A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 9

(True Danziger)

After what happened with the Terrians, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel. I was disappointed that our friends hadn't been healed. That they might never be healed. In fact, the trip alone had aggravated the more critical cases. Lisa was unsteady and Claire was back in the hospital, barely holding on.

I felt like throwing up.

I also felt like punching someone or something. Had the Terrians abandoned us? I'd never really thought much about them. It was Uly's thing. I was glad he was healed but I didn't see how they had that much to do with me.

I hadn't realized how confident I'd become that the Terrians would heal the kids. That, in a sense, they were on our side. And I didn't understand why they'd backed out. No one did.

I rode back to the hospital assisting Julia who was frantically trying to stabilize Claire. She was in bad shape. I'd only wanted to help when I talked her into getting healed. I don't want her to die!

Is it my fault if she dies?

We only wanted to help those kids. Instead, we made things worse.

XXXX

"Alonzo? Julia called as she entered the cave.

She'd fought the urge to run after him that morning. His anguished screams were stuck in her head. She'd been terrified that he'd been badly injured. But her highest priority had to be protecting those highly vulnerable Syndrome children. Once they'd been safely transported back to the hospital, she'd combed the compound looking for Alonzo.

After searching frantically, she'd realized where she'd find him.

He was hunched over, seating cross legged, with his face planted against the ground.

"Are you okay?" She rushed towards him.

When he didn't move, she scanned him with her diaglove.

"What happened? I've been so worried."

His vital signs indicated he was recovering from a trauma.

Slowly, with effort, Alonzo rose to a sitting position. "It was awful. The Earth was screaming."

His face was pale and his hands trembled.

"What does it all mean?"

"I don't know."

"Are you still in pain? How would you rank it?" Julia asked.

"It was agonizing when it happened. I started feeling better once I reached the caves. It hasn't gone away completely but it's getting better."

"What's going on with the Terrians?"

"I…don't know."

"Are they okay?"

"Don't know."

He was wiped out.

"Can you come back to… the colony?" She'd been about to say home but that word didn't set right.

As selfish as it sounded, Julia needed Alonzo. Just when things were improving, their world had been turned upside down. Had they offended the Terrians beyond the point of repair? Was there no chance of healing for those children? Was the governing board going to sanction them for their actions?

Or worse?

All she knew was that right now, she was shaken and needed Alonzo. She needed him to hold her. She needed to know that he loved her and would be there for her, regardless. Unfortunately, gauging his shell shocked condition; he might not be up to it.

"I don't know." He was looking towards her but his eyes weren't focusing.

Please, I need you, she thought to herself. Please, see me.

Trying to be casual, she half-joked, "You have to eat, you know, keep up your strength."

When Alonzo didn't reply, she asked, "Are the Terrians mad at us?"

No one could figure out what had gone wrong. The Terrians seemed to have been in as much distress as Alonzo.

What had happened?

The fact that Alonzo had automatically turned to the Terrians for help rather than her bothered her immensely. Was his connection with them and the planet becoming even stronger? She was having trouble buying her own rhetoric that repairing the Dream Plane would fully restore Alonzo.

She studied him but he didn't acknowledge her question.

It scared her.

"Are you coming back tonight?" the tremor in her voice poorly concealed.

He didn't notice.

"I don't know."

As much as she longed for his company, she couldn't stay here. It was too much to be side by side yet feel he wasn't there.

"I love you," Julia said as she stood.

"I know."

"I'll check on you later. Bring you some food."

She'd offer to leave him some gear to keep in contact but he wouldn't use it.

XXXXXX

"This is important, Uly. Did you feel pain when the Terrians were screaming?" Julia intently questioned the boy. She'd seen him walking in the courtyard and pulled him aside to talk with him.

"Not really. I knew they were in pain. I could feel something but it didn't bother me. I could sense that something was really wrong but I don't know what it was," Uly answered.

"Have you been able to contact the Terrians?"

