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Vicki's notes: when I wrote Faith and Illusions I though that was the end. I didn't think I could figure out how to get Devon out of cold-sleep and I hope I have done some justice to that plot twist. Now this is definitely the end ... well, of this particular story anyway. :)
Please do not distribute without the author's permission.
*****
Though the campfire blazed and beckoned, most members of the Eden group did not heed its call that night. At the first hint of darkness they had sought their bunks as they sensed a gruelling path lay before them the next days. Danziger had been driving them hard in the week's time since they'd left the starship; they anticipated him to be unmerciful in his urgency to return to that site.
The few who did huddle around the light and warmth of the flames resembled nothing so much as a group of generals plotting a war campaign. Indeed, there was a war to be fought. It was the battle for the life of Devon Adair.
Their military strategist for this assault was Doctor Julia Heller. Earlier in the day she had advised Danziger that she thought she'd discovered what was wrong with Devon. If she was right, she knew how to release her from her cryogenic sleep and make her well again.
Danziger had immediately announced they would be returning to the starship. He hadn't asked Julia about her findings, or if she was sure that her theories had merit. That unnerved Julia. She knew Danziger trusted her and her abilities as a physician, but he was certainly not the optimist of the group. He rarely moved to follow through on a plan without a great debate over its chances of success. Moments before he had asked her to explain what they had to do to bring Devon back to them. Asked this in a tone that made it sound as though such an endeavour was routine and already proven. Julia was a bit shaken by Danziger's faith.
Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and addressed her findings to him, as well as to Alonzo and Yale who had joined them at the fireside.
"Okay. Well, we know that we were all sick as a result of the problems with Eve and Reilly's system. We know that once we repaired the system we all got well - except for Devon. We got well because of our link to the computer through our biostat chips. It didn't occur to me at first to check Devon's implant. I assumed that because the rest of us were okay, her illness was a result of another influence."
"So her biochip wasn't repaired like the rest of ours?" Alonzo asked.
"No," Julia shook her head. "She was never sick from the chip because she never had one."
"Now hold on a minute," John piped up. "If these implants they've stuck in us are meant to monitor us, why would Alonzo and I and the rest of the ops crew have them, but not Devon? We weren't even supposed to land here and she's the leader of the whole shebang.
"The chips are doing more than monitoring us. They're keeping us alive. You see, Elizabeth was right. The planet is rejecting us. It's rejecting Devon. I don't know how but the implants are acting as a vaccine against this for the rest of us. They are the only reason we are surviving here. All thanks to the Council," Julia said bitterly.
"My God," Yale intoned. "They didn't give her an implant because they didn't want her to survive. They're murdering her."
"This still doesn't make sense," Alonzo said. "The Council did everything they could to prevent us from even getting here. They put the bomb on the ship, and arranged the sabotage of the cargo pod release mechanisms. Why would they go to the trouble of preventing Devon from living here when they didn't think she'd make it this far?"
Julia rested her forehead in her hand for a moment then looked up to meet Alonzo's eyes. "One thing I learned early on about the Council is that they never leave anything to chance. I believe that they decided if their bomb and their sabotage failed and we did make it to the planet, then they would use us to further their research."
"Making us guinea pigs, just like the penal colonists," John commented.
"Right. Which is why everyone, save Devon, was given an implant."
Alonzo still had questions. "But if they wanted to get rid of Devon, why didn't they do it back on the stations, before she got the Eden Project underway?"
"Because to murder her outright, no matter how well they covered it up, would have made her a martyr," Yale said. "It would have caused problems for the Council to dispose of her in such a fashion. If Devon had died while working for her cause it would have generated untold sympathy and conversion toward her ideas. But if it is this planet that kills her, it makes her cause a failure."
"Allowing the almighty Council to step in and declare that only they can lead the way to planetary resettlement," Julia concluded.
Danziger had enough of this talk of Devon being murdered. He stood up and began pacing around the campfire, clenching and unclenching his fists. 'Maybe I'm wrong,' he thought. 'Maybe the hope of Devon's recovery is one big illusion. Maybe the damn Council and the goddamn planet have us beat this time.'
