Homecoming, Part 3c: "Mind games"
Author: Chris Kenworthy
Email: Chris_Kenworthy@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Roswell characters. I don't plan to steal them and lock them up in white rooms either. I just let them out to play from time to time and see what happens.
Distribution: Distribute anywhere you like, currently based at fanatics: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/
Feedback: YES PLEASE!
Category: Alternate timeline epic. Conventional couples angst leading up to UC in later parts - you have been warned!
Rating: PG-13, for now
Summary: Alien mysteries lead to an interesting year...
Spoilers: Up to 'Ask not'
(No scene from 2001 this time. ;-) )
"Ahh... whoo!" Michael yelped, catching his balance. He had tried to step down another stair on this kooky thing, but there hadn't been a 'down' to go - or an up or whatever. He did the hand-glowy thing and confirmed it - they had reached the end of the 'down' staircase (that took them up,) and now the corridor stretched straight ahead.
"You okay there big boy?" Maria called back sassily. She was about twenty-five feet ahead of him, and if Michael had noticed that she was on the same altitude as he was, he would have known not to take that step down. "I'm just fine."
**She's been leading the way. Say what you will about fear, but Maria's been willing to go out and take the lead, even knowing that she didn't have my powers to light up the way. But that's probably just her impatient streak.**
Nevertheless, Michael hurried to catch up with Maria, letting the glow in his hand fade out as he got the hand of walking on this new level. Maria waited, letting him catch up, and then set a brisk pace. There was silence for a moment, and then Michael remarked idly "At least there isn't any 'where we thing we're going isn't where we actually go' strangeness about this corridor."
Maria looked over at him without slacking the pace. "Care to bet on that, spaceboy?"
Michael almost *did* stop in his surprise, and actually succeeded in slowing Maria down. "What do you mean??"
Maria smiled her 'just a hint of sarcasm' smile. "Well, this passageway seems to be heading... well, thataway," and she pointed ahead. "For the sake of discussion, we'll call that east. Okay?"
"Okay," Michael agreed, wondering what Maria would come up with.
"Okay, now pick out a landmark directly beneath you and track what happens to it as you walk east," Maria suggested, pointing down in demonstration. Michael had to fight a sudden siege of dizziness when he first looked down, (was Maria immune to fear of heights?) but he picked out a bushy patch of green that seemed to be almost directly underneath him. Wondering what would happen now, he stepped cautiously forward.
No immediate response. Michael stepped forward a few paces, noticing that Maria was following him as closely as she could. Wait a second... was it possible? Michael kept on walking until he was sure, then straightened up and faced Maria. "While we go east, the scenery moves south by southwest."
"You got it, failed-geography boy," Maria confirmed with a merry smile.
Ignoring the dig, Michael continued on, "And it's moving pretty quickly. I mean, we must be two miles above the ground, so I'd figure to walk a hundred and fifty feet north by northeast to get that kind of response from a landmark on the ground. Not just twenty feet east."
Maria was looking at him with something between shock and disbelief.
"Hey, I may not like teachers or school, but I'm not an idiot," Michael informed her. "The only thing that confuses me is..." Michael considered for a second. "Walk ahead of me for a bit," he suggested to Maria. "Fifteen feet or so."
Maria thought a second, then shrugged and headed off. "This better not just be so you can check out my ass, Guerin." She finished measuring off the fifteen feet and turned back around. "Well?"
Michael tried not to let his disappointment show. Nothing weird had happened yet.
Casting around for a suitable landmark, he asked "Okay, do you see the truck sittng at the side of that old dirt road?"
Maria spun around, looking. "Oh yeah, down there," she said after a moment, pointing down and to her left, Michael's right.
Now, this was weird. Based on an evaluation of the objects involved from Michael's perspective, she should be pointing the other way. Or, to express that thought the other way around. "If you see the truck at that angle, you should be way off thataway," Michael explained, throwing an arm out forward and to his right. "But I see you right in front of me. What the heck is going on here?"
Maria waved him forward, and said while waiting for him to catch up "It's *alien*, spaceboy. Don't stress over such things."
Michael wasn't ready to let it go at that. On the stairs, they stepped down and went up - relative to each other as well as the scenery. But now, in this passage, they stepped east and moved much faster north-northeast, but only in respect to the scenery, not each other. Michael could accept alien weirdness being weird, but couldn't it at least be *consistently* weird, weird in the same ways?
But he didn't bother Maria with his thoughts and for a while more they walked through the sky in silence. Suddenly Maria stopped short and grabbed Michael's arm. "Make the light."
"What?!" Michael shook his head in surprise. "What for?? We're on a stable footing here."
"I've just got a bad feeling," Maria insisted. Michael frowned. "It's been a long time since you used the light to take a look at where we were going." Michael sighed, lifted his hand, and began to concentrate on light. And then gasped in shock.
He and Maria were about nine inches away from a field of 'invisible' spikes, pointed right at them!
"Oh my god," Maria whispered, voicing pretty much what Michael was thinking himself.
Without thiking about it, he half turned to Maria and asked "You didn't expect this?"
"Well no! I half guessed we were coming up on something that might be unpleasant, like walking into a wall again or falling into a pit. But this..."
She couldn't go on any more, and broke off, shivering in belated fear. Instinctively Michael wrapped Maria in his arms to comfort her, (at the same time trying to fight down the sense of physical attraction he felt at the way Maria's body moved, even in horror.)
"It's okay..." Maria's muffled voice came after a moment. "I'm okay, Michael, you can let me go."
Three or four different responses flashed through Michael's mind, but he didn't say any of them, and quickly let Maria out of the hug. "God," Maria breathed again, looking at the spikes a little more calmly. "Can you imagine walking into those?"
"Not really wanting to," Michael quipped, carefully testing the point of one of the spikes on the tip of his thumb. Oh yeah, that was sharp. He tried to push the spike. It didn't budge. Next Michael stepped back and pushed with his powers on a few of the spikes. Still no response.
"Well, what do we do now?" Maria prompted.
"We can't go forward through those," Michael started. The spikes covered the entire passageway from wall to wall, floor to ceilng. Indeed, it looked pretty much like they were attached to a dead-end wall in any case. "Here. Beside me." A little startled, Maria jogged the few steps over to where he had indicated. Once Maria was out of the way, Michael sent out a burst of force, against the invisible walls beside them and back the way they had come, checking for secret doors or something. None.
"I guess we should head back towards the fork," Michael admitted with a sigh. "This route doesn't seem promising any more."
"Okay," Maria groaed, heading off and leaving Michael once more to play catch-up.
For some reason, Michael didn't want to walk in silence again, so he opened his mouth, not sure what he was about to say.
"What did you do the day before Liz got shot?" Maria shot him a confused look. "I mean, that was the day our worlds collided, in a way, the day 'normal' became totally and completely a thing of the past - at least for you. What was your life like, a day before?"
Maria nodded, with a smile on her face, and then pondered the question. "I'm not sure if I can remember, to be honest. Well, Liz and I worked the day shift at the cafe, like we did most days late that summer. That night..." A grin lit up Maria's face. "I insisted on dragging Liz to this pool party that Becky Nander was throwing, except when we got there, it was so totally dull. So we hopped back into the Jetta..."
* * * *
(October 23 2000.)
"Okay," Max said as he pulled into a parking spot across the street from Michael's apartment building. Alex hadn't wanted to elaborate on what he knew on the ride over for two reasons, and Max hadn't pressed him. Reason one was that the more time he sorted all this new information through in his head, the better able Alex felt to explain it straightforwardly.
Reason number two was that there was a lot to explain, and he'd rather just get into it once, like when Isabel and Liz were there too. Max, Alex, and Tess got out of the Jeep and started heading over to the building. Alex noticed his father's car down the street, a good sign that Liz and Isabel were still in the apartment.
"Max!" Max turned to see who was calling his name and saw Courtney running up the street in her Crashdown uniform. "Are you guys calling on Michael too?"
"You... you are?" Max stuttered out.
"Well, yeah." Courtney pulled to a stop in front of Max, panting and puffing. "Michael and Maria are both no-show for their shift at the Crashdown. When I called Maria's, her mom said she mentioned she might be stopping off here after school. When I called Michael, I just got a hang-up, so I thought... well, you know. That they didn't want to be disturbed. But things are really getting crazy so I decided to come over here and bang on the door until they come back." She looked up at Max. "Shall we climb up the stairs together?"
Max froze, and Alex could see why. They didn't want Courtney tagging along, but what could Max say to stop her. Finally he apparently decided to go with half the truth. "We're looking for Michael and Maria too. Liz and I were over here earlier, right after Maria was supposed to have come, and neither of them were in the apartment. Liz stayed behind... just in case Michael called home. So she's probably the one who hung up on you, I'm sorry. She's really worried." Max shrugged apologetically. "So, if we see them, we'll let them know you were looking for them, but..." Max left the obvious conclusion go unsaid.
"Um, okay..." Courtney turned to go, and then spun around to address Max again. "I know Liz used to waitress at the cafe. Do you think maybe I could come up and ask her if she could help out?" Her parents are in a really tight spot."
"I'll ask her," Max said firmly.
"Bye-bye now," Tess chimed in, making a little wavey gesture at Courtney. No-one could have missed the tactlessness in Tess's approach, but it got the job done. Courtney blushed and headed off. Alex was a little surprised that Tess hadn't committed Liz to waitressing so as to get Max 'all to herself.' Maybe there was some selflessness under that rude veneer - or maybe Tess had her own reasons. Whatever.
Soon enough, they were up in the apartment. Max and Liz smiled when they first caught sight of each other, and Alex impulsively hugged Isabel hello. After evryone had arranged themselves around the loveseat, chair, and floor of Michael's living room, Alex began his briefing.
"The signs are reasonably clear that Michael and Maria have been drawn into a space/time vortex. Tey're a strange kind of maze, where you wander through space and time, but can't really interact with it. Only the passages of the maze and the special effects inside really matter, but the scenery can be... distracting."
"I have a question, or two actually," Isabel piped up. "How and why?"
"How is that a temporal continuum tear gets embedded within a sizable pjece of Brundis crystal," Alex explained, gesturing to the lamp that Liz still held. "Even bound there with power, the tear cannot be contained when someone touches the crystal for too long. This sort of thing is routinely done on your planet as a rite of passage. A young person on the verge of adulthood will intentionally trigger the crystal and enter the labyrinth, confident in his or her ability to win through." Alex sighed.
"As far as why, I can't be sure, but it seems to me as if one of your alien enemies may have set up the tear crystal in Michael's apartment as a form of booby trap. Since he knows nothing about the space/time labyrinths and has never received formal training in the use of the power, the odds would seem to be against him ever emerging from the maze. Especially since this labyrinth would be 'wild' and not carefully proctored and monitored, as it would be for a rite of passage."
"What about Maria?" Liz put in quickly.
"Hard to say," Alex answered after a few seconds. "She could have been caught in the labyrinth by accident - that's always a risk with booby traps. Or she may be targeted for some reason we don't know about."
"When I was on the phone with Michael, right before he disappeared, I heard him telling Maria not to touch something," Max mentioned.
"So she could have been the one to trigger the labyrinth by accident, and Michael got drawn in as well," Alex theorized. "It fits." He shook his head. "Well, we don't have much time. Are there any questions at this stage before I go on?"
