DESPERATE  MEASURES

Part Two:

"NO!" Brianna cried, realizing what was happening. "Oh, God....NO!"

Sid's warp. She was surrounded by the spiraling, dizzying lights of it, the feeling of

being turned inside out. The hum of it was so loud she could barely think, barely

keep to her feet. One thought consumed her, though. Was she alone or was...he...here,

too? Desperately she looked around, gasping in relief when she saw him. He was

several feet away, on hands and knees, his head nearly touching the floor. He'd been

unconscious when Sid had warped them from the tunnel beneath the gladiator quarters. 

This was, then, his first real experience of the process.

He was being sucked into the underworld, only it was worse than the stories he'd heard.

Far worse. He clamped his lips, trying to keep his bile from spilling out, squeezed his

lids as tightly closed as possible, but still the flashing lights penetrated.  And the sound. 

He thought his ears would explode with it.

Then it was over, his entire system shocked by the abrupt ending of it, and he lay gasping

on his back. Brianna was leaning over him, touching his face. He was not ready for her

to do that, did not want her to do that, so with a great effort rolled himself onto his

stomach, turning his face away from her.

She curled her fingers back.  It had come.  That moment she had so dreaded.  It was

here.  Was now. Tears stung her eyes and she sat back, wrapping her arms around her

legs, resting her face on her knees.

And so they stayed for minute after long minute.

He lay absolutely still, his mind whirling now not so much from the warp but from Sid's

final words. Had he thought his world was turned upside down? Had he thought...before

...that nothing made any sense? He felt a pain rising up through himself, but clenched

his teeth, refusing to give it the groaning voice it sought. He had to do something. He

knew this. He knew if he did not, if he remained lying as he was, he would simply split

in half.  The inner pain would do that. If he would not let it express itself through his

lips, it would burst through the wall of his chest.

He opened his eyes.  White sand was all around him, his left cheek pressed into it.  

He let the fingers of his right hand curl into it.  It was not at all like the cream-colored

grit of the arena.  It was pure, brilliant white and sifted through his fingers with a velvet smoothness.  Rolling up onto his left hip, he gathered another handful and sat looking

at it, then prodded it with his left forefinger, before letting it sift onto the blue material

of his tunic that stretched between his legs.

The sun was hot on his face, and he tipped his chin, looking up. About 20 feet to his left

was a row of trees unlike anything he'd ever seen, tall slender trunks curving up to a

splayed canopy of large, oddly-shaped leaves, small dark brown balls of some sort tucked

among them. It was, though, the sound of water that captured his attention, and he looked straight ahead.  About 40 feet across the sand was the sea.  He had seen it once on a

northern campaign, dark and cold, snow mixing with the foam that rolled up on the

narrow stretch of deep grey sand.  This...this was something else altogether.

Fascinated, he rose to his feet, walking toward it, dusting the sand off his hands as he

went. This sea was light in color, huge waves of it crashing against rocks just off shore,

the wind catching their spray and blowing it into his face.

Though she had not heard him go, somehow she sensed his leaving, and lifted her head,

watching his back as he walked to the water's edge.  Only dimly she wondered where

they were.  All that mattered was that he had risen without a word to her.  She gazed

at him yearningly as he stood there, half-turned away, the wind plastering his tunic to

his thighs, his head tipped to receive the spray.  Had it only been moments since he had

been so tender, washing her face, gliding through the pool,...loving her?  Was this Sid's

ultimate revenge?  Not separating her from Maximus, but sending them together,

together when his heart had turned away?

He stood there a long time, the wildness of the sea matching his thoughts, the very way

the giant waves smashed themselves on the rocks some sort of release for the impulses

he was feeling. Finally he turned, looking back at Brianna.  His eyes narrowed and he

bit back a sense of great loss.  No matter. He was used to such things.

He walked toward her, squatting about 4 feet away.  "Is this like the...others?" he asked.

"When we were sent from that room into the pinewoods, the wheat field?  Is this the

same as that?"

His voice was impersonal, as though he were addressing some junior staff officer he'd

never met before.  She had to swallow a hard lump of tears before she could reply. 

"No, Maximus, it is not.  Those were only in our minds.  We are really here."

He inhaled, then blew out a sharp breath as he stood, looking toward the trees. Somehow

he had thought so. Again, without a word, he walked away, this time toward the palms. 

He stopped beside the first, feeling its trunk with both hands, then looking up at the

fronds whipping in the wind.  He did glance back at her once, for a brief second, then

stepped into the shadows beyond the trees and was gone.

She watched the spot where he had been.  He was heading off without her. He had no

idea of anything, not yet, she knew that, but still he did not wish her company.  Alone,

she stared at the ocean.

Maximus made his way cautiously through the ever-thickening undergrowth, well aware

he was completely unfamiliar with every growing thing in this place.  He had two things

in mind.  He wanted to find a source of fresh water and he wanted to find the highest spot

so he could get some idea of the lay of the land.  The humidity was oppressive, and within moments his tunic was soaked with sweat. From time to time he wiped his forearm across

his face, but still the sweat dripped, stinging his eyes.  Stepping out at last into a fairly

large clearing, he was able to look up without the interference of trees. Off to his right

lay a series of steeply-sided hills, one much taller than the rest.  Taking his bearing from

the sun, he headed in the direction of the hills.

He'd only been back in the thick growth a short while when he heard a rustle just off to

his left.  His hand moved to where his sword would be.  He sighed, then looked about,

locating a fairly straight branch about five feet long. Brushing dirt and clinging bits of

vine from it, he hefted it in one hand.  It would do.  It would have to do. He paused long

enough to rub one end of it back and forth across a sharp rock, fashioning it into a fairly

decent point.  Then he headed again toward the hills, trying not to think of Brianna,

trying not to think of what Siddius had said, trying only to concentrate on the tasks at

hand.

Brianna strained her ears, hoping in vain to hear the sound of his returning steps over

the crash of the surf. Finally she decided it was stupid of her just to sit there in the

sun.  She was not some silly goose of a woman who did not know how to take care of

herself.  Standing, she brushed sand off her blue dress and walked to the shade of the

palms. The wind from the sea whipped her ankle-length gown and her long hair blew

across her face, stinging her cheeks, interfering with her vision. She bent and picked

up a sharp piece of shell, making a slice in her dress just above her knees.  Sliding

her fingers into the opening, she ripped off the entire bottom of the gown, then from

that, tore a long, narrow strip which she used to tie back her hair. The remaining

piece she slipped for now inside her bodice.

She was thirsty and several coconuts lay about her in the frond debris that littered the

sand. Choosing a large one, she tucked it under her arm and scouted for a sharp rock. 

Finding one, she squatted beside it and raised the coconut over her head. "Here's one

for you, Tom Hanks," she muttered, smashing it downward with all her strength,

splitting it open. She stood as she drank the thin, milky liquid, looking back toward the

sea. "I don't suppose there's a FedEx box or two lying about, " she sighed, then turned,

gazing in the direction Maximus had gone, wondering what he was doing, what he was

thinking.

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