo charging around their tent and wondered for a moment how she ever lived without them.
Suddenly a powerful wave of nausea overtook her, and she quickly ran to the flap of their tent, heaving the contents of her stomach into the dewy grass. She felt Alonzo at her side, gently drawing her hair from her face and rubbing her back comfortingly. Kneeling in the grass, she finally sat back and took a few cautious breaths. Julia looked into the concerned eyes of her husband, "It's alright," she pulled a slight smile, "I just ate too many of those ebenberries last night, that's all."
Alonzo attempted a smile of understanding, but failed desperately as Ashley poked her head out from behind his bare chest. "Mama sick?" she asked quietly. Julia pulled her into a hug,
"Mama's fine, don't worry sweetie, Mama's just fine,"
Breakfast that morning was the same as most other mornings, Devon noticed, the colonists seemed to have settled into a comfortable routine here in New Pacifica. Every morning a specified group rose early and made morning meal. After breakfast the rest of the morning would be spent doing the hard physical activity at the site of the future hospital, before the summer day turned too beastly hot. The afternoons usually had the group doing their various personal jobs and chores, trying to learn as much as they could about their new home and it's surroundings. The evenings were always everyone's favourite time; cuddling around a bright fire with the children tucked into bed, and talking. It was amazing what those nights of simple talks had taught them about each other and life. No one would ever be the same again, she realized for the thousandth time, nobody could ever go back to the way they used to be. She watched as Julia and Alonzo emerged from their tent with Ashley, *not like any of us would want to*.
She looked slightly past the young family and let her eyes take in the sights of the hospital, almost completely constructed now. They hoped to be sleeping in real rooms in a few weeks, idyllically nestled between the dense green forest, scattered with rolling fields, and the pale white sand that bordered the deep blue-green of the Sea of Antius. The beautiful expanse made even the three story hospital, the only building yet erected, seem scant in comparison.
Devon had insisted upon arrival that the hospital be built before the advance team set up individual dwellings. Under her original plan, made in the luxury of the stations, the crew would have had a little over two years after arriving to set up the hospital, the surrounding colony and prepare for the arrival of the ship containing the children. But then they had crashed. They had gotten lost. They had re-routed to find water. They had stopped to help pod two. They had gotten stuck for the first winter at the Biodome. After leaving the dome, Devon herself had gotten sick, and they had waited for Julia to cure her. Then they had waited for Julia as she and Alonzo had their baby. In total it had taken them almost three and a half years to slowly make their way across the continent, sometimes stopping for weeks and months at a time.
They had finally found New Pacifica six months ago, and were just now putting the finishing touches on the hospital. The colony ship was supposed to have entered the space around G889 seventeen months ago, and although Devon was glad she had the extra time to set up their new home, she was starting to get deathly afraid that the ship had encountered problems and suffered an ill fate. But as Yale always reminded her, it was completely out of her hands now, and all she could do was hope and pray for their safe arrival.
"Devon!" a voice yelled out from behind her. She whirled and looked at Morgan Martin, the source of the sound, "Are you going to get some food or not? You're holding up the line!"
Devon smiled inwardly as she accepted the bowl of porridge Morgan offered her. *On the other hand* she thought, *some things never change*.
As the last remnants of breakfast were swept away by the day's clean-up crew, Yale took a quick look around him. True and Uly were whispering to each other quietly in a corner, clearly up to no good and Alonzo was trying to keep Ashley from running to the nearby forest to pick flowers, currently her famous pastime. He took that as his cue to start the day's classes.
A few minutes later he had True and Uly in the communications tent doing fairly advanced soil evaluations, and he was sitting on the other side of the tent with Ashley, attempting to teach her shapes. It wasn't going very well, the girl was simply too stubborn for her own good. But then, he chuckled inwardly, with her parents, what could one expect? He smiled down at her patiently,
"Now, Ashley, what shape does this look like?" The little girl looked up at him with a pout in her clear blue eyes.
"Want fow-ers!" she stated, then glared at the shape radiating from his cyber-arm, "Fow-ers..." she said again quietly.
"Is it a square?" Yale asked. The girl shook her head with a sigh, not paying much attention,
"Cir-co."
Yale smiled, "very good, shall we do another?" Ashley looked at him again with sad puppy-dog eyes, then sighed dejectedly and nodded. "Alright..." Yale was cut off with True's gasp and shout of surprise."YALE! DAD!" Yale ran across the room to her side and looked on the computer monitor where her shaking finger was pointing. On a tiny screen, normally blank, a small blipping figure flashed repetitively.
"Oh my..." he gasped as Devon and Danziger ran into the room, followed shortly by everyone else.
"What?!" Devon demanded, after seeing all three children were safe, "What is it?" Yale looked at her, a shocked and amazed expression on his face. "The colony ship," he smiled broadly, "it's here!"
The members of Eden Advance stood in the clearing near camp, watching as the large cargo pods fell softly through the sky like oversized raindrops towards a field a kilometre away from camp. True was counting them out loud as they broke through the light haze of clouds, but lost her place after thirty. Devon's chest constricted as she caught a glimpse of two smaller pods fall gently through the clouds. Passenger shuttle pods.
Danziger, standing next to her, saw her gasp and pulled her close. She looked up at him and smiled. It had finally come to that moment. Two hundred families were about to start their new lives in New Pacifica.
A few minutes later the pods came to two soft clunks on the ground, across the field from the campsite. Devon was off like a shot, running over to meet the first of the new colonists, with Julia, John, Alonzo and the others hot on her heels. Everyone was laughing and crying, or somehow combining both. A hiss rang out through the field and the first new human the group had seen in years came into sight. "Doctor Vasquez!" Devon cried, running up to him breathlessly. She threw herself into his arms and he laughed,
"Devon! It's good to see you again!" He smiled kindly at her, looking around. "Sorry we're so late, we had mid-travel troubles and had to re-route halfway here..." Suddenly his eyes left her and grew very large, "Uly...?" he gasped. The boy smiled as the doctor ran headlong into him,
"Thank the good Lord, you're healed!" Vasquez finally held the boy out at arms length and looked at him closely. "You're completely healthy! It's a miracle!" The boy shook his head,
"No, it's the Terrians," he corrected. Vasquez looked questioningly at Devon, and she just smiled,
"I'll explain later."
The doctor saw another thing then, that took his interest away from the strange word."Doctor Heller!" he cried out towards the beaming woman. Woman, he noticed, not a young, scared doctor anymore. He ran up to her and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm so sorry to have left you by yourself in such hard surroundings, I hope you can forgive me,"
Julia smiled coyly, "it's no trouble, believe me". Vasquez continued to fly around the group alternately greeting people and staring in wonder at his surroundings. During this whole event, more people started emerging from the vessel, squinting in the brightness of the sun. Two of the passengers were sickly looking Syndrome children, decked out in heavy immuno-suits. Devon started crying as she saw them look around in utter amazement, suddenly realizing what they themselves must have looked like when they arrived on this planet. Naive and hopeful, scared and expectant. Dumbstruck by the power of this wondrous planet. If only they knew that this was just the beginning...
Later that day, Richard Vasquez sat with Devon, Danziger and Julia in the Solace's tent, still doubling for the med-tent, as they tried to relay the past years events to the bewildered doctor. They explained to him the crash, and the motivation chip found in Alex Wentworth's brain. But they couldn't get any further than that.
"Julia, you were a spy for the Council?" Vasquez asked increduously, not quite sure if he had heard the words correctly. Julia nodded, eyes on the ground, not wanting to see the look of dismay and disgust on her advisor's face. When she finally did look up, she saw a mixture of shock and understanding in his hazel eyes. He finally understood and could put a reason to her mysterious appearance on the medical crew roster, much against his wishes, as well as her apparent avoidance of all other medical personnel.
"But... you're not now, I assume?" Julia nodded again, anxious to move away from the topic of her betrayal and move instead towards her redemption.
"No, I never disclosed our position to The Watcher, Reilly, but to keep him appeased I tried to inject myself with Terrian DNA..."
Realizing she had gotten ahead of herself, she spent the better part of the next hour trying to backtrack and, amidst all the questions Vasquez was firing at her, explain the Terrians first appearance to them and Uly's subsequent recovery. Julia could almost see Vasquez' mind whirling as he asked:
"So you're saying that these...Terrians...just sprang from the earth and cured Uly, and now he's their... link?" The three nodded. "And these creatures are willing to cure the other children too?" Devon interceded,
"We hope so, Uly and Alonzo are asking them now." Vasquez' head whipped around,
"They're talking to them? Where?" he jumped up, poised to sprint from the tent. Julia put a hand on his shoulder,
"Terrians communicate with us through the dream-plane. It's a special REM dream state that only those two and the Terrians seem to be able to access. Uly gained this ability after the Terrians changed him, and I'm not quite sure when or how Alonzo gained his ability." Vasquez frowned but nodded, sitting down again.
