Earth 2.1.2

Chapter 5

A/N: So things look bad for our heroes, and they're about to get worse. I'm really mean to my characters, and everybody else's, too. But Alonzo and Julia really shouldn't have the corner on the angst market.

"Well, isn't this just our luck?" Helen said, staring at the wide, rough-looking river lying directly across their path. "First three days of non-stop rain, and now the biggest river we've run across yet."

"No kidding," Bill said. "I never thought we'd really use those swimming lessons, but..." He eyed the powerful current nervously.

"How can we cross that?" Devon said hopelessly, looking at the rain-swelled cataract. "We'll have to go north to someplace it gets narrower."

Danziger shook his head. "I think we can do it, and here's probably our best bet. We can get right down to the water on this side, and it looks like the bank is pretty low over there, too."

"But—" Devon began.

"Dev, we've already had this conversation," Danziger said quietly. "You know we need to find a winter camp soon, and I'd rather have this river behind us if the Council's still got people hanging around."

Devon looked dubiously at the river. "But how will we get the Transrover across?"

"Actually, I think the trailer can do it," Rick said, coming up next to them. "It's mostly bioplast, which is designed to have high buoyance."

"You think it'll hold up the weight of the 'rover?" Danziger said.

Rick shrugged. "We can test it out—we'll float it, measure how low it sits in the water, and put something we know the weight of on it, and measure the difference. If we need to, we can tie on some of the bioplast crates we've got. I really think it'll work, Devon."

"Okay," Helen said, "but what about the current? That river's moving pretty fast, and it looks like the water gets pretty rough farther south, and the bank gets steeper, too. How do we keep the raft from floating downstream?"

"Somebody's gonna have to go across," Danziger said. "We run a line across the river, tie it off, and hook the 'Rover's winch to it. It'll pull itself across. Then we use the winch to pull the next load over."

"How long do you think it'll take to set it all up?" Devon said.

Danziger looked at Rick. "Give us a couple of hours to figure out how to strap down the 'Rover," he said. "And have everybody unload the trailer and the 'Rover and start figuring out what and who needs to go across after it."

Rick nodded. "I really think we can get across before the sun sets," he said.

Devon sighed, then nodded. "Okay, do it. I'll talk to Julia about whether the water's too cold to swim."

"You got somebody in mind?" Danziger asked.

Devon smiled. "Todd," she said. "He was the best our swim instructor had ever seen. He kept trying to convince him to swim competitively, but Todd disapproves of competitive sports."

Danziger rolled his eyes.

"So what do you think?" Devon asked Julia, who was kneeling beside the river, scanning the water with her hand scanner.

Julia glanced up at her, then looked back at the scanner for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know, Devon. It's not so cold it's dangerous, at least not with short-term exposure. But I wouldn't recommend anybody staying in it for more than a few minutes."

"Do you think Todd will be okay if he swims across?"

"I guess so," she said reluctantly. "I'd like to see him take a change of clothes in a waterproof container, though, so he can get out of the wet clothes once he's across."

Devon nodded. "Good idea," she said. "I'll get Tosh working on it. And once we get the 'rover across, he can get warm in the cab."

"He should be careful not to ingest any of the water," Julia added. "I still don't know how some of these native organisms might react in the human body. I don't want a repeat of what Bill and I went through."

Devon smiled. "Neither does Todd, I'm sure. We'll make sure he's careful."

It took longer to get things going than Danziger had thought. The Transrover stubbornly kept shifting around on their makeshift raft, and it took a couple of hours to finally get it ready to go.

By then, Todd was bored stiff. He'd been ready to swim since the moment Devon asked him, and he had to admit, there was a part of him that was excited to finally get to show the Eden Project that he was useful.

And it didn't hurt that Toshiko was hovering nervously as he got ready to enter the water. "Are you sure it's safe?" she asked Julia for the third time.

"I'd go myself," Julia said, "but I'm a terrible swimmer."

"I'll be fine," Todd said, glancing at Devon for the go-ahead.

"Be careful," she said. "The current looks pretty fast."

"That's why I'm starting here," he said, nodding at the fifty meters he'd walked upstream. "It's not that far. I'll be over there in a couple of minutes." He grinned at Toshiko, who just looked even more worried.

But he was as good as his word. It only took a couple of minutes of strong swimming for him to climb out on the far side. He pulled the biocord towards the tree they'd picked out, then pulled his gear out of the waterproof bag. "Tell Tosh I'm fine," he said to Devon, waving across at them. "I'll have the biocord ready here in a minute."

"Get dry first!" Toshiko said, opening a channel. "It's too cold to be standing around wet!"

"I'm fine," he insisted, but he went ahead and pulled on the dry clothes anyway.

"Dang it, Tosh, did you have to get him into clothes that fast?" Melanie muttered, lowering the monocular she'd had trained on Todd. "I mean, I'd heard about swimmers' bodies, but…damn! Who knew all that was under that bushy beard?"

Devon snorted.

"Don't let Rob hear you say that. Besides, I thought you went for the brainiacs," Julia said pointedly.

"Todd has a beautiful mind, too," Melanie said, then waggled her eyebrows. "The body's a bonus! And who says I can't admire from afar?"

Toshiko ignored them both. "How long till we can get the Transrover across?" she said, nearly vibrating with impatience.

