By Any Other Name

by Wesa

Series: Crossover War of the Worlds/ The People

Rating: G

Category: Angst (?)

Disclaimers: War of the Worlds characters belong to Paramount and Strangis & Strangis. The concept of The People belonged to the late Zenna Henderson until her death; I don't know who owns it now. I have nothing but admiration for those who created these characters and concepts, and I mean no disrespect. I'm not making any money from this; this is just for my own entertainment and for the entertainment of those who want to read it.

By Wesa.

Bendo was a thriving spot of green in the desert, bright and full of life. Paul held his breath and wished the spot wasn't so far below as the Bronco dropped from several thousand feet up. He swallowed hard, looking out the window, and gripped the armrest so hard he probably left a permanent handprint.

"Would it be easier for you if we opaqued the shield so you couldn't see out?" Davy asked sympathetically.

"No," Paul replied tightly.

From the back seat, Remy put a hand on his shoulder. "Try to relax," he said gently. "We won't hit the ground. I promise."

Paul nodded, but couldn't tear his eyes from the ground rushing toward them.

"Should've had Shadow Still him," Davy murmured from the driver's seat. "This is too hard for Outsiders to deal with when they're not used to our ways."

"We had to wait over an hour for you," Remy replied. "I'd've been bored, and Paul would've slept it off before you got there, and we'd still be trying to calm him down."

"If he was Stilled, you wouldn't have had to wait with the Bronco," Davy replied calmly, looking back over his shoulder at Remy.

"Good point," Remy conceded.

Their casual attitude bothered Paul. "What do you mean, 'Stilled?'" he managed to ask.

"It's like a tranquilizer without the side effects," Remy explained. "Sensitives and Sorters can Still you with or without your permission."

The ground was getting closer rapidly. Paul listened to his heart thudding in his chest and wondered if some sort of tranquilizer might have been a good idea. Then, gradually, gravity seemed to go normal again. They were still descending, but no longer in free-fall. Bendo's green trees and running stream were easily discernable now; Paul could even see people moving about on - or at least near - the ground.

They descended into an alley behind a repair shop. A tall, slender man about 60 years old stood in the doorway, looking out at the coming storm, but just when Paul thought they were going to hit him, he moved to one side, and the Bronco settled gently on the floor as the shop door closed behind them.

Paul relaxed, finally able to breathe again. Slowly he released his grip on the armrest, then turned to look at his companions, and nodded. "Cheap, efficient - and terrifying," he commented.

Davy grinned. "Sorry about the drop, but I didn't want to make you go through the thunderstorm. That really would have slammed us around."

They got out of the Bronco, and Paul met Johannan, the older man whose interest in restoring old cars had developed into this business. Davy already had the keys, and Harrison's Bronco really wasn't worth anything as it was, so Paul just nodded at the appropriate places while Johannan explained what he thought it would need. Then he told Remy, "I want to see Harrison, and then I need a phone. We were supposed to check in hours ago."

*********

"Anything?" Suzanne asked worriedly.

Norton shook his head. "Nothing. But there's no evidence of alien activity in the area, either, Suzanne," he told her.

Suzanne tightened her mouth, furrowing her brow. "If we don't hear from them in another hour, then I'm taking Omega and flying to New Mexico," she told Norton.

*********

Remy took Paul to a simple two-story wood-and-brick house with vines tumbling down seldom-used stairs. Lytha was clearing the tangle of vegetation away as they approached. "Hi," she greeted Paul. "Mom says you're to come right in. We put Harrison in Nick's old room, Uncle Remy," she added. "He's awake, and worried about Paul."

Once inside, Remy gestured toward the stairway to the second floor. "Upstairs, first door on your right," he told Paul. "Go on, I know you're worried."

Paul found Harrison lying in a double bed with a damp cloth across his brow, his eyes closed in the darkened room. "Listen," Harrison said in a long-suffering tone, "I really appreciate you taking care of me and all, but I want to know what happened. I need to talk to Colonel Ironhorse!"

"We found them, Harrison," Paul said softly.

"Paul!" Harrison's eyes snapped open and he tried to sit up.

Paul didn't even see where Shadow came from, but suddenly she was there, firmly pushing Harrison's shoulders back down to the mattress. "I told you to stay down," she said sternly, "and if you won't do it voluntarily, I'll Still you." She turned to Paul. "Five minutes. And don't let him sit up. His brain is bruised."

"Is that what's wrong with him?" Paul asked as she went back past him and out the bedroom door.

"Ha, ha," Harrison said dryly. "Where've you been? I was worried."

"You were worried? You're the one who won't wear his seat belt," Paul told him. "The Bronco threw a rod or something and seized up, you were bleeding, the phone didn't work, and you were getting too close to heatstroke. Fortunately this nice alien family came along-"

"'Alien?'" Harrison repeated, trying to sit up and finding Paul's hand on his chest holding him down this time.

"I have no other explanation for what I've seen this afternoon," Paul told him. "The mother - that was her a minute ago - and her daughter brought you here, while the uncle waited at the truck with me. When Davy arrived with something called an unlight, we flew here in the Bronco, going over a thunderstorm." He shuddered. "That's an experience I don't want to repeat."

