[u]Part 52[/u]
Kate paced the length of the chamber, thinking hard. She had already guessed that the granolith wanted her to stop the cataclysm that was impending because of what was secretly unfolding in this palace, on Sardica, and also on Valonia. The problem was, she had absolutely no idea where to start.
The other problem was, she didn't even know if she wanted to start.When she had agreed to connect with the granolith along with the others, she had never imagined that this would be the result. How was she to have known that, instead of having all their memories returned, they would find themselves back in time, possibly with the chance to change the disaster that was to come? She had believed that after they all learned the truth, they would head back to Antar together, to expose the shapeshifters, and to put their system back to rights.
This was an entirely different proposition. Instead, she found herself all alone in a world she didn't remember as well as she had always believed she did. Not only that, she was saddled with entirely too many complications. There was a Vilandra who didn't remember being Isabel, and was probably half-seduced to the dark side; there was the likely possibility that an evil Zan clone was already unleashed on the Five Planets; and there was the inherent knowledge that if they were really back at the beginning, before any of what was to come had happened, anything she did could change the timeline and seriously affect their future lives.
Which all boiled down to the only thing she found herself really worried about. Alex.
She knew it was wrong that she was even thinking about the possibility of their relationship - could it even be termed a [I]relationship[/I] at this point? It was too new - too uncertain, even though they had shared their first kiss - and how it would be affected by all this, but she couldn't stop her heart from going there.
Kate sat on the bed and watched Vilandra continue to pull out garments, tossing them aside as she rejected each one. She could not forget that this was supposed to be Isabel. That she was not supposed to be alone here. Why had the granolith left her all alone to try and figure this out?
Not that she would have felt particularly comfortable discussing Alex with Isabel. After all, Kate was no moron. She was aware that the other girl had finally recognized what she had thrown away by rejecting Alex. Kate still didn't feel entirely certain that she wasn't simply an Isabel replacement either. But, at the very least, if Isabel were here, she would have someone with whom to ascertain exactly what the granolith wanted from them.
It just didn't seem fair that another world's entire history - that of Earth - would be altered by fixing what had gone wrong on the Five Planets.
Because it didn't seem fair, it also didn't seem possible. Kate realized that she was going to have to forget about Earth for now. She was going to have to forget about [I]Alex.[/I] Her entire existence since her rebirth had been centralized on saving the people of this system. Now that she had the chance, she couldn't turn her back on it.
She was just going to hope that Earth was not being left out of the granolith's equation. And, if, in the end, it was, well, she would deal with those consequences then.
For now, Alex had to be put out of her mind. And out of her heart. To that end, Kate stopped pacing and addressed Vilandra.
"Has there been any word from my brother?" Kate deliberately brought up the one person her friend would least want to discuss, if she was already involved in an illicit relationship with him. She watched the other woman closely.
Did Vilandra stiffen? Kate narrowed her gaze. She couldn't be entirely sure that she hadn't just seen something that she wanted to see, but she thought perhaps she had. Vilandra's voice was still playful when she replied, "No, Kara. You seem overly eager to leave Antar these days. Don't you like it here anymore?" She turned, holding out a lilac gown. "Here. Wear this. Zan likes this colour."
"I like Antar well enough," Kate answered. "I'm just concerned. The last time I spoke to Khivar, he assured me that he would arrive immediately after the summit on Valonia." She paused, hoping that she was right that the summit must have ended by now. "It has been so long since I have seen Sardica." Kate wrinkled her nose at how true that was. It had, after all, been a lifetime.
"Yes, well..."Vilandra trailed off. "I'm sure Khivar is just busy. He will arrive when he can." She looked away. Although her visage remained placid, Kate felt a thickening of the atmosphere in the room. Was it guilt?
She decided to continue to play this hand, hoping that Vilandra might break and just confess. "Will your husband be returning with Zan today?"
"Rath?" Vilandra flinched visibly at that. Kate felt a moment of satisfaction. It didn't surprise her that Vilandra was so bad at hiding her emotions, even with her characteristic serenity. She guessed that it just was not in the princess' nature to be deceptive, and she was likely finding the whole thing rather trying. Particularly in the presence of her "best friend." "I suppose he will," she admitted, sounding distracted, as though this possibility hadn't even crossed her mind. "They are inseparable after all."