Have faith, John. The words echoed in his mind. Have faith.
He halted his march in front of Julia and looked her in the eye. "So what are you going to do?"
"The biostat chips are what's keeping us alive," she said. "I'm going to give Devon a chip."
******
It had taken them seven days on the road to make it to the spot where they turned around. They made it back to the ship in five.
A tired and bedraggled group of travellers climbed from vehicles and rested on the ground a few hundred metres from the starship. No one made a move to begin unloading supplies or setting up camp. All eyes were on the ship and on John Danziger, waiting to see what his actions would be.
They should have known that his first move would be to get them in motion again.
"Alright everybody! Let's get those tents set up!" He said, and began pulling things from the Transrover.
A few groans were heard but the memebers of the Eden group began getting tom their feet and setting up camp once more.
"At least now we'll finally get a chance to rest," Morgan Martin was heard to comment.
Julia walked over to Danziger and gently placed a hand on his arm. "I'm going to check on her," she said. "Are you coming?"
Danziger gazed at her for a moment. They had forced an enormous amount of pressure on her as being the one responsible for the healing of Devon. She deserved better than some flip remark about his being busy that would usually come out of his mouth at a time like this. She deserved his honesty.
"I don't want to see her like that, in that cold-sleep chamber. I want to see her whole again, and healthy and ready to jump down my throat for the smallest reason. We can't do anything for her tonight, Julia, we need to rest. I'll be there tomorrow when you start your procedures."
Julia made to turn away and then stopped and threw her arms around Danziger in a quick hug. "I'm going to do all I can to bring her back to you, John," she whispered in his ear. Then she released him and strode quickly in the direction of the ship.
******
That night while the camp lay sleeping Danziger reneged on his declaration that he would not see Devon in cold-sleep. He had not meant to. The day they placed her in that chamber he had turned away before the door to her crypt had fully closed. He had wanted to remember her vibrant and lively, not laying entombed in a cryogenic state between death and slumber.
But the ensuing weeks since she'd fallen victim to the planet and the Council's plot had melted that resolve. He needed to see her again, to spend some quiet time with her before daybreak plunged them into a race for the deliverance of her body and soul.
John silently made his way from the camp to the ship, avoiding those on watch. He descended into the ship and sat down in a chair across from Devon's cold-sleep capsule.
She looked at peace, he thought, but encased in the glass confines of that chamber she was far too still to be the Devon Adair he had grown to know, and yes, to love. Devon, his Devon, was full of radiance and full of life. Ever since the crash, since those first days planetside, whenever she'd been near him, hell, whenever she'd been within twenty feet of him, he'd known she was there without even looking up to see her.
Despite himself, John began quietly speaking to her unconscious form.
"Look Adair, here's how it is. The Elder told me in my dream to have faith and so I believe you're going to get better. But you've gotta work with me on this one. When Julia puts that thing in you tomorrow, you've gotta fight. Not just for your life, but for me, and for that kid of ours that I saw in my dream. I want that future, Adair. I'm gonna do my damndest to make it happen. I know I'm not very good at telling people how I feel but if you promise me you'll fight, I'll promise you this. If I'm not able to tell you how I feel on the way to New Pacifica, the moment we hit its shores I'll tell you. Hell, I'll tell the whole group how I feel. I'll tell them that I love you."
John's voice choked with his last words. He had not before said those words in regard to Devon even silently to himself, never mind uttering them aloud.
Stillness came over the ship again as John sat gazing at the cold-sleep capsule, willing Devon to somehow understand that she needed to fight to survive.
His quiet reverie was shattered by the sound of soft footsteps coming down the ladder of the ship. In the dimness of the room, lit only by the light of Devon's capsule, he saw a small figure place a hand on its door.
"Uly," he called softly.
The boy jumped in surprise, thinking he was alone in the room. He whirled around, eyes wide, then visibly relaxed as he saw who had spoken to him.
"I wanted to see her again," Uly said, explaining his presence.
