The Ascension of the King
By NtMast
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell or Stargate therefore whatever you recognize from the shows is theirs' while the rest is mine.
Prologue
June 2, 2002, 1100 PM
After a fifty-five year slumber, a fail-safe counter reaches zero. Long dormant programming in the alien artifact activates. It first reviews its last conscious memories from the death of King Zan to the present day. According to secret protocols, a back-up plan was then activated. It is to be used only in the event that the royal family is wiped out without a heir. With practically all members of King Zan's family dead through accidents and murders over the years, the Royal Seal could not transfer to anyone else. The Granilith now fully realizes the full scope of Khivar's plan as he probably had been slowly killing off distant members of the royal family for whom the seal could have been passed on to for years. Treason of this magnitude was unimaginable; Antar had been relatively peaceful ever since the Great War. With the death of the Royal Four, Khivar would've been directly in line for the throne.
The Granilith searches for information on the Royal Seal to find out why Khivar didn't become King. It finds that if a crime is committed against the King, you become automatically disinherited; Khivar's dormant seal would've destroyed itself. Every member of the royal family has a Seal, it lays dormant ready to be activated in the case of a succession. The Royal Seal once passed on to the next generation can only be passed on to someone of the same generation as the King or the next. The Queen Mother can't become Queen again since her son, Zan, has already become king.
A Royal Seal is necessary to access the full capabilities of the Granilith, the Royal Palace and the full defense capabilities of the planet Antar and to rule. The Royal Seal is held only by the King and the Queen. The Queen Mother, with a select group of scientists took genetic samplings and some essence from the Royal Four. At this deviation, the Granilith finds that the backup plan was expanded to include Princess Vilandra, Zan's sister, General Rath, Zan's second-in-command, and Lady Ava, the King's bride. All four were cloned as alien-human hybrids, as well as a backup set, and placed in incubation pods. They were then placed on a ship to be raised on Earth with some royal protectors and teachers. Through research, it was documented that the evolution of the human brain in time would permit even greater powers than the Antarians currently enjoy. It was hoped that as human-alien hybrids, they would be more powerful and be able to change between human and Inti form easily. It was also a way for their race to return to what it was. The granilith then placed the Royal Palace and the defense capabilities of the planet in lockdown under an impenetrable shield before it went under hibernation ready to be awakened once more when the king would be ready.
The granilith calculates that it has been asleep for fifty-five years. Still following protocol, the granilith activates its telepathic bond to the Royal Seal. The King is still alive, so contact will have to be made.
Dream Landscape
Max and Liz are sitting on the edge of a lake, with green lush vegetation all around it. In the distance is a beautiful waterfall that falls into the lake. The sun is shining and everything is very peaceful. Suddenly, Dream Liz disappears and we see Alex standing next to Max. Max seems startled first by Liz's disappearance and then by Alex's appearance.
Max: "Alex?"
Granilith: "Hello my King, I am the Granilith."
Max: "The Granilith? Wait, you're sentient?"
Granilith: "You did not reactivate me, so a fail-safe was activated where I would wake up and initiate contact with you. I am using the image of someone that is close to you to communicate through your dreams."
Max is bewildered; he realizes that it does feel like a dream, and he wonders if he's just dreaming or is the granilith actually dream walking him. Can the alien abyss get any deeper? All he's ever wanted is to be normal, and now he has an alien machine talking to him in his head wearing the image of one of his friends who was killed. Max decides he might as well find out as much as he can
Max: "Are you real? I am not dreaming am I now?"
Granilith: "You are not dreaming, I am real although we do find ourselves in your dreamscape. I believe this is somewhere that Zan was always fond of. We are close to one of the summer palaces on Antar. Although you should know that the Granilith is able to communicate telepathically if needed through the Seal. Did none of your teachers ever go over the Granilith during your studies?"
Max is still in shock to find out that he had been dreaming of Antar, it is very beautiful now that he could really look at it. He has to stay on topic though; he still had to verify that this wasn't some plot from an enemy.
Max: "If you are really the Granilith, can you tell me where you are situated?"
Max is going to be very careful before trusting it; they had been burned by aliens before. It had all cost them dearly.
Granilith: "My sensors are picking up a cave, with your four pods on the other side. The walls are very well shielded, but I can sense an empty desert around this cave. I am sorry my King, I cannot go farther. The walls are too well shielded, and my sensors aren't recalibrated yet. I am still performing maintenance on my systems and self repairing. My power supply hasn't been replenished yet either. I am also picking up my two holographic interface orbs which are also buried although a bit farther; a metallic book is also with them."
