Gaia Dreams (Gaiaverse Book 1) (60 page)

The Samuels' House

"It was so nuts, I mean the Puget Sound region,
Tacoma, Seattle, all have communities that were settled on old debris flows.
Why on earth did we ever do something that stupid?" Rachel asked. "And why the
hell did they build tourism facilities on the very slopes of the mountains?"

John looked at his frustrated sister and shook
his head. They'd watched the news report together, the only ones at the house
who wanted to see what was reported. Jessica was trying to get Samantha
interested in a video game, just to get her mind off all the horrible images in
the little girl's head. Max was out with Black, learning how to patrol. The
television coverage had been filled with static and John wondered how long they
would get any reception at all.

"I guess we don't really need to see it, anyway,"
he mumbled to himself.

"What'd you say?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, just thinking out loud, how we really don't
need to watch these reports. We already know what will happen."

"Well, I still want to see the reports as long
as we can get them. Some of our dreams vary in details, so we don't always know
exactly what will happen," Rachel replied. Sighing, she leaned back on the sofa
and stretched out her legs, crossing one booted foot over the other. "Although,"
she continued musingly, "I'll bet Sam knows, right down to minor details."

John bowed his head and looked up at his sister,
a tortured look on his face. "God, how I hate this, Rach! She's too young, too
innocent, too sweet to suddenly have to know so much incredibly scary stuff. I
look at her and I am so afraid for her. What is this doing to her? To her
mental state? And yet--" He stopped and looked down at the floor.

Rachel watched him in sympathy and said, "And
yet, you need the knowledge she has, you need to use her, to help us prepare."

Angrily, he said, "I'm not going to use my own
daughter!"

She sat and watched him remember the night
before.

"Oh, God, I am using her, like last night."

"It's not really that you are using her, John,"
Rachel said firmly. She'd known he needed to talk about it, and was glad he was
ready to let it all out. "You really do need to know what she knows. And if you
didn't ask her, do you think that would make it stop happening? I doubt it. I
think for some reason, some reason we don't understand, she has the strongest
connection to--to the Earth or whatever it is. I've spoken with some of the
others, Alexandra in particular, and she says from what she can tell, nobody else
has that strong a connection. Mrs. Philpott knows a lot, but she gets it from
Perceval. And we all know Perceval is finicky about what info he releases to
us," she said with a little laugh.

Grinning briefly, John agreed, "Yes, Perceval is
different, all right." He paused, and then asked, "But how do I protect
Samantha? How do we all protect her? Help her to be normal? What if nobody else
is out there who has this kind of connection? What if she is the only one?"

"Well, big brother, I guess we take it a step at
a time. Others are going to be arriving here over the next few days, and you
never know, maybe there is someone else out there like Samantha. Hopefully an
adult who could shoulder some of the burden. But, honestly, I don't see how
that will help her all that much because she's still going to have the dreams,
right? She's still going to just
know
stuff. And have access to all the
animals' thoughts if she wants."

"So we do nothing?" he demanded.

"I didn't say that, and don't jump down my throat!
It's not me you're mad at. You aren't even really mad, you're just scared to
death."

"Yeah," he said, sighing heavily. "Yeah, okay,
so what do we do then?"

Rachel said slowly, "Well, first off you do what
you've been doing--being good parents to your daughter, you and Jess. You keep
letting her know how much you love her, how she can come to you with anything.
No matter how scary it is."

John nodded and looked at her shrewdly, "That
almost sounded rehearsed, sis."

She laughed and said, "Well it was, a little.
Like I said, I've been talking to Alexandra, and I think you need to talk to
her too. She knew how busy you were and she didn't want to impose on you, but
she has some good ideas. I think you need to bring her in on this--you and Jessica
talk to her about Sam. Maybe let her hang out with Sam more frequently. I've
never been clear on just what the heck anthropologists do, but she also kind of
sounds like a psychologist when she talks, and that could be useful to Sam
right now. Mainly because Sam wants to protect you guys--at least that is what
Alex thinks."