"You'll be on the first raftload across," Devon said, patting her on the shoulder. "Along with Julia. We'll get him checked out right away."

But right away turned out to be nearly a half an hour, after yet another biocord snapped under the strain of the Transrover shifting on the unstable trailer. Devon had to cover Uly's ears when Danziger started swearing colorfully.

"Oh, come on, like he hasn't heard it already?" Melanie said, remembering Devon's creativity when she'd been shot.

"I don't swear in front of him," Devon said stiffly, watching Danziger tying off the Transrover yet again.

"Mmm-hmm," Melanie said dubiously. She held her breath as they watched the Transrover floating unsteadily across the river. Rick and four of the other guys had to steady it with a line from this side of the river, and they had to work hard to fight the strength of the current, but it made it across safely.

"All right," Danziger said from the far side of the river after they'd rolled the Transrover onto dry ground. "Pull her back across for the next load!"

"Danziger, as soon as the next load gets over with the rail, I want a team ready to scout west," Devon said over the gear. "I want to know what's out there while we're separated like this."

"You got it, boss," he said.

"Don't call me that," Devon said irritably.

"Sure," Danziger said, grinning at her from across the river. "You're on the next load, your highness."

Devon waited till he'd turned back to supervise the raft again, then stuck out her tongue at him.

Melanie stifled a laugh.

"How fast do you think the water is moving?" Uly asked Tru.

"I have no idea," Tru said impatiently. Uly had been getting on her nerves all day, and it had only gotten worse once they'd been stuck on the side of the river for two hours waiting to cross. They were on one of the last raft-loads across, a conglomeration of bioplast crates and other odds and ends, along with Bess.

"And you don't want to find out the hard way, either," Bess said with a warning tone from the other side of the raft where she was keeping an eye on the biocord that the winch on the Transrover was using to pull them across. "Stay back from the edge, you two."

"Yes, ma'am," Uly said, but there was an undercurrent of rebelliousness to his tone that Tru caught.

"Yes, ma'am," she mimicked with a grating whine. "Goody two-shoes."

"Shut up," he said, glaring at her. "You haven't gone near the water since we got on."

"That's 'cause I'm not an idiot," she said derisively.

"Ha," he said. "It's 'cause you're scared of the water."

Tru clenched her jaw. He was actually right—she'd been nervous about the river ever since they got to it. It was easily twice as big as anything they'd crossed yet, and the power of the water was intimidating. Especially since she couldn't swim.

"You are!" Uly said, shocked. "You're really scared!"

"No, I'm not," Tru ground out.

Uly grinned. "So you're not as tough as you pretend," he said. "I bet you wouldn't even put your hand in the water."

"Don't be stupid," Tru said. "The water's cold."

"It is not," Uly said. "It's not bad at all. I bet I could swim from here to the far side without any trouble. Todd did it, and I'm almost as good as he is at swimming. My swim teacher said so, and that was even when I was still sick."

"Well, woo-hoo for you," Tru said. "The rich little brat had the money to spend on hanging around in a giant tank of water. I bet it wasn't moving like this."

"So?" Uly said. "I could still swim in it. And you can't."

"Like I care," Tru said heatedly.

Uly knelt at the edge of the raft and stuck his arm in the water up to his elbow. "Betcha won't do it," he said, looking at her triumphantly. He pulled his arm out and shook it off. "You're too scared."

"Stop it, Uly," Bess said impatiently. "What?" she said into the gear, and Tru noticed the raft had slowed. Bess frowned, and looked over the front edge of the raft. "No, I can't see anything. What should I do?"

"Come on," Uly said in a stage whisper. "Just stick your hand in. How hard is that?"

Tru rolled her eyes.

"Uly! Get back from the edge—we're hung up on something!" Bess called nervously.

Uly ignored her, looking steadily at Tru. Then he very deliberately scooped up a handful of water and threw it at Tru.

Tru wiped angrily at the water streaming down her face and stood up. "You little—!"

"Uly!" Devon shouted from the far bank of the river, "Get away from the edge! NOW!"

Uly glanced nervously over at the far bank where Devon was standing.

The raft lurched suddenly, and Tru barely kept her balance. She staggered slightly, ending up close to Uly, who was looking like he'd just realized how badly he'd screwed up. Then the raft lurched even harder, and Uly lost his balance and started to tip back towards the river.

"Uly!" Tru yelled and grabbed for his hand. She caught it, and for a moment, she thought she might be able to keep him on, but the raft gave another shudder, then shot towards the bank.

And Uly went headfirst into the water with Tru right after him, still holding tightly to his hand.

"Uly!" Devon shrieked, and started to run towards the river.

"Devon, no!" Julia said, grabbing her arm.

"Bess, don't!" someone yelled. "Stay right there!"

Danziger was already sprinting past Devon. As he did, she realized he'd grabbed a length of biocord. "Uly!" he yelled, running full-tilt towards the river.

"Come on," Julia said, pulling Devon's arm. "The rail! We can get ahead of them!"

Devon hesitated for an instant, then turned and almost ran over Julia on her way to the rail. She nearly dove into the driver's seat, and Julia barely got in with her med kit before Devon had peeled out.

