Homecoming, Part 4b: "End transmission"
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'
(Still Thursday, November 16 2000.)
"I didn't ask her any questions about the book or how she got it," Maria told them quietly. The seven core members of the gang had gathered out at the table next to the school baseball diamond as quickly as they could - which turned out to be the short break between second and third periods. "I kinda thought it was more important to bring the news to you guys that it had been *found.* Plus, you know, if I said the wrong thing and perked up my Mom's suspicions, it'd make whatever we're trying to do here that much harder, right?"
"Translation, you didn't want to be the one blamed for messing this up," Isabel said, "and came to us to spread the responsibility around." Iz noticed the look on Maria's face, a mixture of hurt and embarrassment. "Don't worry, it's probably what I would've done in your place too."
"And it was the right call to make," Max decided. "So, what *do* we do next?"
"If Mrs. DeLucca knows that that book is real, she's got to be plenty suspicious already," Tess pointed out.
"But there's no reason to assume that she does," Michael counterpointed. "All of our reasons for assuming that whoever found the book wouldn't realize it was genuine hold double for Maria's mom. She makes alien Roswell memorabilia herself. She presumably found the book in her friends' alien-theme restaurant. She'd have assumed it was a fake, a prop or a souvenir."
"Yeah," Liz agreed. "Let's take that from the other side. If Amy realized it was real, it would probably have resulted in a noticeable change in her behavior. Maria, has your mom been acting any differently of late??"
"No..." Maria said slowly. "Well, she's been cutting me a little more slack, But that could just be because she's actually hearing good things about me from my teachers."
"That better be it," Michael grumbled under his breath. He and Maria had been spending a truly heroic amount of time on schoolwork over the past few weeks, time that Michael at least would rather have put to other activities.
"Well," Alex suggested, "We do need more information, and Maria, you're the one who can ask your mom questions and attract the least suspicion." He thought for a moment. "Try to keep it simple and as normal as possible. You noticed the book - which is true enough - and you're asking her what it is and where she got it." Maria nodded in quiet agreement, resigned to her role.
"If all goes as we hope and Maria's mom really hasn't noticed anything weird about the book, then you're probably the best one to talk her into giving it up, - Liz." Max had seemed an instant away from calling Liz 'sweetie' or some other affectionate name in front of Tess. "She thinks it came from the cafe..."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Liz sighed. "My mom needs it back, we've been looking for it, Agnes didn't tell us she'd sold it or whatever, as per Maria's recon. I know the drill." The bell rang.
"Well, is there anything else?" Alex asked quickly. Nobody said anything. "Well then, let's get to class people!"
As Max got up and hurried over to follow Liz, the dark-haired girl fixed him with a powerful stare. Her lips moved silently, fairly clearly mouthing 'tell her.' Her head jerked ever so slightly in Tess' direction.
Max was about to protest, then thought better of it after a second. Liz had a point. As the rest walked away, Max returned to Tess, who was still sitting at the table. Liz hung in the middle distance, trying to make it seem as if she was waiting for Max but not paying attention to what was going on.
"Um, Tess, uh..." Max started awkwardly. "There's something that I've been, er, that is, I think you should kn--"
"You and Liz are together again," Tess cut to the point simply. "I was wondering when you'd get the balls to actually tell me. Actually, Kyle thought you'd be the first to crack, Liz." Liz blinked and dropped the pretense of not listening in.
"Umm... when, I mean..."
"Labyrinth day," Tess supplied helpfully, "when I first tumbled to it, that is. You weren't exactly discreet with the smoochies that night. And don't think I've missed the lengths you two have gone to sneak alone time on the quiet since then either. You don't exactly rock at the masters of secrecy thing."
"Oh," Max said, blushing up a storm by now, not quite sure how else to respond. "So, aside from that, how do you..."
"Don't worry, Max," Tess answered his half-unasked question a third and last time. "I'm not gonna make some embarrassing scene." She looked up at Max, and he was struck by the bittersweet expression on her face. "You've made your choice, and I hope you will be happy with what you find. I'm not about to humiliate us both by trying to force you into believing in us." A short sigh. "Again." And she got up and left.
Somewhat dazed by a reaction that he had not even considered, Max wandered over to where Liz was waiting. "Wow." A long silence resumed. "Did you have any clue that that was coming??"
Liz considered for a long moment, then shook her head. "Come on, we're late for class already." She took Max's hand and led him the way Tess had gone, towards the nearest doorway into the school.
* * * * *
"Okay, is there anything else?" Liz asked. She and Maria were up in Liz's room, discussing strategy for getting the book away from Maria's mother. The 'recon,' as Liz put it, had been done and apparently went smoothly. (Amy DeLucca had purchased the book from Agnes, the Crashdown's most irresponsible forty-ish waitress, as Maria had guessed, for the sum of thirty-five dollars and ninety-nine cents. She didn't appear to realize that it was anything other than a clever prop.)
"Just one - whose money is that? Are you paying for this mission out of pocket?" Maria pointed to the collection of bills Liz was folding into a small change purse - planned refund money. "Are you taking this hit out of pocket?"
Liz shook her head. "Nah, everybody pitched in. Well, me, Max, Michael, Isabel, and Alex. We didn't bug you about it since you were the one who had to find out what your mom knew."
"And you didn't want to face Tess again today," Maria sussed. "Well, I guess that's it, Let's go." She led Liz down the Crashdown stairs and out into the cafe's parking lot, where she had parked the DeLucca family Jetta. It was a quiet drive back to the small house she and her mother shared (and her mom just usually managed to make the mortgage payments on.)
Maria called her hellos as she walked in the front door, and her mom's answering call came from the kitchen. The strong odor of mom's vegetarian stew filled the air as Maria walked down the hall, made the perfunctory reference to Liz having something important to tell her about, and stepped back to let Liz make the spiel.
It worked well. Amy was upset to learn that she had purchased an item which hadn't been meant for sale, didn't seem suspicious about the hints that to mention the subject directly to either of Liz's parents would only be embarrassing for them, and she graciously refused to take back the money, since there was no indication that Agnes had put the money she originally received from Amy into the till. She asked Maria to keep an eye on the stew while she went to fetch the book back.
Liz and Maria had only shared a short smile of incipient victory when they heard Amy's footsteps coming back down the stairs. "You know, I bought this thing, I never even really had a chance to look through all of it." She reached the landing and started back towards the kitchen. "Your mother must have put a lot of detail into this, Li--" she broke off in mid-word, flipping a page and staring at it in shock, then going to another. **Oh, NO!**
Liz, at least, had enough composure to try to bluff it out. "What is it, Mrs. DeLucca??" she said brightly, stepping forward to meet the older woman half-way.
"I... these are..." Without words, Amy dropped the book and showed the page to Liz - it was the sketches of 'the royal four' as adults. The shock evident on her face, Amy flipped back through the 'teenagers' pictures to the 'children' ones.
"Oh, that, yeah," Liz said nonchalantly. "Mom asked some of our friends to model for it - I wasn't sure why at first, but it does look very 'alien-ey', doesn't it? Pictures from when they were six or seven, then current, then her guess of what they'd look like five years from now. Pretty good huh??"
"Umm... yeah." Still a little dazed-looking, Amy let Liz take the book back, and Maria couldn't help but feel a little jump on her spine as her best friend finally took possession of this thing they'd been searching for for so long. Right then the front doorbell rang, and Amy headed back into the kitchen, taking the stew stirring spoon back from Maria. "Could you see who that is sweetie?"
Maria headed over to the door and opened it. A middle-aged man stood there nervously. "Hi," he said. A short pause in which Maria didn't answer. "Do you remember me, baby??" Maria shook her head, but something was starting to click...
"My god, Ryan?!" Maria's mom headed over to the door, heedless of the stew. "What the hell are you doing here, you son-of-a-bitch?"
If the name hadn't clicked it in Maria's mind, her mom's attitude would have. Ryan DeLucca. Her father, the one who had run out on them when she was seven.
"I think I need to sit down," Maria whispered to no-one in particular.
* * * * *
(Sunday, November 19 2000.)
Alex picked up the ringing cell phone, pushed the talk button, and held it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Alex, it's Liz," the familiar voice announced. "Just thought I'd call in and see how the translation's going."
"It's going - slowly, but going," Alex sighed. "Still not beating a word every five minutes, but we're getting a notion what's in this book and where. What about you, how's the studying going for that big history test??"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Liz groaned. "Another reason why I called over there, actually - was wondering about coming over there and hanging around."
"Yeah, just a sec," Alex said, and tossed the phone across Michael's living room to Max, who caught it effortlessly in one hand.
"Hey, Liz?" Max said into the phone, and paused for a response. "Yeah, you know I can't wait to see you either, but we're just about to go back from break and put another hour or two into this. I'll come over there after we're done, okay? ... miss you too, darling."
"Don't hang up," Alex asked Max, and Max smiled and tossed the phone back - Alex tried to catch it two-handed, bobbled it, and just managed to get it onto the table without bouncing it too hard and picked it up. "Yeah, Liz?"
"Still here."
"Just wondering if you've heard from Maria about the whole 'returning father figure' thing?"
"Uh, yeah, she called me after she got back from dinner with 'him' last night. She's got a lot of issues to work through with him, but I think she's happy that he's come back and is at least making an effort to be a part of her life again."
"I'm glad," Alex commented vaguely.
"I think she'd like Michael to talk to her about the whole situation, but she's not sure how to bring it up," Liz said meaningfully.
Alex smiled. "Well then I guess maybe someone else will put a bug in mister Guerin's ear about it," he teased. "See ya?"
"Bye, Alex." He hung up the phone and looked up - the four pod squadders had gathered around the book again.
"I think this is the page to focus on," Isabel thought out loud. "It's obviously about the orbs, and Future Alex told you that we had to learn how to use the orbs as communicators. Right, Michael??"
"Yeah, he did," Michael agreed. "Hey, Alex, any idea what this word might mean? I don't think we've ever seen anything like it before."
Alex smiled to himself and headed over to help with the translation.
* * * * *
(Monday, November 27 2000.)
"Hmm..." Alex carefully scooped up some rice on the cooking spoon, dropped it carefully down onto his tasting spoon without letting them touch and gave it a try. "Hmm... yeah, that's *almost* done. Where's the chicken?"
"Umm... here, yeah." Isabel smiled as she passed a small plate heaped moderately high with little pieces of roasted chicken breast (some with browned and seasoned skin,) into Alex's hand. He poured the cubed meat into a big frying pan on the stove and started stirring energetically.
