Alarm
Chapter 38
XXXVIII
Even though there was no official edict on the New Granolith that dinner had to wait on Liz or on Max, the fact is, everyone would wait if they were late. It had happened before even though Max had asked them not to do it. Liz knew that if she didn't put in an appearance there would be a lot of hungry people sitting around the table. So she made her appearance, made excuses for Max, and grabbed a quick obligatory bite before excusing herself from the table and hurrying back to Max.
Walking down the hall, Liz met her younger double coming the other way.
"How's Max doing… uh, your Max, I mean… Is he still sleeping, too?"
The younger Liz shook her head. "Apparently not. I thought he'd sleep all night… the two of them were so exhausted… but when I went to his room a little while ago he had gone somewhere. I would've thought he'd have told me where he was going."
Liz from Antar shook her head and smiled. "Well, your Max is still a teenager. He probably recuperated faster than my Max. Of course, Max wouldn't like it if he heard me say that. He's so proud of his physique. He rolls out of bed in the morning as soon as the alarm goes off and starts doing push-ups before he even gets dressed. I have to have a cup of coffee before I can just open my eyes all the way."
The younger Liz laughed. "I doubt that… I've seen you in the morning. You look pretty good. Besides, you two aren't really much older than us."
"We've got children who are almost teenagers… before long… well, in a few years… some of them."
The younger Liz smiled. "I wish I could meet them… again. They're kind of my children, too, in a way… I mean you being me and all. It's weird knowing that somewhere, even if it is in another dimension and all, I've got children… four of them!"
"Five," Liz corrected, grinning.
"Oh, that's right! Jeffy! I saw them, you know, in my visions before you came to earth… I mean before you came to our dimension… or whatever. Omigod, I think that's just so incredible!"
"You met them, too… remember?"
Liz from Antar reminded her younger double. "…When you and Alex popped in on us
on Antar."
"Yeah, I know… That's why I said I wish I could meet them 'again.' I didn't
really get to spend much time with them… except Jayyd. She was such a darling!
I wish I had her here! You know, all that almost seems like it was a dream now.
I mean… I know it happened, but it just seems so unreal. Sometimes I have to go
back and reread things in my diary just to convince myself that they really
happened and weren't just… you know… a dream."
Liz of Antar laughed. "I know. I do the same thing… about a lot of things. You wouldn't believe all the things I've seen since I went to Antar. It is a bit unbelievable… even for me! I go back and reread it in my diary and it's like, wow! Did that really happen to me?"
The younger Liz nodded vigorously. "That's me! That's how I feel exactly!"
"Let's check on my Max," the older Liz said. "Maybe he'll know where your Max went."
The younger Liz followed her Antarian double to her room. "Let me peek in on him first," the Antarian Liz said, passing her hand over the scanner by the door. The door opened, and a moment later, she motioned for the younger Liz to come in.
"He's gone, too. Maybe the two of them went somewhere together."
The younger Liz stared at the bed. "Did your Max drop into bed with his shoes still on, too?"
"Yeah, he did. He was pretty tired. I took them off of him after he was in bed."
"They must have both been walking somewhere very dusty," the younger Liz said. "I found a lot of dust on my Max's bed, too… when I went back to his room to see if he was sleeping."
Liz of Antar looked at the dust on the sheet. Somehow, she had missed it. The sheet must have been covering it up. She had pulled the sheet down while looking at her younger double. Liz's heart stopped momentarily, and she forgot to breathe for several seconds.
"Are you all right? Liz?" The younger Liz asked, concerned."
The Antarian Liz shook her head. "No… I… I don't know. Do you know what happens to Antarians when they… when they…"
"Die?" the younger Liz offered cautiously, saying the word that her double didn't seem to want to say.
The Antarian Liz nodded.
"I've seen it happen… to a couple of skins," the younger Liz said. "I know it happens to Antarians… even Max… if he were to… you know…"
"I'm concerned," Liz of Antar said. It was a gross understatement. The younger Liz knew this intuitively, and she knew what was concerning her Antarian double. She turned pale, too…
"Omigod… if something happened to Max… I should have… Why didn't I think about that?"
"You haven't had much experience with that aspect of Antarian physiology," the Antarian Liz said. "You wouldn't know."
"But I should have known," the younger Liz insisted. "It's just that Max… my Max… had dust in his shoes when I took them off of him. It fell out of his shoes. I saw it. When I went back to his room again, I found more on the bed… and I just assumed it was more of the same dust… out of his shoes."
