Disclaimer: Earth 2 and all related characters belong to the Amblin Entertainment. No copyright infringement intended, and there's definitely no money being made. It would be extremely rude (and unprofitable) to sue me.
Author's Note: Thanks to Kiss316, MiladyDragon, and Laebeth!
Chapter 6
One foot in front of the other. Keep balance. Keep going. Morgan trudged diligently towards the early morning sun. He had little hope that he was miraculously going to find a safe footpath down from the mountaintop, but he didn't have any other ideas, and so he'd begun to stumble cautiously over the uncertain ground, making sure only that he was headed away from Reilly.
He'd watched the approaching vehicles until they'd slipped beneath his line of sight as they drew nearer in the valleys below. It had crossed his mind, then, that he should probably try to find some way to signal them. Go to the edge and wave his jacket in the air or something like that. Because if he didn't, what if... what if the vehicles drove by, thinking he was one mountain range over? Or, even worse, what if they weren't even looking for him, but had given both of them up as dead and were now on the way to New Pacifica?
Okay, that was ridiculous, he realized. Surely they'd search for more than a day before just driving off. ...Wouldn't they? Of course they would. He was just being paranoid because he was trapped up here, all alone, and he didn't like it at all.
But then, what if... what if they couldn't get him down from here? What if it was just too high? What if...
Morgan paused, abruptly catching sight of a strange shape a short distance ahead of him, and he squinted into the early morning light, not quite sure of what he was seeing. Something dark and not-rock-like. He shaded his eyes against the sun. Two figures kneeling down on the rock-strewn ground, vis-à-vis, seemingly contemplating each other in silent meditation.
His breath caught in his throat, and, half-disbelieving his eyes, he shouted, "Alonzo!"
The pilot did not react, but the winged Terrian drew itself upright, regarding Morgan for a long moment. Then, in a fluid movement, it spun into the air, diving over the edge of the cliff and off into the morning sky.
Waving his arms – partly out of excitement and partly to keep his balance – Morgan was half-tripping over the rocks as he shambled toward him. "You're alive!" he exclaimed, then lost a little of his exuberance as he got a closer look at the pilot. Alonzo looked more than a little ragged around the edges. He'd lost his jacket and one sleeve of his shirt somewhere, and though the cool morning air didn't seem to be bothering him, he had a distinctly fevered look. "Are... are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he replied, flatly.
"What did those things do to you?"
Alonzo spared no more than a brief dismissive glance at the departing Terrian as he rose to his feet. "Morgan," he said, as if only recognizing him at that moment. "What are you doing here?"
"Um... you mean, how did I get away? Mostly luck, I think," he admitted. "It was Reilly that took control of the unit – that's why it attacked us. Either I took Reilly by surprise when I broke free, or the processor on that old clunker doesn't respond quickly enough. I didn't stick around to find out which one it was. But what about you? – I hoped those bird-things might save you... but then you didn't come back. Where – where have you been?"
"I was in the caverns... they told me..." There was something disjointed in his speech, a faltering lack of composure that Morgan was not used to hearing from him. "They showed me... what I needed to remember."
Alonzo didn't say anything more, and it wasn't a line of conversation Morgan particularly wanted to pursue, so he attempted to change the subject. "There has to be some way down from here. I saw some lights this morning; it's the rest of the group. They're looking for us. So if we can find some way to signal to them..." No reaction from Alonzo. It didn't matter what words Morgan used; Alonzo had the blank look of someone who was either not listening or did not understand what was being said. And yet there was something uncomfortably familiar about his eyes, the expression there...
With a shudder, Morgan realized that it was the same not-quite-there expression that Julia had once worn, when she'd been experiencing side effects from the Terrian DNA she'd been experimenting on. And Morgan had been the unlucky one she lashed out at when she finally went round the bend.
The similarities were ominous enough that Morgan felt justified in taking a discreet step backwards.
"I, uh, I see you found your... Terrian thing," Morgan said, nodding at the staff that Alonzo held loosely in one hand. Alonzo glanced down, his grip tightening reflexively about the staff, then looked back at Morgan. "Great. Maybe you can call the Terrians with that? Can they help get us out of here?"
Alonzo stared at him with a deeply puzzled expression. "What are you talking about?"
"Leaving," Morgan said, speaking very slowly. "Getting off this stupid chunk of rock. Going back to the camp. They're out there, looking for us. Bess will be waiting. And Julia, too," he prompted, trying to elicit some reaction. "That's where we belong. I mean, we don't even know the first thing about these creatures, what they want, what happened—"
"I know."
"What do you mean, 'you know'?"
"I just know," he replied stolidly, as if everyone should just accept his word every time he magically absorbed some new piece of knowledge. "I remember."
Morgan fought the urge to roll his eyes. Alonzo's memory was the last thing he'd be banking on – obviously he'd forgotten just how erratic his recollections were getting. "Yeah? Then tell me," he pressed. "What happened?"
Alonzo tilted his head, spearing a piercing gaze towards Morgan, and for a moment, Morgan thought he was going to quarrel with him. But then the other man's gaze turned abruptly inward, and he fell still. He was quiet and motionless for so long that Morgan had to resist giving him a shake, to see if he was still awake.
"When it fell," Alonzo said, his words halting and oddly hollow, "when they first saw it falling out of the sky, it was trailing fire, burning. Came down too fast, the repulsion jets were firing for all they were worth, but it was too late, too fast. The trajectory was wrong, couldn't compensate in time... One of the engines fractured under the stress – it exploded. Fire rained from the sky," he shuddered, an awed horror in his voice. "Fire and acid. So many died. Our wings burned, shrivelled."
A peculiar mixture of grief and agony twisted across Alonzo's features, and his arms were quivering, his fingertips fluttering, as if he could somehow feel them burning. The staff slipped from his grasp, and he started to pace back and forth as if stricken.
"It crashed against the peak. Shattered. So loud, the earth trembled. The engine casings ruptured on impact, the coolant spilled out... poison, it was poison. We burned, we died. When it touched the river, it killed it; everything there living died. The water boiled, the land sickened. Death everywhere. So quickly and so many, so many dead and gone— killed, and dying, all of it— Must be stopped— Must, must, must—"
Alonzo's narrative began to deteriorate; he tumbled to his knees. The words were spilling from him in a breathless rush, and he seemed unaware of how he was shifting from his own thoughts to those that couldn't possibly have been his.