"So... how soon is this gonna be ready?" Isabel asked softly. "Michael and Maria aren't back yet, and you told me how this stuff doesn't do well if it has to wait long once it's done."
"Once it finishes cooking, it's alright if it cools for five or ten minutes," Alex assured his girlfriend, stepping up and kissing her quickly on the cheek. "Don't worry - they'll be here. Michael probably just stopped off at some point to have a talk with Maria."
Isabel's brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "Or else they're gettin' it on in the backseat of the Jetta. Are *you* ready to be the godfather of a quarter-alien crossbreed baby?"
"Very funny," Alex said, but he was grinning back at her. "You keep an eye on the rice - I'll go set the table."
Sure enough, Michael and Maria walked in the door when the risotto had been cooling for about four and a half minutes, and even Alex couldn't see signs that any more than first base had happened while the two of them were off running errands. Cake went into the fridge, videos onto the coffee table, and by then everyone was ready to sit down to dinner.
"Um, so..." Maria said after a moment, trying to break the silence that spread around the dinner table once everybody's plates were full. "How's this thing you guys are doing tomorrow going to work?"
Isabel and Michael both looked at Alex, so he shook his head and tried to explain. "Well, we all go up to the pod chamber. It's designed, in part, to function essentially as a huge communications antenna - so the orbs will work there and only there. And the direction in which that 'antenna' is pointing roughly has to match up with the planet we're trying to communicate with, which is why we all have to be out there around four in the morning."
"Max and Isabel will each take one of the orbs, key them and activate them, and will send out a message to K'starnis D. That's a colony world run by their people around 30 light years from the homeworld - we thought it'd be safer than transmitting directly to the home planet and having this tyrant Kivar or his people listening in, maybe tracking the transmission -- plus, the star maps in the book seem to indicate that it has a strong support for the old royal line."
"And then we try to get in touch with someone in charge there and verify the situation at the homeworld," Michael put in.
"So - the orbs weren't just to receive that message from your mom, huh?" Maria asked, trying to keep it all straight.
"No," Isabel agreed. "That was just the first step - probably a probe placed in stationary earth orbit to transmit a recorded message on the communicator frequency. But now we have to move beyond that, and actually make contact with another star system." Isabel shuddered for a second. "I wonder what it'll be like."
"In the general pattern, it should be very like getting the message from your mom," Alex reminded her. "You'll see the image of another person or persons there in the pod chamber. They'll talk to you in english, and they'll hear and understand you when you talk to them. They may appear considerably more human than they actually are. The holographic communication through the pods is largely mental, so things like language and physical appearance are compensated for."
It was much later that night when Alex, Isabel, and Maria finally got themselves out Michael's door. "We have... about four hours before we have to be heading out of town to get to the pod chamber," Alex commented.
"Are you complaining?" Isabel asked him in a throaty murmur, and Alex grinned and shook his head.
"You know, we didn't even take the cake out of the fridge, and though we *played* the movie, I don't know if anybody actually WATCHED it," Maria added. "I think I'm slightly upset that all of Michael's and my 'errands' didn't count for much."
"Really, Maria?" Alex asked. Maria smiled over at him.
"Not at all!"
* * * *
(Tuesday, November 28 2000.)
Maria yanked her hands back into her jacket sleeves as she got out of the Jetta. "The desert should never be allowed to get this cold!!" she muttered under her breath.
"Who're you gonna complain to, the weather control board?" Michael asked as he followed her. Maria shot him a withering glance over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, it's just... deserts are known for swings of temperature, not just heat. It's almost December, it's four AM, and it's been on the cool side for a week. Of course the desert is gonna be cold."
Maria didn't say anything in reply. Three cars had parked spread out in the vicinity of the angular mountain peak - Max's jeep, in which Liz had rode, the Taurus, in which Alex, Isabel, and Tess had come, and the Jetta. All seven young people were filing into the broken pathway that made its way up the slope.
Isabel was the first to make it to the top, and she put her hand into the outlined indentation casually, watching the doorway open with an almost blase look on her face. Maria knew that she was probably still a little nervous about the part she had to play in this morning's event.
They gathered inside the chamber quickly and let the door close again. This was actually the first time that Maria had ever seen the pod chamber, and she looked around eagerly, soaking up the significance that it held, especially in its relation to her beloved Michael. The four broken pods dominated the chamber, as far as design features. Which had been his??
But everyone else was taking their places. Max and Isabel stood near the front of the rectangular outline in the floor, facing an alcove which was presumably designed to act as a reception area for this kind of communique. Alex was hovering near Max, wanting to be able to help in any matters of protocol or alien custom that came up.
That left Maria standing with Michael, Liz, and Tess off near the solid rock wall, nearer to Isabel than Max. Michael took an orb out of his pocket and crossed over to hand it to Max. Tess fished the other out of a disguised wall recess near the pods, and passed it to Isabel, and then each of them resumed their places.
"And we're sure that this isn't gonna lead the skins right to us or something horrible like that?" Liz blurted out at the last second.
"The skins know where we are already, Liz," Alex reminded her softly. "And we can't summon any more because only four of them are allowed in Roswell at a time, according to the terms of the challenge." Liz didn't seem too reassured by that, but she waved Max into continuing.
When Max and Isabel held the orbs in their hands and concentrated, the reaction was almost instant. White spears of light burst out of them - out of the whirlpool galaxy symbols on them, Maria knew, though she couldn't see that kind of detail directly. The entire pod chamber started to brighten as the energy, the signal coming out of the pods fired up relays and transstators, and the entire chamber took on its role of 'communications antenna.'
Something seemed to be appearing in the space in front of Max and Isabel, but Maria couldn't tell very clearly what it was yet. It seemed to be just a black patch with stars sprinkled through it - of course. They hadn't made contact with anyone yet, they were just beaming a signal out into space. Communication would depend on someone else sending a signal back.
As if on cue, Max called out loudly. "I am Max of the Royal four, once known as king of the planet Azt. I wish to speak with the governor of the K'Starnis D colony!!"
They waited long seconds. Maria was all too aware that their window of communication with this planet was only ten or twelve minutes long - if they failed, they'd have to try this all again some other morning. (Well, Maria herself didn't really have to be here, she was just showing team solidarity. Next time she could beg beauty sleep, couldn't she??)
And then, suddenly, the space representation in front of Max and Isabel changed into a fifty-something bearded man dressed in something that looked halfway between medieval robes and a government worker's uniform. Maria was shocked - except for a slight whitish gleam about him that came and went, Maria couldn't have told that he wasn't physically present. "I am the one you seek," he said softly. "But 'Max,' you rule no more. I have sworn allegiance to the successor to the throne, and can obey your orders no more. What reason would you have to talk to me?"
Max was ready for this. "I am only looking for information - information about my homeland, in the long years that I have been gone, and particularly information about a challenge made between my mother and the usurper, if such a challenge does exist."
The governor blinked. "I may not speak with you about such matters. Allow me to fetch the local Arbiter of challenges. If any can tell you that which you seek, it will be she."
Max looked quickly over at Alex, who nodded. "Do so, as quickly as possible," Max instructed the older man. "We have a limited window for communicating with your planet at this time."
The old man vanished, replaced by a spinning design that looked vaguely like it might be an alien coat of arms. Max looked at Alex again. "Arbiter of challenges?"
"I'm not too clear," Alex confessed. "But I think that they are in charge of administering tests, bets, and the kind of dares like the one we believe has been issued on your behalf. Get as m..."
But Alex was cut off as the coat of arms turned into a woman - a reasonably unattractive woman, but human standards, though still undeniably human in appearance. Her medium brown hair was stringy, her figure showed few curves except for the ones near her stomach, and her face seemed dominated by a slightly mis-shaped nose. "I am Geralet, arbiter of the challenges for the K'Starnis colony," she intoned. "You claim to be of the reborn royal four??"
"I... I do," Max agreed, nodding.
"Permit me to verify before we speak further." Max, caught by surprise, had only nodded silently before the image of the ugly woman picked up a small metal rod and pointed it at Isabel, and then Max. As the red light bathed over each of them they staggered, and the red was echoed in the formerly pale blue glowing walls of the pod chamber.
And then she put her device away, and things returned to normal. "Your claim has not been disproven, so I shall proceed," Geralet continued. "You are correct in surmising that a challenge has been made by Kivar Andraikus, lately styling himself overlord of Azt, and the queen emeritus of the old royal line. Might I be permitted to ask how you came to possess this information?"
"Um, you may," Max stuttered out, and then decided it would be quicker to simply answer her question. "One of our number, and a human friend, were drawn into a space/time labyrinth, presumably by agents of Andraikus. While there, they received a message from the future self of another of our human friends."
"Interesting," Geralet mused. "Proceed, then - ask your questions."
"As far as we know, these are the terms of the challenge," Max said. "That the four of us have to return to Azt in a little over the year, and if we win I regain control of the government. If we fail to meet the time limit, Kivar keeps the power of the throne until he dies. Kivar is allowed to use four of his agents at any one time to keep us from accomplishing this, but they cannot kill humans or reveal that aliens are upon the earth to its population. Is all of this correct?"
Geralet paused to consider. "It is."
"Is it complete? Nothing of obvious significance missing?"
Geralet considered again. "Two considerations. First, you must not only reach the planet within the time alloted, but the royal palace grounds themselves. Kivar's people cannot interfere with you once you reach Azt, but time may be your undoing. Second, you must understand the limitations on your communications."
"They are these: You may use the orbs to communicate with anyone you can call by name, or make an open call for an arbiter of challenges, a common peasant, or a royalist soldier on any particular world. Of all the people you may contact, only the arbiters are bound to be honest to you, or to respond to you in any way." She paused. "Are there any other questions?"
"Yes, one," Isabel spoke up. "When we come back... can we bring others with us? Humans, I mean, earthpeople. Would they be welcome on the homeworld??"
Geralet seemed surprised by the question. "I do not believe anyone has raised the point before. But if you win the challenge, the word of the royal four will become law, and you may do as you please, particularly you, Max, once you reclaim your throne. I doubt that any but the followers of Kivar would refuse you in any case. One further point for he who would be king -" she turned to Max.
"Although you will reclaim the throne if you are victorious, you will not be able to pass it on to your immediate heirs. This body which is now yours is half human, and the people are not ready to accept a dynasty of mongrels. However, you may choose to select any Aztan of full blood and groom him or her to be heir to the throne, including some of your younger brothers and sisters that survived the purge and have been protected by the challenge."
"Thank you," Max said nervously.
