Carson rose blearily from the depths of sleep to the gentle tapping at his door. "C'm in," he croaked.
Danziger poked his head into the room. "Hey, we wanted to show you something."
Carson raised a single eyebrow, wondering why he felt like a deep sea diver who'd just wrestled a shark. Then he remembered – he had wrestled a shark last night. He looked at the gear set beside his pillow, and remembered the things he'd done in virtual reality.
He moved a shaky finger to the gear set. "That," he said blearily, "was the best time I've ever had. I'll never have fun at a video arcade again."
"If you say so," Danziger said. "But hurry up and get dressed, okay?"
"Alllllllll righty," Carson said, throwing back his covers and wondering what the urgency was.
He stepped out of his room a few minutes later and looked around the house in shock. "When did all this happen?" he asked.
His stacks of paper and books had been neatened, some of them put away on shelves. The floor had been vacuumed, everything had been dusted, and the windows were spotless. Early morning sunlight streamed in from the patio.
"This is for helping us out so much," Danziger said. "We also made breakfast. Want some?"
"Yeah, sure," Carson stumbled to the table. "But why so early? I feel hung over."
"Because we have a deadline," Devon said.
As Carson ate, they told him what they could about Terrians, their mode of living and their ability to use dreams. They told him about Paul, and about Alonzo's dream last night, and the information they discovered. (And Danziger had told Alonzo the night before what he'd told Devon, that there could be a way home for them. Devon had insisted that he deserved to know.)
"So this guy Paul, he's like the Terminator or something?" Carson asked through a mouthful of bacon.
"I don't know what a Terminator is, but he's bad news," Danziger assured him. "If he succeeds in carrying out his plan, Devon...Devon could disappear in front of our eyes." His voice was very quiet. "We might very well do the same."
Carson took a good look at the three serious faces looking back at him. "Whoa," he whispered heartily. "What a scumbag. But wouldn't that make Paul disappear, too?"
"Very likely," Devon replied. "But we don't think he's acting rationally. I'm not sure that we can reason with him."
"Okay, so you saw the house where your Terrian buddy is being held in a dream," Carson said to Alonzo. "What's the address?"
"Address?" Alonzo asked.
"You know, the numbers on the front of the house."
Alonzo shrugged. "I wasn't really thinking about such things at the time. I could identify the house if I saw it, but I didn't get any address numbers."
"And this is our only lead, besides talking to the woman who was frightened by the Terrian last night," Devon said.
"Oh," Carson said, realizing why they were cleaning his house and fixing him breakfast and getting him up at the crack of dawn. "And I take it you want to drive around Santa Fe looking for this house."
"And to visit the woman," Danziger said.
"Describe this street to me," Carson told Alonzo.
"It looked very nice, kind of upscale. It went up a hill, but not a big hill, maybe fifteen degrees or so. Some of the houses were one-story, some were two-story. The house we want is a two-story, about two-thirds of the way down the block. I think I was seeing the street from the Terrian's perspective as he was taken to it. The house next door has a low, large plant with long flat pointed blades, near the curb."
"Yucca," Carson nodded.
"What, you don't like the sausage?" Devon asked.
"No, not yuck," Carson said. "Yucca. A yucca plant is a type of cactus. It's common around here. Is that what you saw?"
Alonzo shrugged. "Could be. I don't know what a yucca is. If I see one, I'll point it out."
Carson said, "Well, you just described about two-thirds of the streets in Santa Fe."
The others looked glum.
"Tell you what we'll do," Carson said. "Today's Sunday. This woman who made the 911 call last night, Maria Callabenos, she might go to church on Sunday mornings. So why don't we spend this morning looking for Alonzo's street. We'll drive out to Maria's house after lunch and see if she's home, then go back to searching for Alonzo's street if we don't know anything else after seeing Maria. Does that sound like a plan?"
They agreed, and Carson got ready. As they headed out the door moments later, he asked them, "By the way, have you guys ever seen Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? You really ought to."
The front door closed behind them.
"Here's the first neighborhood," Carson said happily. "Let me know if you see your street."
"It's not really my street," Alonzo said, looking around intently. "But I don't see it here."
Alonzo and Devon were in the back. Danziger had a map of Santa Fe on his knees in the front passenger seat, marking off streets with a tiny red check mark.
Carson kept up an almost constant stream of chatter while they drove. "You know, I've never met any famous people while doing the cab thing," he said at one point. "But a friend of mine took Robert Mitchum to the airport once. But you guys wouldn't know who that is, would you?"
"No," Devon said.
Carson turned onto a new street. "I've heard there's a famous soap opera actor who lives on a ranch somewhere just outside Santa Fe."
"Who?" Alonzo asked conversationally.
"Dunno," Carson said. "I can't remember his name."
They tried to keep their spirits up during lunch, but it was hard at first. They were at another Taco Bell – not by choice, but because Carson had insisted it was the cheapest around, and he was trying to watch his cash flow.
All three of the Edenites felt the constant weight of their impending deaths hanging over their heads. Carson tried various ways to cheer them up, but nothing worked. None of his jokes were funny to them because they had no cultural context with which to appreciate them. He finally lapsed into silence, and this made Devon feel bad.
"Tell me, Carson," she said. "Why don't you seem to have other friends to be with? You're not acting like you had a lot to do this weekend."
Carson shrugged. "I dunno. I used to hang a lot with all my WereChi friends, but we don't do much any more."
Devon had a puzzled look on her face. "I'm sorry," she leaned closer. "WereChi?"