Maybe Uly had better luck since Alonzo was still recovering.

"Yeah. Cameron and I hiked out to the Terrian caves at North Point."

"Alonzo hasn't been able to make contact."

Uly explained, "The Terrians who were at the healing are still recovering. I visited the Terrians who have been following us since Independence. They weren't at the healing."

"Do they know what happened?"

He frowned. "They didn't put it into words."

More intently, she asked, "Did they tell you anything?"

Since Eden Advance had been instrumental in healing these Terrians, Julia would've thought they'd be more forthcoming. Especially since Uly was the link between their species.

Frustrated, the boy replied, "Not really. I keep asking when I'll learn how to travel through the earth and other neat stuff. They keep saying I'm young and I'll learn when I mature. Then they'll have lots they'll teach me. Fat lot of good that does me now."

"What did they show you?"

"It doesn't make much sense."

"What was it?"

"It was an image of a pile of dirt."

"Dirt? What does that mean?"

Uly shrugged. "I don't know."

XXXXXX

"You feeling any better?" Danziger joined Devon on their bed.

The events of the morning had badly shaken Devon. She'd been ashamed that she'd lost her composure. Pregnancy was wreaking havoc with her hormones. That had to be it. Otherwise how could she account for the fact that she'd accused Colin of deliberately sabotaging the healing and then she'd collapsed in the middle of a heated argument?

Danziger had brought her back to their unit and insisted that she rest. For once, she didn't question him. In fact, she hadn't moved from the bed for most of the day.

She hadn't been able to bring herself to think about what had happened.

"Not really." She rose to sit beside him, leaning into his chest. "I don't understand. We were so close. What happened?"

"I was just talking with Yale and Julia. They don't know either. But whatever happened to Alonzo also happened to the Terrians."

She was devastated that the healing hadn't taken place and that those Syndrome kids had been put at risk for nothing.

"Were we asking too much? Did we upset the balance of nature?"

He put a comforting arm around her. "Uly and Alonzo didn't think so."

"What happened? I've never seen anything like that."

"Julia says 'Lonz is still recovering. Uly and Cameron took an ATV out to North Point to contact his tribe."

Devon's spirits sunk lower at Danziger's reminder that there might be repercussions from the colony. That her son might have become even more of a target.

"Did he get any information?"

"Not really, just a vision of a pile of dirt."

She felt awful that she hadn't thought to ask before. "He wasn't affected like Alonzo or the Terrians, was he?"

What kind of mother was she that she wouldn't have noticed something like that? What was wrong with her? There had been a lot going on to distract her. Still, that was no excuse.

"No. He's fine."

She sighed with relief. She hadn't noticed because nothing had happened. Her mind switched back to reviewing the incident from that morning.

Sheepishly, she said, "As much as I hate to admit it, even though I accused Colin, I don't think he was behind it. He seemed just as surprised as we were. He's also not the type to resist gloating if he had been responsible."

"Isn't that the truth?" Then Danziger asked, "Could the board be working on some sort of project to deal with the Terrians? Maybe one that Colin wouldn't know about?"

"Not that I know of. Colin is Isaiah's right hand man."

"True. But weapons development might not be his area of expertise." Danziger tactfully pointed out.

A knock on the door interrupted them.

"John?"

"Come in, Yale."

He somberly gestured towards John. "We need to talk."

After assessing Devon, Danziger assured him, "It's okay. Whatever it is, she'll need to know too."

Yale sighed, stepping closer to the couple. "It's not good. Claire…is no longer with us."

"Oh god." Devon buried her face against Danziger's chest. "Oh god."

"Shall I speak with Audrey?" Yale asked.

Devon knew she needed go but she couldn't find her voice. How could she face the woman? Only hours ago, there had been hope that Claire would be healed.

Danziger volunteered. "One of us needs to go. I will. Yale, can you stay with Devon?"

"Certainly."

