Chapter 2

Danziger snatched the VR gear off his head with a curse. It had shocked him! "Martin, what did you do to this thing?" he snarled.

"I just programmed in a little negative reinforcement. To make it more realistic. The boom was supposed to be loud enough to feel lifelike," Morgan explained nervously. He didn't like the rough way Danziger was treating his precious gear.

"Yeah, but there was no reason to make it shock me," Danziger replied, trying to be patient.

"I didn't make it shock you," Morgan seemed genuinely surprised. "All I did was load Yale's specs on the generator and the information we had on the sunstones to the VR program. I added a few realistic touches like the camp and the boom in case of overload, but no shocks I promise!"

"I hate shankin' VR," Danziger growled again, this time to himself. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then slipped the gear back on and began working again.

Members of the group filed by idly over the next several minutes, each transfixed by the sight of John Danziger in VR gear.

Morgan looked up as Bess stopped to kneel behind him. They watched as John carefully placed an invisible sunstone into an invisible bracket and into the invisible generator.

"Any minute now," Baines murmured as they watched him fiddle with invisible settings.

A little smile crossed John's face and the group sighed in relief. Then suddenly he was thrown back by yet another of the phantom explosions. Morgan watched carefully for any signs that the gear was shocking him and was surprised to see a tiny spark pass over the gearset into his temple.

"Damn, damn, damn!" John cursed aloud, jerking the set off again. "Morgan, fix this thing so it won't keep shocking me. The damned explosion is bad enough."

Morgan fiddled with the gearset a moment, then passed it back. "I think that ought to do it," he said quietly, hoping to slide in under Danziger's annoyance radar.

"Bess, do me a favor and keep the kids away from here," Danziger said wryly as he slipped the gear over his mop of blond curls again. "I don't want them to hear my language if this doesn't work this time."

He re-entered the VR simulation and began the process of fitting the sunstone into place again. At last, he finished making the connections and adjusted the power settings. Then he sat back to watch and wait.

After several minutes, he knew he'd done it. Success at last. The generator hummed without a hitch, the sunstone glowed merrily as if happy with its new home, and power flowed through the connections to the camp.

He was just about to remove the gear when he heard something, a low humming sound. "What are you up to, Martin?" he asked aloud. He glanced down in the simulation next to the generator to see yet another sunstone lying in the dirt. It was humming at him. There was something about it though. He wanted to touch it.

In real life, these things were hot enough to burn flesh—Martin still had faint scars from his run in with the stuff. But in VR, it couldn't hurt him. So, he bent down and picked it up. The world went white around him.

Outside the simulation, Baines and Morgan were taking bets as to whether John had done it when they looked over to see him crouched next to the real sunstone on the ground. Both men shouted a warning when they saw him reach out, but neither were heard by the mechanic as he picked up the stone, then fell backward in a dead faint.

Morgan attempted to pry the stone loose from John's grip, but it was scorching hot to the touch and John's hold was too strong to break. Baines reached to remove the gear from his head, but received an electric shock for his trouble.

"Get Alonzo," Morgan yelled to Walman, who was standing nearby.

Within a moment, Alonzo and Julia knelt next to them on either side of the unconscious Danziger. Julia passed her ever present diaglove over Danziger's head and chest.

"It's like he's sleeping. I'd say he's in REM sleep right now," she murmured. She reached to remove the gear, but quickly pulled back her fingers from the discharge of static electricity that sizzled through the air.

Behind them, a lone Terrian rose from the ground and extended a staff with a triangular headpiece over John's prone form. Alonzo turned to face him.

Baines reached forward again to make another attempt at removing the VR gear. "Stop, stop!" Alonzo held his hand over John to prevent anyone else from meddling with the gear or sunstone. "We need to leave him alone. He's on the Dreamplane. The Terrians want to talk to him."

Everyone sat back in disbelief, Julia and Alonzo exchanging looks. John Danziger on the Dreamplane. Would wonders never cease?

John stood there in a sea of white, quietly panicking. He was going to kill Martin for this. "End simulation," he called to the gear, trying to reach up to remove it or deactivate it. He felt nothing.

Everything whirled about him and he felt dizzy. Suddenly, a Terrian appeared before him. His staff bore a triangular headpiece and he had scarlet beads around his right wrist. "Oh God," he groaned, more than a little bit frightened. He'd heard enough stories from Alonzo to know where he was and he didn't like it at all.

"Hey, guy," he stammered, backing away from the Terrian. He'd faced down plenty of them on solid ground, but this was their territory. "You need to go get Alonzo. He'll be glad to talk to you."

"Now why would I want to talk to Alonzo, Johnny?" came a sweet voice from behind him. "I've come a long way to talk to you."

He turned to see the most beautiful sight he'd seen since he'd held True for the first time. There she stood, so lovely, so alive. His Ellie.

"Ellie," he breathed. "Is it really you?"

"It's me, Johnny," she answered with a smile.

He ran to her and embraced her, tears running freely down his face. He buried his face in her hair and breathed in the smell of her. "You feel so good," he said with a sob.

"So do you, Johnny," she answered softly. "How's True?"

"She's beautiful, just like you," he replied, still clinging to her desperately.

"I'm glad," came her gentle reply.

John pulled back to look at her again. He took in her sparkling brown eyes, her copper hair, the way her mouth turned up at the corners when she looked at him. Then he pulled her into his chest again, exulting in the way she fit against him, so perfectly. He ran his fingers into her hair and sighed. "I've missed you so much," he managed.

"I've been looking out for you, John. I'm never far away," she answered.

"God bless Morgan Martin and his VR gear," John sighed. "I'm never leaving."

Outside in the camp, it was beginning to grow dark. Most everyone had drifted away, leaving Julia, Alonzo, and Morgan along with the Terrian sentry to monitor John. Bess walked up to the group, a blanket in her hand.

"It's getting chilly out," Bess explained to the Terrian. "I'm just going to put this over him so he doesn't get cold." She looked at Alonzo for permission. He glanced at the Terrian, then nodded to Bess. She draped the blanket over Danziger's still form, then sat down on a box next to Morgan.

"He looks so peaceful," she sighed. "I wonder what he's dreaming about."

Behind them, True moved closer into the circle, Yale right behind her. "How is he doing?" she asked.

"Still no change, True," Julia answered.

"Our friends say they wish to speak with him. I don't know what about," said Alonzo.

"It's been over an hour," Morgan interjected. "Maybe you should slip in there and take a look around. You know, be sure he's okay."

Alonzo bent his head, but soon looked up again. "I can't follow him. Maybe it's the sunstone interfering, but I can't get in." Behind him the Terrian gave a low trill. "He says this is between John and the Mother. Not for us."

"I guess we wait then," came Yale's deep, comforting voice.