Strangers & Milliseconds (AU,CC,MATURE) COMPLETE - 9/14/13

Finished stories set in an alternate universe to that introduced in the show, or which alter events from the show significantly, but which include the Roswell characters. Aliens play a role in these fics. All complete stories on the main AU with Aliens board will eventually be moved here.

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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch10,pg5 Apr 8, 2013

Post by ken_r »

L-J-L 76:

keepsmiling7:

begonia9508: That has become a new worry for Max


Chapter 11

Still at the safe house, late into the night

Max knew that he and Liz were not in a typical protection program. Witness protection usually sets up identities, house, job and then lets its charges rebuild their lives. The officials keep their eyes on them, but mostly the protectees are on their own to establish themselves. Max and Liz were under constant observation. Max feared that was because if they became an embarrassment, the Max and Liz people would just disappear to be found as victims of an unknown crime some place far away. Max and Liz knew too much. They couldn’t be killed outright. Max and Liz might be needed if witnesses became important.

Now, Max had another problem. Maybe, he should have called 911 emergency. Max reached over to the phone. He lifted the receiver and there was no tone. The bodyguards had to be gone so they had disabled the communication system. Max started thinking, even if they had been here, would the bodyguards have allowed para-medics to get close to either of them? He remembered, “No one, but no one is to know you are alive.” Max did what he instinctively knew and it turned out to be right. A medical emergency would have involved too close of an inspection for them to have allowed. Medical emergencies brought on the quest for records, backgrounds and proofs of insurance. All of this would have opened up questions about their identity.

Max had been studying his blood and that of Liz’s as part of his attempt to understand the difference between humans and himself. Max didn’t know the name for it, but the green particles were what allowed Liz to accept his blood. Gandarium was the name of the particles discovered by Antarians. Gandarium had been created to allow the mixing of DNA of different species. It forced the immune system to accept things it wouldn’t otherwise. Max only knew it as “green stuff.” It would have helped save several months of research for Max if he had been provided with a simple manual that he could read by the Antarians. Max was just thankful that his research had progressed far enough, to help Liz.

Now, whether Liz stayed with him or returned to John Stevens, Max was responsible for her health. No longer, could Liz be allowed to visit a physician. In a millisecond, Max had endangered all of them. Isabel and the two unknowns like her were in great danger if what Max had done to Liz were to be known. He had sent out a signal that the king had healed someone and he had changed the direction of a human’s life. What would happen to Liz next? Would she develop powers or would she become a totally different creature, maybe weaker or stronger than the Roswell aliens. The stories Philip had told Max and Isabel said there were at least two others out there. Now, the number had risen to more than five, the four children and at least someone else. Would Liz add another soul to the list?

When the bodyguards came in that morning they remarked, “Liz, what happened to you?” One had asked pointing to the bandage on her thigh. They noticed that both Max and Liz had a sickly pallor. Everything was noted. If their charges became sick or wounded to the point one of them died, cleanup facilities must be mobilized. It wouldn’t do for either body to be recognized at a safe house run by a government organization. Final word about termination of either or both subjects had still not come down. The higher ups, just couldn’t find enough information about the assassination.

“I scratched my leg on a bush outside. Max patched me up with the first aid kit,” Liz explained.

The explanation was not completely accepted, but for now everything went back to normal.

Max carefully removed the bandage from Liz’s thigh. Even though he was a healer, this close to Liz and the feel of her smooth flesh was troubling to him. “Max, there is hardly a mark where the knife went in,” Liz remarked.

“Yes, Liz, you heal fast,” Max nodded as he inspected the wound. He looked up and he saw Liz frowning.

“Max, why didn’t you call emergency for the paramedics?” she inquired.

“Liz, at the moment I didn’t think of it. Later, I checked the phone lines out. They were all dead,” Max stated.

“Max, had your research gone far enough that you believed your blood was compatible with mine?” Liz asked.

“Yes, Liz, but I may have passed on an affliction that I bare, to you. You must be careful to going to a hospital or having your blood checked,” Max explained fearfully.

“Max, is that your secret? Do you have some mysterious blood disease? She inquired.

“Something like that, Liz. It isn’t fatal or anything. We need to have a long talk. I need you to start helping me in my lab. One side effect is that it increases your immune system. We will have to see what other side affects you develop. It is a secret that must be kept from the bodyguards.” Max thought maybe this was a blessing. He was at a point where he needed help with his research. Liz was a trained biologist. He would have to see if he had somehow ruined her chances with John. He would be careful until they both knew more about this. He could now, open up a little more with Liz.

In Roswell

Isabel woke up clutching Alex. “Max is alive. I just felt him. I don’t know where he is, but he is alive,” She stated.

Michael woke up. He had no idea of why. There was a new feeling in his mind. He, now, knew about Isabel and Tess. There was something new that he didn’t know about.

Tess woke up also. Damn, the king has healed someone. He no longer can remain totally hidden. Especially if the king didn’t know or understand about the danger he was in or what his powers generated. Tess prepared herself. Nasedo would be back in Roswell soon. Tess would have to cancel all contact with Kyle for a time. Kyle did not have the reputation of waiting for anyone. Would he wait for her? Did she care? Worry about a human was a new emotion for her to contend with. How much did she care about Kyle? That she didn’t know. If she was presented to the king, Tess knew that she had no choice. Get impregnated, go to Antar and watch his execution. Her only joy after that event would be in the care of her son. Tess did know that she could only produce sons.

