Part 2 – Wireless
March 15, 2003


1: Max

9:03am
T minus 8 years, 7 months, 17 days, 6 hours, 57 minutes

"You do realize this will get pulverized during the test, right?" Max said while holding a small, silver device in his right hand. Jake absently nodded as he attached some transparent, light weight circles to Max's fingers. They tickled, but that was far from being his biggest worry. Today was the first day they were moving from theory to practice in Jake's lab. The fact that it was Max's birthday was a small distraction, but it settled his mind to know that, in a few hours, he and his friends would be free to go to the small town six miles south of the compound to celebrate. A victory Jake had earned them with Dave, so Max had dutifully agreed to start gathering actual information for their doctor; testing his limits when it came to his powers. And for today's show Jake had picked diamond making.

The small metal object in his hand was supposed to represent a coal. "Just think of it as the same thing, and try to compress it as you would when you are making the diamonds," Jake said one last time, looking Max in the eye seriously, and then boyishly smiling. He could tell Jake was loving this, and Max had to admit that some of that enthusiasm was rubbing off on him. Not much, but enough to calm his nerves. "Whenever you're ready," Jake said, finishing with the attachments. There were half dozen on his hand, a half dozen trailing from his arm and his chest, and a dozen attached to the white cap he was wearing. It felt kind of heavy, but not uncomfortable.

This was also the first time Samantha had been invited to participate in Jake's lab, and she was furiously taking notes on her laptop. For the month and a half they had been in the compound, Jake had been taking things slow, finding out what they could do, and what they liked to do. Jake was trying to make these sessions as stress-free as possible, but Max didn't have the heart to tell Jake he was failing miserably. But then again, his heart monitor was probably already betraying his anxiety.

Behind Jake and Samantha, Michael's eyes never left Jake. Michael hated being here twice as much as Max, and that was one of the main reasons Max had volunteered to go first. Max also suspected that Jake would not even suggest to Michael to participate; of course, waiting for Michael to actually want to do anything might be longer than waiting for hell to freeze over.

Nodding to Jake, and then to Samantha, Max closed his hand into a fist. In his mind, he pictured the device, and then the diamond he wanted it to be. He took a deep breath, and held that image in his mind. His hand tingled right before it started to glow, and the circular, transparent sensors attached to his fingers started to itch. He ignored them as the device in his hand started to shift into what he wanted. He felt the exact moment the device cracked, becoming dust, and then deeper and deeper he went until all he could picture in his mind were tiny particles. He could do many things with those particles: liquefy them; toast them; change their color; probably even their density. Make them a long thread, or a flat surface. What he could not do as easy was make them into a diamond.

He inwardly frowned. He'd always preferred coal for this trick because it was easier to relate in his mind. Concentrate, he coached himself, and in the particles went, finally, finally,becoming the diamond he wanted it to be.

Letting out the breath he had been holding, he opened his hand to show a tiny yet shiny diamond. The sensors had been disintegrated and probably reintegrated into the gem everyone was staring at, something he had not truly anticipated. "Sorry," he softly apologized for ruining Jake's equipment.

"There's more where those came from," Jake said with a slight smile, holding out a metal tray where Max placed the diamond. It really was smaller than he had intended it to be. The smallest he'd ever done, and that puzzled him. Samantha offered him a wet towel to clean up the sweat, startling him. He hadn't realized he was sweating.

"What happened?" Samantha eagerly asked, her eyes slightly magnified by her glasses. She knew as well as he did that that was not his standard diamond size.

"I think I need the actual coal to make it into a bigger one," Max slightly shrugged, a bit embarrassed.

"Well, we have those, too," Jake said amicably, reaching for a small, metal box on the table beside him. A dozen coals were inside, and randomly picking one, he handed it to Max. "Would that one do?"

"It should," Max agreed, weighing it with his hand. It barely weighed anything, and left black dust where it rolled on his palm.

"Okay, let's take a ten minute break, would that be enough?" Jake asked, looking at Max, then at Samantha, and turning all the way around, at Michael. Michael simply glared, although as Michael's glares went, it was a mild one.

"Yeah, that should be enough," Max agreed, taking the cap off his head. Standing up from the couch where he had been sitting, he didn't know what to do about the other sensors, but thinking it through, he decided it would be too much trouble to take them off and then have Jake put them back on. Leaving them in place, he walked towards Michael in search of a glass of water.

