Sacrifice
A Sequel to Quietly into the Night
Conventional Couples
Rating: PG-13

Chapter Thirty-One

Antar – Outskirts of Capitol City

Michael leafed through the album like a starving man approaches a feast.  Finally he had a chance to see his family.  He stared at a picture of his father, and it was almost like staring in a mirror.  He looked exactly like his father; it was unbelievable. 

"Maria, look at this.  He's me; I mean I'm him.  Well you know what I mean," said Michael.

"I don't know," said Maria thoughtfully.  "Don't get me wrong, you do look like him, but there's something different.  I think it's in the eyes.  Maybe you have your mother's eyes.  Naloch?  Do you have any pictures of Michael's mother?" asked Maria.  Naloch nodded and retrieved another album from the shelf and flipped through it.  He found the picture he was looking for and slid it forward for Maria to inspect. 

"Oh, Michael," she breathed.  "Your mother was beautiful.  Look at her eyes.  I was right; you do have her eyes.  "And look at her hair.  It's so long and what a glorious shade of red.  It's almost like Saranara's hair."  She turned and looked at the Antarian girl speculatively.  "In fact, your eyes are a lot like Michael's as well.  Is it like some common Antarian trait or something?"

"You're silly Auntie Maria," said Lexie coming downstairs from her nap.  "Unca Michael and Serena and Mr. Naloch all have the same colors around them.  Can't you see them?"

"What colors sweetie," asked Liz gently.  "Mommy and Auntie Maria aren't as lucky as you.  We can't see the colors."

"Oh, everybody has colors around them.  Your color is like my favorite blue in my crayon box, and Daddy has a pretty red color.  But it's not a mad red color.  Me and Kam have dark purple.  But Unca Michael, and Serena and Mr. Naloch and Jeremy all have this pretty green color.  Mr. Naloch's green is a little lighter, but they mostly match.  That means their all the same family."

Liz lifted her small daughter into her lap and pressed a kiss to her forehead. 

"Well Lexie, maybe it's just a similar shade of green, that's all."
"No," said Naloch.  "The child is correct.  My sister was married to Michael's father."

"What!" Michael roared.  "Are you saying you are my Uncle or something?  Why the hell didn't you say anything before this?  You knew how badly I wanted to learn about my family!"

"And that is precisely why I never said anything Michael," answered Naloch.  "If I had told you when I was on Earth, what would you have done?"
"Probably come back here with you," admitted Michael.

"And what about your wife, would that have been fair to her?"

"No," said Michael.

"Then all of you came to Antar, but by that time, we had already heard rumblings of Kivar.  Should I have told you then, when it would have put your life in danger?"

"Well then, why now?" demanded Michael.  "Why are you telling me this now?"

"You needed to know," said Naloch simply.  "It was time."

"So like what does that make us?" asked Michael.

"I believe you used the term Uncle," said Naloch, and Saranara and Jereon, are what you would say on Earth, are your cousins."

Michael looked over at Saranara who was staring at her father in shock.  He could see that the information was new to her as well.  Maria moved around the table and slipped her arms around her husband's waist.

"Well Space Boy, looks like we'll have to add a few names to the Christmas card list," she joked.  "Come on," she tugged gently on his arm.  "Lets go for a walk."

Michael looked over at Naloch who nodded. 

"You may want to look for Kyle while you are out there," he said.

The two walked out the door into the cold night air.  Lexie snuggled closer to her mother and whispered.

"Mommy, did I say something wrong?  Unca Michael got all mad."  Her lower lip trembled and a tear glistened on the tip of her thick eyelashes.

"No sweetie, you didn't do anything wrong.  Uncle Michael just has a really big mouth some times.  Doesn't he Max?" she said looking at her husband.

"That's right Lexie Bear," said Max.  "Remember when Daddy and Uncle Michael put your swing set together?"  The little girl smiled and giggled.

"Unca Michael said some naughty words after he banged this thumbkin with the hammer," she said to her mother.

"See honey, your Uncle Michael is just silly.  Now why don't you go wake your brother up," said Liz.  "I want to hear more abut the colors you see.  They sound beautiful."