"Would you prefer that I keep our discussion secret, your highness, or make it known?? I can defer to your wishes in this matter."
Max blinked in surprise. They had chosen this colony world for the sake of secrecy, but since the news seemed good (relatively speaking at least,) it seemed a good opportunity to intimidate the enemy. "Yes, let it be known that the Royal Four are coming home to free their people!!"
"I will let it be known that I was contacted regarding the rules of the challenge. I cannot pass along substanceless boasts in regards to a challenge." The arbiter fixed him with an icy stare as she said this.
Max sighed. "Very well. Tell..." Suddenly, Geralet's image winked out and the glowing walls of the pod chamber faded. "What happened??"
"It's four twenty-three," Tess said, checking her watch. "We probably just slipped out of alignment with the colony."
"But we've learned a lot," Michael pointed out. "The challenge is confirmed. There's only one question left we need answered."
"And what's that?" Maria asked, guessing what it would be.
"How the heck do we get home??" Michael asked with a sarcastic grin.
* * * * *
(Tuesday to Wednesday, November 29 2000.)
Alex sighed as he pulled aside his covers and climbed into bed. It had been hard to go to classes and act like everything was normal after what had happened that morning. The impossible was happening to them lately with remarkable frequency, but still - to have communicated with an alien planet, more than seventy light-years away from the earth - that was special. Trigonometry paled in comparison.
After school, a meeting of the gang over euchre had attempted to develop plans for moving forward. Aside from returning to translating the book (they only had a small portion of the text transcribed to english so far after more almost two weeks' hard work,) and attempting to find whatever other 'salvages' Nasedo had marked on the cave map, they didn't seem to have many ideas. Tess seemed to think that finding the artifacts that the military had recovered from the crash site, instead of the few scraps that Nasedo had been able to escape with, probably held the key to their escape. But where did that lead them?
Any pieces recovered by the military had probably been handed over to the special unit, not long after it had been formed. The special unit was gone now, dismantled by congress after Nasedo had torpedoed it in committee hearings (under his role as Agent Pierce.) And any attempt to track down what had happened to the personnel involved in the special unit, to the objects it had in storage would almost certainly draw suspicion their way - if there was any way to find such information at all.
Alex sighed, switched the lamp on his bedside table off and tried to fall asleep. For a while, he was too nervous to relax, but he must have fallen asleep because he dreamed - not alien dreams, but strange human ones with sneaking into foreboding buildings that were serving roasted chicken, and arguing with a little handheld computer that was trying to convince him that he was the Baker. And Isabel, kissing Isabel, more than kissing her - except Isabel's hair had turned dark, so dark a brown that it was nearly black...
He woke up to feel something sharp playing up and down the side of his leg, under the covers. Instinctively, he turned to the clock - 1:27 AM.
"Now, just relax, do what I tell you, and you're gonna be just fine," a familiar voice advised him. But familiar from where? In the darkness, Alex could see a tall man's shape sitting next to his bed, holding whatever weapon underneath that had been used to wake him up.
"S... Steve??" Alex guessed sleepily. "Steve Banks??"
"Oooh, I knew you were a sharp one," Steve told him. "Well, come on now Alex. Get up and get dressed. We've got a lot to do tonight."
Alex blinked - reached out tentatively for the lamp, and when no refusal of the idea was forthcoming, he switched it on. His bedroom sprang into relief in the pale light from the corner, including his unexpected visitor. Next he lurched somewhat unsteadily to his feet and opened a dresser drawer.
"What should I... do I have to..." he mumbled.
"I don't care," Steve snapped curtly, "so long as you don't attract undue attention." Guided by that, Alex tossed an old sweater on over his t-shirt, pulled on some jeans, socks, and shoes. He was almost painfully aware of the presence of the washer, hanging by a length of soft string under his shirt, where he usually kept it, and felt determined not to draw any attention to it. This was one advantage that they had that the skins maybe didn't know about, and he would keep it that w...
"Wait a second. You're one of the skins, right?" he clarified, looking up from a half-tied running shoe. "Kivar's agents here on earth."
"Bright boy again," Steve said, but his voice was clearly impatient.
"Then what are you gonna do to me if I don't co-operate? You can't kill me, or it'll cost your side the challenge. No killing humans, right??"
"So you guys *do* know about the challenge," Steve said wonderingly, shaking his head. "Well, think about this, you little snot." He stood up and suddenly the knife he carried was at Alex's throat. "If you cross me, I know a few little things I can try out without killing you. Lifetime of pain is what we're talking about here. Plus, you've got a father and a mother in this house too, right? Don't think I won't use them as incentive too. Let's see, there's the male human sex organs, for a start, right?" Steve gestured his knife meaningfully towards Alex's crotch. "Extremely sensitive to pain, and just as a bonus, any permanent mutilation or amputation is highly traumatic in social terms. So I'm gonna tell you again, Alex -- finish getting dressed and let's go."
Alex breathed deeply and realized he had lost this round. The alien known to the world as 'Steve Banks' almost certainly had the power to make good on his threat - and the inclination to. He wanted Alex for something, but Alex couldn't dare refuse. Not... yet.
The two of them headed silently out the of the house, and Steve stretched out his free hand commandingly to Alex once they were out the front door. "Keys?"
Alex shrugged. "In my other pants. You didn't say to bring them."
Steve smirked, "Whatever." Bringing his weapon hand close to the lock for a second, it spun around for a second and sound of the deadbolt sliding over could be heard. "Good luck getting back inside once this is all over."
Alex headed down the porch stairs, Steve behind him, and naturally headed right towards the driveway. A gentle poke from the knife brought him to a stop again. "Where do you think you're going??" Steve asked in a low voice.
"Umm... to my car?" Alex muttered, though he had realized that the assumption was flawed by now. Steve guided him left (straight over the lawn, of course,) to where a forest green Viper was parked. Steve fished in his pants pockets and produced a key ring, which he handed to Alex. "Get behind the wheel."
For a second Alex was surprised, but he knew that Steve meant it. As we walked slowly around the car, he realized why. If Steve was driving the car, his attention would be split between the controls, the road, and Alex. For Alex himself to be doing the driving meant one last distraction, so that Steve could concentrate totally on Alex and where they were going. He unlocked the door, clicked the master unlocker and slowly got behind the wheel.
"Where to?" Alex asked nervously as Steve got behind the wheel.
"First, your girlfriend's place. I assume you know the way, right?" Alex chuckled nervously and started down the familiar route to the Evans' house. The sports car was a lot more responsive than anything he was used to driving, and he had to make sure not to give it too much gas or turn too quickly. Soon they were there, and Steve pointed out that he should park in what was left of the Evans' driveway, across the sidewalk.
As he got out, Alex noticed a few other figures waiting on the Evans' front walk. It was Liz - and Grant Sorenson. Suddenly another aspect of the plan clicked into Alex's brain. This was bigger than him - probably a LOT bigger.
"Where were you?" the geologist growled as Steve and Alex walked over.
"Little Alex here is a deep sleeper," Steve said casually. Alex noticed that Grant was holding a hand behind Liz's back. He opened his mouth, but Grant quickly spat 'no talking,' and Alex fell silent.
Liz caught his eye as they walked towards the house though, and nodded ever so slightly. Alex wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
It followed through as Alex had expected. Grant broke into the Evans' house with his powers as Steve must have gotten into his, even disabling the fancy security system with no more than the wave of a hand. Alex was hurried up into Isabel's room, while Grant and Liz went to fetch Max. "Wake her up," Steve whispered to him.
Umm... Alex walked towards the bed. "Isabel??" He kneeled down - noticing that Steve stayed close to him as he did - and brushed a lock of Isabel's hair away from her face. "Iz, baby?? We've kinda got a problem here."
"Alex??" Isabel murmured sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"What is it?" At this point Isabel turned his way and opened her brown eyes - and nearly screamed in shock. Her mouth slammed shut, muffling a surprised exclamation -- that was probably Steve's power at work. Once she could open her mouth again, Isabel whispered softly "What is *he* doing here??"
"Keep it quiet, sweetheart," Steve said softly. "And don't go getting no brave ideas either."
"Meet Steve Banks," Alex said sarcastically. "Friendly neighborhood 'skin.'"
"Also, if you're trying to contact your brother," Steve related, "you can probably tell that he's also being taken care of. In fact... SHIT!!!" Quickly the alien tossed a small object to the other side of Isabel's bed and hurried out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. "SOREN! TAKE COVER!!" Alex could hear the yell from where he was.
"Alex, what's..." Isabel said, still not quite awake, but obviously with it enough to worry about what their enemy had just done. Alex climbed over the foot of Isabel's bed to try to grab whatever bomb Steve had dropped there, but it went off as he got near. Alex recognized the device.
FWOOOMM!! Again the blue pulse passed through his body without any apparent ill effect, but Isabel moaned and spasmed as she sat on the bed. Alex noticed idly that she was wearing a pretty pink shirt as a pajama top, though he couldn't tell what else.
"Alex, what was that?" she asked, instinctively crawling into his arms.
"It's like that device we found in the UFO center," Alex said, reaching awkwardly down to pick it up off the floor. "We might be able to use it, if..."
Of course, at precisely that moment, Steve Banks threw the door open again, snarling with frustration. "Okay, children, let's go. Where's is it?" Alex shrugged weakly and Steve pushed the two of them aside long enough to look over the bed. "The trithium amplifier, Whitman, *where is it??*"
"I... I dunno," Alex said with as much confused veracity as he could summon up. "I didn't see the damn thing, just what it did, yahh, to..."
Steve had pushed Alex and Isabel to their feet by this time, (probably again with the help of his powers,) quickly patted down the pockets in Alex's jeans (like they were big enough to hold the device, and rooted through the covers on Isabel's bed. "Now, how did it get here?" He muttered, pulling the generator from out under the sheets. "You're a real smart-ass, aren't you Wh--- WHOA!!"
While the skin had been looking for his little weapon, Alex had been busy too - grabbing the nearest heavy object he could find (some sort of trophy sitting on Isabel's bookcase,) and had been in the very act of whipping the thing towards the base of Steve's skull. Unfortunately, he didn't have quite enough time. With a quick narrowing of his eyes, the alien sent Alex and his makeshift weapon flying through the air and solidly into Isabel's closet door. For a second Alex's feet dangled several inches off the floor, and when the force suddenly eased, he dropped down in an uneven bump, tearing the poster of Scott Foley down as he went. (Well, not like *that* was any great loss.)
