Home (1/?) by Nic (stardestiny@bigfoot.com) February 1999. INTRO: I thought it was about time I posted something with a plot. :) Here you go, something well away from the vignette/sappy romantic types of fiction I've been posting lately. "Home" was inspired by my recent, magical trip back to the town of my childhood. I don't want to beg, but PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! Disclaimer: The characters and situations contained within are the property of Universal/Amblin Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended. HOME ---- G889 loomed in the darkness, like a safe haven so many years away. Home. That was the first thought that came to Devon's mind as she stared at the distant planet; its light shining weakly, beckoning her onwards. A huge smile broke out over Devon's face. This was it. She was almost there. She could hardly believe it. "It's been nine years since I left. Nine years since that bastard Reilly came to New Pacifica and dragged us back to the space stations under the threat of nuclear bombardment if we didn't face the consequences of our actions. Nine years since the trials began, the trials that went on forever. And finally, I'm going home. It feels so strange, for not everyone is returning with me. Some of my friends have forgotten the good times - the magical times - we had on this planet. But not me. I've dreamed of this place a thousand times over, it was the only thing that kept me going through the hellish trials and afterwards as I tried to build a life for myself again." Devon closed her eyes, pausing the entry in her gear-log. As she remembered the leaving of G889, she shivered. The scars ran deep, so deep, and despite her current joy at being home, she could not forget the darkness.... *** It was True who first noticed the star. Ever since the colony ship had arrived, True had become moodier, more withdrawn. Her father consoled himself with the idea that she was becoming a teenager and it was only natural that she would distance herself from him and everyone. He hoped her sadness wouldn't last. One result of True's change was her desire to spend time alone, just walking. Although Danziger didn't approve, she often walked at night beneath brilliant double-moonlight, singing to herself, worshipping the beauty of nature, and struggling to understand her place in the universe And one night, she noticed the star. It was new in the sky and very bright. True couldn't understand how she had failed to see it before, unless it had only just been born. That idea both frightened and awed True and she spent several hours just pondering the mysteries beneath the night sky as her father fitfully tried to sleep and stop worrying about where she was. As dawn approached, the star grew brighter and True realised that no sun would ever move in such a way. She decided to ask Yale about it after a few hours' sleep. Her teacher, who was in fact, the only teacher in New Pacifica, appeared suitably interested and assigned True a science project on tracking stars and their motions. When she protested that the star didn't match anything on known maps, Yale replied that perhaps she was mistaken. If she was right, however, then she might have discovered a new comet and it could be named after her. True watched the star for a few nights, seeing its light grow brighter, and began to believe that she had found a new comet. She amused herself with names for it: Comet True; and when she found another one it would be called Comet True Two. True felt quite pleased with her little joke and continued to make notes as best she could. The next night it wasn't there at all and when no one would listen to her story of the star that had briefly lit up the heavens (they were all too busy and didn't care about her, she thought sourly), True forgot all about it. Only months later did they realise what it meant. One night Julia thought she saw the telltale light of an orbiting satellite which Alonzo convinced her was a shooting star. There weren't any ships, apart from Reilly's, above G889 and the insane computer hadn't bothered them in over two years. Julia had dropped the subject because a part of her was still humiliated that she had been so easily duped by a computer program. Uly, too, saw shooting stars that went across the sky at regular intervals. He made a wish on each one and, so that his wishes would come true, didn't tell anyone at all. So, when the inevitable arrival came, New Pacifica was completely unprepared. "Greetings, Citizen Heller," was the first thing Reilly said when he stepped out of his ship which had just landed smack in the middle of the small town at New Pacifica. "How you have changed." Julia was seven months pregnant with her first child and upon hearing Reilly's words, her husband Alonzo moved protectively closer to her. "What do you want, Reilly?" Julia snapped as Devon held a hand up in a peaceful gesture. "Julia, let me handle this." Taking centre stage as always, Devon walked slowly towards Reilly and said, "I'm surprised you're still operating. Is Eve here as well?" Devon was completely unafraid of what she considered a holographic image that could do her no harm. The space ship parked behind him had no obvious weapons therefore Devon saw no threat from that either. "Eve?" Reilly asked. Then a sinister smile curved across his lips. "Oh, the computer. I switched her off as soon as you were cured. She served her purpose." "Quit the games, Reilly," snarled Danziger from a further distance away. "We know what you are and we know that you can't harm us. This place is our home and we don't belong to you or your Council." Reilly's smile grew even wider as his gaze slid from Danziger to Julia and then Devon again. "I find you