"Try to keep him on track." "We're falling back." "God." "I had no ideas Grendlers could move this fast." "There's no way we can lose him in all of this snow." "Yeah, well, we've lost them before, and we've tracked them too many times to come away empty-handed again." "Day 72 on this planet." "We've been bunkered through this cold weather for only 20-some days, and it's already starting to seem unbearable." "We're still unsure how long these winters last." "Scout parties looking for a pass to lower terrain... have been limited by a lack of cold-weather clothing and supplies." "Which is where the Grendlers come in." "We can pick up some ground here." "Not too close." "He'll pick us up and never take us to the stash." "We track 'em on and off for days, hoping to find a stash of supplies or clothing." "We'd often see 'em in the distance, hauling great bundles of found items." "Some easily recognized from our lost cargo pods." "A few have speculated that Grendlers are gatherer-traders by nature, but we've yet to make any real contact with them." "Not that we'd have much to trade anyhow." "They're too close." "Guys, he's gonna turn around and kiss you in a second." "Considering we've been doing all the work, we deserve a kiss." "You guys all right?" "Lonz!" " Yeah, they're okay." "Whoo-hoo.!" "Hey.!" "Look at this.!" "Looks like we found the Grendler stash." "Certainly smells like it." "They smell warm to me." "The haul of winter clothing was a godsend." "Whatever tinges of guilt we felt for taking it... slipped away as night fell to subzero temperatures again." "Besides, as one of the kids had wisely pointed out, this stuff doesn't fit the Grendlers anyhow." "None of the clothes I.D. 'd as Eden Project." "Nor were they typical of penal colonists." "We did our best not to think about it." "For some, that wasn't much of a problem." "For others,just the stillness of these cold, snowy days... gave birth to all sorts ofburied doubts." "Baines." "Yeah." "Hey." "Stay warm, buddy." "Thank you." "Good night." "Good night, Danziger." "John?" "Yeah." "John." "Can't sleep?" "We have to continue to scout for a pass to lower elevations." "I've been studying the orbital variations of this planet, and there's a good chance we might be in for a leap winter." "Leap winter?" "Yeah." "It lasts twice as long as a normal winter." "Any idea how long a normal winter lasts?" "No." "No idea." "I can't sleep." "I've been dreaming about my mother again." "Calling me." "Incessantly calling." "Devon said she had upsetting dreams about her mother last night." "Let me guess." "Dreams." "Your mother calling." "Yeah." "She- Kind of." "She was kind of like my mother." "Alonzo hasn't reported any Terrian activity, has he?" "No, I" " I don't think he's had a dream in weeks." "So what's it mean?" "We all having oedipal guilt complexes?" " You too, huh?" " Yeah." "Yeah." "Same as last night." "Except this time it wasn't my mother." "Just somebody who felt like her." "She was, uh, pleading, begging me to listen." "To what?" "I don't know." "It, uh" "It was very powerful, but..." "I could never exactly hear what she was trying to say." "Whatever it is, it's all the more reason to follow Yale's advice... and find a pass out of here as soon as we can." "Dad." "Dad, I had the dream again." "I talked to my mother." "We'll talk about this later, okay?" "Come on." "It's late." "Come on." "Let's get to bed." "South by southwest." "15 degrees." "Mark." "Twenty degrees." "Mark." "And 30 degrees." "Mark." "Base, did you get that?" "Locked on... and input." "Waiting for" "Morgan, go again." "We lost you." "Uh, Alonzo, say again." "You're" "I want you to know that, uh, no matter what happens" "I will never stop trying to reach you." "Oh, God." "It's her." "Morgan, what was that?" "Morgan." "Did you see that?" "Yeah." "That was her." "What?" "She was the one in the dreams." "Morgan, what are you talking about?" "Yale, someone was on a gear channel." " John?" " Yeah." "It's definitely something' weird." "All right." "Maybe you should start heading back." "All right." "Morgan, we lost you." "I want you to know that, uh, no matter what happens," "I will never stop trying to reach you." "Oh, God." "It's her." "Morgan, what was that?" "Rewind." "...trying to reach you." "Freeze." " "Dell Curry"?" " It's a laser-cast signal." "It's bridging our gear bands whenever we're in its path." "And our dreams?" "We know this planet has a highly responsive metaphysical plane." "The strength of the signal might be intersecting it." "It's not inconceivable." "I'm telling you." "This is the woman in my dreams." "It was as if she was... or had become my mother." "It was just weird." "Well, sometimes our minds take unfamiliar images and... alter them to familiar ones." "She's not an unfamiliar image." "Not to me." "You can't just turn this into something you can explain away." "I know who she is." "I know." "We're not trying to dismiss what you're dreaming about." "Base." "Base, you there?" "Yeah." "We're on,John." "We're definitely onto