Somewhere back East

Nasedo felt it. The king had become uncloaked. He now was visible for anyone who knew how to see. Somewhere, the king had healed someone. All Nasedo knew about where the king was, was that it wasn’t here. For several minutes, Nasedo wondered about Tess. Nasedo knew that Tess was playing around with humans. He could feel it every time he returned. Nasedo beat Tess more for pleasure than as punishment. As long as she didn’t get pregnant, Nasedo didn’t care where she peddled her ass. Nasedo hated the royalty from Antar even if they were only clones of the originals. They were a different species than Nasedo. Their sexual appetites were much different than his. Nasedo knew that these clones had been pumped full of human DNA to mix with the humans where they were to be sent. They were also full of Gandarium. Nasedo understood very little of this, but he did know that it made them able to mix with other species. As a servant, no one had cared whether or not Nasedo wanted to accompany the children. Kivar had made contact with him and proposed his agreement. Create a king in the womb of the queen. Return the present king for execution. Kill the soldier immediately and return the princess as evidence of his loyalty to Kivar. Once this was done, Nasedo had been promised that he could return to his own people and his people would be granted a place in the future. Nasedo was on the way back to Roswell. It would be seen if he thought he needed to beat the queen for any reason he could find.

The Safe house, but it feels a little less safe, now.

Liz, now in a lab coat, was sitting at Max’s desk pouring over his notes. Liz had a doctorate in biology, but much of what Max was doing was science fiction as far as she could tell. He was proposing that an alien could mate with a human and produce a child. The child would be along the genetic lines of Mendel. An alien and a human would produce a hybrid, a mixture of alien and human. Max had several notes beside this statement. Then, Liz was surprised that he wrote a hybrid and a human would have 50% chance of producing a hybrid and a 50% chance of a human. Max was implying that the first mixture had already taken place. Did Max mean that he had evidence that Aliens had already made contact with humans? Did he mean abduction, or encounters of the third kind?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 525AAGErd6

Then, things got real strange. Max wrote “a hybrid and a hybrid.” He wrote several question marks after this. Did this mean that Max had discovered two or more hybrids who had come from human origin some way? Their off spring would be 50% chance of hybrid and 25% chance of being alien or 25% chance of being human.

This was enough to blow Liz’s mind. If Max hadn’t always been so serious, she would have suspected a joke. Max had talked their handlers out of a lot of money for equipment and supplies. He wasn’t doing this for a joke. Were the handlers in on this? Liz doubted that. The handlers had shown willingness to spend considerable money to keep the witnesses happy and contented.

Liz found a monograph titled, “Maxwell Evans, blood study and DNA work up. Liz found what she was reading strange. It didn’t make much sense. She, then, found a work up of her blood. There were several slides included. She, also, found several blank slides and the forms to fill out a fresh study of her own blood. There was a chart of her DNA, but it had an X marked on it and the words, “No longer relevant.”

In the papers Max had given her, Liz found a blank log marked blood samples. It implied that she should take a blood sample every day for two weeks. Liz pricked her finger with the tool used by technicians. Her blood showed slight changes from what she saw on the slides Max had provided. Liz made notes and then looked more closely at the sample. It had an abnormality. Was that what Max was talking about as his affliction he had unfortunately given her? There were green flakes in her blood stream. The flakes had nothing to do with the blood cells. They just were happily traveling through her blood stream. Liz knew that green usually implied copper compounds of some kind, unless they were totally organic of some unknown origin.

Max had told her nothing. He had just given her his notes and the log to study her own blood. Except for that, he left her alone to pursue his own investigations. He did ask her for blood samples several times.

Crashdown early one morning

Isabel and Alex were having breakfast with Maria and Michael. Isabel found Michael a bit hard to take sometimes, but she found it refreshing to be frank with Maria. They discussed alien and female things with abandon. That was good for Isabel, who had repressed so many questions for so long.

Tess walked up to the table and sat down. “Have any of you seen Kyle lately?” she asked.

“That bastard brother of mine ditched you already?” Maria asked.

Tess shook her head. “I haven’t explained things to him, yet. I had to tell him that I could not see him because Nasedo is returning. Kyle was all for attacking Nasedo, protecting my virtue and such. Nasedo is way too powerful for Kyle to ever confront. I told him to leave it alone. Kyle just stamped off in a huff. Nasedo is coming soon. I can feel it. You have to make sure he doesn’t discover you. Michael he wants to kill and Isabel he wants to abduct. You might want to leave town. If you are still looking for the king, he isn’t around here. You might try the bigger city. Just remember, whatever you feel, Nasedo feels it stronger. Be careful.” Isabel saw that Tess didn’t have the privilege of being friends. Nasedo was a curse on all of them.

On his way to Roswell

Nasedo felt alien influence stronger than ever. “Was that ‘droll’ Tess trying to start an insurrection?” he thought using the derogatory term from his own language. His hatred for the clones was double. Nasedo hated the royals of Antar who commanded him. He also hated the clones, who were the reason he was forced to come here. Maybe, it would soon be over. Aliens collecting together would give off a stronger presence. Round them all up and be off back to Antar and his reward from Kivar.
---------------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch11,pg5 Apr14, 2013

Post by ken_r »

L-J-L 76: The blood work will tell Liz that there is something strange about Max. Michael doesn't have a strong enough relationship to make Tess leave with them. It will take Kyle to take her away. Nasedo is confused about the changes in Liz. There is a long way before anyone has a happy ever after.

keepsmiling7: I will give a short study of my opinion of Gandarium.

begonia9508: Spring is here, also. but there will still be several freezes to kill off the fruit trees.



Chapter 12

The Safe house

Liz now was almost at the end of her two weeks. Max had supplied a box of blood type kits. Liz took her blood type every morning as the log requested. She marked down A- as the blood test showed. Recently the test had become less definitive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqGaX6W6 ... re=related
Home blood tests are very simple. A card is provided that has prepared antigens on different circles marked on the card. By comparing the reaction or combinations of reactions on the card to drops of your blood, you can tell which blood group you belong to. There are four different main blood groups: A, B, AB, and O. There are two other factors called Rh factors. They are known as positive or negative. As the days progressed, Liz’s blood had less and less reaction. Either the test cards were corrupt in some way or she was making a mistake. Liz knew of no reason for blood type to be able to change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type

This must be what Max had told her about. Liz was changing because of something he had done to her. Donating his blood, she was sure had much to do with that, but there were other things. Looking under the microscope, Liz saw the green flakes she saw on slides from Max’s blood. They were multiplying. Liz wasn’t the same person she had been before. Further studies revealed that If changes in blood type did occur, they were after some sort of transplant. That must be the blood Max had given her.