The room they were in was bluish-white, 18 by 18 feet in size. It had a large, light brown couch against the farthest wall, where Max had been sitting, faced by two smaller ones, where Samantha and Jake had been monitoring him and taking notes. Half the room was occupied by lab equipment and computers, which were undoubtedly recording his every breath, heartbeat and everything else Jake deemed interesting. Trying to ignore the flashing monitors, Max served himself his much needed glass of water.

"Having fun?" Michael asked dryly as he watched Max taking a sip.

"You know, we can learn a lot about ourselves too," Max said in a low voice. It wasn't as if Michael didn't know that, but Max felt compelled to explain himself.

"Whatever. Are you okay?" Michael said dismissively, changing the subject.

"Yeah, just the usual fatigue." As he watched Jake retrieving more of the circular, wireless sensors, Max wondered how many diamonds he could make in a row before passing out cold. This test had hardly taxed his strength, but he had barely made the diamond. Making one with a coal was harder, and took a real toll on his strength, but the result was much better. On the other hand, it had been more than two months since his last diamond, and he hadn't made all that many to begin with; now that he was thinking about it, he was curious.

Beside him, Michael grunted. He had been in a foul mood all week long, and it was one more reason to thank Jake for letting them leave for the weekend. Ray wasn't happy about it, but Max couldn't care less. A month and half underground, and he was more than ready to get out and see the stars.

"There's something… I need to talk to you about," Michael whispered, glancing in Jake's direction. "Do you think you could hurry this up so the others won't notice we're late?"

A chill ran down Max's spine. He didn't like Michael's tone, and much less the look on his face. He was pretty sure he was not going to like this secret meeting, for the very reason that it had to be secret. Max nodded.

"I'm ready to continue," he said out loud, making Samantha almost shout in delight.

When the coal became a diamond in his hand six minutes later, all Max was thinking about was Michael's troubled face.


2: Michael

9:47am
T minus 8 years, 7 months, 17 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes

After forty-five minutes and the fifth diamond, Max was more than ready to call it a day, and Michael was ready to bail.

"You sure you don't want to rest here?" Jake asked with concern, taking the last sensor from Max's forearm.

Max looked wiped out, but Michael knew from experience how totally exhausted Max could look when he was really at his lowest point. This time, Max would be fine after a couple of hours of sitting down. If Michael was honest with himself, he felt slightly guilty for rushing Max this way. But, since it had been Max's idea to go through five diamonds so quickly before saying he was done, well... it wasn't really Michael's fault.

"I'm sure," Max said, his breath returning to normal as he wiped the sweat off with a towel.

"You know, the town will still be there even if you're a couple of hours late..." Jake reminded him, pressing a hand on Max's shoulder, maybe a small attempt to not let Max go just yet.

"I know... I'm really okay..." Max assured him, looking uncomfortable.

"Okay," Jake finally conceded, "but if you feel like you need to come back, my door is always open," Jake pointed out, taking the towel from him.

"Sure... thanks," Max said, walking towards Michael and waving good-bye to Samantha. They were not coming back until Monday afternoon, so they had better be happy with whatever data they had already gotten from their little experiment.

"You sure you're okay?" Michael asked once they were out of the room, Jake's piercing eyes following them all the way to the hall.

"Positive. Or I will be in a couple of hours. Do you have a place in mind where we can talk? I could use a place to sit down..."

There weren't many secluded places in the compound, –maybe a few in the cafeteria and the gym, plus their own apartments—but Michael didn't want to talk about it down here, so the only option was up there. He swiftly guided Max to the elevator that would take them right by Dave's office, and then outside.

"Did you have any trouble with the diamonds?" Michael asked, partly to make small talk while they waited for the elevator doors to open, and partly to stop himself from asking Max if he was truly okay.

The doors opened, and in they went. "There was something inside the pieces of coal. I guess it was some sort of measuring chip. I tried not to crush it before I started with the diamond, but I really don't know how much data they are going to get..."

"Well, that's their problem," Michael sighed in frustration. He didn't know how to react. He couldn't tell Max to stop doing it any more he could stop Jake from wanting to know. Both parties wanted to know, but it made Michael feel so damn vulnerable to see Max be a willing lab rat. The elevator doors opened, and he wisely chose to keep that thought to himself all the way up.

