Chapter 19
Max was sitting at the counter when Liz stepped through, he looked at her and she smiled, weakly, at him.
"You told him," Max stated and Liz nodded. He enveloped her into a hug and stroked back her hair. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just need some time to process it," she told him and he nodded.
"Still want to go?" Max asked and Liz nodded.
"Yeah, we have a world to save," she told him, he kissed her forehead and Liz wrapped an arm around his waist as he led her out.
They headed over to the U.F.O Centre and made their way down to the main area where they saw Tess, Alex, Kyle and Isabel sitting about with the parasite on the large screen. "What do you guys have so far?" Liz asked.
"Nothing, we can't figure it out," Kyle told her and Liz looked at the screen before looking in the microscope to get a better look.
"It looks like alien versions of negleria filarae. Waterborne parasites found in the blood cells of certain species of fish," Liz stated then looked up only to see Max looking at her with a raised eyebrow and she blushed. "I'm kinda reading ahead in biology," she explained.
"That indicates they need something to feed on, like an arm or something like that and it's only found near water," Alex stated and Liz nodded.
"But you guys found it in the soil," Kyle told them and Liz moved over to another computer and brought up Frazer Woods water tablets.
"So that's why Grant was studying the woods," she muttered before turning to the others. "There is a rise in the water tablets in Frazer woods, and with Laurie being buried in the soil, it was pretty easy for her to be affected," Liz told them and Alex moved next to her.
"Bring up the map of Roswell and place the water tablet on top of it," Alex told her and Liz did the bidding, Alex traced the water line from Frazer Wood till it stopped right on top of…
"Pohlman Ranch," Alex and Liz stated at the same time, causing Max, Isabel and Tess to hurry over and look at the map.
"What the big deal about Pohlman Ranch?" Kyle asked and Liz turned to face him.
"That's where they crashed the ship," Liz told her and Kyle looked at her with wide eyes.
"Are you telling me those thing came from their ship? That they are aliens?" he demanded as he pointed to the screen.
"Looks like it," Liz told him and Kyle sighed.
"Why do you do this to me Buddha?" Kyle asked, his eyes raised heavenward, annoyance clear in his tone, causing Liz roll her eyes as she turned to Max, who was looking at Kyle with amusement shining in his eyes before he turned to face his girlfriend.
"Can someone tell me why I went out with him?" Liz asked and jumped when the Twilight Zone tune started ringing.
"Whose phone is that?" Alex asked.
"Not mine," everyone stated and looked at each other, confused, before Liz moved over to her bag and picked out her phone and rolled her eyes when she saw the caller id, she flipped open her phone.
"Maria, did you change my tune?" she asked in annoyance while Alex snorted back a laugh, causing everyone to look at him.
"You dated him because you thought Max wasn't interested in you," Maria replied.
"How did you know I was talking about that?" Liz asked.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Michael demanded as he looked at Maria.
"Liz?" Max asked and Liz looked at him.
"Maria knew what I was talking about!" she exclaimed and Max looked at her shocked.
"Hello, girlfriends?" Maria asked and Liz rolled her eyes.
"Whatever," Liz told her and Maria grinned. "You need to call your mom soon, she's been phoning Mr Valenti, hysterically," Liz warned and Maria groaned.
"Great, why did you all tell her?" she asked and Liz smirked.
"That you skipped off with Michael to have a multi orgasm through group sex with a couple of his friends and that you were planning on marrying him," Liz stated and got a shriek down the phone for her troubles. Liz pulled the phone away from her ear and smiled at her friends, as they looked at her in a stunned shock. "Payback," she mouthed and Alex laughed as he shook his head while Max shook his head in amusement, still shocked over what his innocent girlfriend had just pulled then a memory of her fantasies came to her mind and he rethought the innocent part, she could be a bad girl when she wanted to.
"Please tell you didn't!" Maria exclaimed and Liz laughed.
"Relax, I didn't. How are you and Michael going?" Liz asked.
"We're heading over to her aunt and uncle's place right now, we're gonna find out what's going on," Maria explained and Liz nodded.
"That's good, things here are alright, Jim has encountered something alien, we're gonna find out what it is and see what it can do," Liz told her.
"Okay, give me call to let me know later," Maria told her and Liz nodded.
"Later," Liz replied and closed her phone before turning back to the others. "She and Michael are fine, they're heading over to Laurie's aunt and uncle's place to see what's going on," she told them and got nods in reply.
