Chapter Two
Julia waited as patiently as she could for the three Dreamers to come out of it. When Alonzo slipped off into Dreaming, everyone just took it as a usual occurrence. But to have both Danziger and Bess slip off into alternate reality followed by Morgan of all people was seriously disturbing to her vision of how the world worked. She was just grateful that none of the other crew were present to watch.
The others were growing more distrustful of this new Dreamplane by the minute. She'd overheard a heated debate the night before between Mazatyl, Cameron, Magus, and Baines just outside the med lab door.
"Danziger is not himself anymore," Baines was saying. "They've all been under the influence of some alien life—Danz twice. That whole flower business was just freaky and you don't know the bad vibes I got with that frozen Terrian in the camp. Not even Morgan seems like the same guy anymore."
"But look at how they knocked out that ZED," Mazatyl replied. "I guarded that thing all evening and he never so much as twitched. It doesn't seem to me like being linked to the planet is doing us any harm."
"Maybe not now," Magus answered suspiciously. "But how do we know it's going to stay that way? Watching them all tune out last night was freaky—they've all got some strange contact with each other and an alien life form. Who knows how that life form is changing them?"
"Alonzo hasn't been changed by Dreaming with the Terrians," Mazatyl interjected.
Baines and Magus actually laughed out loud. "You never even knew Solace before we hit the ground on this ball of dirt," Baines answered. "He was a totally different person on board—this place has turned him completely upside down."
"But I won't say that it's all been bad," Magus added, a little more seriously. "Flyboy had to stop for a while and see what living is really like. I think it's made him a better person. But I don't know how much of that is due to circumstance and how much is due to this whole Terrian business."
"And how much is due to Julia," Cameron added. "He's pretty serious about her."
Julia realized at that moment she had truly been eavesdropping and moved away from the door.
Now, watching Alonzo sleep she considered what they'd said. How much had she changed Alonzo? How much had he changed her?
As if in answer to her questions, Alonzo's eyes opened and he looked at her. "Julia," he managed, but his voice was hoarse.
"Hey, there," she replied softly. "Welcome back."
Alonzo looked at Morgan, Bess, and Danziger as they stood there, eyes closed in deep Dreaming conversation with each other. "They're Dreaming," she explained.
"What about?" he asked.
"I have no idea," she answered.
"I'll drop in on them and see," Alonzo began, but she put her hand on his arm.
"Please don't," Julia found herself saying. "Stay here with me."
Maybe he heard something in her voice that made him pause, but Alonzo looked at her intently before saying, "I'll stay with you, Julia."
She reached out to place one hand on his cheek, just as she'd done in the Dreamplane and was surprised to feel how easy it was to be demonstrative in the waking world as well. He took her hand and kissed the palm.
Just then, the three others began talking around them as their Dreaming conversation moved back to the med lab.
"So what do we do?" Morgan was asking. "Do we wake the ZED or move the camp or both or neither?"
"First of all," Danziger replied, then broke off as he noticed that Alonzo's eyes were open at last. "Hey, look who's back with us."
Bess moved to Alonzo's other side, kissing his cheek in relief. "It is so good to see you awake!" she exclaimed. "I have never been so afraid for anybody in my life."
"You know, Alonzo needs to have a say in what we do with that ZED—Walman too. I mean they were the ones that nearly got killed out there," Morgan offered.
"Everybody gets a say in what we're doing—the kids too right now because Uly has been in touch with the Terrians just like Lonz here," Danziger decided. He walked over to the settlement's intercom system and announced a group meeting in the med lab in fifteen minutes. Baines would stay out with the ZED on guard, but would participate over gear.
As Walman entered, supported by Magus at his side, Julia took advantage of his entrance to give him a quick once-over with her diaglove. "I'm good, doc," Walman responded, but was a little miffed to see that Julia also exchanged a glance with Magus as backup confirmation.
Soon everyone had settled into place, the children particularly excited, yet on their best behavior. "I can't believe we actually get to sit in," True exclaimed quietly to Uly. "We never get to sit in on these meetings."
"It's because I've been talking to the Terrians," Uly said with a slightly superior air, but before True could counter with a smart remark, the two were shushed by Yale.