A few of the group shook their heads, and nobody spoke up. Alex could tell that they weren't skipping question period because they were totally clear on the space/time labyrinth, but because none of them were even up to speed enough to know what to ask. **You didn't explain it well enough.** Still, there didn't seem to be anything to gain by making his friends hang back for remedial continuum theory, he'd have to charge ahead and hope for the best.
"Okay, first. Isabel." Alex turned to face her directly, and those perfectly styled eyelashes fluttered as Iz blinked in surprise. "You're the key player here. As I said, the biggest factor weighing against Michael is lack of information. He doesn't know what to expect in the labyrinth, except what he's already learned from experience in the time that he and Maria have been inside. He's going to overlook ways that he could use his powers to help himself out, and he's probably going to get blindsided by some of the dangers. Unless you can get into contact with him, and help guide him with what I've learned about the labyrinth."
Isabel's face had fallen. "Dreamwalking someone awake again?" She shook her lovely head in resignation.
"Dreamwalking is only the beginning, Isabel," Alex told her earnestly. "It's a sign, that you're mentalic - someone gifted with the talent to reach other minds. It's a rare and precious specialty of the power."
Isabel scoffed - she looked a little guilty about it afterwards, but didn't back down. "Okay, Alex," she said softly and evenly. "You tell me something about 'Mentalics.'"
Alex grimaced a little at the patronising tone in Isabel's voice, but he took her at her word. "No mentalic, no matter how well trained, how powerful, can touch conscious thoughts. They're like sparks - too hot to handle, and too quick to catch. That's why your talent first manifested as dreamwalking - there are no conscious thoughts to get in the way while someone is sleeping." He paused to let Isabel absorb that much.
"Okay." Isabel sounded confused and impatient at the same time, so Alex decided he had better move on.
"But you've already gone beyond that, Isabel," he continued. "You were able to communicate with Max while he was drugged, and you could get into Pierce's head and see a memory he was trying to repress when he was distracted. Each of these represent a step up in touching a mind that was partially conscious. You can go further, Isabel." He let her hear his desperation. "You *have* to."
After a few seconds, Isabel nodded. "I'll buy that. How?"
Alex smiled slightly. "Let's begin right here." He concentrated, knowing that he was focusing on a simple picture in his subconscious mind, without knowing *how* he did it. How far did this gizmo's influence go? "Tell me what I'm thinking of."
Isabel stared at him intently for several seconds, and then her head shook, golden strands flying everywhere. "No. I'm not getting anything."
"I think you're focusing too hard on what you think telepathy should be like," Alex guessed. "Just look at me as if you were about to dreamwalk me, and let it come."
Isabel sighed, not expecting anything to come of this either, but she relaxed - and almost jumped out of her chair. "A square! You were thinking of one of those dopey squares like in the ESP tests, right?"
Alex nodded wit pleasure, then waved to Max, Liz, and Tess, who were watching with hushed interest. "Try one of them."
Isabel turned to stare at Max with an odd expression on her face. "The first time you met Michael after that night in the desert, when you found out he went to the same junior high as we did!" Max blinked with surprise."Uh... yeah! I didn't even realize I was thinking about that, but you're right, I think it was in the back of my mind."
Isabel turned to Liz, who nodded slightly as if she had a test memory ready. Alex wondered if she would hold it too consciously for Isabel to get at it, but almost at once Isabel called "Got it! Some kind of caping trip with Maria and her mother... it looks like Maria was maybe thirteen or so, and the tent is set up in a flowered grove next to a loud waterfall!" Liz nodded agreement, looking surprised in spite of herself. Is turned on Tess, and frowned. "You I can't get through to."
"It doesn't matter," Max disclaimed hastily. "What about Michael?"
Isabel paused, the same look on her face. "No," she said after a moment. "There's no connection."
"Because you don't have a picture of him," Max pointed out. "Anyone have a snapshot of Michael with them?" He looked around the living room, but photoportraits of the resident were not in evidence.
"I don't think it's just that," Isabel continued. "I mean, I can get into people's dreams, but I can't go into their dreams in the past or the future." She turned towards Alex again. "From what you said, Alex, Michael and Maria aren't even in this time, they're wandering around history somewhere. So how can I reach them?"
Alex smiled, pleased that Isabel had thought about this. "A good point. But Michael and Maria aren't *really* in another time - they're just pushed away so it seems like they are. You should be able to contact either of them - especially if you use this to fine-tune the contact." Alex held out the crystal to Isabel again.
Isabel stared at it. "What do I do with that?"
"Touch it, Isabel," Alex suggested. Isabel hesitated, then reached out, the blue aura reaching up for her fingers again. "Use this energy to follow Michael with. That's a shadow of the force that threw him into time. You can use that to follow him there." Isabel looked dubious. "Trust me, Is. I've... " Alex shook his head and breathed deepy as a realization hit me. "I've DONE this... I mean, whoever's memories I've been getting from the alien washer has. Helped someone through a space/time labyrinth with mentalic powers. Trust me, I know it's possible."
"But she'll still need a picture?" Liz piped up. "To focus?" Alex nodded.
"Wait a second," Isabel said, looking around the living room herself. "I could have sworn..." She got up, leaving the crystal lamp in Alex's hands, and circled like a hawk searching for her prey. Finally Iz snatched up a photograph frame from the end table and brandished it at the group. "Hah!!"
"Um, well, Isabel..." Tess said uncertainly. "That's a picture of you and Max, not Michael."
"Is it?" Quickly Isabel opened the back and slid the picture out of the frame. Unfolding a fold, the picture was revealed to be a long shot of Max, Isabel, and Michael sitting together in a park from about a year before.
"Why did he fold himself out of the picture?" Liz asked softly.
"To fit Max and Isabel into the frame?" Alex suggested. Max shook his head.
"Classic Michael," Max muttered. But he didn't elaborate.
Meanwhile Isabel was rushing over to take the crystal back from Alex, staring fixedly at the picture of Michael. As soon as she had touched it, Isabel gasped again. "Oh, god. Oh, my god, Alex, I got something."
"What did you see?" Alex asked patiently.
"Uhh..." It took Isabel a few second to get her thoughts, (Michael's thoughts?) organized. "A tunnel splitting in two different directions underground. Standing alone in the middle or a restaurant. Me - seeing a young Isabel, no more than eleven years old, running through the back alley towards the Crashdown." She couldn't stifle a snort of amazement. "And running right through Maria!! An almost-invisible stairway stretching up into the sky. A... a wall of spikes, *way* too close for comfort."
Alex shuddered at that last with the rest of them, but he was relieved. "Well, this definitely confirms that they're in the labyrinth, and they seem to have leared the basics of getting around one. And we've demonstrated that you can contact Michael." Alex sighed. "Your turn, Max."
Max jumped, not having expected to get picked on. "Me? What do you want *me* to do?!"
"Now that Isabel has learned how to guide Michael, I think you should stand in as the challenge proctor," Alex explained. "There are a number of subtle ways that the proctor can influence challenge conditions, through use of the power and, like Isabel, orienting on the labyrinth with the Brundis crystal. Most importantly, as proctor you can hold the exit of the labyrinth open."
"The exit isn't always open??" Isabel piped up. "What kind of a shoddy labyrinth is this anyways?"
Alex smiled, shaking his head. "An exit is always open to regular space-time somewhere in the vicinity - and in the same time frame as Michael and Maria left from, of course. But left to itself, that exit could open into someplace unsafe in our world - or somewhere that a lot of questions would be asked if Michael and Maria just appeared there. Using the crystal, you can open and hold open an exit that's safe on both counts."
"A safe location," Liz repeated. "Preferably somewhere we don't even have to deal with parents asking awkward questions." She turned to Alex. "Could we do it right here?"
"No," Alex shook his head. "This is where the entrance to the labyrinth took place. The exit would have to be... oh, at least a hundred feet away." Max, Isabel, and Liz started thinking deeply.
"Valenti's," Tess spoke up. Everyone turned to stare at her. "Well?" she shot back. "Sherrif Valenti knows about the alien stuff, so does Kyle. Short of the pod chamber, it seems to be our best choice."
"Pod chamber would be tricky - too far from the entrance," Alex added. "Valenti's is just about right, and we'd better get a motor on." He stood up, then thought of something. "Anybody know where the healing stones are off the top of their heads?"
Max nodded in surprise. "Michael insists on keeping them right here." He crossed the living room, and pushed aside the molecules of a brick wall with a careless wave. Reaching inside the small cavity, he brought out a double handful of orangish healing stones and closed the brick up again with no more than an intense look. "Why? There isn't that much danger of physical harm in the labyrinth, is there?"
"No... at least not especially," Alex mumbled. "But these stones do more than heal. They're often used just as a mechanism for power transfer. Helping out Alex is going to be a more exhausting application of power than anything you guys have been through bfore. With these guys," Alex picked up one of the healing stones meaningfully, "Liz and I can help, by adding our strength to yours." Alex sighed.
"And now we've gotta get going. Um... Max, could you drive Isabel and me over to Valenti's in my car? I was thinking I could help her communicate back to Michael through the link..." Alex faded out as he realized who that division would leave. Liz and Tess, never the most compatible of the gang. Also two of the least experienced drivers, for Max to entrust his Jeep to one of.
But Max hardly batted an eye. "Okay." He tossed the Jeep keys over to Liz, and caught the Taurus keys from Isabel. "Oh, one more thing." Max turned back to Liz. "We ran into Courtney Banks on the way over here. She said they were shorthanded at the cafe because Michael and Maria were shorthanded for their hifts, and wondered if you could pitch in. We can't exabtly afford to do without you right now, but I thought I should at least tell you."
"Okay." Liz nodded, then did a doubletake. "She said *what* exactly??"
As quickly as possible, Max replayed the encounter with Courtney, noticing that Liz's puzzled frown was growing deeper and deeper. "What's wong, Liz?"
"Neither Michael nor Maria have shifts today at the Crash," Liz explained simply.
"How do you know?" Tess asked.
"Because Maria was asking if I'd be free tonight to hang out somewhere if... well, if her meeting with Michael didn't end up with the two of *them* going out somewhere. She wouldn't have been making plans like that if either of them had to work."
Alex thought about it a second. "We can check it out later," he decided. "For now..."
"I know, I know..." Liz chimed in. "Go. Go! GO!!" She was already leading the way towards the door.
* * * *
In the apartment across the street from Michael's place, Steve Banks groaned and flipped open a cell phone, tapping one of the speed dial buttons. Ring. Ring. "Yeah?" the voice on the other end replied.
"Meltdown," Steve replied casually.
"How bad?"
"The labyrinth gambit - the human girl got caught inside it. Whatshername - DeLucca. Courtney confirmed it."
A pause. "That's a problem."
Steve sighed. "Not if she gets out alive."
"What was the point, if they were going to get out alive anyways?"
Steve ignored that. "Their little friends seem to have figured out what's going on already. I think I may have underestimated them, which is a good thing in this case."
"Which means, your plan has gone wrong so badly that you're actually *hoping* we get out of it faring about as well as we came in."
"I'm aware of the irony, Soren."
"Hmm..." Steve's co-conspirator considered. "Would it really be so bad if *neither* of them got out? The arbiters might never find out that DeLucca got hurt."
"We can't afford to take that chance."
"You're probably right. Well, once this little escapade is done, let me know. When my turn comes I'm *not* going to underestimate the royal four." The line clicked off.
Steve stared at the cellular handset. "Are you sure?" he asked rhetorically.
