Earth 2.1.2

Chapter 1

A/N: So yeah, it's been almost a year since I finished Season One, and I'm really glad I noted that I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get through Season Two. A few epic bouts of writers' block, an insanely busy RL, and my own ridiculous brand of perfectionism combined to make this whole season a nightmare to write. But amazingly, I finally have it close to finished, close enough to start posting (which will FORCE me to finish the rest).

For any of you coming into this cold, you'll definitely want to read my first season story before you tackle this. Otherwise you'll be hopelessly lost. This season picks up immediately following Season One, so even those who read that might want to refresh their memories, since it has been an unconscionably long time since I've posted anything.

For those of you coming back after my long hiatus, THANK YOU! It has done my heart good to see how many people have read my first offering in this universe, and you have given me great incentive to keep going on this. Particular thanks go out to The Nagging Cube, for nagging so pleasantly; to TesubCalle, for the spectacular reviews and PMs from the first season; and to my fabulous beta-readers, OOSer and CruiseCopper, without whom this second season would never have happened (for many, many reasons that go far beyond my writing. I'd be lost without you two!). All errors are mine, however-their responsibility only goes so far as they helped improve this, which means all the good stuff is really theirs.

Disclaimer: All the main characters (Devon, Uly, Danziger, Tru, Alonzo, Julia, Bess, Morgan, Yale) are not mine. All the rest are (especially Melanie), as is the majority of the setting by now.

Summary: In Season Two of BuggyQ's version of Earth Two, Eden Advance continues their trek towards New Pacifica, but they are not alone in this new world. The Council is an ongoing threat, and new dangers face them at every turn-including from within.

Prologue

A shadowy figure slipped silently into the med tent in the pre-dawn darkness. Julia and Melanie were both deeply asleep, but the figure paused for an extended moment, making certain they didn't wake up.

The figure slipped over to the lab table, heading unerringly for Melanie's headgear, which she'd left on the table once she'd gotten back to the tent the night before after taking Devon back to her own tent.

Deft fingers quickly unplugged the encryption chip from its port and replaced it with a nearly identical VR chip. And just as silently as it had entered, the figure slipped out, leaving Julia and Melanie none the wiser.

The day after Julia's clifftop adventure, Eden Advance set out as soon as Melanie had given Devon the once-over to make sure she was ready and able to travel. Julia and Devon were both adamant that they needed to put some distance between themselves and whatever agents might still be out there, and no one seemed inclined to argue.

Julia was loading the last of the med tent cases onto the trailer when Devon came up in the rail, driving one-handed. She shifted awkwardly over to the passenger seat and waved Julia over. "You're with me, at least for now," Devon said.

Julia's heart sank. She knew Melanie had talked to Devon already, had told her what had happened, but Julia hadn't had to face that particular piece of music yet. And the reception she'd had from everyone else the night before had been bad enough.

"Don't look so scared," Melanie whispered. "She won't bite."

"It's the bark I'm worried about," Julia murmured. It still hurt a little to talk, and her voice sounded gravelly.

"It'll be okay, Jules," Melanie said. "If it gets too bad, signal me on gear, and I'll figure out some way to rescue you."

Julia shot her a grateful look and headed over to the rail. Melanie followed and handed her a bottle of water as she climbed into the driver's seat. "Drink plenty as you go," she said. "It'll help with your throat. And don't forget to take the anti-inflammatories."

"I know, Melanie," Julia said. "I actually have a degree in medicine."

"Yes, I'm going to have to have a conversation with the people who gave you that degree sometime," Melanie said pointedly. "There were some pretty major gaps in your education."

"Speaking of medical education, just for the record, I have one rule: from here on out," Devon said to Julia, cutting in before she could reply. "You never, ever let her," she nodded at Melanie, "get her hands on a hypospray unsupervised again."

"Hey!" Melanie said indignantly.

"That's all?" Julia said.

"Well, I'd appreciate your staying away from cliffs for the foreseeable future," Devon said. "Other than that, I think I'm good."

"I think I can do that," Julia said.

"Okay, then let's move out," Devon said, and Julia waved goodbye to Melanie as she headed to the front of the caravan.

"Look…Devon," Julia began once they were underway, but Devon held up her hand.

"Before you start apologizing, I want to make something clear to you. You were unbelievably stupid not to talk to me-"

"I know," Julia interrupted, "and I'm-"

"-Sorry. I know, I get that," Devon said. "And you're supposed to be resting your voice. Understood?"

Julia looked chastened.

"Thank you. Melanie and I watched all the VRs, and I have to say, it was pretty eye-opening. I don't think I could have been as restrained as you were. That Brendan guy is infuriating."

Julia's lips tightened. "He still got to me. There were too many times I let myself give things away I shouldn't have."

"True," Devon said. "And that's the biggest reason I want you to understand about the stupid. If I'd been aware of what was going on, I could have helped. Believe it or not, some people think I'm kind of smart."

"I know that," Julia said. "Believe me, I do. I just didn't know who I could trust at the beginning. Now I do, at least as far as you, Melanie and Valerie are concerned."

"Are you sure?" Devon said. "I know Valerie talked to you a lot out there, but I don't know exactly what she said. So if I'm covering the same territory here, just stop me. But I really need to be sure you understand this: you are not alone here."

"I do understand that-" Julia began, but Devon was shaking her head.

"No, I don't think you do. I do mean it in the best way-you can absolutely count on us," Devon said seriously. "But that's not all I meant. We're in a ridiculously dangerous situation here, and I simply cannot afford to have anyone in this group acting on their own."

Julia swallowed hard, then nodded.

"We're going to have a hard time getting past the fact that you lied to us, no matter how good your motives were," Devon said carefully. "I'm glad you feel you can trust me now, but I'll be honest, Julia, I don't know if I can trust you."

Julia sighed. "I wouldn't expect you to," she said, her voice barely audible, and Devon felt bad for having said it the way she did.

"I don't mean about the Council," she said gently. "There's no doubt in my mind where your loyalties lie. I mean your habit of trying to do everything yourself."

Julia frowned. "I don't-"

"Come on," Devon said. "When you got sick, did you ask anybody for help? Did you tell anyone what you found out?"

Julia opened her mouth to say something, then stopped.

Devon sighed. "And it's more than just that. For whatever reason, you don't seem to think too much about your own safety," she said. "I'm worried that's only going to get worse with you trying to prove to everyone you're on our side." She turned to look pointedly at Julia. "It took twenty-four years for you to develop this inferiority complex you have going, so I'm not going to try to break that down right now."

"I don't have an-"

Devon waved her protest away. "Whatever you want to tell yourself is your business. But whatever value you may think you have as a person is beside the point. You have value for your skills, and I think you'd have to admit that those skills are pretty important to this group. Right?"

Julia looked uncomfortable, but she nodded.

"So I need you to promise me something," Devon continued. "Don't go off the deep end trying to prove yourself. You're already a little too reckless and self-sacrificing for my comfort level. The last thing I need is to worry about you taking any more risks than you would normally just to try to show everyone you're on our side. I'd rather have you alive and ostracized than dead. Am I clear?"

Julia sighed. "I'll try, Devon. But…" She paused, frowning, then decided to continue, though she looked deeply embarrassed. "Most of the time I do things, I do them without thinking very much."