"Julia, I think there's a lot we're going to have to discuss," She smiled wearily. She had a feeling there wouldn't be much spare time for the next while. At that moment Uly and Alonzo entered the tent, chatting happily. As if startled by the silence that met them they looked up in unitary confusion. Alonzo was the first to speak,
"They said they'd do it, but the children have to be committed to helping themselves...no handouts." Devon nodded with a smile, hugging Uly before turning back to the group.
"Well, I know you two have a lot of work to cover," she said, speaking of Julia and Vasquez, and motioning for Danziger, Alonzo and her son to leave the two doctors alone. As they left Julia let out a hefty sigh and put her hands over her forehead.
"You alright, Heller?" a gentle voice came from beside her. She smiled at Vasquez, but before she could respond a new voice broke through,
"No she's not, doc." Julia turned to see Alonzo behind her. He hadn't left with the others. "She's been getting more sick everyday and keeps making up excuses as to why." Julia quickly interjected with a friendly smile, something she seemed to be doing more frequently these days,
"I'm fine. Stop being overprotective," she chastised Alonzo with a teasing smile. Julia planted a kiss on his cheek and pushed him lightly towards the open tent flap. He frowned slightly at her in concern, then quickly returned the peck and exited the tent, leaving Vasquez with one eyebrow raised and a lot of questions on his mind. Julia caught the look.
"I guess there's a lot of other stuff I'll have to fill you in on too..." Vasquez nodded,
"Well, we can get into the personal relationships later, right now I'd like to see your air and water analyses, as well as the reports you've made on the Terrians." Julia started to move around the tent, "Oh, I also need the information on all the local viruses you've encount...."
"JULIA!" he was cut off with Baines' anxious cry. Before Vasquez could blink Julia grabbed her diaglove and medkit and sprinted from the tent. He took off after her as fast as his legs could carry him.
As Julia looked across the camp she could see Baines and Walman hauling Cameron across the field. He was in obvious pain and his arm looked like a bloody pretzel, it had been so badly broken. She came to a sliding stop in front of them, motioning for the two men to place the injured man on the ground. Quickly running the diaglove over him, she confirmed the multiple fractures and went to pull a sedaderm out of her medkit. She turned to see Vasquez looking at her in shock.
"What do you think you're doing? You can't do this here!" he bellowed at her. She looked at him incredulously for a split second them grabbed the sedaderm and injected its contents into Cameron's neck. Danziger kneeled beside her, completely ignoring the ravings of the other doctor,
"What do you need?" Julia glanced at him, "Extra tent-posts or wood strips; something that I could use to make a splint for him," with a slight nod, Danziger pulled the rest of the group away from the doctor and started yelling orders. Gratefully she started a closer analysis of Cameron's arm.
"Julia? What are you doing? A *splint*?!" Vasquez' voice startled her. She looked at him to see a very confused, shocked and angry man.
"I'm trying to prevent him from dying of blood loss so we can repair the damage to his arm later. Are you going to help me or not?" Vasquez just glared at her.
"You should *not* be attempting to correct the problem here, this man needs to be in a hygienic environment and..." Julia gaped, not believing her ears,
"And where do you *expect* me to find a more hygienic environment?" She snapped viciously, "We could try to move him to the medtent but then we'd risk further damage to the wound. Our best viable option is to keep him here. So are you going to help me or not?" Not waiting for an answer she returned to her diaglove. After a few silent seconds a large figure moved beside her.
Julia glanced up as Vasquez started to apply pressure to the wounds, wondering how this once-mentor could suddenly seem so juvenile to her. Shaking her head, she steadfastly returned to her diagnosis.
end part 1
Once upon a dream (2/4)
By Nora
Danziger heaved yet another hundred pound crate on to his shoulders and out of the cargo pod to the new Transrover. He did so as carefully as possible, Julia having threatened death on the next person to drop one on their arm or any other extremity. He sent a rough smile to Alonzo who was grunting right behind him, having given up his shirt to the heat already. As he pushed the box up onto the back of the large vehicle he glanced over at the two Syndrome children who had come down in the second pod and were watching them quietly from a distance. One little boy, he guessed he was around seven, and a little girl who was only two or three. John had noticed Alonzo watching her earlier. She was so close to Ashley's age, she must remind him of the fact that if his own daughter had been born on the stations, she could be just like them. They two kids looked so listless and lost, their parents off listening to Devon explain the basics of living on a planet... Danziger decided it was time he and Alonzo took a break.
"'Lonz!" he called to the man, "Why don't you go get Ash?" Alonzo nodded, understanding his motives and headed off towards the camp. John moved towards the small children who were practically cowering from his approach.
"Hey munchkins," he used True's old pet-name and knelt in front of them, "I'm John. What are your names?" The boy looked up at him with big hazel eyes,
"Michael," he pointed towards the little girl, trying to hide behind the boy, "and that's Jasmine."
"What do you two think of your new home so far?" John asked softly. Michael shrugged a little.
"It's okay, but Mom says it's dangerous." John's eyebrows raised slightly at the young child's comment. He was about to ask Michael who his mother was, so he could reassure the woman, but his thought was interrupted by the giggles and laughter of father and daughter approaching them.
As Alonzo and Ashley walked up towards Danziger and the children, Ashley's eyes grew larger and she hid further and further behind her father's legs. Alonzo knelt and gently pulled Ashley in front of him.
"Ashley," John spoke up, "This is Michael and Jasmine. Kids, this is Ashley." Ashley looked on in shock at these two new children, never having seen any children besides Uly and True before. But children's instincts quickly took over and the young girls slowly moved towards each other. Jasmine smiled broadly, pointing towards a bush bright with yellow blossoms. She stuttered over the new word,
"Flll...flowwwer!" Alonzo smiled broadly as the girls raced off hand in hand, Michael laughing as he followed behind them.
A few hours later, long past dusk, the much larger group slowly started gathering around a glowing fire, the old colonists explaining the ritual to the new. Uly and True, after several rounds of begging, pleading and bribing, managed to convince their parents to let them stay up late with the adults. Now they sat proudly on the ground, determined to keep their tired eyes open.
True noticed the recent arrivals staring at the blazing fire in awe and worry. When a piece of wood crackled, she saw one woman actually jump in fright. True shook her head in bewilderment, was she ever that nervous when they arrived on this planet?
In the distance, a koba's gentle cooing could be heard, drifting in the wind.
"What was that?" a man, James Carper she thought his name was, asked nervously. True watched her mother... well, soon-to-be step-mother, send him a consoling smile.
"It's a native creature called a koba. They're not dangerous if they're left alone." True ducked her head, remembering all too clearly what happened when they weren't left alone.
Devon's words had little impact on the group. For the next half hour True watched as they jumped each time the wind swirled around the fire, letting off a gentle hiss, whenever the koba let out it's remorseful song, whenever they heard anything that wasn't mechanical. She thought it was ridiculous. They planet was perfectly safe once you knew what to look out for, and these people had it easy! They hadn't trekked across the continent with few supplies, little knowledge of the inhabitants and...
Her thoughts were interrupted as Julia joined the myriad of people crowded near the fire, and wilted into Alonzo's arms. She had been operating on Cameron's arm in his tent since the morning accident with minimal help from Vasquez, who was already at the fire. Everyone looked up expectantly,
"Cameron broke his arm in three places, and there was a lot of tissue damage, but I sealed the wound and he'll be fine,"
Julia could almost feel the collective sigh of the group. With the tension of Cameron's injury gone, conversations resumed where they'd left off among the colonists new and old. Julia looked up at her husband,
"Ashley in bed?" he nodded,
"Out like a light. Are you okay?" he asked. Julia looked up at him, with weary eyes,"Fine... I'm just really tired." Alonzo pulled her close to him, slowly rocking her into a sleepy haze. Just as Julia was started to doze off, a voice drifted through the night air, tossing her back into reality,
"Mama?" Instantly she was sitting up, looking around for where the voice was coming from. Ashley stood a few metres away in her blue nightie that was really one of Julia's old shirts, desperately clutching a ragged stuffed rabbit that Yale had somehow managed to make out of scraps of material. Julia opened her arms and her daughter shuffled over and pulled herself into her mother's lap.
"I'd bad dream, Mama," she said quietly, snuggling her head under her mother's chin. Julia gathered her in her arms and rocked her slowly, much in the way Alonzo had been rocking her minutes ago, gently singing lullabies Devon had taught her as Ashley stared into the bright campfire.
"Often times I dream of music. Of a river that freely flows. And it sings a song sweeter than honey, one everybody knows...."
Julia hadn't known any lullabies when she first became a mother; her mother and father had never sung to her. Emotion, to her mother at least, was a sign of weakness, and her father had never argued the issue. But she was determined to be a better mother to Ashley than her mother had been to her, and learning lullabies had been the first step.
Still humming, Julia felt someone staring at her, a natural reflex she noticed was getting keener every day on this planet. She glanced up to see Richard Vasquez looking down upon her and Ashley in pure disbelief from a few yards away. She smiled slightly, understanding his surprise, and was pleased to see his expression of shock melt away into a broad smile. He left his spot on an old log and came and took an empty space beside his student on the ground.
