A Fox In The Night
Chapter 37
XXXVII
Judge Lewis looked up when the door of his office opened and two people let themselves in without knocking. His first thought was that Culpepper had returned, but he knew that that wasn't going to happen. He had heard what had happened to Culpepper, and he knew that Culpepper would not be coming back. And without Culpepper, the two agents who were always with him would likely not be returning either.
The two who had just walked in were either some new kind of aliens or the ugliest women Judge Lewis had ever seen. Either way, not what he would have wanted to look at at 8:30 in the morning, before he had even had his coffee. Their dresses didn't fit well, their hats… hats? Hats like these hadn't been in style since the turn of the century, but he guessed that with wigs like these two were wearing the hats were probably preferable. He couldn't imagine why the big lady in front had one breast hanging at least ten inches lower than the other one.
"What can I do for you ladies? You really should knock before just coming in…"
The two "ladies" raised their improvised veils and Judge Lewis got a look at their faces, badly applied lipstick, and… five o'clock stubble? My God, these women are ugly he thought to himself right before recognition hit him…
"General Hawkins? General Hawthorne? What… what are you doing here? The whole Army is looking for you two! If they catch you, you'll both be in the brig waiting for a court martial before the hour's out."
"Your concern is touching, Judge," Hawkins said with a touch of sarcasm. "It's wonderful to know you have our interests at heart."
"I didn't say that," Judge Lewis replied truthfully, knowing that they knew it anyway. "I'm just surprised that you two would be careless enough to appear… so publicly like this."
"We didn't make any guest appearance announcements," Hawthorne said. "This is sort of… let's say, an impromptu appearance… off the record… you know what I mean? If I were you, Judge, I'd be more concerned about what's going to happen to YOU."
Judge Lewis swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm a free man, General. They've got nothing on me."
"Oh, they've got plenty on you, Judge. They just don't have what they need to prosecute you yet. Not like… say… what we could give them."
Judge Lewis turned vaguely pale. "Listen, I spent two weeks in the hospital already. I've been punished enough for anything I might have done."
General Hawkins grinned. "That opinion might be open to some debate. And we heard about your little cat and dogfight with Amy DeLuca… or is she Valenti now? No matter. She tied you up pretty good, I heard."
Hawthorne snickered.
Judge Lewis looked at Hawkins sullenly. "Yeah… so what? I wasn't at my best. I was… under the weather that day."
"I heard you were under Amy," Hawthorne said, "and your screams weren't screams of passion… though by some accounts they may have sounded a bit, uh… what was the word they used… Oh yeah… effeminate."
Judge Lewis' face darkened. "You've obviously never had the hair ripped out of your armpits or had your feet pulled up behind your back and stuck under your belt then been hogtied like that with your shoelaces for hours."
"I heard she tied something in a knot," Hawkins said, "but it wasn't your shoelaces."
Judge Lewis gave Hawkins a puzzled look, clearly at a loss as to what he meant. "I don't know what you're talking about, General. She tied my feet to my belt with my shoelaces. They had to cut them off in the hospital."
"Your shoelaces?"
Judge Lewis nodded. "Don't look so disappointed, General. What did you think they cut off… my feet?"
"I told you it wasn't possible," General Hawthorne said, turning to General Hawkins.
"Well… I know anyone else couldn't have done it," Hawkins replied defensively, "but to that woman, 'can't' is merely a challenge. I don't think she even knows the word is in the dictionary. I wouldn't consider anything to be beyond her ability… if she was mad enough."
General Hawthorne nodded. "Hum… you're probably right, Hawkins. I could've used a few thousand like her in the army."
Hawkins smiled, noticing Judge Lewis' involuntary reaction. "Was that a shudder I just saw, Judge?"
"What is it you guys want from me," Judge Lewis asked with a scowl. "I'm trying to keep a low profile. I don't want anything to do with you two right now. Do you know what it's like to walk into a restaurant or other public place and have everyone else get up and leave… or boo you? I was just walking to my office yesterday, minding my own business, and a little kid walked up to me and smiled then kicked me in the shin. All that damned television coverage and that woman who's a friend of the aliens' have turned me into a walking pariah. I may never be able to practice law in this town again… at least as a judge. I'm on censure right now."
"What does that mean?" Hawkins asked.
