Chapter Two
Danziger was glad to have a relatively smooth surface to try out the modifications Zeke and Walman had done to the rover's transmission and drive train. To his extreme satisfaction, instead of its typical whine, the rover only produced a low purr as it quickly accelerated far past its previous top speed. Only the twists and turns of the pass prevented him from opening it up even further.
"Hey, Walman," he called into his gear.
"Yeah, Danz. How's it running?" came the response.
"Like a top. You guys did great," Danziger answered with a grin.
"Glad to be of help," Walman stated. "I'll let Zeke know his work is appreciated."
"It sure is. You guys give the ATV a good overhaul while I'm gone," Danziger instructed, only half-joking.
"He'll put wings on it and turn it into a glider," Walman laughed again. "That Zeke is a mad genius."
"If he thinks he can manage it, put him to work," Danziger said, then signed off, keeping his gear at the ready.
"Wow," Julia commented. "I can tell we're moving a lot faster."
"They did some pretty unorthodox things to this old rover's gearbox, but it worked," Danziger added. "We should make good time. Too good. Adair is going to be pretty disappointed that we've only gone about 6 miles in a month."
"She'll understand, John," Julia tried to reassure him. "There were extenuating circumstances."
"Looking back at the last several weeks," Danziger laughed, "I'd say extenuating is an understatement."
Back at camp, Bess and Morgan sat outside watching Uly and True play in the dirt of the clearing.
"Morgan," Bess began. "Do you miss it?"
"Miss what?" Morgan answered suspiciously. Bess's conversations sometimes took introspective turns that made him a bit nervous.
"Dreaming. Do you miss dreaming?" she replied, running her hair ribbon through her fingers absently.
"Not really," Morgan answered. "It's only been a day since the sunstone died."
"It didn't die, Morgan," Bess retorted firmly. "It just gave out."
"Sorry," he quickly apologized. He didn't want to hurt the planet's feelings, or Bess's for that matter. "Do you miss it?"
"I do," she answered sadly. "It was like Mom was always there in the back of my mind. I could feel her just watching, listening. And I could talk to you and John too. Sometimes I could tell you were there even when we weren't talking."
"Just me," Morgan asked uncertainly, "or Danziger too?"
"Actually, Morgan honey," Bess answered honestly, "it was mostly John. He and I had a pretty close bond with Mom."
At Morgan's downcast look, she reached out to take his hand. "But yours got a lot stronger. I could feel you talking to Zeke, even when we were waiting for True. You did really good." She looked at him intently, her blue eyes meeting his brown with pride. "He wouldn't have made it through all that without you, you know."
Morgan gave her a sheepish grin, then looked out to where Zeke and Walman stood looking at the ATV.
"I'm going to see if the guys need some help," he offered.
Bess reined in her desire to ask what he knew about ATVs and let him go.
As Morgan walked up, he could see Baines crossing the grounds to join them. "What are you guys up to?" Morgan asked.
"Well, we're debating whether or not to overhaul the ATV," Walman began.
"I say we take the rail and go get my perimeter alerts," Baines spoke up as he walked up to the group.
"Out there?" Morgan asked, pointing across the brilliant green savanna. "There are who knows how many of those barracuda things out there."
"That's why we need those alerts," Baines explained. "If I know Danziger and Adair, the minute they get back, they'll be pushing to get us on the road again. Even with the perimeter in place, we'll have to double our guard to keep those thing at bay."
"Baines, you don't even know if they survived the storm," Walman countered. "We could be risking our lives for four piles of scrap." Baines looked thoughtful at this. "Zero!" Walman called to the construction robot standing at a short distance.
"Yes," Zero replied politely as he stiffly approached the small group, "how may I be of service?"
"Can you sense any of our perimeter alerts out there?" Walman asked.
"One of the alerts is located approximately two hundred yards from the northwestern edge of the camp," Zero immediately replied. "Another is located approximately five hundred yards from camp in a northerly direction."
"The other two must still be out of range," Baines conjectured. "We could get the first two at least."
"Which would be useless without the other two to complete the circle around camp," Walman added.