"Oh they are Mommy," said Lexie as she left the room.  "It's like seeing a rainbow every day!"

Once Lexie was out of earshot, Liz turned to Max. 

"Did you know she could do that?" she asked.

"I had no clue at all.  As far as I knew, the only thing she could do was heal," answered Max.  He turned to Naloch and Saranara. 

"Is this normal?  The way her powers are developing?"

"As far as I can tell, yes," answered Naloch.  "We can't be one hundred percent certain, because we always have to factor in the mixture of human genes from Liz, but I can tell you that both Jereon and Saranara developed more powers as they grew older."
"Damn," said Max.  "Dr. Spock does not have a chapter on alien powers." Liz laughed, as did Kyle who had slipped in unnoticed during the discussion.

"Maybe you should see if Mr. Spock has a baby care book," he joked referring to the character from Star Trek.

"Did you see Michael and Maria out there?" asked Max.

"Yeah, they filled me in on the missing branches from Michael's family tree," said Kyle as he sat down next to Saranara.  "I came in to take a look at the pictures myself."

Max passed him the book of pictures and in an undertone told Kyle he was sorry.

"No man, I'm the one who's sorry," said Kyle.  "I snapped, totally.  I have a lot of things to think through.  Hey, is that Max and Isabelle?" he asked pointing to a picture.  Naloch looked over and smiled.

"That isn't Max, or even Zan.  It's King Zan and his wife, Queen Hakara, shortly before Zan was conceived."  Max and Liz both looked at the picture.

"It's almost eerie," said Liz.  "They look so much like you and Isabelle, it's amazing."

"Your father, Max, was distantly related to me as well," said Naloch.

"Um, just how distantly?" queried Max worriedly, thinking of Isabelle and Jereon.

Naloch laughed as he accurately read Max's thoughts. 

"Quite distant," he said.  "I believe the term you use on Earth is kissing cousins.  My wife had drafted an outline of our family," he said.  "Let me look around and see if I can find it."  The older man stood up and walked over to the album had been hidden.  After several minutes, he returned with several books in his hand, as well as a sheaf of papers.

"These books are for you and Isabelle, and Michael.  They are journals kept by your parents.  I managed to retrieve some of their belongings after Kivar's coup.  It isn't much, but it's a piece of your past that you should have."
"Thank you Naloch," said Max.  "What else do you have?"

"These are the directions for programming the orbs to send you home.  As soon as we can locate another set of orbs, we can activate them to return you home.  And this is the family outline I was telling you about.

While Naloch told Max about his family, Liz prepared a meal for her family.  As she worked, she smiled happily.  How often she had dreamed of performing just such a chore.  She picked up a platter of food and started across the room.  She gave a small scream, and the platter fell from her hand, smashing to pieces on the floor.

"Liz!" shouted Max.  "What is it?"  "What did you see?"

Liz stood, her feet routed to the floor, her limbs trembling. 
"No, no, no!" she cried softly.  "Not again, please, not again."
"Liz!" shouted Max.  He grabbed her by the arms and shook her gently.  "Liz, what is it?"

Liz shook her head and tried to focus and bring herself out of the vision. 

"A battle, a terrible, terrible battle, on the grounds of the Royal Palace.  There was so much death and destruction."
"There's more," said Max.  "What aren't you telling us Liz?

"N-no, there wasn't anything else," she said, looking at the floor.  "Max, please, just drop it and go check the kids and make sure they're ok.  Please," she added in a pleading voice.

Max left the room, looking worriedly at his wife as he left.  Kyle gave her a brief hug before he and Saranara began to prepare another meal.  Liz dropped to her knees and began to pick up the broken platter and spilled food from the floor.  Naloch knelt down beside her. 

"What did you see Liz?" he asked gently.  "Do not be afraid to tell me, no matter what it is.  You of all people should realize that the future is not concrete, it is fluid and we can change it, if we know what it is we looking for."

"I-I can't," whispered Liz.

"Who dies Liz?  I must know."

"You," Liz said in a terrified voice.  "I saw you lying dead on the ground.