PART TWO-
A FEW DAYS LATER-AROUND 9:00
Max was up in his room doing homework and
listening to the radio. He was worried about a lot of
things, and he couldn't concentrate. Liz, for
instance, was on his mind. She had said something
about not being able to survive on Antar. What was
that supposed to mean? He had been worried about her
ever since she received her powers from Katswana. That
whole episode had totally freaked him out. And now
that they had to go back, he couldn't just leave her.
She was as much a part of everything as he, Isabel,
and Michael were. But that thought only brought him
back to the thought that she wasn't the same at all.
She was human. And what if she was right about not
being able to survive on Antar? It's not like he could
zap her back home with the flick of a finger. And how
would his people react to having a human among them?
And a human with the memory of their arch enemy's hit
man, none the less. He wished he could say Liz was the
least of his worries, but that simply wasn't true. He
had so much to think about, and so little time in
which to do it. Max looked back down at his Trig
homework. He put it back into his book bag and tried
to focus on something besides problems. As he sat on
his bed, listening to the music in the background, he
slowly fell asleep...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Maria, please stop whining." Liz said over the
phone.
"But Liz! I mean, we all know that me and Alex
aren't going to Antar with you and the Czechs, but
Alex gets to go on the little fact finding mission on
how to get to their god forsaken planet, I think I
should have that right too. Michael thinks I'm just
gonna sit here like some little housewife waiting for
her husband to come back from the war so she can kiss
him and hug him and have his babies; well he can
forget that. I'm not doing a damn thing for his
insensitive alien ass." Maria went on, ignoring Liz's
tired complaint.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I
wasn't going to Antar either?" Liz asked.
"Uh, no! Of course you're going. You have to go.
So duh it wouldn't make me feel better 'cause you're
lying!" Maria said impatiently.
"Maria, that's just it. I don't know if I can go."
Liz replied.
"What are you talking about? You have to go, you
must go, it's implied in the 'So Now You're An Alien
Handbook.'"
"But I'm not an alien. I'm human. Just like you.
Remember what Max said? They just use a little more of
their brains than we do. So I'm a human actually using
most or all of her brain space. Get it? What if I can't
survive there?"
"Can you say pessimist? Do you really think Max
would even consider letting you go if he thought, even
for a minute that something would happen to you?
Uh-NO!" Maria rationalized.
"But Maria...what if he's wrong? What am I
supposed to do?"
"I, I don't know..." Maria answered, surprised and
taken aback by Liz's apparent fear. "If you really
think something could happen, you can't go, Liz. I
can't let you."
"Look, I've already decided I'm going. The
question is, how do I get back if something goes
wrong?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
QUITE A FEW HOURS LATER
RING-
The blast of the phone woke Max up like a fire
cracker in the dead of the night. *Shit!* He thought.
RING-
Max leaned over and grabbed the telephone from
its rest.
"Hello?" He answered groggily.
"Max? It's Michael."
"Michael? What time is it?"
"Uh, three o'clock..."
"What the hell do you want at three o'clock in
the morning?" Max asked, almost forgetting the most
likely reason Michael would be calling at that ungodly
hour.
"I would've thought was obvious Maxwell. Alex did
it. He finished. The book has been transcribed; and
we are going home!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was around 6:00 that evening and everyone was
gathered at the Crashdown, anticipating the arrival of
Alex and Michael.
"So when did you actually find out Max? I mean,
did Michael ever call to tell you how everything was
going?" Liz asked.
"Oh, no. I mean, the call last night was the first
I'd heard from either of them. I assume no one else
got any phone calls?" Max asked, looking specifically
at Isabel and Maria.
"Well...I got a couple calls from Alex. But
nothing special. Just hi, how are you, that sorta
thing. He said it was coming along. But I don't think
either of them expected to be finished so quickly."
Isabel said.
"Michael called me last night too, and then I
called Liz, and Liz called Max, who already knew, and
Kyle, who called Isabel, who of course already knew,
and then Isabel told Max, who obviously already knew."
Maria concluded.
"I guess that's right." Liz agreed. A few seconds
later Michael walked through the door closely followed
by Alex. Everyone got up to welcome them back and hug
and kiss, where the opportunity arose.
"I have a question." Isabel began as everyone
settled down.
"Shoot." Michael told her.
"Well, when I last talked to Alex, he made it seem
like you would need way more time than the JROTC trip
would allow. What happened?"