"Alonzo. Alonzo!"
For a moment, Morgan's words didn't seem to have any affect. But then, with an obvious effort, Alonzo managed to restrain his rambling speech and peered up at Morgan with a strangely unfocused gaze.
"Look." Morgan grabbed Alonzo by the wrist, yanked his hand upward to wave it in front of his face. "See? You don't have wings. Without a ship, you can't fly. You're not one of those things. You've got to stop thinking like that, or... or you'll go crazy or something."
He had no idea whether he was getting through to him or not. Alonzo was obviously in the midst of some serious reality issues, and Morgan was more accustomed to being the panicky one, the weak link – he really didn't know what to do in this situation.
Alonzo's hand slowly tightened into a fist. Alarmed, Morgan let go of his wrist, quickly retreating a step, trying to think of something that would placate him. But Alonzo only gave him a curt nod, not quite meeting his eyes. Tight-lipped, he mumbled, "All right."
"What?"
"I said I'm all right!" he snapped. His clenched hand trembled. "I've got it... under control now."
"Okay... okay." Morgan decided not to dispute the point. "So let's get out of here, find our way back to the others."
There was a hard set to Alonzo's jaw. "You go on. I'll catch up."
"I... um, I dunno if that's such a good idea."
Alonzo didn't seem to care what Morgan thought. Pushing past him, he picked up the Terrian staff. It did not look as out of place in his grip as Morgan supposed it should have.
"What... what are you going to do?"
There was a hint of a frown on Alonzo's face as he regarded the staff he held. "I'm going to finish what I came here to do."
"Oh. Great. I hate to be the one to burst your heroic little bubble, flyboy, but you and I didn't actually come here to do anything – we were dragged here, kicking and screaming—"
"Speak for yourself."
"—and if you head back there, armed with just a stick, for god's sake, you're the one who's going to be finished! You're not going to be able to sneak up on that thing. It's not just some dumb probe robot – Reilly's tapped into it and he's watching for us now. I'm lucky I got away. If you're really so dead-set on 'killing the machine,' then the smart thing – the sane thing to do is turn around, find our way back to the others, and get their help. If we go now, maybe we can—"
"Morgan," Alonzo interrupted, his voice lowering to a tone of deep irritation, "if you have any brilliant ideas that don't involve running away, I'd be happy to hear them. Otherwise, just keep your mouth shut, okay?"
Stung, Morgan fell momentarily silent, biting back several rejoinders about just how effective Alonzo's more impulsive actions had been so far. The unspoken words burned in his throat, until he finally couldn't restrain himself any longer. "You know what your problem is, Solace?"
"Gee, Morgan, why don't you tell me?" Alonzo replied tonelessly, somehow managing to fill the words with sarcasm in spite of that.
"You don't ever know when to back off! Not even when it's the smart, sensible thing to do. No, you go running in without thinking, and look where it gets you," Morgan sputtered furiously, levelling an accusing finger at Alonzo as the other man pointedly ignored him, which only inflamed him further. "You'd still be sitting behind that boulder if I hadn't been able to disarm that robot," he reminded him. "And you'd be dead now if it weren't so low on power reserves when it zapped you. Or if your little wanna-be-Terrian-bird-buddies hadn't been quick enough to catch you. But does any of that make you stop and think? No! You just keep doing the same idiot thing over and over, like some VR transmission stuck on auto-repeat! Now you're going to go running back there like some deranged lunatic, waving your magic stick, and— and do what! You've got to be out of your mind! You don't know how to use that thing—"
Even at the best of times, that outburst might have been enough to antagonize Alonzo, but at the moment, the other man had considerably less restraint. Morgan was perceptive enough to realize that he'd gone too far, but by that time it was much too late to take back his words, or to evade the other man's sudden movement.
Alonzo's face twisted, and he whirled about. Morgan cried out sharply as the staff connected painfully with his ankles, sweeping his feet out from under him, and he fell hard onto his back. With half the breath knocked from his lungs, he lay there wheezing as Alonzo stood over him, the Terrian staff held menacingly ready in his hands. "Don't you tell me," he hissed with barely contained rage, "—you, of all people – what I know and what I do not know."
A flicker of static danced like quicksilver over the top of the staff, dissipating so rapidly that Morgan wasn't sure he'd seen it. But the dark glare of Alonzo's displeasure was unmistakable.
This time, Morgan held his tongue.
Though the morning sunlight was now touching the peaks of the mountains above, the valleys beneath were still heavily overshadowed. Danziger hoped that gloom might help them approach undetected, if Reilly were monitoring the area. They'd all agreed to keep their gear channels open, but, until they found Alonzo or Morgan, to keep communications silence as much as possible.
"Here," Danziger decided, eyeing the rough periphery of the mountain's slope. "This is good. Stop here."
Bringing the Dune Rail to a rattling halt, Yale said, "Take care," as Danziger and Bess climbed out of the vehicle, relinquishing it to Yale and Julia. The doctor didn't say anything at all, was too focused on scouring the shadowed mountainside with her jumpers.
"You, too," Danziger returned briskly. "Good luck," he added as the vehicle pulled away, Yale and Julia heading off to their assigned search point on the western side of the mountain. Walman and Cameron were already patrolling the east. Now it was just a matter of who found the missing men first. Since they'd only had the two vehicles to spare, Danziger had decided he and Bess would start by immediately tackling the mountain slope, while the other two teams searched the perimeter before moving in closer.
"What do you think of that trail there?" Bess asked him, pointing out a possible footpath.
"Looks as good as any," he agreed, hefting the MagPro over his shoulder. "Maybe even a little better. Let's go."
The two of them didn't get very far before the first winged creature swooped by overhead, casting a darker shadow down as it peered curiously down at them. "Danziger—"
"I see it. You think we should find another path?"
She paused, glancing searchingly around, then shook her head. "No. This is the best way up. If Morgan's up there, then I'm going up there." She continued resolutely up the slope.
