Danziger keyed his gear. "Morgan! Lonz! Are you there?" Hiding behind a large moss-covered rock, he risked a quick peek up the forested mountainside, making sure his magpro was ready. He couldn't see any movement in the falling light, but that didn't mean Paul wasn't up there. His gear beeped and Alonzo's voice came back.

"Yeah, what's up?" the pilot asked.

"Encrypt," Danziger said.

Alonzo traded a confused look with Morgan, who was kneeling a few feet away by a perimeter monitor they'd just installed, but Alonzo pressed a few buttons on his gear, setting it to an encryption pattern the Edenites had worked out months ago for use in emergencies. Morgan did the same. "Encrypted," Alonzo said. "What's going on?"

"Trouble. We had a Council goon on the colony ship. We caught him sabotaging the comm dish, but he shot at some people and ran. We're after him. Where are you?"

Morgan slowly stood up, his eyes wide. Alonzo just looked grim. "About two klicks from New Pacifica," he answered. "Grid reference..." he snapped his fingers at Morgan, who hurriedly unfolded their map.

"Nine-oh-five northeast," Morgan said. "Danziger, where is this guy? Who is he?"

"Hang on," Danziger said, glancing at Devon and Baines. He didn't like having Devon along for a possible firefight, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. She'd been with him when Paul had opened fire on some of the newly-arrived colonists and stolen the data chips, and she had rushed into action by his side without a second thought. Now she stood behind a tree holding a pistol. At least she'd learned how to use it during their cross-planet hike, he thought grimly. "Where is he now?" he asked.

Zero's head, slung onto Baines's back, said, "Paul Baxter is currently 150 meters distant and still moving quickly up the mountain. The chances of us overtaking him on foot are very low."

"Let's go!" Danziger said, leading the way up the mountain again. The others followed.

"Did you guys get that?" Baines asked over his gear.

"Up...the mountain..." Morgan said, thinking about Zero's words. "You mean...up this mountain?" He gulped. "The one we're standing on?"

"Paul Baxter is headed in your general direction," Zero replied calmly. "I have traced your signal, and he will miss you by about 50 meters if he continues on his present course."

"Are you guys armed?" Danziger asked.

"We have one pistol and a flare gun," Alonzo answered.

"Morgan, Alonzo," Devon said, "is there any way you can help us? Can you stop Paul, or at least slow him down? You're above him and he probably doesn't know you're there."

"We'll do our best," Alonzo said, cutting off Morgan's wide-eyed protestation. "Just give us the reference, Zero."

"Just be careful," Danziger said. "Paul's got a gun. I don't know what kind."

Alonzo and Morgan got the directions from Zero and ran downhill as fast as they could, hoping to find a spot from which they could ambush the Councilman. The sun dipped near the horizon as they went, its final whispers of daylight filtering through the treetops.

Since the forest wasn't thick they made good time, and they soon reached the top of a natural rock wall about four meters high. It continued to their right as far as they could see, but to their left the wall jutted out sharply into an outcropping which was just barely beginning to break up into cracked, moss-covered boulders. The wall presumably continued on its other side, although they couldn't see. Immediately below the wall the trees were more scarce than usual.

They lay flat and looked down into the forest. Even with encryption, they didn't dare use their gear until they felt they had to, knowing that Zero would have warned them if Paul's course had changed.

As he slowly craned his neck over the wall, Morgan caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He did a tiny double-take and found himself staring at a bird about a meter below and slightly to his right, calmly sitting in a nest perched on a small shelf. It stared back as if to say, "What the heck are you doing up there?"

The bird was bright red with a yellow crest. Its head tilted from side to side in quick, jerking movements, but its gaze didn't falter. Morgan stared back for a few seconds, then finally blinked. The bird did a little jump and shrug of its wings, as if to say, "Hmmph. What is the world coming to?" It tried to turn its attention to more interesting things, but it had to look back at Morgan a second later, as if to reassure itself that yes, the strange creature was still there.

Alonzo nudged Morgan and nodded below. Morgan looked to where he was indicating and saw the figure. He had blonde hair and wore a tan coat and what looked like a heavy, bulging backpack. He was climbing the hillside with great speed and strength despite his wiry frame, causing Alonzo to wonder if he had been cybernetically enhanced. If he was a Council agent, it was almost a certainty.