"We better find out what this is and what it can do," Alex stated as he point over to the board and Liz nodded in agreement when she heard a noise. Liz moved over to the door and saw a familiar person walking down the steps.
"Hey little coz," James called out and Liz smiled as she walked over to James.
"Hey James," Liz greeted.
"Do you know where Maria is?" James asked.
"Yeah, remember Laurie?" Liz asked and James nodded. "She took her back to her house, apparently Laurie's Aunt and Uncle stuck into the mental intuition just so they could get the money," She told him.
"They did?" he asked and Liz nodded.
"Yep, it's amazing what people would do just to get money," she told him and he nodded.
"Okay, I just wanted to let you know that Mrs. Evans has called for Max," he told her and she nodded.
"Thanks James," she told him as she reached up and kissed his cheek, he left the U.F.O Centre then made her way back over to the gang.
"What did James want?" Alex asked.
"Wondering where Maria was, Max, your mom phoned my house looking for you," she told him as she held out her phone. He smiled as he took the phone, kissed the side of her head and moved over to a distance so he could call his mother.
"So, what are we going to do about them?" Kyle asked and Liz shrugged.
"I don't know," Liz admitted.
"You know, we could really use some help," Isabel stated and Liz looked at Max as understanding dawned on them and Max winced.
"It can kill him," Max told her and Liz sighed.
"Maybe you could just shock him to bring Larek here, tell him that you need his help then heal Brody?" Liz suggested and Max sighed.
"Okay," Max told her.
"What are you guys talking about?" Tess asked.
"We'll explain later," Max, told them as he led Liz through the backroom. "Back in a couple of minutes."
"Wonder what that was about," Kyle stated as he turned back to the board, leaving everyone else wonder too.
Max and Liz made their way into the backroom and they saw Brody sitting at his desk.
"Hey Brody," Max greeted and Brody looked up.
"Hey Max, what's up?" he asked and Max sighed.
"I need to ask you something," he told him and Brody nodded as Max reached out and touched his shoulder. Max sent a small burst of power through, causing Brody to go flying and hit the wall.
Max and Liz ran over and helped him up.
"Brody?" Liz asked.
"It's me, Larek, tell me what you want," Larek told them.
"We need you to prepare this body and come here soon, we have a situation we need your help on," Max ordered and Larek nodded before closing Brody's eyes and his chest went still. Max cursed as he and Liz pulled Brody to the floor so Max could start doing CPR while Liz looked on, hoping that he was okay.
"So, Larek is coming by?" Tess asked; all of them were now in the Crashdown.
"Yeah, we need his help on this" Liz told them when the door opened. They all looked up and saw Brody stepping through.
"Hey Brody, you okay?" Max asked.
"It's Larek, actually," Brody corrected as he sat down. "What you did was extremely risky."
"We know but we really need your help," Max told him and he nodded.
"I'm listening," he told them.
"We have encountered something alien, it's blue and it has a habit of affecting a girl, it doesn't seem affect the rest of us," Max explained and Larek arched an eyebrow.
"Am I hearing this properly, are you telling me the Gandarium are on the loose?" he demanded and they looked at each other before looking at him.
"Huh?" they asked.
"The Gandarium are a genetically engineered life form, designed to bridge the DNA and RNA sequencing during third-stage amino synthesis. The fact that they are on earth, loose means basically the end of the world!" he exclaimed.
Everyone just looked at Liz, who just held up her hands and shook her head.
"Hey, just because I love biology, it doesn't mean I understand what he just said," she told them then looked at Larek. "Could you please explain it in more simpler terms?" she asked.
"Okay," Larek told them. "The basic is, Human DNA and Alien DNA are not compatible through hybrid, so the scientists created the Gandarium in order to bridge the gap between them, so Max and the rest can actually live on Earth without any problems," Larek explained and Liz nodded.
"I always wondered about that, I mean, I found it a little confusion how Max and the rest just had human and alien DNA, now it makes sense. What about children?" Liz asked and Larek nodded.
"Children will be fine, we made sure that Max and the rest are able to procreate in case the war was over and they couldn't get back home or someone in the royal four died and couldn't complete the four square," Larek explained.
"Not that the four square is completed and it won't be," Max informed, causing Larek to look at him. "I'm not interested in being with Tess and I'm not going to get together with her, Liz and I are bonded and it's staying that way," Max explained. Larek looked at Liz, who reached out and took Max's hand.
"But that's impossible, you were meant to be attracted to Ava," Larek stated and Max shook his head.