"Congratulations," he said softly, "albeit slightly late." He had noticed the little girl running around the camp earlier in the day and assumed she was the Martin's daughter. He felt silly for not having recognized the tell-tale sapphire eyes and broad dimpled smile earlier. The little girl turned around in her mother's arms to look at this strange new man, tired blue eyes widening with curiosity,
"Sweetie, this is Doctor Vasquez," Julia told her. Richard smiled down at the girl, a touch of paternal pride in his eyes. "Doctor, this is Ashley-Jane,"
Ashley's forehead crinkled in thought in a way that made her look like the spitting image of Alonzo, then she turned to her mother,
"Mama? *You* docteh," Julia laughed, "We're both doctors, hun," Ashley seemed to contemplate that for a second and then curled up again and closed her eyes. As Vasquez turned to ask Devon more questions from his seemingly endless list, Alonzo leaned over his wife's shoulder, gently pulling his two favourite girls back to lean against him. His eyes were bright in the light of the fire, watching his daughter sleep so peacefully.
"It's moments like this that make you forget all the hard times," he whispered into Julia's ear. She smiled slightly, her brow furrowing in recollection,
"We've certainly had our share of them..." He pulled her in closer to him as a barrage of close-calls and near disasters flooded his mind. He would never forget the most horrifying moment of his life, when Julia had been bitten by a malicious koba. Their bites were almost as poisonous as their claws, and she had almost died in a series of seizures and uncontrollable shivering. 'But everything's alright now' he thought, pulling them a bit closer, 'and I'll never let anything hurt either her or Ashley again'.
Suddenly he felt the earth rumble slightly under him. Lightly moving Julia away and sitting up, he shot a look over at Uly who was already trying to catch his eye. They both stood up just as two Terrians emerged from the earth mere feet from the fire. The shrieks and gasps of the new colonists almost blocked out the low rumbling of the first as he motioned towards the passenger pods across the field. Yale calmly walked over to a cluster of the scared newcomers,
"Shh...these are Terrians, they're perfectly friendly. Please calm down." They quieted enough for Alonzo to make out what the Terrian was saying as Devon walked up behind him,
"He wishes you all welcome," he translated, looking slightly detached, "and asks us to keep our promise of preserving the manner in which we found the land." Devon nodded and smiled slightly,
"Tell them we will, and thank them for their generosity." Uly trilled softly, relaying the message.
The second Terrian moved past Alonzo and approached Julia and Ashley, still sitting on the ground next to the fire. He put out his hand and trilled. Ashley smiled, crawling from her mother's lap, and put her tiny palm into his. She looked several feet up at him without a speck of fear in her eyes, and let out a hushed series of trills. The Terrian trilled back and, as quickly as they had appeared, they slipped soundlessly back into the planet's surface. The new colonists immediately started mumbling among themselves, sending wary looks at Alonzo, Uly and Ashley. They had never seen these strange creatures before; seven feet of sinewy muscle with tiny emotionless eyes. Devon turned to face the group and stated the obvious;
"They are Terrians,"
Alonzo walked to his daughter and knelt next to her on the ground. She smiled at him and trilled out a complex sequence. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, but he shook his head,"No, sweetie, you speak to the group," Ashley's mouth formed an o, remembering the talk she and her dad had about this just weeks ago. He smiled at her and mussed her hair,
"It's okay, it's time for bed though," he caught Julia's eye and she quickly made her way past the others and picked up Ashley. As the new colonists talked excitedly between themselves about what they had seen, Alonzo grabbed Devon's sleeve and pulled her to the side.
"Ashley says they told her that sadness and anger will soon come... and that hatred will follow. I couldn't understand most of what she said, but that was the basic idea."
Devon looked at him in surprise. The Terrians had a connection with the little girl that was different than their connection with Alonzo or Uly. Uly was their genetic link to the humans, their link to the planet. Alonzo was their liaison of sorts, communicating to them regularly on the dream-plane while he slept. But Ashley's relationship with the Terrians was unique, not quite understood by anyone. The Terrians seemed to speak to her in rhymes and puzzles, more so than with Alonzo, and yet protect the child as if she was one of their own like they did with Uly. Ashley was the only one who simply accepted their riddles for what they were without questioning their meaning, as if she understood their strange analogies. Devon sighed. As far as she knew, they had never given her such a dark message, but perhaps that was why the girl was so special; she seemed to simply take it in stride.
She saw Alonzo looking at her curiously, hoping she'd understood. She put her hands up helplessly,
"Your guess is as good as mine,"
Danziger started rounding the group up, catching their attention with his booming voice,"C'mon everyone, it's time we all turn in," he shepherded the children towards their tent, "We have to get up and work tomorrow,"
Gradually, the colonists exchanged goodnight's, and although feeling a bit unsettled, headed off to their tents.
Danziger watched them go as he waited for Devon to join him at their tent. If the new colonists behaviour tonight was any model for the future, he had a feeling none of them would be getting much sleep for quite awhile.
'I can hardly believe all the excitement that's occurred in the past two days at camp. Our numbers have grown practically overnight from sixteen to nine hundred sixty-two, with the last few people coming down from the ship today, and everyone is still reeling from the change. The original sixteen of us are having an equally hard or harder time adjusting, especially Julia. Dr. Vasquez has been running her ragged these past few days; he insists on being brought up to date on this new planet, while at the same time administering to the needs of all the Syndrome children and their families. Julia even told me last night that she feels more like a secretary and less like a doctor everyday. Frankly, I can't help but agree with her.'
Bess looked up from her diary and stared around the bustling, enlarged camp. She had thought camp was busy before, but this was chaotic. Adding to the mess of people were Syndrome children drifting about, languid and sad, and their parents wandering around them looking out of place in slacks made of fine silks and shoes covered in velvet. Bess touched her own rough, weathered shirt self-consciously. It wouldn't be long before their fineries were worn into rags and useful only for patching other pants and shirts. She suddenly felt the presence of people around her and looked up to see two women, a brunette and a redhead, standing behind her. She smiled and stuck out her hand amicably,
"Hi, I'm Bess Martin." The brunette was the first to take her hand,
"Hannah Clements," she smiled warmly, "Lorianne Richardson," the other woman said in a much shyer voice.
Bess motioned for them to sit at the meal table she was currently occupying. Hannah wasted no time in showing her motives,
"I, that is we, were wondering," she said, leaning in towards the table slightly and lowering her voice, "what happened to your group these past few years?" Bess looked at her in bewilderment, and Hannah tried to expand on her question,
"I mean, to the people..." she sighed, tucking a few flyaway strands of brown hair back into their proper places. She looked around, making sure no one could hear them,
"Julia Heller... the ice princess of the medical ward... is actually married to the pilot of the Advance Ship? The sleep-jumper?!" Bess nodded and smiled in recollection,
"They fell in love just a little while after we landed. They've been through a lot together, more than most of us."
The two women exchanged glances as Hannah hastily changed topics and continued,
"Well, the last time I saw Devon Adair she was cool, single minded; she only cared about her son. She was just a step away from being cold-hearted," Hannah took a breath and looked to her companion as if for confirmation of what she said, "Now, she seems to have a relationship with that mechanic," she spoke the last word with a dainty nip of distaste. Bess stared at the women as if they had grown two heads.
"She and John have been sharing a tent for the past two years, he loves her more than life itself." Quiet Lorianne gasped slightly,
"You mean they're not married?" she queried, looking at Hannah in shock. Bess shook her head, a small frown scrunching her features. She didn't see a problem with them having a... conjugal relationship out of wedlock, but she had to remind herself that these women and most of the other settlers were from the upper class of station society, and for them this type of thing was almost unheard of.
"What about their kids? You'd think they'd get married for their sake, so save them from the shame and..."
"What?!" Bess cried out, not quite able to believe what her ears were hearing, "What shame? True has the mother that she's wanted her whole life, and Uly has a father that he loves with all his heart; what shame could possibly come from that?!" Bess gathered up her things and stormed out of the tent.
end part 2
Once upon a dream (3/4)
By Nora
Julia approached a small, young girl with a smile, "Hi there. I'm Julia Solace, what's your name?" she slowly ran her diaglove over the tiny girl, eight she guessed, checking oxygen levels,
"Susan," the girl rasped, looking curiously at her through the confines of her immuno-suit. Julia recognized the look and looked back at her expectantly,
"What is it Susan?" The girl averted her eyes, "Nothing..." Julia smiled again encouragingly and the girl smiled back as she spoke up softly, "were you...scared when you first came here?" the doctors smile hardened slightly for a second then she nodded honestly,
"Yeah. But you know what?" she whispered to the girl, as if telling her a very important secret. Susan leaned in to hear, "I think everyone was." The girl's eyes widened,
"Even...him?" she asked, pointing to Alonzo. Julia almost laughed,
"Even him."