"Really?" Devon drawled sarcastically, and Julia blushed. "I'm not asking you to suddenly become a different person," Devon said, taking pity on her. "Just make an effort to do a little more thinking before you act, okay? And for god's sake, talk to me more!"

"Do I have a choice?" Julia said, gesturing at the rail.

Devon smiled, looking almost predatory. "No, not right now. And just to make sure it stays that way, I think we'll make this a regular thing." Her smile brightened as Julia groaned under her breath. "For what it's worth, I think you have some significant value as a person, too," she said a moment later. "But I'll fight that battle another day. Now, before we get into the deep and depressing topic of who the spy is, Danziger told me you'd managed to keep that secret from the rest of the camp last night."

Julia nodded. "It seemed like a good idea-I hate to think what the suspicion would to do us."

Devon frowned. "That thought crossed my mind, too. But you do realize it's going to make things harder for you, right? That was your single best reason for not telling us what you were up to."

Julia shrugged, looking a little embarrassed.

Devon looked at her for a long moment, then sighed, shaking her head. "You don't have to punish yourself, you know."

"I'm not-"

Devon shrugged. "Okay, fine, that's not what it's about. But if things get too rough for you, I think we're better off letting everyone know what we're up against. The divisiveness of having some of our people being openly hostile to you could be just as bad as everyone being suspicious of each other."

"I don't think it'll be that bad," Julia said.

But Devon could hear the uncertainty in her voice. And after what Danziger had told her about the grilling Julia had gone through, particularly from Hardy, Devon was fairly sure it would be exactly that bad, and probably worse. We'll just have to deal with that when we get to it, she thought. "Okay, so how much of a threat do you think the Council still is to us?"

Julia shook her head thoughtfully. "Melanie and I talked a lot about that last night. She doesn't think the signal from the encryption chip is very strong. I know Valerie thought a satellite might pick it up, but Melanie's not so sure, and that's more Melanie's area of expertise. And that scares me."

"Why?" Devon said uneasily.

"Because Brendan seemed a lot more interested in keeping me from being discovered over those last couple of check-ins than he was about getting me to give up something about our location," Julia said. "That says to me that his people were already tracking the signal. And if Melanie's right, that could mean they're pretty close. I think maybe he wasn't just bluffing when he said my signal got them close enough."

Devon sighed. "Well, I guess we just have to push like crazy to keep ahead of them," she said.

"And if we can't?" Julia said quietly.

"Well, Danziger and the other scouts are working hard to scope out defensible sites for the camp. He also said something about maybe being able to set up an early warning system with some sensors he could cobble together."

Julia looked relieved. "That would help me to sleep a little easier," she said. "I really don't think there can be that many agents after us-when Brendan said they were sent out in teams of three, I got the impression there weren't more than a handful of teams. If it were me, I'd have sent a couple of teams around each side of the Donut Hole. And if the guy we ran into was part of one of the west side teams, then we might only have to deal with the east side teams. Even thinking pessimistically, I think we're probably up against no more than ten, maybe fifteen on the outside. And if we can take away the element of surprise…"

Devon nodded. "Yale and I came to almost the same conclusion," she said. "Well, I guess that reinforces my line of thinking. And it makes sense to keep pushing west even independent of the Council threat. The weather is going to be the next big concern, and the farther west we can get before it gets bad, the better."

Julia nodded. "I figure we have maybe a week or two before we start seeing the temperatures really start to drop overnight," she said. "I haven't had the time to really look at the data we have about G-889 to know for sure, though."

"'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,'" Devon said. "Maybe now you'll have a little more time to spend on that sort of thing. Unless…"

Julia frowned. "Unless what?"

"Unless something else comes up to occupy your time," Devon said with a twinkle in her eye.

"What do you mean?" Julia said uneasily.

"Is Alonzo as good a kisser as he looks?"

Julia blushed deeply, and had to resist the urge to call Melanie for help right then. Oh, this is going to be a long ride, she thought.

"Oh, man, is Devon making Julia ride with her?" Valerie said, coming up to Melanie as she walked along beside the Transrover and watching the rail speed towards the front of the caravan.

Melanie nodded, wrinkling her nose. "Somehow I don't think Julia's going to be in a very good mood tonight," she said.

"I just hope Devon doesn't beat her up too much," Valerie said. "Lord knows everybody else already gave her a hard time, including me." And you, she added silently, glancing sidelong at Melanie.

Melanie nodded again. "But maybe that's what she needs. She has a pretty thick skull, in case you hadn't noticed. Some lessons may take a while to sink in."

"How bad do you think it's going to be for her?" Valerie said.

"I have no idea," Melanie said. "You said Hardy was pretty mean to her, right?"

"Yeah," Valerie said glumly. "And Bill wasn't exactly receptive either, which surprised me. But once Alonzo said if we decided to leave Julia behind, he was going with her, most of the anti-Julia crowd started to realize what they were facing. Until then, I don't think anybody had really thought about what the options were."

Melanie smiled. "That's my boy."

"Then Helen jumped in with that bit about needing to reach consensus," Valerie continued, "and Todd said something about how we all needed to hang together or we'd all hang separately, and the momentum really started to swing towards Julia."

"How about Morgan?" Melanie asked curiously.

Valerie snorted. "I think he realized discretion was the better part of valor. It would have been pretty hypocritical for the Council liaison to be hassling Julia for being a Council spy. Besides," she added with a grin, "Bess was one of the more vocal ones on Julia's side."

"Once again, I ask myself, how does that woman see anything in Morgan Martin?" Melanie said wonderingly.

"Love is blind," Valerie said, shaking her head. "Speaking of love, I couldn't help but notice Alonzo was in the med tent for quite a while this morning."

"Mmm," Melanie said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was having this conversation with Valerie, of all people. "And it's about freaking time. Both of them have been broadcasting love on every frequency for so long, I can't believe it took them this long to figure it out. Well, that it took Julia this long to figure it out."

Valerie was frowning.

"What?" Melanie said.

"What did you do with the encryption chip?" Valerie said.

Melanie froze, then reached up and breathed a sigh of relief when she found the chip still plugged in. She pulled it out and showed it to Valerie.

"We need to get rid of that, fast," Valerie said. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"Well, it's not like we haven't had other things to worry about," Melanie said. "What should we do with it? Toss it?"

Valerie shook her head. "Anybody could find it with the equipment we have here in camp. I don't want to risk the spy, whoever it is, finding it. We need to disable it completely."

"I know just the guy," Melanie said, looking over at Danziger in the cab of the Transrover, where he was working on putting together the perimeter alarm he'd told Devon about.

A few minutes work with a welding torch later, it was done. Melanie checked her tablet to make certain the signal was gone, and happily pronounced the encryption chip dead.

"That's one less thing to worry about," Valerie said.

"Mmm. But we still need to figure out who the spy is," Melanie said.

"Like I said, one less thing. It'll be a while before we get our worries down to zero," Valerie said.

"Devon, could I have a word?" Yale said as they finished setting up their tent that evening. They'd made good time that day, and everyone was breathing a little easier the farther they got from the last campsite.

"Sure," Devon said, wincing as she shifted her arm in her sling.

"Uly, would you go over to the mess tent?" Yale said. "Toshiko is helping Phoebe and the others set it up. You can help them."

"I don't have to have somebody watching me all the time, you know," Uly said. "I'm not Tru."

