LITTLE GIRL LOST
By
Paula Sanders
Timeline: After Promises, promises (Weeks 1-3)
Author's E-Mail: paula.sanders@shawnee.org
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This story takes place after the episode "Promises, Promises" and deals with True Danziger and her father. I have always liked her and if you don't I advice you to not read any further. This story is not meant to infringe on any copyright laws. ENJOY! Paula Sanders
LITTLE GIRL LOST
Narrated by True Danziger:
//The man who called me Poppit won't be going with us to New Pacifica. My father told me I should forget about him. That Gaal never cared about me, only himself. But I can't forget. I wonder what happened to him. After the Terrians pulled him into the earth. Is he dead? Did the Terrians kill him for what he did to them? Why did he pick me? I guess I'll never have the answers.//
The small camp of crash survivors on the planet G889 was unusually calm and quiet.Everyone was still recovering from the incident with Gaal which had come to its inevitable conclusion yesterday. A creative string of explatives erupted from underneath the yellow dune rail where John Danziger lay on his back doing repair work. He pulled himself out from under the rail and kicked it. His vehicles had taken quite a beating while Gaal was with them and he wasn't sure if they would ever operate properly again. His daughter was another matter.
John leaned on the metal bar of the rail and wiped his hands, looking across the camp at his daughter, True. She was wandering the edges of camp,which were her limits now. He did not want her wandering off anymore and hedoubted after her experience with Gaal that she would. True was young and he hoped that she would be able to quickly forget what had happened to her. She had trusted Gaal; why, John could not guess, but he blamed himself. He had let his work and concern about the group come before his daughter. As a result he had ignored True and she had gone looking for affection and attention else where. True was the most important thing in his life and he would die himself to keep her from harm. This planet was completely different from the space stations. On the stations he could let her run free and not have to fear for her safety. The stark reality of this place had hit both of them hard in their first few days here. True had taken it all harder than he thought she would. He was seeing a side of her he wasn't used to.
John pushed the hair out of his eyes and yawned, involuntarily. He had not slept a wink last night. Giving True a reprieve from the TransRover, he had allowed her to sleep in his tent. He did not do it just for her, he needed the security of having her close. She had tossed and turned all night,wrapped up in a bad dream, flaying and whimpering. She slept so soundly, there was no waking her. At one point, she had curled up against his side, under his arm and he thought he would get finally some sleep. No such luck, she was soon grabbed by the dream and started all over again. John was sure he would have a few bruises. When he asked her about the dream she had said,"What dream?"
"Hey Danziger," Julia Heller greeted as she walked past the rail and into his line of vision. He turned to look at her, eyes squinting in the bright sunlight. She gave him a cursory look then stopped and gave him a closer look. He knew that look, a doctor's assessment.
"Are you all right?" she asked. "You don't look well." "I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep last night." He answered "Having trouble adjusting to these long nights." she assumed, smiling sympathentically. This planet with its hot days and longer, cold nights would take some getting used to.
"No, True had a nightmare. She kept me up all night, thrashing." "Did you talk to her about it?" Julia asked, her gaze shifting to the little girl across the camp.
"She says she doesn't remember it." John stared at his daughter, at a loss as to what to do for her. "It must have been about Gaal. I tried to keep her from seeing what the Terrians did to him but she saw it anyway."
"That must have been quite a traumatic experience for her," Julia commented.Everyone in the small group had come to like True, despite all the trouble she had caused for them in the first few days they had been here. They knew she was a good girl, at heart. John appreciated the concern, glad that True had the protection and affection of all these people. It made him feel she was, at least, a little safer.
"Yah." John could imagine how traumatic it was. All while Gaal was being pulled under he was calling to True. Even though she knew how evil Gaal was she still had a connection to him. True had been wandering the camp all day and would not talk to anyone. He watched her now as she crouched down in the dirt, her hands flat against the earth,like she had seen the Terrians under Gaal's control do.
"I better go talk to her," he told Julia as he straightened up and threw the rag in his hand down on the rail.
