Sliding Into Antar
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The Real King
Chapter 30
XXX
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Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria approached the house of Shyubn-Sing, who was generally acknowledged to be the leader of the Caretakers, though officially the Caretakers were all equals and had no leader. Max looked at Michael, and Michael nodded. Then with a last look around, Max turned and lifted his hand, but before he had a chance to knock, the door opened and a man stood facing them…
The man was very old and had a kindly appearance, but he appeared strong, and Max was surprised to see that he was also, quite clearly, blind. His eyes were fogged over and pupiless… but oddly, they seemed to "stare" at Max, then at Michael, then at Liz and Maria, for several long moments. Finally, the old man smiled ever so slightly…
"I knew you were on Antar. Come in."
Max looked at Michael then back at the old Caretaker, as the four of them entered the house…
"You know who we are?"
"Yes. You are the king… Zan… and his General and friend, Rath."
"How did you…?" Michael started to ask, but the old man waved his hand dismissively… "There are far more dependable ways to see than with the eyes. The eyes can deceive."
"Well, they don't always give us the whole story," Michael agreed, "I would have sworn that you were blind. But obviously you're not."
The old Caretaker nodded. "These eyes are blind, but you are correct… I see more than most men will ever see, only not in the way they do."
"Blindness can be healed here on Antar," Max said with deep concern in his voice. I may be able to heal you myself…"
Max reached out toward the old Caretaker, but the old man stepped back… then he laughed loudly. "You cannot heal what is not sick or injured or broken, Zan. Long ago, I traded my eyes for another kind of sight. These eyes are no longer needed, so they atrophied, as any part of our bodies will do if it is no longer used."
"And you don't miss seeing… I mean, with your eyes?" Michael asked.
The old Caretaker shook his head. "If one has learned to run with the wind, does he miss crawling on his knees, as he once did when he was a baby? I have no need of eyes. I see far more than my eyes ever imagined."
"Did you see Pierce for what he really was?" Michael asked, blurting out the question suddenly… and perhaps a bit bluntly… as was sometimes his habit.
Max smiled. "The General has a way of getting right to the point. He's not much one for small talk, I'm afraid. But that is the question that is on all our minds."
The old man nodded. "Sometimes… it is a good thing to be direct. That way there is no confusion about one's intentions. By 'Pierce,' of course, you mean the one who arrived in the granolith and took the throne from Kivar…"
"Yes," Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria all said at once.
The old Caretaker nodded. "I did see him as he was. There was never any doubt. But he had the protection of the granolith…"
"But you're the Caretaker," Michael said quickly, "You control the granolith. It won't hurt you."
"I am one of the Caretakers, yes," the old man corrected, "And I do control the granolith. All that is true. But we had to find out more about this person you call Pierce. He had… the royal sign."
Michael looked at Max questioningly and noticed that Max looked shocked… "Royal sign? You mean, like, the V symbol… of Antar?"
The old man nodded.
"I didn't see that on Pierce," Michael said, thinking back to all the times he had seen Pierce since coming to this Antar.
"Neither did I," Maria agreed, "If Pierce had the V of Antar anywhere on him, I would have seen it. And I know Isabel would have seen it when she was in there with him trying to get him to talk… and she would have told us."
Liz nodded, agreeing with Maria.
"I have to admit, I never noticed any trace of the sign of Antar on Pierce either," Max said.
The old Caretaker sighed… "It would not have been visible to your eyes… or to any normal eyes… but it was there, I assure you. I see what you do not."
"So you've told us," Michael said a bit bluntly, "But that doesn't explain how Pierce could have the royal symbol on him. Where did you see it on him?"
"Ah, you see…" the old Caretaker said with a bit of a smile, "That is the mistake that you make, because it is the way your eyes see things… always in a particular place… on a hand or on the chest or on the forehead. But if you were able to see with real sight you would see it everywhere."