"Yeah. W-E-R-E-C-H-I. It was my favorite TV show. It's short for werechihuahau. You know, kind of like a werewolf, but instead of a wolf, it's a little brown dog."
Devon just stared, wondering if he was putting them on, but Danziger and Alonzo began to snicker.
"No, really, it was a great TV show," Carson said indignantly. "The networks never gave it a chance. It was about a little chihuahua that grew fangs and went wild during the full moon. Every episode he met someone who was in trouble, and he used his powers to help them out."
Danziger and Alonzo burst out laughing.
"Yeah, well, I guess it does sound strange," Carson said. "But I liked it."
"So you made a lot of friends through the show?" Devon asked, trying as hard as she could to keep the smile off her own face.
"Yeah, and it was great, at first," Carson said, his face lighting up. "We'd talk about it on line, and we'd have parties, and go to movies. We started a whole club around it all. And we had a great time! The best!"
"So what happened?" Devon asked.
Carson shrugged again. "I dunno. No, scratch that, I do know. We were all crazy, that's what happened."
"What do you mean?"
"We were into it for different reasons. I think everyone saw something in the show that they wanted, and they wanted it for themselves. We'd get into these vicious arguments – real knockdown dragouts, you know? – about which character was best, and which of the two dog actors they used (because they switched dogs halfway through the season) was the better one. It all just got so weird.
"And that's not all. Sometimes we'd get so mean with each other, like the show was ours, and the whole fan experience was ours alone, and nobody else could touch what it meant to us."
"Sounds like a group of people you'd be glad to be away from," Danziger said.
"It's not that easy," Carson said. "You see, I was one of those people." His voice got very quiet, and he couldn't quite look at them. "I was just as bad as the rest. I wanted this club, this group of people, to fill a hole in my life, and I spent all my time clamoring for the spotlight instead of just enjoying their company." He shrugged and picked dejectedly at his food. "I got exactly what I wanted, and I found it was pretty hollow. For some reason, all those things we fought each other over were more important than making some real friendships and just letting go and having fun. There were times when I was a right asshole. And there were other times when I wasn't trying to hurt anyone, but I behaved like an ignorant dweeb. I mean, don't get me wrong, we had some fantastic times. It was a really great crowd. But...but I can't help but feel like it could have been better, you know?"
"Everything ends some time, Carson," Devon said. "You should know that."
"It's not the ending that gets me down," he replied. "I just feel like I messed up a lot when I finally found myself to be a part of something really great, and I regret that. I wish I could do it differently, knowing what I know now. I mean, who knows when something like that will happen again?"
"Did you learn something from it?" Danziger suddenly asked.
"Yeah, I suppose," Carson said. "But learning something after you needed to know it doesn't really help a whole lot, does it?"
Danziger laughed, and it was that deep, mischievous laugh of his, the one that sounded like he knew something which you didn't. "The first time we ever learn anything, no matter how big or small, it's right after we just needed it."
Carson shrugged, and gave a little smile. "I suppose that's true."
As Jose dialed the number, he marveled at how his hands had stopped shaking. He wondered why.
"Hey, Carl," he said. "I'm going to have to cancel our golf game today." A pause. "Yeah, I'm not feeling real well. Aches all over, chills." Another pause. "Yeah, I'll do that. Maybe next week, okay? Sure. Talk to you later." He hung up.
"Good," Paul said. "Are there any other social engagements I need to know about?"
"No," Jose said, unable to look at him.
"All right," Paul replied brightly. "Since there's nothing we can do today, let's see what's on TV!"
"The morning has been a complete waste!" Danziger complained as they left the restaurant.
"No it hasn't," Devon said. "Every street we eliminate brings us one street closer to our goal."
Danziger sighed. He tried to see it that way, he really did, but he just couldn't.
As they headed to the cab, Alonzo noticed a stand of brochures at a bus stop a few meters away. "Look at that," he told Danziger. "We could go to all those places if we were tourists." The brochures told of wonders like Carlsbad Caverns, the Ice Caves, the Sandia Tram, the Miraculous Spiral Staircase, Bisti Wilderness, and river rafting on the Rio Grande through the Taos Plateau, among many other things.
"Yeah," Danziger said sadly. "And most of those things won't exist in our time. I wonder if G889 will ever be a tourist spot, like New Mexico is now."
"Just not the nexus caves," Alonzo said as they climbed in. "We definitely need to keep the tourists away from those."
As they pulled out of the parking lot, Carson said, "You know, I got four Star Wars: The Phantom Menace posters from Taco Bell? 'Kentucky Fried Taco Hut,' I like to call it, because Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are all owned by the same people. Pepsi, I think."
"That's fascinating," Devon murmured.
Maria answered the door to find a dark-haired man and woman before her. "Hello, are you Maria Callabenos?" Devon asked.
"Ka-ya-ben-yos," Maria said pleasantly. "The double-L is pronounced as a 'Y.'"
"Callabenos," Devon said again, pronouncing it correctly. "My name is Devon Adair, this is Carson Muller."
"My double-L is pronounced as an 'L,' Carson said with a smile. "How do you do?" He shook her hand.
"We're reporters from the Free World Journal," Devon said. "We wondered if we could perhaps talk to you about your experience last night."
Maria shrugged. "All right. Come on in."
They sat in her living room and Maria told them exactly what happened as she played with Tony, her six-year-old son. Devon found herself having to keep her emotions in check as she saw this. It reminded her of Uly, when she ruthlessly could not think about him in any way. Not just yet.
