Part 4: Surveillance
Later, after the Crashdown closed and everything was cleaned and put away, the group moved over to the UFO Center. Brody was long gone for the night, so there would be plenty of privacy for the meeting. "Let's just kill them and stop whatever it is they want to do to us before they get the chance," Michael suggested, in full soldier mode. After everything they'd been through lately, he was done with laying low and waiting to see what happened. Michael wanted any threat to the group eliminated.
Max, as usual, took a more cautious approach. "Michael, we don't even know that these people are a threat. What if they're human? We could risk exposing ourselves and end up killing innocent people. I almost made that mistake. If Liz hadn't stopped me, I would've killed that girl at Las Cruces University because we all thought she was an alien and an enemy. But she wasn't. We don't know yet if these people are. We need to find out who they are and what they want."
Had Michael not grown beyond his rebellious phase, he would have become sarcastic and disregarded anything Max would tell him to do, even when Max was right. But now Michael listened and thought this situation through. "Maxwell, we can't wait long on this. If they are enemies, we need to get rid of the threat. We need to find out who those people really are and do something about it if they're out to kill us."
"We could, um, do some surveillance," Liz spoke up. As usual, she was the idea person, the one who formed solutions to the many problems the group came up against. She turned to Alex. "Alex, do you have any cameras that we can plant in Ariel's house? We could sort of do a girls' get-together and while she's distracted, hide a camera somewhere in her room."
"Yeah, sure," Alex nodded. "I've got a camera ready and I've just been waiting for an excuse to use it." He gave a grin.
Isabel, Tess and Maria agreed to their part of the plan, and Maria had a suitable distraction in mind to get Ariel out of the room while the camera was being hidden. The group looked to Max to see if he would decide in favor of this plan. "Ok, we'll do this, " Max declared, "But be really careful. We don't want anybody getting hurt, and we don't want Ariel or the others to get suspicious."
"I'll use my mind warp to get us out of there if anything goes wrong," Tess assured him so that Max wouldn't be so worried that somebody might get hurt. "Don't worry, Max. It's going to be all right."
Then Isabel had a thought that worried her. "I'm not so sure about this, Max. What if she finds the camera?"
"Is, it won't take us long to find out what we need to know about them. When we do, we either prepare to attack if they're enemies or get rid of the camera if they're not," Max replied. The others nodded in agreement. They now had a plan, and they were ready.
The next afternoon, The Harts were watching television after a long morning of finishing the unpacking and setting up of the new house. Things were pretty much unpacked. Pictures and paintings were hung, and computers were put together. Kitchen appliances were placed where they belonged, and groceries were in the pantry and refrigerator. It was time to relax and enjoy the new house. Even Ariel had to admit that she liked the new house. She loved her bedroom, especially the small private balcony that was hers. She had fixed herself a comfortable place out there where she could read or write stories in her notebook. She also had a great view of the sky, so she planned to sometimes bring out the telescope at night. While David and Ariel were figuring out what to watch next on television, the doorbell rang. Ariel stood up and answered the door. She was delighted to see Liz, Maria, Isabel and Tess there. "Hi, guys," she greeted them with a bright smile and invited them in. Ariel introduced everyone to her parents, and greetings were exchanged all around. Then the girls headed up to Ariel's room after a quick tour of the house.
"Oh, Ariel, I love your room," Maria gushed, being her bubbly self to cover up her nervousness. Ariel's room was stylish, with a lovely floral bedspread with matching pillows, a decorator table, and curtains. Ariel had great furniture, and the walls were beautifully decorated with paintings, pictures of family and friends, and knicknacks.
Ariel smiled. "Thanks, Maria." Ariel wouldn't have believed it possible, but this room was even more spectacular than her old bedroom. The balcony and the walk-in closet alone, not to mention the huge windows and abundance of wall space, made it impossible for her old bedroom to compete with this one.
Liz chimed in. "Yeah, this room is, like, incredible. Oh, you have a balcony. I have one, too." Since the door to the balcony was open, Liz looked out and admired the beauty of the view. "Your view is so great, Ariel." The group was obviously excited to explore Ariel's room, and Ariel was happy to show everyone her things. She showed Tess and Maria her collection of tapes and CD's, and left them to go through the collection when Isabel wanted to see the closet. Ariel and Isabel looked to be about the same size, so they enthusiastically talked about trading clothes, especially when Isabel saw Ariel's plentiful and stylish wardrobe. Ariel had many beautiful clothes, ranging from casual to dressy, and had the shoes and accessories to match. She was definitely very fashion-conscious like Isabel.