"Pierce had the royal symbol everywhere on him?" Michael asked, not trying to mask his doubt.
The old man nodded. "Eventually, it would have become visible even to eyes such as yours."
"It must have something to do with the piece of that organ he took from you, Max… from your double in this dimension, that is," Michael said, trying to think of any possible explanation.
Max thought about it then shook his head. What Pierce took, I suspect, was a piece of the gorian duct, the dasna'va. Humans don't have it. But the dasna'va has nothing at all to do with the royal symbol or our powers. Pierce tricked the granolith because he had some of my double's DNA."
"No, but Max…" Liz said, as an idea ran through her mind, "What if what Pierce took was actually the upper chamber of the torsgol'dor, the sthenic substernum?"
"The what?" Michael asked.
"It's the back part of the jiban'golt, the substernum maxima, a small organ that Antarians have in the upper abdomen, behind the sternum."
"It is?"
Liz nodded. "You don't know what the jiban'golt is?"
Michael rolled his eyes. "Well, of course I know that… but what's this sthenic substernum… tors- thing… whatever… that you're talking about?"
"Well, you see," Liz said, placing her hands close together to indicate a small organ, "It's the back portion of the substernum maxima, the jiban'golt. Most Antarians don't think about the fact that the substernum maxima is actually several independent organs that are fused together into one…"
"Yeah… okay… so…" Michael said, nodding.
"Well, see, the sthenic substernum is attached to the back of the substernum maxima and is considered to be part of the substernum maxima, but it has its own functions, and one of its functions is thought to be amplification of some types of Antarian powers."
"I think I heard that somewhere before," Michael said, nodding, "Yeah, I did. So you think that could be what Pierce got, part of Max's ssss… ssss… sthenic… you know… substernum thing? It would be hard to get to. It's not really easily accessible."
"I know, but it could be," Liz said, nodding, "But think about this… at the top of the sthenic substernum, there is a small chamber called the vars'tya, or in more professional terms, the 'superior regulum.'"
"I'll take your word for it," Michael said, turning and looking at Max. Max shrugged.
"I won't go into the exact functions of the vars'tya," Liz said, continuing, "But in Antarians in general, it's what's known as a recessive organ, an organ without a purpose, kind of like… well… men's breasts… except that within the royal family, and the king in particular, it's well-developed."
"Max has well-developed breasts?" Michael asked, his eyes widening.
"Nooooo," Liz sighed, "Move beyond the breasts, Michael. I'm talking about the superior regulum… the vars'tya. It's a recessive organ in most Antarians, but in the king… and some members of the royal family… and in you, too, Michael… it's well developed… Only more so in Max."
"And I would know this?" Michael asked. "Did you know this Max?"
"I heard it somewhere," Max admitted. "I had forgotten. It's not everyday information or something we talk about at the table over dinner."
"You've been hanging around Varec and his scientist friends at the lab too much," Michael said, turning back to Liz again, "Their penchant for finding useless scientific trivia is rubbing off on you."
Liz sighed. "It's your bodies. You should know these things."
"Yeah, well, do you know what the prothorax is in your body?" Michael retorted.
Liz nodded. "It's the first segment… of an INSECT… the segment that the first pair of legs are attached to."
Michael grinned a bit sheepishly… "Right… yeah… that's… what it was. I was just checking."
"I see where Liz is coming from, Michael," Max said, "She could have a point. If Pierce cut off a small part of the sthenic substernum and happened to take the portion that contained the superior regulum, it's possible that he may have more than just the royal DNA. He may also, conceivably, have been given other powers that he doesn't even know he has… including the power to display the royal symbol of Antar."
Liz nodded. "That's what I was trying to say."
"So the four of you are from a different dimension…" the old Caretaker asked, though it sounded more like a statement than a question. "I knew there was something different about you. And these girls are your wives…"
Max smiled and put his arm around Liz. Then Michael put his arm around Maria, too.