Max is a bit surprised that it was able to find where the orbs are buried, but he lets out a sigh a relief. He had been worried that even if it knew where the Granilith was, Tess could've told their enemies. But now, this looks like a real deal. Only Michael and he had known where they had hid the orbs. Max starts getting excited now, he'll be able to get some answers.
Max: "Okay I believe you, you're real, there's no way anyone could've known all that. And to answer your question, no there were no teachers to teach me anything. The ship crashed in 1947 in the desert close to where you are. There were only 2 survivors and the eight pods. I only met the royal protectors two years ago; the most I've learned is that I was King Zan of Antar. I was killed along with my bride, Lady Ava, General Rath, my second-in-command, and my sister, Princess Vilandra. Khivar usurped my throne and killed us all. According to some last-ditch plan we were all cloned as alien-human hybrids and sent to Earth to be able to grow up in peace and anonymity to be able to come back to reclaim my throne and kill Khivar. I know that the Granilith is an important alien artifact that can send people to Antar apparently; I thought you were a spaceship actually that had already left earth; I also know that you can send people through time too. That's about all I know about my alien side."
The Granilith is surprised that the King has been able to learn so much, but sees in his face all the hardships he has had to face.
Granilith: "For someone who had no teachers, you have found out quite a bit about what happened to send you there. And no, I am not a spaceship. After accessing my memories it seems that Lady Ava was sent to Antar through a portal. I can be used even if I am deactivated with a programmed crystal. This one was a one-way trip with coordinates outside of Antar's capital city. One thing that puzzles me is how you can know that I can be reconfigured to send a person through time. That function is part of the restricted knowledge of my creators, the Furlings; even King Zan had no knowledge of it. I would be permitted to use it to send someone back only after a certain number of criteria's have been fulfilled and the situation would be most dire. I am a sentient AI which contains all the combined knowledge of Antar and its surrounding four worlds. I also have played the role of advisor to the House of Parnassus, your House, since its beginning. I am also Antar's protector. If you would tell me about your life here on Earth, I can take on the same role for you, as in the past."
The Granilith listened stoically as the young King told him the tale of what happened after the crash. The army had immediately moved in and secured almost everything. They took the eight pods and the rest of the ship to a secure facility to be studied. The protectors were able to move the granilith and a set of four pods to a cave in the desert while the other protector set out with the other set to New York City, a city on the other side of the country. When the protector, Nasedo, was going back for more equipment, he was captured and tortured for almost two years. To escape and stay on the run, he had to kill the men from the FBI, one of this country's police force that kept being sent after him. He also took out innocents that he felt were in the way. To him, humans were beneath him. Eventually he stayed on an Indian reservation close to the cave, waiting until the time was right for the pods to hatch. Meanwhile the other protector left the pods in the sewers of New York City and went to the other side of the country to remake himself as a filmmaker. He abandoned his role as protector, only coming back once and a while to make sure his young charges weren't dead until they could survive by themselves. When the other protector went to find his four charges, he found three pods empty with no trace of them with Ava standing next to them. So, he took Ava with him to raise her while travelling the country looking for the other three.
Max then continued to tell the Granilith how he and his sister were adopted by the Evans and Michael was put into an abusive situation. They came out of the pods with no knowledge of themselves; they were six year old newborns. Eventually, they learned about their powers and how, after watching the alien autopsies on the television, that they were different and it was necessary to hide them. Their plan was to hide in play sight never getting close to anybody until an alien would come find them. That all changed though when Liz Parker, a girl he had loved from afar for years, was shot. He risked his entire existence and healed her. Eventually Max bared his soul to the Granilith, detailing the hardships of these past three years. He felt he could trust the Granilith implicitly; perhaps it was a forgotten memory from his past life.
The Granilith over the years had been able to develop emotions; it had become a fully sentient being. It felt angry that such an important mission had never been able to start off right and all the hardship his King has had to face. It emits different hypothesizes on the reason why the ship crashed and finds that the most likely is sabotage. Antarian ships are built to withstand reentry into a nitrogen/oxygen mix that is prevalent here in earth's atmosphere without shields. That it would crash immediately after reentry is suspicious. This planet's technology at the time was not sufficient enough to bring down an Antarian cruiser. The cruiser was probably sabotaged. That coincides with what the King said about Nasedo, he probably was working for Khivar.