And, really, she was right. This was the easiest, safest path in view at the moment. As it was, Danziger suspected that this peak was going to be too high and too steep to scale without way more equipment than they were able to carry. Hopefully, then, Alonzo and Morgan weren't really at the summit, or they were already making their way down and he and Bess would meet them somewhere in the middle. Otherwise... well, he didn't know what they'd do then.
Danziger trailed after Bess, continuing to eye the creature warily – perhaps as warily as it eyed him – but it seemed content only to look, and eventually flew higher up to perch on the rock face far above them. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but notice as another winged creature flittered up to join the first, and a few moments later still another joined in the vigil. Gave him the creeps. Though the weight of the weapon on his shoulder was unwieldy, he was glad he had it with him.
"They're not threatening us. They're just watching. Maybe they know we don't mean them any harm," Bess said thoughtfully, her gaze also turned cautiously upward. "Maybe they know we've come for Morgan and Alonzo."
"Maybe," he agreed guardedly, even as he was remembering Uly's dream-spoken warning: 'willful and relentless, dangerous in need'. And that admonition coming from the Terrians, who really didn't even register on Danziger's list of favourite things about this planet. He strongly suspected that the winged creatures might not care who came wandering into their territory, but that no one was going to be walking out of here until they got what they wanted. "And maybe not. I don't really care, so long as they stay out of our way."
"But the Terrians have never harmed us," she said fervently, as if she needed to believe that.
'Those things aren't Terrian.' That rebuttal was on the tip of his tongue, but he managed to swallow the words before they were spoken. But if Julia's research was right, those things had been messing with Alonzo's head, and he had no idea what shape he'd be in by the time they finally found him. Or, for that matter, Morgan.
"I don't like all this Terrian weirdness. Winged or otherwise. Never have." Their dealings with them were always fraught with uncertainty, with too many 'maybes' and 'what if's and 'should we'. He preferred a direct threat, with a direct response. "But they're not the only thing we've got to worry about," he reminded Bess. "Don't forget, Reilly's hijacked a robot up here, too."
"Reilly can stay up here forever, for all I care," Bess replied, "as long as I get Morgan back."
Though Danziger was partially inclined to agree, he didn't think the winged creatures were going to see it that way.
Alonzo set a determined pace as he made his way over the ruined hilltop, and Morgan grumbled hopelessly to himself as he followed about forty steps behind. He told himself that it was because he wanted to keep a safe distance between himself and the dangerously unstable pilot – and that was part of it – but the fact was, he was having a hard time keeping up.
Morgan had no idea how the man could possibly maintain such stamina, especially after all that had happened. They'd been stranded up here with no food and no shelter, so Morgan didn't think his own fatigue was unwarranted. In contrast, Alonzo's boundless energy struck him as more than a little unnatural, and he was inclined to consider it yet another blatantly obvious symptom of impending doom.
Problem was, Morgan supposed he didn't really have any choice but to follow.
After all, if he let Alonzo run off to go get killed doing glorious battle with the enemy, everyone would say he should have stopped him, because the man had obviously gone wacky. On the other hand, he didn't see how his tagging along behind Alonzo was going to help matters. If they both got killed, Morgan was pretty sure it was still going to somehow end up being his fault.
In any case, Morgan had no desire to pick any further arguments with the uncharacteristically twitchy pilot. But an increasing number of winged Terrians were flying along the low line of the plateau's horizon, looking like a dark thundercloud gathering as they watched vigilantly from their safe distance, as though they were expecting something to happen soon. Morgan scowled sourly in their direction, trying to think of some way to divert Alonzo.
"Hey, what do you think," he called out breathlessly in his best friendly, non-confrontational voice, "about maybe resting for an hour or so. Or even half-an-hour," he compromised. "I'm sure the others will have found a way to us by then... Don't you think that's a good idea?"
Dead silence as Alonzo marched staunchly onward.
"Didn't think you'd think so," Morgan huffed, then tried another tactic. "Wait up! I'm coming too."
Alonzo almost paused at that remark, his head angled slightly sideways as if he were trying to catch a glimpse of Morgan.
Morgan hoped that was an encouraging sign. "We're still on the same side, right? You and me. Give me a minute to catch my breath. After all, it's not like Reilly's going anywhere..."
Shouldn't have mentioned Reilly, he realized, as Alonzo picked up the pace again.
Morgan's stomach twisted with anxiety as he recognized their surroundings, realized they were almost back at the spot where the data collector had crashed. "I don't suppose you're ready to reconsider this," he called out urgently as he scrambled after Alonzo, knowing his protests were probably useless, but trying anyway. "There's just no way this is going to end well..."
Alonzo made no reply, but stalked up and over the crest of the hill with an utter disregard for his own safety, every step dislodging a footfull of stones, which clattered noisily down the slope. The moment Alonzo had stepped into sight, the targeting mechanism on the data collector spun round, seemed to fixate on its target with a malevolent anticipation. Wholly oblivious to the danger, Alonzo confronted the robot, with no protection but the Terrian staff he'd pressed firmly against the ground in front of him.
"Welcome back, Mr. Solace, Mr. Martin," Reilly greeted. "So nice to see you again. I was hoping you'd return."
Morgan heard the loud drone of the weapons systems powering up. "Alonzo! Don't—!" The idiot was just going to stand there and let himself be blasted into ash.
Too late. As the laser fire struck, the staff flared with a near blinding intensity. Alonzo staggered backwards, but held tenaciously to the staff as the energy crackled and dissipated. The robot fired twice more, and Morgan didn't know whether Alonzo was using the Terrian staff to catch the blast, absorb it or diffuse it or whatever, but he appeared to be unharmed.
Not only that, but somehow he was actually managing to return fire. Morgan watched, goggle-eyed, as a startling flare of energy tunnelled up the staff, then blazed into lightning as it reached the peak of the staff. Alonzo wielded the staff with grim assurance, directing the lightning toward the data collector.
"Ah, I see the Terrians have you running interference for them," Reilly announced after a brief pause. "But we have ways of dealing with them, and you are not Terrian..."
The power systems whirred as an alternate weapon swung into alignment, spilling forth a menacing yellow surge of chemical energy that raced swiftly across the ground. It rattled up the slope with terrifying speed, looked like it would break over them in a deadly wave. Morgan didn't have time to do anything but hold his breath.