The old man nodded, and his face took on all the look of a wizened sage. "I would keep them if I were you. You need them."
Liz looked at Maria, and both girls grinned, but neither one said anything.
Michael shrugged… then he smiled…
"I know that. That's one thing I do know."
Max nodded.
The Caretaker smiled slightly then resumed where the conversation had left off… "The man that is called Pierce was told that the Caretakers have great powers, so the first thing he did when he arrived on Antar was look for the one in charge, Kivar, then look for us. He sought to control us."
"Rath and Lonnie told him that… back on earth," Michael said. "Rath and Lonnie are… well, they're kind of hard to explain…"
"Defective duplicates of yourself and Vilandra," the old Caretaker said for him.
Michael looked surprised, but the Caretaker just smiled… "I told you, I see things that normal eyes do not."
"You must have psychic powers, too, then," Michael said, impressed.
The Caretaker shrugged. "You might consider it that, but it is only sight… sight that you do not understand. Unfortunately, we did NOT foresee the depth of depravity of the one called Pierce or that he would threaten our families in the way that he did."
"And so you cooperated with him," Michael said. But then he looked at the old man sympathetically, "It's… okay… I understand. I'm not blaming you. We all know what Pierce is capable of… and what he would do to your families if you didn't cooperate."
"Actually, we did not cooperate with him," the Caretaker said, "We merely allowed him to believe that his powers were coming from us. It was better that he believe that than that he realize the truth… that he had powers himself."
Max and Michael both nodded, in total agreement.
"But he lost his powers," Maria pointed out. "After we captured him, he no longer had any powers. He believes that you betrayed him."
The Caretaker smiled. "In the presence of your Zan, who also has the sign of the royal house, even though it is of a different dimension, Pierce's powers were not strong enough, and they shut down… though probably only temporarily." The Caretaker thought for a moment… "It is likely, as Liz said, that Pierce took the portion of the torsgol'dor that contains the vars'tya, though he probably had no idea what he was taking. If he did, then Pierce is now the legitimate heir to the throne of Antar… and our Zan no longer is. In that case, Pierce is the king of Antar… in this dimension."
Michael's jaw dropped and he shook his head vigorously… "That's a crock! Pierce can't be the king. I don't care what he's got in him."
"But he has the royal symbol…" the Caretaker said.
"I thought Pierce said that Max would regenerate the missing portion of that organ," Maria said, reminding everyone of what Isabel had told them after getting Pierce to talk to her.
"The torsgol'dor probably did regenerate," the Caretaker agreed, "But the superior regulum, the vars'tya, would not duplicate itself as long as it exists in another individual. If Pierce has it, then he is the king. It is as simple as that."
"Then we have to get it back!" Michael said emphatically.
The Caretaker nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, it would be treason to cooperate with someone who wanted to harm the legitimate king."
Michael glared at the old man unsympathetically, unbendable in his conviction, and clearly unwilling to waste any time trying to find ways to justify what he knew inside himself was right… "What does your superior vision tell you, Caretaker?"
The Caretaker smiled. "That there is greater sight than normal eyes are capable of… and greater cause than that bestowed by the mere possession of a vars'tya."
Michael nodded. "So you'll help us then?"
"I am loyal to the king," Shyubn-Sing said, "The true king… not the man called Pierce… though by some traditional laws he may now be our king. We will get the vars'tya back. Who will return it to Zan?"
"I'll take care of that," Max said. "I'll get it back to him… one way or the other."
"Whatever!" Michael exclaimed. "I just want it out of Pierce… and the sooner the better!"
"That's something we can all agree on," Maria said emphatically.
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Max, Michael, Liz, and Maria arrived back on the New Granolith to find Jim, Kyle, Alex, and Isabel waiting for them. Usually, when Jim was waiting to meet them it meant that there had been some kind of security incident or that there was a serious and immediate threat of some possible security incident. Max looked at Jim and sighed.