"Oh, my God, Ariel...I love this outfit!" Isabel exclaimed, holding up a deep blue v-necked shirt that showed a little midriff and a black skirt. "Can I try this on?"
Ariel smiled. This was one of her favorite outfits, too. "Sure," she agreed. "It'll look so awesome on you." She left Isabel in the closet and rejoined the others, who were playing one of her favorite CD's and were dancing to the music. Ariel joined in.
"Where's Isabel?" Tess asked.
"She's trying on one of my outfits," Ariel answered. Soon Isabel emerged from the closet, and everyone exclaimed over how great Isabel looked. Maria came up to Ariel and put an arm around her.
"Hey, do you have any sodas?" Maria asked.
"Oh, yeah, we have a variety of sodas. Do you guys want me to bring up snacks, too?" Ariel found out what people wanted to eat and drink, and Maria volunteered to help her. Ariel thought that it was great that she and David weren't the only ones who liked tabasco sauce on pretty much everything, especially sweet things. Isabel and Tess had also asked her to bring up a bottle of the spicy sauce. Ariel and Maria went downstairs to fix the sodas, chips, and popcorn.
Meanwhile, Liz, Tess, and Isabel were busy upstairs deciding on a place to put the camera. Ariel had a little bowl of potpourri that offered a perfectly concealed place. Over the cellphone, Liz checked with Alex to make sure that Ariel's room was visible once the camera was in place and had been turned on. Alex checked his monitor, and confirmed the camera was operational and showed the room clearly. Liz hung up with Alex and called Maria's cell phone to let her know that it was safe to come back upstairs.
Down in the kitchen, the popcorn was almost ready, and all the sodas had been poured. Maria's cell phone rang, and she answered it. "Ok, babe. Will do," she told the caller before hanging up. As she and Ariel gathered everything together onto trays, Maria explained to Ariel that Liz had asked for some salt to be brought upstairs.
"Ok," Ariel nodded and retrieved a salt shaker, placing it onto the tray. She did a mental check of what they needed: salt, tabasco sauce, popcorn, chips, sodas, napkins, bowls, and sugar for the sodas. It was all there, so Ariel and Maria carried the trays upstairs.
While Max, Michael, Alex, and Kyle watched on the monitor, the five girls watched a movie and had their snacks. They seemed to be having a good time, and everything seemed safe and normal. For now.
Later, after the Crashdown closed and everything was cleaned and put away, the group moved over to the UFO Center. Brody was long gone for the night, so there would be plenty of privacy for the meeting. "Let's just kill them and stop whatever it is they want to do to us before they get the chance," Michael suggested, in full soldier mode. After everything they'd been through lately, he was done with laying low and waiting to see what happened. Michael wanted any threat to the group eliminated.
Max, as usual, took a more cautious approach. "Michael, we don't even know that these people are a threat. What if they're human? We could risk exposing ourselves and end up killing innocent people. I almost made that mistake. If Liz hadn't stopped me, I would've killed that girl at Las Cruces University because we all thought she was an alien and an enemy. But she wasn't. We don't know yet if these people are. We need to find out who they are and what they want."
Had Michael not grown beyond his rebellious phase, he would have become sarcastic and disregarded anything Max would tell him to do, even when Max was right. But now Michael listened and thought this situation through. "Maxwell, we can't wait long on this. If they are enemies, we need to get rid of the threat. We need to find out who those people really are and do something about it if they're out to kill us."
"We could, um, do some surveillance," Liz spoke up. As usual, she was the idea person, the one who formed solutions to the many problems the group came up against. She turned to Alex. "Alex, do you have any cameras that we can plant in Ariel's house? We could sort of do a girls' get-together and while she's distracted, hide a camera somewhere in her room."
"Yeah, sure," Alex nodded. "I've got a camera ready and I've just been waiting for an excuse to use it." He gave a grin.
Isabel, Tess and Maria agreed to their part of the plan, and Maria had a suitable distraction in mind to get Ariel out of the room while the camera was being hidden. The group looked to Max to see if he would decide in favor of this plan. "Ok, we'll do this, " Max declared, "But be really careful. We don't want anybody getting hurt, and we don't want Ariel or the others to get suspicious."
"I'll use my mind warp to get us out of there if anything goes wrong," Tess assured him so that Max wouldn't be so worried that somebody might get hurt. "Don't worry, Max. It's going to be all right."
Then Isabel had a thought that worried her. "I'm not so sure about this, Max. What if she finds the camera?"
"Is, it won't take us long to find out what we need to know about them. When we do, we either prepare to attack if they're enemies or get rid of the camera if they're not," Max replied. The others nodded in agreement. They now had a plan, and they were ready.