Alonzo was fighting it, a strained cry ripping from his throat as he drew the energy into the staff, or forced it down into the ground, or whatever it was he was doing to make the thick current swirl around the Terrian staff like a whirlpool before dissipating. But the effort had cost him, and Alonzo leaned heavily against the staff as if he needed it to stay upright.
"Danziger!" The persistent gear silence was broken as Baines' image flared into view, his voice loud and alarmed. "Danziger, we've got something! All of a sudden, multiple signals going back and forth – same as before. Reilly's talking – I don't know what he's saying, but he's definitely talking now—"
"Shut it down."
"I do that," he warned, "it'll cut off all comm traffic – even ours—"
"Yeah, I got it. Now, shut it down," he ordered. "Right now!"
The image abruptly disappeared and the words 'Transmission failure' flickered over the blue-gray field now being displayed on the gearset.
"What happened, Danziger?" Bess demanded, as he flipped back the eyepiece. "What did he say?"
"It's Reilly," he replied brusquely, his eyes scouring the endless irregular surface of the mountainside towering above them for the smallest hint of the missing men. "He's transmitting again. Either he's spotted us, or Morgan and Alonzo. Baines is jamming him, but that won't last long. Come on," he said, breaking into a jog as he made his way further up the slope, trying to find cover. "We need to get closer, maybe there we'll be out of sight."
"And what if it's not us that he's found, but Morgan and Alonzo?" she asked, running alongside him. "We have to help them!"
If the two of them were up there, on the peak, there was no possible way he and Bess – or Julia and Yale, or Cameron and Walman – were going to be able to get there fast enough to make any difference. They were on their own.
"This will help," he insisted. "It'll buy them a few minutes to get out of there. A few minutes might be all they need." But a niggling doubt wriggled in his mind as he craned his head upwards to see several of the winged creatures circling far above like grim harbingers — and he just hoped to hell that Morgan and Alonzo would actually use this opportunity to make their escape.
"Hmm," Reilly's robot-voice buzzed in what might have been perturbation. "That was unexpected. You should not have been able to deflect that."
Alonzo didn't look like he was going to be able to deflect another bout.
"No matter," Reilly decided. "But you will make for a most interesting post-mortem."
Another surge of energy began jolting outwards, then abruptly evaporated as the weapons system paused. "Signal lost," the data collector stated in a repetitive drone, "Long-range comm system down. Signal lost – signal lost – recalibr—"
Morgan's jaw dropped with surprise. What the hell had just happened there?
Alonzo did not even pause to consider it, but immediately pressed his advantage. Another blast of blue-white electrical energy from the Terrian weapon, and the targeting array abruptly stopped moving.
"Defense systems offline," the robot reported. "Offline. Critical damage. Insufficient reserves for repair. Awaiting instruction. Awaiting instruction..."
"I don't believe it," Morgan mumbled, hesitantly moving to stand beside Alonzo. "You actually disabled it – Reilly can't control it now. Alonzo?" he prompted uneasily. The other man's breath was rattling unevenly, his hands still clenched tightly around the Terrian staff. "Are you okay?"
Alonzo looked at him, blank-eyed and expressionless, and looked away again.
Without a word, the other man unexpectedly lunged towards the unmoving metal hulk. In a fury, Alonzo swung the staff like an axe, bringing the end of it down upon the data collector's damaged engine casings. Sparks flew up with every strike. The battered walls began to buckle – he was going to ignite the whole thing—
"Stop! Stop! STOP!" Morgan seized Alonzo by the shoulder, spinning him away from the robot, and found himself standing between Alonzo and his prey. Alonzo rounded upon him, the staff upraised, and Morgan threw up his hands. Oh god, he's going to kill me...
"Out. Get out." Alonzo seemed to have stopped the staff in mid-swing; his fingers were clenched and shaking, his voice guttural. "Out of the way."
"N-no." That wasn't what he'd intended to say. "I mean, wait. Just a moment. Stop and think, okay? You have to stop. The engine will ignite. You'll kill us both. Do you understand?"
"It. Must. Be. Destroyed." Every word wrenched from the core of his being; he shuddered again, the staff throwing off anxious sparks as he restrained it. "Must. Move."
"O-okay," he said, his hands still outstretched in what he hoped was a calming manner. "Okay. We have to kill the machine. I got that part – okay?" Morgan's thoughts raced, scrambling to find a stalling tactic that the other man would accept. There was no way of reasoning with him: it was obvious that Alonzo was running on auto-pilot now – and every instinct would push him back here, again and again, until the job was done. "Has to be destroyed," he echoed, hoping his agreement would calm the other man somewhat. "But we don't have to kill ourselves doing it, okay?"
Though Alonzo still held his staff uplifted threateningly, he hadn't struck him yet. Morgan took that as an encouraging sign.
"Kill," Alonzo uttered.
"Kill the machine," Morgan corrected quickly, trying not to lapse into babbling. "The machine. Not us. Okay? You keep hitting it like that, it's going to explode, and you're going to die – but the machine might not. Now, I have a plan. I can stop it – I can get past the codes and get it to self-destruct. Self-destruct. Bang. It will be destroyed. Dead. Do you... do you get what I'm saying?"
A minute shifting of Alonzo's head was the only answer he was given.
"Let me do it. Let me take care of it. I promise you," Morgan tried again, desperate, "I promise you that it'll be destroyed."
With a visible effort, Alonzo forced his arms down, lowering the staff. "Go," he grated urgently, his jaw clenched so tightly that his voice was almost unrecognizable. "Do it."
"Okay. Good. Doing that now..." Taking care to make no sudden movements, Morgan backed cautiously away from him and toward the data collector, not at all comforted by the way Alonzo shadowed his steps.
Though he really didn't want to turn his back on the other man, Morgan couldn't see any way around it. Seizing a deep breath, he turned toward the data collector and activated the manual interface. "Okay," he breathed unsteadily, "here we go."