Devon watched in horror as Danziger threw the biocord towards Uly, only to have it fall barely a meter short. She floored the rail, zooming past Danziger as he sprinted downstream, reeling in the biocord as fast as he could.

"Devon!" Julia screamed. Devon turned back to watch where she was going and had to swerve around a large bush that was too close to the edge of the embankment for her to go around on the river side.

Julia yelped as they hit a rock and the rail bounced hard, the back end slewing around, and Devon turned violently into the skid. The rail tipped up on two wheels before it finally skidded to a stop. Devon twisted hard at the wheel, turning it around and starting back towards the river, flooring it again.

"Devon!" Julia gasped. "Slow down! You won't do Uly any good if we roll!"

Devon glanced over at the river, but she couldn't see Uly anymore. The river was getting rougher, and even as she realized it, she noticed they were starting to climb towards the rocky cliffs they'd seen downriver, and the river was narrowing. "Oh, god," she said. She slammed on the brakes, nearly sending Julia into the dash, and flung herself out of the rail.

There was no sign of either Tru or Uly when she got to the embankment running alongside the river.

Damn you, Ulysses Adair, Tru thought as she fought to find the surface of the water. She had no idea where it was, and she couldn't see anything in the murky water of the river. And it was cold, far colder than it had seemed when Uly had splashed her with it.

And at that thought, she realized that Uly was still holding her hand, and he was pulling insistently at it.

Tru tried to swim toward him, but she had no idea how to make herself move in the water, even if she hadn't been getting shoved around by it. Her chest was starting to hurt, and she started to get really scared. She kicked wildly with her feet, and between her efforts and Uly's her head broke the surface.

She gasped for air and ended up getting a good amount of water along with it. She coughed, and felt Uly reach around her, holding her up.

"It's…okay," Uly said, though he sounded terrified. "I…I've got you."

Tru couldn't answer. She was still coughing, and she couldn't even seem to focus on anything but breathing. She could hear her dad yelling something from far away, but even turning her head to look for him seemed to take too much effort.

She felt Uly suddenly move violently from behind her, and then he swore, using a word she was certain his mother would disapprove of. "Hurry!" he shouted. "Try aga—"

His voice cut off suddenly, and then they were spinning through the water. Tru felt Uly losing his grip, and she grabbed for his arms. He regained his grip, but even as he did, they both went under.

If you let me drown, Uly, I will never forgive you, Tru thought wildly, and then they broke through the surface again. But even as she caught a breath, they went under again, and for a long time, Tru's entire existence became focused on each momentary breath she could pull in. She lost track of how many times they went under, but she knew each time it was getting harder for Uly to keep her head above water. And she didn't know how to help him. Suddenly, they hit something hard. Tru heard Uly yelp, and then they went under again.

After what seemed like forever, they somehow managed to stay above water for more than an instant. Tru gulped in a ragged breath, and when they didn't go under, she started coughing.

"Quick," Uly said in her ear. "Kick…with your feet."

Tru did as she was told, still coughing raggedly, though she had no idea if her flailing legs were helping. They were floating downriver at an alarming rate, and there was a roaring sound from somewhere behind her.

"Harder!" Uly said frantically, and she felt him shift his grip so he was holding her with one arm. "Come on, come on…"

All at once, they stopped flying downstream, and Uly grunted. Tru felt his grip on her loosen, and she kicked hard.

"Don't!" he said. "Just…hold on…"

Tru turned her head and saw he'd managed to grab onto a low hanging branch from a tree, but his grip didn't look too solid. But somehow he was pulling them closer to the side of the river, and the pull of the current wasn't nearly as strong at the side.

Tru felt her foot hit something below her, and she scrabbled with her feet. All at once, she and Uly were both crawling out of the river to lie exhausted on the bank.

Tru coughed hard, feeling like she had half the river in her lungs. She rolled onto her hands and knees, coughing hard enough her ribs hurt. Uly put his hand on her back.

"Ca—can you breathe?" he asked worriedly, though he was breathing pretty raggedly himself.

Tru nodded between coughs. When she finally was able to catch her breath for a moment, she turned her head to look at him. His light brown hair was plastered to his head, the wetness making it look much darker than usual. His eyes were wide, and there was a little cut above his left eye. The blood was running down the side of his cheek, mixing with the water as it dripped off his chin. The whole effect made him look a lot older, and Tru wondered if that was what he'd look like when he was grown up. And she was suddenly very glad she might have a chance to find out.

"Thanks," she said hoarsely.

He shook his head. "My fault," he said. "I'm sorry, Tru."

"'s okay," Tru said weakly. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," Uly said nervously, glancing back upstream. "We went past a bunch of big rocks before we started getting tossed around. I don't know how far down we came. I kinda lost track of things for a while."

"D'you have your gear?" she asked.

He shook his head. "It's probably still sitting where I left it on the raft. You?"

"The same," she said. "Which is probably just as well. At least we won't have to put up with your mom yelling at us about losing the gear."

He snorted. "Yeah, that's going to make so much difference," he said sarcastically. "I'm probably going to be grounded for the rest of my life."

Tru shook her head. It's me she's going to be mad at, she thought. She always blames me when Uly gets into trouble and I'm around.

"I won't let her blame you for this," Uly said, clearly reaching the same conclusion. "I promise."