Steve grabbed Isabel's hand and charged over to Alex. "That crossed a line, Whitman. I've been a sport about this up to now, but you have to realize that your actions have consequences here. *That* choice of action..." and he threw Isabel aside violently so that she landed on her butt next to her large armoire, "has THIS consequence." And he grabbed Alex's left forearm and drove the knife into it.
"Ahhh!!" The pain was intense and startling, but not incapacitating. Alex watched in a mixture of discomfort and morbid curiosity as his blood filled the wound and started to spread around his arm, falling to the floor of Isabel's room in a series of irregular spatters. But Steve didn't look like he was done.
"Almost - ah, here!!" He dug the knife in harder, and this time the pain was overwhelming, like a river of molten lava streaming up his arm and into his head, his chest, filling the rest of his body. His legs lost strength and after a second Steve let him fall to the floor.
The next thing Alex knew clearly, the pain was starting to fade and Steve was wrapping a length of cream-colored fabric, (another of Isabel's shirts? A skirt, he couldn't tell) around his arm as a makeshift bandage. "If you don't get that looked at by a doctor before midmorning, you'll probably lose feeling and motion in your left hand permanently," Steve told him casually. "Call that another incentive." With a dramatic flourish, he cleaned away the bloodstains on Alex's sweater and jeans, on the floor, and on Steve himself. "Ready to go??"
Isabel got dressed in street clothes quickly, (Alex looked away in gentlemanly fashion even though he suspected she wasn't going to let anything show any more than he did, and even Steve did her the courtesy of only watching out of the corner of his eye.) They saw Grant, Liz, and Max heading out, but the parties headed back to two separate cars - apparently they were synchronized as far as schedule but separate otherwise.
Alex got ready to get into the driver's seat again, but once again Steve stopped him. "That's not in the plan even if your arm was okay, Whitman," he muttered gruffly. He was right, Alex still had no strength left in his left hand, which would make driving difficult or worse.
"Hand the keys to Evans." Alex dug out the Viper's key ring, passed it to Isabel, and let Steve bundle him into the back seat. **This makes sense too. As long as he's got me back here, Isabel isn't likely to try anything stupid.**
"Where to?" Isabel asked dully, turning the ignition.
"Head east out of town on route 380," Steve instructed. "I'll let you know when we get to our turnoff."
For a while, there was no sound heard inside the Viper but the hum of the motor and Isabel's breathing. Alex wanted to say something to break the silence -- but what do you say in a situation like this?? He wasn't sure about directly reassuring Isabel because, well, one, Steve might not like it, and two, he couldn't promise her that everything was going to be all right. And nothing was popping into his head that seemed like reasonably small talk with the alien mercenary who's just kidnapped you and your hybrid girlfriend and stabbed you in the arm.
"Turn right here," Steve instructed Isabel. She slowed down as they left the highway (such as it was,) for a flat but almost invisible country road. "You might as well turn the brights on," their alien abductor recommended. "I doubt there's anyone else out here." She did, after a few tries to find the control, and it seemed to help. Another vehicle (presumably Grant Sorenson's four-by-four,) turned off the highway to follow them, but thankfully its headlights did NOT switch into bright mode, since that would have shone directly into Isabel's eyes through the rear-view mirror.
About ten minutes later Steven Banks was once again issuing instructions on where to park his car. They piled out, (Alex having to awkwardly open the door with his right hand,) and Steve led them over to something that Alex couldn't immediately identify in the dimness. There were tall metal poles, and crosswise support struts forming triangles. With Steve's help, they found a ladder, and Alex started to climb up awkwardly with his one good hand, hooking the left arm around the ladder occasionally for what support that could provide and lifting himself with his legs. Isabel climbed nervously after him.
Fortunately the ladder wasn't high, only about five feet. Soon all six of them were crowded onto the top of a slightly crowded metal platform (set up here, Alex assumed, so they wouldn't have to walk on or stand on jagged rocks - probably part of Grant's standard gear as a geologist.) A bright light mounted on an edge of the platform was lit, its bright beams standing in harsh relief against the night. Also - there was someone else already there, someone who Alex vaguely recognized.
With one member of the group, though, it was anything but vague. "YOU!!" Liz said, charging over to the new man. "You were the drunk who roughed me up at that party!!" She whirled back on Steve. "At *your* party! Boy, that really was a set-up, wasn't it?"
Steve smiled graciously. "Yeah, it was. Too bad it didn't work any better."
"And which of you planted the space-time labyrinth crystal in Michael's apartment??" Isabel demanded.
"Actually, I just switched it for the lamp he had actually purchased," Steve said solemnly. "But that's enough rehashing the old days. Zentar, the ray gun, please??" Steve brought out a hand, and the third skin put a gleaming red crystal that was shaped a bit like an old plastic gun into his hand. Steve pointed the device at a rock hill-face next to the platform and touched a particular spot on the crystal.
BAMMMMM!!! A spear of ruby-red lightning shot into solid rock, and within seconds a maw ten feet in diameter had opened up. Of the rock that had occupied that space, nothing remained but dusty vapor and a gray sludge that poured down the hillside underneath the platform.
"I don't like this," Alex muttered under his breath to Liz.
"I know," Liz whispered back. "But we don't dare take them on yet. Wait for my lead. If the right moment comes up..." she sighed. "I feel like I have a notion, I'm just not really sure what it is."
Steve had been inspecting the tunnel wall carefully, and now he gestured Max and Isabel over. "Come on in, guys!!"
"In... in there?" Isabel stuttered, paling.
"Yeah," Steve said simply. "The walls are still a little warm, but that's the least of your worries." His eyes narrowed at her. "You know what'll happen if you don't."
Isabel shot one forlorn look over at Alex and marched into the tunnel. Max hesitated, but when Liz nodded at him she followed.
"Stay well back," Grant warned the two hybrids. He picked up another device, and suddenly a field of sparkling red light covered the tunnel entrance. Alex could feel the warmth from where he was - that was a heat field of some sort.
"Oh, no," Liz whispered under her breath. They all knew how deadly heat could be to individuals of alien origin, how Michael had almost died simply from spending a few minutes in an Indian sweatlodge with River Dog. Apparently these aliens knew all about it too.
Steve was watching the opening again, waiting for something. In about thirty seconds it happened - a soft pulse of blue energy coming from within the tunnel, mixing with the red of the heat field to form a temporary purple. "Looks like they went down in far enough to trigger the trithium amplifier I tossed in there," he bragged to Liz and Alex. "That should help keep them out of trouble." He turned to his henchmen. "Tie those two up in the chairs," he instructed, pointing to Liz and Alex. "Keep a close guard on them. I'm heading back into town for DeLucca and Guerin." And there was the third shoe dropping, Alex thought. Maria and Michael were going to be put through this macabre game too. That was everyone but...
"What about Tess Harding?" he asked suddenly, figuring that it was worth a shot to get some information. "She doesn't have a human boyfriend, you won't be able to control her as easily."
"We don't need to worry about Harding," Zentar told him snidely. "She's driven out to Frazier woods by now, like she does every night. She won't notice anything's wrong until morning. By which time it'll be much too late!!"
"Frazier woods every night?" Liz repeated in wonder. "What does she do out there??"
"I don't know," Grant said, swatting Zentar on the side of his head, presumably for loose talk in front of the prisoners. Alex noticed that Steve had already left. "And it doesn't matter, does it?"
Liz, meanwhile, had walked over to an unoccupied part of the platform. Alex moved next to her and raised a questioning eyebrow. Liz, looking a little confused at herself, shook her head and gestured to the other side, so Alex went over there.
Zentar walked over to the edge of the platform and concentrated. Soon a nondescript wooden chair was floating up and towards him. He took it over to Liz and started securing her to the piece of furniture.
* * * * *
(Still Wednesday, November 29 2000.)
"Wake up, Michael." The words dragged him ever so slightly out of a quiet and peaceful sleep. "C'mon, Michael, I know you're not gonna like this but you gotta wake up."
That was Maria's voice. Worried himself now, Michael rubbed his eyes and looked up. He didn't need to turn on a lamp, he never did. The streetlamp outside his bedroom let in enough light to see, even with all the shades pulled.
As Maria's warning had hinted, for a second Michael wished that he *couldn't see what was happening. Maria was standing next to his stereo table, dressed in navy sweats and a horrible paleness in her face. And then there was the tall guy standing next to her with the knife.
"I'm getting a little bored with the pleasantries already, so let's cut to the chase, huh Michael?" the unwelcome intruder, (*where* did Michael know him from?") said brusquely. "You're like that too, aren't you, straight to business, right? Well, let's see - I have your girlfriend, I have a knife, not to mention more than enough powers to match your own. Her good health depends on YOUR good behavior. Am I making myself clear??"
Michael sighed. "Painfully."
"Good." The bad guy smiled with a savage pleasure. "Well, go throw on some clothes and let's get going. The sooner this is all over the better for Maria, I think." The guy waved Michael to his dresser.
Michael sighed and went over to open one of his drawers. Just as he had finished pulling on his jeans, the enemy alien swore and bent over. Michael realized that he had dropped his knife and launched himself into a flying elbow slam. Powers could wait for a few seconds -- Michael wanted to get in about three good hits on this joker with nothing but the real McCoy before turning to the palm of death strike.
Except the guy wasn't quite where Michael had thought he was... and he *did* have his knife - in fact, the deadly blade was right in Michael's path. He tried to avoid it, but his momentum was too great to change course quickly, and the enemy was compensating for his every movement -- until he faded his weapon hand back smoothly, at the very last moment when it was actually touching the skin on Michael's neck. As he stumbled to a stop, Michael had to check his throat with his own hands. Not a trace of blood. "What the heck??"
"Just a demonstration, Michael my boy,"the bad guy gloated. "You saw only what I wanted you to see, until I was ready to attack. Think about that the next time it looks like you have the opportunity to stab me in the back." He raised his free hand into the air, and a sweater flew up from Michael's dresser to him, which he tossed casually off to Michael.
What Steve wanted him to see. This guy knew the mindwarp. That made him dangerous indeed, Michael realized. When he couldn't trust his own eyes...
"Why didn't you kill him, Steve?" Maria blurted out as Michael shrugged on the sweatshirt. Something clicked in Michael's brain. Steve - Steve Banks, from the party. THAT was where he remembered this goof from!!
But Maria was continuing to talk. "That is what you want, isn't it, to kill Michael and the others? Are you afraid?? Even with your weapon pointed straight at him, didn't you have the guts to do the deed?!"
Steve ignored her and turned to Michael. "Ever driven a Viper, kid??"
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'
(Still Thursday, November 16 2000.)