Alonzo nodded to Morgan and closed his eyes. With a sigh of apology to the bird, Morgan aimed the flare gun at a spot directly in front of Paul, closed his own eyes and fired.

The flare hit almost perfectly, exploding a few meters in front of Paul and blinding him. He snarled and shielded his eyes with his arm, but by then it was too late.

Alonzo fired the pistol off to one side and shouted, "We have you surrounded! Stop or we'll open fire!" It wasn't exactly the truth, but he hoped it would work. He couldn't bring himself to shoot the man without warning, no matter what he'd done.

Baines, Devon and Danziger saw the flare's glow and heard the shot further down the mountain, along with the squawking of a bird who sounded furious. Although they were breathing hard, they pressed on.

Paul bared his teeth, and in the dying light of the flare Alonzo honestly couldn't tell if he was grimacing or smiling. Either way, it was creepy.

"You lying!" Paul yelled and ran blindly to his right.

"Damn!" Alonzo muttered, wishing it hadn't come to this. He'd never killed a man before, and didn't want to now. But there were no police or tracker patrols on G889. Their only protection was themselves, and if Paul got away now, there was no telling what else he would do.

Hoping for a wounding shot, Alonzo took a deep breath, aimed and fired three times. All came close but missed. Paul cackled gleefully, as if he were playing a game, then disappeared behind the section of the wall which jutted out, forming the outcropping of rock.

"Danziger, we missed him," Alonzo said. "But I think we slowed him down. We tried to blind him, but he may have cybernetics in his eyes to help him see."

Squawk! came an angry screech from the air above.

"Where is he now?" was Danziger's panting reply.

"He ran off to the left," Alonzo answered.

"Your left?" Danziger asked.

"Uh...yeah. Our left, your right. We can't see him."

Morgan spit out a red feather and said, "I'll go check. He'll be expecting us to chase him, so he may double back this way to throw us off. You stay here in case he does." He stood up and advanced along the top of the wall in the direction Paul had run, picking his way carefully along the plants and moss-covered rocks. Alonzo quickly lost sight of him.

Squawk! came another angry screech from above.

Holding the flare gun out in front of him and gulping back his fear with wide eyes, Morgan slowly made his way to the other side of the outcropping and found that the wall returned almost immediately to continue its otherwise unbroken course. Morgan thought about walking out onto the outcropping, but killed the thought quickly. Although the rocks themselves still looked solid, he now saw that the outcropping was much more narrow than it seemed at first, and he wasn't going out there. He took another step along the top of the wall, peering below for any sign of Paul.

In the dim light, Morgan was lucky to see the movement of the tan jacket when he did. He jerked back in surprise just before the flash came from Paul's pistol and the crack of a bullet hitting the rocks behind him resounded in his ears.

In shock and surprise, Morgan lost his balance and fell.

Luckily, he was still standing next to the point where the wall bulged into the outcropping, so he fell into the v-shaped corner where the two merged. "Oh no please don't let me die!" Morgan said over and over as he dropped the flare gun and grabbed whatever hold he could while sliding gracelessly to the bottom.

Above, Alonzo was already scrambling his way to help, but he couldn't see Morgan.

"Lonz, what's going on?" Danziger asked.

Morgan, cut and bruised but grateful to be alive, lifted his head only to find Paul charging at him with a banshee shriek, and the Council agent seemed to be enjoying himself. Wondering if that was why Paul wasn't using his gun, Morgan desperately braced himself for a fight since there was nowhere to run. But before Paul could close with him, he suddenly stopped and darted to one side to avoid Alonzo's shot, which almost hit him. Paul rolled into a crouch and fired back. His shot hit Alonzo's gun, which spun off into the darkness, but Paul wasn't able to keep firing as he almost lost his balance and had to spend a few precious seconds regaining it.

The red bird flapped down from the sky and landed on the top branch of a small tree, still squawking angrily about the disturbance. Morgan subconsciously registered the bird's presence, but at the moment it was the furthest thing from his mind. He had already seen that Paul was going to keep on firing at Alonzo until he was either out of bullets or his prey was dead, so even as Paul was regaining his footing, Morgan rushed forward, thinking all the while, I can't believe I'm doing this please don't let me die!