* * * *
(October 23 2000. I'm not going to try to catalog the time periods that Michael and Maria wander through in the labyrinth, because it's so not the point.)
Michael relaxed once he and Maria had finished stepping up/down the freaky stairway, taking them down in lockstep from the sky, and through the steakhouse. The underground passage seemed the safest and least weird part of this whole creepy place.
"Well??" Maria drawled out, looking up at him.
"Well what?"
Maria shook her head again. "My question?" Michael must have looked blank enough for Maria to repeat. "Just what the heck do you put in those sandwhiches that you take to school?"
Michael hesitated. "Oh give me a break," Maria exclaimed. "After the embarassing story I just told you, you're worried about some sandwhich recipe??"
Michael sighed. "Okay, if you really want to know. Well..." Michael smiled as he remembered the day he had first hit on the combination. "There's pancake syrup. The imitation maple stuff. A little strawberry jelly. And... this hot red pepper spread stuff."
"Eww!!" Maria said, shaking her head. "Gross."
"Hey, don't shake your head at me," Michael said as they rounded the sharp corner to the other branch of the fork. "A hybrid I was born, and a hybrid I shall remain. Therefore I crave the things that are spicy hot and sweet at the same time." He looked over at Maria as they headed along the downward-ramping passageway, and two more words slipped out before Michael could stop them. "Like you."
Mara looked up at him in surprise, and Michael looked away before she could make eye contact, focusing on the pathway ahead of him. But he could tell that Maria was thinking about whether she was going to reply to what he had just said by the sound of her breathing. Deciding against it. He heard her turn her own head to face forward, and right then he couldn't resist sneaking a sidelong glance at her. Maria was blushing.
"Well, I guess it's my turn to ask a question again?" Michael said, trying to get a reasonably safe topic of conversation back.
"Yes," Maria said deliberately. "And may I say, that was pretty much a waste of a turn."
Michael had to take a few seconds to understand the convolutions of Maria-logic there. "No," he said finally. "That *so* does not count as a turn."
"You put forward a question for me to answer," Maria countered. "I answered it truthfully and without reservation. That counts."
"Not a chance," Michael insisted. "There has to be a distinction made between questions *in* the game and queries *about* the g..."
"Save it, spaceboy," Maria interrupted, shoving him playfully on the arm. "Weirdness ho. Snap to."
Michael looked down the passageway where Maria was pointing, and quickly he understood what she meant. The tunnel narrowed to a dead end, with a line on the floor before the final wall marking off a square perhaps five feet to a side. He approched it cautiously, not wanting to blunder into something that might be dangerous. The spikes had taught him *that* lesson well enough, thank you very much.
"Look", Maria said, pointing up to the top of the tunnel near the dead end. "Shine the light a little brighter, Twinkles."
Michael had to fight back a growl at *that* new nickname - he didn't want to give Maria the pleasure of seeing how she was riling him. But he brightened the glow from his hand by three notches and stretched it out in front of them, trying to better illuminate what Maria was pointing at.
"There isn't any ceiling above that square," Maria pointed out. "Could that be the way this passage continues?? Up!?"
Michael edged carefully even closer, being careful not to let any part of himself cross over the line yet. "I don't see how. There are no ladders, no rope -- nothing to climb. How the heck are we supposed to get up there?"
Maria considered. "Could you... you know, lift us up? With your powers??" Maria made a cute 'whooshing' gesture with both arms.
"Ummm..." Michael considered that. "I might be able to 'push' you up there... though I wouldn't make any guarantees about how comfortable the ride would be - or how accurate my aim, for that matter. I don't have that much control over my kinetic powers yet. And I've *never* been able to fly through the air myself with my powers."
"Why not?" Maria asked in an aside. "You can 'push,' as you say it. If you push down on the earth beneath you, and it's secure enough, it won't move. I would think the combination of force and resistance would make you rise into the air."
"Maria?" Michael, asked, sighing.
"Yeah?"
"Focus?"
Maria shook her head slightly. "'Lack of control.' Got it, chief."
Michael looked around. "If we had enough source material to work with, I could *create* a ladder. But all these rock walls are out of phase with us - this whole *area* is solid rock, including where we're standing. The true walls are the invisible ones." Michael focused on the nearest invisible wall, trying to reform its molecules, but got no results. Probably it was really made out of some kind of force field. No molecules meant no molecular manipulation.
"You know, maybe we're being too complicated," Maria decided. "This alcove almost looks like an elevator carriage, except no doors. Maybe there's a push button inside to make the whole thing go up." And before Michael could stop her, she dashed across the line to investigate the alcove.
Michael suffered a siege of panic. For an instant he wanted to charge in right behind Maria. Then it occured to him that if what was inside the alcove was truly deadly, she might be better off if he stayed outside and tried to use his powers to protect her or pull her back out. So, all he ended up doing was waiting to see what happened to Maria inside the alcove, holding his breath.
Nothing seemed amiss at first. Maria ran her hands over one of the alcove walls, looking for hidden switches or touch panels. After not quite two seconds, though, she became aware of something, and spun around to look at Michael. "Aack!!"
"What's wrong?" he asked quickly.
"I'm... yahh!" Unable to finish the sentence, Maria gestured at the floor. Michael looked down and immediately recognized the problem. The soles of Maria's boots were dangling about an inch above the floor, and slowly rising.
WHOOOSH. Michael didn't consciously key in his powers, but they had been on emergency standby for just enough instants to make that not necessary. As soon as Michael had recognized, alien forces rushed blindly out to coerce a solution. WHOMPP!! The impact would probably have been bone-breaking if Michael hadn't been 'pushing' against another unearthly force - it turned out to be merely startling. Maria shook off the impact and waved a hand in Michael's direction as a calm-down signal.
"I shouldn't have freaked. Come on. *This* is how we travel upwards. The alcove doesn't go up, like an elevator chamber. Only *we* go up!!"
Understanding hit Michael like a stinging softball. Of course. That had to be it! He rushed forward across the line, releasing his light kinetic grasp from Maria only when he was close enough to actualy touch her. Sure enough, soon he felt the mysterious lifting effect, first just taking some of the weight off of his feet, then more, then all. He couldn't put a finger on when they actually left the floor, but soon enough Michael estimated their upward speed as just short of two feet a second.
"Second floor coming up quick," Maria announced. She was right - though the shaft proceeded upwards further than Michael could immediately make out, a rectangular opening seven or eight feet long in one of the 'walls' indicated a possible stop coming up soon. Michael had only a second to think, so he chose what seemed like the safer course. If they let this route pass by, they would be unable to return to it without finding some way of going *down* the 'up' shaft. Whereas if Michael and Maria took this routing, presumably they could return to the shaft and continue on up.
"Come on." Gatering Maria in one of his arms, Michael kicked against one wall and the two of them sailed gracefully through the opening - only to catch their balance less gracefully when gravity reasserted itself.
Maria looked around. Another tunnel passageway stretched ahead of them, ramping upwards slightly and curving to the right. She shrugged. "Might as well check it out."
Michael reached out an arm to keep Maria from walking down the corridor. In a way that he never had before, Michael *extended* his senses down the passageway. The results were unmistakeable - and not positive. "No," he muttered, shaking his head. "This is another dead end."
"How do you know?" Maria demanded.
"I can tell," Michael explained lamely. "With my powers. Isabel just told me how."
"Isabel??"
And the full realization hit Michael only then. "Isabel's been communicating with my subconscious, from out in the real world. The whole gang is working to help get us out. This is an alien thingee called a space/time labyrinth..." Michael shook his head. "I'll tell you about it as we go. Come on." He all but dragged Maria back into the levitator shaft.
* * * *
"He got the messgages," Isabel announced in a relieved voice. "He told Maria that we're all here, pulling for them. And then he took her back into the levitator shaft - I think he was able to do what you told me about, to sense with his powers and tell that it was a blind alley."
"Great!" Alex exclaimed, smiling back at Iz. "Good timing too, because I think we're... here."
Sure enough, Max was just bringing the Taurus in for a carefree parking job in front of Jim Valenti's house. Max's Jeep and the Sherrif's cruiser were parked in the driveway. Alex looked around for Kyle's old Prowler, but he couldn't see the navy blue car anywhere.
"We'd better hurry inside," Max said. "Liz and Tess are probably facing down Valenti alone."
They rushed inside as quickly as possible. Isabel seemed to be a little dizzy after the huge effort of communicating to Michael across the time differential, so Alex offered her his arm for support as she hurried up the front walk, still clutching the blue crystal lamp in her other hand. Max led the way.
"Max," Valenti called out as Alex and Isabel were making their way through the front door. "Maybe *you* could shed a little light as to what the hell is going on here?"
"Allow me, sir," Alex replied. "Michael and Maria's lives are in danger from an alien booby trap. I think I may have an idea as to how to get them out, but it'll require the five of us working non-stop from a secure location where no-one will see things that can't be easily explained. Tess suggested we ask you if we could do it here."
Valenti looked still grim but slightly mollified. "Go on." As quickly as he could, Alex went over the essentials of the situation, trying to explain as clearly as possibly without going into things that would be too hard for Valenti to understand.
After a few questions, Valenti paused, to consider. "It's a hell of a story," he muttered. "You give me your word that all of this is so, as far as you could possibly be expected to determine,"
"I do, sir," Alex and Max answered at the same time. Alex looked around and saw that Isabel, Liz, and even Tess were nodding in support of him.
Jim Valenti nodded in acceptance. "Okay, then. Have you given any thought to what your parents are going to think when you don't come home tonight? From what you've said, this 'rescue mission' could last well into the night, if not longer."
Alex blushed in embarassment. "We... we hadn't really gotten that far, sir."
"Alex..." Isabel stage-whispered. Alex turned around to look at her, and immediately realized what was on her mind.
He turned back to the sheriff. "We can discuss alibis later - it's still early. For right now, is there a place where Isabel can relax and concentrate in peace?"
Valenti considere. "Yeah, use my room. Hallway over there, first on your right."
"Thanks." Next Max. "Give us about four minutes to make sure that the connection is stable, and then come inside quietly. I'll show you how to use the Brundis crystal to start opening a exit for Michael right here." Isabel let out a little gasp, clutching the crystal instinctively tighter.
Max went over to Isabel, rubbing her shoulder supportively. "Don't worry, Is. Everything's going to be alright." He turned to Alex. "She can do this without the crystal now?"
"Once the connection is strong, she should be able to maintain it without using the crystal," Alex explained. "And vice versa - if she needs to use the crystal briefly, it shouldn't disrupt what you're doing." He turned to Isabel. "Come on." He led her in the direction that Valenti had indicated.
Just before they stepped into Valenti's bedroom, Isabel turned to Alex. "Thank you for all of this, Alex," she said, smiling shyly. "Doing all this to rescue Michael and Maria, teaching Max and I what we need to know, helping to convince Valenti..."
"It's nothing," Alex assured her. "I want to get Maria and Michael back as much as you guys do. But you're welcome."
Isabel grinned again, then headed into the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the bed. Alex closed the door and breathed deeply. "Just relax and let the connection re-establish itself. You know Michael's mind, it's right in front of you. Reach out and touch it..."
* * * *
Alex gently took the Brundis crystal out of Isabel's hands, trying not to disturb her concentration, and tiptoed back out the bedroom door, letting Max gently close it behind him. Neither of them said anything until they had left the hallway.