"I still say we go get them," Baines replied.
Walman gazed out over the prairie, then made up his mind. "Then let's go," he stated firmly. He detached Zero's head and carried it over to the dunerail, pausing long enough to pick up the magpro as he went. "You coming?" he asked Baines, who seemed frozen to his spot now.
Then Baines gave a quick nod and the two men hopped in the dunerail and rode off.
"That was stupid," Morgan stated in disbelief as he watched them drive away.
"It has to be done," Zeke answered evenly. "Somebody has to do it."
"I still think they're stupid. They could have waited on Danziger to bring the rover back," Morgan answered.
"The rail is still faster and easier to maneuver," Zeke replied. He turned to face Morgan with a thoughtful expression. "I think you're afraid."
Morgan began to deny it, then realized he would just sound juvenile. "Yes," he stated firmly. "I'm terrified by those things. They are savage, unpredictable animals. And if Walman and Baines aren't scared of them, they're even dumber than I thought they were."
"Of course they're scared," Zeke responded, gazing off again across the grass to watch the two men load up the first of the alerts. "But you can't live in fear. That's not living."
"Yeah," Morgan murmured guiltily, "but what about dying?"
"The coward dies a thousand deaths," Zeke began.
Deep into the winding paths, Danziger and Julia rode quietly, each lost in their own thoughts. "What do you see happening when we get there?" Danziger asked softly.
"If the cold sleep unit is still functioning properly, we'll begin the revival process," Julia replied. "I have two injections that must be administered simultaneously in order to begin recovery. I'll administer one, you'll do the other."
"Then?" he asked.
Julia looked at him with that quiet seriousness she always seemed to possess. "Then we wait and hope," she replied.
Another half hour brought them within sight of the open valley where the Council ship rested. It too had turned bright green with the passing storm. Danziger kept his eyes peeled for any signs of the brraku, but so far he'd seen very few of the buffalo they seemed to be preying on. He hoped that was a good sign.
The terrain was even and smooth and he was able to push the rover to previously untouched speeds. He was gratified by the acceleration and performance. Zeke was indeed a mad genius. He wondered how work was progressing on the ATV.
Back at camp, the ATV sat ignored as Walman, Baines, and Zeke poked and disassembled the two battered perimeter units they'd brought back.
"They're fixable," Baines sighed. "I can't believe it."
"Well, those things are made to be tough," Walman added, pulling a panel off the side of one to take a closer look at its inner workings.
"Did you get any readings off the other two?" Zeke asked.
"Nope," Baines replied. "I don't think we got Zero close enough to their location to pick them up."
"Then somebody's got to go back out there for the other two," Zeke concluded. "And since I know roughly where they are, I'll go."
"You can't go by yourself," Walman said, shouldering the magpro. "Baines, you stay here and keep working on those things. Zeke and I'll go after the others."
"No," Zeke said, taking the magpro. "You need to keep working on these. You might even call in True to give you a hand. I watched her help Danziger with that solar power converter the other day. She's good."
"It's too risky to go alone," Baines added. "Someone's got to watch while the other loads up the alert."
"Did you guys see any signs of barracuda out there?" Zeke asked. Both men shook their heads no. "Then I'll be okay. Those things always seemed to keep their distance from me. But I do want to get my handgun from Yale."
Zeke walked off into the complex and into the ops center, calling for Yale as he went. Morgan met him in the hallway. "Yale and Bess are with the kids in the library area doing some classwork," Morgan offered.
"I need the handgun Yale took when you guys caught me," Zeke explained. "I'm going after the other two perimeter alerts."
"Okay," Morgan answered, "but the magpro is more powerful, isn't it?"
"That's the problem," Zeke answered. "The handgun has a stun setting. I'm not going to be killing anything out there unless absolutely necessary. My killing days on this planet are over—with the exception of Riley and anybody working for him."
"I thought you and Mom took him out," Morgan said in disappointment.
"Nope, just wounded him," Zeke replied as Morgan led him to the med lab cabinet where Zeke's various equipment had been loaded. "He's pretty tough. It'd take more that we could launch at him under that short a notice to take him out." At Morgan's sad look, Zeke added, "Don't think we didn't try, though."