Tru smiled at him. "Yeah, that's going to make so much difference," she said, though there was enough humor in her voice to take out the sting. She looked around at the beach they'd washed up on. "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," Uly said. "We need to get warm, I guess."

The moment he said it, Tru realized just how cold she was. Her wet clothes were icy against her skin, and she was shivering.

"I don't suppose you know how to start a fire, do you?" Uly said with a less-than-hopeful tone to his voice.

Tru felt at the cargo pocket of her pants. She grinned. "Oh, you bet I do," she said, undoing the self-close and pulling out a laser knife, grateful that the self-close had held up against the pull of the river.

Uly's eyes went even wider. "Where'd you get that?" he said.

Tru shrugged. "Lifted it from Hardy's toolkit," she said.

Uly looked momentarily uneasy, then shrugged, grinning. "Like your dad says, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, whatever that means."

"C'mon," Tru said, getting unsteadily to her feet, and she coughed hard for a few seconds. "Let's see if we can find someplace a little sheltered and some dry wood. Then we'll figure out what to do next."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Uly said, grabbing her arm when she staggered a little.

"I'm good," she said. "It's a little hard to breathe, but it's getting better. But we need to get dry fast."

Uly nodded, and the two of them started climbing the bank away from the river. Tru looked up at the sun, which was definitely getting lower in the west, and then had a horrible thought.

"What?" Uly said, grabbing her arm when he saw how white she'd gone.

Tru started to laugh, but it turned into a rattling series of coughs. When she could breathe again, she smiled faintly. "I just realized, we could have ended up on the wrong side of the river," she said. "But we didn't."

Uly grinned. "Yeah, well, I told you I could swim to the other side."

Tru rolled her eyes. "Fine. I promise, I'll never make fun of you knowing how to swim ever again."

Uly looked skeptical.

"Hey, I didn't promise not to make fun of you at all, just about the swimming thing. Got it?" she said.

"Good," he said. "I don't know what I'd do if you actually started being nice to me all the time."

"Uly!" Devon was yelling, running along the embankment, but he didn't answer.

"Devon!" Julia said from behind her. "Come on, they've gone down past those cliffs. We can't get to them this way. We have to go back—"

"He's not dead!" Devon shouted, whirling to face the doctor.

Julia reared back, holding her hands up placatingly. "I'm not saying he is," she said emphatically. "Uly's a strong swimmer. He'll get them out. But we need to get downstream to help them. We can take the rail west, swing around south the first chance we get, and find them."

"Damn it," Danziger said, breathing hard as he caught up with them. "Damn it! I was so close!"

"He shouldn't have been so close to the edge!" Devon said furiously. "I told him!"

"Devon—" Julia began.

"This is all your fault!" Devon snapped at Danziger.

"Me!?" Danziger said hotly. "What the hell did I do?"

"If you were better about disciplining your daughter—" Devon started to say.

"My—what the—?" Danziger sputtered. "It was your son—!"

"Stop it!" Julia shouted desperately. "Both of you! Yelling at each other isn't going to do Uly or Tru any good!"

Devon looked for a moment like she wanted to continue, but she stopped.

"Come on, we need to get going," Julia said insistently. She slapped at her gear as she turned and ran for the rail. "Melanie, I want you to take a couple of people and see if there's any way you can get south past those cliffs on foot," she said. "Devon and Danziger and I are going to take the rail and see if we can get around them to the west. Stay in touch on gear. And make sure you have some of the terricillin. I'm betting they'll have both gotten some river water in them, and if so, I want you to dose them with that if you can get to them. Ten millligrams, with the hypo. And an immune booster. Got it?"

"Yeah," Melanie said. "Do you have weapons?"

Julia glanced into the back of the rail. "Two mag pros," she said.

"And a handgun," Danziger added, climbing into the driver's seat. "We're good to go."

"Be careful," Melanie said, but Julia had already closed the channel.

It was Uly who found a spot for them to rest. There was a hollow space worn into the rocks behind a clump of trees that shielded them from most of the wind. Tru sat down heavily with her back against the rock.

"You wait here," Uly said. "I'll get some wood."

Tru shook her head and started to get up. "We should stick together." But she was having a hard time getting to her feet, and when Uly put his hand on her shoulder to stop her, she sagged back against the rock.

"I won't go far. I promise," Uly said insistently, and Tru could tell he was worried about her.

I'm worried, too, she thought. She'd been coughing every few breaths for the last ten minutes, and she couldn't believe how tired she was after only a few minutes of hiking. "Okay," she said finally. "Stay close enough I can hear you, though. There's plenty of wood around."

Uly nodded and trotted off under the low-hanging branches of the trees.

Tru closed her eyes, trying hard not to think about how scared she'd been in the water. As annoyed as she was with Uly for getting them into this situation, she was far more grateful to him for saving her from that river. She took a shallow breath, trying not to start another series of coughs. "Uly? You there?"

"Yeah," he called. "I'm fine." He came back moments later with an armful of wood. "This'll be enough for a while, won't it?" he said, setting it down in front of her.

