Earth2: Robin-a-Tumble Story: FISHER OF MEN

"Those people have no sense whatsoever. They have no idea of the possibilities this planet offers. And they never listen to sound advice. I told them we should check out that cavern at the top of the hill. But no, that Adair woman wants to move, move, move. She's always pushing us so hard. And then that Danziger character. That man is as stubborn as a ... as a..." He couldn't think of a proper comparison for the mechanic.

Well, forget about them. He was going to make sure that he and Bess would be better off once they would return to the stations. No more groveling in the face of Level 5 bureaucrats. No more tiny cubicles to live in. No, all that would be different when they got back. And his father -- too bad the man would be long death. It would have been worth all the trouble this planet could throw at him just to see his father's face upon discovering his son had it made!

He wasn't really watching where he was going and unexpectedly found himself caught in a dense bush, large thorns tearing at his clothes and skin. Ouch, that hurt! Suddenly he stopped trying to break free. What was that? He heard noises twigs creaking, a branch snapped. Someone or something was with him here in the bush. "Oh God," Morgan thought to himself. "I sure hope it's not one of those creepy Grendlers again..."

[Part 1]

By: Melanie McManama

"Morgan! Morgan!" Bess called, frustration sharpening her tone. It was just like her husband to disappear the moment she wanted to talk with him. Bess had seen the determined look on his face as he stomped away from his conversation with Devon, and she wanted to make sure he didn't do anything rash.

Not that she thought he would deliberately cause trouble; he'd learned a harsh lesson from that incident with the Geolock. She knew Morgan had wanted to delay their departure that afternoon to check out the cavern at the top of the next hill, and could only guess from his angry expression that Devon had been against it.

Bess let him stalk out of camp, convinced he needed a little time by himself to blow off some steam. His disappointed anger would fade, and he'd forget why it seemed so important to explore every nook and cranny of this new planet.

But a half-hour had passed, and the colonists were stirring from their lunch break. Denner and Cameron were repacking the group's food supplies. Danziger was double-checking the solar panels on the 'Rail.

Bess could not raise him on his gear; he had left it behind when he went to talk with Devon. So, she had to resort to calling for him as if he were a child. She could only hope that he hadn't taken it upon himself to explore the caverns without Devon's consent. Well, Bess would just have to go after him before the Adair woman noticed he was missing.

"Bess, do you want to give me a hand changing Mazatl's dressing?" Julia spoke from behind the Earth woman, halting her. She hesitated, glancing in the direction Morgan had gone off. She hated to abandon him to Devon's ire. But Julia had been instructing Bess on various first-aid techniques, as well as teaching her how to use the diaglove, and she had been practicing on Mazatl, who had lacerated his hand just yesterday.

It had been Yale's idea to have a backup in case their physician was incapacitated or too busy to treat more than one patient at a time, and Bess had eagerly volunteered to be that backup. As an Earth res, she never had the money to attend medical school. And once she had married and moved to the stations, Morgan had convinced her that being the wife of a Level 4 bureaucrat would keep her busy enough.

Now she had a chance to become a useful, productive member of Eden Advance, and she looked forward to helping out with the Syndrome children once New Pacifica was established. Morgan wasn't the only member of the Martin family who could recognize a golden opportunity when he saw it.

Seeing her hesitate, Julia asked, "Oh, were you busy?" Bess shook her head quickly.

"No, I was just about to go find Morgan and tell him camp's about to move on." Julia nodded in understanding. It was hard to keep secrets in a small group like this; she had not missed the altercation between Morgan and Devon. She could guess what the argument was about: Morgan had probably hatched another get-rich-quick scheme and Devon was opposed. Bess probably wanted to find him and talk some sense into him.

"Maybe Alonzo could look for Morgan," Julia suggested tactfully. She had noticed that of all of the men in the camp, Morgan seemed to get along with Alonzo best of all. In fact, though each member of Eden Advance had come to accept Morgan -- with varying degrees of success -- Alonzo was the only one Julia would count as Morgan's "buddy". Bess must have thought so as well, for she nodded slowly.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll ask Alonzo if he doesn't mind, and then I'll meet you and Mazatl in the med-tent."