"All right, everybody," Danziger called for attention in his own commanding way. "In addition to everything else we've got going on at the moment, we've got two issues facing us. The first is what to do with this ZED. I've spoken with just about everybody one on one already and Morgan, Yale, and Bess are prepared to try to break its programming to find out if there are any more out there, where they are, and what Riley might know about us. Then they're going to try to reprogram the ZED so he is no longer a threat." He gave everyone a penetrating look at that point that meant take it up with me later if you have a problem with this. No one responded.
"On the other hand, Uly and Alonzo have been talking with the Terrians about a storm that's approaching us. We've been warned pretty strongly to seek shelter," Danziger continued. Uly looked a bit surprised that Danziger knew so much already.
"We can ask the Terrians if there are any caves nearby or we can ride it out here," Danziger offered.
"Let me see if I can find out any information using the dish," Danner suggested. "It's set up for only basic weather prediction and that's not really my specialty, but I might be able to give us an idea of its size and strength."
"That's worth a shot," Danziger replied. "Take your gear and see what you can find out for us."
As Danner left for the ops center, Mazatyl spoke up. "We weathered several blizzards in the geodome. Surely we can stand a little rain here in this settlement."
"I for one don't feel good about hauling Walman or Alonzo either one too far from medical support,"Julia added. "They're doing very well, but not so well I'd want to risk either one's recovery on a camping trip."
"But, guys," Bess interrupted. Only the slightest pause between her initial call and her continuation let on to the fact that Danziger had shot her a tight Dream warning. "I don't think any of you have ever experienced a really severe planetside storm before. On earth we had severe storms that lasted for hours at a time with very damaging winds and lightning. Granted, all we've seen here is rain and snow, but that's no guarantee that whatever's coming won't be much worse."
There was a brief flurry of conversation around the room as everyone began to discuss their varying viewpoints.
Bess took advantage of the open discussion to send a Dream message to John. "Why did you tell me not to mention Mom?" she asked. "It's Mom's warning that has me so concerned."
"I know, but right now I don't think the rest of the group is too thrilled with our contact with her," John replied. "Let's just keep it quiet for a bit. It's enough that Uly and Alonzo have been warned. That they'll listen to."
After a few moments of free discussion, Danziger asked for opinions.
"What does it matter anyway?" Baines was heard asking on the gear monitor. "Danz is just going to pull an Adair and make an executive decision."
"Devon Adair never disregarded our opinions," Danziger spoke up in her defense. "Sometimes being the leader required her to make a hard call, but never without considering all the options we brought to the table. I cannot wait for the day that we've figured out how to get her well and back in charge again."
He glanced back around the group and paused a moment to look Baines right in the eye over the gear POV he was watching. "So, what do you guys think?"
After a short pause, Cameron was the first to speak. "I think that the group that built this settlement knew more about the weather conditions they could expect here than we do. I think they built it to stand up to whatever came their way."
"Mazatyl's the architect," Walman added then turned to Mazatyl. "What do you think?"
"The core of the settlement could probably withstand winds of 200 miles per hour, just based on rough equivalents to the kinds of construction I've worked with before. The outbuildings aren't built to the same specs. I'd say move everyone to the core complex if it gets really rough," Mazatyl replied in the quiet unassuming way he had.
"Two hundred miles an hour?" Morgan moaned. "I didn't think wind could get that fast."
"Somebody needs to go out after our perimeter alerts," Baines said protectively.
"I'll go," Magus volunteered. "I remember where we set them."
"Cameron, do you mind going out to give her a hand with that?" Danziger asked. When Cameron agreed, he continued, "So is everyone agreed to stay put in the central complex here and ride this thing out?"
Bess alone looked concerned, but didn't protest. "In that case, Magus and Cameron, will take the rail and make their best time getting those alerts in," Danziger ordered. Then he called Danner up on gear and asked, "Danner, have you found out anything on the dish about what might be headed our way?"
Danner's voice called back a negative. "I don't see anything at all within two hundred klicks of our position. Maybe a little light cloudcover. It's a shame there isn't better weather prediction data available. If I could access Riley's satellite link, I might get more," she ventured hopefully.