"Indeed you are not," Yale said before Devon could jump in. "And we are all very grateful for that fact."

Uly grinned at Yale, who winked, and then trotted off toward the mess tent.

Devon frowned at Yale. "What didn't you want to say in front of Uly?"

"I was wondering if you would reconsider your decision about allowing him to receive weapons safety training from John Danziger," Yale said.

Devon stiffened. "Did that-did he put you up to this?" she said, and winced inwardly at how harsh her tone sounded.

Yale stopped and looked seriously at her. "I understand your being unhappy with him for not asking you first, but Devon, I truly believe this would be in Uly's best interest."

"Really," Devon said, and realized how sarcastic she sounded. Why does this bother me so much? she thought.

"Yes," Yale said as though she intended the comment to be taken seriously. "Uly is very interested in the guns, and they are readily available to him. Despite the precautions we have established, the handguns are often in plain sight." Yale looked seriously at her. "Do you really want to take the risk that Uly might get his hands on a gun without him understanding how dangerous they are?"

Devon bit her lip. "And you think having Danziger teach him about them will help?"

Yale nodded. "It has been well established that children who are trained in the safe use of weapons are far less likely to injure themselves or others accidentally. And I believe Danziger's approach would be effective." Yale smiled. "Besides, Uly could use some other positive male role models than myself. And with my weapons-aversion programming, I simply cannot offer him that training."

Devon sighed. "I know you're right," she said finally. "But honestly, the idea of Uly holding a gun scares me silly."

"All the more reason, then," Yale said kindly. "Once you see how he can handle a weapon safely, I believe it will ease your mind. It would also give him a chance to feel he is being given some responsibility. He is growing up quickly, Devon, and now that he is feeling healthy, he is testing his boundaries. At the very least, when he would be working with Danziger, he would not be getting into trouble."

Devon looked chagrined, glancing over at the mess tent, where Uly was talking animatedly to Toshiko. "He is doing that, isn't he?" She shook her head. "I sure hope that Julia's right about gasparanium being the cause of the Syndrome. I'd love to see all of those Syndrome children testing boundaries like Uly."

Yale froze for an instant.

"Yale?" Devon said.

Yale blinked. "Forgive me," he said. "I was just imagining 200 children with that kind of energy," he said with a wide-eyed smile.

Devon laughed. "That'll make this whole trip look like a picnic, won't it?"

"All the more reason to make sure Uly is as well-disciplined as possible before we get to that point," Yale said pointedly.

"All right, all right," Devon said putting her hands up in surrender. "I'll talk to Danziger."

Yale looked pleased and relieved. "Thank you, Devon."

"Hey, Devon, we've got a Terrier out here," Todd said over the gear.

Devon looked up from her bowl of synthofu and tapped her gear. "Where? What's it doing?"

"It's up on that ridge we just came over," Todd said. "And right now it's just looking at us."

"Remember the rules-nobody fires unless I give the order," Devon said. "I'll be right there." She glanced over at Toshiko and tilted her head towards Uly, and Toshiko nodded.

Devon almost ran into Danziger as she came out of the mess tent. "You heard?" she said, turning towards where Todd was standing sentry.

"Yeah," Danziger said, running alongside her. "Where's the doc?"

"Here," Julia said, coming up behind them. "What's going on?"

"Another Terrier," Devon said, pointing past Todd as they got closer to him. The Terrier was easy to see in the fading sunlight.

"You gettin' anything from it, Doc?" Danziger said.

Julia frowned slightly. "No," she said, and she sounded surprised. "It's like it's not even there."

Devon glanced over at her as they stopped by Todd. "That's unusual?"

Julia nodded, looking at the Terrier. "Every other time we've seen one, I've gotten something, at least a feeling of…pressure," she said, groping for words. "But this one…" She shook her head, then looked closely at Devon. "What about you?"

"Me?" Devon said, surprised.

"Any headache?" Julia asked insistently.

Devon shook her head.

"There he goes," Todd said, pointing, and Devon looked back in time to see the Terrier disappear behind the ridge.

"I don't like this," Julia said uneasily. "Danziger, how close are you to having that perimeter alarm ready?"

Danziger frowned. "I might be able to get it done by tomorrow night if I work on it on the 'rover while we move tomorrow. It's a little hard doing the wiring while we're moving, though, so it might take a little longer."

"I'd feel better if we had that in place," Julia said, looking back at the ridge.

"You don't think that one was friendly?" Devon said.

"I think if I were an unfriendly Terrier, I'd make sure I wasn't broadcasting feelings at the people I was planning to attack," Julia said.

Danziger scratched the back of his head, nodding. "Okay. One way or another, I'll make sure the perimeter alarm is ready tomorrow night."

Devon nodded. "Tell the other sentries to keep their eyes open tonight," she said to Todd. She turned and started back toward the mess tent, then turned to look at Julia. "Why did you ask if I had a headache?"

Julia gave her an odd look, and Devon realized she was trying not to smile. "Because I'm betting that when Melanie sedated you-"

"-she used methohex," Devon finished. She shook her head, looking angrily toward the med tent. "She managed to leave that part out."

"Don't be too angry with her," Julia said. "She was dealing with a lot at that moment."

"I know," Devon sighed. "And honestly, I'd considered asking you to use that stuff on me anyway. It just makes sense for me to be able to communicate with the Terriers."

Danziger laughed.

"What?" Devon said, glancing sidelong at him.

He grinned. "I just never thought of you as the sensitive type, that's all."

"Don't mess with me, Danziger," Devon said. "Your daughter already thinks I'm badass."

"You certainly looked the part pointing the mag-pro at that agent," Julia said, laughing.

Devon suddenly looked serious. "I couldn't pull the trigger," she said.

Julia's face fell. "Oh, Devon, I didn't mean to-it-it wasn't your fault," she stammered. "That agent had me so tight-"

Devon shook her head. "That wasn't it. I was scared I might hit you, yes, but that wasn't why I couldn't." She sighed and turned to look at Danziger, who was looking at her with a bemused expression. "I wanted to talk to you about that. I've changed my mind about you giving Uly gun safety lessons."

His eyebrows did a slow crawl towards his hairline.

"Don't look so surprised," Devon said, glaring at him. "Yale and I were talking about it, and it got me thinking. Part of the reason I didn't want him doing it was because guns…" She hesitated, then plunged ahead. "Guns scare me."

Julia's eyes went wide. "But…you came after me with the mag-pro," she said.

Devon shrugged. "If I'd had more time to think about it, and if I hadn't been so mad at you, I might not have done it. Besides, at the time, I didn't think I'd need to use it."

"But you want me to teach Uly how to use them?" Danziger said.

"And me," Devon said. "I mean, I know the basics, but I thought if I handled them more, maybe I could get over it."

"Sure," Danziger said, but there was a weird, almost panicked look in his eyes. "Yeah, good thinking. Um, so, maybe tomorrow night, if I get the perimeter alarm done?"

Devon nodded. "It's a date," she said, and walked away.

Julia looked after her, then back at Danziger, and saw that the panicked expression had given way to an oddly pleased one. "Are you okay?" she said.

"What?" he said, and his voice cracked. "Yeah, sure, fine." He watched Devon go, and slowly nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I'm good."