"Nope, it's been concluded that Liz has the soul of my past lover," Max stated and everyone looked at her.
"What?" Tess demanded.
"She has the soul of Lilly?" Larek asked and Max nodded.
"Yes, our protector has determined it, he recognised Lilly's soul and it's been determined that Liz is Lilly, my fiancée," Max explained and Isabel looked at her.
"Naesco is dead," Isabel told him and Max shook his head.
"We have four protectors, two are dead, and two are still alive. Milton is one of our protector, he came to see Liz and I today and explained a lot of things to us," Max explained and Larek nodded.
"Okay," he stated before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, it's just weird to know that Lilly still survives," he explained and Liz smiled slightly.
"Hey, can't be any weirder than having your king as a hybrid," Liz told him and Larek nodded.
"Yes," he stated before shaking his head. "I have to go and return this body, I hope you will find someway to save this world," he told them before tipping his head and leaving the Crashdown while Isabel and Tess turned to face Max and Liz.
"Explained what?" Isabel asked and Max shook his head.
"Nothing for you to worry about, it just concerned Liz and I," Max told them before looking at Liz. "Looks like we have some digging to do," he told her and she nodded.
"Alex and Kyle are going to love that," she deadpanned.
"Hell no!" Kyle stated once Max explained what they had to, Alex just looked at Kyle, amused.
"What's the matter Kyle? I thought you jocks like digging in the mud," Alex teased and Kyle threw him a glare.
"I'm not doing it," Kyle stated firmly.
Kyle and Alex were digging away in Frazier's Woods. "You know, I'm pretty sure I said I wasn't doing this," Kyle stated and Alex ignored him.
"So is this the sixth or seventh hole we've dug today?" Alex asked, panting.
"Hey, hey. I was kinda wondering what the hell you people were doing sophomore year," Kyle stated and Alex shrugged.
"Ah, well, a lot of secret meetings, a lot of lying to authorities. Sometimes narrowly escaping gunfire..." Alex stated and noticed that Kyle looked worried. "Although generally that was pretty rare."
"So what do we lowly human folk get out of all this?" Kyle asked and Alex shrugged.
"I'm not sure," Alex stated.
"See, I guess what I have a problem with is that suddenly I'm a member of this club I never wanted to join," Kyle muttered.
"Yeah," Alex stated.
"And it turns out this club bears a striking resemblance to a chain gang," Kyle exclaimed as they continue digging when Alex suddenly hits something hard.
"What the... Look at this!" Alex exclaimed as Kyle looked at the hole in the ground.
"What the hell man? It's some sort of cave," Kyle observed. Alex raises his arms in triumph and started dancing slightly.
"JACKPOT, BABY! Whooh! Yeah! Alex Whitman, ladies and gentlemen! Uh-huh! Yeah! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Alex cheered in to the dark night before coming back down to earth as Kyle stares at him, a weird look on his face. "Okay, well, time to put the shovel away, and uh, go find the others and tell Max."
Kyle looked at the hole speculatively, and then turns to Alex.
"You coming?" Kyle asked, Alex thinks for just a moment before caving in.
"Sure. You first," Alex stated and Kyle nodded.
"Okay." Kyle agreed as he jumped into the cave, waiting for Alex to come in.
Kyle drops his bag down before coming down himself. Alex follows after. The walls of the cave are covered in clusters of the Gandarium. "Oh my God! Kyle stated as he shined his torchlight over the blue-coloured cave as Alex enters and coughs slightly "What do you suppose alien crystals are going for on eBay?" Alex laughed as he looked around.
"Alright, Columbus. You claimed the land for the Queen of Spain. What do you say we go tell the others?" Alex asked, as soon as he said 'others' the crystals suddenly cover over the opening that they entered by, cutting out all light. "Oh, oh no! Oh, oh..." Alex panted out, fear creeping into his blood.
"I don't know why I'm looking around," Kyle muttered to himself then turned to Alex. "I suppose stuff like this happens all the time. Right?"
"Yeah, sure," Alex lied, Kyle nodded and they both sat down, hoping that someone was coming to save them.
Max, Tess, Isabel and Liz made their way over to where Alex and Kyle were digging.
"Nothing on our grid," Tess told Liz and she nodded as she looked at her clipboard before looking around.
"That's weird, Alex and Kyle are working this spot but I don't see them," Liz told them as Max looked around when Isabel noticed something and grabbed Max's jacket.
"Look!" she exclaimed and they looked down to see blue crystals.
