Plain of Sorrows

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I sure treat them like they are.

Rating: PG-13

Author's notes: "Begging?" Wow, no one's ever begged me for anything before… : )


Chapter Nineteen

Ulysses Adair squatted, palms flat against the ground, trying to figure out the weird signals he was getting.

The boy really didn't know what he was doing; he just knew he could do whatever it was he was doing. His actions were instinctual…at least that was how Julia had once put it. While the Terrians had never officially taught him any of their own natural abilities, Uly instinctively knew he could do certain things. And what he was doing now was encouraging the earth to tell him a story.

The ground was vibrantly alive under his touch, his nerves broadcasting what they were sensing into the part of his brain that the Terrians had awakened. None of the others could feel what Uly was, and while it gave him a little pride in being able to do something that no one else could, it also frightened him a bit. The Terrians had once told him that this was fine, that once his new talents fully blossomed that this fear would vanish. Although Uly doubted that they truly understood whatfear was…

For the majority of his young life Uly had been limited by his physical disabilities, but he'd been unaware of just what he'd been missing. Ever since arriving on G889, though, he'd come to realize just how much fun he'd been cheated out of. Of course, his mother still had the tendency to baby him, but he didn't really mind.

She just didn't get it.

But Mr. Danziger…he'd treated Uly like a real kid. Uly admitted to himself that he'd done quite a bit of wishing, that Danziger had been his real father. Okay, that meant he'd have to put up with True, but she wasn't really that bad…well, sometimes she wasn't that bad. Other times, though…he just wanted to haul off and smack her. Unfortunately Mom had taught him never to hit a girl, and that was one of the many lessons he didn't want to test. He knew just how far he could push it as it was…

Mom didn't understand his tie to the earth here. It told him things; a lot of times those things didn't make sense, although he believed they would eventually, once he got older. But he could guess at some of the sensations, and others were as plain as the nose on his face. He hoped he could put enough together to help Mr. Danziger.

One of the first things he'd sensed about this place – as they'd left the mountains – was the complete lack of Terrian presence. He'd halfway expected it, after he'd seen the skull. The Terrians never did anything like that unless it was either a warning…or a tribute. And, since he hadn't dreamed of any danger, he'd guessed it was a respect thing. Uly had been somewhat surprised that Alonzo hadn't figured that out, but then the boy was a lot closer to the Terrians than the pilot was. Alonzo just didn't have the senses that Uly did.

His palms tingled slightly. By the intensity of the tingling, he could usually tell the amount of Terrian activity. There was practically none; Uly guessed he was sensing an old Terrian presence, meaning that they hadn't been around for a really long time. So they'd once been here, and something had made them leave.

Uly dug his fingers into the ground, hoping to get some indication of what had caused the Terrians to pull up stakes (he'd heard Bess say that once, and he'd liked it, even if he didn't really understand where it had come from) and leave, while marking the place as special. He could feel the life of the world through his fingertips. It made him sad that the others couldn't experience what he could.

Then a strangeness made the tips of his middle fingers go numb. Okay, that was really weird. It wasn't something Uly had ever felt before. He wriggled them a bit, hoping to get some sort of clue…then he realized what it meant.

The earth had been damaged in some way.

It was a really old sensation, he could tell that much. It was also somewhere to the north, if he was judging it correctly. The damage – and the reason for it – was still there, even though it had been taken over by the earth in an attempt to heal itself, like a scab over a scrape. A small voice told him that, if they found the source, they would find the reason for what was going on.

"Uly?"

He didn't move. The story he was getting from the ground was fascinating him and he didn't want to leave.

"Ulysses Adair!"

The boy sighed. Julia wasn't going to leave him alone until he answered her. "I'm okay," he said.

"What are you doing?"

Julia had always been curious about his Terrian-gained abilities; Uly vividly recalled the time she had tried to transfer those gifts to herself. His Mom had been furious, and that had led to all sorts of stuff happening, but Uly himself hadn't been that upset. He'd gotten the impression that Mom hadn't realized just how much he'd known at the time; but come on! He wasn't a baby any more! Nor was he particularly stupid!

For a split second he considered doing a "dirt dive," but dismissed it immediately. Too much was going on right now, and while Julia had seen him do it before, he didn't want her to freak out. So he decided to answer her. "I'm trying to find out what happened to Mr. Danziger." He pulled his fingers out of the ground, brushing them off on his trousers.

"How can you do that?"

