Dark Purposes Part 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Earth 2. But if I did, it would have had a real second season and not just a virtual one.
Chapter One
Previously on Earth 2 . . . flashbacks of Bess and John Dreaming of the black rain with the warning that True is dying, the animal attack on Uly and True, True's collapse and her being carried beneath the earth by the Terrian.
John Danziger watched in a mix of fear and grief as the Terrian took his daughter from his arms and sank into the earth of the uncovered floor of the med lab. It took everything he had to let her go. The second Terrian moved quickly into the open space in the flooring and sank as well.
Once the Terrian vanished into the ground, Danziger stepped forward, dropping to one knee and placing his hands onto the earth as if seeking to Dream with them. His head dropped and his eyes closed. After a moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Uly standing next to him, his head tilted in a characteristic Dreaming pose.
"They will bring her to the old meeting place in the square," he said distantly. "It will be a while, though. I'm not sure how long, but it won't be soon."
"Then we'll wait," Danziger answered in a rough voice, reaching up to pat Uly's hand gently.
Uly's eyes opened and he looked directly at the mechanic. "I don't know where the meeting place is," he said in confusion.
"I do," Danziger answered, rising to his feet. The two ignored the questioning looks of the others in the room to head outside, back to the clearing in the middle of town where Danziger had Dreamed of a black rain and dying children.
"This is it, Uly," he said, turning in a slow circle to take in the grassy area. "They'll bring True back here." He put all the confidence he could into his words, but in his heart he still heard Bess's words in his ears—True's dying.
Bess, Morgan, Alonzo, Julia, Yale, Baines, and Danner followed Danziger and Uly outside. Bess clung to Morgan's arm as she too remembered the Dreams they'd been given from the planet, warnings that they would all die, beginning with True, then Alonzo, unless Julia could find a way to stop the progress of the disease Franklin Bennett had unleashed on the original colonists in the form of a black rain of unknown particles.
Alonzo stood with Julia, Yale, and the others at the door of the settlement's main complex, looking to where Danziger and Uly stood in the middle of a grassy area between buildings. Alonzo also knew that place, as he had stood there with Danziger and Bess on the Dreamplane.
"What do you think, Julia?" Alonzo heard Yale asking. "Is there a chance this could work?"
Julia stood there for a moment in thought. "We saw what the Terrians did for Uly," she began. "But Uly wasn't nearly as acutely ill. If they'd been able to get to her sooner, I would feel better about it." She then looked up at Alonzo, questions of her own reflected in her eyes. "What do you get from the Terrians?" she asked.
He tried again to reach them. He'd been trying constantly to enter the Dreamplane with them ever since True had been taken. "Nothing," he said sadly. "I get the feeling that they are so intent on what they are doing they don't have time to talk."
"That's a good sign, then," Yale suggested from his spot next to them. "That means True is still alive."
Roll opening credits.
Bess looked at Yale with relief. "You're right, Yale," she said. "I think that's a very good sign."
"What do we do now?" Morgan asked. "We've left the ZED back inside in limbo. Shouldn't we let him up or something?"
"I don't know," Alonzo replied. "What do you get from him?"
"I get the feeling that he's not a threat to us anymore," Morgan replied with more confidence than he realized he felt. "We had a sort of meeting of the minds in there."
Baines scratched his head. "I hate to say it, but I agree with Morgan. I don't get the feeling that he's interested in hurting us. He seems a little confused, but peaceful," he added. "That whole Dreamplane thing is pretty incredible, guys. I had no idea." Danner nodded her agreement.
"So if nobody has any objections," Alonzo began, "Bess, Morgan, and Yale can lift the immobilization code on the ZED—but we still all keep a close eye on him. The first sign of trouble and either Bess or Morgan hits him with a dose of planetary shutdown or one of the rest of us hit him with a sedi-derm or a magpro, whichever is closer."
"Morgan and I could add a failsafe program as well," Yale suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Alonzo stated. Then he gave everyone a questioning look, and at the nods of agreement all around, Bess, Morgan, and Yale went back to the med lab. Danner and Baines followed them into the building, leaving Alonzo and Julia to watch after Danziger.
"This whole thing makes me nervous," Julia said quietly. Alonzo placed an arm around her shoulder, and she continued, "We have no idea what this ZED is capable of. We have no idea what is happening to True. I feel helpless, Alonzo." She looked up at him with vulnerability in her eyes. "I don't like feeling helpless. And I can't begin to imagine how John feels right now."
"I know what you mean," Alonzo said, glancing at at the silhouette of the tall mechanic gazing across the prairie into the distance. "Ever since the crash, he's coped with setbacks by either fixing something or going scouting. Right now, he can't do either. He's just got to wait. At least you can work on what you've learned from the ZED's biochip implant to add to what we know about stopping these crazy particles before they kill us all."
"Starting with True, then you," Julia replied thoughtfully. "How are you feeling?"
"I have to admit, ever since running back into camp, I haven't felt so hot," Alonzo sighed. "Nothing serious, just really wiped out."