"Protect us? But why, how--oh," he said,
suddenly getting it.

"Right, because she loves you just like you love
her, and she has seen you guys get scared, seen all of us get scared when we
hear some new horrible thing. She needs to be able to talk to an adult she isn't
close to, isn't worried about upsetting. And Alex, even if she is a crazy-assed
driver in that sports car of hers, is basically pretty down-to-earth and very
easy to talk to. I guess if she could get those African tribes to talk to her
she can get one little American girl to talk to her as well." Running her hands
through the curls on top of her head, Rachel stood up. "So perk up, big bro,
get off your butt and get on the phone to Alex. Appoint her as an advisor
on--education, something like that. Not anthropology, nobody knows what they
do, but Education Minister, something like that, nobody is gonna question that."

John, bemused, smiled up at her. "Education
Minister? That sounds like a government title! We're just a band of survivors."

"Now, we are," Rachel interrupted. "For now, we
are just a band of survivors. But others are coming, you know, and we're going
to end up being a community, a town, eventually. If I know anything, John, as a
former ad exec, I know about labels and their importance in getting a message
across to people. If you want those new people to follow you, to get with the
program here, you've got to start putting things in place, some kind of structure,
before they go making up one of their own that doesn't work."

He nodded, "So, Alex is the one to talk to?"

"Yes, oh, and probably Nathan as well. He has
been doing the same kind of work, probably has some ideas you need to know.
With Nathan, though, it's easier since he's part of the family, being Jessica's
brother and all. A title for him isn't so important as it is with Alex."
Straightening her jeans over the tops of her cowboy boots, she looked up to
find John staring.

"Cowboy boots, sis? You?" he said as he laughed.

"Oh, you, just shut up!" Rachel said, giggling. "I
know, I know, totally not the image I usually go for, but hey, have you ever
tried to ride a horse in high heels? Believe me, it's not a pretty sight."

Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts

At the round table in the hotel dining room,
Margaret sat with Mayor Dubois waiting for the rest of their group to join them
for an early lunch. Even though Alan and Phoebe had gone with Maria and Zack to
the TV studio to file the report on the volcanoes, Mayor Dubois had stated
without equivocation that she wasn't about to go near a camera anytime soon. "I've
lost an entire city--a major city--you don't think the press will eat me alive?"
had been only one of many comments in that discussion.

Margaret shook her head slightly, thinking about
it. As if there would even be any "press" soon; so much was ending, or about to
end. She looked at the steely-eyed mayor and wondered for the first time why
she rubbed the woman the wrong way.
Perhaps I just don't pay enough attention
to other people's feelings
, she pondered briefly. Then she straightened her
shoulders and picked up a menu to order something, thinking it really didn't
matter. What was important was what she knew, not what a Texan mayor thought of
her.

"So what's the big deal, what's the next big
thing, Margaret?" Mayor Dubois asked. She nodded at the question in Margaret's
eyes and continued.

"Oh, I'm starting to believe in all you've been
saying...not that I agree with you about why it's happening, mind you. I just don't
think the Earth's so-called consciousness has some big plan to destroy us all
and start over. I don't believe we humans have destroyed the Earth to the
degree you think by our actions. Sure we've made mistakes, sometimes bad ones."
She stopped and held up a hand as Margaret opened her mouth to speak. "Now just
wait and hear me out. I said I don't agree with you on why it is happening,
however I can't deny the proof that you and Zack have had some knowledge of
what was going on before it occurred."

Margaret smiled slightly at that and said, "Well,
then, at least there has been some progress."

Mayor Dubois shook her head at Margaret's words.
That smile had for a moment lightened the woman's face, changing the serious
look she usually wore into something softer.
If the girl would only lighten up
a little
, Dusty thought to herself.
So intense.

"At any rate, do you know why Zack and Maria
insisted we all meet together here today? Aren't we moving on to D.C.?"

Margaret frowned pensively and stated, "Actually
I'm not sure why. I had dreams of tornadoes last night again in Arkansas and
Indiana, I think. But tornadoes, even these big ones we've had lately, well,
they just aren't of the magnitude of the volcanoes in terms of destruction."