"I know, kid. Me too." John smiled at him. "C'mere." He gestured Uly over to him.
Uly moved across the floor and John hoisted him to his lap. His brown eyes large and trusting, Uly asked, "Is she going to be okay, Mr. Danziger?"
"We have to believe she is, buddy. We've got to have faith."
"I want her to come back to us," Uly said. He bit his lower lip. "I like having you take care of me, but I want my mom back too."
Uly's bravery in the face of his obvious devastation pulled at John's heartstrings, but also made him feel proud of this boy who was not his son, but whom he had come to care for as such.
"We're gonna get her back. I think we both need her."
John was granted a small smile from Uly. "When she gets better, will you still take care of me sometimes? Like when she's busy or something? I'd like that."
"I'd like that too," John replied, pulling Uly closer to him. They sat in silence for a long time until sleep gradually claimed them both and carried them dreamless in its gentle clutches until dawn broke the night sky.
******
Julia had been up before dawn, readying her equipment and reviewing the information she had been given by Elizabeth about the biostat chips. She understood the composition of them but did not have the means to manufacture one, so she would be implanting the one they had removed from Ebon into Devon. It was a risky procedure, but Julia knew that right now it was Devon's best and only chance for survival.
She made her way to the ship at first light and climbed down into its hold. Though daylight had broken outside, within the ship it could still be midnight, as the gloom was broken only by the glow of Devon's crypt and the small winks of light from various control panels. Julia was about to power up the main lighting units when from the corner of her eye she spied two figures asleep in the lone chair of the room. She stopped, letting her eyes grow accustomed to the faint light until the forms of Danziger and Uly were recognizable.
Julia decided to leave them to finish their rest and had turned to tiptoe back out of the ship when Danziger's voice stopped her.
"Morning, doc," he said, eyes still closed. He shifted Uly slightly in his arms, causing the boy to wake.
"Uh, good morning," Julia replied. Uly opened his eyes and looked at her.
"You're going to make my mom better today, right?" he asked.
That the question was rhetorical was obvious from the look on Uly's face. His expression was one of anticipation and expectation. He was not wishing for success but believing it to be inevitable.
Julia glanced at Danziger for a clue as to how she should formulate her reply. She was not sure that Uly's faith was necessarily a good thing, should the worst happen and she were to fail. Yet, she longed to agree with him and carry the unwavering surety of a child with her as she tended to her patient.
With a slight nod from Danziger, Julia broke into a smile. "Yes Uly," she said, "today we're going to bring your mom back to us."
Uly clambered off of Danziger's lap and went over to throw his little arms around Julia. She returned the hug and then gave him a pat on the back. "Why don't you go and see if your breakfast is ready?" The boy scampered off and out of the ship, not worried at all, only awaiting his mother's return.
Rising from the chair to stretch his large frame and work out some of the kinks caused by less than luxurious sleeping arrangements, John asked, "So, when are we starting?"
Julia was unpacking items from her kit and checking the ship's med bay readout systems. "Don't you want to go and have some breakfast, or at least a coffee, first?"
"Nah. I want to get this done. The only reason I slept at all last night was because it was the best way to kill some time while waiting."
"Well, I have to get everything set up and then we have to wait for Alonzo and Bess."
John gave her a questioning look. "What are they going to do?"
"Alonzo knows the cold-sleep first generation systems on this ship better than anyone, considering he used to fly Venus class cruisers. Bess is going to assist me with Devon."
"Why Bess? I'm not goin' anywhere, I can assist."
Julia paused in her work and looked at him levelly. "Bess is assisting me because she has the ability to stay calm under pressure. If there was any way I could bar you from being present during this operation I'd do so. But short of putting a magpro to your head I know I'm not going to be able to get rid of you. But you really shouldn't be here. You're far too emotionally involved."
"We all are." John frowned at her.
"No," Julia said. "Not like you." She put up her hand to forestall his response. "Don't worry, John, your secret's safe with me. But you'd be a fool to keep it a secret from her forever."