He tried a few basic decryption tactics, but quickly gave that up as hopeless. That was a time-consuming way of breaking into the system, and he had a dreadful feeling that any reprieve Alonzo gave him was bound to be short-lived. There had to be a quicker way. But since Reilly had purged the passwords from the database, Morgan was effectively locked out of all the higher functions. "Maybe the basic command sets?" he muttered to himself. "There might be something there we can use..." The system accepted his first query, information scrolling across the screen in response. "Okay, now we're getting somewhere."
Fixing his attention on the small display screen in front of him, he searched for something useful. The schematics and diagrams being displayed related to maintenance and hardware and were mostly unfamiliar to Morgan; they probably would have meant more to someone like Danziger who knew his way in and out of these technical details.
Taking a chance, he tried activating one of the few available programs. "Downloading data files," the computer stated. "Warning: long-distance comm systems down. Short-range comm channels only. Manual confirm receipt? Downloading data..."
"Okay, that was completely useless," Morgan muttered, the display screen showing a whirling symbol while the computer busied itself spooling its data to nowhere. "Cancel that, and try something else..."
Somewhere overhead or nearby, one of the bird-creatures gave a high-pitched shrieking cry, and behind him, Alonzo drew his breath in sharply. "Morgan," Alonzo grated, a desperate edge to his voice, as if he were aware that his self-control was fraying.
"Wait! Just a little longer. I've almost got it," he lied, not even daring to turn around. Frantically, he wracked his brain for some trick he could use, but there was nothing, no way he could think of to break into the system. He simply didn't have the time; the encryption levels were too complex and if he couldn't break that layer, then he wasn't going to get anywhere near the self-destruct codes...
On second thought, maybe he was going about this the wrong way. After all, the sabotage to the Roanoke had been deceptively simple: disable a release mechanism and let the cargo drag the ship down. No special security access had been required, just basic Ops. An idea started in the back of his mind.
"Morgan." Alonzo was losing it.
"Wait," he murmured distractedly. "I can do it now. I've got it figured out." He worked as quickly as he possibly could, struggling to recall all the old codes and commands, and trying very hard not to hear Alonzo's increasingly agitated movements behind him. "Just give me a minute."
"No." The word was ragged. "Now..."
"We can use the standard, non-secure command set," Morgan said, talking over Alonzo's protests. "There's the diagnostics... and the power cycle..." A few visual graphs and output charts appeared, all labelled in some indecipherable techno-babble. He hoped to hell that he was doing this right.
"Move."
Morgan didn't move, didn't dare turn around. "Wait." The diagnostic screen displayed various energy levels, fluctuating in a steady cycle, then showed a sharp escalation in energy output. A low whining sound issued from the data collector unit. "I did it. I actually did it." He double-checked the displays to make sure he was reading it right: he'd used the maintenance function to suppress the damage reports, and cued the engines to power up. And without coolant, those systems would quickly overheat and explode. "Alonzo, I've—"
He turned; eyes widening, he flung himself to the ground. The staff in Alonzo's hands was flaming with electricity; he barely gave Morgan time to get out of the way before smashing it violently down atop the robot. A shower of sparks cascaded outward in response. With a yelp, Morgan scuttled sideways, trying to avoid being stepped on by Alonzo or electrocuted by a stray bolt.
"Alonzo, stop! This whole thing is going to explode! We need to get away!" He tugged at Alonzo's arms to get his attention, trying to make him understand. "The engines are going to blow up! We've got to go now! Don't you get it! This is useless! I've already done it! Stop it – you don't have to—"
There was no hint of comprehension in the pilot's face; only a dark primal rage that was bent on destruction. With an almost negligent gesture of his staff, Alonzo knocked Morgan aside and turned his attention back to attacking the robot with a single-minded ferocity.
The deep thrumming of the engines grew steadily louder. Morgan stumbled to his feet, shouting, "Alonzo!" but the man was oblivious to him. If he could somehow get past Alonzo, then maybe he could delay the process somehow – to give them time to get away. But the sound of the engines abruptly changed, and Morgan realized it was way too late for that now. The sequence had already started.
"This is stupid," he hissed in a warning he knew he wasn't going to heed, "this is one of those things that will get you killed." Leaping at Alonzo, Morgan took him by surprise for a brief moment, and Alonzo fell heavily against the data collector's hull, with Morgan clinging to his back. In theory, his plan involved wrestling Alonzo away from here and dragging him off to safety. In reality, that was proving harder than it looked.
Breaking free, Alonzo whirled upon Morgan with an inhuman snarl. He seized at Morgan's throat with one hand, holding him steady as the other arm brought the Terrian staff down in a killing stroke.
With both hands and all the bodily momentum he could muster, Morgan smashed Alonzo's head back against the hull of the data collector. The impact staggered the pilot; he sagged forward in a daze, the edge of the staff only clipping Morgan's shoulder instead of crunching his skull. However, even that glancing blow was enough to send Morgan to his knees with a howl of pain, an electric current rippling along the nerves of his now-useless right arm.
"Ow, damn, that hurts! I told you," he gritted through clenched teeth, unable to resist the 'I told you so' even though he was only talking to himself, "I told you this was going to get you killed." They'd been here too long already, and he'd wasted too much time fighting uselessly with Alonzo – if he waited any longer, there would be no way, no way that he could possibly escape before the engines blew up. But he couldn't just leave the other man here to die... And yet... and yet what about Bess? He had to try to get back to her, didn't he?
Already, Alonzo was hauling himself off the ground, albeit in a slower, more clumsy manner. He grabbed at Morgan, who cringed and tried to dodge away, only to realize at the last moment that Alonzo wasn't actually coming after him, but was reaching past him, fixated on the Terrian staff lying just out of reach.
Morgan let himself fall back to the ground, twisting around to plant the foot of his uninjured leg firmly against Alonzo's chest, and kicked him out of the way. Thrown backward, Alonzo landed heavily on his back. Scrambling upright, Morgan didn't waste any time, but grabbed the staff with his one good hand. It didn't burn, didn't flicker, felt like nothing more than a piece of wood in his grip. "You want this?" he shouted, brandishing the staff in front of Alonzo's eerily fixed gaze. "Then go get it!" And he flung it through the air as hard as he could, pitching it back in the direction that they'd come.