The next morning, Julia heaved a box of medical supplies up onto the smaller trailer, then turned, heading back towards where Melanie was getting ready to carry the med tent to the trailer. The rest of the camp was already packed up, and most of the tents loaded.

As she walked by where Hardy and Bill were getting ready to load a tent onto the larger trailer, Hardy dropped one of the few remaining water bottles from the emergency pods. It shattered when it hit the ground, splashing water onto Julia's leg as she passed.

"Well, wouldja look at that," Hardy said in an intentionally loud voice. "Only the Council would stock emergency pods with biodegradable bottles. Because when you're trying to survive, being environmentally conscious is so important."

Julia kept her gaze straight ahead and kept walking.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I was on one of the asteroid mining outposts?" Hardy said loudly, following Julia.

"Uh…no," Bill said. "Hardy…the tent?"

"There was this guy, Council flunkie, kinda like Morgan Martin, only dumber," Hardy said. "But boy, was he a stickler for regulations. You had to fill out every form, exactly right, or you didn't get paid. So this one time, my buddy Jim messed up one of the forms. Simple mistake, right? But not for this guy-he tried to get Jim fired. Jim had to call in every favor he had just to keep his damned job, and he didn't get paid that month. Nearly lost his wife over that one."

"That's rough," Bill said uncertainly.

Julia got to where Melanie was packing up the med tent. She'd gotten it folded and was starting to roll it up, and Julia bent to help her, hoping Hardy would just keep walking.

No such luck. "A few weeks later," Hardy said, stopping only a few meters from her, "that Council button-pusher had to go out to one of the mine lifts to fill out one of his stupid forms. They found him out cold an hour later, with a slow leak in his pressure suit."

Julia stiffened.

"Jules?" Melanie said quietly.

"He survived, but I guess there was a little brain damage. Poor guy can't wipe himself now," Hardy continued without a hint of sympathy in his voice. "A week after that, Jim got picked up by the CSF. I never saw him again."

"Wow," Bill said. "Um, shouldn't we get working on loading the tent?"

"But the thing is," Hardy said with a dangerous edge to his voice, "just like everything else they do, the Council screwed that one up. Because Jim didn't have a thing to do with it."

Julia stood and turned to look steadily at him, and Hardy took a step towards her.

"Hey, Hardy, come on," Bill said, grabbing his arm, but Hardy shook him off. He stepped closer, and Julia took an involuntary step backwards.

"Don't think for one minute that I believe that line of-" Hardy stopped, looking at something behind Julia, and Julia felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hardy, do you want to explain to me exactly what you think you're doing?" Devon said, suddenly appearing next to Julia. "And what about you, Bill? Or would you rather do your explaining to Helen?"

Bill blanched. He glanced over at Julia. "Sorry, Julia," he said. "I-I'm sorry." He turned and ran past the Transrover like he was being chased by Terriers.

"You can't use a girl against me," Hardy said. "I have a right to an opinion."

"You're welcome to your opinion, Hardy," Devon said quietly. "I'd just appreciate it if you didn't express it so…vocally."

Hardy snorted. "I'll say whatever I damn well please!"

Julia felt Devon's hand tighten on her shoulder. "Not if you want to stay in this group, you won't," Devon said, and even though the volume of her tone hadn't changed, there was a dangerous edge to it.

"You wouldn't dare," Hardy said derisively, and he stared at Devon, as if daring her to carry out her threat.

Devon returned the stare, not saying a word, until Hardy finally looked away. "Why don't you go help Bill with loading that tent?"

Hardy glanced back up at her, frowning darkly, then stalked away, muttering under his breath.

Devon turned to look at Julia, who had plastered a stoic expression on her face.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Julia said.

"Huh?" Devon said, frowning.

"You didn't have to squeeze my shoulder so hard," Julia said. "I wasn't going to say anything to him."

"Oh!" Devon said, and she let go of Julia. "Sorry-that wasn't for you. It was for me. There's a lot I didn't say that I wanted to, and your shoulder helped me keep it to myself." She grinned sheepishly. "Come on," she said, tilting her head towards the rail. "You're my chauffeur again today, remember? Let's go scout ahead."

"But...I should help Melanie," Julia said, casting about desperately for an excuse to avoid riding with Devon.

"Don't worry," Devon said, smiling at Melanie.

Melanie hesitated, then said, "No problem, I've got this. You go ahead, Jules."

Julia sighed, then turned and followed Devon to the rail.

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Devon said, climbing in beside her.

Julia shook her head, starting the rail and pulling out.

"Okay, then, I guess I'll just have to find something else to talk about," Devon said. "I found the conversation about Alonzo yesterday very entertaining, if a bit one-sided. Would you like to pick up where we left off?"

"I didn't think there was anything else you could say on that topic," Julia said dryly, and Devon breathed an inward sigh of relief. She'd been worried Julia would simply refuse to talk.

"Oh, I don't know about that," Devon said, smiling sidelong at her. "Would you like to find out what else I can come up with?"

Julia sighed. "You're even more annoying than Melanie," she said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Devon said. "So…Alonzo…"

"Devon, please," Julia said. "Can we just not talk for a while?"

"Sure," Devon said. "You get fifteen minutes. After that, I don't think I can stand it."

"I'll take what I can get," Julia said tiredly.

"Why don't we stop on that ridge till the others catch up?" Devon said.

Julia nodded, and pulled to the top of the hill and stopped. She climbed out of the rail, grabbed the monoculars, and began scanning the horizon, hoping that would be enough to deter Devon.

It wasn't. After ten minutes, Devon made a point of checking her gear chronometer every thirty seconds. Julia was the first to crack.

"All right, all right," she said finally. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Poetry," Devon said happily.

"I thought you didn't like poetry," Julia said warily.

"Well, it's not like I have a lot of entertainment here, other than the VR opera that is you and Alonzo," Devon said, grinning at Julia as she rolled her eyes. "But you got me started reading it, and darned if I didn't find out I do like it. Turns out it's a great sleep aid."

Julia laughed.

Mission accomplished, Devon thought.

"All right, so what about poetry?" Julia said, smiling sidelong at her, as if she was daring Devon to actually try the conversation.

"Wislawa Szymborska," Devon said.

"What?" Julia said.

"I know, it sounds like I sneezed, doesn't it? I'm probably mangling the pronunciation," Devon said. "It's an interesting story. I told Yale about our poetry conversation, and I said something like, 'Who has a favorite poem?'" She laughed ruefully. "I think I offended him. Turns out Yale does, too."

"Really?" Julia asked. "One of…Szymborska's?"

Devon nodded. "I can't remember the title-you'll have to ask him. But he read it to me, and it was pretty amazing. Something about the Gordian Knot. I ended up reading some of her others because I was intrigued. She's really good at last lines. There's always something mind-blowing at the end of her poems. And I love that she doesn't rhyme very often. I mean, Shakespeare's good, but most rhyming poetry seems so contrived."

Julia nodded, then suddenly, her expression changed.

"What is it?" Devon said, realizing that she was looking sad. Oh, hell, what did I say?

Julia shook her head. "Nothing," she said.

"Julia, we're having a sharing moment here," Devon said. "So share."

Julia looked uncomfortable. "It's…" She opened her mouth, then shut it, then looked resigned. "My mother loved Shakespeare's sonnets."

Loved, Devon thought. Past tense. Oh, Julia. "She has excellent taste," Devon said.

