Chapter Three
Yale rushed Uly and True ahead of him into the ops center of the settlement since Mazatyl's preliminary survey had revealed it and the med lab to be the strongest portions of the building. The kids just found it to be a big adventure as they helped drag in several mattresses to lounge on for the duration and a store of food and water.
"This seems like overkill to me," Walman said as he seated himself carefully on one of the mattresses. "We've seen rain before. I don't get the big fuss."
"Walman, the warning we've gotten on this says it's more than rain," Bess stated as she carried in a couple of water jugs. "It's better to be prepared for the worst."
"Just what have the Terrians told you, Uly?" Walman asked.
"They say that there's a big thing coming and that they go underground to wait it out," the boy replied absently.
"How in the world have we interpreted that as a big storm coming?" Magus asked as she entered the room with a pile of bedding.
"I think the planet told them," Uly replied.
Yale ignored the sharp looks that passed between several crew members at this and concentrated on helping Magus distribute the bedding between the mattresses.
"Yale," Bess called to him, "Morgan is wondering if you can come help him and Baines get the ZED settled in the med lab."
"Certainly," he replied, grateful to see that she was wearing gear and had not apparently Dreamed to her husband. Even though he too had been part of the link that had disabled the ZED, the sudden increase in reliance on the Dreamplane had caused him a bit of concern as well. It had been somewhat surreal to watch them speak without speaking the night before.
He entered the med lab to see Morgan and Baines with the large ZED on a gurney. "Julia wants us to get him restrained on a bed," Baines explained.
"Wish I could help you guys," called Alonzo from his spot across the room. In amusement, he watched the three of them wrestle with the dead weight of the huge ZED. "I have to stay put for a while longer. Doctor's orders."
Julia gave him a sharp look, but he just grinned and shrugged in amusement. "Have you heard anything more from the Terrians?" Bess asked as she approached his bedside. "Mom was really angry that John and Cameron had gone out. She said this storm was not one for us to be out in."
"That's about all that the Terrians can give me," Alonzo replied. "They've gone underground somewhere around here. I think this is the same tribe that live here when the first settlers were here. They've been very friendly and I think glad to see humans again."
"That's good to know," Morgan commented as he sagged against the wall next to the now safely bedded ZED. "So much of our welcoming committee on this planet has been less than friendly." He gave the ZED a pat on the chest as he added, "Isn't that right, big fella?"
"When are we going to start work on this project?" Yale asked, sounding a little less cavalier in his reference to the ZED than Morgan.
"I guess once Danziger and Cameron get back," Bess replied. "After everyone's settled in for the storm, we won't have anything better to do."
"Hey, wait a minute," Baines interjected. "I don't know if anyone wants this ZED messed with while he's in the building with the rest of us. What if he broke loose?"
Morgan held up a sedi-derm. "That's what this is for. Danziger's going to be right here with this pressed to the chink in his armor the entire time we work. At the first sign that things aren't going well, big boy here takes a nice long nap."
"I'm still not sure about all this," Baines responded.
"Neither am I," Julia added. "We've seen what these things can do. I don't much like the idea of having this one up and operational again."
"Alonzo?" Baines called across the room. "You've got a bigger stake in this decision than anybody. What do you think?"
Alonzo paused for a moment. "I trust John. If he's holding the sedi-derm and watching the show, I'm willing to let these guys go ahead and see what they can do. That ZED could give us all kinds of information, lead us to hidden supply stashes, possibly even defend us against other ZEDs. On the other hand, it could just want to kill us all." He looked directly at each of them before continuing, "Danziger's not going to let that happen."
A chirp from Bess's gear sounded in the room and Yale heard her answer then rush out of the room calling to Danner. The three men followed her into the ops center. "Danner, Cameron's trying to get through on gear, but I can't hear him. What are you picking up?" she asked.
"I'm not getting anything from them," Danner replied from her seat at the communications center. She reached up to her own gear, then jerked it off her head as feedback squealed through the headphones. "Something's interfering with the signal," she said, then turned to recheck the reports she'd been getting from the coming storm.
Then Danner gave them all a very concerned look as she added, "I hope they aren't too much further out because that disturbance is moving fast."
Outside in the storm, Danziger struggled to get the dunerail under control, wrestling with the steering wheel with all his strength, trying to keep it on course toward the settlement.
"That thing is nearly on us," Cameron called as he looked back over his shoulder. "I can't raise anybody on gear. Something is causing the signal to break up."
The clouds behind them were more than threatening. They were being pursued by a black monster of winds and lightning, a giant vortex that pulled at them with increasing pressure. Worse, the air was getting heavy, tearing at their lungs, making breathing difficult.