"I didn't ask her any questions about the book or how she got it," Maria told them quietly. The seven core members of the gang had gathered out at the table next to the school baseball diamond as quickly as they could - which turned out to be the short break between second and third periods. "I kinda thought it was more important to bring the news to you guys that it had been *found.* Plus, you know, if I said the wrong thing and perked up my Mom's suspicions, it'd make whatever we're trying to do here that much harder, right?"
"Translation, you didn't want to be the one blamed for messing this up," Isabel said, "and came to us to spread the responsibility around." Iz noticed the look on Maria's face, a mixture of hurt and embarrassment. "Don't worry, it's probably what I would've done in your place too."
"And it was the right call to make," Max decided. "So, what *do* we do next?"
"If Mrs. DeLucca knows that that book is real, she's got to be plenty suspicious already," Tess pointed out.
"But there's no reason to assume that she does," Michael counterpointed. "All of our reasons for assuming that whoever found the book wouldn't realize it was genuine hold double for Maria's mom. She makes alien Roswell memorabilia herself. She presumably found the book in her friends' alien-theme restaurant. She'd have assumed it was a fake, a prop or a souvenir."
"Yeah," Liz agreed. "Let's take that from the other side. If Amy realized it was real, it would probably have resulted in a noticeable change in her behavior. Maria, has your mom been acting any differently of late??"
"No..." Maria said slowly. "Well, she's been cutting me a little more slack, But that could just be because she's actually hearing good things about me from my teachers."
"That better be it," Michael grumbled under his breath. He and Maria had been spending a truly heroic amount of time on schoolwork over the past few weeks, time that Michael at least would rather have put to other activities.
"Well," Alex suggested, "We do need more information, and Maria, you're the one who can ask your mom questions and attract the least suspicion." He thought for a moment. "Try to keep it simple and as normal as possible. You noticed the book - which is true enough - and you're asking her what it is and where she got it." Maria nodded in quiet agreement, resigned to her role.
"If all goes as we hope and Maria's mom really hasn't noticed anything weird about the book, then you're probably the best one to talk her into giving it up, - Liz." Max had seemed an instant away from calling Liz 'sweetie' or some other affectionate name in front of Tess. "She thinks it came from the cafe..."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Liz sighed. "My mom needs it back, we've been looking for it, Agnes didn't tell us she'd sold it or whatever, as per Maria's recon. I know the drill." The bell rang.
"Well, is there anything else?" Alex asked quickly. Nobody said anything. "Well then, let's get to class people!"
As Max got up and hurried over to follow Liz, the dark-haired girl fixed him with a powerful stare. Her lips moved silently, fairly clearly mouthing 'tell her.' Her head jerked ever so slightly in Tess' direction.
Max was about to protest, then thought better of it after a second. Liz had a point. As the rest walked away, Max returned to Tess, who was still sitting at the table. Liz hung in the middle distance, trying to make it seem as if she was waiting for Max but not paying attention to what was going on.
"Um, Tess, uh..." Max started awkwardly. "There's something that I've been, er, that is, I think you should kn--"
"You and Liz are together again," Tess cut to the point simply. "I was wondering when you'd get the balls to actually tell me. Actually, Kyle thought you'd be the first to crack, Liz." Liz blinked and dropped the pretense of not listening in.
"Umm... when, I mean..."
"Labyrinth day," Tess supplied helpfully, "when I first tumbled to it, that is. You weren't exactly discreet with the smoochies that night. And don't think I've missed the lengths you two have gone to sneak alone time on the quiet since then either. You don't exactly rock at the masters of secrecy thing."
"Oh," Max said, blushing up a storm by now, not quite sure how else to respond. "So, aside from that, how do you..."
"Don't worry, Max," Tess answered his half-unasked question a third and last time. "I'm not gonna make some embarrassing scene." She looked up at Max, and he was struck by the bittersweet expression on her face. "You've made your choice, and I hope you will be happy with what you find. I'm not about to humiliate us both by trying to force you into believing in us." A short sigh. "Again." And she got up and left.
Somewhat dazed by a reaction that he had not even considered, Max wandered over to where Liz was waiting. "Wow." A long silence resumed. "Did you have any clue that that was coming??"
Liz considered for a long moment, then shook her head. "Come on, we're late for class already." She took Max's hand and led him the way Tess had gone, towards the nearest doorway into the school.
* * * * *
"Okay, is there anything else?" Liz asked. She and Maria were up in Liz's room, discussing strategy for getting the book away from Maria's mother. The 'recon,' as Liz put it, had been done and apparently went smoothly. (Amy DeLucca had purchased the book from Agnes, the Crashdown's most irresponsible forty-ish waitress, as Maria had guessed, for the sum of thirty-five dollars and ninety-nine cents. She didn't appear to realize that it was anything other than a clever prop.)
"Just one - whose money is that? Are you paying for this mission out of pocket?" Maria pointed to the collection of bills Liz was folding into a small change purse - planned refund money. "Are you taking this hit out of pocket?"
Liz shook her head. "Nah, everybody pitched in. Well, me, Max, Michael, Isabel, and Alex. We didn't bug you about it since you were the one who had to find out what your mom knew."
"And you didn't want to face Tess again today," Maria sussed. "Well, I guess that's it, Let's go." She led Liz down the Crashdown stairs and out into the cafe's parking lot, where she had parked the DeLucca family Jetta. It was a quiet drive back to the small house she and her mother shared (and her mom just usually managed to make the mortgage payments on.)
Maria called her hellos as she walked in the front door, and her mom's answering call came from the kitchen. The strong odor of mom's vegetarian stew filled the air as Maria walked down the hall, made the perfunctory reference to Liz having something important to tell her about, and stepped back to let Liz make the spiel.
It worked well. Amy was upset to learn that she had purchased an item which hadn't been meant for sale, didn't seem suspicious about the hints that to mention the subject directly to either of Liz's parents would only be embarrassing for them, and she graciously refused to take back the money, since there was no indication that Agnes had put the money she originally received from Amy into the till. She asked Maria to keep an eye on the stew while she went to fetch the book back.
Liz and Maria had only shared a short smile of incipient victory when they heard Amy's footsteps coming back down the stairs. "You know, I bought this thing, I never even really had a chance to look through all of it." She reached the landing and started back towards the kitchen. "Your mother must have put a lot of detail into this, Li--" she broke off in mid-word, flipping a page and staring at it in shock, then going to another. **Oh, NO!**
Liz, at least, had enough composure to try to bluff it out. "What is it, Mrs. DeLucca??" she said brightly, stepping forward to meet the older woman half-way.
"I... these are..." Without words, Amy dropped the book and showed the page to Liz - it was the sketches of 'the royal four' as adults. The shock evident on her face, Amy flipped back through the 'teenagers' pictures to the 'children' ones.
"Oh, that, yeah," Liz said nonchalantly. "Mom asked some of our friends to model for it - I wasn't sure why at first, but it does look very 'alien-ey', doesn't it? Pictures from when they were six or seven, then current, then her guess of what they'd look like five years from now. Pretty good huh??"
"Umm... yeah." Still a little dazed-looking, Amy let Liz take the book back, and Maria couldn't help but feel a little jump on her spine as her best friend finally took possession of this thing they'd been searching for for so long. Right then the front doorbell rang, and Amy headed back into the kitchen, taking the stew stirring spoon back from Maria. "Could you see who that is sweetie?"
Maria headed over to the door and opened it. A middle-aged man stood there nervously. "Hi," he said. A short pause in which Maria didn't answer. "Do you remember me, baby??" Maria shook her head, but something was starting to click...
"My god, Ryan?!" Maria's mom headed over to the door, heedless of the stew. "What the hell are you doing here, you son-of-a-bitch?"
If the name hadn't clicked it in Maria's mind, her mom's attitude would have. Ryan DeLucca. Her father, the one who had run out on them when she was seven.
"I think I need to sit down," Maria whispered to no-one in particular.
* * * * *
(Sunday, November 19 2000.)
Alex picked up the ringing cell phone, pushed the talk button, and held it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Hey, Alex, it's Liz," the familiar voice announced. "Just thought I'd call in and see how the translation's going."
"It's going - slowly, but going," Alex sighed. "Still not beating a word every five minutes, but we're getting a notion what's in this book and where. What about you, how's the studying going for that big history test??"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," Liz groaned. "Another reason why I called over there, actually - was wondering about coming over there and hanging around."
"Yeah, just a sec," Alex said, and tossed the phone across Michael's living room to Max, who caught it effortlessly in one hand.
"Hey, Liz?" Max said into the phone, and paused for a response. "Yeah, you know I can't wait to see you either, but we're just about to go back from break and put another hour or two into this. I'll come over there after we're done, okay? ... miss you too, darling."
"Don't hang up," Alex asked Max, and Max smiled and tossed the phone back - Alex tried to catch it two-handed, bobbled it, and just managed to get it onto the table without bouncing it too hard and picked it up. "Yeah, Liz?"
"Still here."
"Just wondering if you've heard from Maria about the whole 'returning father figure' thing?"
"Uh, yeah, she called me after she got back from dinner with 'him' last night. She's got a lot of issues to work through with him, but I think she's happy that he's come back and is at least making an effort to be a part of her life again."
"I'm glad," Alex commented vaguely.
"I think she'd like Michael to talk to her about the whole situation, but she's not sure how to bring it up," Liz said meaningfully.
Alex smiled. "Well then I guess maybe someone else will put a bug in mister Guerin's ear about it," he teased. "See ya?"
"Bye, Alex." He hung up the phone and looked up - the four pod squadders had gathered around the book again.
"I think this is the page to focus on," Isabel thought out loud. "It's obviously about the orbs, and Future Alex told you that we had to learn how to use the orbs as communicators. Right, Michael??"
"Yeah, he did," Michael agreed. "Hey, Alex, any idea what this word might mean? I don't think we've ever seen anything like it before."
Alex smiled to himself and headed over to help with the translation.
* * * * *
(Monday, November 27 2000.)
"Hmm..." Alex carefully scooped up some rice on the cooking spoon, dropped it carefully down onto his tasting spoon without letting them touch and gave it a try. "Hmm... yeah, that's *almost* done. Where's the chicken?"
"Umm... here, yeah." Isabel smiled as she passed a small plate heaped moderately high with little pieces of roasted chicken breast (some with browned and seasoned skin,) into Alex's hand. He poured the cubed meat into a big frying pan on the stove and started stirring energetically.
