Episode #10 "Sweet Dream Baby"
by the frog princess
(Inspired by the television program Earth2.)
WARNING: This is a continuing soap opera. If you haven't read the prior installments of the As G-889 Turns saga yet, this will make no sense whatsoever.
The nothingness lingered. And it spun. He fell and flew and spiraled until the man who claimed not to dream was no longer sure he was even still awake.
Alonzo had no idea how much time had passed when slowly the walls of his cell came into focus. He couldn't make it all out -- just the heavy iron door and the rough stone that surrounded it. The door opened and his jailer entered -- a tall, but, somehow, faceless man.
"Chow time, Solace."
The voice sounded like Walman's, but, no matter how he tried, Alonzo couldn't make the man's features come into focus.
A tray was placed in front of him and he realized that he was once again aware of his own body. As he rediscovered his hands, fumbling for the food, he became simultaneously aware of his stomach. Apparently it really was meal time.
He ate his food quickly; afraid it might vanish at any time. When he finished, the jailer motioned for Alonzo to follow him out the door. A wide hallway stretched before the pilot as he exited his cell. The ground beneath his feet was rough and he stumbled slightly on the uneven surface. As he did, he noticed that the stone walls on either side of him shifted strangely, staying the exact same distance away from him no matter which way he moved.
"Watch your step," the guard cautioned, only now the voice seemed to belong to Magus.
Alonzo came to realize that, unlike everything else, the ground beneath his feet was real. The hallway might be an illusion, but he was, in fact, walking under his own power along the surface of Planet G-889.
The guard tugged lightly at his elbow and, turning, he saw the reason they had left his cell. A urinal and commode were at the end of the hall. He tried to mentally calculate how far he'd walked, but his sense of direction had already been hopelessly confused before the journey had even begun. He had no idea which set of bushes he was standing behind. He just hoped he was behind them and that Magus or Walman or whoever his guard was now hadn't led him into the center of camp.
Alonzo tried to make a joke to lighten the awkward moment, but found he couldn't form words. Somehow, Morgan had overridden his hearing and speech functions. The civil servant had more skills than he'd given him credit for. He never knew that VR could be used to manipulate sensory interfaces so selectively.
With the business of the moment taken care of, Alonzo was led back to his cell. Just as soon as the door closed behind him, it vanished along with the walls and his body itself. Once again, the nothingness was all around him.
...and the cycle repeated. It had been twelve seconds or maybe a year. He had no way to gauge the passage of time. He knew that the time between such visits had to be a matter of hours, regular intervals between meals and not the random events that he perceived, but his mind was fast losing its grip on such logic.
His body left him again and he surrendered without a fight. It was peaceful in a way -- to just let go.
This time, the nothingness did not linger, but was almost instantly replaced by laughter; a woman's laughter, light and happy. Then the darkness lifted, and Alonzo was in a Terrian cave.
"Alonzo!" Bess had him in a tight bear hug before he even knew what hit him. "I got through to you!"
"What?" The pilot was dazed. "Bess? How?"
"It's okay, Alonzo. It's really me. The Terrians are letting me dream to you," she explained brightly. "I've been trying to contact Morgan, but I can't get through. His mind is constantly full of thoughts. He won't relax and clear his mind long enough for me to reach him. But then I found you, not thinking anything at all, and here I am."
"Oh." He nodded knowingly, even though he really wasn't sure what she meant.
"Alonzo, it's amazing. I can see things all over the planet. The Terrians are dreaming to me. I don't really understand them, not like you and Uly seem to anyway, but I can see what they let me see. And Alonzo, I can see New Pacifica! You're nearly there."
Alonzo shook his head. "We still have a lot of ground to cover before we reach the coast."
Without warning, Bess hugged him again. "Alonzo, you're almost there," she insisted. "Turn south. There's a short stretch of grassland and then it changes to swamp. When you get to the swamp, you turn southeast and about three days beyond the swamp, there are caves."
Alonzo shook his head, not in disagreement, but confusion. "Bess, slow down. I don't understand what you're saying."
"Spider caves, Alonzo!" his daughter-in-law breathed at him. "Dozens of them, maybe more. It's a nexus. They lead everywhere. They lead to New Pacifica!"
Seeing that she wasn't getting through to him, she bowed her head in a surprisingly Terrian manner and, rapidly, images flashed before him. The grassland, the swamps, the caves, spiders, rocks ....
Somewhere between the swamps and the spiders, his jailer returned, the ritual of a few moments before was repeated and again his body agreed, where his mind did not, that it was time to eat and -- do other things.
Bess waited patiently for his return and, even before the prison scene had faded, she was back and the visions raced through his senses again.
... New Pacifica, the comm dish, a spaceship, Devon, the children.
"Devon?" he began, not sure what question to ask.
"I can't get through to her," Bess said sadly. "I've tried. I don't think the cryochamber allows her to reach the dream plane. She's too removed from the planet. I can sense her. I know she's still alive back there. I can't reach her, but I know she's still alive. Once the colony ship arrives with more doctors and medical supplies, we can go back for her."
"And for you," Alonzo added.
Bess giggled. "I almost forgot about me. I'm fine. Be sure to tell Morgan I'm fine."
"Bess, I ... " he stopped as the world turned hazy around him.
"And tell Morgan to relax!" Bess shouted, sensing that she was losing her connection. "I'll keep trying to contact him, but he has to clear his mind!"
The Terrian dream ended and Alonzo's senses returned with a jolt of pain running up his leg. He struggled to his feet and a second, sharper jolt hit him. He seemed to be in the med tent and he couldn't remember why. There was no time to sort it out. An incredible sense of urgency filled him as he staggered out into the blinding sunlight. He had to tell the others: they were almost home!
"South!" Alonzo shouted.
Morgan smiled at his approach and muttered something to Julia that he couldn't make out. God, he never thought he'd be so happy to see his rotten son.
"The spiders are south!" Alonzo laughed. "Lots and lots and lots of spiders!"
"Alonzo," Julia said. "You need to lie down. Let's go back to the med tent."
"No, no. We have to turn south. We're almost there."
"What about that mountain that you clubbed Danz over the head to go climb?" Walman asked.
"Forget all about that," Alonzo said, happily. "That's the long way. She says all we have to do is turn south and, bingo, we are home!"
"She who?" Baines asked.
"Bess!" Alonzo giggled, just as Cameron zapped him with the sedaderm.