His charge wasn't graceful. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see what he was doing, spread both arms wide, yelled in desperation and ran at Paul, who was taken more by surprise than anything. The two went down in a tangled heap and wrestled – the Councilman with ferocity, Morgan with life-threatening desperation. The bird squawked some more.

Alonzo, knowing that Morgan would need help immediately, took a deep breath and jumped off the wall. He hit the ground hard and the shock tore through both his legs. With his face screwed up in agony, he rushed to join the fray.

Paul fought like a wild man, eventually getting under both Morgan and Alonzo and throwing them off with seemingly impossible strength. They went flying back towards the point at which the rock wall met the outcropping, where Morgan had fallen earlier. The only good thing that had come of their fight was that Paul had lost his own gun in the scuffle.

But the Councilman just giggled. He reached into his pack, his hands moving very quickly and precisely, and pulled out a silver rod. He jammed it hard into the ground and yelled, "Go!" Then he ran off into the night.

A polite, feminine computer voice calmly announced, "Order acknowledged. Preset zone size 50 meters, preset countdown one second. Commencing countdown, commencing geolock."

A loud grating noise and an expanding circle of blue energy erupted from the rod, crawling over the ground.

Morgan and Alonzo were just helping each other up when it happened, and at first they could only stare in horror as the petrifying energy swept towards them. It was like a nightmare. They turned to run, only to find themselves facing the rock wall and nowhere to go. They spun around helplessly, looking for a way out.

Morgan found himself looking at the bird, who squawked one last time and took off into the air as the petrification quickly rose up the tree like a vengeful blue ghost. He watched the bird go, and for once he was jealous of the animals.

"Morgan, climb!" Alonzo yelled.

"We can't-"

"Trust me! Just climb!" Alonzo shouted and the two men climbed up the rock wall as quickly as they could. They both knew they couldn't possibly climb faster than the geolock could work.

The expanding circle met the wall when they were almost two meters up. "Wait," Alonzo said. He and Morgan clung to the wall and watched the line creep towards their feet. When it was about halfway between them and the ground, Alonzo yelled, "All right, jump!"

He and Morgan pushed off the wall, leaping over the line of energy and onto the petrified earth inside the circle. Morgan cried out as he landed and clutched his ankle.

They lay gasping for breath and grimacing in pain, watching the blue arc continue away from them. The sound stopped after about ten more seconds. Neither of them moved.

Moments later, they heard several sets of running footsteps clop-clopping over the hardened ground. "Alonzo! Morgan!" Devon shouted. "Oh my God, are you guys all right?" She shone a lumalight on the two men's faces, causing their eyes to screw up briefly. They were covered with dirt, cuts and bruises.

Morgan nudged Alonzo with an elbow without letting go of his foot. "She wants to know if we're okay," he said.

Alonzo grimaced and tried to sit up. "No," he said. "We just got our butts kicked. Who is this guy?"

Devon, Baines and Danziger all slumped to the ground beside Morgan and Alonzo. They were gasping for breath after their forced run up the mountain.

"We don't know," Danziger said, gulping for air. "We don't know what he was trying to do with the comm dish. I mean, it makes life easier, but we could survive without it."

"He must have a plan of some kind," Devon said. "He certainly acts like he knows where he's going."

"He's also stronger than he looks," Morgan said.

"Zero, where is he now?" Danziger asked.

"East by southeast, 120 meters and extending," Zero replied.

They all looked at each other, still breathing hard. "We have to go after him," Devon said. "We don't have a choice."

No one moved. Their chests heaved in and out.

"Can't do it, Devon," Danziger said. His legs were almost shaking with fatigue.

"Morgan and I'll go after him," Alonzo said, standing up.

"I can't," Morgan said through gritted teeth. "I twisted or sprained my ankle."

"We're not gonna let Alonzo go alone, are we?" Baines asked.

"No," Devon shook her head, admitting defeat. "No, we weren't prepared. Paul's obviously got more weapons in his pack, and even if we caught up with him we'd be no match for him once we got there."

