This story is based on the television program, "Earth2" and is not meant to infringe on any copyrights or anything. It's just a little story for my own enjoyment and perhaps yours as well. Although this story falls first in the chronology of my saga, it was actually ninth one that I wrote. I never meant this saga thing to get so out of hand!
This story falls between the end of the Earth2 television series, "All about Eve," and my story "The River." I figured I would put in my two cents regarding what happened with Devon (something I had been avoiding up until this point). Oh well, I hope it works. The story explores grief and hope and all that sort of stuff. Give it a try. As with all of my stories, it doesn't highlight any one person. Okay, I do tend to highlight one person in my stories, but it's not so obvious here.
THE PLANET - OUR HOME - part 1
The Window
(The Voice of Julia Heller): "It's been a month now. A month of experiments and false starts and a steady sinking into a sort of oblivion. When we first started falling ill, I was afraid. When Eben died, I felt this terrible terror, this horrible feeling of uselessness. I was born to heal. I was unable to heal her. When we all started to fall ill, following Eben, I was frantic to find the cure. Then, once the solution was discovered and Eve repaired the BioStat chips, everything seemed to be right again. But everything is not right. Devon Adair, our leader, has not recovered, and there is nothing that I can do. Every day I try. Every day I wake up and try again to find the cure for something I cannot even begin to understand. I need to find a way to solve this soon. I need to find that portal to the cure."
* * * *
Elisha Denner carefully scratched her left leg with her right foot, then straightened out again. After several minutes, she tried again to remove her shoes by leveraging them off, but failed. "You got it yet?" Danziger asked. He had been staring at the lower part of Denner's legs for the last ten minutes and was tired of trying to interpret her progress from her foot movements. At least it kept his mind from other things.
The legs disappeared completely and Denner's head finally emerged from beneath the TransRover. "I think I got it right this time," she said as she wiggled out from under the machine.
Danziger nodded and wordlessly crawled into the area she had just vacated. Denner leaned against the sun-warmed the vehicle, and sighed. It has been her idea to start learning vehicle electronics. During their first month of waiting, she had tried to find little things to do around the camp, but after a long winter of trying to find little things, she needed something big. And now, she was actually beginning to learn something.
She glanced up at the rocky hillside beside her. The day was half over. It wouldn't be much longer and they would be in shadow again. High up on the hill, carved by the elements, a window peered through the stone. It created a rectangle of light as the shadows crept into their camp. Later, when the shade of the rock filled the area, Denner would search out that rectangle so that she could still sit in the sunlight when all the rest was dark.
Denner turned when she heard the sound of movement and saw the 'gathering group' returning. True was in the lead, carrying several shovels on her shoulder. The rest followed glumly behind her. Cameron hefted a large sack on his back, while the Martins carried another sack between them.
True picked up her pace when she saw Denner and ran to meet her. "Did you get the undercarriage rewired or did Dad just drive you crazy about it. He can be a real pain in the butt about things like that sometimes"
"I heard that!" Danziger's voice came from behind Denner, and True clamped her hands over her mouth.
Denner rapped loudly on the body of the TransRover, as True dropped to her knees and looked under it. "I was just kidding Dad."
He smiled tightly back at her in the tight confines, "I know True-girl." True felt a little sad, seeing that smile. It wasn't really like him to give up so easily when he had such an easy prey. He just didn't seem to care about little things like a simple joke anymore.
Denner hopped to her feet and took True by the hand. "Come on, let's see what you guys came up with."
Cameron, Morgan and Bess had carried the bags to the food preparation area. Eden Advance was nearly out of food supplies. They had enough for about another month. The options were to find another cargo pod, find native food, or starve. Because they had not picked up the signal of a cargo pod since the last disastrous mission, and because the idea of starvation wasn't exactly appealing, they had chosen the second option. They had tried Grendler Fruit up until now, but that was the extent of their native G889 diet.