"Right now, I'm mostly concerned for Tony, you see?" Maria said. "If it were just me, alone, that would actually be okay. I'm not afraid for myself. But when you have a child, suddenly everything becomes much more frightening, you know?"
"I know exactly what you mean," Devon said. "Believe me. So, after the second man came to get the first one, he ran around to the side of the house?"
"This side," she pointed. "The one where the dirt road goes by."
"And you didn't see where he went after that?"
"No," Maria said. "The police, they searched the woods for a while, but they didn't find anything. I don't know if he's going to come back."
Devon wished she could put this woman's mind at ease without telling her that she knew the man in question, and that he was miles away by now. She thought about the fact that the Terrian was almost certainly held captive in a nice house in Santa Fe, and she knew there must have been a vehicle involved.
"Is it possible," Devon said slowly, "that when the two men ran off, they got into a car that was waiting for them and drove away?"
Maria shrugged. "I suppose so. But why would a man who has a car be hiding in my shed?"
"I don't know," Devon lied. "But the whole thing sounds strange. Why would one man hide in your shed and another come to get him?"
"That's right, that's what I told the police," Maria said. "It didn't make any sense to me. And the man in the shed, he looked so strange."
"Maria, can I ask you to do something?" Devon asked.
She nodded.
"I want you, please, to think back to the moment when you saw the second man run into your yard. You ran to the back door and shot at him."
"That's right, I shot at him."
"And did you see anything else?"
"What do you mean?"
"When you shot at the man, you could see the dirt road beyond your fence, couldn't you?"
"Yes."
"Well, I'm sure you didn't notice the road at the time, because you were concentrating on the man. But now I want you to concentrate on the road. If you can recall that scene, and look beyond the man to the road, is there anything there?"
Maria thought for just a second, then her eyes grew large. "Yes! Yes, there's a big black sport utility vehicle, one of those off-road cars, coming down the road! And...and I think the man is looking at it as he runs away!"
Devon and Carson exchanged a quick glance.
"Does anyone around here drive a car like that, that you know of?" Carson asked.
"No, not just like that," Maria said. "You think this car took them away?"
"I'm almost certain it did," Devon said.
"I don't suppose you could possibly have seen a license number, could you?" Carson asked.
"No," Maria shook her head. "Should I tell the police about this?"
"I think you should," Devon said. "That's all I can think of to ask you. Maria, I'm very sorry this happened. It's always traumatic. I hope the police catch the man."
"I hope so, too, because I don't know how many other people he will frighten, you know?" she said.
Carson and Devon said their good-byes, thanked her for the interview, and left.
"Here comes a triple lutz followed by a triple toe loop, and...perfect!"
Jose had never felt so surreal in his life. He sat in one easy chair, Paul in another, and the Terrian crouched on the carpet to one side. On the screen, Michelle Kwan glided effortlessly on the adoration of the crowd.
"Ice skating!" Paul snorted. "I can't believe that the only thing we have to watch is ice skating!"
Jose shrugged. "Football doesn't start for another four months, and hockey and basketball are already over."
Paul stuffed more popcorn into his mouth and watched the screen in disgust. "Got any good movies?" he asked.
They stopped the search when the sun went down. Alonzo wasn't sure he could identify the street in the dark, and the exhaustion was catching up to them in dramatic fashion, for they had hardly slept the night before. They returned to Carson's house utterly dejected. Even Carson knew better than to try to engage them in conversation.
"I've looked at so many streets today, I feel like I'm losing my mind," Alonzo said as he sat on the couch. "They're all starting to blur together."
"Are you sure you didn't just miss it, then?" Danziger asked sarcastically. "I mean, maybe the image you got was just something you dreamed. Maybe-"
"I know what I saw!" Alonzo shot back hotly. "I can spot the damned street. Leave me alone."
"Please," Devon said quietly. "This is our last-" She couldn't continue. They looked at her. "Let's not spend our last night bickering. Please."
Alonzo and Danziger just looked away from each other.
"We've eliminated about 80 per cent of the possibilities," Devon said. "And we don't know when this event is going to take place. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will be tomorrow evening. So let's not give up, yet."
"Any idea what Satan's Chasm could mean?" Danziger asked Carson.
"No," he shook his head solemnly. "I searched every internet engine I could find, but nothing comes up. I don't know what Paul could mean by that."
"Well, let's get some rest," Devon said. "We'll resume our search at dawn."
Tomas flipped the "Open" sign on his pawn shop door at 8:00 AM sharp, just as he had every working morning for the last decade. At 8:01 AM, a thin, blonde man walked in. The bell over the door jangled brightly.
"What can I do for you?" Tomas asked.
Paul's gaze ran swiftly over the various guns for sale. "I'd like a box of those shotgun shells, and one of those boxes of ammo right there!" he said with a smile and a wink. Tomas smiled back and put them on the counter.
Paul hesitated, as if trying to make up his mind, then said, "Would you mind if I took a look at that sleek baby right there?" he pointed at a rifle with a scope mounted on the wall. Its price tag read, "$459." "I've been thinking about getting one of those for a long time."
"Sure thing," Tomas said, and retrieved it for him.
"Wow," Paul said, whistling appreciatively. "I like this. You wouldn't be willing to go for anything less that $459, would you?"
Tomas shook his head. "Nope, sorry. I can't really haggle my prices."
Paul clicked his lips and sighed, acting the concerned customer all over. "Well, I tell you what. I still want it. Give me an application for it."