"I think there's something toxic in that cloud, acid maybe," Danziger shouted back over the noise of the wind. He pushed the dunerail to the limit, knowing that its speed was their only chance to make it back to the settlement.
They were out in the open now, racing for the compound across the grass. Unfortunately, the grass hid hazards in the terrain and Danziger didn't see the rock outcropping until they were already on it. With a loud pop, the front tire of the rail blew out against the obstacle, sending them into a sideways slide.
Danziger tried to get the rail to run on three tires, but it was no use, there wasn't enough traction against the winds. "Run for it!" he called to Cameron and the two men took off on foot in a deadly race.
He could see the settlement ahead of them, a blue sky behind it. Meanwhile, the dark shadow of the storm encroached on their footsteps. The had to fight for every step they took as the winds pulled at them, drawing them back into that swirling vortex behind them. The grass whipped around their knees and grabbed at their feet as they tried to run.
Just as suddenly, the winds shifted direction and began to blow against their backs, pushing at them. At first Danziger thought this was a lucky break. Instead of working against the wind, they were now being driven by it.
However, within seconds he realized that the wind shift was going to kill them. Instead of pulling fresher air into their faces, the wind was now driving the toxic gases ahead of the storm. The air began to burn his eyes and deep into his lungs. Even his skin began to feel as though it had been sandblasted.
"Call back to camp," he yelled to Cameron as loudly as he could over the high winds and the growing pain in his chest. As much as he hated gear, he wished that moment that he had a way to say goodbye to True.
Cameron stumbled along in the grass, trying to get through on his gear, but soon collapsed to the ground, his chest heaving. Danziger reached his side and attempted to pull him up, but it was no use. He didn't have the strength to lift him. Cameron rolled over onto his side, blood beginning to foam from his mouth as he gasped against the gases that now rolled over them in earnest.
Back at the settlement, Bess tried again to get through to Cameron, but the interference was deafening. With a look to her husband, she said, "I'm going to try to Dream to John, Morgan. Cameron wouldn't be trying to reach us if they didn't need us." She gave a little look around at those gathered in the room, almost as if challenging them before closing her eyes.
"John!" she called from the Dreamplane and was immediately rewarded with a sense of his presence—distracted but there. "What's going on?"
"That storm is almost on us," John answered her. "We lost the rail. We're not going to make it back. The winds are awful, but it's not just the wind. I think there's something toxic in the air. It's really hard to breathe."
Bess tried to push her awareness out to John, to try to get a feeling of where he was and what he was seeing. Around him, the air swirled and she could see the grass writhing in the grip of the winds. They were so close, but the winds were right on top of them, and worse was the air. She could feel John fight for breath, could sense the agony in his lungs. "You can do it, John! Keep moving! You're almost here," she called encouragement to him.
"Bess, get everybody into the center and block off the outside air. Go on filtered air only. You can't breathe this," she felt him gasp to her. "Cameron's already out. We're not going to make it back."
Bess could feel the world around him fading as he lost consciousness. She did her best to pull him into the Dreamplane, to stay with him. "John, stay with me," she called to him and for a second he was there on the Dreamplane, alert and alive.
"Take care of True for me, Bess," he said, taking her by the shoulders and looking down at her seriously. "Tell her I love her." Then his eyes closed and she felt him begin to collapse against her. She struggled to support him in her arms as he sank to the ground of the Dreamscape.
She called to him and brushed his hair back from his eyes as she struggled to keep him with her. "Bess, you have to be True's mom now," he whispered and his eyes closed.
"No, John! Fight it! Stay with me," she cried. But it was no use. She could only watch in horror as John faded out of the Dreamscape and into the nothingness beyond.
"John!" she screamed, but got no answer. "Mom!" she called to the planet. "Help him! Do something!"
In the ops center, the group watched in fear as Bess sank to kneel on the floor, tears pouring down her face. Then she looked up to Morgan. "He's gone. I can't reach him anymore," she sobbed.
"Let's get a search team and go after them," Mazatyl began, but Bess called out a warning.
"No! The air is toxic out there. Danner, we have to put the building on filtered air only. No one goes out until this is all over," she said wearily. At the looks from the group, she added, "Danziger's orders."
The group surrounding Bess suddenly parted to reveal True's stricken face. "Where's my dad?" she asked, fear in her voice and on her face. When Bess did not answer, she got down in the floor next to Bess and asked her again. "Bess, what happened to my dad?"
Bess trembled with hurt for the little girl, for herself, and for the entire group. "Oh, True," Bess sobbed, then grabbed her in a tight embrace and wept.
Outside in the storm, the dunerail sat in the swirling winds, the grass whipping around the wheels. Not far away, Cameron and Danziger lay lifeless on the ground only a hundred yards or so from the compound.