Danziger keyed his gear. "Julia, we're gonna need your help."

"Is everyone all right?" Julia asked, and the tension on her face spoke volumes. Danziger realized that his statement must have sounded to her as if someone was in mortal peril. He hadn't considered the fact that Julia would be beside herself with worry.

"We're fine, we're all alive," he said. "Paul got away and Morgan sprained his ankle. We can help him down, but if you can meet us halfway in the rail, that'd be great."

"Why didn't you guys just come up in the rail in the first place?" Alonzo asked Devon, letting Danziger continue to speak with Julia.

"Mazatl and Magus had it out hauling supplies," Devon replied. "We couldn't wait for them to get back."

"John," Julia continued, "Cameron and Walman are already on their way with the rail." Even as she spoke she pressed a few buttons on her own gear. "Cameron and Walman, you're on. Danziger, give them your position."

"Eight-two-five northeast," Danziger answered. "You guys armed?"

"Two magpros," Cameron said. "We should be with you in about two minutes."

"Did Paul exhibit any strange behavior?" Julia asked.

"Other than trying to kill us?" Morgan asked incredulously.

"Yes, other than that."

They all looked at each other, and Alonzo shrugged. "He acted like he was high on a drug or something. He laughed when I shot at him, and he laughed again when he tried to kill us."

"Are you on to something, Julia?" Devon asked.

"I thought Paul's behavior was strange, also, based on his actions here in New Pacifica," Julia replied. "So I analyzed skin cells taken from some of the objects that Paul touched recently. They show clear indications of the Immortality Disease."

Alonzo whistled appreciatively, but the others just looked confused. "What's that?" Danziger asked.

"The Immortality Disease is a type of cold sleep sickness, a different type than what Elizabeth and Franklin came down with," Julia said. "It was the first type of cold sleep sickness we ever knew about. The first generation of people who put themselves into cold sleep did so because they wanted to live longer, not because they were traveling anywhere. They were people who wanted to be immortal. So when they came down with this disease, it was called the Immortality Disease. Its official name is something that even I have a hard time pronouncing."

"What does it do?" Devon asked.

"It warps people's brain cells and makes them insane," Alonzo said. "Basically."

"That about sums it up," Julia agreed. "Our cryosleep technology is so advanced that it's almost unheard of nowadays, but it still affects about one out of every 100,000 sleep jumpers. Without exception, every recorded case of the Immortality Disease caused total loss of perspective and connections to reality, and the person became violent. They had delusions of grandeur and the selfishness and uncaring of a child. It's considered incurable."

"Could it give someone extra strength?" Morgan asked thoughtfully.

Julia shrugged. "I honestly don't know, Morgan. I don't believe so, but I wouldn't rule it out."

"So Paul isn't a Council agent," Danziger said. "We just assumed he was when he attacked us. He's just lost it."

"I'm not so sure," Julia said. "I ran a standard physical for everyone on the colony ship when they got here, including a test for any cryogenic-related illnesses, and Paul's turned up fine. I double-checked that test, and it seems that he intentionally substituted a fake cell sample, using some pretty sophisticated equipment. I'm sorry to say that I recognize the procedure. The DNA of the fake cell was of such a construction that it just screams that it was made in a laboratory somewhere, almost like a signature. It could only be Council."

"Damn!" Danziger said.

"But why would he have some cell-faking equipment if he didn't know he'd need it?" Baines asked. "Unless he planned on becoming insane?"

"That kind of equipment is actually pretty standard," Julia said. "It's small and implanted inside the body. I'm sure the Council didn't expect Paul to develop the Immortality Disease, but once he did, he used his Council equipment to cover it up."

"Wait a minute," Danziger said, finally getting his breathing back. "Are you saying that Paul knows he's got this disease? That he knows he's insane?"

Julia sighed. "It's hard to say. On some level, he's probably aware that he's not acting rationally. He certainly knows enough about his new condition to hide it. It hasn't dampened his sense of self-preservation."