"The new king is lucky to have such a loyal general." It couldn't hurt, Kate reflected, to remind Vilandra that she was betraying her husband by carrying on with "Khivar." "I have always liked Rath."
"Rath is fine," Vilandra almost snapped. "I love Rath. But it is not like we are really married. We have never lived together as husband and wife. I have been at school, he has been off with the Sky Army. In some ways, I barely know him."
"You grew up with him, Vi," Kate replied. "He is a good man. It could have been far worse." She pressed her lips together, then added, "I mean, you could have been betrothed to my horrid brother."
Vilandra's already large eyes widened noticeably at this. "Your brother? You love your brother, Kara."
"I love him, but he can also be extremely aggravating," Kate said. She was aware that this was true of Will in both lifetimes. "He is very set in his ways. He is not flexible in the same way Zan is. I think that any woman would find life with my brother frustrating." She paused, then added directly, "Of course, you wouldn't know this about him. You have never met Khivar, have you?"
Vilandra was silent for quite some time. She had finished helping Kate to dress before she spoke again. "Your brother - he was betrothed to Rowena of Valonia on the day of her birth. It could not have ever been anyway. Why are we even discussing this?"
"What are we discussing?" Kate asked, forcing herself to sound cheerful, and not deadly serious, which was how she felt. "I thought we were just comparing notes on potential husbands. Is this not our greatest concern since we left school? And, since we know very few men, it makes sense that we would discuss our brothers."
Kate turned and looked Vilandra right in the face. "It can be difficult to have our futures decided for us, Vi. I know this. But Rath is a good man. He is loyal, and he is strong, and he loves you. I think you believe that any love he has for you comes from his dedication to Zan, but you must know that is not true. His love and loyalty to Zan come from his love for you. You can build a wonderful marriage..."
Kate blinked when Vilandra abruptly cut her off. "Stop! Karana, stop it!" The pleasant trill of her voice had taken on a hard quality, one that informed Kate that she had hit a bull's eye.
Vilandra turned away, her spine stiff. "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" Kate asked, her heart beating more quickly.
Vilandra sighed heavily. "Don't lie to me, Karana. You are aware that Khivar is here."
"My brother? Here?" Kate tried to sound innocent, but knew that she was failing miserably. She decided to just admit it. "I know that you believe that my brother is here."
Vilandra turned around again. "Believe?"
For one long moment, Kate wondered if she should tell Vilandra the whole truth. That she was not really Karana at all - not anymore. That she knew about "Khivar" and Vilandra because she was from the future, on another planet, and she was here to stop their relationship.
Instead, she fibbed. "I saw you with him." She didn't specify where, because she didn't know where they had been meeting. She continued, "But, Vilandra, the man you were with..."
"I think I love him," Vilandra interrupted quietly.
Kate felt her heart go out to the other woman. But she could not falter. Not now. Vilandra needed to know the truth. "Vi, he is not my brother. You don't love him. You don't even know him."
Vilandra started, then stared at Kate, because this was clearly the last thing she had expected to hear. "What are you talking about?"
"After I saw you, I was in contact with Khivar - the [I]real[/I] Khivar," Kate replied. "The person you think you love...It is not my brother."
"How can I believe this?" Vilandra demanded. "It is absurd! I know what your brother looks like. I know who I have been with."
"Vi, it isn't," Kate assured her. "I can even prove it. We can go contact the real Khivar right now." Kate felt a pang at the thought of reaching Will on Sardica. She was anxious to do so, but she was also nervous. Because what would she do if the Khivar on Sardica wasn't Will, just like the Vilandra on Antar wasn't Isabel? She wasn't sure that she was ready to have that happen.
"But, if he isn't Khivar, then who is..." Vilandra trailed off, as the truth dawned on her. "He must be a shapeshifter. But, why?" Her voice cracked slightly. "Why would any Wendarian do such a thing? They do not mate with anyone outside of their race."
"That is true," Kate acknowledged. "So there must be another agenda at work here." Kate, of course, knew what that was, but she didn't want to tell Vilandra everything. She wasn't sure what the granolith intended for her to do, but she had a gut instinct that it wasn't that.