Julia shot her a questioning look.

"Julia, there's every chance she's not dead," Devon said. "You can't give up on her."

Julia shook her head. "Devon, she's like Schrodinger's cat. Maybe she's alive, maybe she isn't. But there's nothing I can do about it either way. And I can't keep hoping."

The terrain got rougher that day. And drier. The Transrover undercarriage hit a rock in the early afternoon, and a spark started a brushfire that they were barely able to get under control.

"Tell everybody to be careful today and especially tonight with the fire," Danziger said after they'd gotten it out. "A fire like that gets into the forest around here, and we could have a real bonfire."

"No kidding," Rob said. "That spread fast!"

Melanie got a thoughtful look. "Hey, Rick!" Melanie called, catching up with him as he walked beside the Transrover.

He turned to look at her, surprised. "Where's Julia?"

"Riding with Devon again," Melanie said. "So I'm bored."

Rick smiled. "Oh, and I'm the lucky guy who gets to entertain you?"

"Actually, I had an idea I wanted to run by you," Melanie said.

He looked dubiously at her. "What sort of idea?"

"Something that might help even the odds if the Council tries to take us out," she said smugly.

"So the pylons have a range of about fifty meters," Danziger said to Devon that night, showing her the perimeter alarm system he'd set up. "They're set to detect motion together with metal. That should give us a pretty good idea if something unfriendly-Terrier or Council-is getting close."

"How many do you have ready?" Devon asked.

Danziger grinned. "Enough to cover the entire camp. I promised I'd have it ready tonight," he said.

Devon smiled back. "I shouldn't have doubted you," she said.

"So what do you say? You ready to get over your fear of guns?" he said.

"Give me a minute," Devon said nervously. "Julia said she might let me go without the sling if my arm was making progress. I think that'd make it easier to handle a gun, don't you?" she added, wiggling her fingers in the sling.

"Sure," he said. "That'll give me time to track down Tru, wherever she's got to."

Devon grinned and headed for the med tent.

Julia was as good as her word. "The arm's looking good," she said after scanning it thoroughly. "You can go without the sling, but don't do any heavy lifting with it just yet. Take it easy for another few days at least, okay?"

"Sure," Devon said. "The most I'm planning to do is pull a trigger." If I can manage that much, she thought uneasily, heading for the tent flap.

Julia smiled. "Enjoy your date," she said off-handedly.

Devon frowned, turning back to look at Julia. "What?"

"That's what you called it," Julia said innocently, and Melanie snorted.

"It's not-" Devon said, then stopped, realizing what Julia was doing. "Very funny."

Julia shrugged. "Turnabout is fair play," she said.

Devon rolled her eyes and ducked out of the med tent. Date, she thought, heading for the Transrover. As if!

"Damn it, Tru, what did I tell you?" Danziger was saying as she came up.

"But it's not even loaded!" Tru protested, showing him the clipless handgun.

"What did I tell you?" Danziger repeated.

Tru rolled her eyes, and Devon wondered if that's what she'd just looked like with Julia. God, I hope not, she thought. "You told me that I'm not supposed to handle the guns with the power coil in until you tell me it's okay," Tru said grudgingly.

"Exactly," Danziger said. He turned to look at Uly, then at Devon. "And the same goes for both of you, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Uly said seriously. Tru snorted.

"Yes, sir," Devon repeated, smiling.

"Good," Danziger said. "Now, the first thing you need to know about is how to break down a gun. You know how it goes together, you know what can go wrong, see?"

Alonzo was on early sentry duty, and Melanie suggested to Julia that she take him some dinner. Julia had seemed a little sad when they'd finally stopped for the night, and in spite of her teasing Devon, she still seemed subdued. Well, more subdued than normal, Melanie thought, glancing over at the doctor. She figured Alonzo was the best option to get Julia's mind off whatever was bothering her. Especially after that little exchange with Devon, Melanie thought. It wouldn't be fair if Devon and Danziger were the only ones getting a little romance tonight.

It took some doing to get Julia to agree, though. "I'm sure somebody else has already done that for him," Julia said.

"Nope," Melanie said promptly.

"You seem awfully sure about that," Julia said, looking at her warily.

"Let's just say that I'm not the only one who's interested in seeing you two together," Melanie said archly.

Julia rolled her eyes.

"So if you don't want the poor boy to starve, you're going to have to take care of it yourself," Melanie said.

Julia shook her head and sighed. But as she left the tent, Melanie noticed the faintest hint of a smile on her face.

If Julia had thought talking to Devon about Alonzo for eight hours was embarrassing, her experience in the mess tent was far worse. When she took two bowls of synthofu, Phoebe said, "Hey, now, don't you know we're on short rations?"

"It's not all for me," Julia protested.

"But Melanie already ate," Phoebe said. "Now I just wonder whoever else you could be taking dinner?"

"Phoebe," Julia said warningly.

"Okay, okay," Phoebe said, smiling broadly. "I'm just sorry I don't have some wine and some candles for you two lovebirds."

Julia just picked up the two bowls and turned to go, and found half of the dozen people in the mess tent looking at her with equally broad smiles, even the normally dour-faced Inez Medrano. The rest seemed to be finding their bowls of synthofu very interesting.

"Yayyy!" Toshiko said, doing a tiny happy dance with her hands.

Julia started to say, "But it's just dinner," but she knew it wouldn't change anything, especially since her traitorous red face had long since told a different story, so she just ducked out of the tent without another word.

She took her time making her way up to the bluff where Alonzo was standing guard, telling herself, You're just taking him food. It doesn't mean anything. But apparently her heart wasn't paying any attention. It was too busy doing bizarre backflips.

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? 'Tis the east, and Julia is the sun," Alonzo said.

Julia fought back the smile that kept trying to appear. "This is west," she said.

"Killjoy," he said, grinning. "Please tell me you brought me some romantic Italian spaghetti for us to share."

"Believe me, if there'd been anything the least bit romantic available, everyone in that camp would have made sure I brought it up here," Julia said.

Alonzo grinned. "Hey, you can't blame them," he said.

"I most certainly can," Julia said, handing him one of the bowls of synthofu. "I'm not some VR actress putting on a show for them."

"Thanks," he said. "You know, the best way to get them over that is to have a big ol' makeout session in the middle of camp."

Julia didn't even dignify that with a response. She sat down on a rock, figuring she'd better stay up here awhile or everyone would give her a hard time. Who are you kidding? She thought. They'll give you a hard time no matter what you do. That's not why you're staying. She toyed with the ring on her thumb, suddenly tongue-tied.

"I don't think I'd ever noticed that before," Alonzo said.

Julia looked up, frowning questioningly.

"The ring," he said, pointing to the simple silver and gold band she was fiddling with. "It's a little unusual."

She blinked for a moment, trying to decide how much to tell him. "It belonged to my great-grandmother," she said finally.

He raised his eyebrows. "Quite the family heirloom," he said.

Julia nodded. "My mother gave it to me when I started medical school," she said, realizing all at once that she wanted Alonzo to know about it. About her. "She told me someday it might help me understand my purpose in the world." She smiled wryly. "I think it was her way of telling me I had big shoes to fill-this was her grandmother's wedding band, but it was way too big for my ring finger." She wiggled her thumb. "But it works on my thumb."