“Liz, just finish your two week study and then, we will talk,” was all she could get out of Max.

Roswell

Maria was all for leaving. It was Michael who was refusing. “We only have Tess’s word that Nasedo is dangerous,” he remarked. “Maybe, we need to meet him and decide for ourselves.”

“Michael, I haven’t met any rattlesnakes, up close and personal, but I am willing to accept the knowledge that they are dangerous,” Maria implored. “If Tess says Nasedo is dangerous, I am willing to accept that and stay as far away as possible.”

Michael would have nothing to do with it. He was convincing himself, probably from lonely desperation, that Nasedo would not have been sent with the children unless someone trusted him.

Alex and Isabel

Alex and Isabel had already left town. Tess had suggested that Max was somewhere in a larger city. Alex and Izzy had headed north. Until they felt something of the king, they couldn’t do anything.

No matter how much Maria pleaded, Michael refused to move. Maria had another pressure which held her back. If she left, there would be no one to keep working to lift Jeff Parker’s spirits. Liz’s mother, Nancy, couldn’t do much; she could barely keep functioning her self.

Jim Valenti, noticed for the first time since Kyle’s mother had left, Kyle was in depression. It had worried Jim that his son was so callous about his relationships. Jim had been told by psychologists that loosing his mother made it hard for Kyle to bond with a woman. Lately, Kyle had been all over this little blonde girl he had picked up somewhere. Something had happened. There was nothing Jim could do. A father can’t mess in the romances of his son. Jim’s romances before meeting Maria’s mother, Amy, were not anything to hold as examples. Kyle wasn’t even interested in cruising the local bars, seeking a women as lonely and desperate as he now was. Jim was truly worried as he saw Kyle just sit at home doing nothing.

A few weeks later, Maria received a phone call. It was difficult to make out because Tess sounded very weak. “Nasedo was back. He is off again looking for the king. I need to talk to you and Michael. I need to convince you to leave town,” she moaned.

When Michael and Maria arrived at her home, Tess did not come to the door. They heard a weak cry, “The door is unlocked. Come on in,” they heard after Maria called out their names.

Tess was lying on the couch. Her energy was so low that she had trouble healing any of the things Nasedo had done to her. Her light-complected face was a mass of bruises. One eye was swollen shut, a bruise and deep cut to her brow. Her dress was torn, revealing cuts and bruises to her body. Her panties were ripped and lying on the floor. The first thing Maria said was, “Oh my god, Tess don’t you want me to call an ambulance?”

“No, no, doctors or hospitals. If they found out about us, they will turn us over to the government and that will be far worse. Nasedo was angry because I couldn’t tell him where the king was. If you find him, do not tell me. I can’t reveal what I don’t know. That may be all that saves me from much worse,” Tess explained.

“Tess, you need help. How can you survive like this?” Maria asked.

“I admit that this is worse than it has been before. I think Nasedo is trying to make me call the king to heal me. I can’t let that happen. If Nasedo gets the king, he forces me to get pregnant, the king along with the soldier, Michael, will die. The princess, Isabel, will live a short life of misery. An innocent child will be turned into an image of the cruelest man in the universe. There is too much at stake. You must find the king and hide him from our protector.” Tess seemed to drift into a sleep.

Maria checked once and if aliens were anything like humans, Tess was still alive. Maria turned to Michael. For the first time, he seemed worried. “If that is what he does to his charges, what will he do to those he doesn’t like?” Michael asked. Then Michael turned to Maria, “I told you I was dangerous. It is you who needs to get out of town. What will that monster do if he finds you beside me? He intends to kill me. I don’t want you to take the fall along with me,” Michael continued.

“Michael, we are a couple. If we were married, it would be for better or worse. This is as close as I have ever been to married, Michael. As far as I am concerned, it is for better or worse. I think we need to help Isabel and Alex look for Max, who ever he is. I think Tess is right. We need to get out of town,” Maria said. She did notice that the vision of Tess being so abused seemed to make Michael more reasonable about hiding from Nasedo.

Still in Roswell

Kyle had been raised by a single parent. Jim had strong beliefs and he had imparted these to Kyle. Jim’s stability in relationships was something he couldn’t model for Kyle, but Jim’s belief in the law, and what he considered right was written on Kyle’s soul. Growing up in a world where he always was exposed to the results of crime, taught Kyle that a right cross and a Colt 45 automatic were important, also. Tess had said she wanted Kyle to stay away because Nasedo was dangerous. That wasn’t a threat a man could take. If he was dangerous, then Nasedo was dangerous to Tess. If Kyle did what she told him, then who would stand by her? Kyle tucked his grandfather’s WWI 45 under his shirt, slipped several loaded magazines in his pocket and went looking for Tess.

Kyle knocked on her door. “A weak voice answered, “Go away. What ever you have, I don’t want any of it.”

Kyle pushed at the door and found that it was still unlocked. It had been several days since Maria and Michael had visited. Tess looked better, but she had been greatly abused. Kyle saw the still bruised face and the cut over her eye. She was wearing a robe and where the robe fell open, Kyle saw the results of Nasedo’s actions. “I need to call dad. I don’t care who that Nasedo son-of-a-bitch is, no one should be allowed to hurt anyone like this,” He stated.

Tess was sharp as she said, “No, Kyle, you don’t yet understand. If you call your father, he will probably turn me in.”

“Turn you in, are you a fugitive or something?” Kyle asked.