Slowly moving away from Devon, Danziger said, "I'll take care of it. I'll be back soon. Get some rest." He squeezed her hand then rose.

After he left, Yale sat on the edge of the bed beside Devon.

"She's going to hate me," Devon mumbled, pulling her knees closer to her chest.

"Why? Without the Terrians, this was inevitable."

"But we made it worse. She could've had a few days more. Maybe weeks. It's all my fault."

"Devon, this isn't like you. Audrey was fully aware of the facts. Audrey made the choice. All you did was provide the opportunity. You don't control the Terrians. You never claimed you did. You did the best you could."

"I don't understand what happened. I thought the Terrians wanted to heal the children."

"Could some of the board members have found out and done something to hurt the Terrians?"

"I don't think there was enough time. Colin only found out last minute after Mary noticed Max left way too early for school. He was obsessed with finding Max. I doubt he would've had time to tell anyone else."

"True."

"Yale, I don't know what happened out there. It sounded like the Terrians were in agony."

"Were any other board members unaccounted for this morning?" Yale asked.

"I'll look into it."

"Even if they all were at the hydroelectric plant site, that doesn't mean one of them wasn't behind what was going on."

Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Devon claimed, "We should've searched area more thoroughly. Maybe we could've found some clue as to who was behind this."

"Devon, people were frantic. You were there. We did the best we could. Our first priority had to be the safety of those children."

"And look where that got us." Her voice cracked. She took a deep breath. "I need to talk to Audrey. I don't hide from my problems." She'd never been one to make excuses for herself. Yet somehow she didn't have the energy to stand up.

"And you will. Not now. You're not well. You have someone else to take care of as well," Yale reminded her.

What was it? What had happened? Had the atmospheric pollution reached a critical level to trigger a toxic reaction on the Dream Plane? Was that what had happened to the Terrians? After screaming in agony for minutes, they'd descended back into the ground. Or maybe in the process of treating the crop blight the colonists had used some sort of pesticide that affected the earth and in turn, the Terrians?

The Terrians had shown dirt to Uly.

Was the planet itself opposed to the healing and punishing the Terrians?

Her head hurt.

What else had been going on today?

XXXXXX

"You idiots were going let those things mess with you?"

"Morons." Another boy called.

Several older, taller boys were surrounding Peter and Max in the clearing outside of the school.

True held Uly back.

"What are you doing? We've gotta help them," Uly insisted. It was bad enough when those jerks picked on him. But to pick on his friends who had the Syndrome? Despite his slight build, he was ready to punch someone.

Tensions were high after the aborted healing and Claire's death. True and Uly had been warned by their parents to avoid any trouble for fear things might escalate dramatically.

"Yeah. But they're a lot bigger than us. Lemme see if I can find anyone." True dashed off.

"You wanted to become freaks?" a heavy-set boy taunted the two boys.

"Shut up!" Max shouted.

The boys laughed mockingly.

Uly burned to say something, edging closer to the group.

"You wanna speak like a Terrian?" Another boy began to screech unintelligibly and the others howled.

Peter scowled.

"Losers"

Uly sprang forward when a boy kicked Peter in the shins.

"Syndrome kids are such wimps."

"Oh yeah? So why are you picking on them?" a deep voice shouted over.

Gage Gibbons, Peter's older brother was standing nearby.

Normally their buddy, Riley Pritchett, served as their defender. Strong and healthy, he wasn't afraid to use his fists if necessary, even if it did get him in trouble. However, concerned by the hostile climate, his parents had insisted that he stay home today.

Nearly sixteen with broad muscular shoulders, Gage towered over the cluster of boys. Generally he stayed out of playground skirmishes, considering himself far too mature for such matters. He firmly believed that every guy had to learn to stand up for himself; that having the Syndrome wasn't an excuse for not being a man. However, since his parents had recently consented to the healing, he'd become more sympathetic. His father, anticipating trouble, had also specifically instructed him to look out for his brother, Peter.

"Don't you runts have something better to do? Get lost!" Gage shouted.