"I can't hear any cases… until they remove the censure. I'm restricted to office work only. I can't even pass any judgments on cases I was following before this all happened."
"Well, that's just because Hawkins and I aren't there to pull strings for you. Or Culpepper… but he won't be coming back, I guess. If you want your old authority and power back you have to play ball with us, Judge… scratch our backs, too, as they say… help us get back into the army's graces… protect our image… give us the alibis we need. You never were anything without us anyway. You know that. We made you what you were… We protected you… We gave you the real power."
Judge Lewis knew that what Hawthorne had said was largely true, but he wasn't thrilled about becoming involved in more of what had already brought him so much trouble… and possibly having to face Amy's wrath again.
"At least I'm sitting here in my office, General… and everyone knows where I am. You two are hiding out somewhere and, obviously, uh…" Judge Lewis glanced over their clothes and faces again, then smirked… "running around in disguise. Frankly, I don't see what you can do for me at all, gentlemen… and I use that term very questionably under the circumstances. You still haven't told me what it is you want from me.
"Didn't we?" Hawthorne asked with a definite dramatic flair. "I'm sorry, Judge. Hawkins, tell him what we want."
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Miles away from Judge Lewis' office, much later in the day, a group of friends who were in happier spirits walked along the road leading from the Mesaliko Reservation. It was after 7:30 PM, and the sun would soon be setting. They had been at Gray Hawk's since early morning. Now they had to return to the transporter point and to the New Granolith, the place they had all called their temporary home in recent days, some for longer than others.
Max chased Liz, reveling in the miraculous wonder of her recent "cure," and Liz ran, giggling, along the road in front of him. Michael and Maria alternately flirted and ran from each other. Alex and Isabel walked hand in hand, smiling dreamily. Kyle and Angie Lee occasionally came up for air long enough to see that they were still walking the right way.
This was a giddy time… a time the likes of which none of them had been able to enjoy for longer than any of them could remember. Lighthearted gaiety had given way to dark seriousness –life and death seriousness- on one fateful night almost a year before. Nothing had been the same since that night… graduation night. True, the group had managed to keep a cautious sense of humor and spirit, which had helped them through the darkest times… helped them to survive. It was in their beings, a part of them that could not be denied. But until today, nothing like this had happened. The dance at Gray Hawk's house was more than just a dance. It was a beginning. It was a huge infusion of life… and of all the good, all the happiness, all the joy of living that life had to offer.
Watching Kyle and Angie Lee walking with their eyes closed and lips locked together for longer than he thought was advisable, Rahn gave in to the urge to offer his help.
"Kyle, would you like me to guide you," Rahn asked seriously. "I am afraid that you or Angie Lee will walk off of the road and fall into a ditch or something."
"If they do, they won't notice," Alex quipped, astutely judging the young couple's mounting feelings for each other. "We could just leave them there and come back and get them tomorrow, and they wouldn't know the difference. I don't think the world they're in right now has roads, Rahn."
Jim smiled and shook his head, and Amy grinned and put her arm around Jim's waist.
"You keep walking on that side of them Rahn," Jim said, motioning with one hand. "Amy and I'll be here on this side. If they start to walk the wrong way one of us can turn them back around and aim them the right way again."
Rahn nodded. Isabel snickered, and Alex grinned, trying hard, but unsuccessfully, to stifle a laugh of his own. Then he kissed Isabel. As their lips parted after several long moments, Alex smiled at her…
"Well, who says our world has to have roads? Kyle could be on to something. I can't let him have all the fun!"
Isabel smiled.
Max guided them into a nearby field where the transporter had been focused, but as they neared the site, Max stopped everyone suddenly.
"Michael… who's that?"
Michael looked across the field. There was a strange man standing on the other side of the field… and he looked like he was searching for something. Was it coincidence that he was standing in that precise spot? Both of them knew it was possible, but doubt was written all over Michael's face.
"We gave the transporter code to 173 Mesalikos and a few other people," Jim said. "He could be one of them… but I don't recognize him."
"He doesn't look like a Mesaliko," Michael agreed. "Maybe he's just out here for an innocent walk in the evening air or something." Then he added cautiously, "but I doubt it. He's looking for something."
"Yeah… yeah, he is," Max agreed. As they watched, the man triggered the transporter, and suddenly he was gone… into the ship above. Max looked at Michael and Michael at him.