The Antarian Liz walked quickly to the end of the bed and looked for Max's shoes. They weren't there.
"That's odd. I know I put them right there… at the end of the bed. They're gone."
"Maybe Max put them on and left… with my Max," the younger Liz said hopefully.
Liz from Antar nodded slowly, clearly not convinced, then scooped up the dust with her hands and carefully put it into a resealable baggie. "Why didn't he tell me if he was going somewhere? He was so exhausted. No… I don't think… I don't know…" She turned to her younger double. "Let's go find Michael! He's got to know."
The younger Liz swallowed hard then followed her Antarian double, who left at almost a running pace without even closing the door of her room back. Arriving at Michael's room, Liz of Antar knocked loudly on the door. When there was no immediate answer, her younger double knocked, too. The door opened.
"Maria!" both Liz's said at once. Then the older Liz took over the conversation. "Maria, is Michael around?"
Maria nodded, smiling curiously.
"Can we see him?" the younger Liz asked. "It's important."
"He went down to the lower deck with his double. They got a mysterious call… someone said they would be needed there. I don't know what it's about. The caller wouldn't say."
"Who was the caller?" the younger Liz asked, becoming more alarmed by the moment.
Maria shrugged. "The caller wouldn't say who he was. Michael didn't recognize the voice. He thought it might have something to do with the strange man that we saw in the field yesterday. Michael didn't want to worry Max with it… He knew how tired he was. So he went by himself… well… with his younger double."
"Our Michael?" the younger Liz gasped, just realizing that her friend's boyfriend might be in danger, too.
"They're the only two Michaels here that I know of," Maria said, still curious about where this was all going. "And frankly, as much as I love him, Liz, it's confusing enough having two of him around. I mean… not that I'm complaining, mind you. I can think of a lot of worse things than having two Michaels around…"
For just a moment, Maria thought she saw something in the younger Liz's eyes. Was it jealousy? Couldn't be. Liz had Max… she wasn't interested in Michael. Then Maria smiled. Of course! Liz was being instinctively protective of her friend, Maria… the younger Maria… her double. She probably didn't even realize it. Maria from Antar found this amusing. She had to admit to herself that this doubles thing was confusing, but in the end, Maria had her Michael and her double had hers. Neither one really wanted to mix it up, but the idea of two Michaels was still enough to make either Maria smile.
"Come on," Maria said. "Let's go look for them. Michael said he was going to the lower deck… where the cargo is kept."
Liz nodded, then all three headed toward the central ascension chamber. As they arrived, they met the younger Maria, who appeared to have just come up in the chamber…
"We really have to stop meeting like this, Liz… all of us together! I feel like I'm in a house of mirrors and need to find my way out."
Liz smiled, too, but Maria could tell that it was a smile ridden with worry.
"What's wrong, Liz?"
"We're not sure anything's wrong," the younger Liz replied to her friend. "We're just concerned because of… of… circumstances that… concern us."
Maria grinned, shaking her head. "That was really clear, Liz! Okay, spill it! What's got you so upset?"
"Michael," the younger Liz replied. "Her Michael." She indicated the Maria from Antar. "He went down to the lower deck because of some mysterious call… and he may have taken the other Michael… your Michael… with him."
"And there's something else," Liz from Antar added to what her younger double had said… "Both of our Maxes have disappeared… and on their beds… we found… dust."
The younger Maria looked at both Lizzes and at her own double for a moment, then it registered with her what this might possibly mean. She turned pale for a moment, but then she shook her head.
"No. No, I don't think anything happened to them, Liz. My Michael got a call from someone saying he was needed in the cargo area. Your Michael showed up at Michael's door right after he hung up, and they went together. I was there with him when they left. Your Michael said he got a call, too. They asked me to let Jim Valenti… uh, my Dad, know, and I was just coming back from telling him about the calls. I think if something had happened to Max, Michael would have found out about it. Besides, wouldn't you have… you know… felt something, Liz?"
The younger Liz looked at her Antarian double, and they both nodded, realizing that Maria was probably right. Every other time that she could remember when Max had been in danger, Liz had felt it. It was more than a sixth sense. It was palpable. She felt it in every fiber of her body. If something drastic had happened to Max, she would have felt it… or… it had happened too fast for him to register any fear… any sense of danger… any reaction at all that she could pick up on. This was possible… but not likely. This was a good thing, really. But it did not put Liz's mind completely at ease. Things do happen… unexpectedly… fast.