Alonzo lurched back to his feet, staggering past Morgan as he made his way up the slope with fanatical single-mindedness, his eyes riveted to the spot where the staff had fallen. Morgan stumbled weakly after him, then hooked his one good arm overtop Alonzo's shoulder and let the pilot drag him along in his wake. Alonzo seemed oblivious to the extra weight. "We're dead," Morgan huffed, doggedly trying to match the other man's untiring pace. "I hope you know that. We're both going to die up here. I hope you're happy now."
Alonzo didn't care. Alonzo didn't care about anything now. Just his weapon and his vengeance and whatever else it was that the winged Terrian creatures had set rattling around in his psyche.
Behind them, the sound of the engines cycling up had grown ominously loud and continued to build. Already, an intense heat was radiating from the engines. Though he had no idea what a safe distance would be, Morgan instinctively knew that they were still too close, much too close. They'd barely crested the hill, and Alonzo was pausing now, stooping down to retrieve the Terrian staff. Morgan yanked him forward. Everything grew suddenly brighter as the engines flared to life, and there was an almost unbearably loud grinding sound as the bulky weight of the robot began to shift and scrape over the rocky surface.
Morgan felt, rather than heard, the detonation. With jarring force, a wave of heat slammed into him from behind, a blistering wind that blasted him off his feet, and both of them were flung through the air. Desperately trying to keep from landing directly on his head, Morgan fell awkwardly onto his side as he came crashing down onto the rocky ground. He lifted his head just long enough to see that Alonzo had tumbled down not far from him, then shut his eyes again as hot fragments of dust and stone and debris hailed down all around. Almost as an afterthought, he could hear the sound of the explosions roaring in his ears.
Danziger halted in midstride as the static lifted his gearset and Baines' face suddenly appeared.
"What's happening?" Danziger demanded, without preamble. "Why'd you stop blocking—"
"Something's going on," Baines interrupted, frazzled. "Scanners are showing a big energy build-up. Not on the comm systems but—"
He didn't get the chance to finish his sentence, broke off as a flare of intense light suddenly blossomed at the top of the mountain far above. Almost immediately, a roaring sound tore through the air, rising to a tremendous pitch as it echoed and reverberated through the winding canyons. Burning debris and thick clouds of smoke boiled outward from the site of the explosion, and, as if startled from their perches on the side of the mountain, countless winged creatures took to the air.
"Morgan!" Bess gasped, both hands clasped to her mouth.
Everything hurt. It hurt to move. It even hurt to breathe.
A hot wind, thick with smoke and dust, flew all around – his lungs choked down the cloying air under protest. For a long moment, the only thing he could hear was a deafening roar – it resounded in his ears even after the explosions finally ceased. Beneath that, he could hear the erratic, thunderous sound of metal hitting stone, but it faded swiftly, leaving only the sounds of birds. Birds of prey, a sharp, shrill, joyous note in their calling.
Winged memories pulsed through his mind, and Alonzo tried to get up. He choked back a cry, his wrist quivering with pain. Don't move it. Don't move.
Clutching the injured hand protectively close, he clumsily got to his feet without the aid of his hands, his breath coming in searing, shallow gasps. The air was too hot to breathe, but he couldn't not breathe either.
Squinting dazedly about him, he saw that the other one was huddled nearby. Morgan... yes, that was his name. Morgan. It was a difficult thing to remember. He knew it should not be, but it was. His head was swirling with a thousand things he had no name for, and the sheer intensity of those things made it difficult to comprehend anything else.
Morgan was saying something, but whatever it was did not seem important. Turning away from him, Alonzo shuffled unsteadily through the detritus of stone and charred metal, and then atop the crest of the hill. The crater where the robot had once been sitting had now been blasted into an even more irregular shape. He stopped, then had to retreat a step, the ground beneath his feet too hot even for his sturdy boots. But from where he stood at the periphery of the blast radius, he could see that the data collector itself was gone. Half his mind could not quite absorb that; the other half reasoned that the engines and the explosion had given the machine enough momentum to send any surviving remnants tumbling off the cliff.
For a long moment, he just stood there, at a loss. The probe robot was gone, and with it, the overwhelming compulsion that had governed him. While the forceful commotion of alien images and memories remained, there was no longer a unified voice, no specific directive – it was all melting into a random and disordered cacophony. He didn't know what to do.
In the sky, the swift silhouettes of the winged Terrians streamed overhead. A few circled watchfully, but most of the flock dropped downward in pursuit with a vengeful shriek, an abundant dark river of them cascading down after the fallen machinery. If there were anything at all left of the robot after impact, they would tear apart those fragments until there was nothing left at all. They'd waited so long for this hunt, flinging themselves into it now with joyous rage as they flew freely through the sky.
Flying. He remembered flying. That was part of him... wasn't it?
Bewildered, Alonzo tottered unsteadily toward the airborne creatures, still caught up in the sweep of their emotions. He might very well have followed them unthinkingly off the side of the cliff, except the memory of having fallen here once before was still too vivid in his mind – at the very brink of the precipice, he hesitated, undecided.
A long, glorious expanse of air and sky stretched invitingly before him, just a step away. A single step into beautiful, peaceful, silent air. Wind and wings, so tantalizing, and he almost leaned into it... yet that other part of him raged against it, warned and threatened that it would be falling, it would be death. Within him, the two sets of memories clattered with equal strength, both warring to be heard and be obeyed, and Alonzo stood frozen to the spot, unable to answer either of them.
In a pained and rasping voice, Morgan was railing at him – "no, come back, come back here!" – but his words were just gibberish, spoken in that other language that more than half his mind no longer understood.
One of the winged creatures departed from the flock, circling through the sky with a graceful arc to alight on the spot where Alonzo stood, forcing him to retreat a step. He recognized this one, the mottled gray wings. Gray-wings. Elder. Guide and guardian. Wind and wings. Yes, Gray-wings would know what to do. Gray-wings would tell him...
Alonzo reached out his unbroken hand, wanting to touch, to be heard... Help...
Large dark eyes glittering, Gray-wings enfolded him in its wings, then pressed its forehead against his own.
His breath caught sharply in his throat, his pulse raced wildly, as it always did when they spoke to him this way, but he was so tired now, he would have fallen if it had not clasped him so securely in its wings.