something here." "A camp of some kind." "Looks pretty fortified." "It might be a penal colonist, uh, camp." "It's best to stay clear." "Penal colonists still might know a way out of these mountains." "Yeah, or they just might be out of their minds." "It's too dangerous." "They should pull back." "Tell Adair we heard that." "We've decided to make contact anyway." "Yes, we will be careful." "One guy." "Less threatening." "If I hit the deck, you start blasting." " While you're busy looking nonthreatening, be careful." " All right." "First sign of trouble, clear out of there." "Is there a point to this- other than getting themselves killed?" "Try 'em again." "It's no use." "Their gear is powered down." "It's stupid." "It endangers us all." "The chances whoever's at that camp" " Whalen." "John?" "Whalen." "Whalen, if you're out there" "Morgan, scan for the beam." "Find out where she's transmitting from." "Please acknowledge the transmit, please." "I know the fire you feel in your heart right now." "You've got to put it aside." "Please." "Killing me is not the answer." "After everything we've been through, struggling to survive here" "Point of origin is scrambled." "The battles that we endured" "Find out where she's targeting." "Tracking her target then." "Narrowing to 30 west, 120 south." "Are you sure?" "Those are the coordinates of the scout team." "I'm telling you." "That's where this transmission is targeted." "Whalen." "She's talking to the camp Alonzo and Danziger are making contact with." "Did you see anyone?" "Negative." "All right." "Slowly, carefully, let's pull out of here." "I mean, it's difficult to sit a guy down for a talk after he tried to incinerate you." "Maybe we have no business getting involved here." "So, what do we do?" "Sit here while this Whalen person hunts her down?" "Watch her die in our dreams?" "Dreams or not, I don't think we should abandon this lady." "Nobody's advocating abandoning anybody." "We just don't know the first thing about these people." "And who's to say it's just them?" "We have no idea how many are in that camp." "Yale, anything scan from the station telecasts... or news bites on Dell Curry or Whalen?" "Nothing as of yet, but I'll continue to search." "They have to have been dumped by the stations." "Which means political prisoners who are extremely dangerous." "For all he knew, we were penal colonists preparing to raid his camp." "What are the chances of us actually being able to track Dell, find out where she's hiding?" "Hmm." "The more she transmits, the better." "Well, then I think we stick with it." "I don't think any of us are of a mind to turn our backs on this just yet." "Agreed." "We'd better be willing to risk our lives." "It's cold out here, huh?" "Want under?" "I bet it's cold where Dell is too." "Yeah." "But I'm sure she's figured out a way to stay warm." "I know she's not my mother." "But I still have dreams about her." "Like the one where she lives with us on the space stations and... her and Dad keep laughing about things and... won't tell me what it's about." " Did you tell your dad about it?" " No." "It's just another dream." "It doesn't mean anything." "You know, True, it sounds to me like your dreams are more about your mother than Dell." "I'll bet he'd like to hear 'em." "No." "He doesn't like to talk about her." "So we don't." "What was that?" "Magus." "You hear anything?" "We've got a perimeter check out here." "No sudden moves." "Just back up nice and slow." "Nice and slow." "No sudden moves." "Never seen one so angry." "Think he's mad about the stuff we stole?" "Maybe we should offer him something." "Dad." "Dad." "It's worth a try." "True, is there food in that pouch?" "It's empty." "I found it in the stash." "Take it off." "Take it off." "Here." "Here." "All right." "Everybody back into the dome." "Whalen." "There's another message coming in." "Wait." "It looks like he heard the transmission." "Morgan, can we get into full V.R. on her transmission?" "It's full laser." "She just can't receive us." "Well?" "I'll go with." "Baby, if only you could hear this." "I know that you'd understand that your father's not well." "No." "He's not gonna hurt you." "It's me that he wants." "I'm sorry that you're caught in this, and I wish that I could stop it." "She's malnourished." "Probably suffering from exhaustion." "Dehydration." "I know it's difficult, but you're 10 years old." "You're almost a man." "These are the tests of manhood." "She's speaking to a child." "Any sign of a child at that camp?" "Never got close enough." "I want you to know... that I've been trying very hard to reach you." "Um, but I'm running out of time." "So, I'm" " I'm hoping that I found another way." "I've made some progress communicating with the beasts." "Remember the ones that we thought were so frightening?" "Now, they may smell, but they're smart." "And I know it sounds crazy, but there's one in particular who I- I hope is gonna bring us together." "And I want you to look for him... 