"So... any idea where would be good for the exit, man," Max asked with a slightly tired smile. He'd be a lot more tired before all of this was over, Alex suddenly realized.
"Um... right here in the living room should be good," Alex decided. "Close the drapes so nobody can see in from inside - push the sofa back against the dinner table; move the coffee table to the side wall, and there'll be a nice open space to work in here."
"Oh, sure," a familiar sarcastic voice replied. "Just rearrange my bedroom without so much as a 'please.' Typical."
Alex looked up. Yeah, that was Kyle sitting on the couch. The couch that Alex vaguely rememembered hearing Kyle was sleeping on since Tess had moved into the Valenti's - apparently Kyle's sense of chivalry, which Alex had never even really seen evidence of, had balked at the prospect of keeping the bedroom and leaving Tess the couch.
"I'm sorry," Max said to Kyle. "But we're in red alert mode. Keep quiet and out of the way so we can work, okay."
"Or make yourself useful," Tess chimed in. Once again, Max and Liz turned to stare at her. "Well? We're doing the alien-human team-up thing, right? Alex is helping Isabel with the psionic thing, Liz is gonna be 'lending her energy' to Max with one of the stones. Maria is probably helping Michael out, inside the maze. Well, I'm Max's relief as the proctor, so I get a human partner too." She got up and very deliberately sat down on the couch next to Kyle. Max and Liz were still staring.
"Okay." Alex shook his head. "Moving on. Max, Liz..." He waved them to the living room floor. "Let's get this started. Tess.... Kyle, I guess you guys should pay attention." Soon Alex, Liz, and Max were sitting in a triangle on the carpet. Alex handed Max the Brundis crystal.
"Okay, now... I guess the first thing you need to do is to get an awareness of the labyrinth through this," Alex started. "Use the crystal. Think of it like... like you're trying to get a flash from the thing."
"I can't get a flash on command," Max protested.
"You can with this thing," Alex assured him. Max looked dubious, but he closed his eyes and pressed a hand more closely into the crystal - and gasped. Alex smiled slightly. "What do you see?"
"It's... it's not *see* so much as sense..." Max gasped out. "The entire layout of a maze... more complicated than any maze could be here on earth. I... I can't get more than a dim impression of the design as a whole. Once I concentrate on any part, I can sense more detail about it."
"Okay, that's good," Alex explained. "Can you see a marked exit of any kind??"
"Yes, it's..." Max drew in a sharp breath. "It's in midair - about thirty feet above the street, just outside the UFO center."
"Okay," Alex said calmly. "Don't panic about that. Just take that exit and try to *pull* it right here. To Valenti's living room."
"H-how?" Max asked, a flash of uncertainty crossing his face, eyes still closed.
"Use your powers, Max," Liz guessed.
"That's right." Alex confirmed. "Treat the exit like it's... a ball, that you're pulling through the air. Bring it here."
"Okay..." Max concentrated again. "Oh, no. The exit closed as I moved it."
"That's okay, Max," Alex told him with a small smile. "Another exit should manifest, closer to us. Once it opens, draw it near like you did the other one, okay?" Max nodded. Alex turned to Liz. "You have the healing stone?" Liz smiled and waved it in the air slightly. "Then just hold it in both your hands, and concentrate on helping Max. Just like when we were hea-" He broke off, kicking himself mentally for having forgotten.
"I never helped heal Michael," Liz reminded him. "River dog wouldn't let me. He said I was too afraid." Alex could still hear the... the shame in Liz's voice, that she felt over that.
"Are you too afraid now?" Alex asked her.
"Well... I don't think so. How would I know?"
Alex smiled comfortingly at her. "Don't worry. Using the stones to lend strength is nowhere near as potentially dangerous as a healing. Do you know what to do, Liz?"
"Um... yeah, yeah, I think so." She smiled shyly back at him.
"Okay." Alex stood up. "I'm going to go check in on Isabel, but I'll be liasing with you guys. Keep the faith." He waved slightly, then headed back towards the hallway.
* * * *
For Michael, the space/time labyrinth was starting to get distinctly routine.
Part of his mind focused on simply keeping himself moving - one foot in front of another, over and over again. Another part was devoted to 'sensing' about the maze layout, figuring out which turning to take at any time there was some sort of branch point. And whatever was left talked to Maria.
"So, when did you first realize that you were... you know." Maria shrugged. "'Different'?"
Michael considered that. They had been wandering around what looked like southern Europe for about fifteen minutes. Spain, France, Italy, some place that looked like it might have been part of the Yugoslavian war... they were moving too fast to keep track. The route was leading them back into the sky again, via a wide spiralling staircase, and Michael was just as glad about that.
"Let's see. Different? I guess there was this thing - about a few days after social services placed me with Hank. He had been drinking a little, and we got into a shouting match when he tried to get me to go to bed, and I was so angry I levitated the telephone table into the air."
"Oh my god, you didn't." Maria seemed to be holding back a gale of laughter.
"Yeah. I didn't even realize that there was anything unusual about it at the time. But Hank called social services and my placement worker came back out. She looked at the table, even asked me about it. I was so nervous I told her that I didn't know what Hank was talking about - I knew enough to guess that I had done something wrong. And then I realized that other people *couldn't* do that kind of thing."
Maria smiled. "Okay. Your question."
Michael had no idea where it came from. "When did you know you'd fallen in love with me?"
Maria tripped over a stair. Michael jumped forward to make sure that she was okay, but Maria caught her balance by herself. "Umm..." Flustered, she looked up at Michael, her bright eyes shining. "Okay, this game just blew out of the trivial category - you do realize that, right?"
"Yeah, I do," Michael said softly. "But... well, I'd really like to know."
"Okay." Maria was either concentrating on her feet and the stairs, or avoiding eye contact with Michael. "Let's see... when I knew I'd fallen in love with you?" She sighed. "I guess it would have to be that damned napkin holder. It was the sweetest thing that anybody's ever given me. And when I was heading to that shop class -- well, I just couldn't bear to hand it in and know that I'd never see it again. So I took the F in exchange for keeping the stupid thing. Why else would I have cared? It's not like holding napkins is more important to me than an 'A' grade on a daily basis."
"Oh." Michael smiled - and then it hit him exactly what he'd done when Maria thanked him for the napkin holder. He'd tried to sell her one one of his patented 'We can't be together' speeches. Let's see - that occasion had been 'I have to be a stone wall.' And she had just figured out that she was in love with him. Oh. Man.
"Let's see, turnabout is fair play," Maria decided. "Did you ever fall in love with me, and if so why?"
**Did I ever...** Michael froze. **God, Maria, I'm *still* in love with you!!** But he couldn't say that, and forced himself to step further up the stairs, noticing idly that they were above ice and snow now. It still seemed warm inside the labyrinth. "Yes... yes, I fell in love with you, Maria. It was during that whole bit with Topolsky coming back to town. Everyone was so afraid, and things were getting so crazy. After Topolsky broke into my apartment, I started worrying about what I'd do if something... scary, happened to you. Something really bad."
"And, I guess that's what love is. When you're more worried about someone else than about yourself."
"Aww..." Maria sighed. An awkward silence streched out the seconds. "God, I'm so hungry," Maria complained.
"Me too," Michael agreed. "And tired. But we can't wimp out now - there's worse to come, I bet."
"I'm not 'wimping out,'" Maria huffed. "Just commenting that I'm hungry."
"Dunno what good it's gonna do you," Michael pointed out. "I don't think you'll find a sun-dried tomato pizza just sitting here outside of the space/time continuum."
"You know, being this sarcastic is not really helping, Michael."
"Sorry."
The spiral staircase came to a stop at a T-corner intersection. Michael considered briefly, then led Maria down the right passage, which he judged was taking them in the direction of Siberia - unless it pulled another surprise on them.
"So..." Maria started out again. "How did you *think* the meeting with me this afternoon was going to turn out?"
Michael thought a bit before answering. "Hey, you had the *last* question. It's my turn."
"You didn't *take* your turn."
"Well, maybe I wanna take it now."
"Do you really?"
Michael thought. "No, I'll answer yours. But I get two turns in a row sometime later. Let's see... the talk with you..." He sighed. "I'll level with you. I had no clue. I guess I figured I'd just take it as it came and see what happened."
"Is that the reason you put me off from Saturday night? Because you were scared??" Maria's voice betrayed her surprise.
"No, I *wasn't* scared," Michael sneered. "I... well, I didn't really want to do it until the whole thing with Liz and her parents and Whittaker was done. This afternoon seemed like the next good opportunity."
"Oh." Maria was surprised again. "Oh my god, Michael, I don't believe it. When you're wrong, you're wrong!!"
Michael blinked his surprise. "What the heck do you mean by that?"
"No food outside of the space/time continuum?" Maria laughed, pointing at something down at the side of the corridor. Before Michael could get a good look, Maria ran ahead, (giving Michael a good look of *another* kind,) and retrieved the item in question. "Want some?"
It was a bag of bacon chips, three-quarters full and sealed with an old clothespin. "Hey, I had a bag like that in my kitchen. Maybe they got blown into the labyrinth with us."
"Whatever, spaceboy. It's *food*." Maria opened up the bag, plucked out two chips, and brought them to her mouth.
"No!!" Michael yelled at her. Maria paused in pre-bite to give him an annoyed look. "We don't have anything to drink. I know you, Maria - if you start eating bacom chips, you're going to drive yourself crazy with thirst."
"C'mon, Michael." Maria pouted. "I'm hungry, it's food. I won't get too thirsty if I eat a few slow, one at a time. I've done it before. Trust me."
"Okay," Michael finally relented. Maria smiled and carefully crunched into her first chip. Suddenly, Michael's sense of the labyrinth flagged him to something. "Turn here."
"Where?" Maria spun to a right angle, and noticed something illuminated in the wall to their side - an opening only about seven or eight inches wide. "You've got to be kidding me."
Michael grimaced. "Whoops." Maria turned to look at him with a questioning glare. "I sensed that there was a 'way through' here. I didn't worry about how small it might be." He put a finger on one of the edges. "The wall is moving - very slowly closing further. If we didn't take that first wrong turning, we probably could have made it through."
Maria sighed. "So which way now?"
Michael concentrated. It was hard trying to sense an alternate route when his alien senses were telling him this path was still good, but soon enough he had it. "Back the way we came. Sorry."
Maria sighed and followed him back towards the T-intersection. "So, are you going to ask your t--"
Michael shushed her. "Quiet."
There was a dull pounding sound that Michael could only just hear. Of course, since they heard sounds from the outside, it could be a tribal drum ritual from some nearby native village, or something, but if so, why was it getting *louder*??
And then suddenly, something appeared. Out of thin air, apparently, though Michael suddenly realized it was just rounding the corner from the stairs that Michael and Maria had themselves climbed, and turning through the T-intersection. (That was worth making a note of. While this thing had been seperated from them by two 'invisible' walls, they couldn't see it, although they could still see the spot in real space that it was overlapping.)
But enough of that. The creature itself was seven and a half feet tall, easily three hundred and fifty pounds. Its feet were solid racks of white bone and green meat, it had three tentacles it waved angrily in the air, and two huge claws reached forward. Where Michael would expect its head to be was just a vague bump of brown fur, where a couple of darker patches perhaps protected eyes and ears.
Michael turned to Maria and said the only sensible thing. "Run!!" He pointed in the opposite direction from the monster, the 'wrong way.' Right or wrong, it was their only way now...