Granilith: "Yes, I suspect that Nasedo was probably working for Khivar. With Lady Ava, or Tess, raised by him since coming out of the pods, she would've had no choice but to follow his plan. It was such a tragic end for her. My King …"
Max: "Can you please stop calling me that, King Zan died a long time ago, right now I'm just Max Evans, an alien-hybrid on Earth."
Granilith: "Of course King Max but you should know that you have showed good leadership skills. You were put into a bad situation and you have made some good decisions. Refusing Khivar's offer at the summit with the little information you had was the best choice. With Tess I suspect that you were being mindwarped since you met her, the fact that you held up that long with no powers training is incredible. On Antar, you would've had training to recognize and resist when that sort of power was used on you. I'm sorry to say though that the child you had with Tess was illegitimate because you had no bond with her. This is why he has no seal and was of no use to Khivar. He will develop powers though when he will turn six years old. Tonight, King Max I will explain some of the history of Antar and your alien powers."
10,000 years ago on Antar there was a great war which devastated the planet. At that point the inhabitants were all humanoid. They knew they were not from this world originally but no record existed of where they came from and who brought them to Antar. With all that radiation in the atmosphere and the sun being blocked from touching the ground, great underground bunkers were built. Forced to live underground for close to 1,500 years and because of the radiation leaking through, their bodies became smaller, they lost all hair, they turned gray and, their eyes turned black. Because of their transformation, they decided to call themselves the Inti race.
When they came out from underground, they had lost almost all their technology. They could barely repair the oxygen and water filters. The only thing that was still working after so long was hydroponics, where they would grow their food and recycle oxygen. The planet was only just starting to heal, but the damage to the environment was still there. They found an alien artifact on the surface, maybe a piece of ancient technology that they had forgotten about and a scholar by the name of Parnassus, your ancestor, hooked it up to an ancient computer that they still had working but no one could understand how to use. It contained all of the knowledge that their race had accumulated before the Great War. Their ancestors had correctly predicted that over time most of their knowledge would be lost if they stayed underground too long.
The granilith, as the alien artifact was called, one day started speaking, advising on how to restore the planet's ecosystem, slowly recover their knowledge. It also asked the scholar who had merged it with the ancient computer system to repair the damage it sustained and improve its design so that the granilith would be operating correctly and efficiently for its new mission. Its new mission was to restore the Antarian people and advise them so that one day they would become a great race. The granilith was in fact a damaged intelligent Furling ship. The ship itself was damaged beyond repair but the computer core was intact. After 1,000 years the ship would've been presumed lost. One day in the future, the granilith wanted for its adopted people to meet the Furling, its creators, and establish peaceful relations with them..
The granilith eventually became a religious icon and helped span a religious order because it saved their world and its people. The scholar was eventually crowned king, he helped save their race, and he would always be the guardian of the granilith. Over time Antar colonized the other three planets Rigel, Canis, and Pease in the Atair system. The last planet Deneb was given to a race, the Jovians, that was saved from a dying sun in a neighboring system. The conditions on the planet were too harsh for the Inti race to colonize but it was similar to the destroyed planet of the Jovians. The Jovians are what Max calls the Skins. The granilith never released the knowledge of the Furling, waiting for a time in the far off future when they would be mature enough to handle it.
Granilith: "I believe that is a sufficiently detailed history of Antar for now."
Max: "I'm amazed that we have so much history. Will you be able to teach Michael, Isabel, Liz and I more about our powers and what we should've learned."
Granilith: "Yes, I am already modifying an existing schooling program so that during the next two years you will be able to learn at night in the dream world what should've been taught to you before. After you wake up, you will have to enter into a meditative state to be able to remember everything from the dreamworld as if it was a normal memory. You should also try and enroll in a university here on Earth. You will need to know how to run a government and diplomacy is the same everywhere. It might even prove beneficial to have a different point of view. At one point in the future you will have need of these skills as King or even as a fighter if Khivar invades this world in 2012 as was suggested. To be able to train Michael, Isabel and Liz they will need the Orbs of Knowledge that are buried here. They are actually holographic interactive interface with the Granilith. They can also be used as secure communication devices between each other if used correctly."
Max: "The knowledge will be very useful even if I'm not cut out to be a King in the end, I'll be better able to protect everyone from the army and the FBI. It might be a bit difficult to go back to Roswell and get the orbs; the army and the FBI are probably watching the town. Since they are buried in the desert I will probably be able to get in and out quickly. Can you also teach us more about our powers, how to train to improve them. I could see how much damage Tess was able to accomplish with her fireball against the Skins. I know how to heal and how to shield but I get tired very quickly and I can't expand my shield enough to protect everyone in our group."