"Sorry, Max," Jim said, reading his face, "I know it's not what you want to come back and hear, but…"
"It's okay, Jim. Just… lay it on me. Whatever it is, we'll take care of it."
"Pierce escaped," Alex said.
Max groaned, and Michael's face turned pale and then reddened. "How?" Michael exclaimed, "How could that happen? He was contained! How could he escape?"
"His powers came back," Isabel said. "We didn't see it coming. He grabbed me from behind and threatened to kill me if we didn't send him back down to the planet."
"Was anyone hurt?" Max asked, looking Isabel over.
Alex nodded. "Tess was… and Kyle. They tried to stop Pierce and free Isabel. Tess was the only one on the ship besides Isabel who might have had the power to stop him. With her down and Isabel unable to get at him, we had to do what Pierce wanted… We sent him back to the planet."
Max looked at Kyle, but Kyle held his hand up… "I'm okay. Don't worry about me. Go take care of Tess."
"Where is she?" Max asked, "What did he do to her?"
"In the recovery room," Isabel said shakily. "She was hit pretty hard by several blasts from Pierce, Max…"
In Isabel's eyes, Max saw deep concern, and he knew it was serious. He headed for the recovery room without waiting for any more details. The recovery room was the ship's hospital, but the crew had long ago decided to call it a "recovery room." The name had an upbeat, positive sound to it. And besides, with Max around to heal almost anything short of death or some incurable disease, it actually was, usually, more of a recovery room or treatment room than a true infirmary or hospital.
Max arrived quickly and walked in to find Tess lying on a bed, seriously injured and semi-conscious. Her husband, Rayylar, was at her side, holding her hand. Seeing Max walk in, Tess made a feeble effort to sit up, unsuccessfully.
"Don't try," Max said, taking her by the shoulders and laying her back down gently. "Just wait until I take care of your injuries."
"I'm… sorry… Max," Tess whispered, "I let him get away."
"You tried," Max said, as he passed his hands over Tess searching for injuries. "You did what you could. No one can fault you for that. I should have had someone watching Pierce 24/7, and Michael or I one should have been here… in case something like this…"
"It wasn't your fault, Max," Tess objected. "No one knew that Pierce would regain his powers. We need to find him and get him back."
"I'll take care of that, don't worry," Max said firmly, placing his hands back at his sides… "Try sitting up now."
Tess sat up carefully and then smiled. "That feels… definitely… better. I feel like I may actually live now."
Max smiled. "If you find any more injuries let me know. I think that took care of the main ones."
Tess nodded then held out her hand. The tip of her finger was burned, and the nail was broken and hanging. Standing beside Max, Liz grimaced involuntarily, though in actual fact, it was one of the smallest of Tess' injuries. Max touched it for a moment, then Tess looked at it and nodded…
"You have a future in cosmetology, Max. You do great nail repairs!"
Max rolled his eyes and smiled… "Well, let's keep it to ourselves, okay? I don't want to be known as the ship's manicurist."
Tess smiled and nodded, hopping off the table and into Rayylar's waiting arms. Rayylar kissed her.
"I think I'm going to need some more of your special therapy, Ray," Tess said, when she finally came back up for air.
Rayylar smiled and happily obliged.
"I'd better check on Kyle," Max said, turning back to Liz, "If I know him… and I do… he's hiding injuries he's not telling us about."
Liz nodded.
Back in the control room, Max and Liz found Kyle, who was still pretending that he was only slightly singed. The truth, as Max had suspected, was somewhat worse than that. Though Kyle was still on his feet and conscious… at least for now… Max discovered that he did have a serious injury… a deep abdominal contusion with internal bleeding caused by Pierce's blast. Fortunately, it was easily fixed, and Max took care of it. With Tess out of danger, Kyle no longer resisted Max's efforts to help him.
"Max, what happened? I thought the Caretakers had stopped letting Pierce use their powers."