TO BE CONTINUED.
Author: Chris Kenworthy
Email: Chris_Kenworthy@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the Roswell characters. I don't plan to steal them and lock them up in white rooms either. I just let them out to play from time to time and see what happens.
Distribution: Distribute anywhere you like, currently based at fanatics: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/
Feedback: YES PLEASE!
Category: Alternate timeline epic. Conventional couples angst leading up to UC in later parts - you have been warned!
Rating: PG-13, for now
Summary: Alien mysteries lead to an interesting year...
Spoilers: Up to 'Ask not'
(No scene from 2001 this time. ;-) )
"Ahh... whoo!" Michael yelped, catching his balance. He had tried to step down another stair on this kooky thing, but there hadn't been a 'down' to go - or an up or whatever. He did the hand-glowy thing and confirmed it - they had reached the end of the 'down' staircase (that took them up,) and now the corridor stretched straight ahead.
"You okay there big boy?" Maria called back sassily. She was about twenty-five feet ahead of him, and if Michael had noticed that she was on the same altitude as he was, he would have known not to take that step down. "I'm just fine."
**She's been leading the way. Say what you will about fear, but Maria's been willing to go out and take the lead, even knowing that she didn't have my powers to light up the way. But that's probably just her impatient streak.**
Nevertheless, Michael hurried to catch up with Maria, letting the glow in his hand fade out as he got the hand of walking on this new level. Maria waited, letting him catch up, and then set a brisk pace. There was silence for a moment, and then Michael remarked idly "At least there isn't any 'where we thing we're going isn't where we actually go' strangeness about this corridor."
Maria looked over at him without slacking the pace. "Care to bet on that, spaceboy?"
Michael almost *did* stop in his surprise, and actually succeeded in slowing Maria down. "What do you mean??"
Maria smiled her 'just a hint of sarcasm' smile. "Well, this passageway seems to be heading... well, thataway," and she pointed ahead. "For the sake of discussion, we'll call that east. Okay?"
"Okay," Michael agreed, wondering what Maria would come up with.
"Okay, now pick out a landmark directly beneath you and track what happens to it as you walk east," Maria suggested, pointing down in demonstration. Michael had to fight a sudden siege of dizziness when he first looked down, (was Maria immune to fear of heights?) but he picked out a bushy patch of green that seemed to be almost directly underneath him. Wondering what would happen now, he stepped cautiously forward.
No immediate response. Michael stepped forward a few paces, noticing that Maria was following him as closely as she could. Wait a second... was it possible? Michael kept on walking until he was sure, then straightened up and faced Maria. "While we go east, the scenery moves south by southwest."
"You got it, failed-geography boy," Maria confirmed with a merry smile.
Ignoring the dig, Michael continued on, "And it's moving pretty quickly. I mean, we must be two miles above the ground, so I'd figure to walk a hundred and fifty feet north by northeast to get that kind of response from a landmark on the ground. Not just twenty feet east."
Maria was looking at him with something between shock and disbelief.
"Hey, I may not like teachers or school, but I'm not an idiot," Michael informed her. "The only thing that confuses me is..." Michael considered for a second. "Walk ahead of me for a bit," he suggested to Maria. "Fifteen feet or so."
Maria thought a second, then shrugged and headed off. "This better not just be so you can check out my ass, Guerin." She finished measuring off the fifteen feet and turned back around. "Well?"
Michael tried not to let his disappointment show. Nothing weird had happened yet.
Casting around for a suitable landmark, he asked "Okay, do you see the truck sittng at the side of that old dirt road?"
Maria spun around, looking. "Oh yeah, down there," she said after a moment, pointing down and to her left, Michael's right.
Now, this was weird. Based on an evaluation of the objects involved from Michael's perspective, she should be pointing the other way. Or, to express that thought the other way around. "If you see the truck at that angle, you should be way off thataway," Michael explained, throwing an arm out forward and to his right. "But I see you right in front of me. What the heck is going on here?"
Maria waved him forward, and said while waiting for him to catch up "It's *alien*, spaceboy. Don't stress over such things."
Michael wasn't ready to let it go at that. On the stairs, they stepped down and went up - relative to each other as well as the scenery. But now, in this passage, they stepped east and moved much faster north-northeast, but only in respect to the scenery, not each other. Michael could accept alien weirdness being weird, but couldn't it at least be *consistently* weird, weird in the same ways?
But he didn't bother Maria with his thoughts and for a while more they walked through the sky in silence. Suddenly Maria stopped short and grabbed Michael's arm. "Make the light."
"What?!" Michael shook his head in surprise. "What for?? We're on a stable footing here."
"I've just got a bad feeling," Maria insisted. Michael frowned. "It's been a long time since you used the light to take a look at where we were going." Michael sighed, lifted his hand, and began to concentrate on light. And then gasped in shock.
He and Maria were about nine inches away from a field of 'invisible' spikes, pointed right at them!
"Oh my god," Maria whispered, voicing pretty much what Michael was thinking himself.
Without thiking about it, he half turned to Maria and asked "You didn't expect this?"
"Well no! I half guessed we were coming up on something that might be unpleasant, like walking into a wall again or falling into a pit. But this..."
She couldn't go on any more, and broke off, shivering in belated fear. Instinctively Michael wrapped Maria in his arms to comfort her, (at the same time trying to fight down the sense of physical attraction he felt at the way Maria's body moved, even in horror.)
"It's okay..." Maria's muffled voice came after a moment. "I'm okay, Michael, you can let me go."
Three or four different responses flashed through Michael's mind, but he didn't say any of them, and quickly let Maria out of the hug. "God," Maria breathed again, looking at the spikes a little more calmly. "Can you imagine walking into those?"
"Not really wanting to," Michael quipped, carefully testing the point of one of the spikes on the tip of his thumb. Oh yeah, that was sharp. He tried to push the spike. It didn't budge. Next Michael stepped back and pushed with his powers on a few of the spikes. Still no response.
"Well, what do we do now?" Maria prompted.
"We can't go forward through those," Michael started. The spikes covered the entire passageway from wall to wall, floor to ceilng. Indeed, it looked pretty much like they were attached to a dead-end wall in any case. "Here. Beside me." A little startled, Maria jogged the few steps over to where he had indicated. Once Maria was out of the way, Michael sent out a burst of force, against the invisible walls beside them and back the way they had come, checking for secret doors or something. None.
"I guess we should head back towards the fork," Michael admitted with a sigh. "This route doesn't seem promising any more."
"Okay," Maria groaed, heading off and leaving Michael once more to play catch-up.
For some reason, Michael didn't want to walk in silence again, so he opened his mouth, not sure what he was about to say.
"What did you do the day before Liz got shot?" Maria shot him a confused look. "I mean, that was the day our worlds collided, in a way, the day 'normal' became totally and completely a thing of the past - at least for you. What was your life like, a day before?"
Maria nodded, with a smile on her face, and then pondered the question. "I'm not sure if I can remember, to be honest. Well, Liz and I worked the day shift at the cafe, like we did most days late that summer. That night..." A grin lit up Maria's face. "I insisted on dragging Liz to this pool party that Becky Nander was throwing, except when we got there, it was so totally dull. So we hopped back into the Jetta..."
* * * *
(October 23 2000.)
"Okay," Max said as he pulled into a parking spot across the street from Michael's apartment building. Alex hadn't wanted to elaborate on what he knew on the ride over for two reasons, and Max hadn't pressed him. Reason one was that the more time he sorted all this new information through in his head, the better able Alex felt to explain it straightforwardly.
Reason number two was that there was a lot to explain, and he'd rather just get into it once, like when Isabel and Liz were there too. Max, Alex, and Tess got out of the Jeep and started heading over to the building. Alex noticed his father's car down the street, a good sign that Liz and Isabel were still in the apartment.
"Max!" Max turned to see who was calling his name and saw Courtney running up the street in her Crashdown uniform. "Are you guys calling on Michael too?"
"You... you are?" Max stuttered out.
"Well, yeah." Courtney pulled to a stop in front of Max, panting and puffing. "Michael and Maria are both no-show for their shift at the Crashdown. When I called Maria's, her mom said she mentioned she might be stopping off here after school. When I called Michael, I just got a hang-up, so I thought... well, you know. That they didn't want to be disturbed. But things are really getting crazy so I decided to come over here and bang on the door until they come back." She looked up at Max. "Shall we climb up the stairs together?"
Max froze, and Alex could see why. They didn't want Courtney tagging along, but what could Max say to stop her. Finally he apparently decided to go with half the truth. "We're looking for Michael and Maria too. Liz and I were over here earlier, right after Maria was supposed to have come, and neither of them were in the apartment. Liz stayed behind... just in case Michael called home. So she's probably the one who hung up on you, I'm sorry. She's really worried." Max shrugged apologetically. "So, if we see them, we'll let them know you were looking for them, but..." Max left the obvious conclusion go unsaid.
"Um, okay..." Courtney turned to go, and then spun around to address Max again. "I know Liz used to waitress at the cafe. Do you think maybe I could come up and ask her if she could help out?" Her parents are in a really tight spot."
"I'll ask her," Max said firmly.
"Bye-bye now," Tess chimed in, making a little wavey gesture at Courtney. No-one could have missed the tactlessness in Tess's approach, but it got the job done. Courtney blushed and headed off. Alex was a little surprised that Tess hadn't committed Liz to waitressing so as to get Max 'all to herself.' Maybe there was some selflessness under that rude veneer - or maybe Tess had her own reasons. Whatever.
Soon enough, they were up in the apartment. Max and Liz smiled when they first caught sight of each other, and Alex impulsively hugged Isabel hello. After evryone had arranged themselves around the loveseat, chair, and floor of Michael's living room, Alex began his briefing.
"The signs are reasonably clear that Michael and Maria have been drawn into a space/time vortex. Tey're a strange kind of maze, where you wander through space and time, but can't really interact with it. Only the passages of the maze and the special effects inside really matter, but the scenery can be... distracting."
"I have a question, or two actually," Isabel piped up. "How and why?"
"How is that a temporal continuum tear gets embedded within a sizable pjece of Brundis crystal," Alex explained, gesturing to the lamp that Liz still held. "Even bound there with power, the tear cannot be contained when someone touches the crystal for too long. This sort of thing is routinely done on your planet as a rite of passage. A young person on the verge of adulthood will intentionally trigger the crystal and enter the labyrinth, confident in his or her ability to win through." Alex sighed.
"As far as why, I can't be sure, but it seems to me as if one of your alien enemies may have set up the tear crystal in Michael's apartment as a form of booby trap. Since he knows nothing about the space/time labyrinths and has never received formal training in the use of the power, the odds would seem to be against him ever emerging from the maze. Especially since this labyrinth would be 'wild' and not carefully proctored and monitored, as it would be for a rite of passage."
"What about Maria?" Liz put in quickly.
"Hard to say," Alex answered after a few seconds. "She could have been caught in the labyrinth by accident - that's always a risk with booby traps. Or she may be targeted for some reason we don't know about."
"When I was on the phone with Michael, right before he disappeared, I heard him telling Maria not to touch something," Max mentioned.
"So she could have been the one to trigger the labyrinth by accident, and Michael got drawn in as well," Alex theorized. "It fits." He shook his head. "Well, we don't have much time. Are there any questions at this stage before I go on?"