He got up, turning to look at her. The doctor stood there, her arms crossed, her eyes alight with curiosity. "I'm asking the earth," he explained.

Julia accepted his response. It was one of the things he liked about her. "What's it telling you?"

His answer was interrupted by the return of the Dune Rail. He and Julia ran up to it as it came to a stop inside the camp that had been hastily set up.

They hadn't found Mr. Danziger.

To be honest, Uly hadn't thought they would. He couldn't have said where that thought had come from, but it had settled into his brain almost from the moment that the mechanic had run off.

Mom looked really sad. Uly wasold enough to recognize that she really liked Mr. Danziger, which made the boy wish that much harder that he'd been Uly's father. But he'd have to really put up with True then...argh.

Uly gave her a hug, since it looked like she really needed one. Her arms tightened around him fiercely, and it was triumph that she was able to hold on so tightly. When he'd been sick, she'd never have dared for fear of hurting him.

"How's True?" she asked, once she'd let him go.

Julia sighed. "Still sleeping, when I checked on her last."

"That may be a good thing." Mom ran a hand through her wind-blown hair. "There was no sign of John anywhere."

"It was like he just vanished," Alonzo added, coming around from the driver's side of the Rail. He put an arm around Julia's shoulders, pulling the doctor closer. Uly was hoping they'd get together, too, along with his mom and Mr. Danziger. Not that he'd ever say it out loud, of course. He certainly didn't want to get yelled at…besides, he was sure his mother didn't even know Uly was aware of girls, let alone men and women…

After all, the only girl there was True…argh. He couldn't get his brain around that, especially since if Mom and Mr. Danziger did get together, she'd be his sister! Eww!

"We have to go about this a different way," Mom said. "Just running off in the same direction John did isn't the answer."

"I think Uly might have something to say about that," Julia replied.

"What do you mean?" Uh oh, Mom's voice just got harsh. That usually meant she wasn't going to be very happy with what she was going to hear.

Uly got a sudden case of nerves. He knew what he'd felt was right, but when Mom looked at him that way he felt just like he was back in his immuno-suit, doing something he shouldn't.

"Go on, Uly," Julia encouraged, when he didn't speak up.

"Well, I just asked the ground, and it told me there was something to the north that shouldn't be here."

"You mean you spoke with the Terrians?" Mom asked.

Well, he'd said it plainly but she wasn't listening. "How can I speak to the Terrains when they're not here?" he huffed.

"What do you mean, kid?" Alonzo asked.

Well, Uly did understand what the term "patronizing" meant, and that was how Alonzo sounded. It sometimes made him mad that everyone turned to the pilot when they needed something from the Terrians, instead of asking Uly himself, since he had the closer bond. "The Terrians haven't been here for centuries," he explained, slowing his voice down the way he'd heard his mom do when she wanted to make sure a person was clear on what she was saying. "How can I ask them if they're not around?"

Alonzo looked stunned. Uly reveled in it for a second, but got a look at his mom's face and was nervous all over again. She was really not happy.

"How do you know this, Ulysses?" she asked quietly.

Now she was using his full name. This wasn't good at all. "Like I said, the ground told me. If the Terrians were here, I would have sensed them. The only thing I got was a really faint, really old, tingle. The Terrians left here, because of what happened."

"And what did happen?" Julia asked. She was the only one who didn't seem mad at him. He just couldn't figure adults out at all.

"I'm not sure, but there's something to the north that hurt the earth. Whatever it was, it made the Terrians make this place off-limits, but it's their choice, not because they had to. Then they put her skull at the end of the gorge to let others know that the plain was special."

His mom's eyes widened. "You said her skull, Uly. Who is she?"

"I don't know. The ground didn't tell me that." Well, at least she was listening to him now.

"John was seeing a girl," his mom whispered.

"Could it be the same person?" Julia asked.

"It would be a real coincidence if it wasn't," Alonzo replied.

Uly looked at each of the adults in turn. Of course he'd heard that Mr. Danziger was seeing some sort of alien, and he'd heard the mechanic refer to "his cat-girl," but he hadn't put it together like that. Maybe grown-ups were good for something after all…

"Well, it seems like we might have a place to look," Mom said, getting out of the Dune Rail. "It's too dark now; we'll leave in the morning."

Uly breathed a sigh of relief, even as she was practically dragging him to their tent. Sure, Mom didn't understand him and his Terrian gifts, but at least she'd listened and hadn't dismissed what he'd said…