The ascension chamber opened, and both Lizzes and both Marias stepped in. Liz from Antar passed her hand over one of the sensors, and the chamber started down. After several seconds, it arrived at the lower deck, and the door reopened. The four stepped out together and looked around.
"Where do you think they would have gone," the younger Maria asked. There were many storerooms and doors around the periphery of the cargo bay. Some of the rooms were quite large. One of them held a small submarine that Michael had named the "Maria Mia" during their first trip on the New Granolith, years before, when they had returned to earth to rescue Liz and Maria. That room could be sealed and flooded if they were underwater, and the "Maria Mia" could be piloted out of the New Granolith through a large underwater hatch. It was just one of Varec's amazing inventions and innovations. There were many of these on the New Granolith. It was truly an amazing machine.
Liz shook her head. "Maybe if we start over there with the first room and just check every room in turn…"
The younger Liz grimaced, realizing how much time this would take, but she nodded.
"Or… we could try that room down at the end," Maria said.
Everyone looked at the younger Maria. Maria shrugged. "Well, I saw the door close a moment ago. It was cracked before. Someone had to close it."
Without answering, all four headed toward the door Maria had seen close. As they drew nearer to the door, they saw something on the floor. Maria of Antar leaned over and scooped some of it up in her hands. It was dust. She looked at Liz of Antar. Both of them knew that this was not a good sign. The automated cleaning droids passed over every inch of the floors in the New Granolith at least every two hours. Dust literally didn't have time to settle in the New Granolith. This was a fairly sizeable amount of dust… and it was very recent.
Liz of Antar opened the door to the room, and the four friends stepped inside cautiously. It was a very large room, divided into numerous subsections or smaller rooms. It would be a dandy place to commit a murder that one didn't want to have discovered any time soon. Liz swallowed and looked at her younger double, and they both looked at the two Maria's. A certain fear was evident in all their faces, but they kept going.
Maria pointed to a small corridor that appeared to lead deeper into the mysterious depths of the room.
"I think I saw a shadow, Liz… just for a second. I just got a fleeting glimpse of something."
The other three nodded, and they all tiptoed silently together down the corridor, following the shadowy vision that Maria had seen and holding onto each other without realizing it. They came to a dead end. From there, the corridor went both left and right. The one to the right went to a door only thirty feet or so away, so they decided to check it out before going off down the other corridor to who knows where.
Opening the door cautiously, the four were confronted suddenly with bright lights and a long, drawn-out ratcheting sound. As they struggled to adjust their eyes to the sudden brightness of the lights, they heard other noises in the room around them… something small being thrown onto a table… and people… lots of them from the sound of it… and something that sounded like coins falling… lots of coins.
If Maria hadn't been absolutely positive it was TOTALLY AND UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE, she would have sworn she was in a…
"RED! I WON!!!!!"
The sound assaulted Maria's ears like fingernails being raked down a blackboard, as the chinking sound of falling coins competed to be heard from another corner of the room over the surrounding cacophony.
"Welcome to the Mesaliko Sky Casino," a chipper voice said, as a man walked up to the four girls. He was not a Mesaliko and was obviously totally unaware of who any of the four girls were. "What's your game?"
Maria looked at the stranger, her mouth open but nothing coming out. She looked at Liz… then at their doubles. Their mouths were also hanging open with no sound at all coming out.
"If I find Michael in here," the younger Maria said, "I'll turn him into dust myself."
"Can we… can we… uh… look around and see what we want to do first," Liz from Antar asked innocently, flashing the dapper-looking man a smile, albeit one dripping with hidden venom.
The man shrugged. "Of course. As long as you got money… you can look all you want."
"Oh, I've got money," Liz said.
"Then look as much as you like," the man replied, flashing Liz a multi-megawatt smile that lacked nothing save the flash of a shiny gold tooth. Liz flayed her fingers out and then balled her hand up, denying herself the pleasure of walloping the man in the gut with an energy ball. Liz's energy balls were not deadly like Michael's or Max's, but they did get attention… the few times she had ever used them. And she was pretty sure that with the right motivation she could increase the power substantially.
Liz motioned to the others, and they followed, walking past a large roulette wheel and a poker table then past several walls lined with "one-arm bandits."
"I don't believe this," Maria said. "Tell me I'm dreaming."