Max nodded. "They did… I mean they never did… They never let him use their powers. Pierce has his own powers. He just doesn't know it. The Caretakers let him think they were cooperating with him so he wouldn't realize that he has powers himself."
"Oh, man…" Kyle shook his head and whistled. "That's gonna make things so much harder."
"Yeah… it is…" Max agreed. "The sooner we get down there and find him the better… before he finds out the truth and becomes a real monster."
"Becomes?" Kyle chided. "What do you mean 'becomes?'"
"A real… bigger monster," Max corrected. "But we may have an even greater problem, Kyle… Pierce may be the legitimate king of Antar now."
"What?" Kyle stopped and looked at Max as though he had lost his mind… "That's not possible, Max! You've got to have that V thing with… with the stars in it, like you have, to be the king."
Max nodded. "Well, apparently, Pierce has it."
Kyle stood for a moment with his mouth open, staring at Max in dismay.
"Don't ask me to explain it, Kyle… It's too complicated."
"If Pierce were to get killed… I mean really wiped out… would he still have the symbol, Max?"
Max smiled. "I don't know, Kyle… but thanks for the thought. Don't forget that he's got powers, though, and you don't. You'd better let Michael and me catch him."
"Yeah, well, catching him wasn't what I had in mind."
"I know."
Max and Kyle walked a little further together and came across Liz again, then they found Michael and Maria, and together the five of them returned to the planet's surface, but they found no trace of Pierce. In fact, it was four days later before anyone from the New Granolith saw Pierce again; and when they did, they knew that the worst had happened… Pierce knew. Somehow, he had figured out on his own that the powers he was exhibiting were not coming from the Caretakers but were coming from within himself… and he could not have been more delighted. In fact, "delighted" barely described it. It was safe to say that Pierce had become drunk with his own power, using it at the drop of a pin to intimidate… and to kill. In four short days, he had gone from being a virtual unknown on Antar, except among a select few, to being the talk of the planet. Word spread like wildfire from one side of the capitol to the other and to all the provinces. Pierce was no longer a question mark. He was a despot… a very dangerous and hated despot.
Pierce himself had no intention of being a leader at all… in any sense of the word, good or bad. Having discovered that he had powers the likes of which he had never dreamed, he decided to use them to finish the job he had begun… the job of eradicating the alien "plague" here at its source… however long it might take. Pierce felt a new confidence, both in his own powers and in his ability to control the granolith. He was fairly certain, now, that once the "aliens" were all destroyed he would be able to return to earth in the granolith… that he had the power to control it… and that the granolith was his to control.
Of course, drunk though he was with his own power, Pierce did know that wiping out all the "aliens" on a planet would take longer than was feasible for any one person. He did not expect to kill them all one by one, though he no longer hesitated to kill any that got in his way… and often just for fun. No, he would come up with a more efficient way… one that would allow him to shorten the job, killing thousands, or tens of thousands, at once. Then he could return to earth a hero. The thought elated Pierce, puffed him up with delusions of grandeur… and gave him visions of his own place in the history books. He saw himself as a sort of space age George Washington… forging a new beginning for earth, one in which earth was forevermore safe from invasion from space. His crossing over to Antar would be celebrated in writings, in songs, even in paintings… like Washington crossing the Delaware. The name "Pierce" would become a household word… loved and adored by all school children, who would study about his life in school for thousands of years to come.
It was with these thoughts of grandeur running through his head that Pierce walked out of the fortified "situations" building on the grounds of the CoruzAntar Spaceport, where he had been hiding out since escaping from the New Granolith, and found himself suddenly face to face with his greatest enemy, Max Evans. And Max was not alone. With him were Michael, Liz, Maria, and Kyle. They had found him. It might have seemed that that would be the end of it. Certainly, Pierce's newfound powers were not a match for either Max's or Michael's powers, much less both of them together. In fact, though Pierce didn't know it, Liz or Maria either one could have put a serious hurt on him. So could Kyle, given a fair chance. This Liz and Maria, and this Kyle, had grown in their abilities over the years they had lived on Antar in their own dimension. But one thing one could never do was underestimate Pierce or his sheer deviousness. He had planned for this encounter, and he was ready.