"Wait a minute - You flew in the Bronco?" Harrison demanded in disbelief.

"Look, I'll tell you all of it later," Paul promised. "For now all you need to know is they're not the ones we've been fighting, and they seem to care about us 'Outsiders,' as they call us. Shadow has a special talent that allows her to sense your injuries, and she has the knowledge to help you. The nearest hospital is several hundred miles in any direction, and right now we're dependent on them for transportation. You rest up. I still need to check in."

Harrison frowned. "Paul, it's not like you to be so trusting," he objected.

Paul gave him a rueful smile. "Believe me," he said, "if I thought 'our' aliens could fly, Remy, Shadow, and Lytha would be dead. So would you, probably."

"Me? I can't fly!"

"But I'd have killed them before they could have brought you here to heal you. You'd have died out in the desert." Paul put his hand on Harrison's shoulder. "You rest," he ordered. "I have to go find a phone. Suzanne's probably herding Omega onto a plane right now."

**********

"Colonel!" Norton exclaimed. "Are you okay? Where's Harrison? Why haven't you called?"

"We're okay, Norton," Paul assured him, watching two exceptionally well-behaved young girls play with their dolls on the sidewalk in front of the grocery store. Remy had taken him there to use the pay phone, since most of his People didn't have telephones. The girls' dolls walked around on the sidewalk by themselves as he watched, amazed and amused. "We had a little accident. The Bronco threw a rod, I think, and I just barely kept it upright and on the road. Harrison has a concussion. I don't know if the Bronco will ever be the same. The phone will probably work again once Harrison is up to fixing it."

"Where are you?"

"We're in a little town called Bendo. Post office, grocery store, not much else. Fortunately there's a guy who restores cars who was willing to work on the Bronco. I hope he can fix it." Idly Paul wondered why he wasn't telling Norton that they'd found the descendants of the crash survivors.

"No sign of the aliens?" Suzanne asked.

"No indication of any enemy activity here at all," Paul replied, frowning slightly. What was wrong with him? Suzanne and Norton, of all people, deserved to know what they'd found.

"What about the mountain?" Norton asked.

"I haven't been there yet," Paul replied. "Harrison will want to go when he feels better, I'm sure."

"How long are you going to stay, Colonel?" Debi piped up.

Paul smiled, thinking how much Lytha reminded him of Debi. "At least a couple of days, until Harrison's vertical again."

"You sound sad," Debi told him.

"No. This is a nice town, and the People are pleasant. The family that has taken us in has a daughter just a couple of years older than you are, Debi. I think you'd like her," Paul explained.

"You're staying with a family?" Suzanne asked, startled.

"There's no motel," Paul told them. "No hospital, for that matter. We were very lucky that Mrs. Sandlon -"

Bethie, said a voice in his mind.

"- Bethie - has medical training," Paul continued smoothly. Astonished at his own lack of reaction to something so extraordinary, he assured Suzanne that Harrison didn't need her medical assistance.

When Paul hung up the telephone, a man and woman about Mrs. Pennyworth's age were waiting to talk to him. "Colonel Ironhorse," the man said, extending his hand, "my name's Jemmy. This is my wife, Valancy."

"I'm very sorry for blocking your ability to speak of us, Colonel," Valancy said, "but it was necessary. We have kind of a sensitive situation here in Bendo..."

Paul felt himself drawn in by the woman's eyes, and he knew immediately that he was seeing the past through someone else's eyes, not Valancy's. He watched as the People hid from ruthless hunters. He watched as a woman was shot trying to drink from a stream. He watched in horror as one of the hunters clubbed a baby to death with the butt of his rifle. He watched helplessly while those who weren't killed immediately were herded into a pen with brush piled around it, and the brush was set on fire. He fought back tears as those who Lifted to escape the fire were shot in midair.

Then he heard dozens of parents telling their children, "If anyone finds out we are not of Earth, we will die. Keep your feet on the ground."

"...So you see," Jemmy told him as Paul found himself back in the here and now, "we prefer to tell only those who can be completely trusted. Will you keep our secret?"

Paul looked at them somberly. "If you are who you seem to be, you have nothing to fear from Debi, Suzanne and Norton," he assured them. "I'll keep your secret from them for now, but I want to be free to manage my own censorship."

Jemmy and Valancy consulted each other silently, then turned back to Paul. "For now," Jemmy agreed, "if you will agree not to use the telephone without allowing Karen or Valancy to monitor the conversation."

Paul nodded. "For now. As long as I'm convinced you are no threat to Earth or the United States," he agreed. "But you monitor by ear," he added with a frown. "I don't like people snooping inside my head."

Valancy nodded. "Of course, Colonel," she agreed. "It's only your surface thoughts anyway. Of course Karen and I can go deeper if we want to, and we will if we have to, but your inner mind is sacredly your own."

"Only you and Karen?"

"We're Sorters, Colonel," she explained. "Our Gift allows us to help ease mental suffering, and gives us the ability to go deep into a mind to straighten tangled thoughts and snarled emotions. But we are only two."

**********

"And you agreed?" Harrison worried.