"Julia, you said this disease was rare," Morgan said. "I'd think it was a hell of a coincidence if a Council agent planted on the colony ship should turn out to be the one person in 100,000 who went nuts. I could swear Paul was cybernetically enhanced somehow. Could the Council messing around with his mind and body have made him susceptible to this disease?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Julia said. The dunerail appeared through the trees and headed towards them, headlights cutting through the gloom. "It would certainly explain things, unless you believe in huge coincidences. But again, I don't know. I'd have to examine Paul personally to tell you that." The dunerail came to a halt beside the five people on the ground, Walman and Cameron staring at the geolocked earth around them in wonder and horror. As they did, Julia continued.

"If Paul is a Council agent, I can assure you that he had an agenda of some kind by coming here," she said. "The Immortality Disease may have made him insane, but he will still have the same goals as when he left the stations. His insanity may have warped those goals so that he will interpret them in a different way, or he may be willing to achieve them in a way that's more ruthless than if he were sane. But the basic knowledge and drive, whatever made up the person who is Paul Baxter, is still there. It's just been twisted beyond recognition."

"Great," Danziger said, and stood up. He had just barely gotten his strength back. "Walman, Alonzo, we'll take the rail after Paul. The rest of you get Morgan back to town." He motioned for Baines to hand the net which contained Zero's head to Alonzo.

"I don't think so," Devon said, climbing into the dunerail's front passenger seat.

"Devon, we don't have time to argue!" Danziger snapped.

"So let's get going," she said evenly.

He sighed and sat behind the wheel. Walman and Alonzo climbed into the back, pretending they hadn't heard the exchange. Devon and Danziger's legendary head-butting had ceased to be entertaining long ago. Everyone who had been with Eden Advance just accepted it as the natural way of things and tuned it out.

Glaring, Danziger sped the rail forward, leaving Baines and Cameron to support Morgan back to New Pacifica.

"Where do you think Paul's heading?" Devon asked.

"I don't care," Danziger replied. "I'm more interested in what he's doing."

"But don't you think that if we knew where he was headed, we might have a clue about what his intentions are?" Devon asked.

"I don't think he's headed anywhere," Danziger replied testily. "I think he's just running."

"No," Devon shook her head. "He's got a plan."

Zero spoke up. "Paul Baxter seems to be making his way toward the nexus cave we discovered 37 days ago."

"Oh, no," Devon groaned. "This can't get any worse!"

G889 was filled with many wonders, but the greatest which Eden Advance had discovered was that of the nexus caves – rare focal points around the planet which contained teleporting spider webs, sunstones and sleeping Terrians, all three. These special nexus points were powerful enough to send a person through both space and time, if he or she were so inclined. They were dangerous places which the Terrians guarded ferociously. Eden Advance had actually been called upon once before to travel through them, and that had only been for a world-shattering emergency. (And Devon had once heard Danziger make some cryptic remark about living a double-lifetime back on the stations. He had uneasily passed it off as a joke when pressed for an explanation, but she wasn't so sure. He wasn't the sort to tell jokes like that.)

They had found the nexus cave about seven weeks ago while exploring around New Pacifica, and Devon still wasn't sure if she was happy about that or not. If another emergency ever happened, she supposed it was good that it was close by. But the nexus points were the equivalent of quantum weapons, as far as she was concerned – so dangerous that the thought of them falling into the wrong hands was horrifying beyond words.

And Paul was headed straight for it.

"What's the problem?" Danziger asked, responding to Devon's groan of despair. "If Paul's heading for the nexus, the Terrians will make short work of him. If not, it's no big deal."

Devon shook her head. "My gut tells me this is all wrong. Paul's too intelligent and too prepared. He'll be ready."

"How could he know about the nexus?" Walman asked. "We haven't told any of the colonists about it, and they only got here about eight days ago."

"He must have broken into our logs," Alonzo said. "If he was Council, that would be the first thing he'd do."

"Where is he now?" Walman asked.

"We are gaining on him," Zero answered. "Eighty meters and closing. But Paul's course is still headed directly for the cave. He will reach it before we can catch up to him."

"Geeze, how fast is this guy running?" Walman asked.

"An average of 3.872 kilometers per hour for over 45 minutes, most of that up a steep hill," Zero replied. "He is traveling about twice that speed now. This is well beyond the accepted limits of human endurance."