"You don't need an application for a rifle sir, just for a handgun that could be concealed," Tomas said.
"Great!" Paul's face lit up. "Let's do this!"
"Yes, sir!" Tomas said and moved to the cash register. Then he looked up just in time to see Paul load the rifle and disengage the safety.
Tomas hurled himself through the door behind the counter into his back store room, the CRACK of the rifle resounding in his ears. The bullet tore a hole through the wall where he'd been standing.
Paul grimaced at his miss, but shrugged. He scooped up the bullets and, just for good measure, the shotgun shells, and walked calmly out the door. As he left, he took a bow out of his pocket and slipped it on the rifle's barrel to make it look as if it was a present for someone, then waltzed gaily down the street. He stopped briefly to let a woman and her little girl step in front of him, smiling grandly as he did. The little girl smiled back.
Paul walked around the corner into the parking lot of the Greater National Bank and within seconds had climbed into the back of an SUV.
Jose came out about a minute later and climbed into the driver's seat. Without turning around, he asked, "Did you get what you needed?"
"I sure did," Paul answered. "Let's go."
Jose Rodriguez, respected officer of the Greater National Bank of Santa Fe, dutifully waited until the police cars sped past before pulling into the street and heading in the opposite direction.
"This is it!" Alonzo yelled excitedly. "This is the street I saw in my dream! These are the houses!"
"These houses?" Danziger asked. "These houses look like the houses we've been passing all morning."
"I'm telling you, this is where he lives!" Alonzo insisted, then smiled when he saw Danziger's grin. The mechanic was pulling a Morgan on him.
Carson pulled up to the curb, just between the house Alonzo pointed out and the one next door. Any person looking out of either house would assume the cab was there for the occupants of the other house. It was a great way of "hiding" between houses. He'd used the method several times to snatch quick naps on slow days.
"Well?" Carson asked, his heart racing. "How are we gonna do this?"
"You told me I needed an application for a rifle when I didn't!" Paul said, stuffing supplies into the backpack Jose had given him.
"Sorry," Jose shrugged. "I'm not a lawyer."
"Well, I got what I needed, and we get to take one more trip to-"
Ding dong.
Jose and Paul looked at each other.
"Go see who it is and send them away," Paul said.
Jose walked to the front door and opened it.
"Hey, someone call a cab?" Carson asked.
Danziger and Alonzo lifted the handle to the gate and walked into the back yard as if they belonged there, then quietly tried the back door. It opened, and they looked in just in time to see the back of Paul Baxter. He was stalking up to the front door, where Carson was putting his motor mouth to good use.
They stepped inside, eyeing the high-powered rifle on the living room table. Alonzo quickly stole through the kitchen to the garage to get a look at the car, and was surprised to find the Terrian there. It looked up and recognized Alonzo, and gave a small trill.
"Hang in there, buddy," Alonzo mouthed to him, noting that the car in the garage matched the description given by Maria.
"Yeah, 2313 Desert Sun Drive, that's the one," Carson insisted, even showing them the call-in order he'd filled out. "That's where I am, this is where you are, and my dispatch is never wrong, I can promise you that, sir."
"Look, you little snot!" Paul exploded. "We didn't order a cab! Now scram!"
"Why don't you put your hands up, instead?" Danziger asked.
Paul spun around to see that Danziger had picked up the rifle and had it aimed at his chest. Alonzo had Devon's pistol aimed at the same spot.
Jose's eyes grew large. Carson's did too when he saw the guns, and he pushed the front door shut, making sure he was on the outside. It closed, leaving Alonzo and Danziger in a staring match with Jose and Paul. The living room table was between them.
"I don't believe it," Paul said, his jaw hanging open. "Where have you people been the last couple of days?"
"Down against the wall, both of you," Danziger said. "Face down, hands above your heads."
Paul smirked. "You know, I really hate to break it to you, but that rifle isn't loaded."
"Yes, it is," Danziger said.
"My gun certainly is," Alonzo said darkly.
Paul started to jump forwards. Danziger fell for the feint and pulled the trigger, not realizing that Paul was wanting him to do just that. The Councilman leaped to one side and the shot hit the front door. Paul viciously kicked the living room table, hitting both Danziger and Alonzo in the knees and sending them backwards. Alonzo's pistol went off, sending a shot through the ceiling.
Devon heard the shots and raced out of the cab, where she had been waiting so she could follow Paul in case he tried to drive away. "Danziger!" she shouted. Carson just looked at her imploringly, hoping she wasn't about to go into the house.
Jose ran for the hallway, but Paul just smiled and fought like a madman. Not content with having kicked the table into his enemies, he picked it up and flipped it over on them, then jumped on it, a grin on his face the whole time. Danziger rolled out of the way, but Alonzo was caught beneath the table and yelled as all of Paul's weight smashed into his body from head to toe.
Danziger came up whirling with the rifle, using it as a club and aiming for Paul's skull. But he was distracted by the front door opening, and Paul whipped his hand back to catch the rifle and he pulled it out of his hands. They both turned to see Devon in the doorway.
Devon turned to look over her shoulder and shouted for all she was worth, acting as if there were people behind her. "He's right here! Send three men around the back! The rest of you get in here!"
Paul grabbed his pack and the rest of his ammunition and sprinted towards the garage, bowling Danziger over along the way.
"Get back!" Danziger shouted at Devon, desperately trying to get off the floor. "He's going for the car! Follow him!"