The boys scattered.

"We were handling it," Max insisted, glaring at True and Uly.

"Right. C'mon, let's get out of here," Gage said. "You guys wanna see the hydroelectric plant? There's an ATV over there for you two."

"I don't need that sissy stuff," Max insisted.

Gage ignored him.

Gage was inordinately proud of his father's project, coordinating the construction of the new hydroelectric planet. Even though Gage wasn't an adult, he was thrilled that he was assisting with the project, even using some of the heavy machinery. He wanted to show off his work to his youngest brother and whoever else willing to listen.

Classes had been let out early since Claire's funeral was being held later that afternoon. News (some true, some grossly exaggerated) of the aborted healing had spread like wild fire over the entire compound. Most people had responded negatively, taking out their fear and anger on members of Eden Advance (and those who had been brave enough to consider having the Terrians heal their children) by yelling insults, banging on their unit doors, and spreading malicious gossip. It had been nearly impossible to concentrate in school with all the veiled glances, furtive kicking, nasty notes, and dire whispering. Devon and John had seriously discussed keeping the kids home from school until things blew over but Uly argued that he wanted to be there for people like Peter, Max and Lisa, who had become targets.

"Anyone know if Lisa's okay?" True asked.

She hadn't seen her familiar brown pigtails at school that morning. With her delicate constitution True prayed that the events hadn't made things worse.

Max shrugged.

Peter volunteered, "Her mom kept her home. She's tired but I think she's alright."

The normally chatty group became subdued as they tramped away from the main buildings and through the woods towards the construction site, with Max and Peter riding alongside in the ATV.

"What happened yesterday?" Gage asked, directing his question to Uly.

"I don't know," Uly answered.

"It's my fault," Max said.

The others stared at him.

"I thought my mom was on my side. I really thought she was gonna let me do it. Never in a million years did I think she'd rat me out. If she hadn't told my dad then he wouldn't have interrupted the healing. Claire would've been here, beside us, healed. She would've been running now."

"I don't know," Uly thoughtfully responded. "The Terrians were in pain yesterday. I don't think that had anything to do with your dad appearing. There's something going on with the planet. I can feel it. I wish I knew more."

"Can't you just ask them?" Gage asked. "Aren't you, like, part Terrian?"

"I've tried. It's not that simple," Uly replied, annoyed.

It wasn't fair. He hadn't wanted to be in pain like Alonzo had been, but other than a tingling sensation that something was off, he hadn't experienced anything yesterday. Shouldn't the fact that he was part Terrian mean something? Shouldn't it be changing him? Shouldn't he be closer to the Terrians than Alonzo? While his Terrian brothers continually assured him of his importance to them, the only response he ever got regarding his abilities was that it wasn't yet time.

What were they waiting for?

Sensing Uly's frustration, True redirected the conversation. "It's not your fault, Max. You can't blame yourself."

Even as she said it, she couldn't believe it for herself. If she hadn't spent so much time convincing Claire, she might not have consented to the healing. She might've had weeks or even months left.

"You going to the funeral?" Peter asked.

"I don't know," Uly answered.

He'd heard his mother, John and Yale discussing the ramifications of each choice. Whatever they did would be considered inappropriate. If they attended, they would stir up bad feelings, reminding everyone of their role in what had happened. And if they didn't, the same people would be offended, assuming Eden Advance didn't care about Claire's death. They couldn't win.

As they walked, Uly idly kicked some rocks. He stepped carefully to avoid mud. That was odd. There seemed to be a lot of mud and random puddles. He could've sworn that he'd been fishing in this area. Had the river dried up?

Then they noticed the large vehicles used for construction, in the distance, along with the muddy wake of their tire tracks.

"What a mess," True exclaimed. "How is that an improvement?"

"Haven't you been paying attention? We've been talking about how hydroelectric plants work in school," Gage said.

True blushed, ashamed to admit she'd been so preoccupied with the healing that she'd only given school work a cursory glance.