As they walked out of the elevator they both looked to their left. Perfectly concealed, Dave's office door remained closed. Dave was not in the compound, had not been for at least three weeks, when he had come for a short stay to say hello to Jake for his birthday. Sometimes, though, Michael wondered if Dave would sneak in to watch them without their knowledge.

Once outside, cold snow met them, the wind chilling Michael's face. Parked in front of them was the red suburban they would use to go to town in about an hour. It was empty, just as Michael had hoped. Max didn't miss a beat and went straight for the passenger seat.

Closing the driver's side door, Michael turned the heat all the way up, while Max pressed his hand to the door, heating the air faster than the car system ever would. "You shouldn't be doing that," Michael admonished.

"I told you, I'm fine. Besides, it's a small price to pay to get warm faster. Now, what did you need to talk about?"

It was uncharacteristic for Max to be so direct, but Michael really liked it. Beating around the bush was just a waste of time. "I had one…" he cryptically said.

"One what?" Max asked, puzzled.

"One of whatever you had. Remember? When you were going to Dave's meeting, you had something more than just a flash." Michael could feel the tension coming from within him. He had had a sort of episode six days ago, but it hadn't been until this morning that he had actually had had a true memory taking over reality and planting him light years away.

"You saw yourself? On Antar?" Max's eyes went round, both concern and surprise showing in his eyes. "What was it about? What did you see?" he continued, eagerness replacing caution.

"You, actually…" Michael started, feeling his muscles loosen up now that Max wanted to hear. "Well, I'm not even sure… You looked just like you do now… How's that even possible?" The question had been nagging at Michael all week long. He'd only gotten a couple of glimpses at first, but this morning… this morning it had knocked him down.

"The guards in mine looked like regular people too. Dave said something about how he thought we humanize our past memories. Maybe he's right. Maybe we see human forms because that's what we are used to… What was I doing?"

"You were laughing…" Michael said, trying to hold the image in his mind. "I was telling you something funny, and you were laughing. It felt…"

"Surreal?" Max offered.

"Natural," Michael corrected. "I didn't even realize it was happening until it had ended." Max nodded. "I mean, you said the same thing when you told us, but I didn't think it would be so literal…"

"When I said it had been like walking straight into another life?" Max said with a small smile.

"Yeah… Hell, there wasn't even a warning…" Michael acknowledged, the idea of losing himself so completely to something in his mind unnerved him.

"How did it feel?" Max asked, curious in a way Michael hadn't seen since they had been chasing clues in the dark before Nasedo had come into their lives.

"Like I was in control," Michael confessed. "Rath's life… he was always so in control. Like everything was a strategy, but he was… I don't know, he was having a good time, I guess." Michael shrugged, not really understanding what had come from Rath's mind. His mind.

"Zan was nervous about taking the throne…" Max elaborated from his own vision. "And I think… I think the moment I saw, was the exact moment when he realized he didn't have a choice but to take it. And he was… glad he didn't have a choice. All his life had been about this moment. He wouldn't have known what to do with a choice to be anything else."

"It wasn't that long… I didn't get that much information…" Michael said, looking through the windshield to the fallen snow. "I had some random images of it last week, when Jake told you we could go to town."

"So the idea of… fun triggered it?" Max guessed.

"I don't know. I wasn't doing anything particularly fun-inducing when I had it. Maria wanted me to pick up your birthday cake and I was trying to avoid encountering that Danielle witch… And if Maria asks, you didn't know about the cake," Michael pointed out before he forgot. "I just thought about getting out of here, and the next thing I know I'm walking onto a freaking balcony in the Palace."

"How did I look? I mean… was I happy? Nervous?" Max tentatively asked, his voice low.

"I think you were stressing the hell out, and you were blowing off steam… That's why I made you laugh…" Michael said, thoughtful, turning to look at Max. Max gave him a slight smile.

"Thank you," he simply said. A minute went by in silence, until Max sighed, "I thought hearing it would trigger the same memory in me…" there was relief in Max's voice, but also loss. Michael understood. Max wanted to know, but then he didn't.

"I'm just afraid of this happening randomly during the day…" Michael concluded. Ironically, from the moment he had heard Max talk about his own memory, Michael had secretly hoped he would get one. Not because he needed that other life, but just to validate that it had been real. That everything they had been told was, at least, somewhat true. Because sometimes it didn't matter what thing he could find, just that he had found them.