John gave her a thunderous look but she was saved from what she knew would be an explosive denial by the arrival of Alonzo and Bess. Julia set Alonzo to work checking on the cold-sleep systems while she reviewed with Bess what she had taught her about the med bay's diagnostic monitor.
When all checks had been completed Julia prepared her instruments for the coming battle. Everyone was suddenly silent, offering up their own personal devotions for Devon's safe return.
Bess softly laid a hand on Danziger's arm. "I'm going to say a little prayer for her, John. Would you like to join me?"
"You say one for me, okay Bess?"
She nodded and bowed her head.
Julia took a deep breath. "Okay Alonzo, start the cycle."
The relative silence of the ship was instantly shattered by the sounds of the cryochamber regeneration starting. Alonzo and Julia both fastened their eyes on the control panel as the pod went through its process of warming Devon's body and bringing her systems back up to speed.
The door to the crypt hissed open and Devon gasped for a lungful of air before her body went limp and was swept up into Danziger's firm hold. He quickly spun around and placed his burden on the med bay's examination table.
He laid her out gently and rested her head in his large hand. Though he heard those around him speaking he was not in tune with what was said, as his eyes and his senses remained focused on Devon. Her chest rose and fell erratically and she struggled with her breathing. Julia turned Devon's head sideways in order to inject the life-giving hypospray into an area at the base of her skull.
The instrument shot the minuscule biostat chip under Devon's skin and the hopes of the Eden group for her survival were carried with it.
Julia ran the diagnostic sensor over Devon's body while Bess called out the readings to her.
"She's not improving," Julia said, more to herself than to the others gathered with her. "It's not taking hold!"
The diagnostic sensor was abandoned for the more modern and precise indicators of her diaglove. Julia frantically checked her readings and then asked Bess for another hypospray she had earlier prepared.
"I've got to increase the chip's movement to her cortical stem," she said as she injected Devon once again.
John lowered his face to Devon's and began whispering in her ear. "C'mon Adair, fight. You've got to fight for this. Help us out here!" The words of encouragement were repeated over and over again.
"Julia!" Bess cried. "Look, she's stabilizing!"
A glance at the monitor confirmed Bess's pronouncement. Julia watched as the readings showed Devon's life signs levelling off from their downward plummet and then steadily climbing towards an acceptable plane.
John drew back from Devon and watched her face. Her eyelids fluttered and then she slowly opened her eyes to blearily look upon him.
Weakly, she reached a hand out to grasp his shirt and then pulled him down toward her. His face an inch from hers she fought to speak. "Shouldn't you be..." A cough racked her body but she managed to fill her lungs with air once more and continue. "Shouldn't you...be...on your way...to...New Pacifica...now?" She gasped as the exertion of one simple sentence took hold of her and her hand flopped wearily to her side. But upon her lips a small smile played as she sank into a sleep from which they knew she would awake, once rested.
John raised his head. Julia, Alonzo and Bess were graced with the biggest smile they had ever seen cross his face.
"She's back!" He beamed at them.
******
The rate of Devon's recovery was astounding Julia. She still didn't fully understand how the biostat chips protected them from the planet and she knew that the study of this phenomenon would be a priority for her. In all of her medical training and practical work she had never seen a speedier regeneration of the body's systems.
For the first two days since her release from the cold-sleep capsule, Julia had barred everyone from the med tent where Devon rested. By the third day, however, both patient and the impatient Eden group were clamouring for visiting hours to begin. Julia conceded to allowing one person in at a time for a half hour period, with an hour long rest for Devon between visits. She conceded to this as she knew how much the group needed to see Devon whole again and she conceded to this because she knew that headstrong as she was, her patient would likely take it upon herself to get up and try to march out of the med tent if Julia vetoed the idea.
Uly, of course, as well as Yale and John were not bound to these rules and were free to come and go as they pleased. It was at the end of Alonzo's half hour visit that Uly came running into the tent to tell his mother about the new VR game that Yale had programmed for him.