Dusty sighed heavily. "Margaret, you really do
need to occasionally stop and think of the loss of human life involved in all
this. You sound so cold sometimes, so callous. Shouldn't we be out right now on
the phones warning those areas about to get hit by tornadoes?"

Margaret's eyes darkened to deep emerald green
as she glared at the Mayor. "Do you think I don't see the loss of human life? I'm
inundated with images of dead and dying people! I have to put some distance
between me and all of that or I'd lose my mind. You just don't understand."

"No, maybe not, maybe I can't since I've never
had any of these dreams. But I do know that as much as you may want to save the
planet, save nature, you have to remember we humans are also a part of nature.
We may not be as important in the big scheme of things as we like to think, but
we are a part of this planet as much as the oceans and mountains and spotted
owls. So we have to keep warning people--as long as we are able to, as long as
we can get the message out."

She watched as Margaret returned to perusing the
menu and thought the woman was just not getting it. Maybe she really was afraid
of going nuts with all the images in her head. Or maybe she just didn't have
enough compassion to hear how she sounded sometimes. Sunk in her own thoughts,
Dusty was startled when Alan sat down next to her.

"Well, boss, it's a nightmare in the Northwest,
but nobody can even get near to help them," he said sadly.

As Maria, Zack and Phoebe took seats at the
table, Mayor Dubois looked at them for a moment and then asked, "So? What was
so important? Why are we still here?"

Zack waited for Margaret to say something and
realized she was also staring at him questioningly.

"Uh, so Margaret hasn't told you about the dream
from last night? The bomb? The tsunami?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Zack?"
demanded Margaret.

"Bomb? Did you say bomb, as in bomb, b-o-m-b,
bomb? Who are we at war with?" Alan asked, incredulous.

"Tsunami?" Phoebe asked querulously. "Isn't that
some kind of wave? Oh, my god, that is going to cause a huge mess, just huge,"
she said, twisting her fingers in her lap.

Mayor Dubois looked from Margaret to Zack and
leaned back in her chair. "Okay, son, start at the beginning. Leave nothing
out. Nothing. Phoebe, take a valium. Alan, order me some food and strong
coffee. Maria, take notes like a good reporter. And, Margaret--let him talk. You
aren't the only dreamer here, you know."

Maria watched the mayor take charge of their
group and felt a little bit safer...for the moment. Too bad Washington D.C. was
going to get wiped out, she thought. Dusty Dubois just might have made a great
president.

Cap'n Joe's Fishing Village

Nathan watched Samantha approach the
scruffy-looking dog by Cap'n Joe's side. The little dog was quivering in
excitement, and Nathan wondered if his niece was going to have to get used to
awe from not just humans, but animals, as well. Probably. But perhaps it would
become commonplace eventually. Perhaps there would be others with her level of
new abilities. Or perhaps not. Which could make it hard on Sam.

As he heard Sam giggling at something Cap'n Joe
said, Nathan thought again about his earlier conversation with Jessica. It had
been the first chance they'd had to really talk since he'd arrived. Jessica was
still the same dependable sister he remembered, but there were small lines of
worry around her pretty blue eyes these days, and once they started to talk, he'd
seen her let down her guard to show the fear she felt.

"It's just so different now," Jessica had said. "We
were going along, having this perfectly normal life, all the usual ups and
downs--but it was a great life! Then, Sam got sick and we were so worried for
her. When she started getting better, it was such a huge relief. And I thought,
okay, we survived a big scare and everything will get back to normal...only it
didn't. Because the dreams started. And people started talking to animals. And
the animals talked back! Then the disasters...and realizing that Samantha
had...changed. That she somehow had new skills, gifts, whatever we want to call
it. And yes, before you ask, yes, it helps to know that others have become
dreamers and animal talkers. But Nathan, there's nobody like Sam. Nobody we've
met yet who can do the things she can do. And she's only six years old! I feel
sometimes like I'm losing my little girl. Other times I worry that I'll never
be able to protect her enough."