are gravely mistaken. The time has come for you to pay for your insolence." Reilly fixed his eyes on Julia and took a menacing step forwards. "Did you think the Council would forget your disobedience? Did you believe you would be allowed to live on without paying for your crimes?" Julia shivered, noticeably, and Alonzo wrapped his arms around her. "You can hide no longer," Reilly continued, now parading back and forwards in front of the group that was growing larger by the minute as more townspeople got over their fear of the unknown ship and approached to witness the upheaval. "I am here to take you," he pointed at Julia, "and you," this time he pointed at Devon, "back to the space stations where you will be tried and punished for your crimes." "Reilly, cut the crap," Danziger interjected in a bored tone. "Just how do you think you're going to do this?" Devon shot Danziger a *look* which meant "shut up!" but Danziger, as always, ignored her advice and marched right up to the smaller man. "As I see it, you're one little lightshow against a town of people. Somehow, I don't think you're going to get very far if you dare even touch one of my friends." Yet even with the full fury of John Danziger in front of him, Reilly began to laugh. "Haven't you been watching the skies?" he crowed. "You really have no idea, do you. You think you're the only ones on this planet?" "Reilly," Devon interrupted in a calm, clear voice, "We know there are penal colonists here. We've met them and we've taken precautions against them. I don't think they could get near New Pacifica without us knowing, much less enter the town and harm us." "Devon, I'm not talking about the penal colonists." Reilly paused his pacing in front of her. His hand snaked out and tilted her chin so that she was looking directly into his eyes. "I'm going to enjoy getting to know you on the trip back." Danziger's fist shot out and connected with soft flesh. Surprised and hurt, but trying his best not to show it, Reilly jumped away from Devon and snarled, "You're going to regret that, drone." Staring at his hand in surprise, then up at Reilly, and then back at his hand again, an uncomfortable feeling suddenly began to grow in the pit of Danziger's stomach. He glanced over at Devon and when he met her eyes, his fear was confirmed. Reilly was real. And if Reilly was real, then how much of what he was saying was true? In the meantime, Reilly had backed away and was returning to his ship. He had accomplished his mission. Sure, it had been a little foolhardy to come as advance warning, and alone, but he had wanted to see their faces when the rebellious colonists finally learnt that their time in paradise was over and they had to pay for their sins. "Be seeing you," he waved just before he closed the hatch. A stunned township watched the ship take off and the irrevocable sense that their lives had changed forever wafted over each and every person. *** Devon Adair immediately called a meeting of the town's advisory committee and invited several members of Eden Advance, for they were the only ones who knew who Reilly was and what he was capable of. Julia was still white and shaken. For so many months Reilly had haunted her dreams. She had never put the incident behind her - perhaps a small part of her subconscious had known that it wasn't over; she could never truly escape the Council. Their web extended everywhere. She watched quietly as Devon conferred with Yale, obviously waiting for something before she began the meeting. That something strolled in five minutes later, still nursing his hand. Danziger had obviously punched a good wallop. Smiling at Danziger (Julia wondered just when would they realise how they felt about each other?) Devon called the meeting to order. "We all know why we're here. Reilly. Apparantly, he isn't the computer we thought he was. More than that, he knows where we are and seems to think that other people do too." "He sounded like he had an army waiting for us just over the hill," Danziger said darkly. "Maybe he does," interjected Julia in a small voice. "I - I thought I saw a satellite recently." When Alonzo heard this and remembered that night, a regret-filled frown filled his face. "Maybe after we escaped the Council sent a ship after us and now it's arrived." Nodding gravely, Devon said, "That's one possible scenario. But do you really think the Council would expend so much on a small group of renegades? Let's look at this realistically. To arrest us, the Council would need to subdue more than four hundred people in New Pacifica. Agreed?" Danziger immediately said, "I'm not letting them take you without a fight." He then looked at Julia. "Or you, either." Thanks, John, Julia thought darkly. Then she realised that his sentiments were true of most of the community, he was just a little more focussed on Devon than on the rest of them. "What if they have superior firepower?" Alonzo said the one thing Devon hadn't wanted to consider. "The Council had money. They could afford any weapon on the market, including those that weren't available through legal channels. For all we know, they could have a lazer pointed at us right now!" A clamouring of voices broke out at the statement and Devon only regained control by slamming her hand down on the wooden table. "Quiet!" she bellowed. "We know that the Council wanted this planet. But it was more than that - they wanted the link. They wanted Uly. Even though there are hundreds of children who have been healed by the Terrians now, it's still my son who is the link. No one can explain it but it's true. I don't think the Council would risk destroying him simply to punish us." Devon took a deep breath before she continued. "I believe the Council wants to make