Tru nodded and pulled out the laser knife. She stacked the wood in the little pyramid shape her father had taught her and then turned the knife on and stuck it into the largest piece of wood and wiggled it till the wood started to smoke. She held it there for a few seconds longer, till she saw flames, and then took some of the smaller bits of wood and stuck them into the pile just over the flames. She repeated the process in a couple of other spots until she was certain the fire was going to take, and then turned the knife off and leaned tiredly back against the rock.

"Are you okay?" Uly said timidly.

Tru nodded, afraid to answer because it might start her coughing again. It felt like she had an airlock door closing on her chest. The last few times she'd coughed, the middle of her chest felt like it was on fire.

"Why don't you take off your shirt so it can dry faster?" Uly said, stripping off his and draping it over one of the branches hanging above the fire.

Tru thought about it for a moment and wasn't sure she had the energy.

"Tru?" Uly said.

"In a minute," she said, and immediately started coughing. She leaned forward, hoping that would help get whatever was in her lungs out, but it didn't help. She felt Uly's hand on her back, rubbing in circles, and was absurdly grateful for it, even though it didn't seem to make any difference.

"I'm really sorry," Uly said when she finally subsided. He sounded miserable.

"Stop," Tru said, trying to get her breath. "Can't stay mad…if you keep…doing that."

"Why do you think I'm doing it?" Uly said, and he sounded a little less shaky. "What do you need me to do?"

Tru sat up slowly, trying to keep her breathing steady, then shook her head. After a few minutes of silence, she felt like she could try talking again. "Sorry," she said. "It's a little hard…to talk."

"Yeah," Uly said. "What should we do now?"

Tru shook her head again. "I don't think…I can do much right now," she said.

Uly nodded. "Maybe you'll be better in a while," he said hopefully. He patted her back, then stood up. "I'm gonna get more wood. You're too cold." He trotted off again before she could stop him.

Tru felt a little better by the time he got back with an armful of wood big enough to hide his head. He dumped it near the fire and started to add pieces to the fire, building it till the heat was almost uncomfortable. "That's good," she said. "Save some for later." He looked dubious. "I'm warm enough, Uly," she said, and it was true—her shirt was already almost dry, and the fire felt wonderful. "And I feel a little better now. Really."

"I was thinking," he said. "Maybe, if you think you're up to it, we should try to head back upstream. We can't be that far away, right?"

"You said you couldn't tell how far down we came," Tru said uneasily. "What if we're kilometers away?"

"But we'll get found a lot faster if we're headed back towards the others," Uly said. "We could maybe get part way back before it gets too dark."

Tru shook her head. "We have a sheltered spot here, and we've already started a fire. We're better off staying here until it gets light at least. And even then, I think we should stay here."

"But why?" Uly protested.

"It's what my dad told me to do," Tru said stubbornly. "If I got separated from the group, I was supposed to stay put and wait for him to find me."

Uly snorted. "You, doing as you're told? That's a new one."

Tru glared at him, but before she could start to respond, she was hit by another round of coughing. Uly looked at her, concerned at the wince she gave after the last cough had passed.

"What?" Tru gasped, looking at him and frowning.

"You don't sound so good," he said. "I used to get like that—it's bad when the coughs sound juicy. We need to get you back to Julia."

"I'm okay," she said. "Look, you know they're coming to find us, right? So what'll they do? They'll go as far along the river as they can. If they can get past those big rocks you said we went past, they'll come right to us. But what if they can't, or we can't?" She stopped and made herself take a slow, careful breath as Uly considered that. "They'll have to go around, and we could miss them. Do you really want your mom running around by herself with the Terriers around?"

"She won't be by herself," Uly protested. "You know there's no way your dad would let her go alone."

"You know what I mean," Tru said. "Even if they bring more than just the two of them, they still have to leave people to take care of the camp. What if they run into another bunch of Council guys? Or even just another pack of those hexadents?"

"Okay, okay," Uly said, raising his hands placatingly. "We'll stay here." It's probably good anyway, he thought, suddenly thinking about what she'd said. If Mom can run into Council agents or Terriers or hexadents, so can we. He glanced nervously out at the darkness surrounding them.

"How's Bess?" Valerie asked, coming up to where Toshiko was standing by the Transrover waiting for Melanie to call in.

Toshiko shrugged, blinking back tears. "She thinks it's her fault," she said. "How would you be?"

Valerie nodded glumly. "I'm just glad she didn't go in after them—I really thought she was going to there for a minute," she said.

"She keeps saying she should have," Toshiko said. "God, why did it have to be them?"

"Tosh," Melanie called over the gear. "It's no good. These cliffs just keep getting taller, and the drop-off by the river is too sharp. We're not getting through this way. It's up to Devon now."

Toshiko closed her eyes. "It's okay," she said, hearing the dismay in Melanie's voice. "She'll understand."

"I wouldn't," Melanie said grimly. "But I'll call Julia and let her know. Maybe she can help."

"I'll talk to Yale," Toshiko said. "If anybody can help, it'll be him."

"I'll go find him," Valerie said quickly. "God knows I need something to do." She headed for where the others had already begun setting up camp. They'd gotten Devon's tent up first, and Valerie wondered briefly if they were hoping that might somehow bring Uly back sooner.

"Yale, are you in there?" Valerie called from outside the tent. She frowned when there was no response after several seconds. "Yale?"

"Yes," Yale said, pulling aside the tent flap.