Alonzo traipsed through the underbrush in the direction Bess said she'd last seen Morgan. Though the Earth woman had warned him that Morgan might be in a bad mood, Alonzo wasn't worried. The government liaison had a tongue that could literally shred someone to pieces. But the sarcasm, Alonzo understood, was just Morgan's self-defense mechanism when he felt the rest of the colony was ganging up on him.

"Morgan?" Alonzo called. The rest of the colony would have good reason to gang up on him if he held up their departure. If Alonzo didn't find him soon...

A glint in the distance caught the pilot's eye, but when he turned toward the anomaly, it vanished. He reached for the jumpers attached to his belt and trained them in the direction, hoping for another glimpse at the mysterious object. If it was Morgan, he was way off course and too far away from camp.

Suddenly, Alonzo's breath caught in his throat as his jumpers brought the object into focus. "My God," he murmured, too stricken to say anything else. For a long moment he simply stood there, wondering if his imagination had conjured this mirage for him, if his longing had conspired with his mind to play tricks on him.

It was real, he decided excitedly. Forgetting all about the colony departing on schedule or finding Morgan Martin, Alonzo started off through the thorny brush.

"Alright, everybody, calm down!" Devon raised her voice to be heard over the colonists. The buzz died down to an uneasy murmur. "Bess, Julia, what makes you think that Morgan and Alonzo are in danger?"

Julia held up her hands in a calming gesture. "I didn't say they were in danger. I just know that they are missing, and that we can't raise either of them on gear."

Bess ignored the young medic's attempt to placate the colony with optimism. "Morgan isn't wearing his gear," she supplied. "Maybe Alonzo isn't, either. But even if they were, I don't know if they'd be able to answer. When Julia and I went looking for them, we found this."

[Part 2]

By: Lahaylia St. James

Bess held up Alonzo's jumpers. "We found them on the ground, almost hidden in the bushes. Alonzo must have dropped them."

A ripple of excitement ran through the crowd, and Danziger shouted, "Shut up!" as loud as he could. Everybody went quiet.

Devon held up a hand. "We'll divide into groups and split up to look for them." She began pairing people off.

Unfortunately, Julia ended up paired with Devon. She didn't like Devon, and Devon didn't like her. Julia didn't blame her. Devon was very protective of Uly, and of her plans to colonize this planet, and Julia, at one time or another, had threatened both. It did not surprise her that Devon didn't trust her; Julia was quite sure that Devon would never like her.

It was a good thing, then, that they were totally focussed on finding Morgan and Alonzo. It kept the two women from getting into a humongous argument, and worrying about Devon's opinion of her kept Julia from worrying over Alonzo. Horrible imaginings flooded the back of her mind, and her preoccupation with Devon prevented her from doing something incredibly childish, like curling up in a ball and crying.

*What if he's hurt, or lost, or dead? What would I do? He's the only -- I never had the chance --*

Julia followed Devon's gaze down into the valley. About two hundred meters away were two figures, indistinguishable as human or not, alive or not. Just two figures, out of place in the forest landscape.

She broke into a run, scrambling down the hill toward them. Behind her, Devon had her gear out, and was calling for help.

The teams, which had spread out across the entire valley, converged on that one place in the woods. The entire group, except the children and the team that had remained behind to guard the camp, clustered around the scene. They blocked the light, and Julia had to push some out of the way so that she could work. Some were horrified, some still in shock, others watched Julia closely and wondered what had happened, and if they were to be the next victims. Bess, held back by Danziger and Devon, sobbed.

[Part 3]

By: Sue Sadler

"You'd better bring some lifting gear as well, this crystal scans as being very dense. I don't want to risk dropping them."

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like this. My diaglove won't scan through it. It's only recording the crystal and that has a configuration I've never encountered before."

Danziger turned back toward the camp. "I'll be as fast as I can." With that, he strode off.

"Wait!" Devon called. "Until we know what happened to Alonzo and Morgan, no one should go anywhere on their own."

Devon watched the two figures disappear into the distance. It was something to do that took her mind off Bess sobbing as she knelt beside the figure of her husband, running her hands along the crystal. She didn't want to see the bureaucrat's face again. See the terror plainly visible in his eyes, the hands raised to ward off whatever caused this phenomenon.

A hand touched her shoulder, breaking her reverie. "You have to do something. They're starting to panic."

And she wasn't? Why did everyone assume she could cope with everything that happened? That she could take every strange event on G889 in her stride and find a solution. Didn't they realize there were times she just wanted to lie down, cry and let someone else take the burden for a change?