"Good idea," Julia said in return. He started across camp, but before he could get half way there Devon Adair crossed the camp and was at True's side. Danziger growled under his breath. That Adair woman was always in the middle of everything and now she was interfering in his personal business. He stood there for a long moment trying to decide what to do next and trying to simmer down so that he would not blow up at Adair. She didn't deserve it. She was only trying to help.
Devon Adair stepped out of her tent where she had put Uly down for a nap. He was still sick from the ordeal with Gaal. The Terrians were healing him more slowly this time and he needed rest. She knew she should give her son more breathing room. Danziger was right. Uly was healed. But she could not help worrying about and fussing over him. She stretched her tired back and surveyed the camp, her eyes landing on the little girl who had been wandering around the camp all afternoon. Devon felt sorry for her. No one blamed True for what had happened. She was an innocent and an easy target for a man like Gaal, who was a master manipulator. She could understand how easily True could be taken in by such a man. He had played them all for the fool. Still, True was just a child and had been deeply hurt by the ordeal. Devon decided to approach her, to talk to her in an attempt to let her know they did not blame her and that everything was all right.
"What 're you doing, True?" Devon asked as she came to stand beside the girl.
"Nothing?" True said. Devon smiled at the typical answer. "Are you all right?" Devon asked, bending at the waist, resting her hands on her thighs.
"I'm fine," True answered, distracted. "True, you know everything is fine now, don't you? We don't blame you for any of it."
"Uh huh." True did not move or look up at the woman. Devon wondered what was so mesmerizing about the dirt. They had seen a lot of it during their journey and this dirt was nothing special.
"True girl." Devon jumped in surprise at the sound of John Danziger. He glanced her way as he came up behind them and crouched at the girl's side, placing a hand on her back.Devon smiled and diplomatically, retreated, leaving father and daughter alone.
"He's down there somewhere, isn't he, daddy?" True said, in a quiet voice. Danziger looked down at his daughter's hands.
"I guess so," he said, unsure of what else to say. "The Terrians took him." She said in a hushed voice, seeming so small and helpless. John had not thought of her in this way since she was a baby. She had always been strong and independent. So, like her mother, he thought. He had never really had to worried about True before, but here on this god forsaken planet he was constantly fretting about her safety. He wished, not for the first time, that he had not brought her here. But she was all he had and the thought of leaving her on the space stations to grow up without him was unbearable.
"You understand that what Gaal did was wrong? Holding those Terrians captive." She looked up at him, finally and sat back.
"Yes, he was hurting them. They couldn't go into the earth." she answered. The little girl bit her lower lip, a sign that she was trying to decide whether or not to say something. "He made me hurt them." she admitted. Getting to her knees she hurriedly added, "I didn't know what the collar did until he told me to use it." She had not told her father this and it only served to double his rage at the man for using his daughter, for playing on her emotions.
"I'm sorry, daddy. I didn't mean to hurt anyone." "I know. Your a good girl, sport. I'm proud of you. You know that?" he said. "You helped us and the Terrians." She nodded but her mood still hadn't changed. "You know I love you?"
"Yes, daddy," she said, turning big, brown, adoring eyes on him which were so much like her mother's. Sometimes it hurt so much to look at True, the resembles to Elle was so perfect. He told himself he did not need any pictures or holovids to remember Elle, he just needed to look at True. Elle's light and spirit were in their daughter's eyes.
"I'm sorry if I've been neglecting you, sweetheart," John apologized. "I don't mean to. Its just that this place is so different from the space stations and there have been so many demand on me."
"I know," she said, glumly.
"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked. "Yah," she answered, simply. He gave her a smile. "I could use your help with the rail. If you're not busy with school,"he said, holding out a hand to her. She smiled and surprised him by giving him a big hug. He wrapped his arms around her. //How could I have ever thought of leaving her behind?// he asked himself. They stood up and, hand in hand, headed for the rail.//I know I'll never have answers to my questions, but that doesn't seem to matter, now. I guess I'll have to start thinking of this place as my home. It'll be the only one I have for a long time. Any way, it's not such a bad place. Gaal was right. There is magic here. You just have to know where to look.//
-The End-
I hope you liked it. Send comments and feedback to: paula.sanders@shawnee.org
Little Girl Lost by Paula Sanders copyright 1995
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.