Disclaimer: Please refer to first part
"Danziger, have you seen Uly?" Devon asked the mechanic as she looked around the campsite in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her young son.
John slid out from underneath the Transrover where he had been working. "What?"
"Have you seen Uly? It's almost time to eat, and I can't find him."
"Yale said that they finished their lessons early and went to play," he replied. "I just saw them playing hide and seek on the north side of camp."
John rose and looked over in the direction that he had last seen the children. Devon followed his gaze, seeing nothing but the breeze whispering through the trees at the edge of the camp.
"They're just hiding, Devon," John reassured her as he took note of her expression. "It's all right; we'll just go find them."
John immediately headed to where he had last seen the children followed closely by Devon.
"True Girl, come on now, time to eat," Danziger called. "True Girl!"
Devon walked away from John a small distance, her eyes scanning the surrounding brush.
"Uly!" she called. "True!"
She pushed her way through the bush and stopped short upon seeing True's socks and boots tossed carelessly at the lake edge.
"Danziger! Danziger, over here!"
John pushed his way through the brush, practically skidding to a halt next to Devon. All color drained from his face as he saw what she was staring at. He reached down for the small boots, then looked out across the water. Without another word, Danziger was heading into the water.
Suddenly a high pitched trilling stopped him, and two Terrians rose from the shallow waves. True lay limply in one Terrian's arms, and Ulysses lay unconscious in the other's.
John reached an unthinking motion for a weapon, stopping when he released that he was carrying nothing on him that could serve as such. With a growl, he started toward the Terrians, violence in his eyes.
"Wait, Danziger," Devon urged him, placing a hand on his arm.
"Adair, that's my kid," the technician growled.
"John, I don't think that they mean the children harm," Devon spoke in a quiet soothing voice, as much for the Terrians as for John standing next to her. She urged him to step back slightly with her, giving the natives some small space.
Slowly, the two natives waded through the water in the humans' direction, still trilling softly. Gently, they placed the children at the water's edge. Then, before either parent could say or do anything, the Terrians sank quickly into the damp soil with a last long note of song.
John surged forward to where the Terrians had disappeared.
"Damn it," he swore, striking the ground in a futile gesture.
Devon knelt down next to the children just as Ulysses and True blinked and opened their dazed eyes.
"Uly! Uly!" His mother said urgently, brushing wet strands of his light hair from his forehead.
John turned and made his way over to his own now waking daughter. "True Girl, you okay?"
She shuddered and took a deep breath before nodding weakly in response.
Danziger gathered True up in his arms. "Let's get you out of here, True Girl." He rose with his daughter in his arms, followed closely by Devon with Uly…
TBC