Granilith: "Yes, that is something that is taught to all children early on, how to build up their alien energy and endurance until you reach your plateau. You should also be aware that you each have additional alien powers that can be unlocked. I will be able to unlock yours right now if you agree."
Max: "Wow! A new alien power, I still remember when I discovered my healing gift, it was a happy surprise. Do you know what my gift will be; have they been programmed into our DNA when we were cloned?"
Granilith: "After I unlock it you should be able to feel what new instincts come with your gift. No, powers develop over time, we are not able to program them into people. Here it goes."
The Granilith then sends a telepathic message to the Royal Seal who then permits the alien energy to access a new portion of Max's brain. Suddenly a rush of knowledge rushes into Max's mind. He now knows he can manipulate time in a localized area.
Max: "This is incredible; I can slow down time in a small area. The tactical possibilities for this are incredible. Do you know how long I can hold it on maximum?"
Granilith: "This is a very rare ability even on Antar. I believe only two people in our history have ever had it. You will be able to hold it for up to an hour in an area not farther than one hundred meters around you. It will take up to a couple years to gain enough insight and power into your gift to reach that. Realistically, you'll have no problem having ten-fifteen minutes of using your gift."
Max: "Even ten minutes is more than enough if we have the FBI shooting at us or in battle. If a bullet enters the field from outside, does it slow down too?"
Granilith: "Yes, you're actually slowing down the space around you while only your specific alien energy counteracts it permitting you to move normally."
Max: "How do I unlock it in others? Will Liz also have other powers? Will Kyle or anyone else I healed also gain some powers?"
Granilith: "To unlock the powers in others you form a healing connection with them and follow the blood flow up to the brain where you will find a dim spot. You then flood it with alien power until it is as bright as the rest of the brain. What Nasedo told you is right; eventually the human race through evolution would've gotten these same kinds of powers. You may have noticed that you exhibit less control when you have strong emotions. When you healed Liz, Kyle and maybe even Sheriff Valenti you were so frantic with worry that you flooded their systems with your alien energy which you then controlled to start dissolving the bullet and then healing the wound. That alien energy at the beginning would've unlocked all their powers immediately and started telling the new cells forming in the body to start producing alien energy. Eventually there would've been enough cells in the body producing this energy to start exhibiting powers."
Max's happy that he'll be able to give Isabel and Michael some new powers. It might even help in defending themselves from the FBI one day. He's still a bit worried about Liz though, last time this happened she was hurting pretty badly.
Max: "So then why did Liz have the green sparks and the energy was hurting her in the beginning?"
Granilith: "You're essentially transforming a human being into an advanced human, producing energy and utilizing a bigger portion of their brain. When that energy travels through the body, going through cells that haven't been replaced by energy producing ones, it hurts. Unfortunately that is unavoidable. Now the green sparks showing off could've been avoided but she feared what she was becoming and so was denying that part of herself. Had she just accepted it, the reflex to regulate the alien energy would've been as easy as breathing. Trying to heal her was only making it worse because you were pouring more energy into her body which still couldn't regulate the one it had. Now for those children you healed of cancer, if you were calm and in control you would only have destroyed the cancerous cells and let the body build new cells in their place. You did not have to stop the bleeding, dissolve the bullet, and heal the wound all at the same time. This is only a hypothesis; you will have to check up on them to verify this."
Max is a bit relieved by this, it sounds like they were healed without any side effects. He's already thinking of a way of getting in touch with Brody so that he could help monitor the kids since his daughter was healed. Max would have to tell him the truth but he thinks it would greatly relieve Brody about his abductions. It would also be beneficial if Larek ever needed to come into contact them. In the future it would also be nice for Max to heal people without any side effects.
Max: "Can you give me advice on how to get rid of the FBI looking for us?"
Granilith: "Long term, you have three goals you need to accomplish: stop the government from hunting you, prepare earth to repel the invasion that we know is coming in 2012, and retake the throne from Khivar. I know you don't think you're ready for the last one but I have time to convince you. If you retake the throne before 2012, there won't even be an invasion."
Max: "Alright, I see your point; a good defense is a good offense. Let's concentrate first on stopping the government."
Granilith: "There are several ways to stop the government from chasing you. The first and easiest way is for you to change your identities."