"I'm going to find out who he is," Michael said, as they hurried to the transporter point. "I don't like this."
"Maybe it's nothing," Isabel said. "We did give the transporter code to a lot of people."
"The Mesalikos… and a few friends… no one else," Max said gravely. "He didn't look like any of them to me."
"Yeah, I have to agree with Max," Michael said. "We have to find out who he is."
Jim nodded, also appearing concerned. Max pressed the code on the transporter in his hand, and the group disappeared into the ship together.
"Kyle!" Jim said, giving Kyle a gentle whack on the back of the head. "We're back."
Kyle separated his lips slowly from Angie Lee's then looked around. "We're back on the ship? When did that happen?"
Jim closed his eyes and shook his head.
"It's like trying to pull two magnets apart," Alex mused. "Their lips just get sucked back together whenever they look at each other." Alex closed the fingers on both his hands and let them fly together to illustrate.
"You're just jealous," Kyle said, then he looked at Angie Lee, and their lips slowly drew together again.
Alex nodded. "Yep! Magnets!"
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The next day, having never found the mysterious man or anyone who had seen him on the ship, Max and Michael from Antar and Max and Michael from earth transported down together to oversee some of the final work on the Reservation. They usually avoided being seen together, but it was almost inevitable sometimes. Jim would stay on the ship and watch for any sign of the mysterious man on the ship while they were gone… if the man was even still there.
As they walked toward the Reservation, a short walk of only about half a mile from the transporter point, a car drove up the road behind them then pulled up beside them. The man in the car gazed intently at Max and his counterpart then stopped his car.
"You two… get in."
Max looked at his double then at Michael then back at the man in the car.
"Why?"
"You are Max, aren't you… the alien, Max? Oh… I'm sorry. It's just that I need you… just for a few minutes! Please! Are you Max?"
Max from Antar nodded. His earth double looked at him as if to seek his approval, then cautiously, he nodded, too.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to give me a little more to go on than just that you need me for a few minutes," Max from Antar said.
The man appeared flustered. "I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that I don't have much time. My little boy was hit by a truck this morning riding his bike. The doctors… say he won't make it." Tears began to fall down the man's face. "He's only five years old."
Max looked at his double again, and without answering, both of them got into the car. Michael and his double jumped in with them.
"Sorry, Max," Michael said. "If you go, I'm going, too."
Max nodded. Ten minutes later, the car pulled up to the emergency entrance of Roswell General Hospital. The man got out and motioned to Max to follow. Both of them did. So did both Michaels. They walked quickly down the hall to the ICU, and the man opened the door and motioned them inside. On a bed near the window, attached to more tubes than Max cared to count, was a little boy. He was badly injured, that was clear. It broke Max's heart to look at him. Max looked at the doctor who was standing nearby, and the doctor shook his head.
"How long?" the father asked.
The doctor shrugged. "Hours… minutes. He's already gone, really, Oren. You know that. He's only being kept alive now…"
"They can help," the man insisted, indicating Max and his double. "They can save him. I saw them make bullet wounds disappear on TV when they were being chased on the Reservation."
The doctor looked at Max. It was true that the younger Max from earth had healed several Mesalikos who had been shot while they were on the run together on the Reservation, and the act had been captured by the cameras and shown on TV. But surprisingly few people had actually picked up on what had really happened in the flurry of the overall drama that was going on. Most of them just assumed that Max had checked the injured Mesalikos out then helped them to get back up.
Max from Antar walked over to the boy and put his hands over the boy's body then grimaced. He could feel the pain of the child's injuries as he took the healing of his wounds onto himself. Max looked at his counterpart, and the younger Max placed his hands over the boy, too. Their hands began to glow. Slowly, they moved their hands from one part of the child's body to another… then another… then yet another… repairing broken bones, a torn spleen, a ripped and punctured lung, a badly bruised kidney, a fractured skull…
As they finished and the glow of their hands began to ebb, the boy coughed. Then he opened his eyes. Startled to find himself hooked up to every imaginable kind of tube, the child struggled to sit up and pull the tubes out. At first, the shocked doctor and several nearby nurses attempted to prevent him from pulling them out, but as the reality of what had just happened came over him, the doctor helped the boy to remove them. As the last tube came out, the child jumped into his father's arms, leaving the doctor and nurses speechless.