She looked around. No they didn't. They expected her to be the strong one. To set an example. The one to tell them... what?

"OK people. Danziger and Baines will take about 15 minutes to be back with the rail. I don't want to waste the time or the light. I want you to fan out and circle the area. Then we are going to search the vicinity for anything unusual. Footprints, pawprints - anything that doesn't belong to us. Stay in pairs and don't go out of sight of this spot. I don't want any more casualties. If you hear, see or smell anything unusual, stop and withdraw. We don't want any heroes. Is that clear?"

There were assorted nods and muttered comments as the Edenites moved out, glad to have something to do. Which left Devon with Bess and Julia, neither of whom she felt qualified to comfort. Bess was protective of her husband and had never hidden the fact she disliked Devon. And as to her relationship with Julia... that was at best a truce.

She sighed and turned to see how the others were doing when she spotted something almost hidden by the undergrowth. Stepping toward it she heard a voice in her head.

[Part 4]

By: Emily Foster

Devon stood and walked toward the form in the bushes as if in a trance. Julia, startled that she would just leave without saying anything, called out to her.

The group's leader shook her head, trying to clear it. She was disoriented. How did she get so far away from Julia and Bess? She headed back toward the women, still confused.

"I'm not sure. I thought I saw something," she said dazedly. The image of the thing in the bushes was fading quickly. She wasn't even certain anymore that she had actually seen anything.

Before she had a chance to answer, Baines and Danziger arrived with the Rail and a hoist. The rest of the Edenites were called back in to help get the two crystallized men back to camp. They worked quickly but carefully.

In the med-tent, Julia feverishly tried to evaluate the condition of Morgan and Alonzo. But the crystals were impenetrable to her diaglove. She was still unable to determine if they were living or dead.

"Why don't we just break through this stuff and get them out?" Danziger asked impatiently. He had been hovering over Julia's shoulder since bringing them back.

"It's too dangerous. We don't know if this stuff is keeping them alive or if it will cause more damage if we break the surface." Her frustration was mounting.

"We have to do something. They can't stay like this," wailed Bess. She was once again becoming weepy.

"Devon, please take Bess outside," requested the doctor. She was getting a headache, and listening to constant 'suggestions' from the rest of the crew wasn't helping.

"That's a good idea. Why don't we..." Devon stopped mid-sentence. She appeared to be in a hypnotic state. It was a minute before anyone fully realized what was happening. She had been taken into the Dreamplane.

She had been there once before, but that was drug-induced, and Alonzo had been there to guide her. This was different. The Terrians had brought her there on their own. They desperately needed her to understand them.

When she snapped out of it suddenly, she turned to the bodies of the two frozen men and said, "We have to get them to the cavern on the hill now! We don't have any time to lose."

The crew did as they were told. Morgan and Alonzo's crystallized bodies were once again packed onto a vehicle and taken to the mouth of the cavern where they were unloaded gingerly.

"You'll see," she whispered, as she turned expectantly toward the cavern's entrance.

[Part 5]

By: Nicole Mayer

A Terrian erupted from the ground, right on schedule, still causing most of the group to jump back in shock. Only Devon did not seem surprised. The Terrians had shown her that Morgan and Alonzo's only hope lay with them. Devon trusted the Terrians implicitly on this.

From the shadows of the cavern, more Terrians shifted into view. The first Terrian walked first to Alonzo's frozen body, placing one hand above where the man's heart was. Closing his eyes, the Terrian appeared to be assessing Alonzo's state. The crystal glowed briefly, not quite long enough for Devon to judge if it was caused by energy or a reflection from light elsewhere.

The Terrian tilted its head and looked at Devon, softly moaning. Devon stared back, her eyes wide open and her hands held out, palms upward. "I don't understand," she said. "What do you want me to do?"

"He's asking your permission," piped up Uly from the back of the group, where he was under Yale's careful supervision. Yale allowed his charge to walk forwards and Uly did so, slowly, deliberately, with the Terrian wiseness that still managed to frighten Devon. "They want to help Alonzo, their contact. They will also help Morgan."

"Then it's fine, tell them it's fine, Uly," Devon said hurriedly, not waiting to discuss it with her companions. With each passing minute Bess and Julia (although she did not show it as much) were growing more distraught as the men they loved were suspended from the living world.