Convinced the girl was in good, stable condition she moved on towards the next child, to be met by Dr. Vasquez, looking blustered and upset."Dr. Heller, you didn't tell me that the Terrians incorporated their DNA into Uly's system! How could you have let him be violated in such a way?!" He glared at her menacingly. Julia felt the sudden urge to scream at him that she didn't appreciate his lack of trust in her these past few days, but instead she balled her hands into fists and carefully controlled her voice.
"I assumed you saw my notes on Uly's change, so I didn't bother mentioning it. As for why I let him be 'violated'," she noticed her voice raising a tone in volume, "I didn't. The Terrians took him and changed him without our knowing it, I only found out when I examined him after. But the DNA doesn't..." Vasquez chose that moment to completely lose his temper,
"You mean these... these things," he screamed, "didn't ask if they could cure Uly? They just took him and did it?" Julia saw from the corner of her eye Danziger and Alonzo approaching on her right, clearly wondering what was happening and looking protective,
"They did it to save him. They knew he would die if they didn't. And they're not 'things', Doctor, they're sentient beings who..." Vasquez laughed harshly,
"Sentient beings would not tear a child away from its home and change its DNA structure without permission!" Julia gave up. She yelled at him,
"This was not Uly's home, it was and still is their home. They understand it more than we do and they cured him out of the goodness of their hearts. Why can't you understand that?!" She could see a crowd starting to form around them in two groups, clearly divided into old and new colonists. Vasquez took a step towards her and hissed into her ear,
"I will finish up here. I would appreciate it if you would return to your tent and finish the documents I asked you to prepare." Julia's jaw dropped. He was in essence sending her to her room. Did he think she was a child? Before she could give him a lash of her own temper Devon stepped in between them and faced Vasquez,
"Julia's right, the Terrians did not hurt Uly and they will not hurt any of the other children. The only thing that could hurt them now is you scaring them into thinking that this planet can harm them." the elder doctor glared at both the women as Devon continued,
"Julia has been one of this group's biggest assets since we landed, she knows more about the Terrians and this planet than most of us put together. So I will not," she stated firmly, "watch you reduce her to a low-level intern. That may have been what she was when we left, but right now I think you should be listening to her."
Vasquez glared at Devon then turned his gaze over to Julia. "I trust you can handle this, I'll be in the med-tent." he stalked off, a stormy cloud receding back into its own territory. Julia's shoulders drooped and she spoke softly, as the crowd around them dispersed,
"The med-tent is still my tent..." Devon put her hands on the younger woman's shoulders,
"We'll move the medical equipment into one of the bigger tents as soon as we can, don't worry. Everything's going to work out... it has to." Julia nodded. Devon noticed an odd look on her face and suddenly Julia's hand flew to her mouth and she took off towards the woods. Devon started to run after her, but Alonzo grabbed her arm.
"I'll go, watch Ashley for me, okay?" Devon nodded as he sprinted after his wife, then sighed and looked around for the young girl.
Alonzo reached the edge of the woods and looked around in confusion. After a few seconds he heard a sick round of gagging and spotted a blond ponytail near a clump of tall, leafy trees. Jogging over to Julia he sat down quietly beside her, rubbing her back as she coughed and spat. Finally she closed her eyes and breathed carefully, a familiar signal by now that she was done.
"Jul, this is insane," he began, as she composed herself, "why are you so sick? What's wrong?" Julia looked at him, weary and worn, but with a delicate smile on her face, the corners of her mouth drawn up slightly.
"Oh, nothing big," she shrugged as her smile grew a little broader, "we're just having another baby in seven or so months, that's all,"
Alonzo felt like he had been knocked over from his crouched position and his heart skipped a beat. Suddenly a massive grin split his face, and he and Julia toppled over from the force of his hug, sprawling together onto the ground,
"Another baby!" he exclaimed kissing her gently, then putting a hand lightly on her middle. "I can't believe it!" Julia sat up and smiled weakly,
"Believe me, my stomach hasn't quite caught up with the fact either." He looked in sympathy at his wife, not sure of what to say or do, but she laughed,
"So, Dad, are you hoping for a son or another little girl?" His grin compared to the hot star that they now called the sun as he looked down at her and kissed her forehead tenderly,
"As long as he or she is healthy and looks just like you, I'd gladly take either," Julia's smile lit up even more, although Alonzo wouldn't have thought it possible,
"Now..." Julia continued, "we have to tell the group at some point..." Instantly he was on his feet and he gently pulled Julia up after him. She laughed again, as his eyes seemed to be dancing in happiness.
"I saw Danziger in the clearing..." she laughed as he grabbed her hand and they ran from the forest,
"Danziger! Hey Danziger!"
"What?!" Devon's voice rang out through the crowded mess tent, "Congratulations!" Julia felt slightly claustrophobic as she was suddenly surrounded by people all hugging and kissing her and Alonzo. Not even that could wipe the euphoric look from her face, and she noticed that Alonzo had an identical one a few feet away from her. Even Vasquez seemed happy, in his own way, offering her a gruff 'congratulations doctor'.
Bess sat across the room, watching the revelry around her. She had, of course, offered her congratulations to the couple, but couldn't manage more than a few minutes around the newly expectant mother.
She and Morgan had been trying for the past year to conceive a child, and had time after time been unsuccessful. Bess was beginning to think that maybe one or both of them couldn't have children, but that thought was too painful to dwell on for very long.
On the stations, as well as earth, sterile persons were not allowed to go to extreme measures to conceive, for fear of passing the sterility onto a new generation. Even though she knew that it wasn't the case here, and that Julia could probably, given some time, nudge the makings of a baby in the right direction, it still gave her nightmares. As she often heard Danziger say, old habits die hard, and this fear didn't seem to be dying at all. Bess hated to sound selfish and egocentric but as she heard her friend's happy news, the first thing that went through her head was 'it's not fair'. While she and Morgan tried unsuccesfully to have one child, Julia and Alonzo were expecting their second, even though Julia was a chromotilt.
Chromotilts were usually from higher society and were born to serve a particular group or area, almost always the infamous Council. Such groups did not care if their 'tilted workers could not conceive or if their female employees usually miscarried in the first trimester. If a 'tilt's pedigree was worth continuing, their DNA could be combined in a test tube with any other person's to create a fetus which could be planted into a surrogate mother without the biological parents ever suspecting a thing. It was not the concern of such groups as the Council that 'tilts conceived for them might want to biologically have their own children. The fact that Julia had been able to carry Ashley to term surprised even her and had beaten many odds, especially after her traumatic miscarriage just months earlier. Now becoming pregnant again... it was almost unbelievable.
As far as Bess knew, Julia and Alonzo had always wanted more children, but for some reason hadn't yet tried. Perhaps because they wanted Ashley to be older, maybe because they were fearful of Julia's health, but for whatever reason, this pregnancy was a dream come true.
She glanced back up at the happy couple. She had been planning to talk to Julia within the next few days about her and Morgan's problem, but now that she was pregnant... again... Bess didn't think she would have the heart to face her. Feeling tears welling up in her eyes, she escaped the happiness of the tent before she could spoil the festivities.
Later that afternoon, as Alonzo and John started what they hoped would be their last tug-of-war with the cargo pod crates, Alonzo noticed Richard Vasquez making his way through the brush that covered the area from the clearing to the camp. He was watching the ground carefully and almost delicately choosing where to put each foot, so as not to get mud or even dust onto his shoes. Alonzo had lugged another two crates before the doctor finally made it to the meadow. Now as the doctor approached, he used one hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and took a few steps expectantly in his direction. Vasquez didn't pick up the body language and came right over to the two men, perching on the edge of a crate and catching his breath for several minutes, Alonzo waiting slightly impatiently. He suddenly seemed to realize he was being watched and looked at the taller man with a quick, formal type of a smile.
"Ah, yes, Mr. Solace,"
"Alonzo." He was quickly corrected. Vasquez smiled again, slightly nervous this time, piquing the pilot's interest."Alonzo...I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes," he motioned to the empty end of the field beyond them, away from Danziger who was watching unobtrusively from a distance, "shall we?"
Alonzo shot a look at John, a silent request to leave for a few minutes. Danziger gave a sharp nod, returning to his work. Vasquez leading the way, he and Alonzo moved off to the other side of the clearing, stopping at a series of large rocks that they sat down on. Alonzo, feeling a bit antsy, started to lose his patience,
"What's this about doctor?" Vasquez looked at him in mild surprise, as if he should've known,
"Actually, it's about your daughter." Alonzo immediately went on the defensive, getting a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach,
"Ashley? What about her?!" he snapped. The doctor quickly interjected,
"Oh, no, you misunderstand me. Everything's fine, I just wanted to ask you some questions about her." Now Alonzo was completely lost, his face reflecting his confusion as the doctor continued, "Does she have the ability to get to this... dream plane, as you call it?"