"So... how soon is this gonna be ready?" Isabel asked softly. "Michael and Maria aren't back yet, and you told me how this stuff doesn't do well if it has to wait long once it's done."
"Once it finishes cooking, it's alright if it cools for five or ten minutes," Alex assured his girlfriend, stepping up and kissing her quickly on the cheek. "Don't worry - they'll be here. Michael probably just stopped off at some point to have a talk with Maria."
Isabel's brown eyes twinkled with mischief. "Or else they're gettin' it on in the backseat of the Jetta. Are *you* ready to be the godfather of a quarter-alien crossbreed baby?"
"Very funny," Alex said, but he was grinning back at her. "You keep an eye on the rice - I'll go set the table."
Sure enough, Michael and Maria walked in the door when the risotto had been cooling for about four and a half minutes, and even Alex couldn't see signs that any more than first base had happened while the two of them were off running errands. Cake went into the fridge, videos onto the coffee table, and by then everyone was ready to sit down to dinner.
"Um, so..." Maria said after a moment, trying to break the silence that spread around the dinner table once everybody's plates were full. "How's this thing you guys are doing tomorrow going to work?"
Isabel and Michael both looked at Alex, so he shook his head and tried to explain. "Well, we all go up to the pod chamber. It's designed, in part, to function essentially as a huge communications antenna - so the orbs will work there and only there. And the direction in which that 'antenna' is pointing roughly has to match up with the planet we're trying to communicate with, which is why we all have to be out there around four in the morning."
"Max and Isabel will each take one of the orbs, key them and activate them, and will send out a message to K'starnis D. That's a colony world run by their people around 30 light years from the homeworld - we thought it'd be safer than transmitting directly to the home planet and having this tyrant Kivar or his people listening in, maybe tracking the transmission -- plus, the star maps in the book seem to indicate that it has a strong support for the old royal line."
"And then we try to get in touch with someone in charge there and verify the situation at the homeworld," Michael put in.
"So - the orbs weren't just to receive that message from your mom, huh?" Maria asked, trying to keep it all straight.
"No," Isabel agreed. "That was just the first step - probably a probe placed in stationary earth orbit to transmit a recorded message on the communicator frequency. But now we have to move beyond that, and actually make contact with another star system." Isabel shuddered for a second. "I wonder what it'll be like."
"In the general pattern, it should be very like getting the message from your mom," Alex reminded her. "You'll see the image of another person or persons there in the pod chamber. They'll talk to you in english, and they'll hear and understand you when you talk to them. They may appear considerably more human than they actually are. The holographic communication through the pods is largely mental, so things like language and physical appearance are compensated for."
It was much later that night when Alex, Isabel, and Maria finally got themselves out Michael's door. "We have... about four hours before we have to be heading out of town to get to the pod chamber," Alex commented.
"Are you complaining?" Isabel asked him in a throaty murmur, and Alex grinned and shook his head.
"You know, we didn't even take the cake out of the fridge, and though we *played* the movie, I don't know if anybody actually WATCHED it," Maria added. "I think I'm slightly upset that all of Michael's and my 'errands' didn't count for much."
"Really, Maria?" Alex asked. Maria smiled over at him.
"Not at all!"
* * * *
(Tuesday, November 28 2000.)
Maria yanked her hands back into her jacket sleeves as she got out of the Jetta. "The desert should never be allowed to get this cold!!" she muttered under her breath.
"Who're you gonna complain to, the weather control board?" Michael asked as he followed her. Maria shot him a withering glance over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, it's just... deserts are known for swings of temperature, not just heat. It's almost December, it's four AM, and it's been on the cool side for a week. Of course the desert is gonna be cold."
Maria didn't say anything in reply. Three cars had parked spread out in the vicinity of the angular mountain peak - Max's jeep, in which Liz had rode, the Taurus, in which Alex, Isabel, and Tess had come, and the Jetta. All seven young people were filing into the broken pathway that made its way up the slope.
Isabel was the first to make it to the top, and she put her hand into the outlined indentation casually, watching the doorway open with an almost blase look on her face. Maria knew that she was probably still a little nervous about the part she had to play in this morning's event.
They gathered inside the chamber quickly and let the door close again. This was actually the first time that Maria had ever seen the pod chamber, and she looked around eagerly, soaking up the significance that it held, especially in its relation to her beloved Michael. The four broken pods dominated the chamber, as far as design features. Which had been his??
But everyone else was taking their places. Max and Isabel stood near the front of the rectangular outline in the floor, facing an alcove which was presumably designed to act as a reception area for this kind of communique. Alex was hovering near Max, wanting to be able to help in any matters of protocol or alien custom that came up.
That left Maria standing with Michael, Liz, and Tess off near the solid rock wall, nearer to Isabel than Max. Michael took an orb out of his pocket and crossed over to hand it to Max. Tess fished the other out of a disguised wall recess near the pods, and passed it to Isabel, and then each of them resumed their places.
"And we're sure that this isn't gonna lead the skins right to us or something horrible like that?" Liz blurted out at the last second.
"The skins know where we are already, Liz," Alex reminded her softly. "And we can't summon any more because only four of them are allowed in Roswell at a time, according to the terms of the challenge." Liz didn't seem too reassured by that, but she waved Max into continuing.
When Max and Isabel held the orbs in their hands and concentrated, the reaction was almost instant. White spears of light burst out of them - out of the whirlpool galaxy symbols on them, Maria knew, though she couldn't see that kind of detail directly. The entire pod chamber started to brighten as the energy, the signal coming out of the pods fired up relays and transstators, and the entire chamber took on its role of 'communications antenna.'
Something seemed to be appearing in the space in front of Max and Isabel, but Maria couldn't tell very clearly what it was yet. It seemed to be just a black patch with stars sprinkled through it - of course. They hadn't made contact with anyone yet, they were just beaming a signal out into space. Communication would depend on someone else sending a signal back.
As if on cue, Max called out loudly. "I am Max of the Royal four, once known as king of the planet Azt. I wish to speak with the governor of the K'Starnis D colony!!"
They waited long seconds. Maria was all too aware that their window of communication with this planet was only ten or twelve minutes long - if they failed, they'd have to try this all again some other morning. (Well, Maria herself didn't really have to be here, she was just showing team solidarity. Next time she could beg beauty sleep, couldn't she??)
And then, suddenly, the space representation in front of Max and Isabel changed into a fifty-something bearded man dressed in something that looked halfway between medieval robes and a government worker's uniform. Maria was shocked - except for a slight whitish gleam about him that came and went, Maria couldn't have told that he wasn't physically present. "I am the one you seek," he said softly. "But 'Max,' you rule no more. I have sworn allegiance to the successor to the throne, and can obey your orders no more. What reason would you have to talk to me?"
Max was ready for this. "I am only looking for information - information about my homeland, in the long years that I have been gone, and particularly information about a challenge made between my mother and the usurper, if such a challenge does exist."
The governor blinked. "I may not speak with you about such matters. Allow me to fetch the local Arbiter of challenges. If any can tell you that which you seek, it will be she."
Max looked quickly over at Alex, who nodded. "Do so, as quickly as possible," Max instructed the older man. "We have a limited window for communicating with your planet at this time."
The old man vanished, replaced by a spinning design that looked vaguely like it might be an alien coat of arms. Max looked at Alex again. "Arbiter of challenges?"
"I'm not too clear," Alex confessed. "But I think that they are in charge of administering tests, bets, and the kind of dares like the one we believe has been issued on your behalf. Get as m..."
But Alex was cut off as the coat of arms turned into a woman - a reasonably unattractive woman, but human standards, though still undeniably human in appearance. Her medium brown hair was stringy, her figure showed few curves except for the ones near her stomach, and her face seemed dominated by a slightly mis-shaped nose. "I am Geralet, arbiter of the challenges for the K'Starnis colony," she intoned. "You claim to be of the reborn royal four??"
"I... I do," Max agreed, nodding.
"Permit me to verify before we speak further." Max, caught by surprise, had only nodded silently before the image of the ugly woman picked up a small metal rod and pointed it at Isabel, and then Max. As the red light bathed over each of them they staggered, and the red was echoed in the formerly pale blue glowing walls of the pod chamber.
And then she put her device away, and things returned to normal. "Your claim has not been disproven, so I shall proceed," Geralet continued. "You are correct in surmising that a challenge has been made by Kivar Andraikus, lately styling himself overlord of Azt, and the queen emeritus of the old royal line. Might I be permitted to ask how you came to possess this information?"
"Um, you may," Max stuttered out, and then decided it would be quicker to simply answer her question. "One of our number, and a human friend, were drawn into a space/time labyrinth, presumably by agents of Andraikus. While there, they received a message from the future self of another of our human friends."
"Interesting," Geralet mused. "Proceed, then - ask your questions."
"As far as we know, these are the terms of the challenge," Max said. "That the four of us have to return to Azt in a little over the year, and if we win I regain control of the government. If we fail to meet the time limit, Kivar keeps the power of the throne until he dies. Kivar is allowed to use four of his agents at any one time to keep us from accomplishing this, but they cannot kill humans or reveal that aliens are upon the earth to its population. Is all of this correct?"
Geralet paused to consider. "It is."
"Is it complete? Nothing of obvious significance missing?"
Geralet considered again. "Two considerations. First, you must not only reach the planet within the time alloted, but the royal palace grounds themselves. Kivar's people cannot interfere with you once you reach Azt, but time may be your undoing. Second, you must understand the limitations on your communications."
"They are these: You may use the orbs to communicate with anyone you can call by name, or make an open call for an arbiter of challenges, a common peasant, or a royalist soldier on any particular world. Of all the people you may contact, only the arbiters are bound to be honest to you, or to respond to you in any way." She paused. "Are there any other questions?"
"Yes, one," Isabel spoke up. "When we come back... can we bring others with us? Humans, I mean, earthpeople. Would they be welcome on the homeworld??"
Geralet seemed surprised by the question. "I do not believe anyone has raised the point before. But if you win the challenge, the word of the royal four will become law, and you may do as you please, particularly you, Max, once you reclaim your throne. I doubt that any but the followers of Kivar would refuse you in any case. One further point for he who would be king -" she turned to Max.
"Although you will reclaim the throne if you are victorious, you will not be able to pass it on to your immediate heirs. This body which is now yours is half human, and the people are not ready to accept a dynasty of mongrels. However, you may choose to select any Aztan of full blood and groom him or her to be heir to the throne, including some of your younger brothers and sisters that survived the purge and have been protected by the challenge."
"Thank you," Max said nervously.