"What kind of danger, Ulysses?" asked Yale. The small boy crinkled up his nose and then trilled at the Terrian, who replied in kind. A rapid period of trilling followed as each species tried to understand the other.

Finally, Uly returned his attention to his mother, looking defeated. "I don't know," he sighed worriedly. "They tell me two things - the danger from afar and the danger within. They must conquer the first to defeat the second. But they cannot conquer the first because they don't have that power." Again, Uly had adopted the role of a wise advisor.

Julia, however, was not convinced. "How do we know to trust them?" she burst out, frustrated by the lack of answers. "We're basing our decisions on the fantasies of one little boy!" The attack on Uly, while not deliberate, served only to raise Devon's ire.

Glaring at Julia, Devon said, "My son is the best chance we have to free Alonzo and Morgan. God knows, your diaglove and great medical knowledge wasn't much help!"

Her mouth gaping open, Julia just looked at Devon for several long seconds. That was a low blow, both of them knew it, but the knowledge did not change the situation one bit. Finally, Julia spoke. "You know what, Devon? I'm tired of listening to you all the time. I'm tired of your damn crusade. And I'm tired of you not giving credit where credit's due." She stalked closer to her adversary. "Who do you think pulled you out of cold sleep? You owe me, Devon Adair."

"I owe you?" Devon replied incredulously. "I'm the one who let you back into this group after you betrayed us!"

Things were about to get very ugly when Yale stepped forward, knowing that the women weren't in VR this time. "Devon, Julia, listen to yourselves!" he cautioned. "We need to work together to find the best way to cure Alonzo and Morgan. We cannot allow ourselves to become distracted by petty issues."

They weren't petty issues and everyone knew it. However, Devon also recognized the truth of Yale's words. "You're right," she admitted. Speaking to Julia, she said, "I'm the leader of this group and you need to respect that." Devon rudely turned her back. Julia grabbed her shoulder.

"I will. But know this," Julia said, a parting shot, "if Alonzo dies, I am holding you responsible." With that she stalked back to camp, determined to re-run her earlier scan data and see if she could come up with a cure.

Embarrassed, Devon looked at the ground for a while. The altercation with Julia shouldn't have happened. They were both upset, worried - errant emotions had a way of forcing themselves to the surface in circumstances such as this. Only Yale's gentle hand on Devon's arm forced her to take stock of the current situation. "We need to make a decision, Devon. Should we let the Terrians take care of Alonzo and Morgan for us? They certainly seem to know more about the situation than we do."

"I want to trust them," Devon admitted, both to herself and the group. She returned her attention to her son. "Uly, is there anything we can do to help?"

"You can't interfere with the ceremony. All you can do is keep the danger away."

Devon didn't know what that meant. She did know that she wasn't going to risk any more people exploring the countryside alone. "We can scout the area and look for what did this," she slowly announced, gratified to see Baines and Walman nodding. "And we can trust Morgan and Alonzo to the Terrians."

There were no nods of affirmation this time; however, no one voiced their disapproval either. Devon turned to face the Terrian, still patiently waiting after all this time. "You may take them," she said. "I trust you."

The Terrian looked at her for one long minute, before crying to his companions. Similar responses came. The decision was made.

Forming a circle around the two crystallized men, the group of Terrians emitted a low, haunting moan. Bess emitted a stifled sob at the sound. Before she could do anything else, the Terrians extended their arms and then sank into the ground, pulling Alonzo and Morgan with them. The earth quickly closed over their heads, and Bess' final image was Morgan's distraught face, still trapped, within the crystal.

It was late and the group were gathered around the campfire. All afternoon they had carefully searched the territory, hoping to find anything out of the ordinary that would give a clue to what had happened. But there was nothing.

Looking over the faces lit by the dancing flames, Bess felt a pang in her heart. Their numbers were constantly dwindling and she was hoping and praying with every second that Morgan would be returned to her soon. Since the Terrians had returned to the ground, taking their loved ones, there had been nothing. They had vanished without a trace and not even Uly was able to contact them.

Bess was beginning to wonder if she should have trusted Devon on this matter. Julia certainly didn't - she was constantly shooting dark glances at their fearless, decisive leader. The recent trials had only brought to the forefront the simmering protests that had been brewing for quite some time.