"Let's get you to the med lab and let me check you out," Julia replied.
When he began to shrug off her concern, she reached out for his arm and looked at him intently. "If the particles are starting to get the upper hand, the earlier we treat the symptoms, the better our chances of slowing down the progress long enough to find a cure for it. Plus if I can track the progress from the start, I might learn something important about the mechanism of those things."
"So you do care, huh?" Alonzo teased, giving her a little chuck under the chin, hoping to bring a smile. She'd been under so much pressure over the past several weeks to cure them all before it was too late—to cure them of mysterious diseases with mysterious causes with nothing but a few hints to go on.
It seemed to him that Julia had been called upon to singlehandedly found a new branch of G889 medicine. She was certainly up the challenge in most respects, but he hated to see her so serious all the time.
To his surprise, Julia not only smiled at him, but pulled him into soft kiss. "Yes, Alonzo," she responded, "I do care."
In the med lab, Bess, Morgan, and Yale gathered again around the still form of the ZED, once known as Charlie—a young miner caught up in an uprising until station authorities had captured him and turned him into a ZED, a genetically and cybernetically altered, emotionless supersoldier. With the help of the planet, they'd unlocked his memories of his previous life and restored most of his autonomy.
He was no longer controlled by orders from Riley, the orbiting Council computer. But with his autonomy came many questions. What would he do? How would he cope with his past, both his recently uncovered memories of his home in the mines and the resurgence of emotional reactions to his actions on the planet? He'd committed many atrocities on the planet as a ZED. Could he reconcile those actions with the person he once was? Could he become someone new?
The three of them knew what he was up against, Yale best of all, having downloaded the files of the ZED's past into his own databanks. Yale did not look forward to the examination he would have to perform on them. He had seen enough in summary to convince him that the ZED program on this planet performed deeds nothing short of institutionalized evil.
This individual ZED had been a pawn in the game the Council was playing with the planet. Now he'd been set free. Perhaps being with the group could help him deal with it.
As they slipped onto the Dreamplane, the ZED looked up to them. "What is happening out there?" he asked with something very close to interest. Morgan and Bess exchanged a look of quiet satisfaction. Their ZED was making progress.
They quickly filled him in on the basics of the situation. "I am glad to know that your work with my implant helped the little girl," he replied. "However, I am unaware of any medical facilities possessed by the Terrian population."
"I don't think they practice medicine the way we know it," Morgan replied wryly. "Are you ready to rejoin the land of the moving?"
"Yes," the ZED responded.
"Now, Charlie," Yale continued more seriously, "We must warn you that before we deactivate your immobilization code sequence, we're going to institute a failsafe sequence. If you even begin to harm anyone in our group, you will go into automatic shutdown, understand?"
"Nothing personal," Morgan added, "it's just that you nearly killed two of us already and broke Bess's arm."
The ZED looked into himself for a second or two as if accessing memories, then turned to Bess. "I regret that my previous programming resulted in your injury, Bess. Please do add the failsafe sequence. I do not wish to injure anyone else, even accidentally," he said, a note of sad resignation in his voice. "And please, do not call me Charlie. I am not Charlie any more. It has been too long."
"What do you suggest then?" Yale asked gently. "I retained the name Yale when my mindwash was broken. Would you prefer 'ZED' or your designation code, perhaps?"
"A code?" Bess repeated in disbelief. "Yale, that's just gross." She turned to the ZED and looked up into his clear green eyes. "You need a name. Every person has a name, not a code."
"I do not know what I wish to be called at this time," the ZED answered in confusion.
"How about Zeke?" Morgan offered. "You know, zed, zee, zeke—it kind of works."
"Zeke?" Bess echoed.
"Zeke," the ZED answered. "I can adjust to that."
"Fine, then, Zeke," Morgan responded with a satisfied smile, "let's just get you de-immobilized."
Outside, Danziger and Uly stood alone in the open field. Alonzo and Julia had returned to the med lab. The others were keeping their distance—out of respect, fear, confusion—who knew.
For Danziger, the main thing was that Uly was there. He was a link to the Terrians and therefore back to True. He'd tried asking the planet what was going on, but only got vagues images of Terrian activity and a sense of comfort. He presumed that she meant it was a Terrian thing and he wouldn't understand.
After several long minutes of silence, curiosity and concern got the best of him and he dropped to one knee to be on Uly's eye level. "Uly," he began hesitantly, "when the Terrians took you when we first got to the planet, what did they do? How did it feel?"
Uly looked off in concentration. His first inclination was to spin a wild and wonderful yarn about the wonders of the Terrian world and the amazing things he'd seen. After all, he'd done that a number of times in his own mind, creating a whole fantasy about being a Terrian prince.
But another, more mature part of him knew that those imaginative days were rapidly drawing to a close and he would have to begin to see his interaction with the Terrians on a more realistic level—even if he wouldn't phrase it as such.