'cause he has a message for you." "I hope to God you receive this." " What happened?" " We lost the signal." " Could that have been Dell's Grendler?" " I swear he reacted to her voice." "If there's a child involved, we have to get to that camp." "Zero's sensors are pretty limited in weather like this." "We could take him out in the morning, maybe scan for movement, but that's about it." "Unfortunately, we are no closer to finding Dell." "Her frequency is coded." "She obviously does not want her location known." " Maybe we could convert her transmissions into something that we can already track." " Like what?" "Emergency beacon." "Fool the trans-rover's sensors into thinking it's a distress call." "At the very worst we'd narrow her position." " Is it doable?" " Got a couple hours to give it a try." "Let's." "Hey." "How's it goin'?" "Slow." "How's True doin'?" "You know, she took those messages from Dell pretty seriously." "She's a kid." "She got confused." "She really doesn't know anything about her mother, does she?" "You know, what I choose to tell my daughter about her mother is probably my business." "Don't you think?" "I just thought you'd like to know that she's upset." "Bess, nobody's more aware of what True's going through than I am." "Of course no one would know better than him." "It's his kid." "Yeah, and it's also his problem." "But just because he's hiding from it, doesn't mean True has to be tortured by it." "Look, sweetie." "Biostats are highly confidential." "There is no way that Devon's going to open them for you." "Course with a name, you could access public station records through Yale." "With a name?" "Eleanor Moore." "Common name of Elle." "She and Danziger were coworkers on an exotech crew on the stations." "Never married." "Assigned to hull leakage repairs in '83." "Accident on ninth venture." "Nearly fatal." "Danziger detained for questioning." "Two days." "The report ends here." "There is nothing more about the case." "Well, the biostats don't go much further than that." " It doesn't say whether he was cleared." " No." "Well, I can't imagine he wouldn't be." "Uh, inquiries into off-station accidents are incredibly detailed." "Well, no legal suits were filed." "She was never laid off." "She never quit." "Seems as though Eleanor Moore just disappeared." "I don't know." "uiet here." " John." " I feel very close to you, sweetheart." "John." "She's on again." "And I want you to remember... everything we've talked about." "I want you to remember the things... that are important." "And don't lose sight of the fact that I love you." "Baby, if only you could hear this." "I know you'd understand that your father's not well." "Zero." "No movement." "No heat disbursement." "Let's go." "Base, we're in." "Nobody home." "I was able to cross-reference a search on Whalen and Dell Curry." "They had a list of aliases you wouldn't believe." "Children's toys." "They were leading those renegade environmental research bands on unauthorized trips... into the red zone down on Earth." "Captured and tried over 20 years ago." "Probably got shipped here with six to 10 others." "Yeah." "Looks like a group lives here." "Or did." "Impossible to say how many live here now though." "Whalen's definitely tried to trace Dell's signal." "Several times, it looks like." "Think any of them are correct?" "Don't know." "You gotta see this." "They're human." "So much for the question of what happened to the rest of the group." "Boy, this guy's really lost it." "Dell has every right to be afraid." "It's gotta be him." "Zero, what do you read?" "Seventeen degrees north, 142 meters... at two meters per second." "You ready?" "Whalen?" "No." "He's too smart to leave tracks." "Unless he's trying to get us to follow." "Zero." "Movement." "120 meters dead ahead." "Heat mass indicates a biped moving away at three meters and slowing." "I still think it's a trap." "Then why is he bleeding?" "He took a shot at someone." "Maybe it's Dell." "Baines, stay alert." " Zero?" " Thirty meters dead ahead." " Biped is stationary." " Hold up." " Weapons reading?" " None detected." "I don't like it." "What if it's Dell?" "Well, there's one way to find out." "Dell?" "Dell, we're here to help." "Biped is now facing this direction." "Still stationary." "Walman, keep us covered." "This is the same Grendler from camp yesterday." "Hold up." " Lonz, you guys okay?" " Yeah." " But the Grendler doesn't seem any better though." " I'm gonna try and stop its bleeding." "Don't know if you want to get that close." " To a wounded animal?" "I have enough trouble working on wounded humans." "Well, he didn't come this way." "We're gonna widen our search." "Maybe head back to Whalen's camp." "Check that out." "You keep your gear open." "I got it." "Come on." "I don't think he's got much fight in him now." "Come on." "Try and hold him the best you can, hmm?" "I'm gonna cauterize the wound." "This guy smells." " Uh, I'm gonna pain-block him first." "Hold on." "Hold on." "It's all right." "It's all right." "I gotta move these rags." "I can't even see it." "Hold him, please." "I'm