As if Devon had picked up on the waves of dislike coming towards her, she suddenly got up and walked deliberately away from the campfire. Danziger got up for a moment and followed, placing one hand on her shoulder, which was quickly shrugged off. Bess watched as Danziger, defeated and perhaps with a touch of a bruised ego, returned to the fireplace to continue his own brooding.

Staring at the flames, Bess wondered what it would be like if everything were to burn...

...and Devon marched on, called again by the voice in her head. "Yessssssssss. Come." This time, this time, she would.

[Part 6]

By: Melanie McManama

For a long moment he lay still, willing his garbled senses to quiet down and work properly. He felt cold and stiff from lying on the ground. Something hard was jabbing him in the small of his back... a rock, perhaps. He took a deep breath, and his nostrils filled with a dank, earthy scent. His ears detected the faint and far-off plit-plat of dripping water. He was in a cave, then.

He searched his memory for the reason he had apparently gone to sleep in a cave, but could remember nothing past walking through the brush, looking for Morgan. No, wait, he could remember seeing it, far off. The ship. A very large L-class freighter, in fact. He had been so excited about his discovery that he'd taken off in pursuit, heedless of the thorns that tugged at his clothing and the rocky terrain underfoot.

Only, it hadn't been a ship. And by the time he realized that he'd been chasing a will-o-the-wisp, the cleverly designed illusion had done its job, drawing him into the spider's den, so to speak. He'd fallen prey to ....

Here his memory failed him. All he could recall were violent flashes of light, the feeling he was being suffocated... and the terrible sounds of his own screams. Suddenly panicked, his mind clawed its way back to consciousness, and he sat bolt upright.

The movement made his head spin alarmingly, and for a moment nothing but gray spots danced before his eyes. He cradled his head carefully in his large hands, lest further movement split it asunder. Gradually the jackhammer eased back from his skull, and the pain faded to a dull ache. His eyes became adjusted to the dim lighting of the cavern, and when his vision cleared he saw the young man.

He was crouched unmoving before Alonzo, so still he might have been carved of stone. Or carved of clay, the pilot amended, noting the thick coating of mud and dust that coated his companions skin.

The young man was unabashedly naked, his only adornments a roughly fashioned necklace of polished stones, and a sort of armband of twisted vines. His hair was slathered with mud, obscuring its true color. It was cut short on top, standing up in jagged quills. The rest was uncut, separated into a dozen long, thin pigtails that trailed down his back. The young man's eyes, like the rest of him, were a somber light brown. Those eyes regarded Alonzo with a mixture of curiosity and expectation.

"Wh... where am I?" Alonzo asked hoarsely, shocked at the feebleness of his voice.

The young man cocked his head slightly to the side, reminding Alonzo forcibly of the Terrians. The pilot glanced around and noticed an ornately carved staff leaning against the cave wall behind the young. The boy's likeness to Terrians, it seemed, was not merely in Alonzo's imagination. The pilot thought suddenly of Mary, the human child the underground dwellers had adopted out of compassion. Here, it seemed, was another. He wondered why Mary had not mentioned that there were other humans living with the Terrians, then dismissed the thought. Maybe she had not known.

"What am I doing here?" Alonzo gathered his feet beneath him to rise, but was immediately assaulted by a wave of dizziness. "Whoah," he muttered, falling back onto his seat.

"Careful." The young man made a steadying gesture. "You have been... asleep... a long time." His words were oddly stilted, yet spoken in a kind of lyrical singsong. "Water," he advised, pressing a flask into Alonzo's hands.

The mention of water made the pilot realize suddenly how thirsty he was. He tilted the flask up, greedily draining the water. He did not pause for breath until it was empty and his thirst slaked. He handed it back to the young man, who stared at him unblinking.

"What happened to me?" Alonzo asked. His body felt stiff and battered. His fingers were numb with cold.

The question seemed largely rhetoric; the naked savage before him seemed to know already. But Alonzo dutifully searched his memory, sensing the importance behind the inquiry. He wondered briefly if he were on the Dreamplane even now, but discarded the idea. It may have been awhile since he'd visited the metaphysical realm, but he knew what it was like and he knew this wasn't a dream. Not a Terrian dream, at least.

He shook his head in answer to the young mans question. "I don't remember any dreams lately. Who are you, anyway?"

The young man glanced at him obliquely, and whatever emotion Alonzo glimpsed in that look was enough to make his blood chill. "Don't you know me, Alonzo?"