“No, Kyle, much worse than that. I am an alien. I am part of what your grandfather searched for all his life. Your father would be forced to turn me in to the government. Nasedo won’t kill me, but your government will. I tried to tell you to stay away. I tried to protect you from the knowledge that we existed,” Tess related.

“We, Tess, how many of you are there?” Kyle asked.

“We know of five so far. Originally, there were four children and a protector. We children are just discovering each other. The protector only knows of me,” Tess explained.

“Well, you don’t need to suffer like this, I don’t care what you are. I am not going to leave you again!” Kyle exclaimed.

“No, Kyle you still do not understand. Nasedo can’t be killed by things available to you. I am part of his plan and he will return soon to attempt to use me to find the king,” Tess said.

“What plan?” Kyle demanded.

“Kyle, the four children of which I am one, were sent to Earth to mix with the population here. The place where we are from, was torn by war. We were sent with the genetic material that our faction wanted to save. Nasedo was supposed to be our protector and guide. Someway the opposite side turned him. His plan is to make me get pregnant with the king’s child and return with the king and to see the king’s execution. One of the other children was the clone of a soldier. Nasedo was to kill him, immediately. I have convinced him to leave town and hide. The princess, who was the remaining child was to be returned to the oppressor as a gift to be used as pleasure until she dies. The king and I are the only two indispensable parts of the plan.” Tess was taking a chance, but everything else had gone to hell. Maybe, Tess needed to talk to someone who was at least sympathetic.

“Tess, we don’t have to stay here. We can run and hide like the other aliens. We can search for the king. Maybe, he will have an idea about getting away from Nasedo,” Kyle said.

The safe house

Max sat down with Liz. “What have you learned so far?” he asked.

“I have learned that my blood is changing. It isn’t just something originally from you. There is now, something in me, which is changing it. I also, need to ask you. Max what are you?” Liz asked in return.

Max watched Liz for several minutes. This was not something that could be decided in milliseconds. If, when he disclosed the truth, Liz became frightened, she couldn’t run somewhere and hide. If she turned him into the bodyguards who watched over them, Max had no idea what the government men would do. That news could even be greater than anything of the assassination. There were two scenarios in Max’s mind. If the government sensed that Max was a source of power, they might attempt to use that power in the struggle that was still going on in Washington. Whoever shot the senator, had not disclosed their reason or who they represented. Everyone in the government was working for position. It would be a while, before democracy was totally re-established and the will of the people again would rule. The second scenario was that there, already, were several power struggles going on in the government, aliens might be a rallying point to bring everyone together to face a common enemy. Then, there always was John Stevens. Could Liz return to him with the knowledge she has spent over a year living with an alien, even though it was strictly platonic, and with the knowledge that the alien had changed her physically?

Liz was almost convinced that Max, once again, was not going to share his dark secret when he said, “Philip and Diane Evans found my sister and me in a machine not of this Earth. The machine was some kind of incubator which nurtured us on a trip from another world. They took us out of Roswell because of the paranoia there about aliens.”

Liz didn’t make any sudden moves of fright, which Max thought was good. “Then, there was some truth in the stories about aliens in Roswell,” she stated.

“The purpose of my research is to determine what I am. I know nothing about where we came from or the machines that Philip and Diane found. I used your DNA and blood to study the differences and likenesses between us. The necessity of donating blood when you were hurt was just an accident. I wasn’t thinking. Later, it proved that what I did was our only choice. Now, I have to ask, how will this effect your relationship with John Stevens, if we are ever allowed to get our freedom?” Max explained what he had been considering for a long time.

Letter to Jim Valenti

Dad;
I found what Gramps was always looking for.
They do exist. They are not all alike.
They are just like the folks you always taught
me about. Some of them are good and some
are bad. Some, at least one, is very bad.
I can’t tell you what to look for, because
it is just like Gramps once said. He is a shape changer.
What he wants to do is worse than any crime
you ever told me about. Don’t contact the
government because some of the folks I have met
are very good and the government won’t care about
the difference. The one I am with is very good at what
she does best. Ha ha, you would know that I would
find that out. She is very good in bed. What would
Gramps say, his grandson sleeping with one of them?
I can’t tell you where I will be. We are looking for a
way to kill the bad one.

Your son
Kyle

Alex and Isabel in the city

Alex had to return twice to his business in the East. He hated leaving Isabel alone in the city, even though she assured him she could take care of herself. Isabel had no more secrets from Alex so, they had been dancing around the idea of getting married. Philip and Diane were ecstatic about this. It even dimmed, slightly their worry about Max. Isabel had decided that Max was her own natural relative. They both had assumed that they were brother and sister. Max could have told her that this wasn’t necessarily true. They were of the same species, but they had no idea of any closer genetic connection than that which she shared with Michael. They were brother and sister, in her mind, bound by the ties they had developed growing up. Isabel didn’t want to get married until she knew what had happened to Max.
-------------------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch12 pg5 Apr21, 2013

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: In this story Nasedo was an unwilling slave who the queen mother had forced to accompany the clones to Earth. Kivar promised him many things to deliver Tess pregnant with Max's child.

keepsmiling7:

L-J-L 76: It will take a lot more then just them to get Tess away from Nasedo.


Chapter 13

Isabel in the city

http://www.google.com/images?client=saf ... CBcQsAQwAA

Isabel, with her hair done up in French braids, dressed in a designer knee length dress and wearing Christian Dior dark glasses, was looking for something she could identify as from Max. Isabel shopped, she visited museums and libraries, and she especially browsed through the University. She accepted invitations for lunch many times. The men offering were disappointed that they could not push the relationship any further.

The university did not have a single library. Isabel visited several different ones, always trying to think about what Max would be reading if he was allowed to do so. Biology was the thing Max had always expressed the most interest in. Isabel knew that Max wanted to know more about the two of them. Max wanted assurance that they could fit into the main-stream culture. This was where she got her first evidence that an alien had been here.