"Would you prefer that I keep our discussion secret, your highness, or make it known?? I can defer to your wishes in this matter."
Max blinked in surprise. They had chosen this colony world for the sake of secrecy, but since the news seemed good (relatively speaking at least,) it seemed a good opportunity to intimidate the enemy. "Yes, let it be known that the Royal Four are coming home to free their people!!"
"I will let it be known that I was contacted regarding the rules of the challenge. I cannot pass along substanceless boasts in regards to a challenge." The arbiter fixed him with an icy stare as she said this.
Max sighed. "Very well. Tell..." Suddenly, Geralet's image winked out and the glowing walls of the pod chamber faded. "What happened??"
"It's four twenty-three," Tess said, checking her watch. "We probably just slipped out of alignment with the colony."
"But we've learned a lot," Michael pointed out. "The challenge is confirmed. There's only one question left we need answered."
"And what's that?" Maria asked, guessing what it would be.
"How the heck do we get home??" Michael asked with a sarcastic grin.
* * * * *
(Tuesday to Wednesday, November 29 2000.)
Alex sighed as he pulled aside his covers and climbed into bed. It had been hard to go to classes and act like everything was normal after what had happened that morning. The impossible was happening to them lately with remarkable frequency, but still - to have communicated with an alien planet, more than seventy light-years away from the earth - that was special. Trigonometry paled in comparison.
After school, a meeting of the gang over euchre had attempted to develop plans for moving forward. Aside from returning to translating the book (they only had a small portion of the text transcribed to english so far after more almost two weeks' hard work,) and attempting to find whatever other 'salvages' Nasedo had marked on the cave map, they didn't seem to have many ideas. Tess seemed to think that finding the artifacts that the military had recovered from the crash site, instead of the few scraps that Nasedo had been able to escape with, probably held the key to their escape. But where did that lead them?
Any pieces recovered by the military had probably been handed over to the special unit, not long after it had been formed. The special unit was gone now, dismantled by congress after Nasedo had torpedoed it in committee hearings (under his role as Agent Pierce.) And any attempt to track down what had happened to the personnel involved in the special unit, to the objects it had in storage would almost certainly draw suspicion their way - if there was any way to find such information at all.
Alex sighed, switched the lamp on his bedside table off and tried to fall asleep. For a while, he was too nervous to relax, but he must have fallen asleep because he dreamed - not alien dreams, but strange human ones with sneaking into foreboding buildings that were serving roasted chicken, and arguing with a little handheld computer that was trying to convince him that he was the Baker. And Isabel, kissing Isabel, more than kissing her - except Isabel's hair had turned dark, so dark a brown that it was nearly black...
He woke up to feel something sharp playing up and down the side of his leg, under the covers. Instinctively, he turned to the clock - 1:27 AM.
"Now, just relax, do what I tell you, and you're gonna be just fine," a familiar voice advised him. But familiar from where? In the darkness, Alex could see a tall man's shape sitting next to his bed, holding whatever weapon underneath that had been used to wake him up.
"S... Steve??" Alex guessed sleepily. "Steve Banks??"
"Oooh, I knew you were a sharp one," Steve told him. "Well, come on now Alex. Get up and get dressed. We've got a lot to do tonight."
Alex blinked - reached out tentatively for the lamp, and when no refusal of the idea was forthcoming, he switched it on. His bedroom sprang into relief in the pale light from the corner, including his unexpected visitor. Next he lurched somewhat unsteadily to his feet and opened a dresser drawer.
"What should I... do I have to..." he mumbled.
"I don't care," Steve snapped curtly, "so long as you don't attract undue attention." Guided by that, Alex tossed an old sweater on over his t-shirt, pulled on some jeans, socks, and shoes. He was almost painfully aware of the presence of the washer, hanging by a length of soft string under his shirt, where he usually kept it, and felt determined not to draw any attention to it. This was one advantage that they had that the skins maybe didn't know about, and he would keep it that w...
"Wait a second. You're one of the skins, right?" he clarified, looking up from a half-tied running shoe. "Kivar's agents here on earth."
"Bright boy again," Steve said, but his voice was clearly impatient.
"Then what are you gonna do to me if I don't co-operate? You can't kill me, or it'll cost your side the challenge. No killing humans, right??"
"So you guys *do* know about the challenge," Steve said wonderingly, shaking his head. "Well, think about this, you little snot." He stood up and suddenly the knife he carried was at Alex's throat. "If you cross me, I know a few little things I can try out without killing you. Lifetime of pain is what we're talking about here. Plus, you've got a father and a mother in this house too, right? Don't think I won't use them as incentive too. Let's see, there's the male human sex organs, for a start, right?" Steve gestured his knife meaningfully towards Alex's crotch. "Extremely sensitive to pain, and just as a bonus, any permanent mutilation or amputation is highly traumatic in social terms. So I'm gonna tell you again, Alex -- finish getting dressed and let's go."
Alex breathed deeply and realized he had lost this round. The alien known to the world as 'Steve Banks' almost certainly had the power to make good on his threat - and the inclination to. He wanted Alex for something, but Alex couldn't dare refuse. Not... yet.
The two of them headed silently out the of the house, and Steve stretched out his free hand commandingly to Alex once they were out the front door. "Keys?"
Alex shrugged. "In my other pants. You didn't say to bring them."
Steve smirked, "Whatever." Bringing his weapon hand close to the lock for a second, it spun around for a second and sound of the deadbolt sliding over could be heard. "Good luck getting back inside once this is all over."
Alex headed down the porch stairs, Steve behind him, and naturally headed right towards the driveway. A gentle poke from the knife brought him to a stop again. "Where do you think you're going??" Steve asked in a low voice.
"Umm... to my car?" Alex muttered, though he had realized that the assumption was flawed by now. Steve guided him left (straight over the lawn, of course,) to where a forest green Viper was parked. Steve fished in his pants pockets and produced a key ring, which he handed to Alex. "Get behind the wheel."
For a second Alex was surprised, but he knew that Steve meant it. As we walked slowly around the car, he realized why. If Steve was driving the car, his attention would be split between the controls, the road, and Alex. For Alex himself to be doing the driving meant one last distraction, so that Steve could concentrate totally on Alex and where they were going. He unlocked the door, clicked the master unlocker and slowly got behind the wheel.
"Where to?" Alex asked nervously as Steve got behind the wheel.
"First, your girlfriend's place. I assume you know the way, right?" Alex chuckled nervously and started down the familiar route to the Evans' house. The sports car was a lot more responsive than anything he was used to driving, and he had to make sure not to give it too much gas or turn too quickly. Soon they were there, and Steve pointed out that he should park in what was left of the Evans' driveway, across the sidewalk.
As he got out, Alex noticed a few other figures waiting on the Evans' front walk. It was Liz - and Grant Sorenson. Suddenly another aspect of the plan clicked into Alex's brain. This was bigger than him - probably a LOT bigger.
"Where were you?" the geologist growled as Steve and Alex walked over.
"Little Alex here is a deep sleeper," Steve said casually. Alex noticed that Grant was holding a hand behind Liz's back. He opened his mouth, but Grant quickly spat 'no talking,' and Alex fell silent.
Liz caught his eye as they walked towards the house though, and nodded ever so slightly. Alex wasn't quite sure what to make of that.
It followed through as Alex had expected. Grant broke into the Evans' house with his powers as Steve must have gotten into his, even disabling the fancy security system with no more than the wave of a hand. Alex was hurried up into Isabel's room, while Grant and Liz went to fetch Max. "Wake her up," Steve whispered to him.
Umm... Alex walked towards the bed. "Isabel??" He kneeled down - noticing that Steve stayed close to him as he did - and brushed a lock of Isabel's hair away from her face. "Iz, baby?? We've kinda got a problem here."
"Alex??" Isabel murmured sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"What is it?" At this point Isabel turned his way and opened her brown eyes - and nearly screamed in shock. Her mouth slammed shut, muffling a surprised exclamation -- that was probably Steve's power at work. Once she could open her mouth again, Isabel whispered softly "What is *he* doing here??"
"Keep it quiet, sweetheart," Steve said softly. "And don't go getting no brave ideas either."
"Meet Steve Banks," Alex said sarcastically. "Friendly neighborhood 'skin.'"
"Also, if you're trying to contact your brother," Steve related, "you can probably tell that he's also being taken care of. In fact... SHIT!!!" Quickly the alien tossed a small object to the other side of Isabel's bed and hurried out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. "SOREN! TAKE COVER!!" Alex could hear the yell from where he was.
"Alex, what's..." Isabel said, still not quite awake, but obviously with it enough to worry about what their enemy had just done. Alex climbed over the foot of Isabel's bed to try to grab whatever bomb Steve had dropped there, but it went off as he got near. Alex recognized the device.
FWOOOMM!! Again the blue pulse passed through his body without any apparent ill effect, but Isabel moaned and spasmed as she sat on the bed. Alex noticed idly that she was wearing a pretty pink shirt as a pajama top, though he couldn't tell what else.
"Alex, what was that?" she asked, instinctively crawling into his arms.
"It's like that device we found in the UFO center," Alex said, reaching awkwardly down to pick it up off the floor. "We might be able to use it, if..."
Of course, at precisely that moment, Steve Banks threw the door open again, snarling with frustration. "Okay, children, let's go. Where's is it?" Alex shrugged weakly and Steve pushed the two of them aside long enough to look over the bed. "The trithium amplifier, Whitman, *where is it??*"
"I... I dunno," Alex said with as much confused veracity as he could summon up. "I didn't see the damn thing, just what it did, yahh, to..."
Steve had pushed Alex and Isabel to their feet by this time, (probably again with the help of his powers,) quickly patted down the pockets in Alex's jeans (like they were big enough to hold the device, and rooted through the covers on Isabel's bed. "Now, how did it get here?" He muttered, pulling the generator from out under the sheets. "You're a real smart-ass, aren't you Wh--- WHOA!!"
While the skin had been looking for his little weapon, Alex had been busy too - grabbing the nearest heavy object he could find (some sort of trophy sitting on Isabel's bookcase,) and had been in the very act of whipping the thing towards the base of Steve's skull. Unfortunately, he didn't have quite enough time. With a quick narrowing of his eyes, the alien sent Alex and his makeshift weapon flying through the air and solidly into Isabel's closet door. For a second Alex's feet dangled several inches off the floor, and when the force suddenly eased, he dropped down in an uneven bump, tearing the poster of Scott Foley down as he went. (Well, not like *that* was any great loss.)