Cameron spilled out his bag as Morgan and Bess roughly set down theirs. Yellowish roots tumbled across the table. Morgan dusted his hands on his shirt and muttered, "Well, we got that miserable bit of business out of the way. I can't believe we wasted all day digging up garbage. I know for a fact that I am not eating any of it."
"We all have to get used to new things, Morgan," Bess said with a sigh.
"Look at me, I am filthy." Morgan rubbed at the front of his shirt. "I am never going to be clean again. You can't even tell that this shirt used to be white. I don't think I can stand this anymore." He glanced over at the roots again. "Those things stink."
"It's just the peels," Cameron said sharply. "The insides should be edible."
"That doesn't mean we gotta eat stuff like that. I mean, it was buried in the ground!" He shook his head distastefully. "You'd have to be an idiot to think that was a good idea. If you knew what you were doing, maybe you'd be able to find us something decent to eat instead of this crap." He looked up and caught the cold quiet eyes of Cameron. He shrugged, "Whatever. I'm going back to sleep. At least that will be productive," and he stormed off to his tent.
Bess watched him go and sighed again, loudly. Morgan rarely left their tent since Devon had become ill, since they were stopped here at this bleak place. Bess was able to convince him to help out from time to time, but those instances were growing farther and farther apart. Besides, nobody really wanted his help these days. Before this last challenge, he was really doing his best to pitch in with the rest of them, but now he seemed to be trying his best to throw up walls between himself and everyone else. She had no strength to stop him.
Denner grabbed one of the obscene looking tubers and asked, "So, what exactly to you plan to do with this stuff?" She turned it over in her hands and smiled.
Cameron responded quietly, "It should be a fairly good food source, sorta like a potato." He numbly moved the vegetables around. "I'll just have to do some experimenting I guess."
Denner looked between Bess and Cameron and saw the same weary sorrow. Since the death of Eben, neither of them was quite themselves. She was used to their cheery brightness, so this heavy sadness wore on her too. Denner did her best to fill the void. Everyone used to say how quiet she was, hardly noticeable. She used to feel it was better that way. People only hurt you if you get to know them too well. But her opinion had changed. Now, she did what she could to add a bit of luster to the desolation. She could see that Bess and Cameron were both in one of those moods where it would be difficult to loosen them.
So instead, she looked down to True. The girl was sulky and bored. "Come on True," she said, "Let's find something to do." That was a problem of course, finding something to do.
Walman, Baines, Mazatl and Magus had left on a scouting trip. They had been gone for ten days now. She didn't blame them for staying away for so long. The mood of this group was horrible right now. Bess and Cameron still grieved for Eben. Uly was inconsolable over his mother's illness. He spent most of his time beside her status chamber. Danziger walked about in a fog. Part of the reason she had taken up vehicle electronics was to draw him out of that haze. Morgan hardly spoke to anyone anymore. When he did speak, it was always something hurtful.
Yale also seemed dimmed by the events. Devon had grown up in his care, and her undiagnosable illness effected him terribly. Julia worked day and night at her laboratory, working on the cure. But she had found nothing yet. True was mainly affected by her father, and the distance he was placing between them. Denner tried to be a friend to her.
Denner spotted Alonzo, sitting with his back against the MedTent. "Good ole Alonzo," Denner said to herself, "He's as bored as me and True."
"Hey, Stranger," she said and sat beside him, "Any news today?"
"Nah," Alonzo said with a shake of his head. "Julia's been working herself sick over this whole thing. And she still doesn't have any answers."
"She'll find it," True said with confidence. "I know she will."
The three of them sat silently, with their backs against the MedTent, and waited.
* * * *
"Hello John Danziger. Have you come for a visit?" Zero queried as the man approached the wrecked Earth Ship. "I am so very glad to be seeing you. Are you having a pleasant day?"