Gage explained, "A dam is constructed to redirect the water to allow it to move the turbines to generate electricity."

"How is that any different from the other electric plant?" True asked.

Usually not much for school, for a change, Gage was enjoying his role as the teacher. He preened. "Instead of burning fuel to turn the turbines, the water does it. No burning, no waste products. Clean energy."

True had to admit, "That's pretty good. But why all this mess?"

"Unless you can harness a natural waterfall, you have to optimize the system to allow for the best flow rate to generate maximum power."

Passing the construction vehicles, they caught their first glimpse of the dam.

It was taller than the TransRover and nearly as wide. While some gray concrete blocks had been used to reinforce the base, overall it resembled a huge pile of dirt.

"It looks more impressive from the other side." Gage assured them.

Looking at the dam, Uly put the pieces together.

"Do you know when the dam was officially completed yesterday morning?" Uly asked.

Gage answered, "About eight thirty."

When the Terrians had started screaming.

XXXXXX

Even though New Pacifica was a young colony, it had its share of funerals. Most of the losses were Syndrome children or victims of accidents. Services tended to be brief, private affairs, customized to each family's religious beliefs. They were held in a small clearing near the cemetery northeast of the settlement. The area was not nearly large enough to accommodate the masses of people assembling for Claire Brighton's funeral.

Devon and Danziger joined hands, interlacing their fingers as they approached the crowd. Anticipating an ugly reaction from the crowd, they'd decided to leave Uly and True at home with Yale, hoping it might be safer for them. It wasn't a matter ofif something was going to happen it was more a matter of when.

They noticed Julia, Baines and Walman and started to walk towards them.

Isaiah Ford intercepted their path.

"I ought to have you arrested," he said, with clenched teeth.

"What?" Devon replied.

"How dare you manipulate those people into believing that their children might be healed. Have you no shame? Taking advantage of vulnerable Syndrome children parents. Look at the consequences of such foolishness. Look what you've done."

His stern voice carried readily. The surrounding crowd grew silent, straining to listen to their leader.

"At the very least, I should remove you from the governing board."

Devon still wasn't feeling well but she wasn't about to present a weak front.

"All we did was give them information. We gave them a choice. A chance to be healed. I'm as upset as everyone else that it didn't work out but I didn't do anything those parents didn't consent to."

Isaiah scoffed. "What about Leon?"

Crazed with grief and anger, Leon Brighton had finally made his way over, staggering through the throng. "You…you murderer! You killed my little girl! You might as well have put a gun to her head!"

Devon hated to drag Audrey into this, given her timid disposition, but she had no choice. Although it was stretching the truth, Devon clung to it. "Your wife gave her full consent. I assumed you were on board with it."

"A likely story," Isaiah claimed.

"It's true," a woman's voice stated.

Everyone looked about to determine who had spoken. With a tear stained face, Audrey made her way towards her husband. As usual, her face lacked makeup. She was clad in a black dress that she must have borrowed from a friend for it hung on her slender figure

Speaking more forcefully than any one had ever heard from her, she stated, "All Devon did was give me information. She didn't force me to do anything. Imade the decision without you. And I'd do it again."

Leon's expression crumbled. It had been far easier to blame Eden Advance than his beloved, mild mannered wife. He couldn't believe it.

Crushed, he replied, "No, that's not true. You don't know what you're saying. This isn't like you. You're distraught. You're not making any sense!"

"I did it!" Audrey shouted.

Devon was astounded by the woman's boldness. But it proved what she'd always suspected. That even the meekest of women could become a lion when it came to the well-being of her child.

More composed, Audrey turned to face the crowd. "Thank you all for coming. It's greatly appreciated. But my husband and I want to bury our daughter. Alone."

People started to murmur and disperse.

Isaiah warned, "Don't think you're off the hook, Adair. I'm calling an emergency board meeting first thing tomorrow to discuss this situation."

TBC