A few of the group shook their heads, and nobody spoke up. Alex could tell that they weren't skipping question period because they were totally clear on the space/time labyrinth, but because none of them were even up to speed enough to know what to ask. **You didn't explain it well enough.** Still, there didn't seem to be anything to gain by making his friends hang back for remedial continuum theory, he'd have to charge ahead and hope for the best.
"Okay, first. Isabel." Alex turned to face her directly, and those perfectly styled eyelashes fluttered as Iz blinked in surprise. "You're the key player here. As I said, the biggest factor weighing against Michael is lack of information. He doesn't know what to expect in the labyrinth, except what he's already learned from experience in the time that he and Maria have been inside. He's going to overlook ways that he could use his powers to help himself out, and he's probably going to get blindsided by some of the dangers. Unless you can get into contact with him, and help guide him with what I've learned about the labyrinth."
Isabel's face had fallen. "Dreamwalking someone awake again?" She shook her lovely head in resignation.
"Dreamwalking is only the beginning, Isabel," Alex told her earnestly. "It's a sign, that you're mentalic - someone gifted with the talent to reach other minds. It's a rare and precious specialty of the power."
Isabel scoffed - she looked a little guilty about it afterwards, but didn't back down. "Okay, Alex," she said softly and evenly. "You tell me something about 'Mentalics.'"
Alex grimaced a little at the patronising tone in Isabel's voice, but he took her at her word. "No mentalic, no matter how well trained, how powerful, can touch conscious thoughts. They're like sparks - too hot to handle, and too quick to catch. That's why your talent first manifested as dreamwalking - there are no conscious thoughts to get in the way while someone is sleeping." He paused to let Isabel absorb that much.
"Okay." Isabel sounded confused and impatient at the same time, so Alex decided he had better move on.
"But you've already gone beyond that, Isabel," he continued. "You were able to communicate with Max while he was drugged, and you could get into Pierce's head and see a memory he was trying to repress when he was distracted. Each of these represent a step up in touching a mind that was partially conscious. You can go further, Isabel." He let her hear his desperation. "You *have* to."
After a few seconds, Isabel nodded. "I'll buy that. How?"
Alex smiled slightly. "Let's begin right here." He concentrated, knowing that he was focusing on a simple picture in his subconscious mind, without knowing *how* he did it. How far did this gizmo's influence go? "Tell me what I'm thinking of."
Isabel stared at him intently for several seconds, and then her head shook, golden strands flying everywhere. "No. I'm not getting anything."
"I think you're focusing too hard on what you think telepathy should be like," Alex guessed. "Just look at me as if you were about to dreamwalk me, and let it come."
Isabel sighed, not expecting anything to come of this either, but she relaxed - and almost jumped out of her chair. "A square! You were thinking of one of those dopey squares like in the ESP tests, right?"
Alex nodded wit pleasure, then waved to Max, Liz, and Tess, who were watching with hushed interest. "Try one of them."
Isabel turned to stare at Max with an odd expression on her face. "The first time you met Michael after that night in the desert, when you found out he went to the same junior high as we did!" Max blinked with surprise."Uh... yeah! I didn't even realize I was thinking about that, but you're right, I think it was in the back of my mind."
Isabel turned to Liz, who nodded slightly as if she had a test memory ready. Alex wondered if she would hold it too consciously for Isabel to get at it, but almost at once Isabel called "Got it! Some kind of caping trip with Maria and her mother... it looks like Maria was maybe thirteen or so, and the tent is set up in a flowered grove next to a loud waterfall!" Liz nodded agreement, looking surprised in spite of herself. Is turned on Tess, and frowned. "You I can't get through to."
"It doesn't matter," Max disclaimed hastily. "What about Michael?"
Isabel paused, the same look on her face. "No," she said after a moment. "There's no connection."
"Because you don't have a picture of him," Max pointed out. "Anyone have a snapshot of Michael with them?" He looked around the living room, but photoportraits of the resident were not in evidence.
"I don't think it's just that," Isabel continued. "I mean, I can get into people's dreams, but I can't go into their dreams in the past or the future." She turned towards Alex again. "From what you said, Alex, Michael and Maria aren't even in this time, they're wandering around history somewhere. So how can I reach them?"
Alex smiled, pleased that Isabel had thought about this. "A good point. But Michael and Maria aren't *really* in another time - they're just pushed away so it seems like they are. You should be able to contact either of them - especially if you use this to fine-tune the contact." Alex held out the crystal to Isabel again.
Isabel stared at it. "What do I do with that?"
"Touch it, Isabel," Alex suggested. Isabel hesitated, then reached out, the blue aura reaching up for her fingers again. "Use this energy to follow Michael with. That's a shadow of the force that threw him into time. You can use that to follow him there." Isabel looked dubious. "Trust me, Is. I've... " Alex shook his head and breathed deepy as a realization hit me. "I've DONE this... I mean, whoever's memories I've been getting from the alien washer has. Helped someone through a space/time labyrinth with mentalic powers. Trust me, I know it's possible."
"But she'll still need a picture?" Liz piped up. "To focus?" Alex nodded.
"Wait a second," Isabel said, looking around the living room herself. "I could have sworn..." She got up, leaving the crystal lamp in Alex's hands, and circled like a hawk searching for her prey. Finally Iz snatched up a photograph frame from the end table and brandished it at the group. "Hah!!"
"Um, well, Isabel..." Tess said uncertainly. "That's a picture of you and Max, not Michael."
"Is it?" Quickly Isabel opened the back and slid the picture out of the frame. Unfolding a fold, the picture was revealed to be a long shot of Max, Isabel, and Michael sitting together in a park from about a year before.
"Why did he fold himself out of the picture?" Liz asked softly.
"To fit Max and Isabel into the frame?" Alex suggested. Max shook his head.
"Classic Michael," Max muttered. But he didn't elaborate.
Meanwhile Isabel was rushing over to take the crystal back from Alex, staring fixedly at the picture of Michael. As soon as she had touched it, Isabel gasped again. "Oh, god. Oh, my god, Alex, I got something."
"What did you see?" Alex asked patiently.
"Uhh..." It took Isabel a few second to get her thoughts, (Michael's thoughts?) organized. "A tunnel splitting in two different directions underground. Standing alone in the middle or a restaurant. Me - seeing a young Isabel, no more than eleven years old, running through the back alley towards the Crashdown." She couldn't stifle a snort of amazement. "And running right through Maria!! An almost-invisible stairway stretching up into the sky. A... a wall of spikes, *way* too close for comfort."
Alex shuddered at that last with the rest of them, but he was relieved. "Well, this definitely confirms that they're in the labyrinth, and they seem to have leared the basics of getting around one. And we've demonstrated that you can contact Michael." Alex sighed. "Your turn, Max."
Max jumped, not having expected to get picked on. "Me? What do you want *me* to do?!"
"Now that Isabel has learned how to guide Michael, I think you should stand in as the challenge proctor," Alex explained. "There are a number of subtle ways that the proctor can influence challenge conditions, through use of the power and, like Isabel, orienting on the labyrinth with the Brundis crystal. Most importantly, as proctor you can hold the exit of the labyrinth open."
"The exit isn't always open??" Isabel piped up. "What kind of a shoddy labyrinth is this anyways?"
Alex smiled, shaking his head. "An exit is always open to regular space-time somewhere in the vicinity - and in the same time frame as Michael and Maria left from, of course. But left to itself, that exit could open into someplace unsafe in our world - or somewhere that a lot of questions would be asked if Michael and Maria just appeared there. Using the crystal, you can open and hold open an exit that's safe on both counts."
"A safe location," Liz repeated. "Preferably somewhere we don't even have to deal with parents asking awkward questions." She turned to Alex. "Could we do it right here?"
"No," Alex shook his head. "This is where the entrance to the labyrinth took place. The exit would have to be... oh, at least a hundred feet away." Max, Isabel, and Liz started thinking deeply.
"Valenti's," Tess spoke up. Everyone turned to stare at her. "Well?" she shot back. "Sherrif Valenti knows about the alien stuff, so does Kyle. Short of the pod chamber, it seems to be our best choice."
"Pod chamber would be tricky - too far from the entrance," Alex added. "Valenti's is just about right, and we'd better get a motor on." He stood up, then thought of something. "Anybody know where the healing stones are off the top of their heads?"
Max nodded in surprise. "Michael insists on keeping them right here." He crossed the living room, and pushed aside the molecules of a brick wall with a careless wave. Reaching inside the small cavity, he brought out a double handful of orangish healing stones and closed the brick up again with no more than an intense look. "Why? There isn't that much danger of physical harm in the labyrinth, is there?"
"No... at least not especially," Alex mumbled. "But these stones do more than heal. They're often used just as a mechanism for power transfer. Helping out Alex is going to be a more exhausting application of power than anything you guys have been through bfore. With these guys," Alex picked up one of the healing stones meaningfully, "Liz and I can help, by adding our strength to yours." Alex sighed.
"And now we've gotta get going. Um... Max, could you drive Isabel and me over to Valenti's in my car? I was thinking I could help her communicate back to Michael through the link..." Alex faded out as he realized who that division would leave. Liz and Tess, never the most compatible of the gang. Also two of the least experienced drivers, for Max to entrust his Jeep to one of.
But Max hardly batted an eye. "Okay." He tossed the Jeep keys over to Liz, and caught the Taurus keys from Isabel. "Oh, one more thing." Max turned back to Liz. "We ran into Courtney Banks on the way over here. She said they were shorthanded at the cafe because Michael and Maria were shorthanded for their hifts, and wondered if you could pitch in. We can't exabtly afford to do without you right now, but I thought I should at least tell you."
"Okay." Liz nodded, then did a doubletake. "She said *what* exactly??"
As quickly as possible, Max replayed the encounter with Courtney, noticing that Liz's puzzled frown was growing deeper and deeper. "What's wong, Liz?"
"Neither Michael nor Maria have shifts today at the Crash," Liz explained simply.
"How do you know?" Tess asked.
"Because Maria was asking if I'd be free tonight to hang out somewhere if... well, if her meeting with Michael didn't end up with the two of *them* going out somewhere. She wouldn't have been making plans like that if either of them had to work."
Alex thought about it a second. "We can check it out later," he decided. "For now..."
"I know, I know..." Liz chimed in. "Go. Go! GO!!" She was already leading the way towards the door.
* * * *
In the apartment across the street from Michael's place, Steve Banks groaned and flipped open a cell phone, tapping one of the speed dial buttons. Ring. Ring. "Yeah?" the voice on the other end replied.
"Meltdown," Steve replied casually.
"How bad?"
"The labyrinth gambit - the human girl got caught inside it. Whatshername - DeLucca. Courtney confirmed it."
A pause. "That's a problem."
Steve sighed. "Not if she gets out alive."
"What was the point, if they were going to get out alive anyways?"
Steve ignored that. "Their little friends seem to have figured out what's going on already. I think I may have underestimated them, which is a good thing in this case."
"Which means, your plan has gone wrong so badly that you're actually *hoping* we get out of it faring about as well as we came in."
"I'm aware of the irony, Soren."
"Hmm..." Steve's co-conspirator considered. "Would it really be so bad if *neither* of them got out? The arbiters might never find out that DeLucca got hurt."
"We can't afford to take that chance."
"You're probably right. Well, once this little escapade is done, let me know. When my turn comes I'm *not* going to underestimate the royal four." The line clicked off.
Steve stared at the cellular handset. "Are you sure?" he asked rhetorically.
