Chapter Thirty – Two – Antarian Eraser Room

Ava gave a small scream when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. "What are you doing here?" a heavy voice inquired, harshly. She turned, trying to smother scream.

"I, I – Oh, Alex, it's you. You big jerk, you scared me," she said. She hugged him tightly.

"This is like no man's land for you," said Alex. "Why are you up here, is anything wrong?"

"No, actually, everything is good for a change," said Ava. She filled Alex in on the meeting place, and gave him a copy of the note, explaining how to find it. "And listen Alex, I need a favor from you." She pulled him down and whispered something in his ear, and Alex exploded with laughter.

"You are so evil, Ava," laughed Alex. "I'll take care of everything."

"Great, I'll see you tonight," said Ava, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. "I have to run. I'm supposed to be in class. See you tonight."

Alex watched as the petite girl ran down the hall, then he turned on his heel and made his way back to his room to complete his given assignment.

Liz slipped into the dining hall just as the evening meal was beginning. She popped one of the pills she created, and sat to eat her meal. She had barely taken one bite before she heard a call to attention.

"Attention, attention, may I have your attention, please," came a voice from the dining hall. "Congratulations to all of you. You have successfully completed your first two weeks at the Training Academy. As you enter the next phase of your training, you will find that things will 'relax' a bit. As you may, or may not know, the first two weeks are a training period for new students. As you have all successfully passed this training period, the administration would like to announce that you may now have the hours after the dinner hour free for recreation, or study. Enjoy your time, and use it wisely."

Cheers filled the dining area as the students celebrated this bit of news. Liz looked over to where Max and Zan sat, and smiled. This would make their meeting a little easier. When the dinner hour ended, she joined the throng of students exiting the dining area. She followed the crowd for part of the time, in the direction of the common study area, but when the majority of the students turned left, she ducked down a side corridor on her left. She looked around to make sure nobody was observing her, and went down the two flights of stairs, and located to door to their meeting area. A sign over the door, written in English caused her to burst into laughter.

Liz opened the door, and slipped inside to find Che'koth, and Alex waiting for her.

"Your idea?" she asked Alex.

"No, I simply executed the plan. Ava is the master mind behind it," explained Alex. "I bumped into her when she was slipping a note under Michael's door. I scared the shit out of her, so I figured I owed her this."

"What are you two talking about?" Che'koth asked, like an indulgent father.

"Nothing much," said Alex. I just put up a little sign for Maria, but relax, I'm going to take it down, after she sees it. No sense in drawing too much attention to our meeting down here."

"You are a very wise person, Alex," said Che'koth. "You are right, there is a time for levity, but there is also a time for discretion." Che'koth paused when the door opened, and Ava, Michael and Max walked in. Max and Michael were smiling, and Ava looked extremely proud of herself.

Kyle and Zan walked in next, with Kyle explaining the significance of the eraser room in their lives. "Cool sign," he said. "Who thought of it?"

"Talk to your wife, Valenti," said Alex, "It was all her idea."

"And just who are we supposed to be amusing with said sign?" asked Kyle.

"Maria," said Ava. "She was complaining about it the other day."

"Aw, isn't that nice," said Max. "She misses you, Michael."

"Shut up, Maxwell," said Michael, his face suffused with color. He looked around the room. "Nice place. "What are those things over there?" he asked Che'koth.

"All in good time," said Che'koth. "I'd rather make my explanations one time only. He was interrupted by squeals of laughter from the other side of the door. "I assume that means Maria is here," he said.

Ava ran to open the door, and bowed low. "Welcome to the Antarian Eraser Room," she said. "Where all manner of debauchery can be found."

"You are such a twit," said Maria hugging her, while Isabel reached up and pulled the sign down.

"Nice sign, Alex," she said, tossing it to her husband.

"How'd you know?" he asked as he caught the sign.

"Well, it was either you or Kyle," said Isabel. "Neither Max or Michael have such a well developed sense of whimsy. I don't know about Zan, but I'm guessing he's right up there with Max in the chuckles department, and if it had been Kyle, he wouldn't have been able to keep it secret."

"Hey, I can keep a secret!" shouted Alex over Max and Michael's cries of character assassination.

Che'koth watched as the group teased each other back and forth for a while. He knew that after the past few weeks, they needed this time to relax and have fun. Chances are there wasn't going to be much fun in their immediate futures. When their carefree laughter died a natural death, he stepped forward to address his king.

"Majesty, I have returned from my recent journey to your planet to explain to your families what is happening. All of them," he said, now addressing the entire room, "Send you their love and support. They are saddened that you did not take them into your confidence before now, but they understand why you felt that you could not. Kyle, your father was tantamount in explaining some of the precarious situations that all of you have faced."

"Are our families in any immediate danger?" asked Kyle.

"No," said Che'koth. "I left a squad of our best soldiers down with them to protect them from any attacks. They will be safe."