Alonzo watched as mother and son exchanged a long hug before Uly raced out of the tent to find True. Both Adairs were beaming with joy and obviously feeling euphoric from the realization that death hadn't managed to close a door between them.
"It's beautiful, you know," Alonzo said to Devon, "that bond between parent and child. I just hope one day I'm able to experience it." He cast a quick glance at Julia who suddenly became busy organizing her work table.
Devon smiled at the former pilot. "I'm sure you will." She cocked her head and looked between him and Julia questioningly. "Do either of you have twins in your families?"
Alonzo started choking on the sip of coffee he had just swallowed. Julia walked over to him and aimlessly pounded him on the back, her attention focused on Devon. "What makes you ask that?"
"I don't know," Devon shrugged, mystified at their reaction to her innocent query. "Just a thought I had."
That evening Devon begged Julia to allow her to go outside and join the group around the campfire.
"Alright Devon, you can come outside for a little while." Julia shook a finger at her. "But you have to promise me if you start to get tired you'll come in to bed. I'm sending someone in to help you."
"Send John in, please," Devon asked.
When Danziger's large frame filled the doorway of the tent, Devon motioned him in. He had only visited her a couple of times, briefly, since she had been revived and Devon wanted a moment with him, alone. She had some matters that needed attending to.
"How you doin', Adair? You sure you shouldn't be resting tonight?"
Devon laughed and John loved the sound. "I think I've had more than enough rest in the last little while." Her expression sobered. "Seriously John, I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all that you've done. You kept the group together, you started for New Pacifica, then you came back and helped bring me back to all of you. And you took care of my kid."
Impulsively, Devon threw her arms around his broad shoulders. What she had meant as a quick gesture of gratitude turned into something more, however, as John wound his arms around her in return of her embrace.
Devon rested her head lightly on his shoulder and marvelled at the familiarity of the position. Certainly, she had never been this close to John in such a manner before. Yet as she felt his hard body through the shirt and jacket he wore and locks of his hair tickled her arm, she felt no novelty in the sensations. It was as though she'd been held in his arms like this many times before.
To John she felt as she did the last time he had held her, when he'd held her in his dream. Her hair brushing the side of his cheek, her body soft beneath his hands, the chemistry between them wreaking havoc on his senses.
Devon sighed and whispered, "Thank you, John. Thank you for taking care of Uly. You don't know what it means to me. He's my only child, the only child I'll ever have."
Though she couldn't see it, a smile wreathed John's face. "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
Devon pulled back and looked at him in wonder. His eyes shone down at her and she thought that she could very well lose herself in those orbs that were as blue as she envisioned the ocean of New Pacifica to be.
She had just found her way back to the group after being lost in the darkness of cold-sleep; now she needed to get them back on track before she could let herself get lost in the light of Danziger's eyes. She averted her gaze to rest upon his cheek and the ragged gash there, almost healed.
A finger moved to his face, not quite touching the wound. "That's going to scar," she said.
John sighed and dropped his hands from her waist. "Yeah, I know."
Devon's brow creased as she looked at him. "You got that the day Julia figured out how to revive me."
"How do you know that?" John asked, perplexed.
Devon's eyes widened. "I don't know, I just do."
"Did Julia or someone tell you about it?"
"No, no one did." They stared at each other as John remembered the power of a dream and Devon tried to recall a murky vision from the recesses of her mind.
"Maybe you overheard someone talking about it. You ready to go outside?"
Devon nodded to indicate that she was ready but knew that her knowledge of John's wound had not been overheard but had come from a memory that she could not quite reach.
******
With Uly ensconced on her lap, Julia keeping a careful eye on her, John at her side and the rest of the Eden group around her, Devon sat nestled in blankets at the fireside. Its glow had beckoned to all that night and they had come to rejoice in the fact that one of their number, once thought lost, had been returned to them.
The jubilance of the evening could not last long though, as Devon knew the reason for her presence with them and its impact on humanity's future on G-889 had to be discussed. For she, as well as the rest of the Eden group, were beholden to the Council for their very survival on the planet. The Council had made itself a saviour they could not easily forsake.