Tears streamed down the man's face, as he kissed his son then looked back and forth at both Maxes. "How can I ever thank you? How can I ever thank you enough?"
"You just did," Max from Antar said, as his counterpart from earth nodded. Both Maxes were tired, but they felt good. They had healed a child who, only moments before, had been at the edge of death. It felt good. Seeing the father's face made it even better.
"Gentlemen," the doctor said cautiously to Max and his double, "I… I need your help. Please."
Max from Antar looked at his double, and they both had a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Healing the little boy had been draining, but at the same time, the satisfaction it had brought them had given them strength to go on. That strength wasn't inexhaustible, though. If what they feared the doctor was going to ask them to do… if he wanted them to heal more people… maybe even everyone in the hospital… they wouldn't be able to do it. They could literally kill themselves with exhaustion and still never heal everyone. And what would people think if they couldn't heal them after they had healed others, Max wondered. Would they understand? Would they just let them go? Max looked at Michael, and for once, Michael seemed to be at a loss for a response. Michael was asking himself all the same questions. There were people here who needed them. They couldn't be blamed for wanting Max's help… especially people who were dying or critically ill or whose child, husband, wife, mother, or father was dying or critically ill. Max was a healer. No… they weren't going to understand that he was not a superman… that he was also mortal and exhaustible… especially if he healed others then not them. Max was sure of it.
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As the call to dinner sounded on the New Granolith, Liz found Max… and his younger double… stumbling toward their rooms.
"Aren't you guys headed the wrong way?" Dinner's about to be served."
Max from Antar shook his head. "You go ahead, Liz. I'm too tired. I'm just going to get some sleep if you don't mind."
The younger Max mumbled a weak, "Me, too," then walked into his room and closed the door. Max from Antar walked on to his own room then opened the door and went in, throwing himself headlong onto the bed. Actually, "falling" headlong onto the bed might have been a more accurate description. Liz, who had come in behind him, closed the door and sat down beside him, running her hand gently over Max's back, arms, and legs.
"Max… what in the world did you do? I don't remember ever seeing you like this. You're totally exhausted."
"We healed a little boy who had been run over by a truck on his bicycle," Max managed weakly.
Liz gasped slightly and then smiled. "That's wonderful! But you've healed people before, Max. It's never tired you out this much."
"The boy's doctor had a few more people he wanted us to heal," Max said weakly.
"More… How many more?"
"I don't know. We lost count. Each time we healed another one the nurses or the doctor were bringing two more in for us to heal. I think they wanted us to heal everyone in the hospital."
"Can you do that? I mean… is that possible for you… physically?"
"No. Too many people. It takes too much out of me… out of us. We had to try, though. We promised to go back and heal the others tomorrow."
Liz looked concerned. "And what then, Max? I mean… it's wonderful that you can heal all those people, but even both of you together could never even begin to heal all the people who need help in the world… and you would never have time for anything else if you tried. I'm… I'm just afraid that once you've started doing this and word gets around… you're life… and Max's life here… will become… well… captive. Everyone will expect you to do nothing but heal people twenty-four hours a day."
"I'm sure they'd let us have weekends off," Max mumbled, only a bit jokingly.
"People die on weekends, Max… Death and illness take no holidays."
"You sound like Michael."
Liz closed her eyes and rubbed Max's back again. "Then Michael is right, Max. You have to stop this… before it goes too far. Oh, God! Listen to me! I sound so horrible, don't I… so cold… and heartless?"
Max rolled over and looked at Liz then wiped a teardrop off her cheek.
"You're not cold or heartless, Liz. You're the most caring person I've ever known. You're just concerned. And you have a right to be. I am, too. I just don't know what to do about it. We kept our identities so carefully guarded and secret when we were growing up on earth in our dimension… this problem never really came up. I mean… I healed you… and Jim… and Kyle before we left earth, but the whole world wasn't clamoring for our help there. No one else knew. It's so different here in this dimension. Now that the world knows who we are… who they are… our doubles here will never be able to live private lives again. WE can always go back to Antar in our dimension when this is over… but what about them… our doubles? And what do we do now… when everyone wants to be healed and we know that if we don't heal them… many of them will die? I understand now why Michael was so upset every time we used any of our powers on earth when we were growing up… and when I healed you after you were shot."
Liz nodded, understanding Max's dilemma. "Would you do it differently now if you could do it over, Max?"