Pierce had figured out that in Max's presence, the last time, his own powers had failed him. He wanted to make sure that that did not happen again. He had practiced, honing his own powers to make them stronger, but he had not left his fate hanging in that precarious balance alone. He had developed contingencies… several of them… just in case. And he had done what he was so well known for… He had tested actual living Antarians with similar powers to his in the lab over the last four days to determine their weaknesses and strengths. Pierce had left nothing at all to chance.
"You're trapped, Pierce… Give it up," yelled Kyle. "We're taking you back to the ship. I recommend you come peacefully."
"You're a traitor to your kind, Kyle! You're human. You don't belong with these aliens. If you come over to my side now, I may let you live."
"Oh, like I'm going to trust you! I'd sooner trust a wild pawgor!"
"Suit yourself, Kyle. I didn't really want to take you back with me alive anyway. You're a traitor. So's your father, the sheriff. Why should I share the glory with traitors? Killing the two of you will be a service to humanity."
"You're a sick man, Pierce!"
"You're right! Sick of your kind, Valenti! Go ahead. Give it your best shot! You want me. Come get me!"
"Maybe I will."
"Kyle," Max cautioned, holding Kyle back, "Pierce has something up his sleeve. He doesn't just invite people to come get him unless he has a plan. Don't stick your neck out unnecessarily."
"Somebody's got to take him down, Max. It might as well be me. I'm as fit as he is… more so, probably."
"Maybe so," Max said, "But you're not as devious as he is. Just wait. Let's use caution. That is Pierce we're talking about."
Kyle sighed. "You're right. I just want to take this guy down so bad."
"We all do, Kyle," Michael said. "And we will… together."
The five friends stood facing Pierce from about fifty feet away for several minutes, and apparently that was long enough for Pierce. Pierce knew that he had all his bases covered, and he knew that he had the upper hand, even if he was outnumbered, and he was tiring of waiting for someone to make the first move. If they wouldn't do it, he would. Without warning, Pierce suddenly raised his hand and made a flinging motion that sent a wave of energy flying in the direction of the group. Kyle saw it coming and hit the ground, and Liz and Maria sidestepped it just in time. Max and Michael saw it coming, too, and together, they raised their hands and created a barrier of energy that stopped Pierce's blast in its tracks, though not a moment too soon.
The others started to regroup, but just as they did, something hit them from above like a hammer.
"What the hey!" Kyle exclaimed, as he was knocked to the ground and rolled into Michael, who had also been knocked over, along with Max, Liz, and Maria.
"I think he created some kind of overloop blast," Max said, quickly getting back onto his feet. "It wasn't powerful enough to hurt us, just knock us off our feet. But we were caught off guard. We're going to have to be more wary. We don't know what he's capable of. We could have been killed just now if he had been able to produce a stronger overloop."
By now, everyone was back on their feet and facing Pierce again. So far, Pierce had allowed his blasting powers to do all the work for him. And apparently he had more where that had come from and wasn't ready to give up, because suddenly his hand flew up again, and this time a series of blasts flew from the palm of his hand, several of them heading toward each of the five members of the group. Nobody had time to duck this time. Max and Michael shot back, stopping his blasts once more from hitting them and stopping some of the blasts intended for the others… but not all of them. Liz stopped one herself and was grazed by another one that she hit but didn't deflect far enough. Maria deflected one and was hit by another, which knocked her to the ground, stunning her. Kyle slowed two shots down that were headed at him and managed to diffuse them, weakening them considerably, but he failed to stop either of them completely and was hit by both of them. Max and Michael deflected the rest. No one was seriously injured, but this was not turning out to be the cakewalk that had been expected. And Pierce was only getting started. So far, he had not even touched any of his "contingency plans."