"If you are, we all are," Liz said. "I see it, and I still don't believe it."
Suddenly, four strong hands reached out from between the walls and grabbed the four girls, dragging them quickly out of sight and covering their mouths so that they couldn't scream. The four struggled… but to no avail. The attackers had overpowered them and restrained them… They were unable to use their hands. Liz spun around and looked at her assailant…
"MAX?!" She almost got the word out, but Max had his hand over her mouth before she could say it.
"Shhhh… don't talk," Max said. "I'm sorry we had to get you out of there this way, but it couldn't be helped. You have to be quiet."
"What is going on here, Michael?" Maria asked in a low voice… showing amazing restraint under the circumstances.
Michael looked at Max, and Max looked at the four girls' faces… then decided to explain… as quickly as possible. But first, he took them into an unoccupied side room and closed the door.
"This isn't what it looks like."
Liz nodded. "Oh, that's classic! This isn't what it looks like! Is that all you have to say for yourselves?"
"Let me finish. This REALLY isn't what it looks like. We just found out about it today. From what we've been able to piece together so far, a few of the Mesalikos started this casino up and ran it for about a week with a small roulette wheel, a makeshift poker table, and two older slot machines. They had visitors… small-time gamblers… up here that we didn't know about, who used the Mesalikos' pass codes to get onboard. But River Dog found out and quietly put them out of business. He told them that they were disrespecting their benefactors… and their ancestors… doing this behind our backs. No one wanted to tell us about it after the fact, so they just closed it down. It was a relatively small operation anyway, and only half a dozen Mesalikos were involved. After River Dog closed the casino down, though, someone came along behind the Mesalikos and reopened it. They brought in a bigger, more professional wheel and more machines, and they glitzed up the place. And that someone… or those someones… do not appear to be Mesalikos. River Dog didn't even know the place was still open for business. When he found out, he called us and had us meet him down here. Then he told us the whole story… as much of it as he knows. We don't know who's running this little business venture now."
"The strange man we saw?" Liz asked.
"No… he probably came here to gamble," Max said. "He didn't seem to know exactly where he was going when he was in the field. He was looking all around. I really don't know for sure yet who he was, though. Michael and I are working on it."
"Max, I found dust on your bed," Liz said accusingly. "Then we found dust on the floor in front of the door leading to the casino. We thought you and Michael had been… had been…"
"Dusted?" Max asked with a wink. "I'm sorry, Liz. When you walk along a dusty desert road, you pick up a lot of dust in your shoes… and on your pants legs… I should have cleaned it up."
"Yes, you should have! Do you know what you put me through?"
"Put US through," Maria clarified, so that Michael would know, too.
Michael looked down sheepishly. "Well, the dust on the floor could have come off of my shoes… or it could have come off of anyone's shoes who was walking down the road near the reservation before coming onboard. It only means that someone was walking on a dusty road… or in the desert… before coming here… like Max and I were when we returned from healing the people at the hospital."
Liz took the baggie of dust out of the inside of her waistband and stared at it. "Desert dust, huh? I was going to have Varec analyze it." She pulled Max's belt out and dropped the baggie into his pants unceremoniously. Max winced then looked vaguely embarrassed, as he shook his leg…
"If that doesn't fall out, you know how I'm going to look trying to get it?"
Liz smiled. "Uh huh."
As fate would have it, at that moment the door opened, and everyone turned quickly to see who had just come in. It was River Dog. He closed the door back behind him quietly.
"How did you know where to find us," Michael asked.
River Dog grinned. "It is not difficult to follow you four… for a Mesaliko. You really should be more careful if you wish not to be found."
Max shook his leg again, but the baggie remained lodged. He smiled. "Have you found out anything new since we left you a little while ago, River Dog?"
River Dog nodded. "The individuals involved in this can be dangerous. That is the word from my people. My people are watching… quietly… secretly. They will let me know anything that they find out, and I will let you know."
"Maybe we should just put an end to this right now… right here," Michael suggested. "This is our ship. We have the advantage. We can take them. Even if they have guns, they can't take us unless they get really lucky… and they won't."
Max shook his head, absent-mindedly shaking his leg again at the same time. "I know we could take them, Michael. That's not the problem. We need to know who they are and what they want here… and how they got here."
"The Mesalikos gave them the code so they could come here to gamble," Michael said with certainty. "But I agree we need to find out who they are… and how many there are. We don't want to take anyone back to Antar by accident… especially if they're mob types."