* * * *
(October 23 2000. I'm not going to try to catalog the time periods that Michael and Maria wander through in the labyrinth, because it's so not the point.)
Michael relaxed once he and Maria had finished stepping up/down the freaky stairway, taking them down in lockstep from the sky, and through the steakhouse. The underground passage seemed the safest and least weird part of this whole creepy place.
"Well??" Maria drawled out, looking up at him.
"Well what?"
Maria shook her head again. "My question?" Michael must have looked blank enough for Maria to repeat. "Just what the heck do you put in those sandwhiches that you take to school?"
Michael hesitated. "Oh give me a break," Maria exclaimed. "After the embarassing story I just told you, you're worried about some sandwhich recipe??"
Michael sighed. "Okay, if you really want to know. Well..." Michael smiled as he remembered the day he had first hit on the combination. "There's pancake syrup. The imitation maple stuff. A little strawberry jelly. And... this hot red pepper spread stuff."
"Eww!!" Maria said, shaking her head. "Gross."
"Hey, don't shake your head at me," Michael said as they rounded the sharp corner to the other branch of the fork. "A hybrid I was born, and a hybrid I shall remain. Therefore I crave the things that are spicy hot and sweet at the same time." He looked over at Maria as they headed along the downward-ramping passageway, and two more words slipped out before Michael could stop them. "Like you."
Mara looked up at him in surprise, and Michael looked away before she could make eye contact, focusing on the pathway ahead of him. But he could tell that Maria was thinking about whether she was going to reply to what he had just said by the sound of her breathing. Deciding against it. He heard her turn her own head to face forward, and right then he couldn't resist sneaking a sidelong glance at her. Maria was blushing.
"Well, I guess it's my turn to ask a question again?" Michael said, trying to get a reasonably safe topic of conversation back.
"Yes," Maria said deliberately. "And may I say, that was pretty much a waste of a turn."
Michael had to take a few seconds to understand the convolutions of Maria-logic there. "No," he said finally. "That *so* does not count as a turn."
"You put forward a question for me to answer," Maria countered. "I answered it truthfully and without reservation. That counts."
"Not a chance," Michael insisted. "There has to be a distinction made between questions *in* the game and queries *about* the g..."
"Save it, spaceboy," Maria interrupted, shoving him playfully on the arm. "Weirdness ho. Snap to."
Michael looked down the passageway where Maria was pointing, and quickly he understood what she meant. The tunnel narrowed to a dead end, with a line on the floor before the final wall marking off a square perhaps five feet to a side. He approched it cautiously, not wanting to blunder into something that might be dangerous. The spikes had taught him *that* lesson well enough, thank you very much.
"Look", Maria said, pointing up to the top of the tunnel near the dead end. "Shine the light a little brighter, Twinkles."
Michael had to fight back a growl at *that* new nickname - he didn't want to give Maria the pleasure of seeing how she was riling him. But he brightened the glow from his hand by three notches and stretched it out in front of them, trying to better illuminate what Maria was pointing at.
"There isn't any ceiling above that square," Maria pointed out. "Could that be the way this passage continues?? Up!?"
Michael edged carefully even closer, being careful not to let any part of himself cross over the line yet. "I don't see how. There are no ladders, no rope -- nothing to climb. How the heck are we supposed to get up there?"
Maria considered. "Could you... you know, lift us up? With your powers??" Maria made a cute 'whooshing' gesture with both arms.
"Ummm..." Michael considered that. "I might be able to 'push' you up there... though I wouldn't make any guarantees about how comfortable the ride would be - or how accurate my aim, for that matter. I don't have that much control over my kinetic powers yet. And I've *never* been able to fly through the air myself with my powers."
"Why not?" Maria asked in an aside. "You can 'push,' as you say it. If you push down on the earth beneath you, and it's secure enough, it won't move. I would think the combination of force and resistance would make you rise into the air."
"Maria?" Michael, asked, sighing.
"Yeah?"
"Focus?"
Maria shook her head slightly. "'Lack of control.' Got it, chief."
Michael looked around. "If we had enough source material to work with, I could *create* a ladder. But all these rock walls are out of phase with us - this whole *area* is solid rock, including where we're standing. The true walls are the invisible ones." Michael focused on the nearest invisible wall, trying to reform its molecules, but got no results. Probably it was really made out of some kind of force field. No molecules meant no molecular manipulation.
"You know, maybe we're being too complicated," Maria decided. "This alcove almost looks like an elevator carriage, except no doors. Maybe there's a push button inside to make the whole thing go up." And before Michael could stop her, she dashed across the line to investigate the alcove.
Michael suffered a siege of panic. For an instant he wanted to charge in right behind Maria. Then it occured to him that if what was inside the alcove was truly deadly, she might be better off if he stayed outside and tried to use his powers to protect her or pull her back out. So, all he ended up doing was waiting to see what happened to Maria inside the alcove, holding his breath.
Nothing seemed amiss at first. Maria ran her hands over one of the alcove walls, looking for hidden switches or touch panels. After not quite two seconds, though, she became aware of something, and spun around to look at Michael. "Aack!!"
"What's wrong?" he asked quickly.
"I'm... yahh!" Unable to finish the sentence, Maria gestured at the floor. Michael looked down and immediately recognized the problem. The soles of Maria's boots were dangling about an inch above the floor, and slowly rising.
WHOOOSH. Michael didn't consciously key in his powers, but they had been on emergency standby for just enough instants to make that not necessary. As soon as Michael had recognized, alien forces rushed blindly out to coerce a solution. WHOMPP!! The impact would probably have been bone-breaking if Michael hadn't been 'pushing' against another unearthly force - it turned out to be merely startling. Maria shook off the impact and waved a hand in Michael's direction as a calm-down signal.
"I shouldn't have freaked. Come on. *This* is how we travel upwards. The alcove doesn't go up, like an elevator chamber. Only *we* go up!!"
Understanding hit Michael like a stinging softball. Of course. That had to be it! He rushed forward across the line, releasing his light kinetic grasp from Maria only when he was close enough to actualy touch her. Sure enough, soon he felt the mysterious lifting effect, first just taking some of the weight off of his feet, then more, then all. He couldn't put a finger on when they actually left the floor, but soon enough Michael estimated their upward speed as just short of two feet a second.
"Second floor coming up quick," Maria announced. She was right - though the shaft proceeded upwards further than Michael could immediately make out, a rectangular opening seven or eight feet long in one of the 'walls' indicated a possible stop coming up soon. Michael had only a second to think, so he chose what seemed like the safer course. If they let this route pass by, they would be unable to return to it without finding some way of going *down* the 'up' shaft. Whereas if Michael and Maria took this routing, presumably they could return to the shaft and continue on up.
"Come on." Gatering Maria in one of his arms, Michael kicked against one wall and the two of them sailed gracefully through the opening - only to catch their balance less gracefully when gravity reasserted itself.
Maria looked around. Another tunnel passageway stretched ahead of them, ramping upwards slightly and curving to the right. She shrugged. "Might as well check it out."
Michael reached out an arm to keep Maria from walking down the corridor. In a way that he never had before, Michael *extended* his senses down the passageway. The results were unmistakeable - and not positive. "No," he muttered, shaking his head. "This is another dead end."
"How do you know?" Maria demanded.
"I can tell," Michael explained lamely. "With my powers. Isabel just told me how."
"Isabel??"
And the full realization hit Michael only then. "Isabel's been communicating with my subconscious, from out in the real world. The whole gang is working to help get us out. This is an alien thingee called a space/time labyrinth..." Michael shook his head. "I'll tell you about it as we go. Come on." He all but dragged Maria back into the levitator shaft.
* * * *
"He got the messgages," Isabel announced in a relieved voice. "He told Maria that we're all here, pulling for them. And then he took her back into the levitator shaft - I think he was able to do what you told me about, to sense with his powers and tell that it was a blind alley."
"Great!" Alex exclaimed, smiling back at Iz. "Good timing too, because I think we're... here."
Sure enough, Max was just bringing the Taurus in for a carefree parking job in front of Jim Valenti's house. Max's Jeep and the Sherrif's cruiser were parked in the driveway. Alex looked around for Kyle's old Prowler, but he couldn't see the navy blue car anywhere.
"We'd better hurry inside," Max said. "Liz and Tess are probably facing down Valenti alone."
They rushed inside as quickly as possible. Isabel seemed to be a little dizzy after the huge effort of communicating to Michael across the time differential, so Alex offered her his arm for support as she hurried up the front walk, still clutching the blue crystal lamp in her other hand. Max led the way.
"Max," Valenti called out as Alex and Isabel were making their way through the front door. "Maybe *you* could shed a little light as to what the hell is going on here?"
"Allow me, sir," Alex replied. "Michael and Maria's lives are in danger from an alien booby trap. I think I may have an idea as to how to get them out, but it'll require the five of us working non-stop from a secure location where no-one will see things that can't be easily explained. Tess suggested we ask you if we could do it here."
Valenti looked still grim but slightly mollified. "Go on." As quickly as he could, Alex went over the essentials of the situation, trying to explain as clearly as possibly without going into things that would be too hard for Valenti to understand.
After a few questions, Valenti paused, to consider. "It's a hell of a story," he muttered. "You give me your word that all of this is so, as far as you could possibly be expected to determine,"
"I do, sir," Alex and Max answered at the same time. Alex looked around and saw that Isabel, Liz, and even Tess were nodding in support of him.
Jim Valenti nodded in acceptance. "Okay, then. Have you given any thought to what your parents are going to think when you don't come home tonight? From what you've said, this 'rescue mission' could last well into the night, if not longer."
Alex blushed in embarassment. "We... we hadn't really gotten that far, sir."
"Alex..." Isabel stage-whispered. Alex turned around to look at her, and immediately realized what was on her mind.
He turned back to the sheriff. "We can discuss alibis later - it's still early. For right now, is there a place where Isabel can relax and concentrate in peace?"
Valenti considere. "Yeah, use my room. Hallway over there, first on your right."
"Thanks." Next Max. "Give us about four minutes to make sure that the connection is stable, and then come inside quietly. I'll show you how to use the Brundis crystal to start opening a exit for Michael right here." Isabel let out a little gasp, clutching the crystal instinctively tighter.
Max went over to Isabel, rubbing her shoulder supportively. "Don't worry, Is. Everything's going to be alright." He turned to Alex. "She can do this without the crystal now?"
"Once the connection is strong, she should be able to maintain it without using the crystal," Alex explained. "And vice versa - if she needs to use the crystal briefly, it shouldn't disrupt what you're doing." He turned to Isabel. "Come on." He led her in the direction that Valenti had indicated.
Just before they stepped into Valenti's bedroom, Isabel turned to Alex. "Thank you for all of this, Alex," she said, smiling shyly. "Doing all this to rescue Michael and Maria, teaching Max and I what we need to know, helping to convince Valenti..."
"It's nothing," Alex assured her. "I want to get Maria and Michael back as much as you guys do. But you're welcome."
Isabel grinned again, then headed into the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the bed. Alex closed the door and breathed deeply. "Just relax and let the connection re-establish itself. You know Michael's mind, it's right in front of you. Reach out and touch it..."
* * * *
Alex gently took the Brundis crystal out of Isabel's hands, trying not to disturb her concentration, and tiptoed back out the bedroom door, letting Max gently close it behind him. Neither of them said anything until they had left the hallway.