The pilot shook his head. "I don't..." he began, but something in the set of the young barbarians chin made him pause, and suddenly he did know.

The young man, his friend, nodded. "You have been asleep a long time," he repeated without irony.

Alonzo was staggered. When he'd left Eden Advance, Uly had been a gangly youngster who barely came up to Alonzo's waist. This young man before him, though doubled over in a crouch, looked at least as tall as Alonzo, if not taller. Though still lean, the breadth of his shoulders hinted at more growth to come. The planes of his face were firm and angular, having shed the pudgy curves of boyhood. The Uly that Alonzo had left had been a few years shy of adolescence; this young specimen before him showed every sign of having reached the peak of manhood, perhaps only a year or two younger than Alonzo himself.

But it was. Somehow, the fidgety nine-year-old, Devon Adair's cosseted son, had grown into this strapping young wildman. The likenesses were too many to be coincidence. Intuitively, Alonzo knew it to be the truth. But knowing something and accepting it were two very different things.

"No, Uly, I... it can't... you..." Vaguely aware he was stuttering, Alonzo trailed off. He shut his gaping jaw, and with as much dignity as he could muster, dragged himself to his feet. The mature version of Uly rose with him, offering a steady hand to the rattled pilot. Alonzo found his tongue again. "How?"

"You were snared by an arach-fisher," the elder Uly explained. "There weren't many in existence then, and even fewer now. They lure their prey by projecting an illusion of what the victim most desires. For some creatures it is food, for others, an object of wealth. For some, it is a hypnotic voice. Who can say what it will be for the next? But the fisher always knows."

"It was a starship." Alonzo wasn't sure if he was telling Uly what vision had appeared to him or if he was trying to convince himself that he had really seen the shining freighter in the distance. In either case, it didn't seem to matter to Uly. The young man went on with his story.

"You were encapsulated in a tomb of the arach-fishers making. It stores its prey inside a crystalline membrane that is all but impenetrable. The prey exists in a kind of stasis -- not dead, yet not alive -- until the fisher is ready to devour it. Only time -- or the arach-fisher -- can free one from the crystal coffin."

Alonzo shuddered. He was glad his memories didn't include a vision of what the arach-fisher may have looked like; his imagination was sufficient to leave him with nightmares for the rest of his life. "I was looking for Morgan," he began.

Uly shook his head. "He was asleep too long. The body cannot live without the soul."

"Your consciousness had a place among the Terrians," Uly told him. "You lived through us."

Under all this, he felt a deep undercurrent of grief. Morgan had never been a popular person by Eden Advance standards, but the pilot felt a certain kinship with bureaucrat. Morgan had been a friend, a co-worker, a fellow human being. Alonzo wondered idly how Bess had taken it. That thought prompted him to ask --

Again, an oblique look from Uly as the young man regarded him. Alonzo reflected that Uly had become more like the Terrians than Alonzo had thought possible -- speaking in riddles, avoiding direct questions with that infuriating nonchalance. Seized by the thought that something had happened to his Julia, Alonzo leaned forward and grasped Uly by the upper arms.

Uly stepped back, coolly shaking off Alonzo's fevered grip. He gazed at the pilot for a moment, then, with what amounted to a shrug, he turned and beckoned Alonzo to follow.

Alonzo followed. His joints ached excruciatingly, as if filled with sand, and his muscles screamed in protest. But he stayed close on Uly's heels, lurching painfully, staggering occasionally. When he reached Julia, he could stop. He would throw his arms around her, bury his head in the crook of her neck, and never move again. She would comfort him; she would nurse him back to health with that mixture of brusque efficiency and unguarded tenderness he found so endearing. She would hold him and everything else would work itself out in its own time.

By the time the pair reached the mouth of the cave, Alonzo's muscles had loosened up a bit, but his lungs were aching, and his legs were beginning to shake with weariness. He glanced around at the terrain outside, blinking his eyes against the glare of the late afternoon sun. Uly was not finished walking, though, and Alonzo hurried to catch up with him.

"I don't remember this place," Alonzo panted, scrambling after the young man. "Has Eden Advance set up camp near here?"

Uly did not answer but beckoned Alonzo on and began climbing a small, grassy knoll.

"Hey, I said Where is everybody?" Alonzo called at the bare expanse of mud-spattered back before him. He was both annoyed and unsettled by Uly's taciturn behavior. "I want to know -- oof!" He brought himself up shortly when Uly stopped suddenly in front of him.