"Sorry," Valerie said nervously. "I just wanted to let you know, Melanie and her team are coming back. They couldn't get through. I thought maybe you might want to talk to Devon when they call in next."

Yale frowned. "There has been no more word from Devon?"

Valerie shook her head. She hesitated for a moment. Yale looked weird, but given how upset everyone in camp was, that might not mean anything. "Are you okay?"

"I am…fine," Yale said. "Call me on the gear when you talk to Devon next." He lowered the tent flap.

Valerie pulled back, frowning, then shook herself. Everybody deals with stress differently, she thought.

Yale turned to stare blindly at his bunk. He'd checked his internal chronometer when he finally noticed Valerie's voice. Ten minutes, he thought fearfully. I've lost ten minutes, and I don't know how.

"Danziger, we have to stop," Julia finally said from the back seat of the rail after they'd been rolling through the dark for over an hour. An hour of angry silence that had left Julia almost ready to scream just to hear something.

"We still have ten percent!" Devon said angrily.

"And we could miss them in the dark," Julia said. "They're smart kids, Devon. They'll find shelter, stay warm, and we'll find them first thing in the morning, okay?"

Danziger slowed the rail, bringing it to a reluctant halt. "She's right," he muttered. "Better to stop while we have a little charge so we can get started early in the morning."

Devon slammed her hand against the roll bar of the rail.

"We'll find them," Julia said, putting her hand on Devon's shoulder.

Devon pulled away violently, climbing out of the rail and stalking away from it to stand staring into the darkness, her shoulders hunched and her arms held tight around her.

Julia sighed, wishing she knew what to say. She was trying to stay hopeful, but she'd seen the strength of the current. Todd could fight his way through it, but Uly? Especially trying to hold onto Tru?

She forced that thought aside, climbing out of the rail and pulling the med kit out. "Let's get a fire started," she said to Danziger. "Maybe, if they're close, they'll see it."

"Yeah," he muttered, and he sounded like he was having the same dark thoughts she was.

Devon didn't move while they got the fire going. Julia thought briefly about trying to talk to her, but she was afraid it would just start another argument. At least as long as she wasn't talking, she wasn't saying hateful things to Danziger.

She'd started to go off again when they got the call from Melanie that she, Todd and Rick were turning back. "Todd wants to try climbing the rocks," Melanie had said, "but it's too steep. And who knows what we'd be looking at getting down the other side. I'm sorry, but we can't get through."

The look of fury on Devon's face when she'd looked over at Danziger had been frightening. "If we don't—" she'd started to say.

"We'll find them," Julia had said, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. "They'll be fine. We just need to focus on getting to them as quickly as we can. Devon, please!"

Danziger hadn't said a word, just started up the rail again, his jaw clenched so tightly Julia was afraid he'd hurt himself. They'd found a way through the steep hills a little while later, and Julia had hoped it might ease the tension, but if anything it had gotten worse as it got dark.

And now Danziger was sitting staring into the fire as though he could reach into it and find Tru. Julia ached for him. It isn't fair, she thought desolately. To get this far without losing anyone, and then to have it be Tru and Uly…

"What was that?" Devon said sharply, backing towards the fire.

Danziger looked up sharply and grabbed the mag-pro at his side. "Get back by the fire, Adair," he growled.

"Be careful," Julia said, picking up the other mag-pro as Devon backed towards them. "It could be the kids."

But even as she said it, she knew it wasn't. She heard the familiar throaty growl of a hexadent, and then all hell broke loose. There were at least three of the hexadents that Julia could see. Two of them sped in towards the fire. Danziger fired at them, and they darted away.

"Goddamn it, Adair, get out of the line of fire!" Danziger yelled. Devon scrambled backwards, and Danziger grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her behind him. "Here!" he said, shoving the handgun into her hands. "Safety off, point, shoot!"

Julia turned as she saw movement to her left, but she hesitated, afraid to shoot anything for fear it could be Uly or Tru. Then she saw flashing teeth, and she fired wildly. She was certain she hadn't hit anything, but the hexadent peeled away, disappearing into the darkness.

One of the hexadents howled in pain after a mag-pro shot, and Julia scanned the darkness for motion, knowing getting one wasn't going to be nearly enough, no matter how good a shot Danziger was.

There was more motion back towards where Danziger was standing, and Julia turned to make sure he was covered. She fired into the night, hoping to scare them off even if she didn't hit anything.

"Julia, behind you!" Devon said frantically, and even as Julia turned, she could hear the movement. All at once, Danziger whirled, lifted the muzzle of his mag-pro up and over Julia's head, brought it down and fired as the hexadent launched itself at her.

It went down hard, not moving, and Danziger glanced back at Devon, who had her handgun pointed at it. "For god's sake, Adair, pull the goddamned trigger next time!" he snapped.

Devon looked stricken, but he'd already turned to scan the dark beyond the fire. Julia made herself do the same, but apparently taking out two had been enough. She could hear furtive movement in the darkness, but it was getting fainter, and after several seconds, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't get cocky, kid," Danziger said, watching carefully. "Those things are persistent." He glanced back at Devon. "Make yourself useful. Take a couple of those branches from the fire and put them out a little farther. We'll make a perimeter with the fire for the night."