Steve grabbed Isabel's hand and charged over to Alex. "That crossed a line, Whitman. I've been a sport about this up to now, but you have to realize that your actions have consequences here. *That* choice of action..." and he threw Isabel aside violently so that she landed on her butt next to her large armoire, "has THIS consequence." And he grabbed Alex's left forearm and drove the knife into it.
"Ahhh!!" The pain was intense and startling, but not incapacitating. Alex watched in a mixture of discomfort and morbid curiosity as his blood filled the wound and started to spread around his arm, falling to the floor of Isabel's room in a series of irregular spatters. But Steve didn't look like he was done.
"Almost - ah, here!!" He dug the knife in harder, and this time the pain was overwhelming, like a river of molten lava streaming up his arm and into his head, his chest, filling the rest of his body. His legs lost strength and after a second Steve let him fall to the floor.
The next thing Alex knew clearly, the pain was starting to fade and Steve was wrapping a length of cream-colored fabric, (another of Isabel's shirts? A skirt, he couldn't tell) around his arm as a makeshift bandage. "If you don't get that looked at by a doctor before midmorning, you'll probably lose feeling and motion in your left hand permanently," Steve told him casually. "Call that another incentive." With a dramatic flourish, he cleaned away the bloodstains on Alex's sweater and jeans, on the floor, and on Steve himself. "Ready to go??"
Isabel got dressed in street clothes quickly, (Alex looked away in gentlemanly fashion even though he suspected she wasn't going to let anything show any more than he did, and even Steve did her the courtesy of only watching out of the corner of his eye.) They saw Grant, Liz, and Max heading out, but the parties headed back to two separate cars - apparently they were synchronized as far as schedule but separate otherwise.
Alex got ready to get into the driver's seat again, but once again Steve stopped him. "That's not in the plan even if your arm was okay, Whitman," he muttered gruffly. He was right, Alex still had no strength left in his left hand, which would make driving difficult or worse.
"Hand the keys to Evans." Alex dug out the Viper's key ring, passed it to Isabel, and let Steve bundle him into the back seat. **This makes sense too. As long as he's got me back here, Isabel isn't likely to try anything stupid.**
"Where to?" Isabel asked dully, turning the ignition.
"Head east out of town on route 380," Steve instructed. "I'll let you know when we get to our turnoff."
For a while, there was no sound heard inside the Viper but the hum of the motor and Isabel's breathing. Alex wanted to say something to break the silence -- but what do you say in a situation like this?? He wasn't sure about directly reassuring Isabel because, well, one, Steve might not like it, and two, he couldn't promise her that everything was going to be all right. And nothing was popping into his head that seemed like reasonably small talk with the alien mercenary who's just kidnapped you and your hybrid girlfriend and stabbed you in the arm.
"Turn right here," Steve instructed Isabel. She slowed down as they left the highway (such as it was,) for a flat but almost invisible country road. "You might as well turn the brights on," their alien abductor recommended. "I doubt there's anyone else out here." She did, after a few tries to find the control, and it seemed to help. Another vehicle (presumably Grant Sorenson's four-by-four,) turned off the highway to follow them, but thankfully its headlights did NOT switch into bright mode, since that would have shone directly into Isabel's eyes through the rear-view mirror.
About ten minutes later Steven Banks was once again issuing instructions on where to park his car. They piled out, (Alex having to awkwardly open the door with his right hand,) and Steve led them over to something that Alex couldn't immediately identify in the dimness. There were tall metal poles, and crosswise support struts forming triangles. With Steve's help, they found a ladder, and Alex started to climb up awkwardly with his one good hand, hooking the left arm around the ladder occasionally for what support that could provide and lifting himself with his legs. Isabel climbed nervously after him.
Fortunately the ladder wasn't high, only about five feet. Soon all six of them were crowded onto the top of a slightly crowded metal platform (set up here, Alex assumed, so they wouldn't have to walk on or stand on jagged rocks - probably part of Grant's standard gear as a geologist.) A bright light mounted on an edge of the platform was lit, its bright beams standing in harsh relief against the night. Also - there was someone else already there, someone who Alex vaguely recognized.
With one member of the group, though, it was anything but vague. "YOU!!" Liz said, charging over to the new man. "You were the drunk who roughed me up at that party!!" She whirled back on Steve. "At *your* party! Boy, that really was a set-up, wasn't it?"
Steve smiled graciously. "Yeah, it was. Too bad it didn't work any better."
"And which of you planted the space-time labyrinth crystal in Michael's apartment??" Isabel demanded.
"Actually, I just switched it for the lamp he had actually purchased," Steve said solemnly. "But that's enough rehashing the old days. Zentar, the ray gun, please??" Steve brought out a hand, and the third skin put a gleaming red crystal that was shaped a bit like an old plastic gun into his hand. Steve pointed the device at a rock hill-face next to the platform and touched a particular spot on the crystal.
BAMMMMM!!! A spear of ruby-red lightning shot into solid rock, and within seconds a maw ten feet in diameter had opened up. Of the rock that had occupied that space, nothing remained but dusty vapor and a gray sludge that poured down the hillside underneath the platform.
"I don't like this," Alex muttered under his breath to Liz.
"I know," Liz whispered back. "But we don't dare take them on yet. Wait for my lead. If the right moment comes up..." she sighed. "I feel like I have a notion, I'm just not really sure what it is."
Steve had been inspecting the tunnel wall carefully, and now he gestured Max and Isabel over. "Come on in, guys!!"
"In... in there?" Isabel stuttered, paling.
"Yeah," Steve said simply. "The walls are still a little warm, but that's the least of your worries." His eyes narrowed at her. "You know what'll happen if you don't."
Isabel shot one forlorn look over at Alex and marched into the tunnel. Max hesitated, but when Liz nodded at him she followed.
"Stay well back," Grant warned the two hybrids. He picked up another device, and suddenly a field of sparkling red light covered the tunnel entrance. Alex could feel the warmth from where he was - that was a heat field of some sort.
"Oh, no," Liz whispered under her breath. They all knew how deadly heat could be to individuals of alien origin, how Michael had almost died simply from spending a few minutes in an Indian sweatlodge with River Dog. Apparently these aliens knew all about it too.
Steve was watching the opening again, waiting for something. In about thirty seconds it happened - a soft pulse of blue energy coming from within the tunnel, mixing with the red of the heat field to form a temporary purple. "Looks like they went down in far enough to trigger the trithium amplifier I tossed in there," he bragged to Liz and Alex. "That should help keep them out of trouble." He turned to his henchmen. "Tie those two up in the chairs," he instructed, pointing to Liz and Alex. "Keep a close guard on them. I'm heading back into town for DeLucca and Guerin." And there was the third shoe dropping, Alex thought. Maria and Michael were going to be put through this macabre game too. That was everyone but...
"What about Tess Harding?" he asked suddenly, figuring that it was worth a shot to get some information. "She doesn't have a human boyfriend, you won't be able to control her as easily."
"We don't need to worry about Harding," Zentar told him snidely. "She's driven out to Frazier woods by now, like she does every night. She won't notice anything's wrong until morning. By which time it'll be much too late!!"
"Frazier woods every night?" Liz repeated in wonder. "What does she do out there??"
"I don't know," Grant said, swatting Zentar on the side of his head, presumably for loose talk in front of the prisoners. Alex noticed that Steve had already left. "And it doesn't matter, does it?"
Liz, meanwhile, had walked over to an unoccupied part of the platform. Alex moved next to her and raised a questioning eyebrow. Liz, looking a little confused at herself, shook her head and gestured to the other side, so Alex went over there.
Zentar walked over to the edge of the platform and concentrated. Soon a nondescript wooden chair was floating up and towards him. He took it over to Liz and started securing her to the piece of furniture.
* * * * *
(Still Wednesday, November 29 2000.)
"Wake up, Michael." The words dragged him ever so slightly out of a quiet and peaceful sleep. "C'mon, Michael, I know you're not gonna like this but you gotta wake up."
That was Maria's voice. Worried himself now, Michael rubbed his eyes and looked up. He didn't need to turn on a lamp, he never did. The streetlamp outside his bedroom let in enough light to see, even with all the shades pulled.
As Maria's warning had hinted, for a second Michael wished that he *couldn't see what was happening. Maria was standing next to his stereo table, dressed in navy sweats and a horrible paleness in her face. And then there was the tall guy standing next to her with the knife.
"I'm getting a little bored with the pleasantries already, so let's cut to the chase, huh Michael?" the unwelcome intruder, (*where* did Michael know him from?") said brusquely. "You're like that too, aren't you, straight to business, right? Well, let's see - I have your girlfriend, I have a knife, not to mention more than enough powers to match your own. Her good health depends on YOUR good behavior. Am I making myself clear??"
Michael sighed. "Painfully."
"Good." The bad guy smiled with a savage pleasure. "Well, go throw on some clothes and let's get going. The sooner this is all over the better for Maria, I think." The guy waved Michael to his dresser.
Michael sighed and went over to open one of his drawers. Just as he had finished pulling on his jeans, the enemy alien swore and bent over. Michael realized that he had dropped his knife and launched himself into a flying elbow slam. Powers could wait for a few seconds -- Michael wanted to get in about three good hits on this joker with nothing but the real McCoy before turning to the palm of death strike.
Except the guy wasn't quite where Michael had thought he was... and he *did* have his knife - in fact, the deadly blade was right in Michael's path. He tried to avoid it, but his momentum was too great to change course quickly, and the enemy was compensating for his every movement -- until he faded his weapon hand back smoothly, at the very last moment when it was actually touching the skin on Michael's neck. As he stumbled to a stop, Michael had to check his throat with his own hands. Not a trace of blood. "What the heck??"
"Just a demonstration, Michael my boy,"the bad guy gloated. "You saw only what I wanted you to see, until I was ready to attack. Think about that the next time it looks like you have the opportunity to stab me in the back." He raised his free hand into the air, and a sweater flew up from Michael's dresser to him, which he tossed casually off to Michael.
What Steve wanted him to see. This guy knew the mindwarp. That made him dangerous indeed, Michael realized. When he couldn't trust his own eyes...
"Why didn't you kill him, Steve?" Maria blurted out as Michael shrugged on the sweatshirt. Something clicked in Michael's brain. Steve - Steve Banks, from the party. THAT was where he remembered this goof from!!
But Maria was continuing to talk. "That is what you want, isn't it, to kill Michael and the others? Are you afraid?? Even with your weapon pointed straight at him, didn't you have the guts to do the deed?!"
Steve ignored her and turned to Michael. "Ever driven a Viper, kid??"
TO BE CONTINUED...