Plain of Sorrows

Author: Milady Dragon

Disclaimer: I love Earth 2, and wish it were still on…and it would be, if I owned it…

Author's notes: Sending out a big "thank you!" to all those out there reading my story. I'm having so much fun! You guys are great!


Chapter Thirty-Four

"Danziger!"

To his credit, the man didn't flinch at Devon's shout. He just turned, looking at her through the sunshades he wore continuously, in order to hide his cat-like eyes. The Dune Rail, with Alonzo still at the wheel, came to a halt. The pilot hopped out, and John took his place.

Devon got in beside him. "Uly says you wanted to talk to me."

"Sure did." Danziger started the vehicle, driving through the tall grass. "Where's True?"

"With Yale. He'll keep her and Uly occupied for a while."

"Good." He kept his eyes ahead.

Okay, his monosyllabic answers weren't doing her temper any good. "What happened to onlyasking for Uly's opinion?" She decided to get her anger out first, then she could concentrate on planning their next move.

"It was his decision. You got a brave kid there, Adair."

Her heart swelled at the compliment, but she wasn't about to let him distract her like that. "He is just a child, Danziger. You shouldn't have let him go off like that."

"Adair, there's a big difference between being a kid and being a child. Believe me when I tell you this: Uly hasn't been a child in quite a long time."

Devon opened her mouth to retort, but swallowed the words whole. John was right: Uly never really had been a child, and she was well aware of the reasons for that. "Still," she continued, "he doesn't have the common sense yet to understand that what he's doing is dangerous."

"I really want to argue with you about that, but I'm gonna let it slide. Far be it for me to lecture anyone about their own kid."

His tone made Devon uncomfortable. As far as she could tell, he'd made very few mistakes with True; he couldn't help it if the girl was in above her head when it came to a great many things they'd run into on this planet. Devon suspected that, had they been back on the Stations, True Danziger would have been able to show even her a thing or two.

"What did Uly find out?" she changed the subject.

John explained, and Devon had to admit that it made a lot of sense. If there was anything she'd learned, it was that the dreamplane seemed to correspond with the outside world, and that spaceship had been the only home many of the cat-people had ever known. "Then we need to get to the crash site."

"Yep. I wish I'd thought of it sooner. We could've been heading north all this time."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, John. Even the unChanged hadn't known how closely they'd linked the gate to their own home."

"I know. N'Merra was pretty bothered by it. Seems they'd only thought of putting the Changed somewhere, and they'd believed it was just coincidence that the cage had resembled the ship."

"They just didn't understand what they were doing." Sort of like us, she thought darkly.

"That's what I said." He sighed. "Gonna be honest with you, Adair…I really don't know what to do here. I'm stuck. I can't come up with one logical reason to head toward the ship; at least not one that won't tip off the Changed."

"We'll come up with something." Devon stared off across the plain. It had been her decision to come this way; sure, she could say everyone voted to come – with the exception of John and Morgan – but she'd been insistent. That this was the only way they could make up time, to get to New Pacifica before the sleeper ship.

And now John, Morgan, True…they were paying the price.

"I'm sorry, John. We're here because I convinced the others to vote to come this way."

"What the hell do you have to apologize for, Adair?" He was outraged. "How were you supposed to know what was gonna happen? Shit, if you start apologizing for swaying the others to come this way, then you might as well apologize for stranding us here. You had absolutely no control over what's happened – no way could you have known, either about the ghosts, nor about the crash."

"I should have foreseen – "

"Damnit, Adair, if you don't stop this self-pitying bullshit right this minute, I'm pulling the Rail over and slapping you sensible. We have enough going on without you doubting yourself and your decisions. Get over it!"

In that moment, she was so grateful for John Danziger that she would've hugged him then and there, if only he weren't driving. They'd had their arguments in the past, but John had always stood behind her, backing her up and giving her advice when she needed it. It was frightening to her sometimes, just how well they complimented each other. Yes, they were both stubborn and headstrong, but in the long run it didn't matter. John would be there when she needed him…and she dreaded the day he'd leave her on her own.

How on Earth had she ever gotten along without him?

Then she laughed, as his comment about slapping her finally sunk in. "What?" he asked slowly, as if afraid of her answer.

God, how many times had she thought that very same thing: wanting to slap him "sensible?" Sometimes they just thought too much alike… "Nothing," she answered.

"Good. For a second there I thought you were going as crazy as I have."

She laughed harder. "I have quite a long ways to go before that happens, Danziger."

"Okay…insults I can work with. Now, let's just put our heads together here and figure out what we're gonna do."

She sobered. "There are only two things we can do. Either we can start north and hope no one notices…or we can somehow trick the Changed into going toward the crash themselves."

John considered her words. "Hmm…kinda like the second idea. Just how do you think we can do that?"

Devon folded her arms across her chest, thinking it through. Then she decided to do her thinking out loud and let John in on her notions. "Well…we could make it necessary for them to go back…could the unChanged somehow force them into it?"

John was silent, and Devon realized N'Merra must have been saying something to him. "They don't have a clue," he reported. "The ship itself is only important to the unChanged; the Changed really don't have any use for it anymore."

"But…Uly said the two were linked."

"But the Changed don't know that…" he faded off, his attention elsewhere. "Okay," he snapped back to her. "We make the Changed think there's something about the ship that's important."

"But what?" Devon fretted. "What would they think would be so important they'd go there – "

"Just a second," John interrupted her, holding up a hand to keep her silent.

It didn't work. "What?" she demanded.

He was quiet for a long time. Just when Devon was getting truly antsy and was about to get his attention, he started grinning like a maniac. "That's it!" he crowed, slapping the steering wheel.

"Will you tell me just what in the hell you're thinking?" she snapped, frustrated.

"It's just way too easy, Devon," he answered her.

She let the use of her first name slide, even though she could have counted on one hand the number of times he'd actually called her anything but Adair. "What is? Damnit John!" She wanted to shake him.

"We make the Changed think the ship is important, just for the reason it really is."

Devon tried to wrap her mind around that single sentence. "You mean we let them know that the cage is connected to the ship?"

"Sure! It's dead simple…no pun intended, N'Merra…" Whatever the girl said, made John chuckle. "We let them know that one little fact…then let them worry about what might happen if we severed that link…"