Alonzo nodded, still unsure about the doctor's motives "Yes, she's been dreaming with the Terrians and myself on the dreamplane for the past year or so. She understands and speaks their language too," answering the next question he knew was on Vasquez' mind. Richard leaned in slightly, pulling out a scrap of paper and taking notes,
"Yes, I saw her...um...communicating with the creatures-" "Terrians." Alonzo corrected,
"-the other night at the campfire. She seemed quite... fluent. Now, do you suppose she has these abilities because she was born on the planet, from a specific traumatic event, like Uly's, or maybe due to the influence of your genes?" Alonzo looked at the doctor blankly,"I... I don't know... she's never been taken into the ground... Julia and I have discussed the causes but..." Vasquez started scribbling wildly on the paper, his eyes growing greedy with scientific hunger,
"Well if it were genes, then... yes... that could work..." he mumbled to himself as he wrote, "I suppose a few tests...field analyses...assess and categorize the abilities..." An image whipped through Alonzo's mind of his daughter being poked and prodded, treated like a lab-rat by dozens of apathetic doctors. Alonzo glared at the man as he stood up and grabbed his shoulder to halt his speeding pen.
"You listen to me. Ashley is not the subject of some experiment of yours, she is my daughter." He edged a little closer to the man and dropped his voice to a menacingly low level, "And you will not lay a hand on her as long as you live unless you have the express permission of myself or Julia, understand?" Vasquez quickly nodded and Alonzo stormed off, leaving the doctor to wonder about the events that had just taken place.
The next morning Devon wasn't sure anymore if her sentiment about everything being alright was true or not. She had finally, after three and a half days, managed to gather the entire group together in the clearing next to camp and, standing on a log, she was trying to get through a simple meeting agenda. So far she hadn't gotten a word in edgewise. People were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice her hopelessly vying for their attention.
She looked at Yale in desperation, trying to figure out what to do to catch and keep the attention of over nine hundred people with no voice amplifiers. He just shrugged helplessly. Abruptly Uly was on the log next to her, looking mature beyond his twelve years. He spoke in a quiet but firm voice that seemed to ring out through the field.
"Three years ago, the Terrians cured me," he said, smiling at the children sitting around them, "and they're going to cure you too." The youngsters all beamed as the stretch of soft green grass slowly went from a load ruckus, to a dull roar and finally came to silence. Devon sent a silent thank-you to her son, and looked out towards the crowd.
"Please listen to me. It's taken me a long time to get us all together, and I'd like to start this meeting by extending a warm welcome to all of our newcomers." The advance team let out a spattering of applause. Devon held up her hands for quiet and continued, "This planet is different than anything any of us had ever seen on the stations, and at times much more dangerous. The small group of us has been through a lot in the past few years and although we don't understand everything, we know a lot more now than we did when we landed." She motioned for Julia to join her on the impromptu podium,
"This is Julia Solace, the advance team's doctor. I'd like to give you all this opportunity to ask her, myself, or anyone else any questions you may have thought up in the past few days." She was surprised to see only one hand go up, belonging to a younger woman in the middle of the crowd, holding her young son in her arms. She motioned for her to speak.
"My name's Alexis Ghant...when, exactly, will the kids be healed?" Devon's heart went out to her, she reminded her so much of Uly and herself a few years ago. She found Alonzo standing between Julia and herself, taking it upon himself to answer the question.
"I'm Alonzo Solace, and I don't know exactly when the Terrians will take them. But as most of you know, I dream with them, and they've told me it will be soon." This brought muttering in the crowd.
"Please," Devon spoke up over the discussion, "if you have questions, ask us about anything, we're here to help you." A few more hands bobbed through the air. A young man spoke up,
"Did your son change at all after they cured him?" Devon smiled, "Yes, he could run and jump and play without needing medicine, and he acts like any other young boy now."
Julia glanced at Devon, knowing she must add to the answer from the medical standpoint but not sure if she wanted to. These people were already so antsy about the planet... but it was her duty. Taking a breath she continued,
"As you all know, there are changes to the children's DNA structure, but in a way that gives them the missing enzymes and chemicals that they didn't have on the stations. This planet is alive, somehow, and through this change the children become more connected to it than the rest of us. By the Terrians giving them this extra DNA, they have access to the dream-plane and can speak the Terrian language. Those are the only noticeable differences between them and any other child." The crowd started mumbling again, much more loudly than before. One man walked towards the makeshift podium, his eyes flashing angrily,
"Wait a minute, you want us to believe all of this coming from a Council spy?" This sent the new colonists into an uproar of gasps and cries of outrage. Devon had hoped to conceal this information for as long as possible, at least until the colonists knew and trusted Julia enough to be able to look past her backround as an intelligence agent. Apparently this man had done his own research and gone digging through the Advance Team's logs. Now Julia started to turn red and unconciously took a step back away from the people yelling at her. Danziger interrupted them in an unignorable yell,
"Hey!" he turned to them all and motioned towards the young doctor, "yes, Julia came to this planet as a patriot and spy for the Council." More comments resounded through the camp. Danziger raised his voice another powerful notch to a level that made even Devon jump, "But she is not now!"
An eerie silence suddenly surrounded him and he moved closer to the crowd, "This planet is our second chance. That's a second chance that we gave to Julia and I expect you to do the same."
Julia, who had listened almost in silent awe to Danziger's defense of her, found her voice again and softly spoke up,
"No matter what I did before, what I'm telling you now is that your children can be healed, and be normal, active and healthy on this planet..." The same man who had made the comment before walked forward again and interrupted her,
"I didn't bring my family here just to have you tell me you'd make my daughter a 'mutant' of some kind. If these creatures have the ability to cure the kids, then they can probably do it without changing anything else about them. We have magpro's, I say we march on over to their little caves and demand that they heal our children without harming them!" His speech was met by a surprising number of cheers in agreement. Devon's jaw dropped, wondering where along the lines she had lost control of the meeting.
"No," she cried out, "you don't understand," The man turned to her and bellowed out, "yes we do! We understand that we will not let our children be taken and genetically altered by these things." He pointed at Ashley, sitting in the grass in faded blue overalls a few feet from Julia, "Look at that girl, she's a freak! You all heard her twittering away last night like... like an animal! I don't know about any of you," he glared reproachfully at Alonzo and Julia, "but I will not let my daughter be violated in such a way!" With that he gathered a young Syndrome girl into his arms and stalked off back towards the camp, followed by dozens of other families.
Alonzo felt like a bomb had just been dropped on his soul as he watched the hostile looks people were sending Ashley's way. His daughter looked over at him then with smiling big blue eyes, blissfully unaware of what had just occured, her long brown hair swinging freely around her face. She was the epitomy of happiness and love. He tried to make his face smile back, and then looked to see Julia's identical pair of blue eyes looking at him in utter despair and fright. He felt the same way. How could anyone call their baby girl a 'freak'? She was the most beautiful child, both physically and spiritually, that Alonzo had ever known.
As the man behind the comment strutted by him he stopped next to Alonzo and asked him loudly, so all could hear,
"What kind of a father are you?" Alonzo heard a wave of deafening silence crash around him as his black eyes blazed at the man.
"One who cares enough about my child to put my fears aside and let the planet take care of her." He found Julia beside him, holding Ashley in her arms. The man hissed a curse at the little girl and stomped off with about half of the new colonists behind him. Devon looked over at them in despair,
"What do we do now? What?" Julia just shook her head, clearly not able to understand why people would come so far, and then suddenly decide they didn't want their child to get well. It didn't make sense...
Alonzo looked at them both, and then down at his daughter, smoothing her silky hair,
"They're afraid," he told them quietly, "as long as they're afraid, there is nothing we can do to help them."
Danziger walked into his tent after dinner beyond exhausted. His arms still hurt from lifting the contents of the cargo pods, even though they had finished hauling them back to camp two days ago, and he was in a horrible mood. Dinner hadn't helped his condition either; Vasquez and Julia were still on edge, the kids had started to fight, and Devon had been off playing ambassador to the new colonists, still needing to be comforted after every noise.
He glanced around his tent, surprised when he didn't see Devon inside. They had always met after dinner and gone for a walk in the woods before finishing their chores and settling in for the night. It had been a ritual for the past year and they had only broken the tradition during times of crisis. He, personally, would not consider now a crisis.
Glancing back around the camp he spied Devon talking with a dark haired man who looked to John to be on the edge of a mental breakdown, nervously wringing his hands and shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Danziger groaned inwardly. It seemed all his fiancee had been doing since the colony ship arrived was worry with, about and for everyone else except herself and her family. He slowly walked over, passing the new, larger med tent, and heard two raised voices coming from inside. He immediately recognized one as Julia's; she was moving the last of her medical equipment into this new tent, but it took him a few minutes to identify the second. Vasquez.
John stopped, not sure what to do. He knew Alonzo wasn't inside the tent; if he was, there was no way Vasquez would be yelling at Julia in such a fashion and still standing. He knew the argument wasn't any of his business, but he wouldn't trust Richard Vasquez any further than he could throw him, and he certainly wasn't going to leave Julia alone with him. He sat down on an overturned crate that was a discreet distance from the tent and patiently waited and listened.
"...power... with experience... new planet..." Danziger could only catch a few of Julia's shouted words. He heard something yelled back, followed by a crash and a sound that was a cross between a yelp and a cry of terror. In an instant John was on his feet and he tore across the short distance to the med tent.
