Bess's Adventures in Wonderland
Disclaimer: I don't own Earth 2. I wish I did.
Chapter 1
Previously on Earth 2—shots from Better Living through Morganite Part II of Julia with the sunstones and the scanner talking about how they learned our language, Morgan trying to break the geolock in VR, shots from Blast from the Past of Danziger picking up the sunstone in VR and collapsing.
Bess VO: Day 156, but it seems like longer. We're finally moving again after being in one place for the past 24 days. I can't believe Eben is dead and we're leaving Devon behind. We're down to fourteen now. Some of us cope by becoming overly busy. Danziger and Yale were up late studying maps and charts for our next move. Alonzo left at dawn on the ATV for an advance scout. Everyone else is quiet. I'm really worried about Uly and True. It's scary how big the hole is where Devon used to be.
The procession of colonists and vehicles passed quietly over a narrow grassy plain between the rocky hills that rose on either side. Bess and Morgan walked behind the transrover hand in hand, neither saying much.
"Are you tired?" he asked her at last. Bess had been one of the sickest during the whole Eve debacle and he still wasn't confident that she'd recovered fully.
"I'm okay, Morgan," she smiled at him, but the smile didn't really reach her eyes. She was sad. Everyone was sad. She looked up ahead at True and Uly riding in the back of the rover. They too were sad. Bess could only imagine how abandoned each one felt.
Every step took them farther and father away from Uly's mom, left in cold sleep on the Council ship. The other two people he looked to the most, Yale and Danziger, spent all their time working out routes and the whole process of moving camp. Bess looked ahead to see the two men standing in deep conversation, pointing out features on the holographic globe of the planet suspended colorfully over Yale's cybernetic hand. That used to be Devon's job, she thought sadly.
Up on the rover, True sighed with a weariness that drove Bess to action.
"Can I borrow your VR gear for a little while, Morgan?" she asked her husband.
"Sure," he replied with a bit of surprise. Bess typically wasn't one for VR.
She took the set and met up with Yale and Danziger.
"Alonzo says that this pass doesn't seem to be widening up ahead. I'm afraid we're in for a dead end," Danziger was saying.
"But there is a large river on the maps only about 30 kilometers from here," Yale interjected. "Surely we'll be coming to the river plain soon."
"Who knows? So far our maps have been more educated guess than anything else. I just hope that the closer we get to New Pacifica, the better the detail will be," Danziger replied with a shrug. "Right now, we've got to make it to that river, then we've got to worry about fording it in the springtime, full of runoff from melting snow."
He passed one hand over his eyes as if to wipe away the frustrations that plagued him. "Between three months in winter camp and three weeks here, we're over 1,600 klicks behind schedule. I can just feel Adair riding my ass for us to make up time."
Seeing Bess standing behind them, he gave her a little smile, then pulled his gear into place to call for Alonzo's update as he walked away.
Yale looked to her, his face as calm as Danziger's had been concerned. "Yes, Bess, what can I do for you?" he asked in that melodic voice she'd come to love.
She held out her VR gear to him. "Can you build me a library?" she asked.
Some time later, she sat between Uly and True in the back of the transrover, Morgan's VR gear on her head. "Yale helped me set this up for you guys," she said as they each put on their VR gear. "I think you'll like it," she said, then reached up to the controls to begin the program.
With a flash, the three found themselves standing the middle of a very old, very distinguished looking library.
"Back home on earth, I used to go to an old library a lot like this one," Bess said softly as she looked around. "Whenever the station vids would go down, I'd go there and read books."
"Why didn't you just go in VR?" True asked.
"I never even saw a decent VR set until I met Morgan," Bess replied wryly. "I read books."
"Actual books? On paper?" Uly asked with a look of distaste as he glanced around the shelves.
"Yes, actual books," she replied firmly. She walked over to the nearest shelf and began to run her fingers over the titles Yale had quickly loaded up for her. She'd asked for children's classics.
Her finger ran over Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, and Oliver Twist. Weren't there any books for boys that didn't have an orphaned hero? she wondered to herself. Finally, she pulled Tom Sawyer off the shelf and passed it to Uly. At least Tom had decent adventures.
Then she did the same for True, finally selecting The Wizard of Oz, which she'd always loved.
"There," she said as they looked at her blankly, holding the books in their hands. "Go find a comfy seat and read." With a look at each other and a shrug, they moved off to a circle of soft looking overstuffed leather chairs.
For herself, she selected Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. "I haven't read this in years," she sighed with a smile. "I could use a little nonsense right now."
Settling herself into a chair next to the children, she opened her book and began to read.
Outside, Morgan looked up to see the three of them sitting very quietly, only moving their hands occasionally. What kind of VR game were they playing? It didn't look very exciting to him.
Behind the three on the rover, the power generator equipped with juryrigged sunstone hummed along as it broadcast power to the vehicles and equipment. No one noticed when the humming picked up a bit in pitch nor when the sunstone began to glow a little more intently.
Bess was well into her book, enjoying it immensely, when the VR simulation suddenly shifted out of the library. She found herself in a pinafore dress, standing on the northern plain in front of the deep chasm where she and Morgan had deposited the spore that held springtime. A soft green mist now floated out of it.
The chasm seemed dark and bottomless as she carefully peeped over the side.
"What is this?" she asked irritatedly. "Morgan, did you mess with the VR program?" she called out to him. "I'm supposed to read the book, not be in it."
"Bess!" she heard him call, but not from outside the program. His voice came from behind her. She turned to see him running toward her, dressed in an old fashioned waistcoat and carrying a fan and a pair of kidgloves. "Bess, what am I doing here?" he yelled as he ran. "I can't stop! And why do I feel late for something?"
He brushed past her as he ran straight off the edge of the cliff and into the chasm. "Bess!" he screamed as he fell.
"Morgan!" she leaned over the edge, knowing what had to come next, but powerless to stop it. "Somebody help us!" she shouted, then found herself tumbling into G889's equivalent of a rabbit hole.
Baines was walking rear guard, his mind more on swapping out guard for driving duty with Walman on their next break than on watching the people ahead of him. But even his attention was grabbed by the sight first of Morgan Martin falling to the ground, followed by Bess's headlong tumble out of the back of the transrover.
He ran to their side to find both apparently unconscious. When he attempted to remove Bess's VR gear, it shocked him in a way both disturbing and familiar.
He called out a halt over gear to everyone, then added, "Julia, get back here. Something's happened to the Martins."