"Well, it all happened very quickly. Alex-"
"Uh, I think I should be the one telling the story
here, seeing as all you did was sit around and drink
Snapple? We all agree. But, Michael was right. It did
happen rather quickly. I started by scanning and programming all of the foreign letters into the computer. When that was done, I used those letters to type the transcript. That in itself took about five days, just to get the symbols and the transcript exactly right, as you can imagine. Anyway, after I typed the transcript, I told the computer to translate it, in any or all languages. Which means, I told it to search for letter patterns. Like cracking the code. After that, all we could do was wait. It didn't come up with anything for days. We started to think that maybe it couldn't be translated. That must've been when I called Isabel and gave her the impression that it would take a much longer time than expected. Well, about seven days after I told the computer to translate the transcript, I was in the dorm room where Michael and I slept. My beeper went off, and when I called the number, some guy in the lab told us to get down there quick, something had happened. So of course me and Michael ran down there, and sure enough, it had been transcribed." Alex said, and pulled out the printed transcript.
"Yep, that's the gist of it." Michael agreed. Max
picked up the papers from the table and skimmed over
the first page.
"So, where do we go from here?" Kyle asked to no
one in particular.
"I suggest we get out of here, and we can move on
from there." Max answered. The group of them returned
to their table, grabbed their things and left. Maria,
Liz, Alex and Kyle took the Jetta while Max, Isabel
and Michael drove in the Jeep. They all agreed to meet
at Valenti's office in half an hour. Maria, Alex, Liz,
and Kyle went to Alex's house while the others took
Michael back to his place. Once everyone was accounted
for to their parents, they all met in front of the
sheriff's building. Kyle got out and went inside to
tell his dad what was going on. Valenti came out not
two minutes after Kyle went in.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked.
"Sure about what?" Max asked, innocently.
"Going back? I mean what if you can't return? What
about your parents? What about Kyle and Maria and
Alex? Are we going to have to wait for you?"
"We have to go back. We have to defeat Kivar. If
we don't, he'll defeat us. We can't let that happen."
Max answered sternly.
"What about the connections you have here?"
Valenti replied.
"That's just a chance we'll have to take." Max
replied.
"I'm coming to see you go." Valenti said.
"We hoped you would." Isabel told him.
"So let's do it." Michael said. The group split
again. This time Maria and Alex rode in the Jetta,
Liz, Max, Michael, and Isabel took the Jeep, and Kyle
and Valenti took the patrol car. They drove with the
Jeep in the lead. Only Max knew where he was going.
The book had told them how to use the granilith as
their ship, and the crystal Liz had found was the key.
Max couldn't help thinking about what Valenti had said
as he drove towards the cave where they all had been
born. *What if he's right? What if we can't come
back?* he thought. Little did he know, the same
thoughts were going through all of their heads.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Finally they reached the cave. Everyone got out of
their cars and walked slowly and quietly up towards
the cave. Max placed his hand over the special spot
and the door appeared. He went in and everyone
followed. They crawled through the pods and into the
back where the granilith was kept. Max inserted the
crystal and bright lights engulfed the room. Everyone
gasped. There was a click and a small opening
appeared.
"This is it. We're going home." Max announced. He
hugged Valenti and thanked him for everything. "Don't
worry, we'll be back." He assured them all as he saw
their anguished looks. Then he stood near the tiny
door, waiting for Liz to finish saying goodbye. Liz
hugged Maria and Alex as tight as she could. She knew
what Max had said, that they would be back, but she
wasn't so sure. She told them both that she loved
them, and they nodded and agreed. She kissed Alex on
the cheek and whispered, "I'll miss you." He just held
her for a moment. When he let go, Maria grabbed Liz
again. They hugged for a long time, both of them
crying their eyes out. Isabel walked over to
Mr. Valenti and asked him to tell their parents that
they loved them.
"Whatever story you come up with, tell them I said
that. And for Max too. It'll mean a lot to them."
Valenti nodded and Isabel hugged him. When he released
her she smiled and glanced over at Alex. She took that
moment to say goodbye to him.
"I know we're not, officially a couple," She said,
"But I want you to know that I love you. And when I
get back..." Isabel couldn't finish the sentence. Her
eyes had grown teary, even though she had promised
herself they wouldn't.
"I'll be there." Alex finished for her. They
kissed and held each other. Finally Isabel let go and
disappeared into the opening. Max grabbed Liz's hand
as she looked up at him, signaling she was ready to
go. Then they went in as well. Maria clung to Michael
as tears flowed down her face. He stroked her hair
gently. He knew he'd miss her. But no one else had let
those sort of thoughts cloud their judgment. Michael
lifted Maria's face level to his. He looked her
straight in the eyes, whispered, "I love you," and
kissed her. Then he pulled away, glanced at her one
more time, and disappeared through the opening. Maria
began to sob. Alex took her into his arms and cradled
her. Alex then instructed them all to leave the cave
as quickly as possible, and guard their heads. He knew
if they didn't get out of there quickly, the cave
would collapse on them. They all ran out of the cave
and down the slope. There they stood, waiting for the
ship to leave. A few minutes later, there was a huge
explosion and they all saw the ship emerge and fly off
into oblivion. Maria began to sob again.