As he burst through the tent flap he saw Vasquez on one side of the room, Julia on the other, and a piece of unidentifiable equipment in chunks across the ground between them. Instinctively he identified the pregnant Julia as the party at most risk and placed himself directly in front of her, facing the other doctor. Before Danziger could question either of them as to what happened Walman, Devon, and Alonzo flew into the tent.
"What's going on?" Devon asked the question that John hadn't had time to voice. Alonzo turned to Julia but kept his glaring eyes locked on Vasquez,
"Did he hurt you?" Julia simply shook her head, but it looked to John as if the rest of her was shaking too. Alonzo went to her side and wrapped his arms around her, with his back protecting her from Vasquez' glare. Devon raised her voice slightly and continued her query of the situation:
"What happened here?" Vasquez was still fuming, his face bright red,
"Oh, just a nice show of insubordination," he sneered sarcastically, stamping his foot to make his point, "The kind doctor here has decided to shirk her duties and go on a break to see her freak-daughter whenever she feels it necessary, without checking with me. She seems to think she is now the commander-in-chief of the medical team, and she is also turning the entire Advance team against me! Just this morning that woman, Linda Magus, came in here with a twisted ankle but wouldn't accept treatment from me. She said she'd just go find Julia."
Devon interrupted before his outburst led to an argument like the one from a few days ago,
"If you ask me, you're the one turning the Advance team against you, not Julia," The young doctor seemed to find her voice again and moved away from Alonzo towards Vasquez,
"I'm sorry if I don't blindly obey your orders," she began softly, her eyes focused on the ground before her, "but I learned very quickly after we came here that sometimes orders are meant to be disobeyed, to save another person." Julia looked up and met her teacher's eyes,
"When I left the stations on the Advance shuttle, I was a doctor barely out of medical school and an operative for the Council. I wasn't a real person, just a piece in a larger game that I wasn't allowed to play.
"Since then I've become a real person - I have friends and a family," Julia's blue eyes pleaded to Vasquez' cold stare, "but you can't understand that..." Richard spoke up over her words,
"Heller..."
"Solace," Julia cut him off harshly. "My name now is Julia Solace. You haven't called me by my real name since you got here. Can't you accept the fact that there's something more important in my life than medicine?"The room was engulfed in a strange silence that was only accented by the quiet cry of a koba outside and the sound of Ashley's laughter near the tent.
Vasquez took that as his que to beat a hasty exit, stomping as he left. Walman glanced around the room at the couples and deciding it best to monitor the tempermental doctor for awhile, followed Vasquez out of the area.
All four remaining colonists looked around the room at each other, uncertain about what they should be thinking, feeling and saying. Julia's sudden sobs broke the silence. In an instant Alonzo had her in his arms,
"Shhh..." he cooed softly, "He won't hurt you... He's not your father... You're safe here... Shhh..."
Devon and Danziger exchanged a look and silently left the tent, closing the flap behind them.
"Well that was certainly interesting," John commented as they slowly made their way towards the woods, falling into routine. Devon arched an eyebrow as he continued,
"I think Vasquez is really going to have to be put in his place if he's going to fit in here at all. He's got to learn he's not the boss anymore, and if he ever throws a temper tantrum like that again..." The look he was getting from his fiancee cut him off immediately. "What?" he asked innocently. Devon shook her head and put her hands in her pockets,
"I just don't think you can ask a person to change that quickly, John. I mean, Vasquez has been in charge of the medical side of this project for the past eight years, and you're expecting him to surrender that rank to a woman less than half his age and then adjust to that change in a week. I don't think that's fair to ask of him." Now John felt his temper flaring,
"Then you're approving of his behaviour this afternoon? What if that equipment had hit Julia or smashed up some medical supplies...?" Devon's voice rose in volume and intensity,
"I'm not saying I approve of the violence he used, I'm just saying we have to try to relate to him and -"
"Oh, so now I have to relate to *him*?!" John yelled. Silence fell between them. "I'm sorry Dev," he whispered, letting out a sigh and taking one of her hands into his, "I didn't mean to get worked up." Devon smiled and allowed herself to be pulled in to his body,
"I'm sorry too. I'm letting all this stress get to me and I'm taking it out on you. I shouldn't - " She was cut off as his lips met hers and every thought of the argument melted from her brain. They didn't get back to camp until well after dark had fallen.
end part 3
Once upon a dream (4/4)
By Nora
Early the next morning Devon decided that the time had come to meet with Eden Advance. They had all seen little of each other since the arrival of the newcomers, and had had some time to think about what they wanted to do with their futures. Devon glanced around her. John, the Martin's, Baines, Magus, Matazl, Denner, the Solace's, Cameron, Walman, Yale, Uly and True. They were all sitting around the outside of her tent, munching quietly on their oatmeal. Automatically they had sat in a circle with Devon at the head; the matriarch of their large brood. Now her stomach flopped slightly at the question she was about to bring up.
"I asked you all here this morning so we could talk." She paused as all fifteen pairs of eyes turned her way and were caught in her gaze, "Ever since we first crashed here, it has been assumed that some of us would be leaving when the Colony ship showed up. Many of us, including myself, have ignored this possibility for as long as possible, but the time has come to make the choice. The colony shuttle leaves for the Earth Stations in three days." Devon took a breath, trying to decide if there was a way to say this easily. There wasn't.
"Well, I guess all I can ask is... who's staying here on G889?" Her voice dropped a notch, "And who's leaving?" Silence fell among the group. True spoke up eagerly,
"We're staying," Devon smiled at her. "So are we," Julia added, holding tightly to Alonzo's hand, "Us too," Devon was shocked to see Morgan Martin saying this proudly. Bess leaned over and kissed him.
"Dev," Cameron spoke up, his arm still in a sling around his neck, "we've all talked about this before, and we're all staying. This place kinda grew on us." Smiles broke out around the group and Devon felt that a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. They were all staying. She beamed, speaking only a few words for fear of breaking into heartfelt tears of joy,
"I'm so grateful to all of you for everything these past few years. Especially for putting up with me." The group laughed and then finished their breakfasts as they smiled and joked around like old times. The smiles didn't fade all morning.
Julia wasn't sure whose idea the afternoon walk had been, but a group of them decided it would be fun, and a little after lunch headed off in two of the group's dunerails towards the scenery, sanctity and peace of the woods. Ashley had pleaded to go with Julia, so now mother and daughter walked hand in hand down a grassy path that sloped through the surrounding hills.
They had driven the vehicles as far as the base of the hills, and then chosen their route from there. Julia listened as Bess and Cynthia Denner sang an old folk-song from earth a few feet ahead of them, and Mazatl and Baines talked 'mechanics' behind them. Vasquez was bringing up the rear, armed with all the medical equipment he could carry, frequently falling behind as he stopped to run tests on the flora and fauna.
Ashley skipped beside Julia with a handful of bright flowers, one for every colour of the rainbow. She was humming an unfamiliar song, her mind lost in childhood fantasies. Alonzo and Julia had told her earlier that day that she would soon have a little brother or sister, and although a little skeptical, she seemed to be accepting the idea.
Julia was off in her own dreamworld when she felt a sharp pain shoot through her side.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, reflexively releasing Ashley's hand to hold her stomach protectively. Bess looked over at her in concern.
"You alright?"
Julia wasn't sure what to tell her. This didn't feel like the morning sickness she'd been having recently, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she had felt this before,"I'm okay, I think," she said, not quite sure if she even believed herself, "We've been walking quite awhile, I think I just have a stomach cramp or someth..." Suddenly she doubled over, falling to the ground, and let out a blood-chilling scream from the intensity of the pain. It felt as if someone was ripping a knife through her abdomen. In an instant she knew where she had felt this pain before,
"No," she cried, tears beginning to stream down her face, both from pain and grief, "please, God, not again!"
Bess was at her side instantly, Vasquez directly behind her. He pulled out a diaglove that he promptly ran over her stomach area. His face paled as he saw the results,
"Baines!" he yelled out without looking up, "Get the 'rail quickly, we have to get her back to camp!" He continued running tests over Julia who was writhing in agony. Bess didn't have to ask what was wrong, but held Julia's head in her lap, crooning comfortingly to her as best she could to try and ease her pain. Julia let out another scream that made Bess's skin crawl. Then the blood started to soak through her pants.
"Please, no, not again, no..." she sobbed hysterically. Vasquez glanced over at Bess in confusion about Julia's ramblings as he desperately waited for Baines to return. Bess looked at the doctor, knowing perfectly well what was happening to Julia; it could only be one thing.
"Julia lost a child before she had Ashley... she's miscarrying again, isn't she?" Vasquez nodded as he felt tears well up in his eyes. Losing one child to miscarriage would be bad enough, but two... Baines rolled up in the dunerail.
"Quick, get her in..." Vasquez supervised as he, Bess, Denner, and Mazatl carefully lifted Julia into the back of the vehicle. Squeezing himself in to the back area with her, he elevated her feet - the only thing he could do to slow down the miscarriage until they reached camp - and hollered for Baines to get moving.