"Yeah," Danziger said non-committally as he brushed past the mechanical worker, into the craft and to the stasis chambers. He could find his way blindly if needed. Uly sat silently across from his mother's chamber; his eyes were red and his face puffy.
"Hey kid," he said, "How ya doing?" Uly said nothing, and kicked at a rock on the floor. "You mind if I just stay here for a while?" Uly shrugged in response, so Danziger sat down beside him, across from the chamber. The Terrian staff still leaned against it like a sentinel,
The man watched the boy, who watched the face of his mother. "It looks like it's going to be a nice day today," he said helpfully. The boy only grunted. "Not too hot," he added. Uly made no sound this time. "Because it's been pretty hot lately. I don't know, it seems like we are either freezing or too damn hot here. One or the other. Nothing in-between. It would be nice if..." Danziger trailed off, realizing that Uly wasn't even listening to him. It was too hard to make small talk anyway.
He moved beside the boy, and put an arm around him. Uly was stiff and cold, staring straight ahead of him. "We'll get her out of there, Uly. I promise. We won't leave her behind either."
Danziger held the boy tightly, and looked across the room. Within the chamber, behind a window of plexiglas, Devon was beautiful and silent, and waiting.
* * * *
Bess entered her tent without speaking and found her jacket. She paused for a moment and looked at Morgan who was sitting on the bed, with his back to the door, facing the windowless wall of the tent. She wanted to talk to him, but just couldn't bring herself to speak. He had been so short with everyone lately, and she really didn't want to deal with his childishness right now.
Bess wanted to sit and talk to him about how much she missed Eben, and how vulnerable she felt now that one of their close-knit group was gone. Eben was their spark. She was Bess' first friend. She was the one who would sit back and observe everything. She knew little secrets about everyone and kept those secrets. She was everyone's confidant. She had a wicked sense of humor and a vast memory for funny stories. She preferred sunrise to sunset. She would get 'carsick' if she road on the TransRover for too long and would get cranky when she was hungry. She had a cousin named Pip and an aunt she called Lu-la. She thought she just might want to marry Cameron someday. She loved to sing. She liked hard candy. She missed her mother. She was dead.
Bess wished she could just get over this unbearable sadness. Everyone told her that time was the best healer, and that if she could just wait it out, she would be okay.
* * * *
Yale watched Cameron maul a tuber into a pulp and throw the mess into a skillet. "So, it is going to be edible?" he asked.
Cameron turned quickly, startled. "Oh, oh yeah," he said, "I am just giving it another try. The peel is very bitter. Last time, I left a little bit on and it ruined the batch." He pointed to the pan. "This one should be better."
"Will it be an acceptable food source, once the spirolina runs out?"
Cameron stirred the contents of the pan listlessly, "Yeah, it should be okay. If frying them like this doesn't work, I'll try boiling them next. Maybe I will boil them and then fry them. Something should be okay."
"How are you doing?" Yale asked.
"Oh fine," he fiddled with the pan, "I miss Eben though." He nodded and looked at the tutor, "She was great wasn't she? Dontcha miss her too?"
"Yes," Yale responded, "I miss her very much."
"And Devon too. It is so weird, you know, because she's not dead or anything. But it's kinda like she is." He shook his head. "She's here and yet she's not here, and we're all left waiting for something to happen. Geez, I just wish Julia could come up with something soon." He flipped the potatoes and looked to Yale. "I just feel so... weird."
"It's natural, Cameron. I think we all feel that way." Yale said sympathetically. "I'm hear to listen, anytime you need me."
Cameron nodded, "Yeah, I appreciate that. Maybe after I finish up with this stuff we can talk some more."
"I would like that." Yale responded.
"Hi Yale." True said as she approached. "You think we could do one of those lesson things or something?"
Yale had to smile at the girl. She must be very bored. "Perhaps we could go for a walk first?" he asked. True nodded. "So, I will see you later?" Yale said to Cameron, who continued his work to find a usable food source. Cameron nodded without looking up. Yale took the girl's hand, and the two of them started away from the camp.