Julia winced at his harsh tone, but Devon just nodded, looking sick, and did as he'd said. She gathered some more wood from the nearby brush and added it, slowly creating a surprisingly intimidating line of fire.

Danziger kept his mag-pro ready, making sure she was covered as she worked, and Julia mimicked his approach, keeping her eyes on the darkness, though she knew she was nearly useless when she thought about how quickly he'd moved to protect her.

Once Devon had made several flaming piles a couple of meters around the rail, Danziger finally seemed to relax a little. "Don't make them too big," he said after Devon seemed inclined to create an unbroken line of fire.

"Why not?" Julia asked, thinking the security of the fire would be deeply reassuring.

Danziger glanced back at her, and his expression was bleak. "I'd rather have them thinking they might still have a shot at us…" he said, and then trailed off.

Oh, god, Julia thought, suddenly realizing that if they were still alive, Tru and Uly were out there, all alone, with no weapons, no way of defending themselves at all.

Devon made a strangled noise, and for a horrible moment, Julia was afraid she was going to run off into the night after Uly, but she flung down the last branch she held, turned and looked at Julia. "I'm sorry," she said harshly. "I should have…"

"Oh, don't," Julia said, lowering her mag-pro. "Devon, don't. You—"

"Yeah, you should've," Danziger said tiredly. "But you didn't." He looked at her, his expression stony. "One of these days you're gonna have to, though."

Devon looked at him for a long moment, her expression unreadable, then she turned and sat down by their original fire.

It's going to be a long night, Julia thought.

Tru woke up with her head pounding. "Uly?" she called, not seeing him in their little hollow.

There was no answer. Tru sat up, and immediately started coughing again, so hard she felt like her ribs were going to come apart. The coughs finally subsided, and Tru considered trying to get to her feet, but she knew she shouldn't leave their shelter. The last thing they needed was both of them wandering around looking for each other. "Uly!"

There was a throaty growl from somewhere to her left, and Tru whipped her head around, her heart pounding.

"I'm coming," Uly called from somewhere off toward the river. "Don't worry."

Tru grabbed the laser knife out of her pocket and turned it on. Please, Uly, take your time, she thought, and then she saw the hexadent's eyes.

Uly heard Tru scream. He froze for an instant, and then broke into a run, though he had no idea what he'd be able to do with nothing more than a soggy t-shirt in his hands.

He skidded under the tree branches and nearly toppled into the fire. There was an enormous hexadent lying near the fire, and Tru was underneath it.

"Tru!" he gasped. "Oh, god, please don't be dead! I shouldn't have left—oh, no, Tru! Say something!"

"Not dead," Tru said, her voice muffled. "Get it off!"

Uly carefully set the wet t-shirt on a bare rock, then scrambled over to try to shove the hexadent off her. It took some doing—it was easily as big as she was, and a lot more dense. He found her laser knife was buried to the hilt in its neck when he finally was able to roll it off.

Tru lay where she'd fallen, breathing hard.

"Tru?" Uly said, leaning over her, his hands fluttering. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head.

"Did it bite you? Where? Are you bleeding?" He looked up and down her, but he didn't see any wounds.

"No," she said finally. She looked up at him, and he was shocked to see tears in her eyes. "I'm really tired, Uly."

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry! You were sleeping, and then you started to shiver, even though the fire was hot, and I was scared you were getting a fever. So I ran down to the river to get you some water, and…I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have left you alone!"

"You have water?" Tru whispered, suddenly so thirsty she could barely stand it.

"Yes!" Uly said, grabbing his soggy T-shirt. "Yes! Sorry, it's gonna taste a little like me, and it's unfiltered, but it's the best I can do." He held it for her and squeezed a pathetic dribble into her mouth.

Tru sighed after swallowing.

"You killed it," Uly said, staring in amazement at the hexadent, and then turning to look at her. "All by yourself, you killed it."

Tru shook her head weakly. "It was already hurt," she murmured. "Is there more water?"

Uly was able to get another couple of mouthfuls for her out of the t-shirt. "Thanks," she said. "I really needed that." The relief in Uly's eyes was worth the effort it took her to get the words out.

He patted her forehead with the cold, wet t-shirt, and it felt wonderful. She let her eyes close again.

"It's okay, Tru," Uly said. "Just sleep. I'll be right here. I won't leave you."

Alonzo sat on a rock just outside of the camp, standing watch. There'd been no more word from Danziger on the search for Tru and Uly, and Alonzo had to admit to himself that he was worried about Julia almost as much as he was about the kids. He'd been avoiding her since he'd yelled at her, and a big part of that was because he felt guilty about it.

Let it go, he told himself. But that wasn't going to happen. He really couldn't blame her for thinking what she did. He hadn't done himself any favors by driving off alone in the ATV the way he had—if Hardy had done it, he knew he would have thought he'd gone off to contact the Council the way Julia used to.

And she'd seemed genuinely hurt by the argument. He remembered the look in her eyes when he'd said he loved her. She does care, he thought, in spite of everything. But somehow, that thought just made him feel even worse.

He heard a noise off to his left and whipped the mag-pro around, scanning the darkness. He was about to flip on his flashlight when he heard a voice.

"I don't believe in killing unarmed people," the voice said, and Alonzo recognized it with a jolt. He flipped on the flashlight, and there was Yale, standing motionless a few meters away. He didn't even seem to notice the bright light of the flashlight.