Bess watched as they drove away and Denner and Mazatl started to jog back to the other 'rail. She heard a small whimpering behind her and turned around to see two huge blue eyes tinged with a teary red staring up at her. In all the confusion, Ashley had been forgotten.
"Oh, baby," Bess crooned, lifting the little girl up into a comforting hug. Ashley hiccuped and let out a small wail,
"Maaamaaa..." her voice drifted off in the light afternoon breeze that had suddenly chilled. Bess adjusted the weight in her arms and turned for the remaining vehicle, following the others as fast as her legs could carry her.
The rail came flying into the camp at a breakneck speed, catching everyone's attention, and came to a sliding stop outside the med tent. Baines and Vasquez, looking pale and tense, jumped out of the vehicle. John, Devon and Alonzo had been discussing future plans for growing crops, and now moved towards the tent out of curiosity and worry. Baines shot Danziger a look of... warning? John wasn't sure. Then he heard it. A low- pitched, ragged moan that made his breath catch in his throat.
He watched as Vasquez and Baines bent and started to lift Julia from the 'rail, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what was wrong with her. She was clutching her lower stomach with both arms, face drawn up in agony, and as an eerie silence encompassed the camp he could hear her soft cries:
"No...please...no..."
He saw out of the corner of his eye something in Alonzo snap. Jumping back into reality, John caught Alonzo and pinned his arms behind his head in a Full-Nelson hold before he could move. Alonzo squirmed,"John" he cried as tears started to form in his eyes, "please, let me go... I have to help her... John!" he anguished, desperately trying to get to his wife.
"'Lonz," Danziger hissed, trying to catch his attention, "listen to me. Julia's scared as it is... help her... try to stay calm, alright?"
Alonzo shook him off roughly and sprinted across the camp into the med tent where Julia had just been carried. A scream that shattered his very heart greeted him as he entered. The sight before him was one out of his worst nightmares.
Julia was covered in sweat, her clothing soaked through, her eyes squinted shut and Vasquez was frantically running tests and giving her injections. Alonzo stood like a koba in front of a Transrover, frozen in place from shock. Trying to shake off the feeling, he forced one foot in front of the other and crouched beside the head of the cot that Julia lay on. He took one sweaty palm that was wrapped so tightly around her abdomen into his. The force of her grip both startled and scared him.
"Jul," he said softly, trying to cover the waver in his voice, "I'm here. I won't leave you, I promise." He lightly kissed her forehead, "I love you." His voice cracked on the last word, and she opened her eyes. That was when Alonzo's tears started flowing. Her eyes were so full of pain; a pain the like of which he had never seen before. A pain that touched all the way to her soul.
Vasquez set a hand on Alonzo's shoulder, coaxing him momentarily away from Julia to the other side of the tent. His eyes were glassy and red as he started to speak.
"Alonzo... Julia's miscarrying the baby... I'm sorry, but at this stage there's nothing I can do."
Only one quick sobbing gasp escaped Alonzo before he nodded, looked away, and returned to the side of his wife.
Bess stood outside the tent, sadly relaying the news to the sobered crowd around her, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"She's miscarrying... Vasquez says there's nothing he can do, just hope that Julia can live through the blood loss." Danziger choked on his breath, while Denner, Yale and Cameron each started to weep silently. Julia was like a sister and a daughter to all of them. They all remembered the pain that she and Alonzo had endured during the first miscarriage. It had taken them both weeks to recover, although Julia had been the first to point out that she would never be entirely alright again. The thought of them having to suffer through that pain again... On the other hand, the newer colonists seemed more concerned that one of their doctors, preciously few in numbers, may be temporarily incapacitated. The fact that this woman was a mother, a wife, a confidante and a friend seemed to escape them as they moved away from the medtent to return to the day's activities.
Bess adjusted little Ashley's weight in her arms. Her eyes were huge and red with tears, her body shaking almost uncontrollably through her sobs. She didn't understand exactly what was going on, but had picked up the fact that she would no longer have a little brother or sister, and that Mama was sick, and Daddy was upset.
Lowering her slowly to the ground, Bess knelt, eyes closed, and started to recite the only thing she thought might bring her peace and hope;
"Our Father who art in heaven..."
Ashley tugged on Bess's shirt, curiousity taking the place of her tears as she snuffled them back,"Bess? Who talk to?" Bess pulled the girl, who she considered a niece, into her lap,
"God." She smiled a little and played with Ashley's hair as she spoke, "He created the universe and everything in it. I'm praying to Him to ask Him to make your mommy better."
"Me do too?" Ashley asked softly. Bess's heart melted at the girl's apparent desperation and sadness. She nodded and Ashley knelt beside her, closing her eyes,
"Father," Bess began softly, "Please protect Julia and her unborn child from harm... give both her and Alonzo the strength they need to get through this... and keep us all in Your care..." she silently crossed herself, "Amen."
In the medtent, Alonzo sat gently at Julia's side. She was fairly unresponsive; Vasquez had pumped enough painblockers into her system to almost completely numb the pain... for now. He watched her lying there and his mind flew back three years and a half years, to the day when he and Julia had fought...
It was the time Mary had returned briefly, and Alonzo had thought it would be fun to show her how to dance. Julia saw them slow-dancing in a field as an unknowing Mary tried to kiss Alonzo. Knowing that the two had once had feelings for each other she took the scene the wrong way, and took off in the 'Rover.
When they finally found her that evening, she was crushed up against the vehicle's windshield, blood seeping through her pants. It was only then Alonzo had realized she had been pregnant... and he had always blamed himself for losing the life of their unborn child. If he hadn't been dancing with Mary... If he hadn't let her rush off... If he had just sat her down and explained the situation to her... If only he could erase that day...
But it was not until now that he fully realized the immense pain she must have gone through by herself in the middle of a sandy wasteland, with no one to comfort her. Now he felt even more guilty than he had before. He didn't want to imagine her alone in the Transrover, scared and incapacitated by pain, knowing she was losing her child, but also knowing she could do nothing to prevent it.
He brought her limp hand to his lips and gently kissed her. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes a crack.
"'Lonz?" she whispered, her voice barely audible, "I'm going to die... " It wasn't a question. Alonzo's eyes opened wide and he bent down close to her face,
"No, no Jul, I swear to you, you are not going to die... You're going to be fine, you hear me? Be strong, okay? Hold on!" Vasquez put a hand lightly on Alonzo's shoulder. Alonzo turned slightly to see the man staring down at him, tears falling openly from his cheeks. He shook his head. She wasn't going to make it, there was already so much blood loss, and he couldn't stop the bleeding.
"I love you... Tell... Ashley... I love... her..." "No...!" Alonzo gasped, watching as Julia's face paled and her hand started to droop limply. "Please, you have to help her!"
"Alonzo," Vasquez began through his tears, "there's nothing I can do..."
"I'll do anything... please help her, I know you have the ability to do something..." Vasquez then realized that Alonzo wasn't talking to him. Or a higher power. He was talking to the planet and its inhabitants.
Then the ground started to shake a little under Vasquez' feet. As he swiflty moved back several metres, four Terrians suddenly sprang into the med-tent, two on either side of the slowly dying Julia. Alonzo's sobs quieted slightly, and he repeated his plea to them, his voice breaking into tears several times. They trilled deeply back at him and stepped closer to Julia. Alonzo held her hand desperately for a second longer and tenderly kissed his wife's forehead before moving back a few steps, and Vasquez watched in shock as the Terrians effortlessly lifted Julia from the cot and together pulled her with them beneath the earth.
Alonzo sat on his daughter's small cot, holding her close in his arms as she wept. It was the third night that she had woken up crying from nightmares, the third night after her mother had di... been taken into the earth by the Terrians. Alonzo refused to think that Julia was dead, and would not allow the other crew members to speak of her in past tense. Especially around his daughter. The obnoxious man from the meeting the previous week now had a black eye to show for when he had made that mistake the day before and sent Ashley into hysterics. The thought of having to live the rest of his life without Julia... Alonzo started to choke up again, but held back his tears. He had to keep hope, not just for himself, but for Ashley's sake.
Everyone had been trying to offer words of support, but the only person who had honestly helped was Danziger. He had sat with Alonzo while he cried like a baby in the hours after Julia was taken and found colonists new and old to temporarily perform his chores around camp. He was one of the few, joined by Bess and Devon, who had experienced enough loss to know that Alonzo needed time alone now, and that all they could do was extend a lifeline and wait for him to accept it.
Alonzo looked down and noticed that Ashley had fallen into a fitful slumber. He carefully untangled her from his arms and tucked her back into bed. She mumbled as he moved her:
"Song..." Julia always sang to Ashley while putting her to sleep. Alonzo opened his mouth to sing, but nothing came out. He racked his brain, but he couldn't remember the words of the song that his wife sang. Tears started streaming down his cheeks in greater numbers than ever before in his life. How could he not know the words? He had listened to Julia sing the song every day since their daughter was born... Alonzo quickly retreated from the tent before he could wake Ashley.