They walked toward the rocky hillside. "I wish people would just go back to normal," True said finally. "Dad is like, different, and Uly doesn't want to do anything anymore. We never even get to see Julia 'cause she's working all the time. And when do you think Walman and the others are coming back? I wish I coulda gone with them. At least that way, I wouldn't have to hear Morgan complaining all the time."
"Give them time, True. They've received quite a blow with recent events."
"I miss Eben too. But you don't see me acting like the rest of them." True kicked up a cloud of dust as she walked, "And I don't know why everyone is so scared about Devon. Julia will find a cure. You keep saying that yourself, so why is everyone acting so stupid?"
"We're just a little worried," Yale returned. "She is our leader. We have lost our focus."
"Well, somebody better get our focus back." True said sternly.
* * * *
Uly had fallen asleep. Danziger pulled off his jacket and placed it over the sleeping boy. "Poor kid," he said out loud, leaning over the child. Uly had spent his whole life living with his own impending death. It didn't seem fair that this should happen to his mother.
Danziger straightened and reminded himself that Devon was not going to die, that the cure would be found. He walked the short distance to the stasis chamber and gazed in at her. She looked as if she was sleeping, so peaceful and lovely. She was poised in that strange place between life and death. As long as she stayed there, she would live. If he were to activate the controls to wake her, she would die.
He touched the cool transparent surface gently. He ran his hand along the outline of her chin, wishing he could touch her. He longed to hear her voice again, to smell her hair, to feel the warmth of her skin. Now, he could only gaze at her through the plate, and across the void.
* * * *
"Damn it," Julia growled under her breath and brushed her arm across her tired eyes. "Not again." She scowled at the latest results of her experiments. It wasn't as if she expected a different result. She had run this same experiment four times already, each time ending in failure. She had just hoped that it would work this time.
The fact was, she had run out of ideas. She had run countless computer simulations and physical experiments, not once finding anything close to a cure for Devon. She had tried everything reasonable and a lot of things that were unreasonable. Nothing worked.
Julia had begun her experiments with Eben's BioStat chip, since that was the most obvious difference between Devon and the rest of them. But as far as Julia could tell, the BioStat chips had nothing to do with Devon's illness. This affliction was different. The planet was rejecting her. And, Julia realized the planet would reject the rest of them as well, just as Elizabeth had said. If the cure was not found, everyone would eventually succumb.
"Julia," Alonzo said as he entered, "You ready for a break?"
"A break in the case is definitely what I need. Any kind of break."
"How about a protein bar break?" Alonzo said, holding up two packets.
"I'll take anything I can get," she said, reaching for the pack.
They sat down together and opened their lunch. "Cameron's been out there cooking up some sort of root thing," Alonzo said. "It is actually starting to smell kinda good."
Julia nodded, "I hope he finds something palatable. We're going to need it soon, especially if I am not successful in the next week or so. We might be stuck here for a while yet. Any word from the scouting party?"
Alonzo shrugged. "They're about 100 klicks to the west right now. I think they're just on a joy-ride. Nothing to report."
Julia nodded, realizing that from their reports, that the scouting party was nearly as somber as the rest of the Advancers. There was no joy-ride. "I've got to find something soon." Julia sighed, "I just don't have any more ideas."
"Something will come up," Alonzo said, reassuringly.
****
Yale and True had walked along the steadily increasing incline and reached the place where the hillside became a rocky bluff. True started climbing. Yale stood below for several moments, watching her. "Don't climb too far," he said, patronizingly.
She glanced down at him. "I'm climbing to the Window," she said.
"Now True, it may not be safe."
True looked up. The slope was steep, but not dangerous. The window in the rock was not that far above. "I'm going," she stated. "I don't care if it's dangerous."
"True, do you want me to call your father? Please come down." Yale said softly.