"We're not going to get there in time!" Devon said.

"But we can tell the Terrians what's coming," Alonzo said. He closed his eyes and entered the dream plane for several seconds. Then he opened his eyes and said, "They know he's coming. They also know about the geolock he set off, and they're pretty perturbed."

"Good," Danziger said, struggling to get the dunerail around a nasty-looking rock. "Then they'll take care of him for us. Like I said."

"Uh...maybe," Alonzo replied. "You see, they sort of hold us responsible for the geolock."

"What?" Walman exclaimed. "Why?"

Alonzo scratched the back of his neck with embarrassment. "Well, first of all, there was Devon's promise to them that it wouldn't happen again..."

Devon sighed, closed her eyes and let her head fall back.

"What was that you said about not getting any worse?" Danziger asked.

"And second," Alonzo continued, "the Terrians have grown to trust us. They've come to some kind of decision that we are custodians of the human side of G889. I think it's because we've earned their trust, and because Devon's the mother of Ulysses."

"You mean they're going to hold Devon responsible for everything that every human on the planet does?" Danziger asked incredulously.

"No," Alonzo replied.

"Good," Danziger said.

"They're going to hold Eden Advance responsible. The fifteen of us who survived the hike across the continent. They've decided that it's our job to keep the other humans in line."

There was silence in the dunerail for a moment.

"Oh," Danziger said quietly.

"Great," Walman said.

"Lovely," Devon whispered.

"We are nearing the nexus cave," Zero said happily, oblivious to the sudden despair in the vehicle. "Paul has gone inside."

"Can you tell what's happening in there?" Danziger asked, bringing the rail to a skidding halt outside the cave. No Terrians were visible.

"My sensors will not read inside the cavern," Zero said. "There are too many energy patterns."

"Let's send one person in quietly-" Devon began.

"No time for subtleties," Danziger said, grabbing a magpro and heading for the cave. "If the Terrians beat Paul, we'll be okay. If Paul's doing something to the Terrians then we don't have any time to lose."

The other three ran into the cave behind Danziger, with no other plan of action than to see what was going on and deal with it. Devon held her pistol, the other three had magpros. Zero's head was still slung in the net over Alonzo's shoulder.

The large cavern was lit with the criss-cross traceries of sunstones, and hot. Spider webs hung at the far end. Paul, standing in the center of the cavern, turned to face them when they entered. He held some bones in one hand. Terrians surrounded him, trilling at him furiously, but none attacked.

Danziger sighed. "He did read our logs."

"And he was prepared," Devon said, glancing for just a split second at Danziger, unable even now to resist the "I-told-you-so" barb.

Danziger ignored it, saying instead, "Give it up, Paul. You don't have anywhere to go."

Paul's face broke into an amazed, cracked grin, then he snickered. An energy burst from the spider webs came and went behind him. "Got lots of places to go," he said. "Come with? I wanna see you disappear!"

"I got a better idea," Danziger replied.

The tiny movement with the magpro, Danziger's finger tightening on the trigger, told Paul all he needed to know. With a motion that was almost a blur, Paul grabbed one of the Terrians and held him viciously in front of himself.

Danziger didn't fire.

He was amazed at the swiftness with which Paul could move, and disconcerted that a Terrian was now in danger. Eighteen months ago he wouldn't have given a toss about the creature, but now he sweated. He should have fired when they'd first entered, he told himself. But he'd just had to be nice and give the guy a chance to turn himself in, and now look at the mess they were in. Paul was at least 15 meters away, and none of them were good enough of a shot to ensure hitting Paul without hitting the Terrian.

But even as Danziger reprimanded himself, he knew that he would do the same if given another chance. His spirit wasn't wired any other way, and shooting first without questioning was a trait that made up people like Paul.

"I would have fired by now," Paul gloated, in a voice that was mocking, the sort of voice a six-year-old would use. "You actually care about these filthy things. I knew it when I read your logs." He giggled. "I knew it. I knew it."

The four Edenites slowly fanned into the cavern, but Paul reached back and rummaged in his pack with his free hand even as he backed toward the spider webs. Another burst came and went. Then he reached up and put a metal collar around the Terrian's neck.