"That's not enough," said Max. "We need to eliminate the Aberjani, and to do that, we have to get rid of Kivar."

"We will, Max," Liz said, her voice resolute. "After my run in with them today, I can't wait to see them all dead."

"Run it?" asked Max. "What run in?"

Liz explained what she had seen in the market area, and her encounter with both the Aberjani, and General Kobodi. Max was furious at the thought of Liz being in such a dangerous situation, but he was also proud of the way she was able to take care of herself.

"Chica, I can't believe it," said Maria. "That's it, no more secret errands for you. From now on you take one of us with you."

"Why, so it can happen to both of us?" Liz asked. "Listen, it's not important. I doubt I'm going to be running around town again, any time soon. But I have some other news that's even more important. I made a major breakthrough today on the special project I'm working on."

"The penicillin one?" asked Maria

"What penicillin experiment?" asked Kyle.

"Oh, nothing, we're inventing penicillin," Maria said, airily. "That's all."

"Not wanting to burst your bubble or anything, Maria, but penicillin has already been invented you know," Kyle said, his voice dry.

"Not here it hasn't," laughed Maria. "So we're going to invent it, and get that fat witch Jara Kobodi off our asses."

"Oh, well in that case, cool," said Kyle. "Maybe after that, you can invent Flintstone chewables or something."

"Kyle, you are such a jerk," said Liz, with a laugh. "And maybe you can invent the banana split or something? Do you all want to hear the rest of my news, or not?"

"Sorry, Chica, go ahead," said Maria.

"It's the other project that I'm working on, the one for the Aberjani. I found some chemical compounds that will focus in strictly on one person's blood. I've only tested it on myself, but it was great. It eradicated all my blood cells on contact," Liz said, her voice excited. She looked at her friends, her eyes shining with discovery.

"Liz," said Isabel. "I don't want to rain on your scientific parade or anything, but how is this a good thing? You're giving them a weapon to destroy us."

"No she's not," said Zan, unexpectedly. "She can use their blood as a trigger."

"Right," said Max, picking up Zan's train of thought. "Or, given enough time, she can figure out a way to mask our blood so that the chemical compound doesn't recognize it."

"That's brilliant, Liz," said Alex. "And now it's time for my news. I've been assigned to the team that's building the guidance system for the Aberjani's new weapon. And I got a good look at those things they use to travel back and forth to Earth."

"How close a look?" Michael asked. "Could you re-create one?"

"Um, I don't have too," Alex answered. He reached into his pouch and pulled out a belt similar to the belt worn by Glenarra, the Aberjani that Zan had killed in the Granolith chamber.

"Hey, I've seen that, before," said Kyle. "That Aberjani chick was wearing one when she attacked us. But now that I think about it, she wasn't wearing it when we arrived here."

"That's because they're programmed to self destruct if the person wearing it dies," said Alex. "This one hasn't been coded to an Aberjani yet. I, uh, I also managed to get these." He pulled a folded packet of papers out of the pouch and passed them to Che'koth. "They're the plans to build these suckers," he said. "Maybe our side can use them to their advantage or something."

"These are not the originals are they?" Che'koth asked, sharply.

"No," Alex said in his d'uh voice. "I'm not that stupid. I made a copy."

"I did not mean to imply that you were less than intelligent, Alex" said Che'koth. "I just do not want you to put yourself in greater danger, that is all."

"Okay," said Michael, in an uncharacteristic attempt to defuse an awkward situation. "We have Liz's revelations, an the stuff that Alex brought. Is there anything else? Because I for one, am dying to find out what's in those boxes over there. Weapons or something for us to use?"

"No, nothing like that, I'm afraid," said Che'koth. He turned to hide his grin as he went to remove the covers from the boxes. "Just some things your parents sent up to you."

"Oh my God," cried Maria, rushing over. "Peanut butter! Chicken noodle soup, saltines. Food, real food!"

"Candy, chips, popcorn!" Liz took over the cry. "And tonic!" She grabbed a can of Pepsi and opened it and took a drink.

"Thank you Buddha," said Kyle, reaching for a Hershey bar. "And thank you Dad," he added when he saw his favorite canned chili in the pile."

"How are our parents, really, Che'koth?" asked Max. "How are they dealing with everything?"

"Far better than you ever would have expected," said Che'koth. "They are not pleased at the thought of you fighting a war on another planet. But they understand that if you don't, your lives will never be your own. They were full of advice, most of which they wrote down for you. I must say, Maria, your mother was quite disturbed at first at the thought of you fighting a war, but even she came around."

"Yeah, my mom was the original protest girl. Make love, not war, and all that," said Maria. "She was all about standing up for your rights," her voice trailed off.

"Maria, what's the matter?" asked Ava. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maria answered. "But I have an idea. It ties in with what happened in the market today. Listen up everybody, you're going to love this."