"Julia, there's something I don't understand about the biostat chips." Devon began. She hated seeing the grim expressions her statement was rewarded with, but it was a topic that they would all have to face and a topic that they should face together.
"If Elizabeth helped design the chips, then why was she so devastated by the thought of us trying to settle the planet? Bennett was ready to let us die in order to prevent us from attempting to live here and Elizabeth almost went along with him. She went to her grave begging me not to attempt colonization on this planet."
"I don't think Elizabeth knew that the chips had the power to ward off the planet's rejection of us," Julia said. "She only helped design them. The Council apparently made some modifications she never knew about."
Baines broke into the discussion. "So we have the Council to thank for keeping us alive? After they tried to blow us up on the ship? And now they're going to be able to monitor us forever?"
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to be a puppet that has the Council pulling its strings," Morgan said.
"What about all of those people on the colony ship?" Magus asked. "Will they have the implants as well?"
"Julia," Yale began, "do you have the ability to manufacture these biostat chips should they be required?"
"Not right now. But they might not be required," Julia replied. "For any of us, eventually."
The group went silent. "What do you mean, Julia?" Devon asked.
"I've been studying everyone's chips over the last couple of days. In some of you it appears the need for the chip is not as great and as a result the chips themselves have actually reduced in size."
"You mean they're shrinking?" Morgan said. "Why?"
"I think it's the Terrians," Julia answered. "Interaction with the Terrians may gradually bring about an acceptance by the planet. Their dream plane is visited through the mind. Each time someone visits the dream plane the planet gives a bit of itself to that person. That bit of the planet begins to break down the biostat chip, as its vaccine is no longer as fully needed."
"But I visited the dream plane," Devon said. "It didn't help me."
"I don't claim to fully understand all this." Julia held up her hands. "I'm just working with a theory right now. But I think that in your case you did not have the initial vaccine so the impurities of the planet, the part that will not accept our life forms here, went straight to work attacking your systems. It was just a fluke that you started showing your symptoms when the rest of us did."
"If the planet has the power to break down the chips then how can the chips protect us from it at the same time?" Bess asked.
"Again, I don't have all of the answers. Maybe the part of the planet that we gain from the dream plane acts in conjunction with our own systems to break down the chip. All I can confirm for sure is that in some of us the chips are quite a bit smaller than in others. In Uly, the chip is almost non-existent. Alonzo's is significantly reduced. In the rest of us, the chip shows no change - except for John."
Danziger furrowed his brow. "Huh? I've never been on their dream plane."
"No." Julia shook her head. "But when you were inhabited by the ancient Terrian the phenomenon took place through your brain. It had an impact on the chip."
"So the more involvement we have with the Terrians, the more communication we have with them, means the better chance we have of being fully accepted by the planet," Alonzo said.
Julia nodded in agreement.
Devon gathered Uly in her arms and spoke to the group, meeting the eyes of each person in turn. "So if we embrace the planet and all of its creatures, then it will welcome us in return. We will no longer be indebted to the Council. Through cooperation, and understanding, there is hope for the future of humanity here after all."
******
Yale had left the campfire earlier and was just now coming off of his watch. At this late hour only two people remained seated beside the dying embers. Devon and John. As Yale passed by them, though they couldn't see him in the darkness of the night, he overheard part of their conversation.
Devon was asking John what made him decide the group should return for herand how he had known that Julia's cure would succeed.
John was smiling. "I had faith, Devon. I couldn't accept that we had lost you, so I had to have faith that we'd get you back. Besides, I didn't think you'd had your fill of nagging at me yet."
"Not by a long shot." Yale heard the laughter in Devon's words. "Faith is good John. It keeps us striving to attain our goals. But you have to have hope, too. Hope lets us surpass those goals to build an even brighter future."
Their words reminded Yale of an old biblical passage that was stored not in his data files, but in his heart. Softly, he intoned the words to himself.
"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
His footsteps paused and he turned to look again at Devon and John, wrapped up in the company of each other. He nodded his head once in their direction, smiled, and then continued on his way.
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