This was Liz’s day to be at the university. She had checked out the books, which Max had requested. Even with his explanations she found following them difficult. The books packed safely in her backpack, Liz could look for something for herself. First, she searched through a current issue of “Nature.” This was a biology magazine, which was current on recent discoveries. After finishing the reading of this magazine, Liz broke for lunch. She would visit another specialty library this afternoon and check out some books for herself. All the time, Liz was conscious of the man in a dark suit who always remained about ten feet from her. He never spoke. He never smiled her way. He would suddenly appear at the black vehicle when she was ready to go home.

Liz walked into the Student Union Building. It had both a cafeteria and several fast food locations. Liz picked up a fruit salad and a bottle of juice. Then, she took a table near a window. Liz noticed that again, the man in black was eating a burger just a short ways across from her table. A couple times, Liz wished one of them would just sit with her or give her some recognition. Max had partially explained, “Liz, they do not know what is to become of us. They are ordered not to get too close.”

Liz knew that Max had some dark fear that he wasn’t yet sharing with her. He had just recently shared the secret of his being an alien. She couldn’t expect for him to blurt out everything he knew at one time. Liz observed a tall blonde woman, dressed very expensively, walking between the tables toward her.

Isabel first felt it in the biology library. There was something alien there. Or, maybe, there was someone alien there. Tess had explained that there had been four children. This checked out with what little Isabel had learned from her folks. That also, check out with what she and Alex had seen in the cave. Isabel knew Michael and Max, wherever they were, made up two of the children. Tess and herself made up the other two. What Isabel sensed now was a woman. She had alien marked all over her.

Isabel browsed through the stacks; finally she found a small blonde woman collecting books from the genetics section. Nearby was a man in a dark suit. Isabel was sure he was human, but she did not get good or safe vibes from him. Isabel observed that wherever the woman went, the man was not far behind her. Isabel also noticed that the man never seemed to have social contact with the woman. He was always just watching her.

Isabel followed the woman into the Student Union. She saw the woman take a table on the far side of the lunchroom near a window. She also saw the man in black sitting some distance from the woman. Isabel picked up a salad and an iced tea and made her way to the table.

Liz looked up as she saw the woman approaching. Liz had been lost in her own thoughts. She was very lonesome; Max was the only person she felt free to converse with. “Hi, my name is Isabel. I am new at the university, do you mind if I join you?” she asked.

Liz quickly glanced at the man a few feet away. He made no movement to remove this woman from her table. Liz so needed to talk to another woman, even if it was a total stranger. “No, you are welcome. My name is Liz,” she looked up and smiled.

Isabel sat down and sipped her tea. With her free hand she straightened one of the books peaking out of the backpack. “Genetics, that is pretty deep stuff. Are you studying this?” Isabel asked.

Liz, again, glanced at the table where the man in black was sitting. Liz noticed that he had placed a small block box in his table facing her. Liz was sure he was monitoring everything she said. “No, it is a little too deep for me. I am a biologist, but my roommate is into this stuff. He tries to explain it, but I can’t understand it all. I am more interested in teaching,” Liz explained.

“Oh, then you are a teacher?” Izzy asked.

Isabel saw a sadness appear in her eyes as Liz stated, “No, I was once a teacher, but I had to quit. Someday, I hope to get back to teaching, if possible.”

Isabel picked up on the ‘he,’ part. “Is your room mate your boyfriend?” Isabel asked.

Liz quickly looked over at the man sitting apparently not paying any attention to them. He hadn’t gotten up to come over to the table so, Liz assumed again that he wasn’t yet worried about what she said. “No, he is just a guy I live with. It is very complicated,” Liz stated.

Isabel gave a little laugh. “I know. I am living with my boyfriend and he wants to get married. I only want to agree to this when I can get all of my family together. Yes, things can be complicated,” Isabel agreed.

Liz smiled. She knew that she couldn’t get more explicit, but it was nice to share this small bit with someone.

Isabel started talking about back east. She talked about college, graduation, the difficulty of the job market for a woman and a little about fashions. All the while, Isabel was gently probing Liz’s mind. Isabel saw definite alien things, but Liz herself was not an alien. As Isabel went deeper she saw that Liz might notice a slight headache, but she did not realize Isabel was probing her mind. Liz wouldn’t say anything about her boyfriend. She wouldn’t say anything about where she lived or where she came from. Isabel saw that, although, Liz was enjoying the conversation very much, even though the conversation was very one-sided. Isabel, also, noticed that the man in black adjusted the black box, pointed towards their table, several times.

Finally Liz stood up. “Isabel, I don’t get to talk to anyone very much. I have enjoyed this a lot. Maybe, I will see you again. I have to get back to the library to check out some books for my self.” With that, she left hoisting the backpack on her shoulders. Isabel sitting, finishing her tea, saw the man in black stand and walk several feet behind Liz as he followed her out.

Kyle and Tess in the city

Kyle was dressed in a polo shirt. He didn’t particularly like these shirts, but the tail of the shirt, not tucked into his pants, concealed his grandfather’s pistol. Kyle had a carry permit that was good in New Mexico and several surrounding states. He wasn’t breaking the law. Carrying a pistol bothered Tess, not because she was against guns or anything. Tess could care less about political-social squabbles among humans. What bothered Tess was Kyle’s belief that this pistol gave him any power over a being such as Nasedo. Nasedo would take the pistol away from Kyle and slowly boil Kyle from the inside out. It would be a horrible death and Tess had no doubt that Nasedo would make her watch every minute of it.

Tess kept her own powers very close. Nasedo was somewhere and she didn’t want to attract his attention. Her sensory powers were on full blast. There were aliens definitely in this city, but there were more than half a million people in the city proper and half that many more in the surrounding villages and farms. Tess had sent Michael and Maria to the city. They would be looking for Liz Parker. She was sure that Alex and Isabel were somewhere looking for Max. That was a lot of alien vibes to keep track of. Tess was also sure that either all the alien vibes were masking her or Nasedo didn’t care about her until he found the king. Tess was the only one flying completely blind. She knew nothing about the king except that she was sure he was called Max.