They heard the garage door roll up, and Devon knew Danziger was right. "Carson, the cab!" she shouted, running back towards the vehicle. "We have to know where he goes!" She sprinted to the car, and Carson, after gesticulating wildly for a second, followed.
Jose's SUV, with Paul at the wheel, burst out of the garage, but Paul didn't head for the street. He spun the wheel hard to the right and shot across Jose's front lawn, aiming for Devon as she ran for the cab. She spun on her heel and ran back towards the front door, pulling Carson with her. The SUV raced by inches away, hopped the curb and sped down the street. By the time Devon looked up, it had taken the corner and was gone.
She sighed and buried her face in the grass.
"Come on," Carson said. "Let's get inside. Most of the neighbors are probably at work, but someone might have seen."
"That was a pretty bold trick you pulled," Danziger said as Devon applied some antiseptic to his cuts. Jose brought some bandages and another bottle of antiseptic for Alonzo.
"I'm surprised he fell for it," Devon said. "Do I look like a military commando leader?"
"Do you really want me to answer that?" Danziger asked.
They had found Jose in a back room, begging them not to kill him. He had insisted he knew nothing of Paul, and they believed him. The Terrian was gone from the garage. Once again, he had been taken by Paul.
"So why were you helping Paul if you didn't know him?" Danziger asked.
"Well, it's kind of hard to say," Jose replied hesitantly.
"Look, we're not the police," Devon said. "We don't know you, we're not after you. In fact, we come from the same place that Paul did. All we need are answers. If we don't get them, someone's going to die today."
Jose pursed his lips. "I'm vice president of the Greater National Bank of Santa Fe," he said. "I've been embezzling money from my bank for the past year. Paul showed up at my front door Saturday night and said he knew all about it. He said he'd expose me unless I did everything he asked."
Danziger's gear beeped, and he put it on. "Sir," Zero told him privately, "Paul's records indicate that he knew of Jose Rodriguez's embezzlement activities because of a news article dated December 10, 2000, which details Jose's arrest for the crime."
Danziger glanced briefly at Jose. "Thanks," he said.
"Jose, I don't care one bit about your embezzling," Devon said sincerely. "You keep doing it with my blessing if you want to. But please, tell us everything you can about Paul's plans. We must know what they are."
"I don't know," Jose said, his hands spread wide. "I honestly don't know. Paul wouldn't tell me anything. He wouldn't even tell me where Brian came from."
"Brian?" Alonzo asked.
"The Terrian," Jose said. "Paul named him Brian." Jose quickly told them all that Paul had done during the last two days.
"So Paul distinctly said that his big event was this afternoon?" Devon asked.
"That's what he said," Jose replied.
"Do you know where Satan's Abyss is, or Satan's Chasm?" Danziger asked. "Did Paul ever say anything about such a place?"
Jose shook his head. "I've never heard of it."
"Zero, have you uncovered any more of Paul's journals?"
"Nothing which provides any information we don't already know," Zero replied. "There is one final area of his journals that I am trying to decipher. So far, Paul has not mentioned the location of Satan's Abyss."
"But that's all we have left to go on!" Devon said, knocking her fists against her forehead. "We've got to figure it out!"
"I don't know of any chasms around here," Jose said. "We got mesas, rivers, canyons." He shrugged.
Devon thought for a moment. "Zero, what are some synonyms for chasm," she asked.
"Do I look like Data from Star Trek?" Zero asked.
"Just a minute, I have a thesaurus," Jose said. He went to his study. The only sound was the loud ticking from the clock on the mantle, as if marking off the slow movement of the sunshine across the carpet. Devon glanced worriedly at the clock. It was 8:45 AM.
"Here we are," Jose returned, thumbing the thesaurus open. He handed Danziger a large map of New Mexico. Danziger opened it up and spread it on the table which they had righted after Paul upended it. As he unfolded, Jose read from the thesaurus. "Chasm. See abyss." He thumbed backwards. "Abyss. Chasm, pit, channel, arroyo, canyon, trench." Jose shrugged. "Anything useful there?"
"You mentioned there are canyons around," Danziger said, tracing his fingers over the map. "Anything called Satan's Canyon, by any chance?"
"No," Jose said. "I doubt that there would be, anyway, because almost all the names around here are American Indian or Spanish."
Devon, Danziger, Alonzo, Jose and Carson looked at each other suddenly, all having the thought at the same time. But it was Jose who breathed the word out loud, in a whisper of realization. "Diablo," he said softly, and his finger tapped a point on the map just outside Santa Fe. "Diablo is Spanish for the Devil."
The others bent to see where he was pointing, and saw that his finger rested on a little line labeled Diablo Canyon.
Paul plodded over the soft sand, dragging the Terrian behind him. "I don't believe this," he said, airing his long list of grievances to the open air. "I just don't believe this! I gotta keep you alive to sell you! But I can't store you in someone's shed, because look what happened last time! I can't keep you at Casa Jose, because the colonists are there! I can't keep you out of my sight, because you might run off or die on me! So I gotta drag you up to the top of this Godforsaken canyon with me!"
He suddenly stopped and glared at the Terrian. "You are a nuisance!" He immediately started walking again, making sure the Terrian followed. He kept an avid eye out for any other hikers who might spot the Terrian and wonder what it was. But no one else was about in the Monday morning sunshine.
"You know, there's one good thing about all this," Paul said to the Terrian. "Once I do the deed, I'll be able to go back to Jose's place, because the colonists won't be there any more. They won't be anywhere!"
He giggled at the thought.
"Come on, Carson, I thought you knew the way!" Alonzo said.