And that was about to change.
As the five friends helped each other back onto their feet, Michael noticed something in Pierce's hand. It looked like a gun. For a moment, Michael wondered if Pierce intended to try to shoot them, and he prepared to blast the gun out of Pierce's hand, as Max prepared to stop any bullets that he might get off. But there were no bullets. Neither Max nor any of the others saw anything leave the gun, but something did… an invisible beam of energy. They felt nothing, but when Michael tried to blast the gun out of Pierce's hand, he felt weaker than normal… and Pierce still had the gun in his hand. Max tried to blast the gun from Pierce's hand, too, and he, too, felt weakened.
"What did he do to us, Max?" Michael asked.
Max shook his head. "I don't know. Just guessing, I'd say he's found a form of energy that feeds off of our energy, weakening us. We can't allow him to use it on us again."
"I'm not sure we can stop him, Max," Michael said, raising his hand and sending a blast of energy toward Pierce. But he could see instantly that it was too weak and too diffused to be effective. As it slowed down, Liz added her own energy to Michael's. The blast regained strength and crashed into Pierce's hand, melting the gun and knocking it from his hand.
"Way to go, Liz!" Kyle said, impressed.
"We need to all pool our energy together," Max said. "Liz has the right idea. Each of us is weaker than normal, but together we're still strong."
The five raised their hands together and prepared to blast Pierce, who had already created an energy barrier around himself for protection. A combined burst of energy flowed from Max and the others who were with him, striking Pierce, whose shield fluctuated momentarily. For a few seconds, they all held their breaths, as the shield flickered, almost failing; then it appeared that it might restrengthen, but at that moment, another blast of energy struck Pierce, one that had not come from any of the five. Then yet another bolt of energy struck him from out of the blue, bringing down his shield completely and knocking him to the ground. The look on Pierce's face was one of utter dismay and disbelief, but the look on the faces of the five friends was one of almost equal surprise. In the flurry of energy blasts going back and forth, nobody had noticed the arrival of a small, outdated ship on the far side of the spaceport. But now everyone watched as six previously unseen people approached them.
The leader looked Max over and shook his head as he stood facing him…
"I'll let you explain who you are later. I'm assuming that since Pierce wanted you dead, you're good guys, even if you do look like another set of dupes."
"We're definitely good guys," Liz said. "I think I can explain everything. We're not from your dimension. We came here by accident. That's why we look like you… because we are you… just… from a different dimension. We're not dupes or anything, just interdimensional travelers.
The leader nodded, looking Liz over and then looking at the girl who stood beside him holding his hand. "You could be twins."
Liz couldn't resist smiling. She felt undeniably flattered that this younger Max thought she still looked like her younger double. And as she gazed at the younger Max, she realized that she was witnessing his arrival on Antar for the very first time, something she had missed experiencing with her own Max.
Max nodded. "I guess you are both Liz. Well… this is definitely going to be interesting!" Then turning to Max from the New Granolith, he grinned… "So you're me, huh!"
Max shrugged. "It would appear so. We weren't expecting you. How did you get here?"
"We took one of Kivar's old ships that he left on earth."
Max nodded. "Probably the same one Kyle and I left earth in way back in the beginning… in our dimension. I thought you had lost your powers, though!"
The other Max smiled. "Where did you hear that?"
"Pierce told us… well, he told Isabel… that he took a piece of an organ from you, and we figured out that it was the superior regulum because when Pierce put the piece in himself it gave him powers… and he had the royal sign."
The new Max nodded. "Well… I did lose some of my powers temporarily, but they came back."
"So the Caretaker was wrong," Michael said, shoving Pierce in front of him and tying him up tightly, "There CAN be two people with the vars'tya at the same time."