Max: "Yeah, I've thought about that but those masks were very uncomfortable to wear for an extended period of time and I'm not sure how one goes to create a new identity. It's times like these where I wish we still had Alex with us."
Granilith: "That doesn't have to be a problem; I can help you make masks out of a lightweight material that permits moisture and air to circulate through it. I can also help you hack the government databases to insert your identities there. You would have to get me a direct connection with them using the Orbs. The second option is all out force. With your group's powers you could conquer the capital fairly easily or just destroy the FBI itself. Holding the country is another matter as Khivar has probably found out but toppling it is fairly easily…"
Max is a bit horrified at that last option. He still believes that the majority of humanity is good, even the government. He doesn't believe that violence in this case is quite the answer. Max starts to understand a little of the different options the Granilith is proposing to him. It's starting to advise him by giving him the widest range of options, even the most distasteful so that he can make an informed decision. It's reassuring after so long of making decisions with little to no information on what options to take.
Max: "No, no… We are not going to war with this country at this time. I still think it's just a few rogue factions which are pursuing us aggressively."
Granilith: "Our last two options are diplomatic. We start a dialogue with someone high up, close to the President using a combination of diplomacy and blackmail to negotiate a treaty. Technically you are the exiled sovereign ruler of Antar and could claim political refugee status. The last option is to go public and to use the media to paint your group in the most positive light possible."
Max: "I think we should use a combination of most of these options, even the military one as a show of force but with no loss of life. I'm not ready for that last one though, going public would go against everything we've ever done. One thing we should include is an economic side in all of this. If we control a portion of the economy, they'd be more willing to listen to us and at that point we can use the media to paint us in a positive light."
Granilith: "Very good, if you start supplying jobs to the unemployed, it'll be a good public relations coup and you'll be able to influence the voters from those states which will lead to putting some senators on your side. I can even help you with some designs that will be a bit more advanced than what they have here so that you are competitive."
Max: "Yes that's a good idea, we don't want them to be too advanced though or else that'll be suspicious. It will take a while to make that much money though. I'm the only one out of all of us who has enough control to make diamonds out of charcoal and even then, I can probably only make 20 or so a day before I get tired. It will take us a while to sell enough diamonds to have enough money to start this company."
Granilith: "There should be a Swiss bank account that was to be used for all expenses required on this planet. It was set up in the early 40s by bringing in some gold and gems from Antar and selling them. I have the account number stored in my databanks."
Max: "Wow, that's great and with 60 years' worth of interest there should be a good amount in there to start our business. We'll have to take some business classes though because I have no idea how to run a company. I've only worked at the UFO Center and the business side of things is not what Brody had me doing. Liz and Maria have some idea working at the Crashdown Café but even then it doesn't compare to running one on the scale we've been discussing. We'll have to take some classes on that."
Granilith: "For the next couple of years, your group will have to go to college. After the identity problems are sorted out, I will instruct you in the Antarian ways at night while you will learn human ways during the day. You actually require much less sleep than humans do. You were also sent to Earth to learn military tactics, human ingenuity and a different perspective. There hasn't been a major war on Antar in at least 5,000 years while this country had at least three major wars in the last century. Finally they progressed from the steam engine to landing a man on the moon in less than a century. It was hoped that you would be able to bring that sort of enthusiasm to explore and push back the boundaries of science back to Antar. Compared to Earth, our society has been stagnating."
Max: "If all the identity problems are gone, I'd like to go to college. I know Liz has been dreaming of going to Harvard since she was a little girl. If we can make that dream happen for her would be great."
Granilith: "I believe it is time we stopped here I still am not a fully repaired and I need to perform basic maintenance. Now that I have given you some tools and ideas that you can use, start thinking of a plan. Don't just limit yourself to doing what is necessary, help people if you want or take classes that interest you, have some fun. Never forget that you already have people that you can depend on too, they can also advise you my King. You have done well of your time on Earth. You will be able to achieve great things. Good night."
Alex winks out of the dream world. Max is left there feeling pensive. He had been very worried ever since Liz told him about Future Max. He had been confident that they would be able to lay low for a while but in the long term things looked dire. There was the FBI, the army, any leftover Skins and Khivar who were all after them. He had been putting on a brave face for everyone but only Liz had seen how worried he really was. Now though he was overjoyed and excited at what the future laid ahead. He had learned so much tonight and there was still so much more. He had the beginning of a plan that would all change their fates forever.