"Where did you get that?" Devon asked hotly.

"From you!" Paul cackled, reaching back into his pack again. He sighed theatrically. "Since you had them in your possession, I figured you used them." Then his eyes grew big as he mocked them some more. "For what delicious purposes, I could not possibly guess!" His hand came out of his pack with a gear set, and he put it on.

"We took the shock collars from a penal colonist to prevent them falling into anyone else's hands," Danziger said. "We were going to destroy them completely as soon as we could. We destroyed the controller, but the collars are too strong for us to smash apart and we can't get at the circuitry inside."

"Suuuuuuuuuuure," Paul said. "A likely story. How loud does Devon scream when you use them on her late at night, Mr. Danziger?"

The boom of the magpro echoed like thunder in the cavern, the shot hitting the far wall and burrowing a hole into the rock.

"I only have so much patience," Danziger said through gritted teeth. "And hostage or not, you need to surrender now or the next shot goes right through you."

Paul's reply was a whispered word into his gear. "Charge," he said.

His Terrian hostage arched his back and trilled in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. It lasted a few seconds, and the four Edenites grimaced in disgust. Paul had somehow found the frequency for the shock collar.

"The rest of you dirtbags need to protect me from them!" Paul shouted, pointing. "If they try to hurt me, your friend dies!" The Terrians hesitated, so Paul shouted it again, sending anther charge through the Terrian for effect.

Slowly, reluctantly, the remaining Terrians in the cavern turned to face the Edenites, staffs charging up.

"What are they doing?" Walman shouted madly. "Alonzo, tell 'em to stop!" But Alonzo seemed too stunned to answer.

The Terrians didn't fire, but they formed a protective line between the Edenites and their quarry. Paul just giggled and headed for the spider webs, taking his captive with him.

Walman decided he'd had enough. He could barely see Paul through the Terrians, and he didn't even pretend to understand the nexus points, but he knew enough to know that Paul stepping into one was not a good thing. Most of the Terrians were focused on Danziger because he had fired once already, so Walman aimed his magpro at the ceiling above Paul and fired.

Lightning sprang from the staff of the Terrian nearest Walman. It wasn't a burst of energy, it was just a thin stretch of electricity, similar to what they had used against Devon and Danziger on the way to the lake that day long ago when they had been searching for water. Walman fought it for a second, but slowly slipped to the ground.

No one noticed him, though, because he'd been effective. Part of the ceiling had collapsed on Paul almost immediately, sending him and his captive to the ground, and Danziger, Devon and Alonzo had sprung into action.

Danziger barreled through the Terrian line, catching them off guard, for their attention had suddenly been on Walman, and he raced for Paul, who was quickly getting up. Paul had already given the "Charge" command to the shock collar, and his captive was writhing in pain.

Danziger caught Paul squarely with a hard right cross. Paul took it, snarled, and the two of them went down, grappling ferociously. Danziger's magpro skittered across the floor.

The other Terrians in the cave advanced on Devon and Alonzo, but not enthusiastically. They were evidently confused, unable to bring harm to their companion, yet acting fully against their natures.

"Let us through!" Alonzo pleaded with them, trying to tell them with words and dreams at the same time. He was quite good at dreaming by now, feeling the dream plane at the edges of his senses almost all the time. "We can help your friend if you let us through!"

The Terrians hesitated, then parted gratefully. Alonzo realized that, faced with humans fighting humans, the Terrians were dealing with a situation which baffled them as completely as the Terrians themselves had baffled the Edenites when they had first met.

They rushed to help Danziger. Paul, noticing them approaching, shoved Danziger towards them with a yell. He succeeded in hitting Alonzo, who tried his best to catch Danziger, but Devon avoided the human-turned-missile and kept coming. When she was ten meters away, she raised her pistol.

Paul bobbed and weaved with a dazzling display of agility, advancing on her at the same time. Devon shot and missed twice, then Paul grabbed her savagely and held her in front of him like a shield. "Charge!" he yelled into his gear set with venom. The Terrian with the shock collar, slowly standing up, suffered again.