"What? Healing you? Of course not, Liz! I still would. It was… It was you."
"No… would you tell the doctor… and that father… that you couldn't help his little boy… or the others… if you could do it over again?"
Max thought about it then shook his head slowly.
Liz smiled and nodded knowingly. "You did what had to be done, Max. Don't beat yourself up over it now trying to second-guess your heart. What you will have to do now is find a way to live with what's been done."
"Our doubles," Max clarified. "Our doubles will have to live with it. I wonder if they can."
"Then you have to come up with alternatives for them, Max… in case they can't."
Max nodded then kissed Liz. "What would I do without you, Liz?" Then his head slumped onto the bed and he was asleep. Liz gently covered him up and stood there looking at him for several long moments. Then she smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and left the room, turning out the light and closing and locking the door behind her with a wave of her hand over a sensor pad beside the door.
Sixty feet down the hall, she knocked on the door to Michael's room to see if he was there.
"It's unlocked. Come in."
Liz opened the door.
"Oh, Liz! Come in!"
"Michael! Were you with Max when he healed the little boy and all the others today?"
Michael nodded. "I should have seen it coming, Liz. I let my guard down. I'm sorry."
"I'm not here to blame anyone, Michael. You couldn't have done anything else. At least, you couldn't have lived with yourself if you had."
"I would have stopped Max before, Liz… when we were younger. I didn't think about, you know, what would happen to others so much then. I just knew what had to be done… to protect us… to protect Max. I've lost that edge. I may have lost my usefulness as a general… as a soldier… and your protector."
"You haven't lost anything, Michael. You've gained something."
"What? A heart?" Michael asked, predicting Liz's response. "I'm not sure it's a good thing for me to have, Liz… maybe for any of us to have. How can I have a friggin' bleeding heart and protect us from people who don't understand us at all… people who consider us as just aliens?"
Liz smiled… "Like Kiraugo?"
Michael flushed then looked at the wall. Liz knew the reaction she would get when she mentioned the name of the little Dragon child from Drago. Michael and the others had saved the Dragon children… and many other alien children… even though the Dragons were their enemies; and Kiraugo had leapt into Michael's arms and hugged and kissed him. In fact, the Dragons became their allies, and every time Kiraugo saw Michael after that, he leapt into his arms again, much to Michael's dismay. But he couldn't deny to himself that he loved that little Dragon child.
"You let your heart guide you when you saved those children, Michael… children of our mortal enemies. And because of that, they're our allies and friends now… and their society has even changed in a lot of ways. Antar has over two hundred new ally planets because you saved their children… because you had a heart. It isn't HAVING a heart that's the problem, Michael. It's NOT HAVING ONE that's the problem… the fact that not everyone has one… that's the problem."
"Well, yeah, I know that, Liz, but how can you blame someone who may have a day or two left to live for wanting Max to heal them? They don't think about the effects on him… even when he's dropping over from exhaustion. A lot of people lose sight of their reason when they're under stress. It doesn't mean they don't have a heart. They just can't find a place for it in the little time they have left to… you know… find a miracle or something."
"And you understand that, Michael. That's an enormous advantage to everyone. We have to find a way to control the situation now somehow. We can't beat ourselves up for not doing anything differently in the past. It couldn't be helped. The future can be controlled, though. That's where we all need you the most, Michael… to find a way to protect our futures, not to fret about perceived past mistakes that couldn't be helped anyway. We all count on you to guarantee our futures… not our pasts."
"Thanks, Liz. But how can I guarantee our futures if I couldn't even protect our pasts?"
"You have already, Michael, and against all the odds. We all know that. So do you… somewhere deep inside you. Give yourself a little credit."
Michael was silent for several moments, then he looked at Liz. "Let's do some planning."
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In the darkness, Max slept. He was dead tired. Everything was silent except for the soft, rhythmic sound of Max's breathing, but it's doubtful even the blaring of an air horn over his head would have stirred him much, so it wasn't odd at all that he didn't hear the sound of the hand that somehow unlocked his door… or the feather-quiet steps that walked across the floor of his room to his bedside. The man looked at Max for a moment then reached down with one strong hand and pressed on a soft spot right behind Max's temple and on a nerve behind his ear simultaneously. Seconds later, he released Max and quickly left the room, closing the door back behind him. In the room, all was now quiet.
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