Maria knew Liz Parker from many years of childhood and Isabel knew her brother very well. For Tess the thing was not to raise Nasedo’s attention. She wondered how far Kyle’s feelings for her would take them. Just from what she knew about humans, Tess believed that Kyle would be willing give up his life for her. That would be a fruitless gesture, because the minute Nasedo killed Kyle, he would again take Tess under his powers. Tess sighed in all truth there would be no salvation for her. She was going to be impregnated. There was a glimmer of a feeling. Its Importance faded compared to everything else. She did hope the king was gentle. Tess did not look forward to being raped for Nasedo’s pleasure. Her future was watching the father of her son to be, die at the hands of the tyrant, raise the child to turn him over to Kivar, then accept death as a person of no consequence. For the moment, she and Kyle would drive through and converse with the residents of the outlying areas. For some reason, she felt that the king would be secluded in that area.

Maria and Michael looking in the city

Maria tried to think as hard as she could of something that might show anything of Liz. She and Michael had fled Roswell to avoid Nasedo. Tess told them that Michael would have a better chance of finding something about Max than Maria, with no powers, could of finding Liz. Tess reminded Maria, “Liz disappeared back east. You do not have a scrap of knowledge of her being in the southwest. We know Max, the king, is somewhere near this city. Let Michael do the searching. You both watch out for Nasedo. He wants Isabel don’t forget. He also wants to kill Michael.

Call her simple minded, call her stupid, but Maria couldn’t let go of the idea that Max and Liz both disappeared on the day of the assassination. She had no idea of why they would disappear, but that was what she had to hang on to. Everytime the thought that Liz might be lying dead in some shallow grave somewhere, Maria would recite a rosary and say a liturgy to herself that, “Liz is going to walk in my wedding.” Well, she had to convince Michael that he couldn’t live without her first.

Michael resisted as he did with everything. Still, Maria couldn’t help wondering would Liz hang out at the university, that is, if she was free to do so? Michael complained until they passed the illustrative arts department. As usual there were several artists hanging around the building. They were sitting at tables drinking coffee and discussing art, which easily turned to sociology and politics. Michael sat down with them and soon, one of the artists recognized Michael from Roswell. This led to an introduction to the head of the department and when Michael found Maria at the Student Union Building for lunch, he had a guest lecture position with a stipend which would keep them in food and lodging for a few weeks.

The University was a huge place. It was several miles across. A lot of people other than students made use of the place. If you arrived by car, you must park some distance from any of the buildings. There were shuttles to and from the parking lots. There was also bus service to other parts of the city. The university line was the oldest the city had. A buss from the city was one of the first buss lines created. What this meant was, If you were studying on campus, it didn’t pay to go far off campus for lunch. Maria began hanging around the Student Union Building at lunch time and walking through the biology facilities the rest of the day. Michael kept his senses tuned to look for anything of Max, but he hung out with the artists and that was the first time he had ever been part of a group.
---------------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
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Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch13 pg6 Apr30, 2013

Post by ken_r »

keepsmiling7:

L-J-L 76:

begonia9508:The men in black are definitely not the police.


Chapter 14

Liz and Max at the safe house

“Liz, we have been working pretty hard. Let’s see if we can get permission to go out one of these weekends,” Max mentioned.

Liz jumped at the chance. The enforced restrictions were telling on her more than they were on Max. Well, she had a boyfriend who she hadn’t heard from for almost two years. What if he had decided that she was dead and had moved on with his life? What if his romance wasn’t as strong as hers? John had not been that exciting of a fellow; Liz had seen what she took for kindness, intelligence and trustworthiness in John. Liz had told herself that is what an intelligent woman would want in a man. They shared teaching and that was a strong pull. Her mind quickly went to the question, what did Max mean to her? Was he displacing John, even though he hotly denied it every time he could? “Max, that sounds good. Where do you want to go?” Liz asked.

“Liz, the Rolling Stones are one of the oldest rock groups in the world. They are returning from a cross country tour that went all the way to San Francisco. They will be in Phoenix, Arizona this next weekend and it was just announced that they will play one night during the week at the Star Casino just north of the city. I was hoping you would want to go. I asked our handlers to look into getting some tickets,” Max explained.

“Oh, Max, the crowd, the noise the smell of pot, it will be just like being a teenager again. Just think at our ages we can still attend a rock concert!” she exclaimed.

Maria and Michael

“I know Michael, we have a job to do. It is the Stones. Michael they have retired several times. They must be over 70 now. There won’t be many more chances to ever hear them. Look Michael, my music is like your art. I need to express my feelings about music from time to time. I even managed to get two tickets. Please, please, go with me. It would mean a great deal.

Isabel and Alex.

Alex had just returned from his business in the east. “Alex, I am sure I found Liz,” Isabel stated.

“Where, babe?” Alex asked.

I was at the university. I found her in the biology section of the library. I followed her to the lunch counter at the student union and we sat and talked for almost a half hour. Alex, there is something wrong. First, didn’t you tell me that Liz was a dark brunette?” Isabel asked.

“Yes, with deep soulful brown eyes,” Alex stated.

“Well, this woman had the deep brown eyes, but her hair is bleached by a professional, nothing shows at the roots. She was carrying a backpack and it was full of books from the biology department. She said they were beyond her and they were for her roommate who was not her boyfriend. There was one more thing. If this woman was Liz, she is in trouble someway. All the time I sat talking to her, she kept looking over at a man dressed in a dark suit. I could swear that he was listening to everything we said. She also said that once she had been a teacher. Didn’t Maria say that Liz was teaching when she disappeared?” Isabel ended her story with a question.

“How can we find her again?” Alex asked. “I can stay here a few weeks if I need to,” he concluded.