tryin'." "Alonzo, look at this." " It's hers." " He must have traded with her." "He must know her." "Hold him." "Maybe he knows where Dell is." "Maybe he'll lead us to her." "If we can track him." "Yeah." "Danziger, the Grendler's heading into the brush." "We're gonna follow it and see if it really is Dell's messenger." "Not one of these coordinates that Danziger found at Whalen's makes any sense." "If this maniac is close to finding Dell, I have no idea how he's doing it." " Well, they're not that different to the areas we had narrowed down." " But what is it based on?" "Ours are sensor readings." "There's a clear pattern of mathematical probability." "His... are based on God knows what." "Uh, they're random." "But close." "All without tracking tools." "You know, maybe it's not about technology and tools." "We had those strange, fragmented dreams." "Maybe he's more sensitive to 'em." "He hears them more clearly." "We haven't had a transmission from Dell in a while." "He may have found her." "How can he move so fast when he's wounded?" "Maybe we're just slow." "Come on." "It can't be that far." "Well" " Well, someone's in there." "It looks kind of like Whalen." "I don't know." "Baines and I are goin' in." "John, don't be risky." "We can get a couple more people out there in an hour." "Devon, someone's in there." "If it's not Whalen, we can get some information - like where he stashed the kid." "If it is, at least we know he's not stalking Julia and Alonzo." "All right." "Just be careful." "Okay." "We'll keep an open channel." "You're clear." "Go." "Whalen." "They've lost Whalen." "He's fashioned a decoy of the camp." " Thank you." " Julia and Alonzo's position is impossible to track." "Her gear feed's breaking up." "The nav-track can't find them." "The last position we had them at was here at this coordinate." "I'm gonna try the trans-rover system." "Julia." "Julia, do you read?" "Morgan?" "Morgan, can you hear me?" "Morgan, do you read?" "Are you there?" "Julia, I've got you." "I've got you, but give me your coordinates." "You're not tracking very well." "Uh, 167 north, 28 west." "Any sign of Dell?" "No." "We're not sure." "The Grendler led us to this area but isn't moving." "Well, you're close." "This is one of the zones that we narrowed from her last transmission." "Well, if she is here, she must be well hidden." "Well, keep an eye peeled." "We lost Whalen." "I'll get Danziger's party out there as soon as possible." "Okay." "We're gonna look for the cave entrance." "Danziger?" "Danziger, are you out there?" "Julia's got a lead on Dell's location." "Danziger." "Go again, Morgan." "I lost you." "Martin, are you there?" "Martin, are you there?" "Martin." "Go again." "Martin." "Danziger,just wait and slow down." "I said, where the hell is Martin?" "He was just on." "Something about Julia and Alonzo being onto Dell." "He's at the trans-rover tracking them right now." "I'm telling you he's gone." "He was just there, and now I can't get him." "I'll check it out." "Dad." "Dad, Morgan's gone, and his gear's here." "Mom, Morgan's been taken prisoner." "His gear's here and everything." "He's gone." "Danziger, there's two sets of tracks leading away from the rover." "Give me his coordinates." "You can track him with the rover's sensors." "I'm going after him." "Hold on." "We're almost" "We don't have time." "Morgan has Julia's coordinates." "He will lead Whalen directly to Dell." "Kids, I want you back inside." "I'm going with you." "In the dome." "Now." "Look, fella, if this is some sort of family dispute you're in, I'm really not one to get involved." "You know, your business is your business." "Okay." "Look." "I'll give it to you straight." "We know about the boy, and it's no small matter to us." "But I might be able to call off the dogs, so to speak, if you could give us some assurance that he's all right." "It's all she lacks." "She's beset by thoughts of him." "The longer he's kept from her, the more she dies." "She shall never have him." "So, do you have him?" "She is the personification of evil." "I'm endlessly hunted by her beasts." "Like the clockwork of the moons, she comes to me in my dreams, showing me that her death will be my death." "That we die together." "This mask... is my only shield from her relentless voice." "But the boy." "The boy is alive somewhere?" "The interminable winters." "I have done the unthinkable to survive." "I think that none of us should really be involved in this." "You have the knowledge, and I will rip it from your soul to find her." "Ripping would be excessive." "Look." "He stopped." "Devon, he should be right in front of you." "Dad, he's at 160 north, 45 west." "Danziger, we're at the site." "No sign of Morgan." "All right." "Don't move." "We're right behind you." "Devon?" "Devon, is that you?" "Oh, my" "Hurry." "Hurry before he comes back." "The man's a maniac." "He'll eat us all for lunch." "Is he all right?" "Devon, do you have him?" "Bess." "Bess, he's okay." "We've got him." "He's okay." "Let's cut him down." "All