"Yale?" Alonzo said.

"Please, let me help," Yale said, with an unexpected accent completely unlike his normal pattern, but one that still seemed strangely familiar. "If we can get you to the sector four surface airlock—" He broke off suddenly, and turned, raising his hand to shield his face from the flashlight beam. "Who is there?" he said, and his voice was back to normal.

"What do you think you're doing?" Alonzo said angrily.

"I—I do not know," Yale said, and his voice sounded shaky.

"What was that you were just saying?" Alonzo persisted, limping down the hill towards him.

"I said something?" Yale said, and even in the dim light, Alonzo could see how terrified he looked. "What…what did I say?"

"Don't play games with me!" Alonzo snapped. "Why the hell were you playing that recording?"

Yale looked around wildly. "Alonzo, I do not know how I got here," he said. "What recording? If I said something, I need to know what it was. I am not playing games!"

Alonzo frowned. "What the hell is going on?"

Yale looked anguished. "I am becoming unstable," he said. "I keep having blackouts, lost time, and sometimes, I say things. Please, Alonzo, tell me what I said!"

"Something about not believing in killing unarmed people," Alonzo said, blinking in surprise at his desperation. "And getting somebody to the sector four airlock." He looked hard at Yale. "Where is sector four?"

"I don't know," Yale said. "I have to go. I must speak to Julia." He paused, looking even more upset. "No, she is not here." He looked helplessly at Alonzo, then turned and almost ran back towards the camp, muttering, "Perhaps I can reach her on gear."

Could Julia be using Yale to find out more? he thought, baffled by what he'd just heard. He shook his head. No, that makes no sense. If she knew anything about that recording, she'd have confronted me with it directly. But Yale obviously knows everything—the reference to the sector four exit is too specific…and there's no question that was Biko's voice. Even after eighty years, I'd recognize it anywhere.

What the hell is going on? he thought.

Uly jolted awake to the sound of Tru taking whooping, heaving breaths. She had sat up, and even in the dim light of the early morning, he could see her skin was almost blue.

"Tru?" he said, scrambling over to her.

She coughed violently, and she held her arms around her tight, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Tru, look at me," Uly said insistently. He grabbed her by both arms, shaking her slightly.

Tru could barely hear him, could barely think through the hurt of the coughing, but she opened her eyes.

"Keep looking at me, okay? Listen to my voice," he said, holding her shoulders tightly. "I know you're scared. But you can breathe if you calm down. I want you to try to breathe in like you're breathing through a straw." He demonstrated, sipping in air. "Breathe with me like that."

Tru tried, but it was so hard. She felt like she had in the river, like there wasn't any air, just water all around her. She could feel her heart pounding, and her vision started to go gray around the edges.

"Tru!" Uly snapped. "Look at me! Focus!" Tru's eyes wavered, and he glared at her. "Come on, Tru, I was doing this when I was five! This is easy!" He almost cheered when he saw the flash of anger in her eyes. "Through a straw," he said again, sipping the air. He nodded at her encouragingly as she managed to get a shaky sipped breath in. "Now out the same way, slow and steady. Part of the problem is you're not getting the bad air out. Get rid of all of it, okay?"

She blew air out longer than she'd thought possible given how desperate she was for air.

"That's it," Uly said, smiling in relief. "Again. In. Slow."

The next breath in wasn't as slow as Uly wanted, but it felt wonderful, and breathing out was easier. She managed to get two more breaths before she coughed again, but she was able to breathe more evenly after the cough.

"See? Easier, right?" Uly said, squeezing her shoulders.

Tru nodded weakly.

"Keep it up," Uly said. "It usually takes a while to get your heart rate down. Just keep breathing slow, through a straw. Think about your heart beating slower." He smiled weakly at her. "Is there someplace you can think of that makes you happy?"

Tru wasn't sure she could think at all, but she suddenly remembered her bedroom when she was small. Before her mom died. Her dad was getting ready to leave for a long time, and before he left he had decorated the whole thing in pink. It had looked like somebody had thrown up cotton candy. She hated pink, but her dad had been so pleased with himself, she hadn't had the heart to tell him. She'd just stood and stared at the sea of hideous pink.

"Good," Uly said quietly. "Keep thinking about that. Breathe in, slowly. And out."

Pink comforter, and a breath in. Pink bunny rabbit slippers, and a breath out.

"Okay, that's good," Uly said. He reached over and put the last of the wood onto the barely-smoldering fire, then shifted around so he was behind her. "Lean back against me." He put his arms around her shoulders carefully, and she was suddenly so tired she couldn't hold her head up. "It's okay," Uly said. "You can go to sleep now. I've got you."

She tried to keep her eyes open a little longer, to thank Uly for helping her, but she was drifting off in pink clouds. Maybe pink's not so bad after all…

Her head fell back against his shoulder, and he could tell she was already asleep. He could feel her radiating heat, but she was shivering slightly. He reached up carefully, trying not to disturb her, and pulled his shirt off the branch above the fire where he'd hung it to dry. He draped it over her, tucking the sides in around her, wishing he had something more he could offer.

This is bad, he thought, trying to keep his own heart rate from jumping. She needs help, now. Come on, Mom! Where are you?