“When Max is blue, he listens to some pretty bad music. I don’t know much about Liz, but there is going to be a huge rock concert north of the city next week. The Rolling Stones will stop for one last time before they again retire. It will be a big crowd, but it might be worth our time to see what vibes we get there,” Isabel explained.

Alex laughed. He was a student of music. Isabel didn’t know about this side of him, yet. Alex liked almost all music from the classics to heavy metal. Maybe, Isabel just wanted to take a break and attend the concert for her own reasons.

Tess and Kyle

Kyle was to ask himself, why when you joined the police in the southwest it was assumed that you held a football in one hand and a country music album in the other. That was the legacy his father had given him. Kyle wasn’t with the police, but his father was. Now, his girlfriend was facing him with two tickets for a rock concert.

“Kyle, this is an event which will draw many people. That is the kind of place Nasedo will haunt. We need to keep our eye on him. I am sure that he knows where I am, but now he is looking for the king. He can take me anytime he wants,” Tess explained.

“What about him worrying about you getting too close to a human?” Kyle asked.

“I have been thinking about that. If I was to get pregnant, which is what he yells, every time he beats me, he could simply use his powers and abort me, then, he could reconstruct me so no one would ever know the difference. I think the beatings were for his amusement,” she mused half to herself.

Kyle had been raised in simple country religion. Later in high school, he had investigated Buddhism. Unless he was a supreme being, a being could always be killed someway. Nasedo wasn’t a supreme being in anyone’s religion. The more he heard about Nasedo, killing that son-of-a-bitch would be a pleasure. Kyle just had to figure out how to do it. He would have to leave his pistol locked in his car. Kyle had heard about his father at too many rock concerts to not know that, many times the police patted down any patron they saw attending such a place.

Concert

To many who are not rock fans, the Rolling Stones is seen as Mick Jagger. Many of those who followed the Stones through their career are now senior citizens. To see a Stones concert in this part of the southwest was like the holy grail of rock music. When Moses and his followers walked out on the stage, they didn’t need a stone tablet. They were the Rolling Stones. If the old farts were closer to heart attacks, you wouldn’t know it. Mature and aged bobby-socksers were screaming like they were 17. The fact that the guy and his gal now had grandchildren, well some of them brought the grandchildren, did not lessen their enthusiasm. The excitement was more contagious than the flu.

Tess and Kyle

Tess had all sorts of feelings. Yes, Nasedo was near, but she sensed him on the other side of the auditorium. Tess closed her eyes and let everything flow past her like background. There he was. Definitely he was the king. Now, she knew this in her mind, she strained to see him in fact. There he was. His seat was much closer to the floor. There was no way she could work down to him without alerting Nasedo on the other side. Tess had to be satisfied with watching him at a distance. He was with a small lady with long blonde hair. “Ha,” Tess laughed. Nasedo was so worried about her finding relationships he hadn’t considered that the king might have plans of his own. What would Kivar say if the king left a string of off springs as he cut a social rug through the humans.

Kyle noticing that Tess no longer was watching the concert nudged her, “What is up, babe? What are you looking at?” he inquired.

“Kyle, see that man with the red hair? I am almost sure that he is the king,” Tess whispered.

“Not much for style. That red hair just looks goofy! How about the babe he has with him?” Kyle asked.

“Yes, the king may have plans of his own. He may be the one person stronger than Nasedo. Nasedo may have trouble making the king get me pregnant if he already has a woman,” Tess explained.

Kyle suddenly sucked in a big breath of air, “Holy shit! If that babe was not blond, she would be a dead ringer for Liz Parker!” Kyle exclaimed.

Tess frowned, “What do you mean, Kyle?” she inquired.

“I haven’t seen Liz for years. I dated her in high school. She is the one girl I never got into bed. I’d have made it if her old man hadn’t had that meat clever. He surely looked serious when he threatened to make me where I wouldn’t be interested in girls any longer. You don’t forget someone like that. I always wondered why she disappeared. That is something that never made any sense,” Kyle said.

Isabel and Alex

Alex was having a good time. He was immensely glad he had accompanied Isabel. There was no way that he would have done this on his own. Yes, the Rolling Stones were way before his time, but Alex was more than a musician, he was a student of music. Alex had pulled out many old vinyl records from the secondhand store to study music history. Music had made many changes just before Alex’s lifetime. He felt fortunate that there were recordings to follow those changes. If only there had been something to record the music of the 18th and 19th century. To hear the masters playing their own works would be something. There were many preservations of the jazz of the 20th century. Suddenly, he was brought down to earth as Isabel leaned close to him.

“Alex,” Isabel whispered in his ear. “Right over there, that is the girl I met at the library the other day. The goofy looking guy beside her looks a lot like Max with a wig.”

Alex’s vision followed where Isabel was pointing. Could that be Liz Parker? He had always contrasted her with the lighter haired friend Maria. It took him several minutes to fit Liz Parker into the lady Isabel was pointing to. “It could be,” he breathed.

Alex was already trying to see how hard it would to make his way over to the woman to get a closer look. “Wait, Alex, see the man and woman dressed in black. He has a black polo shirt and she is wearing black slacks. They are both wearing dark glasses. Those two do not take their eyes off that couple. We couldn’t get within a mile of them if we were noticed. There is something definitely going on there,” Isabel stated.

Alex missed most of the rest of the concert. He was too single mindedly concentrating on the couple Isabel had spotted. If you know another person very well you do not need to see their hair or even their face. You see their gestures and movements. If you know someone like Alex knew Liz, you started to see that little girl who climbed into the sleeping bag with you and Maria. “How can we ever get near them without being stopped by the people in black?” he whispered.

“I don’t know. I think the best chance will be at the University,” Isabel declared.