right." "No." "You've gotta catch him." "He's on his way to Dell." "What direction?" " That way." "Go ahead." "I got him." "Come on, Danziger." "Baines, get me down." "All right." "All right." "Be careful." "Hurry." "The Grendler entered right here." "There's been no sign of Dell or Whalen." "Any idea how to best approach this?" "Best way is always head-on." "Look." "She's on again." "I know you too well, Whalen." "And she knows he's coming." "I know you're out there." "I can feel your rage." "Dad, he's close." "She knows it." "She's got a weapon." "Danziger, take the tunnel to your right, and please keep your gear on." "I know you too well." "Whalen?" "Dell!" "Anybody there?" "I'm afraid I know how" "I'm just gonna come around the corner." "I just want to talk." "I'm afraid" "Well, maybe." "Go, go, go." "Danziger, what is it?" "He's there.!" "He's there.!" " Mom, hurry!" "Come on." "So it's come." "This day for both of us." "And you'll push it to the end." "This end is all we have left to do, Dell." "You'd throw it away?" "Everything we worked for?" "Dell." "Oh, where is she?" "Somebody answer us." "Dell, if you can hear us, please answer." "Throw it away?" "Everything we've worked for?" "Devon, can you hear that?" "Yeah, I can hear it." "Loud and clear." "You'd take our only son from us." "Our hope since coming here." "Our faith in the future." "No, wait!" "You'd kill that before admitting that you were wrong." "I was never wrong." "You need help, Whalen." "You're not sound." "You're not clear." "You've infected our son's life with it - imprisoned him with your hate and your fear." "What's worse is you know it." "You know that you are killing him." "You'll never have the boy, Dell." "Not now." "Not after you tore me down in front of the others." "You betrayed me." "You betrayed my leadership, my genius - all I had become here." "You've become sick, Whalen." "You've become something other than the man I married, the father of our child." "Something in you took that man and locked him away, and I couldn't get to him." "None of us could." "I silenced them, Dell." "I silenced their belief that you were right." "Oh, God." "And the boy?" "The boy believes the truth." "And he will be shown the way." "Every day he learns more and more about your betrayal." "And he is bright-a fast study." "And he's no longer yours." "What a shame, Whalen." "'Cause I'll never let him become yours." "Holograms." "How is that possible?" "Wait a minute." "What about the guy in the woods?" "He shot at us." "He was real." "That's because it all happened 20 years ago." "Didn't it, Whalen?" "My mother." "My mother whose voice I built this mask to fend off." "A voice that I thought was that of a demon." "Demon woman from the hills." "My father taught me well." "He taught me never to give in to her tricks, her lies... that she would try to trap me with." "Never did." "The transmitter has been broadcasting V.R. messages... every 60 days... for over 20 years." "The dream plane in this area must have learned the message and penetrated our dreams." "And his." "Enough to drive him mad." "It seems that Grendlers never forget a promise made." "Even if it means risking their very lives for close to 20 years to make good." "True's pouch from the found winter clothing held a message sealed in its lining." "The final words from a mother to her son." "Dell's truth had finally been heard." "Her transmitter, rigged to continuously broadcast her story by recharging itself, was as relentless as the Grendler." "She never could have imagined how many lives it touched along the way." "It's really quite a tragedy." "It's all documented in station repair manifests." "It's all there." "He and Elle had been out-space without drone support... for a simple seal check on an exterior portal door." "Station authorities panicked when they found out there was no drone." "They accidentally jammed Elle's air supply." "She's been registered neuro-dead ever since." "Danziger had no idea she was three months pregnant." "He inherited True along with the neuro-support payments." "But why keep all that from True?" "Sense of responsibility." "Pride." "He had his own reasons." "Fear." "Pain." "He lost the one person he loved." "Maybe he didn't want to risk losing another." "I remember when the station meds recommended the stim program." "Stored personality traits are reintroduced into a patient's brain." "I had seen some of their successes." "It wouldn't have been anything close to Elle." "Not her eyes." "Not her light." "I'd asked her twice to marry me." "She always laughed." "Thought it was old-fashioned." "She liked that I tried though." "I'd always thought that when True was the right age," "I'd introduce her to her mother." "I'd arranged enough credits to keep her on support until then." "That way, if True wanted to, she could opt for the stim program." "Maybe get a little glimpse of what her mother had been." "And maybe that would be enough... for a girl who had every ounce ofher mother's spirit in her eyes." "Dad, she's beautiful."