Alonzo thought the young man was finally listening to him. "Where is everyone?" he wheezed, doubled over and out of breath.

Uly's answer was a broad sweep of an arm. Alonzo's gaze followed the gesture to the base of the knoll.

"No," Alonzo whispered. His knees buckled beneath him and he staggered, but managed to stay upright. "Oh, no, no."

Eleven small crosses, roughly fashioned from slim, straight branches, were spaced out at regular intervals below. Though Alonzo had been raised on the stations, where such matters were handled in a much different way, there was no mistaking what he was looking at: it was a cemetery.

With a sound between a groan and a shriek, Alonzo pushed past Uly and tottered down the hill toward the grave markers.

It was nearing dusk when Uly finally approached Alonzo again. The pilot was sitting at the base of the knoll, contemplating the names etched clumsily into wood: Mazatl, Cameron, Baines, Bess, Devon, Yale, Magus, Walman, True, Danziger... Julia.

As Alonzo watched, Uly came down the hill, carrying another marker of wood. He said nothing as the young man chose a spot near Bess marker and drove one end of the cross into the ground. Morgan's name was carved into it, the fresh white of naked wood showing clearly against the darker bark. The other names had faded due to time and the elements of nature, but each image burned into Alonzo's consciousness just as starkly.

Satisfied with his handiwork, Uly stepped back and regarded the makeshift cemetery.

"You already buried Morgan?" Alonzo could not see any fresh mounds of dirt that would signify a new grave.

Uly moved to Alonzo's side and crouched down, unconsciously adopting the Terrian pose.

"I don't know how long its been," he began reflectively. "The months are different, here; the years are not the same. I have long ago lost track of even the passing of days. But it all started that day Morgan went missing, and you went looking for him.

"Eden Advance found your bodies, still trapped in the arach-fishers crystal. Apparently, the fisher had not been hungry enough to eat you right then, and had moved off in search of other prey. Our group fell victim easily enough." Here, a trace of bitterness crept into his voice.

"Why didn't the Terrians help, if they knew about the arach-fishers?" Alonzo asked.

"They tried, Alonzo. They contacted my m-mother." More emotion showed through this crack. Uly quickly composed himself and went on. "The plan was simple enough. When the fisher got hungry enough, it would have dissolved the cocoons encasing you and Morgan. Then the Terrians would intervene and Eden Advance could rescue you. In the meantime, the Terrians would guard your consciousness, to keep you whole.

"But Mom didn't understand the message. Keep danger from afar away; we will fight danger from inside. The Terrians wanted to starve the fisher enough for it release you and Morgan. And that meant Eden Advance keeping other prey from blundering into the fisher's trap, as well as staying out of the way themselves.

"None of us understood, at the time; maybe you would have understood." Uly gazed reflectively at Alonzo for a moment. Then, shaking himself a bit, he went on. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. I think maybe we were doomed to begin with. We doomed ourselves."

Alonzo started at the bleakness he detected in the young mans voice. "What do you mean, Uly?"

"We weren't a group any more. Devon and Danziger had begun to argue about the wisdom of trusting the Terrians; Julia blamed Devon for not getting you back; Bess trusted no one. Everyone was fighting. In the end, it was easy for the arach-fisher to pick them off, one by one. When the Terrians realized we couldn't even help ourselves, let alone help fight off the fisher, they gave up and left the survivors to fend for themselves."

Alonzo felt a surge of anger. The Terrians, with their "tough love" approach to the colonists, had all the compassion of snakes. "What about you, Uly," he challenged. "You survived. Surely you could have helped your mother."

The look Uly shot him was brimming with anger and sadness. "She was the first to go," he spat, and Alonzo felt immediately ashamed of himself. He waited for Uly to recover himself.

"By the time the Terrians came to me, there were only three of us left: me, Mr. Danziger... and Bess. The Terrians offered to take the three of us away, to safety. But Danziger... I think he was mad with grief by then. He'd lost my mother. And he'd lost True. He said he was going after the fisher and he was going to kill it if it was the last thing he did."

"And Bess?" Alonzo didn't want to hear what had happened to her. He could tell from the carving on her cross that she had been gone a long time. But he had to know.