A FEW DAYS LATER-AROUND 9:00
Max was up in his room doing homework and
listening to the radio. He was worried about a lot of
things, and he couldn't concentrate. Liz, for
instance, was on his mind. She had said something
about not being able to survive on Antar. What was
that supposed to mean? He had been worried about her
ever since she received her powers from Katswana. That
whole episode had totally freaked him out. And now
that they had to go back, he couldn't just leave her.
She was as much a part of everything as he, Isabel,
and Michael were. But that thought only brought him
back to the thought that she wasn't the same at all.
She was human. And what if she was right about not
being able to survive on Antar? It's not like he could
zap her back home with the flick of a finger. And how
would his people react to having a human among them?
And a human with the memory of their arch enemy's hit
man, none the less. He wished he could say Liz was the
least of his worries, but that simply wasn't true. He
had so much to think about, and so little time in
which to do it. Max looked back down at his Trig
homework. He put it back into his book bag and tried
to focus on something besides problems. As he sat on
his bed, listening to the music in the background, he
slowly fell asleep...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Maria, please stop whining." Liz said over the
phone.
"But Liz! I mean, we all know that me and Alex
aren't going to Antar with you and the Czechs, but
Alex gets to go on the little fact finding mission on
how to get to their god forsaken planet, I think I
should have that right too. Michael thinks I'm just
gonna sit here like some little housewife waiting for
her husband to come back from the war so she can kiss
him and hug him and have his babies; well he can
forget that. I'm not doing a damn thing for his
insensitive alien ass." Maria went on, ignoring Liz's
tired complaint.
"Would it make you feel better if I told you I
wasn't going to Antar either?" Liz asked.
"Uh, no! Of course you're going. You have to go.
So duh it wouldn't make me feel better 'cause you're
lying!" Maria said impatiently.
"Maria, that's just it. I don't know if I can go."
Liz replied.
"What are you talking about? You have to go, you
must go, it's implied in the 'So Now You're An Alien
Handbook.'"
"But I'm not an alien. I'm human. Just like you.
Remember what Max said? They just use a little more of
their brains than we do. So I'm a human actually using
most or all of her brain space. Get it? What if I can't
survive there?"
"Can you say pessimist? Do you really think Max
would even consider letting you go if he thought, even
for a minute that something would happen to you?
Uh-NO!" Maria rationalized.
"But Maria...what if he's wrong? What am I
supposed to do?"
"I, I don't know..." Maria answered, surprised and
taken aback by Liz's apparent fear. "If you really
think something could happen, you can't go, Liz. I
can't let you."
"Look, I've already decided I'm going. The
question is, how do I get back if something goes
wrong?"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
QUITE A FEW HOURS LATER
RING-
The blast of the phone woke Max up like a fire
cracker in the dead of the night. *Shit!* He thought.
RING-
Max leaned over and grabbed the telephone from
its rest.
"Hello?" He answered groggily.
"Max? It's Michael."
"Michael? What time is it?"
"Uh, three o'clock..."
"What the hell do you want at three o'clock in
the morning?" Max asked, almost forgetting the most
likely reason Michael would be calling at that ungodly
hour.
"I would've thought was obvious Maxwell. Alex did
it. He finished. The book has been transcribed; and
we are going home!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was around 6:00 that evening and everyone was
gathered at the Crashdown, anticipating the arrival of
Alex and Michael.
"So when did you actually find out Max? I mean,
did Michael ever call to tell you how everything was
going?" Liz asked.
"Oh, no. I mean, the call last night was the first
I'd heard from either of them. I assume no one else
got any phone calls?" Max asked, looking specifically
at Isabel and Maria.
"Well...I got a couple calls from Alex. But
nothing special. Just hi, how are you, that sorta
thing. He said it was coming along. But I don't think
either of them expected to be finished so quickly."
Isabel said.
"Michael called me last night too, and then I
called Liz, and Liz called Max, who already knew, and
Kyle, who called Isabel, who of course already knew,
and then Isabel told Max, who obviously already knew."
Maria concluded.
"I guess that's right." Liz agreed. A few seconds
later Michael walked through the door closely followed
by Alex. Everyone got up to welcome them back and hug
and kiss, where the opportunity arose.
"I have a question." Isabel began as everyone
settled down.
"Shoot." Michael told her.
"Well, when I last talked to Alex, he made it seem
like you would need way more time than the JROTC trip
would allow. What happened?"