/ gratitude / promise fulfilled / we take our words / our memories / not yours / harmful to you / never wish harm / necessity / thankful and thanking / free / return you / walking and waking one / we / do not forget / we take back our words /
Reaching into his mind, it found the link between them and broke it. Even as Alonzo began to register what was happening, the knowledge was dissolving. A cold breath of air washed through his mind, purging the inhuman noises and quieting the clamor of their many voices. The almost unbearable pressure within him began to ease and fade, and when the winged being released him and stepped away, Alonzo abruptly felt the maddening echo of its thoughts cease within him. Taking wing, the creature spun away from him, stepping back into the air to return to its flock.
His skull ached as though it had been rubbed raw, but it was blessedly free of chatter; it was silent and alone and his once more. Alonzo thought he would melt with relief. And then, as it was entirely too much effort to continue standing, he let himself sink slowly to the ground. Very distantly, he was aware of a pronounced trembling in his limbs.
They were gone; he was alone; he was so very tired...
A particularly piercing noise caught his attention, roused him somewhat. Morgan was hunched over him, wild-eyed and frantic. For a moment, Alonzo didn't recognize him. Except for the alarming white of his eyes, and the slippery, vivid red that drenched the right side of his face, Morgan was almost entirely coloured in ashen, muddy shades of dust and dirt. The panic in his gaze lessened slightly as Alonzo began to respond.
"You look like hell, Solace." His voice grated painfully, but sounded almost relieved.
Alonzo almost gave in to a giddy urge to laugh, but his lungs didn't feel like they were quite capable of it. "Shit," he retorted, his voice making the same rasping sound as Morgan's. Morgan's face creased in puzzlement; Alonzo clarified: "You look like shit, Martin."
An anxious half-smile flicked across the other man's face. "Yeah, well, I feel like it too." Morgan winced uncomfortably as he spoke, his left arm clutched about his middle while his right arm dangled. "Are you... are you back to normal? Are you yourself again?"
Such a peculiar question. Alonzo wondered if he really knew the answer to that. "I think so."
"We've got to get down from here," Morgan urged, every few words punctuated by fits of coughing. "The smoke. Not good for us. I'm not doing so good... neither are you, I guess. I don't suppose your bird-friends are going to put us back?"
Alonzo couldn't quite recall now just what had been in their minds and their thoughts – it was all slipping away from him. He stared mutely up at Morgan, able to see the winged creatures darting exultantly back and forth in the sky above.
Morgan peered back down at him, his face pinched. "Okay, whatever. But I don't think we can sit here and wait for them to clue in. We have to go. Can you get up?"
He wanted to. He wanted to be strong and determined and in control. Just as he always had been, back before he'd ever heard of G889. But he was the one lying collapsed on the ground, while it was now Morgan who knew what to do, Morgan who was kneeling over him, and Alonzo couldn't even muster the strength to sit upright. He tried to raise his head, let it drop back as his vision began to blur. "I... don't think I can."
"Alonzo, we'll die up here. You have to."
"Just... just give me a minute... to rest. I'll be all right... in a minute." It was a lie – he knew it was a lie, but it was the only thing he had to offer. The adrenaline-charged strength that had sustained him for so long had finally faltered as his mind was returned to him, and he felt, now, as though his entire body were shutting down. Alonzo let his eyes begin to slip shut as the stifling weight of exhaustion pressed down on him, too potent to resist.
"You have to get up," Morgan insisted mercilessly. "Come on. Get up. You have to get up."
"No... 'm tired..."
Morgan scrabbled around, was feebly trying to pull Alonzo to a sitting position. But even that small movement made his head spin, and he flailed awkwardly with his good hand, pushing Morgan away. "Arghh—!" Instantly, Morgan let go, letting him drop back to the ground.
Obviously he'd hurt Morgan somehow. Alonzo felt vaguely sorry for that, but didn't quite have enough presence of mind left to figure out how to voice that sentiment. "Just wanna sleep," he mumbled.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Morgan wheezed plaintively.
"Y... you're... not my... doctor," Alonzo managed to say, then let his eyes drop shut even as Morgan was starting to say something else. Whatever it was, Alonzo didn't hear it.
Morgan thought maybe he was delirious by the time the wings returned.
He wasn't sure how long it had been, but the sun was now high overhead, burning away all the early morning chill as it moved toward afternoon, and Morgan had surprised himself by continuing to draw breath. He'd half expected he'd be dead by now, but a blustery wind had risen, blowing away the noxious smoke and bringing sharp clear air in its place. His chest still hurt, still rattled, but at least now he was able to breathe clean air.
"I suppose things could be worse," he muttered to himself, and his voice didn't even sound like it belonged to him any more. It groaned and wheezed with the trembling tones of an old, old man.
Exactly how it could be worse, he wasn't entirely certain. After all, he was stranded atop a desolate expanse of rock with no food, water or shelter, and his only company was a half-crazed, now comatose pilot. Morgan couldn't possibly lift him, not in the condition he was in, but he couldn't just leave him either. And, realistically, Morgan knew he'd never be able to climb back down on his own anyway.
So, in the absence of any other options, Morgan sat there, trying to figure out exactly where he'd gone wrong, how he could have avoided this. He couldn't quite find a satisfactory answer to that riddle either.
The easiest solution was simply to place the blame for all of this upon Alonzo. After all, it was trying to help those damn creatures that had got them into this mess in the first place. If he'd realized sooner what was happening; if he hadn't stubbornly insisted nothing was wrong until it was too late... Morgan wanted to be able to seethe in that righteous anger, to sulk in the feeling that it just wasn't fair. At the moment, however, that seemed like too much effort.
And besides, he knew the other man hadn't asked for this, he hadn't willingly chosen it – it had simply happened to him. The same way that Bess had unwittingly become a carrier for 'spring', and had gone running madly off to complete her task. Or the way that Danziger had been infected with the spirit of an angry dead Terrian.
Around here, those kinds of things just happened.
From the first day when the group had arrived at these canyons, the winged Terrians had obviously been waiting for Alonzo – Morgan had just been unlucky enough to be standing next to him at the time, and he had got hauled along for the ride as well. Exactly why they'd bothered with him, he wasn't sure – maybe all humans looked alike to them; maybe they'd had to see them up close to recognize one from another. After all, they had needed to physically touch Alonzo in order to communicate.