Paul nodded. "For now. I know what you're thinking. It's not like me, maybe they're messing with my mind again?"

Harrison nodded. "They admitted they'd kept you from telling Norton and Suzanne," he pointed out.

"I know. But you didn't see what they showed me, what they went through when they crashed. And from what Remy told me, they never intended to come here at all. It was just the one ship, and most of them died in the crash or shortly after, or frightened, ignorant Earth people killed them. Granted it could all be lies, but I don't think so, Harrison."

Harrison sighed. He was allowed to sit up, now, and Shadow had promised he could get out of bed later that day if he continued to behave himself. He was restless, though, and eager to get around and see some of the wonders Paul had told him about. "Shadow promised to have her cousin come by this afternoon to tell me about the People," he said. "From what she told me, they have some kind of racial memory so that you almost re-live the action, as if it was happening to you."

Paul wandered over to Harrison's bedroom window and gazed out at the distant mountains. "That must be what Valancy used on me," he said absently, his mind still full of the horrifying images.

"I would have thought a racial memory was impossible," Harrison continued, "but they communicate by means of telepathy so routinely that the constant touching of minds may well facilitate it. Did this Valancy person tell you anything else?"

Ironhorse shrugged. "Only that very few of the original crash survivors are left. Shadow's grandmother was only five at the time, and Shadow must be 35 or 40. Survivors were scattered far and wide - they think a few of the first to escape in their lifeboats may even have ended up in Russia. Something about that cosmonaut that survived his capsule blowing up in the early sixties."

There was a knock at the door, and Lytha called, "Lunch!" before the door opened and a tray with sandwiches and bowls of soup followed her in.

Harrison smiled at the girl. "Thanks, Lytha," he said. "You always know."

She grinned at him. "That's my job," she told him cheerfully. "Mom put me in charge of monitoring your appetite. It's part of my training."

"Training?" Paul repeated. "I thought you were some kind of natural empath."

"Well, it's my Gift," she agreed, "but it only just developed this spring. I have to learn how to use it. I have to control it, and not let it control me." She gestured and the tray settled on the table beside Harrison's bed. "You're hungry. Eat. Colonel? I brought enough for you, too, or you're welcome to join Mom 'n' me."

**********

Paul's first impression of Shadow's cousin Randie was of eyes so dark they almost seemed to have no pupils. Then he noticed the creamy poreless complexion surrounded by masses of dark hair that tumbled down her shoulders. When she lowered her eyes shyly, he realized he'd been staring.

"Jeez, Shadow," Harrison exclaimed from the sofa, "are all the women of your people so pretty, or is it a family thing?"

Shadow laughed at him. "And this is Harrison, Randie," she said. "Take everything he says with a grain of salt. He tends to exaggerate."

Paul guessed he'd been introduced while he stared; he hadn't heard a thing, too far lost in her eyes to pay attention to what was going on around him. He frowned faintly. That wasn't good, considering that they were in the midst of a war in which the enemy used real people as a disguise.

"We won't be gone long," Shadow told Randie. "If he gives you any trouble, just call Karen or Valancy to Still him."

"I know already, Shadow," Randie said with a grin, making shooing motions toward the front door. "Now go. You've promised Bethie for a month that you'd come up."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Shadow laughed.

"Mom," Lytha urged, "Gramma and Grampa are waiting."

"All right, young one," Shadow chided, as they exited the house. "Patience is needed."

"Give Aunt Bethie a kiss for me," Randie called after them as she closed the door behind them.

Harrison watched Randie carefully as she turned from the door. Beside him, Paul still stood as if rooted to the spot, also paying close attention to every move she made. She grinned at them. "What were you expecting?" she asked. "ALF?"

"You sorta expect a cousin named Randie to be a guy," Harrison pointed out.

"Short for Miranda," she explained, bringing a chair next to Harrison's sofa. "Now. Shadow said you wanted to know about how we happened to come to Earth."

"She told us you could answer our questions," Paul said.

Randie shook her head. "I can only tell you how it happened," she replied. "It'll be better subvocal, Colonel," she added, suddenly a little bashful. "If you'll both hold my hands, you'll be able to see."

"You can't just - I don't know the term for it," Harrison wondered, "just sort of beam it into our minds, the way Valancy did to Paul?"

Randie laughed softly. "No, I'm not a Sorter," she replied. "My Gift is one of the new ones that have begun to develop among us here. We don't know whether it's the Earth blood some of us carry, or if it's just because we need different Gifts here than we did on the Home."

"All of you have Earth blood?" Paul asked.

"Not by any means," Randie replied, "but it becomes more common, if somewhat more diluted, in each generation. Shadow's maternal grandfather was entirely of Earth, as was my maternal grandmother."

Harrison did some rapid calculations. "So you're quarter-Terran?"

"Mm-hm," Randie replied, positioning her chair between the sofa and an armchair. "I'm descended from Perdita Verist, the first of your people we found who was truly one of Us, even though she was Earth born and bred." She grinned at their questioning gazes. "I'll explain later if Shadow and her mom leave us enough time. There are so many more important things for you to know, first." She sat on the chair she'd put in the middle and held out a hand to each of them.

End of part 2.