"I did know the way," Carson defended himself with exasperation. "But the road I used to know isn't there any more! They've built a new neighborhood there!" He hit the brakes and did his third U-Turn in a row.
"Did anyone know this was national U-Turn day?" Alonzo asked.
"We do now," Devon replied.
Carson sped up and down the highway twice more, but the road he was looking for persisted in not being there.
"We need to find another way," Danziger said. "Right now."
Carson thought quickly, then did one last U-Turn. "Alternate route to Diablo Canyon, coming up," he said. "But hold onto your seat belts. This is going to get bumpy."
The Edenites desperately tried to keep their teeth intact as the cab rattled violently down the dirt road. Luckily, Zero, who was the only one doing a lot of talking, didn't have the problem of stuttering his words.
"I have deciphered the final piece of Paul's data chip," Zero said. "Although it doesn't confirm that Diablo Canyon is Satan's Abyss, Paul does provide a rough map that corresponds to Diablo Canyon perfectly, along with a detailed description of his plan. Apparently, an ancestor of Devon Adair will arrive at the canyon with a group of people around 1:00 PM. Paul intends to assassinate this person with a rifle from the top of the western cliff. He then plans to use his gear set to block the cell phone transmissions of the group to prevent them calling for help, allowing him time to get away.
"He chose the western cliff because the land slopes down over the course of several miles to the north, allowing him to hike to that spot without having to climb. It also affords him a view of the entire area behind him in case anyone approaches his position."
"Why d-don't we just war-arn this group of p-people to stayay away?" Alonzo asked.
"We can't change hist- uh! -history," Devon answered, gripping the door handle. "And they prob-bably wouldn't believe us, anyway. We've g-got to stop Paul."
Carson skidded to a stop above a wide, dry, sandy river bed. Two cliffs rose out of the sand about 150 meters away. Diablo Canyon. The air was already very warm. The time was 9:30 AM.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Carson asked nervously as he opened the trunk.
"As sure we can ever be," Devon answered as they pulled out their equipment. Three sets of climbing gear from Jose, including canteens full of water. "Paul is already on his way up there, and he's going to be looking for people following him, especially now, so we can't take the same route he did. Our only choice is to surprise him, and that means climbing."
"Do you know how to climb?"
"We've had some experience through necessity," Devon answered. "We'll make it up there. We have to."
She turned to him. "Carson." She held his hands in hers. "This is almost certainly good-bye. Whether we make it or not, we won't be coming back."
Carson tried to smile. "So I'll never know what happened."
"No," she said. "I'm afraid not. But you have saved our lives over the past two days, and we can't thank you enough for that."
Carson just shrugged, obviously unused to being complimented. "Well, get on up there and kick this guy's ass, okay?"
"That's the idea." Danziger shook his hand.
Alonzo shook his hand also. "Thanks for everything," he said. "Now go back to Santa Fe and get some sleep."
"Oh, man," Carson shook his head. "I don't think I could get any sleep after today."
"No, I mean it," Alonzo said. "Take a sedative if you have to, but get some sleep."
"Okay," Carson nodded. "I can do that. Here, you guys better drink some water from the jug before you go."
They each drank as deeply as they dared from a jug of water in the trunk which they'd brought for this purpose, then waved good-bye to Carson. He watched them cross the barbed wire fence and trudge onto the sandy riverbed until they had disappeared into the canyon.
He turned his cab around and headed home.
Paul lay sprawled in the grass and dirt, finally getting his strength back after his forced hike to the top of the cliff. He had come the easy way, but he felt like he'd just run a marathon. He didn't want to admit it, but the constant running and fighting recently, plus getting shot twice, had really taken its toll.
But now he just enjoyed the fact that after all the planning, after all the detail, after following up all the clues in his Complete Archive, he had finally reached his destination. He felt giddy.
He glanced at Brian. His pet Terrian looked anything but giddy. The heat, the repeated shocks, the fatigue, and the prolonged separation from G889 had all taken its toll, and Brian looked like he wasn't going to last much longer. Paul shrugged. He just had to last long enough.
"You better not die on me," Paul said with a smirk, then shook his head when Brian offered no response. He took a long look back along the route he had hiked to get up here, and saw no one following him. He felt relieved. The uncanny persistence of the Edenites, and their ability to dog him to the very end, was beginning to get on his nerves. He'd almost expected them to come traipsing across the land after him, but there was no sign of them.
He twisted his head to look below, and his heart started hammering with vicious excitement when he saw that three cars had just arrived. His target was here!
He slowly drew out his rifle and waited. And waited. And waited.
"What's taking them so long?" he asked aloud.
Minutes later, although it felt like hours to Paul, a group of people began walking out into the river bed, heading for the canyon.
He licked his lips and peered through the scope, searching for the one he wanted. He knew the face, but the person wasn't- ah, there you are! he thought to himself. I've got you.
Paul didn't fire. He gulped once, his finger tight on the trigger, but nothing happened. He set the rifle down and rolled onto his back, staring into the sky.
There was one thing worrying him. It had been worrying him since the beginning, but he had always shoved it to the back of his mind, because it was a bad thought and bad thoughts interfered with his fun! But the bad thought which he'd tried so hard to make disappear now prevented him from carrying out his final task.
The thought blazed through his brain now, no longer ignored. What if I disappear, too?