She paused, remembering how amused her mother had been by that. She realized it was one of the few memories she had of her mother smiling at her. She looked down at the ring, wondering again how it had gotten the deep gouge she was always rubbing her other thumb over. Her mother hadn't told her, saying only, "That's a story for another time."

"I'm sorry," Alonzo said softly. "I didn't mean to bring up sad memories."

Julia shook her head. "Not sad. Just…" She trailed off, realizing thinking about it was making her sad. "Tell me," she said abruptly, "how is it you know your Shakespeare so well?"

He looked a little surprised at the change of subject. "Who says I know Shakespeare? I mean, everybody knows Romeo and Juliet, right?"

Julia smiled at him. "Sure," she said. "But not everybody knows Henry IV, Part Two. I actually had to look that one up."

"Which one?" Alonzo said, confused.

"'Nature's soft nurse,'" she said. "Remember when you told me I needed to get some sleep right after the crash?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, looking trapped. "I guess I did say that."

"So?" Julia said, enjoying being the one keeping him off-balance for a change.

He shrugged. "I read a lot," he said, looking embarrassed, but there was an odd undercurrent to his expression Julia couldn't decipher.

"You read Shakespeare?" Julia said. "For fun?"

"No…I mean, sort of, I guess. I wouldn't say it was always for fun," he said incoherently.

Julia looked at him, smiling expectantly.

"I just…grew up with it," he said, and his expression had darkened slightly, and she couldn't miss the fleeting look of pity he gave her before he looked down at the ground.

And suddenly Julia knew why he was so uncomfortable. He doesn't want to talk about his mother because he's afraid it will make me sad, she thought, and was deeply touched. "Tell me about her," she said.

Alonzo's head shot up, and then he smiled faintly. "I should have known I couldn't get that one past you," he said.

"It's okay, Alonzo," she said. "I'd really like to know."

"She taught classical literature, including Shakespeare, though her specialty was the Spanish and Italian renaissance," he said, then grinned. "That's how I ended up with a name like Alonzo. Don Quixote, not VR romances."

"I see," Julia said, returning the smile. "That also explains the tilting at windmills," she added, gesturing at herself.

Alonzo laughed out loud. "You're no windmill," he said. "You're Dulcinea."

Julia blushed. "Where did she teach?" she said, suddenly desperate to change the topic.

"Stanford, Station One," he said, and laughed again when her eyebrows went up. "Yeah, I'm a Station One brat, too. Surprise!"

"You'd never know," Julia said. "You're nowhere near as stuck up as most of us."

"Yeah, well, I got out early."

"How early?" Julia said, forcing herself to take a bite of synthofu before it got cold.

"Right out of high school," he said. "Well, actually, I got one semester of college in. Then I joined the Council Security Forces. My mom was so mad." He shook his head.

"You were in the military?" she said.

"Yeah, me and my lack of discipline were a big hit there," he said dryly. "But they taught me to fly, so I can't hold too much against them."

"But why did you join up?" Julia said. "I wouldn't have thought you'd be the patriotic type."

He shook his head. "I wasn't. I just wanted to get as far away from Station One as I could get. CSF sure did that for me." That didn't sound nearly as light as the rest of the conversation had been.

"What happened?" Julia said gently.

Alonzo's expression darkened. He stared at the ground for a long moment, fiddling with the spoon in his bowl. "A girl," he said finally, and smiled, though there was very little real humor in the look. "Broke my heart."

"Oh," Julia said. "But then…how did you end up with the Eden Project run?"

He looked troubled again. "That's a really long story," he said.

"I'm sorry," Julia said. "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay," Alonzo interrupted. "I just don't…" He trailed off, looking like he was debating with himself. "You remember how freaked out I was when the ship was going down?"

Julia raised her eyebrows. "That was freaked out?" she said.

He smiled. "Thanks," he said skeptically.

"I'm serious," Julia said. "I had no idea."

"Well, let's just say that I'm really glad you were on the ship when it went down, because if I hadn't had you to focus on, I might not have made it off," he said. "I've been in a lifepod once before, and I didn't really want to repeat the experience."

"Why not?"

"It was a first-generation cryopod. Turns out they worked pretty well at keeping me alive," Alonzo was saying, his expression unreadable. "Just not so well at getting me found."

"How long?" Julia said, feeling sick at the thought.

"Twenty-four years," he said. "I guess my pod hit an asteroid and it knocked out the beacon. It wasn't till a mining crew landed on my little rock that they found me." He shrugged. "My mom had died six months before they found me, and the powers that be were…well…" He trailed off, looking almost angry. "Long story short, I figured, hey, I've been through cryo, and it's not so bad. Why not sleep runs?"

Julia suddenly remembered what he'd said about it having been a first generation cryopod. The first-generations were how they tested the cryogenic preservation process, she thought. Before the first sleep ships. "How old are you?" she blurted.

"You're not going to say I'm too old for you, are you?" he said.

Julia shook her head mutely.

"A hundred and six," he said, and at her amazed look, "Hey, I've only been out of cryo for the equivalent of..." He frowned, calculating. "Twenty-seven years, give or take."

"You've spent that much time in cryo?" she said.

"Yep," he said. "Two trips to the Proxima Centauri station, one to Barnard's Star. One of the Proxima trips was before the Velikovsky Drive, so it took a little longer."

Julia took a bite of synthofu and didn't even notice the texture.

"I just totally freaked you out, didn't I?" Alonzo said.

Julia looked up, startled. "N-no, of course not," she stammered.

Alonzo took a bite of synthofu and stared down at the nearly-empty bowl.

"Alonzo," Julia said, "I'm sorry. It-I just-I was surprised, that's all. It doesn't bother me."

"Sure," he said, not sounding at all convinced. He handed her the bowl. "Here, I'm done. Thanks for bringing it up here." He stood up and turned to look out over the plains to the south.

"Alonzo," Julia said. "Look at me."

He sighed and turned around. Julia was standing with her hands in her jacket pockets, looking indecisive. He almost laughed out loud when she looked down at the dirt and actually scuffed her toe in it, looking so young for an instant that he felt every one of his hundred and six years. Then all at once she stepped close, grabbed his face in both hands, pulled him down into a kiss, and all the years fell away.

But then she pulled away far too soon and suddenly the years came back.

Julia looked up into his eyes. "Are…are we okay?"

Alonzo hesitated, and was hit by a wave of amusement. He pulled away from her, turning to look out into the twilight. "Did you feel that?" he said.

"Yes," Julia whispered. She looked out to the ridge they'd crossed over earlier, and there was a Terrier dimly visible in the growing twilight.

Alonzo waved at the Terrier, and amazingly, it waved back.

"Well, that's reassuring," Julia said quietly. "At least one of them still likes us."

Alonzo nodded, watching the Terrier disappear back over the ridge.

"I guess I'd better go tell Devon about this," Julia said, but she didn't seem anxious to leave.

That's a switch, Alonzo thought, glancing over at her, and he suddenly realized with a shock that he'd actually gotten her. And now he didn't know what to do with her.

"Alonzo?" she said tentatively, noticing his look. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" he said. "Oh…yeah, I'm fine. Uh…thanks for the dinner."

Julia frowned. "Sure," she said finally. She hesitated, looked back at the camp, then turned back to him. "So…be careful tonight?"

"Yeah," he said.

She nodded uncertainly, then stooped to pick up the empty bowls she'd set down on the ground, and started back to the camp.