an example of us. As I said before, they want control of G889. By taking New Pacifica's leaders away, those who remain will have infinitely more respect for the power of the Council. "I don't believe they came here with our arrests in mind. We're a small group and not worth the effort. Over forty years would have passed by the time they got back to the stations with their arrests." "You don't know the Council," protested Julia. "They can't comprehend one of their own breaking away. It's my fault, I should never-" "Julia, no one's blaming you," Devon said softly. "I was the one who left the stations under a no-go. If we had stayed and exposed the truth about the bomb, then maybe things would be different." As Julia heard those words, she was overcome by a sense of danger, a sense that the words were eerily prophetic. Shaking her head briskly as if to purge dark memories, Devon announced, "So that's one scenario: After we escaped, or even before that, the Council planned their own mission to G889 with colonisation and control in mind. They arrived recently and have decided to make an example of us. Reilly is all too pleased with this turn of events and couldn't resist coming here today to taunt us." Several nods met her statements. "Any other ideas?" Devon threw the floor open. For a while, suggestions were offered and debated, each gradually worn down as the colonists realised that the Council wouldn't have come to G889 for them personally. Even Morgan, feeling particularly paranoid, reluctantly agreed with Devon's hypothesis. "Now, any ideas on what we should do?" she asked. "I'm not going back," Julia said immediately. She reached out and grabbed Alonzo's hand for support. Memories of her dark childhood on the stations were flooding back, when she couldn't escape the forboding shadow of the Council. "I can't go back. Don't let them take me." "And what about me?" Morgan, who had been silent throughout the whole meeting, finally contributed to the discussion. "I was Council too, remember? What if they decide that I was involved with the desertation? What if they want to take me back?" "No one's going to be taken back," Devon declared, her blue eyes flashing protectively. "So we plan for war?" Danziger asked. There was pain in Devon's face as she shook her head. "I always believed things could be resolved peacefully. The Council is reasonable. It's Reilly who's vindictive, Reilly who wants revenge." "Don't forget that the Council tried to blow us up!" Julia burst out. "We don't know that for sure," Devon said wearily. She was losing control of the meeting and even her position as head of the colony wasn't helping. As several continued to protest, Devon finally burst out "Okay! You may take actions to *protect* us." Devon was looking at Danziger as she said this. "But there will be no instances of unprovoked agression. We don't know what's going on here and I suggest we find out more before we start to plan another war." Many people seemed disappointed with Devon's decision yet wisely did not challenge it. They drifted to their respective homes and wondered how life had changed so quickly. *** The colonists watched the heavens that night, hoping to see traces of ships or satellites that were surely orbiting G889. Alonzo dragged the sky monitoring system, used to track the colony ship, out of retirement and began to scan the skies. Julia sat close by her husband, her arms closed protectively around her stomach. Her earlier fear of Reilly had passed and in its place was a quiet acceptance. She should have known there was no escape from the Council. They would come and take her back and it was justice. She only hoped that her baby would be okay. Besides the Solaces, few others had been allowed to remain near the telescope. Devon didn't want pandemonioum throughout New Pacifica. There was nothing she could do about people in their own homes discussing the situation and looking for satellites, but she wasn't going to allow the fiasco to grow any more than necessary. Morgan, Yale, Danziger and two ex-flight crew memebers were all she permitted at the site. Devon herself stood a little apart from Alonzo, discussing the situation with Danziger and Yale. Yale revealed True's investigation into a "star" some months earlier and displayed her assignment. Danziger was very impressed. "I am very sorry I did not recognise this for what it was," Yale apologised. Devon lay a gentle hand on his arm. "Don't blame yourself, I understand how busy you've been," she replied. "If this is anyone's fault, it's mine. I should have realised that other colonists would be on the way and set up some kind of surveillance program. I never thought they'd be here so soon!" "Devon, it's not your fault," said Danziger soothingly. "No one could know-" "I found something!" burst out Alonzo and the conversation was forgotton as they raced to the monitoring system. The scan program Alonzo had been running was beeping insistently, announcing it had found an unknown body. Peering through the telescope, Devon saw a bright light. "A ship?" she wondered aloud. "I think so," Alonzo replied. "It's not a satellite - the scanner's reading it as several light years away. It's definitely coming towards us, too." He hit a few keys, muttering, "We should be able to zoom in on it, give us a better idea of what we're up against...there." He politely pushed Devon away from the telescope before anyone else had a chance to look through it. "Here we go," he said. Several long moments ticked by as everyone held their breath. Finally, Alonzo swore as he pulled away from the telescope, yet his voice was filled with awe as well. "What is it?" Devon asked. "That's not a ship," he replied darkly. "It's a space station." --- END 1/?