She turned towards him, "Oh please Yale, it's not so far. I have to do something. I'm so tired of doing nothing day after day."
Yale sighed, in spite of himself; he could see no real harm in the little enterprise. "Then I shall go with you. Let me contact the others and let them know where we have gone. At least they will know where to go looking for our bones."
True smiled as Yale pulled on his GEAR. Alonzo responded. "What's up?" the pilot asked.
"True and I are going on a bit of an adventure. We're climbing to the Window."
"The window? Oh, you mean the one in the mountain?" They could see Alonzo amongst the tents, looking toward them. "You're kidding, right?"
"We need to find an enriching activity and True had decided that climbing to the Window will suffice."
Alonzo paused, as if he was trying to think of some reason to stop them. "Have fun," he said finally.
Yale shook his head and pulled off his GEAR, then started climbing toward True. His Grip was not designed for climbing, but it worked fairly well in that endeavor. The climb was not difficult. They stopped to rest twice, mostly for Yale's sake, on convenient ledges. True was eager to continue. The higher they climbed, the more of the surrounding area was revealed around them.
"Do you really think Julia will find something soon to cure Devon?" True asked as they rested the second time.
"I do believe that she will find the cure," Yale said, catching his breath.
True looked unconvinced. "I just hope she does soon. We gotta start moving again pretty soon, you know. We gotta make it to New Pacifica before the Colony Ship gets there. We're late already."
"Yes, I know," Yale said. "And it is my belief that we will make it there in time, all of us."
"Everyone except Eben," True added.
"That is true," Yale conceded, watching True's face carefully. "You haven't said much about Eben or Devon since this all started."
"What's there to say?" True said with a shrug. "They just went and got sick and now Eben's dead. She just left us. And Devon is ... well she's..." True squinted her eyes. She shook her head and whispered, "It's just not fair. Why do things like that have to happen? Eben was so nice. She used to talk to me and tell me things that nobody else did. Why did she have to die? Why did Devon get sick when we needed her so much? We need her but she can't help us. Why? It's just not right." She started crying.
Yale put his arm around the girl and hugged her, "I know it hurts sometimes, True. I know it isn't fair. We can't give up now. Look, we're almost to the Window. If we keep climbing we'll get there. Just the same, if we keep trying, if we don't give up, we may find the cure for Devon and we will reach New Pacifica."
She looked up at the Window. It was within reach.
They continued their upward climb, and finally reached the Window, carved by wind through stone. Yale climbed into the opening. "A marvelous thing," Yale said, "the effect of wind on stone." He moved his hand through the air, "It's intangible, weightless, invisible, and yet it was able to carve its way though this mountainside." He ran his other arm along the rock. "If something as light as air can do this, then anything is possible."
Yale had just pulled True up beside him, to sit in the opening, when his GEAR beeped. "Hey!" Alonzo shouted. "You guys made it! I can see you!" They looked back toward the camp. It looked quite small and far away, but they could see Alonzo and several others facing them. "I bet you get a pretty good view from up there"
Alonzo was right. The view was tremendous. To the east, they could see the mountains where they had spent the winter. To the west, another range of mountains rose from the land. To the south, a plane stretched out for endless klicks, filled with lakes and hills and pockets of trees. To the north, a wetland with its mossy trees and ferns. It was a big planet, a wide world.
"We can see a great deal," Yale confirmed. It was as if they were standing in the window of the world.
"We shoulda brought some jumpers!" True said. "We could probably find the DuneRail and the guys if we had 'em." She scanned the horizon for the others. She then looked down, through the window to the other side of the mountain, and said, "Look Yale!"
Yale looked where she indicated. It took a moment for him to figure out what he saw. Just on the other side of the window, tucked up against the rock, was a group of withered plants. Yale grabbed True and pulled her away from it. "I need to talk to Julia," he said quickly to Alonzo via the GEAR.