"But what?" Vilandra demanded. "Is he some kind of rogue? The Wendarians do not involve themselves in these types of games. They are above them."
Kate just shrugged.
"I suppose we will have to wait for Zan before pursuing this," Vilandra finally said. "My brother will know what to do." The princess sounded tired, and mildly defeated, if Kate was not mistaken. She felt sorry for the other woman, but she knew that this was what she was meant to do here. She could not allow Vilandra to continue to live in the illusion that she and Khivar were meant for each other. Vilandra could not be allowed to betray her brother and join the other side.
Of course, if Kate was right, then the Zan clone was already in place. The plot was already in motion. Waiting for Zan to arrive to fix things on Antar would not serve any purpose.
"I don't think we can wait for Zan," Kate told Vilandra. "We need to expose this now. There is some evil at work here. The sooner we root it out, the better."
"But, alone?" Vilandra wailed. "We can't do this by ourselves!" She put her hands on her hips. "What about Rath? He could help us."
"He's arriving with Zan," Kate reminded her impatiently. "We can't wait for them." She reached out and shook the other woman lightly. "Vilandra, I know you're upset about this. I'm sorry. But we need to do something about it. You have been deceived, but I don't think you've betrayed your husband yet, have you?"
Vilandra shook her head firmly. "No, but I do not deny that I would have." She sighed.
"But you didn't. And, now, you can fix things."
Vilandra was quiet for a long moment, until finally, she raised her chin and nodded resolutely. "Very well." She reached out and took Kate's hand. "Tell me what to do."
"Are you sure that you can do this?" Kate asked Vilandra. She was beginning to feel more and more sorry for the other girl. Now that her shock about Khivar had worn off, it was becoming ever more clear that she had truly believed herself to be in love with the shapeshifter she had thought to be Kate's brother.
But Vilandra seemed determined to prove that she could handle it, now that Kate had convinced her that they needed to uncover the Wendarian's obvious plot. Her grey visage seemed paler than it had several hours before, but she nodded resolutely. "Yes."
"I know it's going to be difficult to pretend that nothing has changed," Kate said quietly. "You could put him off tonight."
"He'll be suspicious," Vilandra replied. "Until you can get your brother here, so that we can confront the shapeshifter with the real Khivar, I will just have to live with it."
"But if Rath returns today..."
Vilandra shrugged, then sighed. "What will be, will be. If Rath returns, I'll need to tell him the truth, and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that."
Kate reached out and squeezed the other woman's hand sympathetically.
"Well, at the very least, you don't have to be here when I talk to Wi...er, Khivar," Kate told her. "He'll trust that I'm telling him the truth."
"It's all right. If you don't mind me listening, I think I need to know for sure that he really isn't here. I do believe you, Kara, but I just need this."
Kate grimaced. She had been hoping that Vilandra would leave so that she could try to figure out if Will was really Will, or whether he had disappeared into some vortex, as Isabel quite obviously had. But she couldn't refuse the other woman. Not now, when she was already being so cooperative and was obviously barely holding off her devastation.
She glanced down at the communication orb sitting in her hands. Kate hoped that it worked in the same way that the ones on Earth did. Because, if it didn't, she was going to have to figure out how to convince Vilandra to activate it without giving away the truth.
Kate closed her eyes and reached out with her senses, calling for Will with every fibre of her being. She felt the orb begin to heat up in her hands, and felt a rush of relief. So far, so good.
"Karana."
When she opened her eyes again, Kate found herself staring at a projected image of what could only be her brother. Although he looked like everyone else in this place, with his large, oval head, and grey skin, he was wearing a long green robe, which she knew to be the colour of the House of Sardica. She also recognized the piercing blue-eyed gaze as the same one she had known all her life on Earth.
"Khivar," she replied, her heart in her throat.
"Sister, it is not a good time. What do you want?"
Kate felt her stomach drop. Khivar seemed distracted, impatient. If this was Will, then he was doing a very good job of hiding it.
"I want to know when you are coming for me," Kate managed to reply, pushing aside her disappointment. She recognized that her voice sounded slightly strangled. "You told me you'd be here after the summit ended."