"I remember being really scared when I felt them pulling me into the ground," he began. "Then it was all dark and comfortable, and I knew I didn't need to be afraid. Part of the time it felt like I was flying," he said, his words drifting off into the memory.
"I don't really remember anything else happening until you were there picking me up." He looked up at Danziger with pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry I can't tell you what's happening to True. But I don't think she'd be hurt or afraid."
Danziger looked up and blinked his eyes a few times. Uly wondered if he were going to cry. He hoped not. That would be disturbing. To his relief, Danziger just smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder as he rose to stand next to him again.
Out on the prairie, the sun was beginning to set over the lush vista of green. Danziger stood there, looking out, trying not to think, but failing miserably.
Memories kept flooding back—almost as vividly as when he was sick with the virus Wentworth got from that behavior mod chip the Council inflicted on her. He thought about True, but he also found himself thinking of Ellie, his childhood in the Quadrant, his time in the military. It was as if the floodgates of his own being were opened and he was being asked to re-examine who he was and how he'd become that person.
He thought of how he'd worked his way from menial laborer to Chief of Ops on a variety of supply ships. He thought of the days he'd spent on the stations between contracts trying to find a way to keep True fed and clothed. There were so many things he'd wanted to give her that he couldn't. The burden of his debt, plus the cost of keeping Ellie in a decent care facility ate such a hole in his credit there were days he'd literally begged for work of any kind just to put food on the table.
The contract with Adair had seemed like such a godsend—enough to pay off everything, give them a fresh start, a new life—maybe even with Ellie at their side. All he had to do was give up 44 years of time stationside.
It wasn't that hard a choice. He'd never had much to hold him to the stations; True was indeed his entire life. And now she was God knows where beneath the earth in the hands of aliens, maybe scared, maybe hurt, maybe dying. All he knew was he couldn't help her. Every problem he'd ever faced could be solved by doing something—every problem but this. All he could do was wait.
The hours passed almost in slow motion. He stood with Uly until someone brought out a variety of storage boxes and stools. When Uly began to waver on his feet, Danziger finally took a seat on a long box, Uly next to him. It was only when Magus and Walman came out to build a fire off to the side that he realized that the air was getting cool. Bess brought out a jacket for him and a blanket for Uly and sat off to the side with Morgan.
Some time later, Cameron appeared with plates of food. Uly ate heartily, but Danziger just stared at his. Cameron stood over him until he took a couple of bites; then, satisfied that Danziger had at least tried his dinner, he went back into the compound. Once he was out of sight, Danziger set the plate aside. He didn't have much of an appetite.
Magus and Walman tended the fire for a while, then Baines and Mazatyl took over. When Uly leaned over against him asleep at last, Yale appeared to carry him to bed.
The night wore on—Bess and Morgan rising to leave at last. Bess gave him a long look, and to his surprise Morgan placed a hand on his shoulder, patting it once in sympathy. They were soon replaced by Yale, who had settled Uly into bed.
The stars were out overhead, clear and beautiful. The night was chilly, but not cold. Danner came out to relieve Mazatyl and tended the fire with Baines. Alonzo and Julia came out to sit next to him on a couple of stools. Yale finally went to check on Uly, and Baines and Danner went inside.
Ever so often Alonzo would stoke the fire with fresh wood, keeping the blaze high enough to create warmth and deter the strange animals they knew were prowling in the tall grass outside the perimeter.
Deep in the night, Magus and Walman were back, sending Alonzo and Julia in with a quiet word that Danziger couldn't hear well enough to understand. Yale too reappeared to sit next to him quietly.
No one spoke much. They all knew that there was no need for conversation. Their presence alone said what they meant in a way that Danziger understood.
In the darkest hours of the night, his memories turned to Devon. He remembered how when Uly was taken, she'd waited with Yale while he searched the tunnels. She'd taken a sedi-derm and made Dream promises to the Terrians to get her son back. Somehow, in a wait and see situation, Devon Adair had found a way to be proactive and do something.
But then he remembered when Gaal had taken the Terrians prisoner and Uly was sick again. The entire time they waited for the contact to come from the Terrian that had called them, she'd waited. She'd waited almost completely alone for hours and hours with only Julia and Yale to check in on Uly.
He wished that he'd gone to sit with her then. He of all people in this group knew what it was like to have a child, to have that child in trouble. But they were butting heads so badly during that time—it was a constant contest of wills between them.
His leadership style versus hers. His ideas versus hers. His pragmatism versus her idealism. They'd managed to work out so much between them over the following months, enough that they functioned as a leadership team, each one bringing something to the mix that the other lacked.
Right that minute he missed her. He wished devoutly that Devon Adair was there at his side, to give him what he lacked--to bring her optimism and confidence to bear, her trust that this new world was the best place for all of them, her faith that all would be well.
He wished she was there to offer the understanding that another parent would have—another parent who'd seen her child suffering and knew the high price of the treatment. There was a hole in his life where Devon Adair used to be and it was only at this moment that he realized just how big that hole really was.