Down below, they saw one of the figures beside Alonzo move, and then Julia appeared on GEAR. "What is it Yale?"
"Julia, there are plants up here that resemble the spring-flowers. The flower is still intact" Spring-flower was the name they gave to the devious plants which implanted their 'pollen' on any passing victim, forcing them to travel northward to deposit the pollen into the maw of the planet to bring spring.
"Get away from them, now!" Julia said with some alarm. "You know what they did to Bess and the others."
"But the plants are dead," True said. "The flowers are all dried out." She tried to point at the dried up flowers, but Yale held her tightly. She was not on GEAR, but she understood the gist of what was going on.
"The last thing I need..." Julia trailed off. "Did I hear True say that the flowers were dried?"
Yale nodded, "Yes, unlike the plants we've already seen, they don't appear to have spent their pollen. It appears that the flowers fully matured, but died before they could disperse it. Apparently these plants did not receive enough water, or there isn't enough soil, or perhaps because they did not find a suitable carrier..."
Julia interrupted, "Look, if you can get one of those plants down here safely, I might just have an idea. If I can harvest the healing aspects of that plant, I just might have a way to cure Devon."
Yale stood alert, thinking about what she had said. They all knew that the plant could heal as well as hurt. It was worth a try. First he sent True down to the nearest ledge, to keep her out of harms way if the plant managed to spray its cargo. Then, he threw his coat over the flowers, to contain them. Working blindly, he uprooted the plants whole, and tied it up inside his garment. Carefully carrying the bundle under his arm, he met True on the ledge and the two of them finished scaling the hillside
When True and Yale returned to camp, they found it in a different state. There was a spark of life there now. There was no assurance of anything, but suddenly there was hope. Julia accepted the bundle from Yale and took it quickly into her lab. The flowers had healed Bess' laser burns and the cut on her hand. It had healed the burns on Morgan's face and eye. If she could find a way to active the healing properties and null the side-effects, she might be able to bring Devon out of her sickness. Hell, even if Devon went on a campaign to the "north," it would be better than this.
* * * *
Bess walked into her tent and sat next to Morgan. "Did you hear the good news?"
"The only good news I want to hear is that they've found a way off this miserable planet," Morgan grumbled. "This is the worst possible hell I can think of."
"Julia thinks they may have found a cure for Devon."
"Oh great, so we can get moving again, as if I would really want to do that. Day after day of traveling, my feet hurt just thinking about it." He scowled at the blank wall of the tent and would not look at her. His voice was bitter and terse. "The last thing in the world I would want to do is to travel with this bunch again."
"She thinks that she can use the spring-flowers as a cure."
"That's good," he said sarcastically. "That thing just about killed you. Yeah, good idea. Let's unleash it on our leader. Smart. I bet they'll be using it on the rest of us next. Who came up with that plan? They're all just a bunch of complete idiots. This is all pointless. Why did I ever sign up for this mission? I must be out of my mind."
"I'm sorry," she said softly.
He stopped short and looked at her. "What for?"
"I don't know. Whatever it is that you are so mad at me about. I'm sorry."
"But," he stopped again and looked away, "Don't be sorry about anything. YOU haven't done anything." He looked at her again and noticed that she was crying, and his entire demeanor changed. "Ah Bess, ah Bess, don't cry. I'm not mad at you. Please don't cry because of anything I said. What's wrong?"
"I miss her so much," she was sobbing now. Morgan held his wife tightly to himself as she cried pitifully against his shoulder. "I miss Eben every day. She was my best friend and she's gone now. I just wish she was back with us."
"Shhhh...shhhh," Morgan said quietly, holding her tightly.
"Everyone keeps saying 'just give it time,' or 'it'll be okay' but it isn't okay and it's not getting better. I still miss her. We have so few things here. All we really have is each other."
"I know," Morgan said softly, gently.
"And Devon," she sniffed miserably, "Oh Morgan, if Devon dies too..."