"The summit has [I]not[/I] ended," Khivar replied. "Zan has not returned with his decision, so it is not ended. I am still on Valonia."
"Zan is on his way back here," Kate informed him. "Didn't you know that?"
"What?" Khivar snapped. "That is impossible. I spoke to Yorvin, Rowena's bodyguard, only this morning. He would have told me if that were so."
"Khivar, Vilandra spoke to Zan this morning as well. He is on his way."
Khivar's gaze drifted to the right, seemingly taking in Vilandra's presence for the first time. "Princess, excuse me. I did not see you there." He looked back at Kate, obviously annoyed. "Kara, one would have thought that introductions were in order."
"You've met before," Kate replied frostily. She couldn't help it. Even if Khivar wasn't aware that he was Will, he was certainly acting exactly like him. His high-handedness could be extremely aggravating, as she had told Vilandra earlier.
"I am pleased to meet you again, my lord," Vilandra interceded softly. Kate was surprised when she reached out and took her hand again, as though seeking comfort. Kate squeezed gently. She could see that resignation had settled over Vilandra's serene features. She was now truly convinced that Khivar was not on Antar.
"Myself, also," Khivar replied. He turned his attention back to his sister. "Something is amiss, Kate."
The sound of her Earth name hit Kate like a ton of brings. He had just called her by her Earth name! This [I]was[/I] Will. Why was he pretending that he was not? Because of Vilandra? But how did he know that Vilandra wasn't Isabel? How could he possibly know this?
Kate needed to speak to him alone. She glanced at Vilandra, wondering how she could convince the other girl to leave. It was evident that she didn't want to be alone. She was still clutching Kate's hand as though her very sanity depended on it, which maybe it did.
Before Kate could make a decision though, it was made for her. The door to the chamber slid open, and a body was thrown unceremoniously through it. The newcomer landed on the floor in front of the two girls, staring up at them through pained blue eyes.
In the instant before they closed again, staying shut this time, Kate recognized them as the same eyes she had just seen on her own brother.
This was Khivar. [I]Another[/I] Khivar.
Vilandra screamed.
"Isabel, shut-up! Do you want the whole damn palace in here?" A second alien entered the room, and picked up his obvious prisoner by the scruff of the neck. He dumped him into a nearby chair, then glared at Kate impatiently. "Can I have something to tie him up with, or do I have to go through your underwear drawer myself?"
Kate felt such overwhelming relief, she had to sit down on the bed behind her. She did not recognize the voice, but the tone was too familiar to be denied.
It was Michael. A Michael who obviously knew exactly who he was.
"Kara! What is happening? Are you all right?"
Kate turned her head and stared at the projected image of her brother. Quite clearly, the jig was up. If Will was putting on a show for Vilandra, then there was no longer any need.
"Will, cut the crap," Kate snapped. "You know very well what's going on here." She gestured at the figure in the chair. Michael had done as he threatened and turned out several of the drawers in the bureau, until he'd found two long scarves with which he was in the process of firmly tying the other Khivar to the piece of furniture. "That's Grant. He's been impersonating you here for weeks."
She turned her back on her brother, whose eyes had narrowed. "Michael, I'm so glad to see you!" Kate exclaimed. She barely refrained from rushing forward and hugging him when he straightened. She somehow knew he wouldn't like it very much. He was all business at the moment. Not to mention, she was still fairly convinced that, in spite of the connection they had all made in the granolith when they had brought her back from the dead, he didn't altogether like either her or Will very much.
"Likewise," Michael replied gruffly. He didn't look at her though. Instead, he was staring at Vilandra, who had crumpled to the floor in a dead faint. "What's wrong with her?" he demanded. He hurried forward and picked up his wife, depositing her gently on the bed.
"She doesn't know who she is," Kate explained quickly. "She really thinks she's Vilandra. I think you just took ten years off her life."
Michael sat down next to Vilandra and took her hand in his. "Iz. C'mon, Isabel. Wake up."
The pretty alien's eyes opened slowly, until she was staring up Michael. Kate saw a flash of recognition run across the other girl's face. "Michael?"
"Yeah, Iz, it's me." He glanced at Kate. "I thought you said she didn't know who she was?"
