Synergy (Sequel to Contamination, an Earth 2 TV series story that resolves the broadcasted cliff hanger episode, All About Eve.)

by Anotherjaneway

Devon Adair, narrating.. "We have abandoned Spring Orchid Landing and Bennet's sleeper ship, leaving it to burn underneath the literal mountain of Morganite ore that the Terrians swiftly excavated to eradicate the fifty year old mutated Eden Phage we found in Mary and Mother-By-Choice. It's been a month on the move and I am still haunted by E.V.E., once a tool in my enslavement to a cryobed, now isolated alone, locked two hundred miles in orbit on the Council's satellite, with no means to contact us ever again. I am not comforted by that knowledge, nor is my conscience eased with my newly recovered health and freedom. Since the day the Reilly module went insane, I've realized that my life has completely changed. I am no longer a leader. I... don't want to be one any more. I am seriously regretting my decision of convincing the group into coming to this place so far from the stability and yes, even the political gauntlet of risks, surrounding the Stations. We haven't yet found any game or living edible plants to supplement our hydrolizer's supposedly infinite supplies beyond the eye stalks the Terrians gave us to propagate. Yale has explained why. And it's not a theory. It is a fact that we're seeing evidence of, everywhere, every day. G889 is dying. And we, as humans, are the cause. Extinction is such a terrifying word. It's even worse than death. For extinction means that not only are you dead, your children and grandchildren will never even have a chance of being born. I can't bear that idea. Am I responsible for an entire world slowly losing all the life it once had? Was my saving Uly's life worth that?"

True Danziger, narrating.. "I try to act brave but in my head, I am really, really scared. Kitty is sad and he won't eat. He's been getting sicker every day. Julia tells me that there's nothing she can do to help him. She says Kitty is pining away piece by piece, because he can't find any other Kobas to play with. I don't believe her! Not at all. But my dad says what she tells me is true. He told me Kitty's not smart enough to hang onto hope like we can. He says nobody can fix a broken heart. *sniff* I think I understand that. When I was little, I lost my mother, and I nearly died inside."

It was noon. A gust of wind blew pink dust up into the sky from the dead grasses surrounding the Eden Advance members, with a low moan, cutting through the lifeless silence.

"Pow!" Uly said as he pulled the electro trigger of the unloaded Mag Pro rifle that Cameron had hefted onto his tiny shoulder. "Got him!" he shouted in triumph.

"Got who?" chuckled the burly Australian Cargo kneeling by his side on the gray sand ridge. They had just complete a perimeter check around the convoy and this was the boy's reward for running the whole way as exercise.

"A Z.E.D. Right in the n-!"

John Danziger crowed out an expletive in French to drown out the boy's crude talk about man parts. "Merde! When you're no longer an off-shoot, then you can Transrover talk, Uly.
Not a second before then. My ears are burning right off and all the women folk are frowning. See?" he said, whipping a grimey hand back towards Bess Martin who was watering a roof full of yellow eye stalk planted synth trays on top of Morgan's vehicle.

The curly, long tressed young woman's scowl grew dutifully stronger for the boy's benefit. "I believe the word you're looking for is testes." she supplied.

"Testy?" asked Uly curiously. "I'm not mad or crabby." he said, passing back the gun to their current convoy sentry.

Yale took up the lesson glibly, much to Devon's amusement. "Ball sack. There. That's a safe answer. One you can better understand."

Uly let out a chortle that was half Terrian warble. "I get it! So that's what John says itches when he drives in the sun too long."

"Hey!" said the big man, buried up to his elbows in mapping fiber optic coils. "Enough about my nether regions, all. Where did you guys stick Zero?"

Cameron replied. "He's scouting twenty clicks north. There's less dying vegetation that way."

"And less coughing at rotting fumes. Very good." piped up Julia, going through diagnostics on her diaglove arm band. "Congratulations, Cammy. You were paying attention at what was said at debrief this morning. I'm sort of impressed." she said with a dry smile.

Cameron snorted and took up his seat next to Alonzo in a sand rover after getting Uly rebuckled into his buggy next to True who was holding a blanket bundled Kitty. "Did you hear the part about saving soap rations? You were in the shower using some for ten minutes four seconds today, Heller."

"Were you spying on me?!" she sputtered, knowing that he was carrying the group's magnifier binoculars.

"No, ma'am. As if. Zero was. And it was he who shared that observation with me for inclusion into tonight's up and coming reserves and supplies report." said the Cargo with indignation.

Solace piped up to lighten a little tension. "I spied on you when you were in the shower. No raised eyebrows for me?" he said, regarding Julia with a smirk.

The rest of the group loudly whistled, applauded, and cat called in hilarity at that confession which turned the Doctor's face a fiery red.

Sitting off to one side, Devon Adair assessed the mood of the group deftly, keeping out of the active ribbing which she knew was good for morale. ::And there's our most vulnerable spot today.:: she decided, seeing True, who wasn't giggling or even looking up from her Koba's pale face at all of the antics bubbling on around her.
Adair tossed her head at Yale to intervene on her behalf.

With a warm smile and an understanding sigh, the loose dashiki the tutor wore fluttered in the hot breeze as he climbed onto the back of the children's buggy and clung to the rails. "How's he doing today, True?" he asked the child softly with a kind look.

The navy handkerchief bandanna'd garbed tom boyish petite girl replied. ""He's not sleeping even though it's day time. I think he's worse, Yale. I've tried everything I can think of. I'm afraid he'll starve before much longer." she sobbed, her doe eyes filling with fat tears.

"Have you tried this yet?" said the Jamaican cyborg, handing her an eyestalk seedling he had plucked from one of Bess's gardening trays. "These have fashioned themselves into whatever's needed the most for us, so far, with nutrients and antibiotics. Perhaps they will work for Kobas in the same way."

Cooing softly with a low bass sounding rasp, the Koba resisted the lemon vegetable True poked at him only weakly before finally opening his mouth to chew on it.

"Oh, thank heavens." True gasped, giving the warty hippo colored primate a careful, relieved hug.

Yale rubbed her back gently. "Keep giving him all he wants. Perhaps we just need to be like his mother was for while."

Uly added more, wrapping the silver mylar sheet around Kitty more securely. "That's what the Terrians did for me, True. This will work. They told me they won't let him die because he's yours."

John Danziger looked up sharply from his tinkering station. "When did they tell you that, Uly? Zero hasn't detected them today and you haven't been sleeping for hours."

The boy was quiet and immediately hung his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Danziger. A-All right. I made that up... to make True feel better."

"Don't go lying to my girl. Uly, lying never helps anybody in the long run." the mechanic shared with a nod of conviction. "Especially here. We have to depend on each other by telling the truth at all times. No matter how hard that is." His eyes wandered over and met Devon's. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Uly swallowed dryly and fidgetted with his Terrian staff's red ribbons. "Yes, sir."

John Danziger put away his tools with finality. "Okay, let's go, people. We've got a hundred clicks to make before nightfall if we're going to keep on schedule." John said to the group.

Morgan pulled away his VR gear's head set from an ear. "Just how far are we ultimately planning on going, Danziger? Nothing living's shown up on radar or visual for days."

"We go until we spot something. No matter how small. Then we'll stop because then we'll know that we've reached the edge of this extinction zone we're in. What happens after that, we'll play it by ear." he replied.