Morgan wished he knew some good words. He knew that there must be some words out there somewhere that would fix everything and make his wife happy again, but he couldn't come up with them. All he could do is hold her. Finally he said, "I'm here Bess. I'm sorry I wasn't here for you before, but I am here now. I can't fix what I did. I know they should just throw me out and leave me. I should be locked up somewhere. But I want to let you know that I am here for you."
She pulled away from him, only so that she could meet his eyes. "What are you talking about, Morgan?"
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out immediately. "You know. I killed them," He said finally. "I killed them all."
"Morgan, what...?"
He nodded slowly and painfully. "I killed all those people on the Earth Ship. I'm a murderer, Bess. I killed them."
This time it was Bess' turn to hold him. "Oh no, no Morgan. It wasn't your fault."
"But it was, Bess. If I had just gone to Julia or Devon or someone instead of running in there and trying to wake them up myself. I was just doing what he told me, but it was all wrong. It's my fault that they died...all my fault. I never wanted to hurt anybody. Bess, I killed them."
"Morgan," she held him tightly, "you were trying to help. You thought you were going to save them, to save all of us. And if you didn't activate their ColdSleep Chambers, well, we would all be dead: you, me, everyone."
"I wish I hadn't done it. I wish I never listened to that guy. I wish... I wish..." he stopped, too flustered to go on. "I wish I wasn't such a bad person."
"You are a good person, Morgan Martin," Bess whispered to him. "You must be, because I love you."
* * * *
Julia and Cameron sat before the computers and waited for a response. "This one should tell us if will be successful," Julia said. "I have the simulation worked out pretty accurately."
Cameron nodded. "I've got a good feeling about this. That pollen stuff seems to be the answer to our prayers. I mean, we've only been working on it for three days, and I think we're pretty close to a solution."
"It's closer than I've been before, that's all I know," Julia responded. "So far there doesn't seem to be any of the destructive side-effects present. We might have circumvented the 'north' syndrome." She glanced over to Cameron and said thoughtfully, "Thank you."
"Huh?" Cameron jerked his head up, "What for?"
"I couldn't have done this without you. I know everything there is to know about medical sciences and have a fairly intricate encyclopedia of botanical sciences on line here, but you just have a ..."
"...knack for plants?" Cameron completed her sentence. "Well, I don't know what that spring-flower is exactly, not a plant. But I guess I kinda had a hunch about a couple of things." He smiled slightly. "Thanks though, I mean for bringing me in on this. I really kinda needed to do something worthwhile."
"Cameron, you do so much that is worthwhile, I wouldn't know where to start." Julia said soothingly. "Just think about the food source you've discovered. Everyone is eating it now. You will keep us from starving."
The computer suddenly pinged and the two of them stopped their discussion and leaned in to read the screen.
* * * *
"Okay, do it," Julia said to Alonzo, who started the 'wake up' program on the stasis chamber. She glanced to her right, to where Danziger stood with Uly and True. Uly held tightly onto one of Danziger's arms and watched her with serious eyes. Danziger's eyes were fixed on Devon. Julia turned to her left where Morgan and Bess stood with their arms around each other. It was the first time in weeks that she had seen Morgan when he wasn't working to make an ass out of himself. Cameron, Denner and Yale were behind her, while Alonzo ran the controls. Cameron carried the portable lab and was ready to step in at any minute if he was needed. Zero was waiting outside. Walman, Magus, Baines and Mazatl were somewhere to the west, heading toward them. She counted them all in her head. Eben was nearby too, with a stone marker at her grave.
She waited until the right moment, when the readings showed that Devon was beginning to awaken. Julia stepped forward and opened the chamber. Devon lay there, as if asleep. Julia applied the SedaDerm and the dark haired woman gasped for breath. Devon gasped again and opened her eyes, looking ahead, astonished. She raised her hand to her neck as Julia ran the DiaGlove over her. The doctor looked up to Alonzo to make sure he was ready to turn the systems back on if necessary. He stood with his hands at the controls.