"Not really," Liz said, beginning to understand. "Max regained his powers, because he was the true king. Pierce may have stolen the powers for a while, but I'm willing to bet that he no longer has them since Max arrived. In the end, the king is still the king, and the would-be usurper is…"
"Dog meat," Michael said, tossing Pierce down between himself and his double, the Michael who had just arrived. "You're probably right, Liz, but I'm not taking any chances. Pierce is staying tied up this time."
Maria grinned. "Well, it's probably a good thing if Max did regenerate the part. This way he won't have to put the other one back inside himself after Pierce had it in him."
"Ewwww…" Liz laughed, agreeing with Maria. "You're right."
The newly arrived Max looked at Pierce and nodded. "I don't want it back. I'll happily regrow a new one, thank you."
"It would seem that you already did," Max from the New Granolith said with a grin… "Well! This is all an unexpected turn… Can we invite you to visit us in YOUR palace?"
The younger Max smiled and nodded. "Why not! We have no other social commitments for today… Our calendar, you could say, is open."
The others laughed.
"What are we going to do with Pierce?" Michael asked, "nudging" Pierce with his foot just enough to elicit a grimace.
"Call Jim. Have him take him back to the ship and put him in quarantine. We'll deal with him later."
Michael pulled Pierce up onto to his feet. "Come on, Superboy. We've got a nice kryptonite cell for you back on the ship. Then I guess you get a free ride back home. Not that I really like just letting you go free there either. But I can't exactly tell anyone that you committed crimes on another planet, and I can't just blow you up, as much as the idea appeals to me."
Pierce stared at Michael coldly, a sadistic sort of pseudo-smile on his lips, as Michael turned him over to Jim, who took him back to the ship. That evening, the group from the New granolith joined the new arrivals in the palace, which was conveniently vacant with Kivar and Pierce both gone now, and helped the new arrivals clean the place up. Pierce had been neat, in his own way, but his idea of decoration and entertainment left a lot to be desired. The dissection table in the royal bedroom, for example, had to go. The mattress was replaced… just because. And the families of the Caretakers, palace guards, and some other prominent Antarians were released from their "prison" rooms beneath the palace where they had been held. The rooms of the palace had never been intended to be prisons, but they were sturdy and inescapable… had anyone chosen to use them that way; and for Pierce, they had served that purpose well.
Two days after the new arrivals arrived on Antar, and one day before the New Granolith group had planned to return Pierce to earth, they discovered that Pierce had escaped again. The New Granolith crew immediately notified their doubles and offered to help recapture him, but the younger Max declined.
"Pierce can be dangerous… and unpredictable," Max from the ship warned. "You may need us. I really recommend you accept our help."
"Not this time," the younger Max replied. "We already found him."
"Is he restrained?" Michael from the ship asked.
"That won't be necessary," the younger Max said. "When we found him, he was surrounded by a mob of his victims' families. Their justice was… sort of… permanent and motivated. It was like… like…"
"Fire ants all over a grasshopper?" Isabel asked.
"Yeah… kind of… just like that. Interesting analogy. Why would you think of that?"
"Just something Pierce once said."
"So… Pierce is really…?" Max from the New Granolith asked hesitantly.
"Definitely. It's fortunate that I no longer need that part back, because it would be a little hard to find it at this point."
"Wow… Well… That does sort of solve a problem, doesn't it… in a way? I mean, you know… I guess we don't have to take him back to earth now."
"It might be hard to do."
"I don't suppose anybody there will really miss him. I guess he'll just be another disappeared agent. So… how are the Antarians treating you guys?"
"Like family," the younger Max said. "They've been wonderful! They suffered through Kivar and then they had to suffer under Pierce…"
"Yeah," Michael said, nodding… "They've had enough of despots and sadistic psychos. The Antarians are good people; they just wanted one thing, and when they found it they knew…"
Isabel smiled and nodded…
"Their real king… at last."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
End of Chapter 30
tbc…