Danziger and Alonzo picked themselves off the ground. Paul again had a captive, but this time it was Devon, her arm twisted behind her. "No more!" Paul said, his eyes wide, almost breaking into another grin. "No more of this. It's not right. You're not right. But I'll make it right." He was almost to the spider webs.

But Devon had been the child of billionaires. Since people with such wealth were often targets, she had been trained in self-defense as a child. She twisted in a move which Paul hadn't anticipated, spun, dropped, and slammed the open palm of her hand into Paul's crotch. He screamed.

"Go!" Danziger shouted, and he and Alonzo rushed Paul yet again, Alonzo dropping the magpro to free his hands for the close combat. Everyone yelled, fists went flying, bodies wrestled. It was as if there were four Pauls instead of one. The Terrian with the shock collar was caught up in the battle. Together, as one flailing mass of bodies, they tilted and cartwheeled toward the spider webs.

The energy reached out to greet them with open arms.

Bright. That's all Danziger knew next. Bright and hot. Grass beneath his feet. Just when he opened his mouth to ask where he was, something slammed him hard on the side of his head, and the grass was in his face as his brain tried desperately to catch up with reality. He heard someone giggling, more fighting, a Terrian trilling sadly, desperately. A pistol went off.

Devon.

He couldn't open his eyes. He had somehow gone from a dimly-lit cave to dazzling bright afternoon sunshine, and the light was searing into his brain. "Devon?" he asked weakly. "Lonz?"

Shielding his eyes from the sun, he forced them to open as best he could. He had to know what was happening.

Alonzo was lying next to him, his eyes screwed shut also. Above him stood a figure which looked vaguely like Devon – it was hard to tell through the tears. She was in a firing stance, except for the fact that one hand was shielding the sun from her eyes. Her other hand bucked once and another pistol shot sounded. Then she fell to her knees beside him, tears running down her face.

He closed his own eyes again. The bright light was making them water so much it was excruciating. "What happened," he asked.

"Paul got away," Devon said. "He's still got the Terrian with him."

"It was a good thing you kept your senses and kept firing," Danziger said weakly. "We can't see. He could have killed us all while we're blinded like this."

"He was blinded, too, at least a little bit," Devon said. "And I think we wounded him. He didn't have what it took to finish us off."

"He might still come back," Alonzo said, slowly sitting up.

"I will warn you if he does," came Zero's calm voice. The robot's head was still in the net bag on Alonzo's back. "The sudden transition from darkness to light does not affect me."

Blinking rapidly, the three of them began to take in their surroundings. "Anyone know where we are?" Danziger asked.

"Not a clue," Alonzo said. "But this doesn't look good."

None of them needed to say it out loud. They could have traveled in both space and time. If they only traveled in space, then they were on the other side of the planet, thousands of kilometers from New Pacifica. If they had traveled in time as well...

They slowly stood up, letting their eyes adjust to the light, feeling fatigue and hopelessness. Before them was a rolling green pasture, interrupted only by a creek lined with trees. A bird called far overhead. Some of the equipment from Paul's pack, which had split open during the fight, lay scattered around them. Just as they began to bend down to examine it, a peculiar sound came from behind them.

WhhhhhHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooosssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

They all stopped and looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

"What was that?" Alonzo asked.

Zero, on Alonzo's back, was the only one looking in that direction. "I really think you should see this," the robot said.

The sound came again, more quickly this time, but not louder.

WhhHHOOOOOOOOOOooooosssssssshhhhhhhh.

They slowly turned. Along a rise about 30 meters away was a straight line of dark pavement, bordered by a low fence of barbed wire. As they watched, a very, very old-fashioned automobile – the kind that ran on gasoline – came zipping along the pavement.

WhhhhHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooosssssssssshhhhhhhhhh.

Further along the road – for that was clearly what it was – was a green rectangular sign. Danziger hurriedly groped for his jumpers, but they weren't on him. "Zero," he said, his voice quavering with absolute, utter dread. "What does that sign say?"

Zero calmly read the damning, unbelievable words. "The sign says, 'Santa Fe 4 Miles.'"

"Oh, my God," Devon whispered. "We're...we're..." She couldn't bring herself to say it.

Danziger summed it up for them. "We're in trouble," he said quietly.