Vilandra looked at Kate. Her large dark eyes glistened. "I didn't," she said quietly. "I mean, I wasn't in control. Until I saw Michael..."
"Why?" Michael demanded. "Isabel, what's going on?"
Isabel threw her arms around Michael's neck. "I didn't do it! I didn't betray you!"
And, abruptly, Kate thought she understood. Until Vilandra made the right decision, the granolith must not have allowed Isabel to be in control. Until her alter-ego rejected the idea of Khivar on her own, Isabel could not dominate. Because, for Isabel's own future peace of mind, she had to be convinced that even Vilandra could make the right decision. That even the 'flighty princess' could be loyal.
"Of course you didn't," Michael soothed. He pulled back. "Isabel, I thought you were past all this. Max and me...we both know you'd never do anything to hurt us. Not on purpose."
"I didn't," Isabel explained, her voice breaking slightly. "But now I do."
"I hate to interrupt..."
Kate looked at her brother's image. He was watching the proceedings in front of him, his expression mildly perturbed. Kate realized that she was beginning to be able to read subtle clues on the serene alien faces with which she was confronted. It sent a shiver down her spine. She was becoming comfortable in the skin she was inhabiting, she realized. She wondered why it frightened her.
"Are you going to wake him up?" Will asked Michael, when the latter stood, pulling Isabel to her feet beside him. "We need to get information out of him."
"What's to know?" Michael asked. "I prefer him unconscious. We don't want him running off and warning the other shapeshifters."
For the first time, Kate realized that she hadn't even thought about what they were going to do with the shapeshifter impersonating Khivar after they had exposed him. "What do we do with him now?"
"We're going to make him testify in front of that tribunal thing Courtney told us about," Michael replied firmly. "We need all the evidence to clear Zan we can get. We'll take him to Valonia with us when we go pick up Max, Liz, and Tess."
Kate heard Will snort slightly. She glanced at him, as Michael demanded, "What's your problem?"
"No problem," Will replied shortly. "I just don't understand how any of this is a good idea. We're changing everything here." He glared at Michael. "You do realize that, because of what you just did, nothing is ever going to be the same again?"
"Isn't that the point?" Michael snapped back.
"I'm sure your little girlfriend on Earth wouldn't think so."
Kate watched Michael tense. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that every move we make on this planet is making it less likely that we will ever be cloned and sent to Earth. There won't be a girlfriend in your future, if you don't stop just arbitrarily changing things."
Kate stared at the shapeshifter's crumpled form for a long moment, then closed her eyes. For the first time since she had convinced Vilandra of the shapeshifter's identity, she let her thoughts drift to Alex. The pain of it was surprising.
Had everything already changed? Would she ever even see him again?
And, if by some miracle, she did, would he even know who she was?
She met Michael, and then Isabel's, gazes. They both looked as horrified as she did. They all, as one, looked back at the shapeshifter helplessly.
What were they going to do?
Alex was jolted out of a light sleep by a scream. It took him a moment to get his bearings. He realized that he was still in the pod chamber, where Whittaker had insisted that they remain while their friends were doing whatever it was they were doing in the granolith. He sat up, staring around in confusion. How long had they been waiting anyway? Whittaker had seemed convinced that they wouldn't be gone for very long.
Of course, they weren't really gone at all, were they? Alex thought to himself. After all, their bodies were all still below him, in the chamber beneath the granolith. It was their essences that were gone, which Alex could only assume meant that, at long last, the human race had evidence that the soul did exist. Because their Czechoslovakian friends had sent theirs somewhere that Alex couldn't even begin to understand.
Just another confusing day in the alien abyss, he reflected, sighing, as he adjusted to his waking state and to the fact that it was Maria who had screeched.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked. His best friend had been curled up beside him, but now she was standing. She was staring across the pod chamber, at...well, apparently at nothing.
"Grant," Maria managed to say, sounding slightly strangled. "He...he...I..."
"Maria, what?" Kyle demanded. Their friend was now wide awake too, and was climbing to his feet nearby.
The sheriff's head emerged through one of the bottom pods. "What's wrong?"