"My people may not have given them the codes," River Dog said, seeming quite sure of this in spite of his choice of wording that left some room for doubt.
"Why do you say that," the younger Maria asked.
"They knew everyone that they brought on this ship. They had dealt with them before… they had gambled with them or had drinks with them many times in the past. These people were all harmless… just local gamblers and friends… nobody important. My people believe that the ones who are running this now got the codes from one of the ones who were here before. Two of the gamblers have been missing for almost a week, and my people believe that it is not a coincidence."
"But why?" Michael asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "Why would mob types want to set up a casino here of all places? It's illogical. They can't operate it openly or advertise or anything… and they must know we might discover them. They could make some money bringing in high rollers, but I don't think it would be enough to be worth the trouble in the end. It might seem like a lot of money to an average Joe, but to people like the mob… it would be chicken feed… not worth the effort… certainly not worth the risk."
Max nodded. "I have to agree with Michael. Whatever they expect to get, it can't be enough to make it worth the effort and the danger. There has to be something that we're missing here." Max shook his leg again and wriggled sidewise a bit to try to dislodge the baggie, but it stayed put. River Dog watched but prudently said nothing.
"We need to get out of here," Liz from Antar said. "…out of this room, I mean. We need to get back to the rest of the ship and figure out what we're going to do. We're in danger of being discovered every minute that we stay here in this room."
River Dog nodded. "She is right. You should not stay here too long. It is too dangerous."
Max nodded, too, realizing that they were both right. "Okay, let's go. You girls came in together. You should probably go back out together… without us. We'll keep an eye on you and follow you out… from a distance."
The girls agreed and quietly left the room, walking nonchalantly toward the door out of the "casino." Both Maxes, both Michaels, and River Dog followed a ways behind, trying to look like they weren't together and were just checking out the gaming options available to them. As they got to the door, they glanced behind them. No one was following. Michael closed the casino door behind them, and the five guys walked quickly together through the narrow corridors to the cargo bay, where they found the girls waiting for them. Max shook his leg again and did a little wriggle.
"I think… the Mesalikos have something that will cure that," River Dog said, giving in to the urge to be helpful.
----------
Back in their room again, Liz from Antar looked at Max and breathed in deeply. "I… I was so afraid, Max… that something had happened to you. I have to hug you and kiss you." Max smiled. Liz picked up a pillow from the bed and began to whack Max with it mercilessly.
"Ow! Ow!" Max dodged and covered his head as the pillow landed blow after blow. "What is that for, Liz? I know hugs and kisses. This isn't them!"
Liz landed a few more wallops on Max then tossed the pillow back onto the bed.
"Now I can kiss you."
Liz stepped up to Max and put her arms around him tightly, kissing him passionately, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
As night fell, Michael and Max of Antar and the younger Michael and Max from earth all lay wide-awake in their beds thinking… unable to sleep. It bothered Michael and Max of Antar, especially, that some individuals were on their ship and that they had no idea who they were or what they wanted there. Max had Jim Valenti… both Jims, in fact, keeping an eye on all the comings and goings in the cargo bay now, and River Dog and his people were watching, too. But it was a plague that had to be cured… a disease that had to be excised. Michael and Max would be unable to rest until the matter was taken care of. Liz and Maria from Antar had already dozed off, leaving their husbands awake and lost in their thoughts, and the younger Liz and Maria were asleep in their own beds in their own rooms.
Around one o'clock A.M., Roswell time, Michael of Antar finally dozed off. His younger double, alone in his own room, had already dozed off. All was quiet at last. Moments later, in the darkness, a figure let himself into the room, somehow opening Michael's door even though it had been locked electronically and required a hand scan to open it. The man walked silently over to Michael's bed. He placed one hand on a spot behind Michael's temple and another spot behind his ear and pressed for several seconds. Then he did the same to Maria, who was sleeping beside Michael. Both Michael and Maria lay still and silent, as the man left, closing the door back behind him. From there, he walked silently to the door of the younger Michael's room. A wave of his hand, and the door to the younger Michael's room opened for him. The man looked both ways briefly then went inside. Moments later, he stepped back out, silently closing the door behind him then making his way to the younger Maria's room before moving on to Alex and Isabel's room then to the rooms of their younger doubles. Emerging at last from the younger Isabel's room, the man looked both ways again and quickly disappeared down the hall.
tbc