They looked over the pieces of cybernetic gear that covered the shelf. "What do you need out of all this?" Morgan asked, a look of distaste on his face. However, he realized the gaucheness of his attitude and quickly schooled his expression to one of mere interest. He didn't want to hurt Zeke's feelings. But in glancing over at the former ZED, he saw that Zeke looked even more appalled by the pieces of equipment that he had.
"I never want to touch any of this again," Zeke said, repressing a shudder. "But the handgun is too useful not to take." He reached out and selected the pistol with its body armor holster. Running his fingers across it, he considered going to get his body armor as well.
However, as useful as it might be, he just couldn't bring himself to put on the black armor suit of a ZED. That part of his life was over. He'd have to take his chances in his supertough skin, just like any other genetically altered mutant being, he thought grimly.
"Well, that's it," Zeke stated, strapping the holster to his thigh. "I'll be back later."
"Who's going with you?" Morgan asked as Zeke quickly strode down the hallway and back out the door of the complex toward the dunerail.
"I'm going solo," he answered, climbing into the seat.
"That's not a good idea," Morgan disagreed. "You need somebody to watch out for you while you load up the alerts."
"Zero can let me know if something's coming," Zeke said, gesturing at the head of the construction robot.
"My scanning capabilities are functioning properly," Zero offered.
"How is Zero going to shoot whatever is trying to jump you?" Morgan replied, then took a deep breath. He couldn't believe what he was about to do. He ran over to grab the magpro—he hadn't killed anything bigger than a bug on this planet and felt no moral obligation toward pacifism—then climbed into the passenger seat and said, "I'm going with you."
"Are you sure?" Zeke asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Morgan responded, trying to sound far more confident than he felt. "Hey, Walman, Baines," he called to the two men working. "Tell Bess I went to help Zeke bring in those other two perimeter units. If I get killed by one of those things out there—" he began, but couldn't think of what to say.
"Remind her that the brave man only dies once and it was his turn," Zeke added, then drove off at a higher rate of speed than Morgan thought was entirely necessary.
Danziger also drove at a higher rate of speed than Julia thought was entirely necessary as they spotted the Council ship in the distance. "When we get there," Julia began over the jolts of the terrain, "it'll take a while to be sure that the unit is still in good working order. We won't be able to bring her out of it immediately."
Danziger must have gotten the message because he did back off a little on the speed. "Now's as good a time as any to talk about one other thing," Julia continued. Danziger looked at her intently, his blue eyes sharp with suspicion.
"Talk about what?" he asked with that steely edge to his voice she'd come to know well over the past several months of travel with the toughminded mechanic.
"One of these injections is a dose of Uly's DNA," she explained.
"No way," Danziger protested. "I saw what that stuff did to you. It's too dangerous."
"It's a different formulation, John," Julia continued peaceably. "The DNA has a tremendous boosting effect on all bodily systems. For the serum to have time to work, we'll need to give her all the metabolic support we can. This is her best chance."
"No," Danziger continued firmly. "Experimenting with that stuff in the first place was wrong and you know it. The Terrians do the healing on their terms. We will not be stealing the planet's powers for our own use." Julia was surprised to hear John defending the Terrians and the planet so passionately.
"I've already asked Alonzo to speak with the Terrians," Julia said soothingly, "and they agreed to let us use this." He continued to look at her sharply. "John, I do not take this lightly at all," she assured him. "I know what this DNA does to a person. That's why I want to warn you."
Danziger ran a hand through his tangled curls and sighed. "What?" he asked resignedly.
"Devon will very likely not be herself while this DNA is in her system," Julia began. "I have no idea what she'll say or do or how she'll react. She could be violent or hallucinatory. You may have to help me subdue her. I can't take the risk of sedating her, so we'll just have to ride it out."
"Okay," Danziger responded evenly as they navigated the last several hundred yards to the ship. "Whatever lies ahead, I'm ready for it--if it will get Adair back safe and sound."