"She was never fully convinced that Morgan might come back. I don't think he would have, either. He never dreamed with us, like you. His spirit moved further and further away every day. I think Bess somehow knew that. She said she couldn't stand seeing him like that every day and not be able to touch him, or talk to him.

"She went back to the surface, one night; back to the old camp. When I saw she was gone, I went looking for her. I thought she might have gone to find the fisher, like Danziger. But she wasn't looking for revenge; she just wanted it to end."

He had found her still-smoldering body amidst the charred remains of the Martin tent. A melted hunk of components that had been a VR set was nearby. Bess had gone back to her husband the only way she could. Lying on her cot in the tent she and Morgan had shared, she plugged the VR recording of their wedding into her gear and had danced again to the swinging, swaying music while the flames licked at her dreaming body.

"So, now its just us," Alonzo mused. He closed his eyes, envisioning a small, rough-hewn marker with his name on it, and wondered that he should be spared.

"There are the penal colonists." Uly's tone was wary. Alonzo opened his eyes and saw the younger man staring intently at him. There was the unspoken fear in his gaze that Alonzo, too, would leave, and he would truly be alone.

"All right, Uly. Where do we go now?" He eyed his young friend critically. Uly seemed completely at home with the Terrian way of life. But Alonzo could not travel through the earth like Uly, and wondered if he would feel completely comfortable living underground for the rest of his life. "What about New Pacifica? Surely they've set up the colony by now."

Uly nodded slowly. "They have," he admitted. "But I can't go there." At Alonzo's questioning look, he went on. "I don't feel right, being with them. I don't feel... whole... with them."

Alonzo thought he understood. It had been the same with Mary. Without her family, she lost all but a little of her humanity. She became more Terrian than human. Uly had been without human companionship for many years. Perhaps, with Alonzo's help, he could bridge the gap between the two species again. But perhaps not.

For a long moment, Alonzo stared at Uly. He was plainly torn between finding his own kind and staying with the boy who'd once been his friend. Uly saw the struggle on his face, and softened.

Alonzo stood. "Ill come back and visit," he promised. "And if you ever change your mind about going..."

Uly stood on the knoll, staring across the horizon. A warm wind blew over him gently, and he imagined, as always, the ghost of his mother in that breeze. Despite his association with the Terrians, who much preferred living underground, Uly still took pleasure in the wide expanses and unbroken skies aboveground. He had stopped watching for Alonzo's return, but he still came to the surface for sunsets.

There was a slight tremor, and a Terrian rose through the soil to stand next to the young man. It let out a quiet, warbling trill.

"Thanks, my friend," Uly said in reply to his companion. "But I have long since become accustomed to doing this alone." He fiddled an object in his hands. That was one thing his association with the Terrians never seemed to erase, that part of him that fidgeted. A nervous habit, he supposed.

Uly shook his head, not in denial but in uncertainty. "I don't know why they do it. I suppose its human nature. And no, not even humans fully understand human nature."

"I suppose he found New Pacifica," Uly answered neutrally. "After all, that's what he was looking for."

"Maybe its not so bad," Uly countered. "Whether it was Julia, or the starship, or New Pacifica... he found whatever it was he wanted most. And maybe that's not such a bad way to die."

Uly knew the Terrians didn't fully understand death; he doubted that they ever would understand what it meant to humans. He made a dismissive gesture to the Terrian and started down the hill. He wanted to do this alone, as he had done for the others. He no longer remembered the words Yale had used to inter Broderick O'Neill and Eben Synge. But he remembered other parts of the tradition.

He pushed the point of the marker deep into the soft earth. Alonzo Solace, the legend read. Very carefully, Uly hung the pilot's leather flight jacket, found just yesterday near the lair of the arach-fisher, across the short crossbar of the grave marker.

Then he turned, truly alone now, and trudged back up the knoll to rejoin his companions beneath the surface.

Disclaimer: the E2 Robin-a-Tumble stories are based on the Amblin Entertainment/Universal Television series Earth2. All characters are owned by the original creators. The Tumble is only for fan purposes and does not have the intention to infringe on any copyrights.

FISHER OF MEN

[Teaser]

[Part 1]

By: Melanie McManama

[Part 2]

By: Lahaylia St. James

[Part 3]

By: Sue Sadler

[Part 4]

By: Emily Foster

[Part 5]

By: Nicole Mayer

[Part 6]

By: Melanie McManama