Jeez, Alonzo thought, groaning inwardly as he watched her go. Thanks for dinner? I am such an idiot!

What did I just do? Julia thought. This is exactly what Devon warned me about. I do things without thinking, and it always gets me into trouble! But he'd looked so hurt by her reaction to finding out his age, she hadn't been able to help herself.

And apparently that was the wrong thing to do, she thought bitterly. Clearly, he'd been uncomfortable with the kiss, despite how he'd seemed in the med tent before. He'd even seemed distracted when the Terrier showed up.

Julia sighed, coming up to the Transrover. Devon was hunched over a workbench Danziger had set up, struggling to put a handgun back together. She threw down the barrel of the gun and rubbed at her temples.

"Headache?" Julia said.

Devon turned to look at her. "That doesn't begin to describe it," she said.

Julia smiled. "Valerie said it felt like her brain was liquefying," she said. "I thought that was a pretty good description of what I felt. It's the Terrier. One was just here, and Alonzo and I both felt it. It seemed friendly, so maybe the one we saw yesterday was just too busy to talk." She frowned as Devon continued rubbing her temples. "At least, I'm hoping that's one less thing for us to worry about."

"Easy for you to say," Devon said, wincing. "Your brain isn't liquefying."

"It gets less painful the more you do it," Julia reassured her. "I hardly notice it anymore. I'll go get you some ketoxidine. That should take the edge off."

"Thanks," Devon said, suddenly sounding vastly relieved. "But I think it's getting better."

"Good," Danziger said. "Then there's no excuse for you not finishing this before you go to bed."

Devon glared at him.

"I'm serious," he said. "You're going to finish that, and you're going to take it with you to your tent. With the clip and power coil removed."

"Danziger-" Devon began.

"Adair," Danziger interrupted, "don't argue. You want to get over the gun fear thing, you need to spend some quality time with them. It's the only way you'll ever get comfortable with them."

Tru bit her cheek, and she saw Julia fighting not to smile, too. God, Dad, could you be more obvious? There's practically an LED sign flashing above your head reading "METAPHOR!"

"I was just going to say that I'm on sentry duty tonight," Devon said patiently.

Danziger frowned. "We agreed we'd only put people on duty who'd been approved by me and Helen to handle the guns."

"I made an executive decision to add myself to the crew tonight," Devon said. She raised her hand as he started to protest. "I'm not taking anybody's place, I'm just an extra pair of eyeballs. But I will take the gun, just in case." Danziger still looked unhappy. "Look, I'm not likely to sleep much anyway," Devon added. "I figure I might as well be productive while I'm awake."

"Fine," Danziger said gruffly. "Then once you get Uly to bed, come back here, and I'll give you the basics you need to be able to use that thing tonight. If it comes to that." Which I hope to god it doesn't, he added silently, watching Devon struggle to reassemble the gun.

It had taken her another six times taking it apart and putting it back together before Devon felt at all comfortable with the process. And it had done next to nothing for her comfort level with the gun itself, despite Danziger's confidence.

Devon sighed, blinking sleepily as she looked out at the barest hints of dawn beginning to appear on the eastern horizon. She knew Danziger was right, that the only way she would ever get comfortable with a gun would be to spend a lot of time with one, but even that thought made her nervous.

Suck it up, Adair, she told herself. You said you wanted to do it, so you're going to do it. And I'll be damned if I let Danziger have the satisfaction of seeing me give up.

She had to admit, though, that he had been remarkably patient with her fumbling with the handgun. She hadn't expected that at all, especially given her general prickliness towards him in the past. But once she'd gotten the gun broken down and successfully reassembled the second time, he'd told her he was comfortable with her carrying it, though he all but ordered her not to use it unless her life depended on it.

You don't need to worry about that, she thought glumly, glancing over at where Danziger was standing sentry beside the Transrover. I think hell could probably freeze over twice before I'd use this thing willingly. It made her crazy that she was still so nervous about it, especially since she really couldn't understand why she felt that way. It wasn't like she'd had a bad experience with a gun-she'd never even seen one till they crashed on G-889. And since then I've had nothing but object lessons in why I should be able to handle one.

A sudden piercing wail suddenly ripped through the pre-dawn silence, and Devon nearly fell off the fender of the ATV she'd been sitting on.

"Proximity alert!" Danziger's voice said over the common channel on the gear, and he was shouting to hear himself over the alarm. "Sentries, make sure your weapons are ready and keep your eyes open. Everybody else, stay inside the tents and keep your heads down!"

"I got movement over here!" Rick shouted over the gear. "Looks like the Council boys decided to show up."

"If you get a shot," Devon said, slapping her gear to respond, "you take it. That goes for everybody, understood? They shot first, so it's open season."

"Yes, ma'am!" Hardy said, but he sounded more scared than glad.

In seconds, Devon could understand why. Rick was the first to take a shot, but the agents, however many there were, responded immediately. Devon ducked behind the ATV, clutching the handgun in her hand and wincing at the almost constant roar of mag-pro shots being fired.

"Jesus!" Todd said from a few meters away. "How many of them are there?"

"I count six or seven so far," Helen said over the gear. "Four, maybe five of them in the treeline on the northeast side of the camp, two more in the rocks on the southeast side."

"And I've got two more due south," Danziger said. "Okay, eight or nine we can handle."

We can? Devon thought, cringing at the gunfire. She hated to think how scared Uly must be if she was already this terrified. It sounded like the world was ending.

"I don't know, Danz," Hardy said. "I can't get a shot-they're keeping to cover."

"Just lay down some fire," Danziger said. "Even if the shot doesn't nail one of 'em, it'll make 'em keep their heads down and make it harder for them to get a shot."

I sure hope so, Devon thought, debating about whether she should try to make it to her tent. But the thought of standing up in the midst of all that noise left her frozen in place.

"Okay, make sure we've got painblock and clotting agent ready to go," Julia said to Melanie as she cleared her bunk of the blankets she'd just been sleeping on. "You're in charge of triage, okay? I'll go out if there's somebody who needs treatment on the scene. We'll bring them back and stage out of here. If we need more beds, we'll bring them from the surrounding tents."

"Okay," Melanie said uncertainly. "But what if-"

"Hey, Melanie!" Rick shouted over the gear. "You there?"

"Yeah," Melanie said. "Is everyone okay?"

"So far," he said, "but I don't think it's gonna stay that way. Remember how I said we should save your idea for a rainy day?"

"Is it raining?"

"Pouring," Rick said, firing into the stand of trees just outside of the camp on the northeast side. There were at least five agents with mag-pros in it, and it didn't look like they'd be able to get a shot at any of them. I thought these guys weren't supposed to know how to keep under cover out here, he thought. "And I have the perfect spot to use it."

"I'm on it," Melanie said. "It'll take me a minute to put together, though."

"Fine, just hurry," Rick said, hoping they had a minute to spare.

"Put what together?" Julia said, frowning at Melanie.

"No time," Melanie said, grabbing a three-liter bioplast jug from underneath her cot. She pulled a big wad of cotton and one of the emergency firestarters Rick was always using out of a bag by her bunk, then turned and grabbed a couple of empty water bottles from the emergency pods. She turned to go out the tent flap, then paused and looked back at Julia. "Um…I'll be right back," she said, smiled hesitantly, then ducked out of the tent.