"So... any idea where would be good for the exit, man," Max asked with a slightly tired smile. He'd be a lot more tired before all of this was over, Alex suddenly realized.
"Um... right here in the living room should be good," Alex decided. "Close the drapes so nobody can see in from inside - push the sofa back against the dinner table; move the coffee table to the side wall, and there'll be a nice open space to work in here."
"Oh, sure," a familiar sarcastic voice replied. "Just rearrange my bedroom without so much as a 'please.' Typical."
Alex looked up. Yeah, that was Kyle sitting on the couch. The couch that Alex vaguely rememembered hearing Kyle was sleeping on since Tess had moved into the Valenti's - apparently Kyle's sense of chivalry, which Alex had never even really seen evidence of, had balked at the prospect of keeping the bedroom and leaving Tess the couch.
"I'm sorry," Max said to Kyle. "But we're in red alert mode. Keep quiet and out of the way so we can work, okay."
"Or make yourself useful," Tess chimed in. Once again, Max and Liz turned to stare at her. "Well? We're doing the alien-human team-up thing, right? Alex is helping Isabel with the psionic thing, Liz is gonna be 'lending her energy' to Max with one of the stones. Maria is probably helping Michael out, inside the maze. Well, I'm Max's relief as the proctor, so I get a human partner too." She got up and very deliberately sat down on the couch next to Kyle. Max and Liz were still staring.
"Okay." Alex shook his head. "Moving on. Max, Liz..." He waved them to the living room floor. "Let's get this started. Tess.... Kyle, I guess you guys should pay attention." Soon Alex, Liz, and Max were sitting in a triangle on the carpet. Alex handed Max the Brundis crystal.
"Okay, now... I guess the first thing you need to do is to get an awareness of the labyrinth through this," Alex started. "Use the crystal. Think of it like... like you're trying to get a flash from the thing."
"I can't get a flash on command," Max protested.
"You can with this thing," Alex assured him. Max looked dubious, but he closed his eyes and pressed a hand more closely into the crystal - and gasped. Alex smiled slightly. "What do you see?"
"It's... it's not *see* so much as sense..." Max gasped out. "The entire layout of a maze... more complicated than any maze could be here on earth. I... I can't get more than a dim impression of the design as a whole. Once I concentrate on any part, I can sense more detail about it."
"Okay, that's good," Alex explained. "Can you see a marked exit of any kind??"
"Yes, it's..." Max drew in a sharp breath. "It's in midair - about thirty feet above the street, just outside the UFO center."
"Okay," Alex said calmly. "Don't panic about that. Just take that exit and try to *pull* it right here. To Valenti's living room."
"H-how?" Max asked, a flash of uncertainty crossing his face, eyes still closed.
"Use your powers, Max," Liz guessed.
"That's right." Alex confirmed. "Treat the exit like it's... a ball, that you're pulling through the air. Bring it here."
"Okay..." Max concentrated again. "Oh, no. The exit closed as I moved it."
"That's okay, Max," Alex told him with a small smile. "Another exit should manifest, closer to us. Once it opens, draw it near like you did the other one, okay?" Max nodded. Alex turned to Liz. "You have the healing stone?" Liz smiled and waved it in the air slightly. "Then just hold it in both your hands, and concentrate on helping Max. Just like when we were hea-" He broke off, kicking himself mentally for having forgotten.
"I never helped heal Michael," Liz reminded him. "River dog wouldn't let me. He said I was too afraid." Alex could still hear the... the shame in Liz's voice, that she felt over that.
"Are you too afraid now?" Alex asked her.
"Well... I don't think so. How would I know?"
Alex smiled comfortingly at her. "Don't worry. Using the stones to lend strength is nowhere near as potentially dangerous as a healing. Do you know what to do, Liz?"
"Um... yeah, yeah, I think so." She smiled shyly back at him.
"Okay." Alex stood up. "I'm going to go check in on Isabel, but I'll be liasing with you guys. Keep the faith." He waved slightly, then headed back towards the hallway.
* * * *
For Michael, the space/time labyrinth was starting to get distinctly routine.
Part of his mind focused on simply keeping himself moving - one foot in front of another, over and over again. Another part was devoted to 'sensing' about the maze layout, figuring out which turning to take at any time there was some sort of branch point. And whatever was left talked to Maria.
"So, when did you first realize that you were... you know." Maria shrugged. "'Different'?"
Michael considered that. They had been wandering around what looked like southern Europe for about fifteen minutes. Spain, France, Italy, some place that looked like it might have been part of the Yugoslavian war... they were moving too fast to keep track. The route was leading them back into the sky again, via a wide spiralling staircase, and Michael was just as glad about that.
"Let's see. Different? I guess there was this thing - about a few days after social services placed me with Hank. He had been drinking a little, and we got into a shouting match when he tried to get me to go to bed, and I was so angry I levitated the telephone table into the air."
"Oh my god, you didn't." Maria seemed to be holding back a gale of laughter.
"Yeah. I didn't even realize that there was anything unusual about it at the time. But Hank called social services and my placement worker came back out. She looked at the table, even asked me about it. I was so nervous I told her that I didn't know what Hank was talking about - I knew enough to guess that I had done something wrong. And then I realized that other people *couldn't* do that kind of thing."
Maria smiled. "Okay. Your question."
Michael had no idea where it came from. "When did you know you'd fallen in love with me?"
Maria tripped over a stair. Michael jumped forward to make sure that she was okay, but Maria caught her balance by herself. "Umm..." Flustered, she looked up at Michael, her bright eyes shining. "Okay, this game just blew out of the trivial category - you do realize that, right?"
"Yeah, I do," Michael said softly. "But... well, I'd really like to know."
"Okay." Maria was either concentrating on her feet and the stairs, or avoiding eye contact with Michael. "Let's see... when I knew I'd fallen in love with you?" She sighed. "I guess it would have to be that damned napkin holder. It was the sweetest thing that anybody's ever given me. And when I was heading to that shop class -- well, I just couldn't bear to hand it in and know that I'd never see it again. So I took the F in exchange for keeping the stupid thing. Why else would I have cared? It's not like holding napkins is more important to me than an 'A' grade on a daily basis."
"Oh." Michael smiled - and then it hit him exactly what he'd done when Maria thanked him for the napkin holder. He'd tried to sell her one one of his patented 'We can't be together' speeches. Let's see - that occasion had been 'I have to be a stone wall.' And she had just figured out that she was in love with him. Oh. Man.
"Let's see, turnabout is fair play," Maria decided. "Did you ever fall in love with me, and if so why?"
**Did I ever...** Michael froze. **God, Maria, I'm *still* in love with you!!** But he couldn't say that, and forced himself to step further up the stairs, noticing idly that they were above ice and snow now. It still seemed warm inside the labyrinth. "Yes... yes, I fell in love with you, Maria. It was during that whole bit with Topolsky coming back to town. Everyone was so afraid, and things were getting so crazy. After Topolsky broke into my apartment, I started worrying about what I'd do if something... scary, happened to you. Something really bad."
"And, I guess that's what love is. When you're more worried about someone else than about yourself."
"Aww..." Maria sighed. An awkward silence streched out the seconds. "God, I'm so hungry," Maria complained.
"Me too," Michael agreed. "And tired. But we can't wimp out now - there's worse to come, I bet."
"I'm not 'wimping out,'" Maria huffed. "Just commenting that I'm hungry."
"Dunno what good it's gonna do you," Michael pointed out. "I don't think you'll find a sun-dried tomato pizza just sitting here outside of the space/time continuum."
"You know, being this sarcastic is not really helping, Michael."
"Sorry."
The spiral staircase came to a stop at a T-corner intersection. Michael considered briefly, then led Maria down the right passage, which he judged was taking them in the direction of Siberia - unless it pulled another surprise on them.
"So..." Maria started out again. "How did you *think* the meeting with me this afternoon was going to turn out?"
Michael thought a bit before answering. "Hey, you had the *last* question. It's my turn."
"You didn't *take* your turn."
"Well, maybe I wanna take it now."
"Do you really?"
Michael thought. "No, I'll answer yours. But I get two turns in a row sometime later. Let's see... the talk with you..." He sighed. "I'll level with you. I had no clue. I guess I figured I'd just take it as it came and see what happened."
"Is that the reason you put me off from Saturday night? Because you were scared??" Maria's voice betrayed her surprise.
"No, I *wasn't* scared," Michael sneered. "I... well, I didn't really want to do it until the whole thing with Liz and her parents and Whittaker was done. This afternoon seemed like the next good opportunity."
"Oh." Maria was surprised again. "Oh my god, Michael, I don't believe it. When you're wrong, you're wrong!!"
Michael blinked his surprise. "What the heck do you mean by that?"
"No food outside of the space/time continuum?" Maria laughed, pointing at something down at the side of the corridor. Before Michael could get a good look, Maria ran ahead, (giving Michael a good look of *another* kind,) and retrieved the item in question. "Want some?"
It was a bag of bacon chips, three-quarters full and sealed with an old clothespin. "Hey, I had a bag like that in my kitchen. Maybe they got blown into the labyrinth with us."
"Whatever, spaceboy. It's *food*." Maria opened up the bag, plucked out two chips, and brought them to her mouth.
"No!!" Michael yelled at her. Maria paused in pre-bite to give him an annoyed look. "We don't have anything to drink. I know you, Maria - if you start eating bacom chips, you're going to drive yourself crazy with thirst."
"C'mon, Michael." Maria pouted. "I'm hungry, it's food. I won't get too thirsty if I eat a few slow, one at a time. I've done it before. Trust me."
"Okay," Michael finally relented. Maria smiled and carefully crunched into her first chip. Suddenly, Michael's sense of the labyrinth flagged him to something. "Turn here."
"Where?" Maria spun to a right angle, and noticed something illuminated in the wall to their side - an opening only about seven or eight inches wide. "You've got to be kidding me."
Michael grimaced. "Whoops." Maria turned to look at him with a questioning glare. "I sensed that there was a 'way through' here. I didn't worry about how small it might be." He put a finger on one of the edges. "The wall is moving - very slowly closing further. If we didn't take that first wrong turning, we probably could have made it through."
Maria sighed. "So which way now?"
Michael concentrated. It was hard trying to sense an alternate route when his alien senses were telling him this path was still good, but soon enough he had it. "Back the way we came. Sorry."
Maria sighed and followed him back towards the T-intersection. "So, are you going to ask your t--"
Michael shushed her. "Quiet."
There was a dull pounding sound that Michael could only just hear. Of course, since they heard sounds from the outside, it could be a tribal drum ritual from some nearby native village, or something, but if so, why was it getting *louder*??
And then suddenly, something appeared. Out of thin air, apparently, though Michael suddenly realized it was just rounding the corner from the stairs that Michael and Maria had themselves climbed, and turning through the T-intersection. (That was worth making a note of. While this thing had been seperated from them by two 'invisible' walls, they couldn't see it, although they could still see the spot in real space that it was overlapping.)
But enough of that. The creature itself was seven and a half feet tall, easily three hundred and fifty pounds. Its feet were solid racks of white bone and green meat, it had three tentacles it waved angrily in the air, and two huge claws reached forward. Where Michael would expect its head to be was just a vague bump of brown fur, where a couple of darker patches perhaps protected eyes and ears.
Michael turned to Maria and said the only sensible thing. "Run!!" He pointed in the opposite direction from the monster, the 'wrong way.' Right or wrong, it was their only way now...
TO BE CONTINUED.