In any case, Morgan realized he had a real knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was too bad there was no money to be made from such a talent, otherwise, he and Bess would have been horribly wealthy by now.
A strange noise roused him, and he looked up.
There were wings in the air. So many winged shapes flying overhead. They flocked and flitted and spun through the air, a great constellating parade of them. He wondered if he was supposed to be impressed.
"Go away," he groaned. "Shoo. Leave us alone..."
That big ugly one – the old-looking one with the wide tattered gray wings – the one that had been persistently hovering around Alonzo, conversing or coercing or whatever the hell it did to communicate with him – the gray-winged creature alighted a few feet away from them.
Watching with dull resignation, Morgan couldn't muster the energy to be afraid. Perhaps it was the altitude, or the smoke-thinned air, or the fact that he hadn't eaten or slept well for what seemed like years, but was only little more than a day or two. Or maybe it was just that no matter how much he argued or fussed, he never seemed able to change the way things turned out. Morgan wasn't sure.
The gray-winged creature moved towards them, gave a piercing cry, and then a sparse number of smaller creatures dropped down from the sky to flutter about nearby. They skimmed unsteadily through the air with bright blinking eyes, flying back and forth in clumsy circles. The large ones, the adult ones, hovered protectively near.
"Oh," he muttered, slowly comprehending the significance of small wings, little creatures. "Is that what you came to show us? The next crop of locusts has hatched at last. How nice." They couldn't understand him anyway, so what was the point of pretending to be polite? "Finally remembered to stop by and say thanks? Because that really just – it just makes it all worthwhile. Gives me a little glowing feeling inside. Oh wait," he coughed, wincing as he did so, "maybe that's just my roasted lungs. My mistake."
The creature had turned to regard him as he spoke – large unblinking eyes and no discernable hint of emotion on its face. Other birds from the flock drew near, and the group of them shuffled and shifted slightly, wings brushing and touching against one another – speaking to each other, perhaps – and then the gray-winged creature tilted its head and warbled at him.
"Sorry," he wheezed, gesturing feebly toward Alonzo, "but my translator's not working. He can't hear you," he sighed wearily, as the creature continued to chitter unintelligibly, "and I think you've broken his brain."
Another fit of coughing took him – shouldn't have spoken so much, the words were only aggravating his already irritated throat. When he raised his head again, he let out a yelp of alarm – a winged creature was towering over him, alarmingly near, its wings outstretched and fluttering as it shifted from one clawed foot to another. He scooted backward, using his good arm to ward it away. "No! Get back— get away—!"
With an offended squawk, the creature did retreat, leaping into the air as if to fly away. But with unexpected speed it dropped down atop him, snaring him by the shoulders and almost knocking him flat in the process. He was wrenched off the ground and into the air – his mind had just enough time to register the sickening flare of pain in his wounded shoulder and his side – and then he was carried spinning into the sky.
Morgan did not know whether it was falling or flying, living or dying; it was nothing but an awful, painful, dizzying, reeling blur. Almost before he fully grasped that the ground was racing up to meet him, his boots met the earth with a jarring thump; the punishing grip on his shoulders ceased, and he tumbled to the ground, breathing the sand and dust of the canyon floor. Every muscle in his body was trembling with tension, with relief.
Down. He was down. Back on the ground. As easily as that. All that fretting and worrying about how he'd ever find his way off that mountain, and now it was over. And the winged Terrians were already skimming upward into the air, winging their way back up to their lofty perches, way up atop the cliff sides. Morgan fervently hoped he'd never see them again.
As if on cue, a shadow swooped low overhead, and there was a dull thunk as something dropped into the dirt and dust next to him. He blinked with surprise. The Terrian staff Alonzo had used – now singed and blackened, but still intact.
Come to think of it, where was Alonzo—? Craning his neck to peer about him, he saw the other man sprawled nearby, still sleeping or dreaming or whatever-it-was he was doing.
From the other direction, there was a screech, a high-pitched noise. Now what! Morgan cringed inwardly, not wanting to look, but not quite able to keep himself from doing so. Though his vision was a bit on the blurry side, Morgan could see something moving, drawing nearer. For a minute, he was certain it was the Terrians, coming back to retrieve their staff. He wondered if they'd be angry at its condition – it was definitely a little worse for wear. The last thing he needed now was a horde of enraged Terrians.
But the figures weren't quite right, didn't move with the calm dignity of the Terrians – they were racing toward them, calling with strident voices, calling their names, and he finally realized that it was Danziger and Bess.
Bess! His Bess! Morgan managed to do what he'd thought an impossible task only a moment before. One-armed, he pulled himself half upright, catching at her and holding her close as she flung herself at him in a tight embrace that hurt more than it should have, but he still didn't let go.
Alonzo dreamt of his doctor, of the blue-eyed Dr. Heller with the blond hair and the intent, engrossed expression she wore when she was hard at work. "Fractured wrist," she said, crisp and decisive, her gaze sharp and discerning as she raked it over his body. "Some first- and second-degree burns and inhalation damage, same as Morgan. Concussion. Exhaustion. No overt signs of any persistent neurological impairment, but I'll have to..."
Alonzo stopped listening to her assessment, letting her words fade away. It didn't matter whether he paid attention or not – she was only speaking to her diaglove anyway.
If he'd had a choice, he'd rather have dreamed of his Julia and that soft smile she sometimes gave him when no one else was looking. Not the physician, who was professional and competent and knowledgeable and responsible, and while he'd learned to love her for all those things, he loved her most of all when she was just Julia. For all the quiet moments, when she put away the other roles and let him be with her.
"Alonzo?" Dream-doctor-Julia's sharp tone momentarily caught his attention; she was observing him with her searching eyes. For a moment, she hovered above him, almost real enough to touch, but rapidly slipped out of focus again. "Are you awake? Can you see me? Do you know who I am?"
Silly questions. Of course he knew. It was his dream, after all.
Far above her, a blurry figure leaned over to look down at him, speaking with Danziger's voice. "Lonz? How are you feeling, pal?" And then, more quietly, "Can he hear us?"
"I don't know. He's—"
Alonzo let them both fade back into darkness.