The next afternoon, The Harts were watching television after a long morning of finishing the unpacking and setting up of the new house. Things were pretty much unpacked. Pictures and paintings were hung, and computers were put together. Kitchen appliances were placed where they belonged, and groceries were in the pantry and refrigerator. It was time to relax and enjoy the new house. Even Ariel had to admit that she liked the new house. She loved her bedroom, especially the small private balcony that was hers. She had fixed herself a comfortable place out there where she could read or write stories in her notebook. She also had a great view of the sky, so she planned to sometimes bring out the telescope at night. While David and Ariel were figuring out what to watch next on television, the doorbell rang. Ariel stood up and answered the door. She was delighted to see Liz, Maria, Isabel and Tess there. "Hi, guys," she greeted them with a bright smile and invited them in. Ariel introduced everyone to her parents, and greetings were exchanged all around. Then the girls headed up to Ariel's room after a quick tour of the house.
"Oh, Ariel, I love your room," Maria gushed, being her bubbly self to cover up her nervousness. Ariel's room was stylish, with a lovely floral bedspread with matching pillows, a decorator table, and curtains. Ariel had great furniture, and the walls were beautifully decorated with paintings, pictures of family and friends, and knicknacks.
Ariel smiled. "Thanks, Maria." Ariel wouldn't have believed it possible, but this room was even more spectacular than her old bedroom. The balcony and the walk-in closet alone, not to mention the huge windows and abundance of wall space, made it impossible for her old bedroom to compete with this one.
Liz chimed in. "Yeah, this room is, like, incredible. Oh, you have a balcony. I have one, too." Since the door to the balcony was open, Liz looked out and admired the beauty of the view. "Your view is so great, Ariel." The group was obviously excited to explore Ariel's room, and Ariel was happy to show everyone her things. She showed Tess and Maria her collection of tapes and CD's, and left them to go through the collection when Isabel wanted to see the closet. Ariel and Isabel looked to be about the same size, so they enthusiastically talked about trading clothes, especially when Isabel saw Ariel's plentiful and stylish wardrobe. Ariel had many beautiful clothes, ranging from casual to dressy, and had the shoes and accessories to match. She was definitely very fashion-conscious like Isabel.
"Oh, my God, Ariel...I love this outfit!" Isabel exclaimed, holding up a deep blue v-necked shirt that showed a little midriff and a black skirt. "Can I try this on?"
Ariel smiled. This was one of her favorite outfits, too. "Sure," she agreed. "It'll look so awesome on you." She left Isabel in the closet and rejoined the others, who were playing one of her favorite CD's and were dancing to the music. Ariel joined in.
"Where's Isabel?" Tess asked.
"She's trying on one of my outfits," Ariel answered. Soon Isabel emerged from the closet, and everyone exclaimed over how great Isabel looked. Maria came up to Ariel and put an arm around her.
"Hey, do you have any sodas?" Maria asked.
"Oh, yeah, we have a variety of sodas. Do you guys want me to bring up snacks, too?" Ariel found out what people wanted to eat and drink, and Maria volunteered to help her. Ariel thought that it was great that she and David weren't the only ones who liked tabasco sauce on pretty much everything, especially sweet things. Isabel and Tess had also asked her to bring up a bottle of the spicy sauce. Ariel and Maria went downstairs to fix the sodas, chips, and popcorn.
Meanwhile, Liz, Tess, and Isabel were busy upstairs deciding on a place to put the camera. Ariel had a little bowl of potpourri that offered a perfectly concealed place. Over the cellphone, Liz checked with Alex to make sure that Ariel's room was visible once the camera was in place and had been turned on. Alex checked his monitor, and confirmed the camera was operational and showed the room clearly. Liz hung up with Alex and called Maria's cell phone to let her know that it was safe to come back upstairs.
Down in the kitchen, the popcorn was almost ready, and all the sodas had been poured. Maria's cell phone rang, and she answered it. "Ok, babe. Will do," she told the caller before hanging up. As she and Ariel gathered everything together onto trays, Maria explained to Ariel that Liz had asked for some salt to be brought upstairs.
"Ok," Ariel nodded and retrieved a salt shaker, placing it onto the tray. She did a mental check of what they needed: salt, tabasco sauce, popcorn, chips, sodas, napkins, bowls, and sugar for the sodas. It was all there, so Ariel and Maria carried the trays upstairs.
While Max, Michael, Alex, and Kyle watched on the monitor, the five girls watched a movie and had their snacks. They seemed to be having a good time, and everything seemed safe and normal. For now.