"I haven't had any other… flashes… besides that first one… It might not happen again. It could be a 'one time' thing…" Max offered. Michael looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Snap out of it Maxwell, this is going to keep happening. We might not like it, or want it, but this… whatever this is, it's just the tip of the iceberg."

Max uncomfortably looked at his hands on his lap, silently fighting the facts. "I know…" he whispered at length. "I guess I needed to hear it, though…"

When Max had told them, it hadn't really set right with any of them. Max had been careful to refer to his memory self as Zan, but now that Michael had experienced it, he knew how confusing it was. He'd seen Rath, but he would refer to the events as if he had lived them, as Michael… But then, he was Rath, ––and while he had been on that balcony, talking to Zan, Michael and Max were non-existent.

"This frightens me, Max," he finally admitted. That was the main reason he had wanted to talk to Max. To figure out what the hell they were going to do before he had to face Maria's questions.

"I know," Max said, "if… when the next ones come, we should… I don't know… try to figure out a way to stop them. At least when we are not in a safe place. Learn to deal with them if they become more frequent."

"What… what if this takes over our lives?" Finally voicing his fears didn't make them any less scary.

"We won't let it," Max fiercely answered.

"Max, we might not have a choice. Those were our memories…" he stubbornly pointed out. He couldn't afford to do a Max on this, sit and do nothing about it. He just couldn't.

"They were memories of people long dead…" Max countered. Michael didn't feel –much less look– convinced, so Max relented. "Look, I know how intimidating they are… but we cannot give into them. And even if… even if we accept that those things happened to us, they are not our lives right now. They'll never be our lives again."

Michael slowly nodded, though his heart wasn't in it. Max sounded so sure of how to handle this, but Michael wasn't. It had felt so real. It had come from within him, and no matter what Max said, these past lives were within them, had been for more than fifty years now. But he let it go. There was nothing to do right now, not until they knew for sure the memories would keep coming back. Plus, it was Max's birthday, and everyone was eager to get out of there. Knowing this secret session was at an end, he took out his phone and dialed Maria. It was time to go into town.


3: Kyle

3:41pm
T minus 8 years, 7 months, 17 days, 19 minutes

Freedom had never tasted so good, especially when it was accompanied by a beer.

Kyle watched as Maria got ready for the karaoke to start while Max and Liz danced to a slow song a few feet from their table. Michael had disappeared to order more food, which left him and Isabel alone. Again. They were always the odd non-couple out. They were used to it by now, but it still stung. Besides, he was the only one in the group who was having alcohol, and that depressed him even more.

He wasn't surprised when he heard a wishful Jessie coming from Isabel's direction.

"You miss him, huh?" he asked, trying to be sympathetic, although Isabel hardly ever talked about her husband. Or was it ex-husband?

"What?" Isabel asked, confused.

"Jessie, you just mentioned him…"

"I– no," she said, even more confused. The slow song finished, and Maria prepared to go up on stage. Michael returned with a huge nachos plate. Anyone would have believed they were starved to death in the compound.

"But I was… thinking about him," Isabel said, looking at him weirdly.

"She's soooo good at this song," Liz enthusiastically said as she and Max took their seats and Maria's intro started. She really was good at singing, and Kyle made a mental note to ask her how that whole contract in New York had really gone. He'd only gotten the abbreviated version.

By the time she was half through the song, he was half through his beer. There was a sort of pressure building at the front of his head. Figures… of all the days to get a headache, he internally groaned. Someone was whispering, and he ignored it. Maria went for the final chorus while Liz cheered and Max and Michael clapped. Kyle did too, less enthusiastically. The whispering became insistent.

The song finished and Maria bowed. The place was pretty much deserted in the middle of the afternoon, and that was more than fine by them. Kyle clapped for his friend, and just as she arrived with a huge grin on her face, Isabel practically shouted at him. "KYLE!"

"What?" he turned, startled. Everyone at the table turned to look at him, surprised. All but Isabel.

"I didn't say anything…" she said with worry all over her face.

"Yes you did. You practically left me deaf," he countered, turning to look at the others for back up. They all blinked eerily at the same time.

"I didn't say anything," she insisted, "but I thought it." It was Kyle's turn to worry, the color leaving his face. "I think you just read my mind."


T minus 8 years, 7 months, 17 days, 3 minutes