"No chance of that Danner," Danziger responded. "I don't think any of us are in the mood to try to get anything out of Riley or fight him off for that matter."
"What about the ZED?" Bess asked. "Where are we going to put him?"
"Why move him?" Magus responded. "He can hang out where he is."
"But the outbuildings aren't as safe," Bess replied. "He needs to come in with the rest of us."
"This thing isn't a he. It's a killing machine. I'd just as soon we put a bullet into its brain as it is," Walman interjected, the heat of his response tiring him visibly. Julia and Magus both went to his side as Danziger tried to defuse that situation.
"The ZED stays put for now," he said in a tone that allowed no argument. "Magus, you and Cameron," he began, then changed his mind seeing the concern on Magus's face for Walman. "I'll go out with Cameron after the alerts. We'll get on gear with Mazatyl or Bess if we have trouble finding them."
"I'll go with Cameron," Mazatyl began, but Danziger cut him off.
"You give this structure a good once over to be sure we're not sitting under a weak spot," Danziger stated firmly. "If we need you, we'll let you know."
A few minutes later, Danziger and Cameron pulled out of the settlement, following the gear coordinates left the day before by the ZED hunting party. It was unexpectedly humid and warm and though the sky was mostly clear, they could see a band of clouds building in the west. Their months on the planet had given them a brief weather education, and they both agreed that it did look like rain.
The drive was quiet, neither man being much for conversation, the only comments revolving around distances to the first alert sensor. They arrived on the spot where only the day before they'd nearly lost two of their team to the ZED that attacked them. It gave Danziger a chill to stand there in the spot he'd seen only through jumpers over gear POV. He wondered if the dark spot on the earth at his feet was Alonzo's blood.
They collected the alert, and as Cameron loaded it into place, Danziger walked to the spot where the group had constructed their deadfall trap. It was cunningly made indeed, he realized as he nearly walked over the tripline himself. He warned Cameron to stay back, then tripped the wire with a very long treebranch.
An avalanche of large rocks and logs rolled down the bluff into a large pile. Cameron whistled in appreciation, then added, "Walman said that was all Bess's idea."
"Remind me not to make Bess mad," Danziger responded wryly. In the back of his mind, John felt Bess's soft inquiry. He reassured her that they were only admiring her handiwork at the deadfall.
"Okay, but we're going to begin work with the ZED's programming," she replied, strengthening the contact.
He didn't want to get into a deep Dreaming contact with her in front of Cameron, so he just agreed quietly and moved away from the Dreamplane as fully as he could. He'd have to apologize later for cutting her off.
They traveled to the next alert sensor, quickly deactivating it and loading it into place. "Two more," Cameron noted as they looked out into the distance at the approaching cloudcover.
The sky was really beginning to turn darker out there, Danziger realized. Perhaps this was going to be more of a blow than anyone appreciated. Just as the thought crossed his mind, Danner called to them on gear.
"Danziger, I've been watching this whole storm front and it seems to be building up rapidly," she said. "I'm starting to get wind and rain data that is way more intense than I expected to see. You guys should come straight back in."
"You got no argument from me," Danziger responded. "We'll grab this next alert since we're out this far already. Baines will just have to hope the last one can weather the storm on its own."
"I'm not sure I'd even do that," Danner said, nervousness becoming even more apparent in her voice. "There's some kind of disturbance out ahead of this thing that is really strange looking. I can't get good data on it, but I'd say it's moving at nearly 100 klicks an hour on its own."
Cameron grabbed his arm and pointed. "Is that what she means?" he asked breathlessly.
Just then Bess was in his head. "John, get out of there now. Mom is furious that you didn't listen to her. Get back here immediately," she yelled at him over the Dreamplane.
One look at the towering swirl of blackness that rapidly approached them made him agree wholeheartedly. Baines would just have to get over losing his two perimeter alerts.
He turned the dunerail and floored it, all the while yelling commands both over gear and over the Dreamplane. "Get everybody in the central core—ZED included. Somebody find a covered spot for the rover and ATV, then get inside. Whatever this thing is it's a monster!"