If he chopped down the Adair family tree, what would happen to himself? No Eden Project. No Council assignment to stop Eden Project. (Well, okay, to monitor Eden Project. He actually hadn't been authorized to stop anything, but this was so much more fun!) No going back in time to have fun and erase the betrayers. Did that mean no more Paul Baxter? Or did it mean Paul Baxter stuck back on the space stations in the 22nd century? Or did it mean Paul Baxter stuck inside some kind of paradox with no way out until the universe came to an end?
He watched a few vultures circling in the sky, trying to make sense of it all. He wondered if the vultures were circling for him.
He suddenly smiled. What did it matter? He wasn't turning back now, that was for sure! He didn't come this far just to chicken out at the last moment! And if he got stuck inside a paradox, then he'd get a first-hand view of what the inside of a paradox looked like. Hah! Not many others could put that on their resume.
He turned over and sighted along the rifle again, but the target was inside the canyon, now. He'd meditated too long.
No problem, he told himself. He would just do the deed when they walked back to the vehicles. He took a swig from his canteen and waited as patiently as he could. Which was to say, not very patiently at all.
"I'm beginning to think this was a mistake," Danziger said. He desperately searched for a new handhold. The top of the cliff was agonizingly close, only a dozen meters away, yet it remained obstinately out of reach.
They had made excellent progress at first, virtually rocketing up the canyon wall. Now it was just after noon, and Paul was almost certainly lying in position by now, and they were having difficulty reaching the very top.
"Too late to turn back now," Devon said. "Although now I'm glad we mountain-climbed twice to look for mountain passes when we were trapped during our first winter. Otherwise we wouldn't know what to do now."
"They're here," Alonzo said, looking below.
Devon and Danziger followed his gaze and saw a group of people strolling through the canyon. Although they appeared as tiny dots from their height, they didn't appear to be equipped for anything more than a short day trip. It had to be the group Paul was waiting for.
"We're too late," Devon said, hoping it wasn't true.
"Paul hasn't done anything yet," Danziger reassured her. "They're not acting like people who've been shot at. We've still got time."
"They've spotted us," Alonzo said. "Everyone smile. Our picture's being taken."
Devon felt a cold, prickly wave of emotion run over her. One of those people down there, far below, was her distant ancestor, and she would forever be a tiny speck in their photo album. "I wonder which one it is," she said.
"Doesn't matter," Danziger said. "No way to tell, anyway. Here, I think I've found a way. Follow me."
Paul took a deep breath and tried to keep calm as he looked below, waiting for the one he wanted. He kept his gear set ready to activate the moment after he fired, to prevent them using their primitive communication devices to call for help.
He saw the target, the ancestor of Devon Adair, and slowly squinted down the scope. His finger tightened on the trigger. Brian gave a little trill.
A warning bell went off in Paul's mind. Brian hadn't spoken for the longest time, and the noise he'd just made sounded almost like a happy one. Paul turned to look at Brian and saw Alonzo Solace about 25 meters away, silently trying to tell the Terrian to be quiet. Alonzo glanced over and saw Paul's startled expression, then threw himself behind one of several large rocks which dotted the landscape.
"Argh!" Alonzo shouted. "He saw me! Keep down!"
"You know, you people have actually earned my admiration!" Paul shouted, shifting his body to aim the rifle at them, hoping one of them would accidentally show themselves so he could pick them off, yet trying to keep low himself, because he knew they'd be armed.
"Paul, listen to me," Devon shouted. "We know what you're trying to do. Don't you understand that you'll be destroying yourself as well as us?"
"I don't think so," Paul called back. "I've already figured all this out. Don't pretend to know more than me."
As he was talking, Alonzo again peeked out, just a tiny bit, and made eye contact with the Terrian. Alonzo pointed at Paul, and made punching motions with his fist.
"Why would you want to hurt us, Paul?" Devon continued. "What did we ever do to you?"
"You betrayed the Council!" Paul shot back. "You forfeited everything when you did that!"
The Terrian just looked confused. Alonzo tried as hard as he could to dream past the shock collar, and again pointed at Paul. "Please," he whispered. "Just a little bit."
The Terrian slowly stood up.
Paul didn't see this, and he came to a decision at the same time. He reasoned that Devon and the others would disappear as soon as he eliminated her ancestor, so he could take care of the threat from the colonists simply by completing his mission. It was perfect. He turned around and again aimed at his target below.
Then he heard Brian approaching, just few paces away. Paul angrily keyed a command into his gear and yelled, "Charge!" Brian trilled in pain and collapsed.
Exactly as the Edenites had planned.
The moment Paul gave the command to the shock collar, the frequency he was using appeared in the visuals of their own gear sets. Danziger immediately keyed his gear to the same frequency and said, "Release."
The shock collar fell off. Alonzo closed his eyes.
Paul grunted when he saw the collar hit the ground, realizing instantly what had just happened. "That was pretty clever for a bunch of rebels," he called back. He turned to face them again, rising to his knees, and then to his feet as he was unable to resist the taunt, as if daring them even to attempt to shoot him. "But it's useless! Do you hear? I've still got the magic bones! Your little pet can't lift a finger to hurt me!"
"He's not going to hurt you!" Danziger called back.
Paul suddenly heard a tiny click, somewhere just below his chin. "Huh?" he asked.
"He's just gonna put a little something on you," Danziger finished.
Paul reached up to his neck and found metal where his adam's apple should have been, just as he felt his own gear set plucked off his head from behind. He spun to face the Terrian, who was smiling at him and tossing his gear set a few meters away.
Devon keyed her gear. "Charge."