"Grant, he just disappeared," Maria finally exclaimed. "He was sleeping over there. I was just lying here thinking, but I was staring at him, and he...he just..." She snapped her fingers, then looked at Whittaker, who had emerged from the granolith chamber behind the sheriff. "What's going on?"
"They're working more quickly that I imagined they would," Whittaker replied calmly. "This world is changing."
"What are you talking about?" Kyle demanded.
Alex didn't need Whittaker to explain though. The truth hit him so abruptly, he stumbled slightly.
"Alex," Maria said, reaching out to grab him. "What's wrong?"
"It's a time machine," he mumbled. "It's a bloody [I]time[/I] machine! They're changing what happened back on Antar." His voice rose exponentially with every word, until he was practically yelling. He pointed his finger at Whittaker. "Did you know that this was going to happen?"
"What? What's happening?" Kyle asked, beginning to sound slightly panicked.
"They're changing everything," Alex explained harshly. "Isn't that right?" He addressed this to Whittaker again, willing her to deny what he was saying.
She pressed her lips together. "I thought that being close to the granolith would be enough to protect us," she finally said, still sounding so calm, Alex wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled in her head.
"You thought? You [I]thought[/I]?" He glared at her. "We're all going to disappear, aren't we?"
"You won't disappear," Whittaker assured him. "You will still live."
"But..." Alex glanced at Maria, who seemed to be catching on. "Wait a minute! Are you saying that they're changing everything so that they won't even have to come here?"
"That's what I'm saying," Alex replied. He turned on Whittaker again. "You never told them any of this. They don't know what they're doing."
She gestured back towards the pods. "The granolith will protect us. We'll just move closer."
"The granolith didn't protect Mr. Sorenson," the sheriff reminded her. He sounded mostly like his usual self, but Alex could hear the fear in even Valenti's stern voice.
"I can't believe that the granolith will make them give up everything," Whittaker assured them. "It's not like that."
"Apparently no one really knows [I]what[/I] the granolith is like, do they?" Alex flared. "This is just great. Just peachy."
He felt a pang of guilt when Maria burst into tears next to him. "I'm never going to see Michael again! Or Liz!"
"I can't believe this," Kyle muttered. "Screwed again."
"We don't have time for this," Whittaker told the sheriff, obviously believing he was the most reasonable. "We must go into the granolith chamber."
"What's the point?" Maria wailed.
"It's the only chance," Whittaker replied. "Do you not want at least the chance that you might stay here?"
"I can't believe I'm just going to disappear," Kyle said, shaking his head, more in disbelief than dismay. "In my next life, I am going to kick Max Evans's ass for this." He rolled his eyes. "Oh, right, there won't [I]be[/I] a Max Evans in my next life. Thank Buddha for small favours."
"You're not going to disappear," Whittaker snapped, beginning to sound annoyed. "Or at least you won't if you'll get into the damned granolith."
Kyle stared at her, then sighed. "Stupid aliens," he muttered as he dropped to his knees and crawled through into the granolith.
The sheriff gestured for Alex and Maria to follow, obviously intending to wait until they were 'safe,' before joining them himself.
Safe. Ha. As long as their friends were playing around in the past, Alex thought, they weren't safe anywhere. Every move they made might result in the one move that meant the either he or Maria would disappear, never to know that aliens existed.
As Alex crawled through into the granolith, he wondered, for one brief moment, whether that might not be better than it sounded. It would certainly be a way out of the alien abyss, once and for all.
But, to never know Liz, to never know Isabel...No. He didn't want that. He needed them. He needed them both. And, more than that, he needed his chance with Kate. It just wouldn't be fair if they didn't have a chance!
When he unfolded his lanky body in the granolith, Maria came immediately into his arms, still sobbing with fear. At least he wasn't alone here. At least he had Maria. He rubbed her back comfortingly, drawing his own succor from her presence.
Because, when he stared across the granolith at Whittaker, who was watching the pulsing light at the base of the cone, he saw fear and uncertainty briefly flash across her face before she managed to school her expression back to its usual serenity.
Alex closed his eyes, hugging Maria more tightly. At least he had Maria, he thought again, because if even Whittaker - Serena of the Granolith, herself - was unsure of what was happening, he certainly wasn't going to find comfort anywhere else.
To be continued...