"Melanie!" Julia shouted. "Where are you going?" And that's when she heard the first explosion.

"Uly, are you there?" Devon shouted into her gear.

"Yes," he said, sounding terrified.

"Where are you?"

"I-In our tent," he said. "I don't know where Yale is though."

"Yale is fine," Devon said, hoping he was.

Suddenly there was a massive noise from the other side of the camp, and Devon looked up in time to see the ATV fly through the air and crash into the bluff. Oh, god, they have explosives? Devon thought, watching the dust cloud billowing up.

"Inez! Are you okay?" Devon heard Phoebe shout. Inez said something in reply, but Devon couldn't make it out. She thought she heard Julia say something over the gear, but it was lost in all the shouting.

"I think I got one!" she heard Todd shout. "I got one!"

"Don't start the party yet!" Danziger yelled. He was crouched next to the other end of the Transrover from Devon, firing a mag-pro at a steady rate. "Everybody stay under cover and away from the vehicles! They're targeting the vehicles!" He glanced over at Devon. "Get away from here, Dev!"

Devon looked back at him. "What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you," he said, but then his eyes got wide as he saw something behind her. "Melanie, what the hell are you doing?" he said, slapping at his gear.

"Relax, Danziger," Melanie said over the gear. "I had an idea. Just keep them off my back for a second!"

Danziger swore under his breath. "Everybody, cover Mel!" he shouted. There was a flurry of mag-pro firing.

"Uly, you stay where you are, okay?" Devon said. "I'm coming to get you. Stay in the tent."

"Holy-!" Danziger said. "Mel, you're a genius!"

Devon looked over to where Danziger was looking and saw flames shooting up through the thick stand of trees behind the camp.

Now's as good a time as any, Devon thought. She steadied herself, tightened her grip on the handgun and ran for her tent.

She was only a couple of meters away when another of the explosives went off behind her. She was thrown forward, crashing into the side of the tent, and it crumpled under her.

"Devon!" she dimly heard Julia shout, and then suddenly Julia was there, rolling her over onto her back and looking terrified.

"Mom?" Uly said, poking his head out of the partially-collapsed tent.

"I'm…" Devon began, but the wind had been knocked out of her, and she couldn't seem to get a breath.

Julia was running the diaglove over her, and she looked relieved. "She's okay, Uly," she said, looking up at him and smiling reassuringly. "Just-"

Before she could finish, Uly's eyes got wide, and Julia turned to see what he was looking at behind her.

There was a Council agent with a very large mag-pro standing behind her in the gap between two of the tents. He started to raise the barrel of the mag-pro, and Julia threw herself over Devon, covering Devon's head with her arms.

"Stop!" Uly yelled. "I'll shoot you! I will!"

Devon gasped, finally able to get a breath, and Julia half-rose, looking back to where Uly was standing, the handgun Devon had been carrying looking enormous in his hands. He looked utterly determined, and the gun was pointed steadily at the agent. Julia turned to look back over her shoulder at the agent, holding her breath.

The agent paused for an instant, looking amused, then slightly nervous. Devon's heart raced as she realized he was debating whether he could get a shot off before Uly could.

"Uly, shoot-" Devon began, and then stopped as her head began to pound.

There was a thunderous sound of galloping, and suddenly an arrow flew over Julia's head. Uly's head whipped around to look behind him, then turned back to look at Devon, his face awash with joy.

Julia slapped at her gear. "Nobody shoot the Terrier! It's on our side! Don't shoot it!" she yelled, and Devon looked past her to where the Council agent was slowly falling to the ground, an arrow in his chest.

"Our side?" Phoebe said somewhere behind Uly. "Somebody's on our side? Well, hallelujah!"

The steady firing of mag-pros in the distance slowed and then stopped, though the firing from inside the camp continued for a few more seconds. Then, amazingly, it was quiet.

The Terrier that had shot the Council agent walked up behind Uly, who turned to look up at it, smiling. It lowered its weapon and made the peaceful gesture. Devon felt Julia's gratitude and relief echoing and amplifying her own, and the Terrier knelt on its midlegs, bowing. Then it rose, turned, and galloped out of the camp.

"Wow," Devon breathed, still feeling a little dazed. "That was close."

"Devon!" Danziger shouted, running up and falling to his knees next to her. He grabbed her by both shoulders as Julia helped her to sit up. "Are you okay?"

Devon nodded, though she was still breathing hard. "Yeah, I'm good. Is everybody else okay?"

Danziger looked hard at her for a moment, then seemed satisfied she really was all right, and nodded. "Um…I-I don't know yet." He looked really rattled, which surprised Devon. He slapped at his gear. "Everybody, report in to Helen, okay? I want a headcount. And I want a report from the sentries-I want to know if there are still agents out there!" He looked back at Devon, still holding her arms tightly.

"I'm fine, John," she said, suddenly feeling nervous. "Thanks to that Terrier. And Uly."

Danziger let her go and turned to look over at Uly, as though he'd suddenly realized how close he was to Devon. "Uly, can you make that gun safe?" Danziger said.

Uly blinked at him for a second, then his eyes went wide, and he nodded. He turned and pointed the gun away, taking his finger off the trigger, then flipped on the safety. He released the magazine, laid it on the ground, then cleared the chamber, removed the power coil, and laid it and the gun next to the magazine.

"Attaboy," Danziger said. "C'mere." He held out his arms and wrapped Uly in a bearhug. "You did great, kid. I owe you one."

"Hey, Julia," Melanie said over the gear. "We have a problem. Med tent."

Julia glanced at Devon, reassuring herself that she was all right, and then ran for the med tent.

Devon saw her leave and felt a sinking feeling. She tapped her gear. "Helen, how are we?"

"Two injuries, one serious," Helen said. "Hardy took a bullet to the leg. Rick and Rob got him to the med tent. Inez got hit by some shrapnel, but she's insisting she's okay and can wait."

"Is everyone else accounted for?" Devon asked.

"Almost-I'm assuming Melanie's okay, because she just called Julia. But I still haven't heard from Yale," Helen said, sounding worried.

Devon got up, and Danziger released Uly and grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Easy there, Devon," he said. "You took quite a spill. Might want to go slow."

"Yale hasn't reported in," Devon said.

Danziger frowned, then slapped his gear. "Everybody, do a search of the camp. Yale's missing!"

"Over here!" Toshiko called. "He's right here!"

Devon turned to see Toshiko waving at her from behind a tent near where the ATV had been hit. Oh, god, she thought. What if-? "Uly, stay here," she said with a tone in her voice that froze him in place, and set off at a run.

Danziger was right behind her. They rounded the tent and found Toshiko kneeling next to Yale. He was sitting against the bluff, and though his expression was angry, he was trembling violently.

"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate," he murmured, his voice barely audible.

"What the hell does that mean?" Danziger said. "Was that Latin or something?"

"Yale?" Devon said gently, kneeling next to him opposite Toshiko. "Yale, can you hear me? Are you all right?"

Yale suddenly blinked, the look of anger vanishing in an instant, and he turned to look at Devon. "What happened?"

Devon frowned. "I don't know, Yale," she said. "Were you hit when the ATV got blown up?"

Yale looked confused. "I do not know, Devon," he said, and there was an almost childlike fear in his voice. "I-I don't remember."