Hope is a Waking Dream

Chapter 13

Jenar liked Sheppard. The man was a survivor, a tactician, a soldier. It was a pity he couldn't be persuaded to join the Genii. He watched the pilot's steady progress on his tracker as he followed at a distance across the desert. Even wounded, the man somehow doggedly kept going, his pace never wavering.

After not seeing Sheppard for over a month, he was surprised by how much the Atlantean had changed. He was thinner, more wiry, and his skin had darkened in the sun. His hair had been more wild, and even his eyes had changed, with a more feral and unpredictable look in them.

Sheppard wasn't going to negotiate anymore. Gone were the days where he would talk his way out of a situation. His men had reported that Sheppard was much more likely now to shoot first and ask questions later, and indeed, the frequency of dead Genii that had turned up was alarming.

Jenar was not happy with his men. They were allowing one man to get the better of them. This was good training for them, indeed, but he could only go so far before taking matters into his own hands.

Sheppard's days were numbered.

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It took three more days to cross the desert. Sheppard estimated that the mountains at the edge of the desert would take over a week to cross. The going was difficult, with the air thinning even more as he ascended the mountain, and the gravity making Sheppard's body feel dull and heavy. The shoulder wounds took long to heal, and even after a week of travel, his shoulder still ached and was stiff with pain.

He encountered more of Jenar's men on his way. Some he had to kill. Some he left to their fate if they should be discovered by the other Genii. He never saw Helo or Nika and wondered if Jenar had found out about the rebels and had them executed.

All along, he fiddled with the device Jenar had attached to the side of his head. It was made out of light metal and he didn't notice it much, but it still bothered him that the device had a tracker in it and was somehow wired to his nervous system. When he pried at it one afternoon on the mountainside with a knife, he was wracked with instant convulsions that sent him immediately into unconsciousness. He woke to a star filled sky, realizing he had lost many hours, and resolved not to touch the device again until he reached the gate. It was best to leave it to Carson to figure out how to get rid of it. But it didn't ease his mind at all to know that Jenar had a form of control over him if he got close enough.

He had neared the top of the mountain in the late afternoon after five days of climbing, and exhausted, he missed the sound of shuffling pine needles under heavy tread. There was a crackling sound, and a massive energy spike stiffened his body as the tracker activated, his nerves screaming as he collapsed, twitching, to the ground. There were bodies around him, hands patting him down, turning him over, lifting him and tossing him over a broad shoulder. His gun was taken, but not his knives or bag. He felt himself dumped unceremoniously in what appeared to be a hover vehicle, which took off through the trees, heading up towards the top of the mountain he had been climbing. After a few moments, he was able to gather his wits about him, and opened his eyes. Immediately, there were hands on him, hoisting him up to sway drunkenly on the seat between two broad shouldered Genii who gripped his biceps to keep him still. The rocks flashed by in their quick ascent, and it took a few minutes for Sheppard's blurry vision to focus on his surroundings.

His captors said nothing, but when they reached the top of the mountain and the vehicle stopped, Sheppard saw Helo and Nika standing at the overhang of a large rock overlooking a breathtaking view. On one side was the desert, stretching away towards the horizon with brilliant white sand and scattered black rocks and thorny bushes. On the other side were great boulders, and the trees down the side of the mountain were scattered, thickening as they stretched further down into a lush green valley.