Paul screamed as the electricity seared through him. His back arched and his arms flew out. He took the pain, then turned around, his face a mask of rage. "I'll get you for thi-"
"Charge," Alonzo said. Paul suffered again. Still he didn't fall, but attempted to bring the rifle to bear on them, advancing on them even now.
"Charge," Danziger said.
Paul screamed again and fell to his knees, but there was still no repentance, no remorse. Only a fury to strike back at those who were hurting him.
"You want to get in on the act, Zero?" Danziger asked.
"Normally, I'm not allowed to harm people," Zero replied. "But what the hell. Charge."
Paul yelled again and finally fell face-down into the dirt, where he lay moaning.
They walked up to him, kicked his rifle away and tied his hands behind his back. He tried to resist only once, but then finally accepted that no matter how much he hated it, suffering was only a word away.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Alonzo asked the Terrian. It trilled at him, and Alonzo shook his head in wonder.
"Do you know what this Terrian did for us?" he asked.
"Yeah, he took one last charge so we could get the frequency of the shock collar," Danziger answered.
"There's more," Alonzo said. "When Jose released his collar the first time, he had the chance to go home, back to G889. But he knew that if he did, he would have stranded us here. He chose to stay a captive of Paul when he had the chance to escape, just to help us out."
The others smiled, and Danziger shook his head. "The Terrians amaze me more all the time," he said. "So we can go home?"
Alonzo nodded. "We can go home." Then he touched the Terrian on the chest and dreamed, just for a moment. Far away in his house, Carson rolled over in his sleep and heard the message that they had succeeded, all was well, and they were going home, now.
Alonzo opened his eyes and nodded. Keeping a watch on Paul, who was now thoroughly tied up and wasn't speaking (he seemed to be pouting), they stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down at the group of people leaving the sandy river bed of Diablo Canyon behind. "We did it." Devon was smiling broadly, and she began to laugh. "We did it!"
"We sure did, Devon," Danziger said.
"Come on," Alonzo said with a grin. "Let's get back to the future!"
"Wasn't that a stage play?" Devon asked.
"Nah, I think it was a book or something," Danziger said.
The Terrian made a tiny motion with his head and his hands, and a white tunnel opened up beside them, flashing with electricity.
"So what do you think, Devon?" Danziger asked her. "If we can survive on old Earth, you think New Pacifica has a chance?"
"Absolutely," she replied. The she looked into his eyes and suddenly found herself thinking about the entire journey that had led her to this point, and about all the things that Eden Advance had learned and all the ways they'd grown. She thought about the mistakes they'd all made, the times they'd gotten on one another's nerves, and all the good times they'd had. "And you know something else?" she said.
"What?" Danziger asked.
"I really have had the time of my life."
Danziger just smiled and escorted her through the spider tunnel. Alonzo followed with Paul, Zero's head slung on his back, and the Terrian came last.
Far below, a small caravan of cars pulled away, flashing in the hot summer sun.
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Right now, get one of four specially-made "Retrospective" posters from Kentucky Fried Taco Hut for only $2.99 with the purchase of any large drink. Supplies are limited, so hurry!
(If the person taking your order at Kentucky Fried Taco Hut has no idea what you're talking about, insist that they're wrong and demand your poster, and refuse to leave until you get it! Remember, the customer is always right.)
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Descriptions of the land surrounding Diablo Canyon (such as the "fact" that the western edge slopes down gradually), and the description of the cliff tops of Diablo Canyon, could be completely false. Whatever I didn't know or couldn't remember correctly, I just made up.
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To those of you who were in Diablo Canyon on Monday, July 3, 2000:
If you wish to believe that you are a distant ancestor of Devon Adair, please feel free.
If you wish to believe that you are not a distant ancestor of Devon Adair, and that you would never be a distant ancestor of Devon Adair even if someone paid you a million dollars, also, please feel free.
If you wish to believe that you turn into a werechihuahua whenever there's a full moon and terrorize people on subway trains by trying to bite their ankles, then again, please feel free.
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To those of you who were not in Diablo Canyon on Monday, July 3, 2000, and would like to know that the hell I'm talking about:
A group of us visited Earth 2 filming sites in New Mexico in July 2000. On the afternoon of Monday, July 3, 2000, we visited Diablo Canyon, where they filmed the episode "Water." The road we had used in 1997 was gone, replaced by a new housing edition, and we executed several U-turns on the highway looking fruitlessly for this road. We found another road which led to the canyon, but it was very bumpy, just as I described in the story. At about 1:00 PM, we parked the cars, walked across a wide sandy expanse, and hiked into the canyon for a short distance. The canyon walls are relatively easy to climb at the base, but they get much steeper near the top. On the left canyon wall (the left side as one walks into the canyon), three people were scaling the canyon wall using climbing equipment, and they had almost reached the top. They were so far away that we couldn't tell what they looked like, but I think they were two men and a woman.
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I find it very ironic that, without any planning whatsoever, the story I wrote for the one-year anniversary of EvacPod Con ("Heroes") and the story I wrote for the one-year anniversary of New Pacificon 2000 ("Retrospective") both have characters or situations which parody science fiction fans and the fan experience. I have never done this in any of my other Earth 2 stories, just these two. (Personally, I blame it all on the Lamplighter Inn.)
I also find it ironic that "Heroes" was set 200 years after Earth 2, and "Retrospective" was set 200 years before Earth 2. This means that I've bracketed the show evenly with those two shots. This will allow me finally to get those temporal sights aligned on my keyboard, and next time I'll get it right on the money.
Outta here!
The Dougmeister