"Well, it all happened very quickly. Alex-"
"Uh, I think I should be the one telling the story
here, seeing as all you did was sit around and drink
Snapple? We all agree. But, Michael was right. It did
happen rather quickly. I started by scanning and programming all of the foreign letters into the computer. When that was done, I used those letters to type the transcript. That in itself took about five days, just to get the symbols and the transcript exactly right, as you can imagine. Anyway, after I typed the transcript, I told the computer to translate it, in any or all languages. Which means, I told it to search for letter patterns. Like cracking the code. After that, all we could do was wait. It didn't come up with anything for days. We started to think that maybe it couldn't be translated. That must've been when I called Isabel and gave her the impression that it would take a much longer time than expected. Well, about seven days after I told the computer to translate the transcript, I was in the dorm room where Michael and I slept. My beeper went off, and when I called the number, some guy in the lab told us to get down there quick, something had happened. So of course me and Michael ran down there, and sure enough, it had been transcribed." Alex said, and pulled out the printed transcript.
"Yep, that's the gist of it." Michael agreed. Max
picked up the papers from the table and skimmed over
the first page.
"So, where do we go from here?" Kyle asked to no
one in particular.
"I suggest we get out of here, and we can move on
from there." Max answered. The group of them returned
to their table, grabbed their things and left. Maria,
Liz, Alex and Kyle took the Jetta while Max, Isabel
and Michael drove in the Jeep. They all agreed to meet
at Valenti's office in half an hour. Maria, Alex, Liz,
and Kyle went to Alex's house while the others took
Michael back to his place. Once everyone was accounted
for to their parents, they all met in front of the
sheriff's building. Kyle got out and went inside to
tell his dad what was going on. Valenti came out not
two minutes after Kyle went in.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked.
"Sure about what?" Max asked, innocently.
"Going back? I mean what if you can't return? What
about your parents? What about Kyle and Maria and
Alex? Are we going to have to wait for you?"
"We have to go back. We have to defeat Kivar. If
we don't, he'll defeat us. We can't let that happen."
Max answered sternly.
"What about the connections you have here?"
Valenti replied.
"That's just a chance we'll have to take." Max
replied.
"I'm coming to see you go." Valenti said.
"We hoped you would." Isabel told him.
"So let's do it." Michael said. The group split
again. This time Maria and Alex rode in the Jetta,
Liz, Max, Michael, and Isabel took the Jeep, and Kyle
and Valenti took the patrol car. They drove with the
Jeep in the lead. Only Max knew where he was going.
The book had told them how to use the granilith as
their ship, and the crystal Liz had found was the key.
Max couldn't help thinking about what Valenti had said
as he drove towards the cave where they all had been
born. *What if he's right? What if we can't come
back?* he thought. Little did he know, the same
thoughts were going through all of their heads.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Finally they reached the cave. Everyone got out of
their cars and walked slowly and quietly up towards
the cave. Max placed his hand over the special spot
and the door appeared. He went in and everyone
followed. They crawled through the pods and into the
back where the granilith was kept. Max inserted the
crystal and bright lights engulfed the room. Everyone
gasped. There was a click and a small opening
appeared.
"This is it. We're going home." Max announced. He
hugged Valenti and thanked him for everything. "Don't
worry, we'll be back." He assured them all as he saw
their anguished looks. Then he stood near the tiny
door, waiting for Liz to finish saying goodbye. Liz
hugged Maria and Alex as tight as she could. She knew
what Max had said, that they would be back, but she
wasn't so sure. She told them both that she loved
them, and they nodded and agreed. She kissed Alex on
the cheek and whispered, "I'll miss you." He just held
her for a moment. When he let go, Maria grabbed Liz
again. They hugged for a long time, both of them
crying their eyes out. Isabel walked over to
Mr. Valenti and asked him to tell their parents that
they loved them.
"Whatever story you come up with, tell them I said
that. And for Max too. It'll mean a lot to them."
Valenti nodded and Isabel hugged him. When he released
her she smiled and glanced over at Alex. She took that
moment to say goodbye to him.
"I know we're not, officially a couple," She said,
"But I want you to know that I love you. And when I
get back..." Isabel couldn't finish the sentence. Her
eyes had grown teary, even though she had promised
herself they wouldn't.
"I'll be there." Alex finished for her. They
kissed and held each other. Finally Isabel let go and
disappeared into the opening. Max grabbed Liz's hand
as she looked up at him, signaling she was ready to
go. Then they went in as well. Maria clung to Michael
as tears flowed down her face. He stroked her hair
gently. He knew he'd miss her. But no one else had let
those sort of thoughts cloud their judgment. Michael
lifted Maria's face level to his. He looked her
straight in the eyes, whispered, "I love you," and
kissed her. Then he pulled away, glanced at her one
more time, and disappeared through the opening. Maria
began to sob. Alex took her into his arms and cradled
her. Alex then instructed them all to leave the cave
as quickly as possible, and guard their heads. He knew
if they didn't get out of there quickly, the cave
would collapse on them. They all ran out of the cave
and down the slope. There they stood, waiting for the
ship to leave. A few minutes later, there was a huge
explosion and they all saw the ship emerge and fly off
into oblivion. Maria began to sob again.