Cameron, holding the spare SedaDerm, waited for any sign from Julia. Denner glanced back toward him, nervously.
Bess concentrated her thoughts on Devon. "Oh, please," she thought. "Please, let her live. Only that, just let Devon live." She looked over at Morgan. His eyes were intent on what was going on, his hand tightly interwoven with hers.
Julia checked the readings on the DiaGlove. She signaled to Cameron, who stepped forward with a second dosage, which Julia quickly applied. "Come on, come on," she muttered, as Devon breathed painfully.
"You can do it, Devon," Yale thought. "I know you can do it. You can do anything."
John held tightly onto the two children, his mind reeled with images of Devon. All he wanted to do was pick her up and hold her in his arms. Uly hardly breathed. True couldn't find a place to settle her gaze.
And then suddenly, Devon's gasping stopped. Alonzo looked alarmed, and ready to restart the ColdSleep process, but Julia stopped him.
Outside the structure, Zero waited. His mechanical mind running scenarios and coming to the conclusion that the best resolution would be for the leader of their group to return to consciousness.
Out to the west, a DuneRail hurried across the landscape. The four occupants, stayed tuned to their GEAR, waiting for the good news, hoping and praying to themselves, headed toward the others.
And then, Devon's breathing came slow and easy. Her wild eyes closed and reopened slowly, and then she smiled. "Hello, doctor," Devon Adair said weakly. "I take it you found the cure."
There was shouting and cheering in the small room. Everywhere Devon looked, there were the faces of the Eden Advancers. They were the last things she had seen before she fell into her sleep. Now they were her first sight. She could think of nothing better.
* * * *
Danziger sat beside her bed, holding Devon's hand, staring into her eyes. "I waited for you," he said simply.
"I know," her voice was tired. "And I waited for you." Her body was still frail from its ordeal. Julia had said it would take some time for her to be ready to travel again. Uly was curled up at her side, asleep and smiling. His small body was finally relaxed.
Mazatl, Walman, Baines and Magus had returned a few hours earlier. They sent up such a racket that the stone walls around them seemed to shake. It was good to have everyone back again. Everything was beginning to feel like normal again, almost normal.
Devon spoke again, quietly, "You know I saw something for a moment, when I first opened my eyes. I thought I saw Eben standing there, with the rest of you. She was smiling. I heard her say, 'Hang in there Chief. They're pulling for you.' I wanted to call out her name, but she just laughed and said, 'Not now, you've got other things to do. Tell them I love them. Tell them to take care. Tell them, aw, I don't know. Just go back to them now. Get them to New Pacifica. Take them home.'" Devon smiled weakly at Danziger, "And then I was awake with all of you."
"I am so glad to have you back," Danziger said. He leaned toward her and ran his hand along her chin, tilting her head up toward him. "Don't ever do that to us again."
"Never," she replied.
* * * *
(Voice of Julia Heller): I have not seen any side effects from the spring-flower cure, and I plan to keep it that way. We waited three weeks to allow Devon to recover her strength, but no longer. She wouldn't allow it. Summer was waning and we needed to cross the next range of mountains before winter stopped us again. It felt good to be traveling, to be moving toward New Pacifica.
So far we have seen no further signs of this illness. It seems rather coincidental that once we started eating the yellow tubers, the rejection process seems to have stopped. I will continue to monitor the progression with the others.
The healing process is continuing among us. Already I can see a change. Uly and John are alive again. Cameron and Bess seemed to have brightened. Even Morgan is helping out again. We are moving on with our journey and our lives.
It is as if we finally found a window to let the light back in.
THE END
Drop me a note, let me know what you think. Even if it's just to complain.
Kind of a sad story, but still, it had to be told. I always felt that Eben was kinda left out of the picture, and this was my salute to her.