Once outside he walked behind their tent, and headed towards the beach. He and Julia had planned the position of their tent so that at night they could walk on the soft sand of the beach of the Sea of Antius while still being able to hear Ashley's cries if she woke up. Now, walking by himself, he kept thinking that Julia was beside him, that they were holding their shoes in their hands, laughing and joking and talking about their dreams. Alonzo kept wanting to hear her voice, her laugh, her cry, smell her hair, see her smile. He felt like a part of his soul had been somehow ripped clear out of his body, and now this small remaining part of him ached from the loss.
Reaching around his neck he pulled off a thin silver chain. Julia had given it to him when they were married two years earlier. She had wanted to give him a traditional ring, but hadn't had one or been able to find one large enough to fit his fingers. Instead she had given him the chain, which her grandfather had given her for her first birthday, shortly before his death, and attached to it a tiny silver plaque-like charm. On the front she had inscribed 'A&J' and on the other side 'trust love'. The latter was the phrase that Alonzo had always drilled into her, especially in the beginning of their relationship when Julia was so sure that her chromotilting wouldn't allow her to love. Julia had given it to him so he would always know that she felt the same way.
The chain had hung around his neck since their marriage, and served as a constant reminder to him of what was important in life. The necklace had seen him and Julia through fights, happiness, love and despair. Now it was covered in Alonzo's tears as he held it to his forehead and wished with all his heart for his best friend to come back to him.
Suddenly a hand was on his shoulder and he turned to see Bess standing behind him, her long curls flying around her face. She was wearing baggy sweat pants and an old, sloppy sweatshirt - dressed for bed.
"I'm sorry if I woke you," Alonzo's worn voice croaked out. Bess smiled a little and shook her head, taking a seat next to Alonzo on the soft sand,
"I wasn't in bed. I walked past your tent a few minutes ago and Ashley was crying." Alonzo let out a sad, grief-filled sigh and moved to stand up,
"No, it's okay," Bess grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the ground, "I went into your tent and sat with her for awhile until she fell asleep again."
The tears that had stopped falling upon Bess's arrival threatened to overflow as Alonzo thought of his daughter crying in their tent with no one answering. Putting his head in his hands, he realized he must have been so caught up in his own grief that he couldn't hear her calls.
"I'm sorry Ashley," he whispered, as if she could hear his plea. "It's okay," Bess answered in the place of the little girl, "she's going to be fine, and so are you."
"How?" he asked simply, "She's gone..." his voice started to crack, "and I'm scared she'll never come back to me," for the thousandth time in the past few days Alonzo broke into tears, but this time was different. He had finally admitted to himself that Julia might not ever come back, and that scared the hell out of him. Bess gently held him as he sobbed, each tear streaming down his cheeks like a dream that he was slowly losing, a hope that was fading away. Bess left about twenty minutes later, but it wasn't until much later that the last of Alonzo's dreams fell from his eyes into the golden sand.
Devon leaned over in the rich, moist dirt, painstakingly pulling yellow-brown weeds out from a crop of native Poiuta flowers. The roots of the plants were surprisingly delicious when mixed with other regional foods and Devon actually liked digging through them, roughly yanking out the pests that tried to mar their growth. It might've just been her subconcious need for violence, but sitting in the sun pulling the weeds was always a bright spot in her day, and gave her an oppurtunity to think. Today all she could think about was Julia.
It was eight days ago that she had been taken into the earth by the Terrians, and although the Terrians had returned three days ago and started to cure the Syndrome children, no one had heard even a mention of the lost doctor.
She paused at her tugging and gazed past the mess area where Bess laboured over lunch, to where Alonzo was sitting with Ashley, trying unsuccesfully to repair a tent that had collapsed the night before. He looked awful, with huge bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. He hadn't been able to focus on even the simplest of chores in the last week. Although Devon, having lost many of her loved ones in the past, empathized with the pain he was feeling, she dearly hoped he would come out of this haze soon. They all were beginning to accept Julia's death and most had finally started to mourn. Yale was hoping to have a memorial service for her, but he knew, as did Devon, that until Alonzo accepted the death, any rememberance ceremony would be pointless.
Sitting in the dirt she thought about what a loss the young doctor's death was. Julia had completely turned her life around on this new planet. From the little that the younger woman had told her about her past, the people here were the first and only ones to love her. She had never mentioned details, but it seemed to Devon that her parents had been both physically and emotionally abusive to her. Julia had overcome everything that both her family and the Council could throw at her, and was raising a beautiful, loving daughter with a wonderful, caring husband, only to be killed as a result of a miscarriage. A miscarriage that Vasquez had determined with the information collected on his diaglove was caused not because of a genetic abnormality in the baby, but rather due to Julia's chromotilting. As with most chromotilts, her body thought the growing child was an invader and tried to defend itself against him or her. The irony was overwhelming. Reilly had told Julia that she would die running from the Council, and in its own way, the Council had killed her. But they hadn't just killed her, they had killed a part of every single member of Eden Advance.
*What was that?!* Devon abruptly looked over her left shoulder towards the hilly forest. She could have sworn there was something there. Shrugging she went back to her weed-pulling. Then it happened again, like something was tickling the edge of her brain. She thought she saw movement out of her peripheral vision. Looking over again, she saw nothing. Devon tried to shake off the feeling, but allowed herself one more fleeting glance at the hill, just to make sure it really was her imagination.
Her scream of fright died in her throat. She saw a brownish coloured mass rounding the top of the hill, staying low to the earth. It was too small to be a Grendler - it didn't look like anything Devon had ever seen before. Then it straightened up slightly and she found two intense blue eyes locked onto hers,
"Julia?!" she whispered under her breath, "JULIA!" she repeated in a jubilant cry. She turned back to the mess hall and saw Alonzo staring at the hill in paralyzed wonder, "Alonzo," she shouted, "she's back!"
Alonzo's immobility lasted less than a split second, as he tore off towards his lost wife at a dead sprint. His heart was pounding through his chest as he raced up the hill and saw Julia, covered from head to toe in mud and dirt, sitting in a heap, mumbling to herself. "'Lonzo?" he heard her ask quietly, and he felt his eyes fill with tears. Alonzo threw himself at Julia, wrapping his arms around her and hoping he would never have to let go. He felt her arms weakly curl around his back. It didn't matter what happened now, he thought, they were together again, and everything else would work out... as long as they were together.
Julia sat on the medtable, still in Alonzo's protecting arms, wrapped in a warm blanket with Ashley cradled in her lap. Alonzo hadn't wanted to let go of her since they had found her an hour earlier, and it had almost taken physical force on Danziger's part to get him to leave the medtent for a few minutes so Vasquez could do a quick exam and Devon and Bess could help Julia clean off. For every second that he sat outside the tent he kept thinking that the Terrians had come and taken her away again, and this time she wouldn't come back. After what seemed like an eternity Vasquez allowed him and Ashley back into the tent where they now sat with the piece of themselves that they had been missing.
Alonzo absentmindedly stroked Julia's hair as he thought about how much he loved her and he felt tears swell into his eyes. She chose that moment to look up at him,
"'Lonz?" she realized immediately what he had gone through while she had been... she didn't even know where she had been. She could see the pain of her absence in his eyes, and knew that the last while had taken its toll on him. Julia looked into his deep brown eyes and smiled,
"I'm here now. And I love you." The words that Alonzo had thought he would never hear again brought a smile to his face as he took her chin in his hands and kissed her for the first time in eight days.
"Hrmph..." Alonzo could've punched Vasquez right then and there. He certainly did look pleased with himself for breaking up their reunion. "I have your test results Dr. Hel... Solace." Julia smiled at his correction. "Almost all of your tests came out normal, with a bit of exhaustion and strain, understandably. But one test had a, um... interesting result." Vasquez felt tears coming to his eyes as he tried to give them the news, while Julia and Alonzo exchanged looks of worry, bracing themselves for the worst.
"Julia, I don't know how, but... you're pregnant." Two jaws dropped in unison. Alonzo let out a hoot of glee and bear-hugged Julia before she knew what hit her. It took a few seconds, but as what Vasquez sank into her, she began to understand why the Terrians had taken her. To save a life. Her baby's life. Tears started streaming down her cheeks, leaving small streaks behind them.
"Oh, wait! There's more!" Julia and Alonzo again found themselves looking at Vasquez with anxious faces. He smiled reassuringly, "You're having twins!" This time Julia let out a triumphant yell and the series of hugs, tears of joy and cries of disbelief started all over again.
Vasquez moved away from the small family with a smile of content on his face. This planet had changed them both. He ducked through the tent flap and gazed up at the early evening sky, bright blue with a tinge of orange where the sun was starting to sink into the trees. It was a beauty the likes of which he had seen just moments ago when the young couple looked into each others eyes. It was the beauty of love. Richard Vasquez would begin again here, he decided. He looked towards the east. In the distance two ivory moons began to appear against the darkening sky, smiling their approval down upon him.
-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.