"Oh my god," Tess whispered when all of a sudden, a shrill ringing sound filled the air, causing them to jump.
"My phone," Liz told them as she pulled out her phone and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked.
"Liz!" Alex exclaimed and Liz sighed.
"Where are you guys?" Liz demanded. "We're standing on the spot you were digging but you're not here."
"We underground, under the crystals," Alex explained and Liz looked at the crystals, opened mouthed.
"What?" she demanded, causing everyone to look at her. "Alex and Kyle are under there," she explained, the three of them looked at her before looking at the crystals and Max sighed.
"I doubt our powers are going to work on this so we better find some other way to get them out," Max explained and Liz nodded.
"Sorry Alex, looks like you and Kyle will be stuck down there for a little longer," Liz explained and Alex pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Great, how do you propose I tell that to Kyle?" Alex asked before hanging up the phone, leaving Liz stifling a smile as she turned back to the other.
"So, what do we do now?" she asked, getting no answer in reply when all of a sudden the phone rang once more, startling them again. "Why is it always my phone?" Liz demanded as she answered it once more only to be met by Maria's panicked voice. "Maria?"
"There's a floating jelly fish in the bunker!" Maria exclaimed.
"What?" Liz demanded.
"It looks like those blue crystals things that Mr Valenti found only it's shaped like a Jelly fish and let me tell you one thing, she looks pissed."
"What happened?" Liz asked and Maria rolled her eyes.
"Isabel was right about Grant being the kidnapper, he came here and tried to kill us but Laurie and I got away in time, we got him into the bunker and locked him in it when all of a sudden he started fitting and fell on to the bed where this jelly fish burst right of his chest," Maria explained and Liz paled.
"The queen, that's what Larek was talking about," Liz explained before looking at the others. "Grant was the kidnapper, it looks like he had the queen inside of him the whole time," she explained.
"Jesus," Isabel whispered.
"They've got it locked in the bunker but she's trying to break through the glass if they don't do something soon," Liz explained when another shrill ring rang through the air, startling everyone.
"Mine," Max called out as he took out his phone and held it to his ear. "Yeah?" he asked.
"They need oxygen!" Alex exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Max asked.
"I put a piece of this crystal into the a small tube I had with me, Kyle threw a match in and it burned out the oxygen. Max, it died straight away," Alex explained and Max looked up at Liz.
"Ask if there's any vents in the bunker," Max told her and Liz repeated the questions, Maria looked around.
"Yeah, there's a fan that I can see," Maria told her and Liz nodded to Max.
"Tell Michael to reverse the fan, draw the oxygen out of the bunker," he ordered and Liz nodded as she repeated it to Maria, who in turned to repeated it to Michael. Michael lifted his hand and did the bidding and they watched as the queen floated around the room before it exploded, covering the window in blue goo and Maria winced.
"Guess I should be glad that it was in a room," Maria stated to Liz, who laughed.
Kyle and Alex were lying down on the ground, looking at the crystals.
"So this is how it ends..." Alex stated.
"Somehow this is NOT how I pictured it," Kyle said to Alex and Alex smirked.
"It was hell of a ride though," Alex stated and Kyle shrugged.
"I guess," Kyle replied, not sure.
"I mean, think about it. We not only MET aliens, but they killed us," Alex stated and Kyle looked at him "How many people can say that?"
"You're getting delirious, is that it?" Kyle asked, worried for Alex's sanity
"Nah, take...take a step away from your life, Kyle. You know, I mean, you're part of this...this amazing thing. This...amazing knowledge that you HAVE that 6 BILLION people on this planet don't. You really want to step out of this cave if it meant that you were gonna be another dumb jock?" Alex asked and Kyle sat there in silence.
"You know what, I wouldn't." Kyle stated told him with a smirk when all of sudden they felt some dripping. They looked up to see the crystals melting, freaking Kyle out.
"Are they attacking us?" Kyle demanded and Alex laughed as it dawned on him.
"No, they're dying!" Alex exclaimed as he stood up and pushed his way through the crystals where he saw Liz, Max, Isabel and Tess standing there. "Hey!" Alex greeted and Liz squealed as she moved over and helped him through before hugging him as Max helped Kyle through.
"We made it!" Kyle crowed and everyone laughed as they all shared a hug.
Max and Liz found themselves in Liz's bedroom, Max was sitting on the bed with Liz resting in between his legs as they relaxed from the week they just been through.
"It's over," Max stated and Liz sighed as she rested her head on his shoulder. "It's finally over."
TBC