Maria and Michael

Maria was in heaven at the concert. Michael thought the concert was probably good, but it had more structure than he really liked. Michael did not do good with structure. He once had explained that structure in art, music or anything else reminded him of some of the punishments he had suffered as a child in the welfare system. Being locked in a closet or a cage didn’t make him like any structure very much.

The concert was almost over when Maria started to cast her eyes around the audience. She marveled that so many of those attending were older than her mother. They all were cheering with total abandon. That was when she saw Isabel. “Michael, there are Isabel and Alex. They don’t seem to be following the concert very much. I wonder what they are seeing that is so important,” She told him.

Michael was trying to follow where Isabel was looking. Finally he, leaned close to Maria, “Look at that goofy guy in the red hair. Maybe, that is what they are looking at,” he suggested.

“Oh my god, Michael. That looks like Liz. She has dyed her hair, but it surely looks like her. Alex would have noticed her, if it was. Maybe, that is what they see,” Maria exclaimed. If it was Liz, for whatever reason she had, she was still alive. That was all that counted, as far as Maria was concerned.

The concert was finally over. What started out as a joyous musical experience, became almost chaos as Maria tried to figure how to catch up to Liz. They all started filing out. Maria was jerked, yanked and pushed. It was only Michael’s strong hand which kept her from falling. From time to time she thought she saw Liz ahead. There were just so many people it was hard to keep track of anyone. Suddenly, Maria felt a hand on her shoulder. Michael turned intending to bust anyone who laid hand on his girl. It was Alex. Isabel was right beside him. “Don’t try to catch them, Maria. Wait until we explain,” Isabel told her. With that, she handed Maria one of Alex’s business cards with a cell phone number penciled on the back.

Alex and Isabel were brushed aside. Couples clutched each other. The grandparents held tightly to the grandchildren they had brought. Every one was trying to get safely to their cars and then to make it home.
-----------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch14 pg6 May 5, 2013

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: Either in some episode or maybe in some fic, it was said that the aliens we have on earth are much worse than those from out there.

keepsmiling7: I started this story several years ago. At the time the Rolling Stones were making another coming out of retirement so i included it here.

L-J-L 76: Nasedo is getting closer, but so are Isabel and her new friends.


Chapter 15

Max and Liz

Max and Liz had no trouble getting to their vehicle. The man in the dark polo and the woman in the black slacks were joined by two more people both wearing dark glasses. They formed a diamond around the couple. Liz had no idea how they did it, but people just dissolved in front of them. Liz had no idea how they got out of the parking lot. It was as if they had a back way out. Liz was always amazed at the big sedan. Max told her that he thought it was bullet proofed. “Probably with some of that new ceramic material that is relatively light weight,” he said.

Whatever, It had been fun enjoying total abandonment for an evening. Liz had yelled and screamed like a teenager, along with the rest. She noticed that Max was more reserved, but that was expected. Now in the comfortable sedan curled up against Max, Liz thought things couldn’t get better. Then of course, she remembered they were very little better than being prisoners. There must be something happening. The Major hadn’t been by to see them for three weeks. He had never been absent that long. Liz knew that Max was very worried about something.

When they got home, Liz walked hand in hand, leaning against Max’s shoulder. As usual, the bodyguards said nothing. They just disappeared. At first, Max was a little surprised. Liz had her arms around him and they were kissing. Max’s last romantic episode had been with Connie, the dancer. Being with Connie was a lot like mud wrestling. You could try several holds on her. You couldn’t hold on. You knew that eventually you would travel down that slippery slope where Connie was ruling your body.

Max sat down on the couch and Liz was now in his lap. Max had to admit he had a lot of suppressed romantic interest in Liz. That is what led to him saving her the day of the assassination. There was always John Stevens. Stevens was like a specter who rested, above Liz, like a cloud. He continually reminded Max that Liz was his. Since John wasn’t here physically, Max couldn’t fight him. “Liz, you have to face yourself in the morning,” Max said.

“Max, maybe I am facing myself, now. Maybe, I am realizing that I will never see John again. Max you have saved me twice. The bodyguards would never have allowed paramedics to see me. They would have let me bleed out and die. They had you and you saw more than I did. If they need a witness, I am sure that you are of more value than I. I am not sure why they kept me alive anyway. They could have released me and just kept you. They could have made me disappear, as you are so fond of telling me they could do. We have been here for over two years. I am beginning to think that they have no intention of ever releasing us,” Liz cried.

Now, Max thought he understood Liz. In the excitement of the concert this evening, she was facing things that she was in fear of loosing. In her eyes, maybe, she had already lost John Stevens. Now, she wanted to be with Max, before she lost him also. He was sure that several realities had soaked into Liz’s thoughts. Neither of them had any control over their lives. If Max gave into Liz’s entreaties, would he be able to face it, if she later went back to John? Maybe, it would be worth it. Max had loved Liz since he had seen her, before he tackled her to the pavement that fateful day. As they sat there petting and making out, they were pulling the covers of the world about themselves. When they finally stood and walked hand in hand into “her” bedroom, Max and Liz were in a totally isolated bubble. Situations might make them take other lovers later, but for now, they shared a private love that no one else would ever know or understand, if they did learn of this night.

Maria and Michael

The first thing that morning, Maria called the number on the back of Alex’s card. “Isabel, what do you have to tell me about Liz? How long have you known about her being alive?” Maria, when excited asked questions running together.

“Maria, what are your plans for today?” Isabel asked in return.

“I haven’t made any yet. Michael has a lecture to give at the university, so I will be alone this morning,” Maria informed her.

“Could you and Michael come by my apartment and pick me up? We need to be at the university for you to understand. Alex flew back early this morning to his business back east,” Isabel laid out her plans.

Maria covered the mouthpiece of the phone. “Michael, can we pick up Isabel on our way to the university?” she asked. Michael nodded. “Isabel, we will be by in a few minutes,” Maria told Isabel.

Isabel crawled into the backseat of the small rental car and Michael drove them to the university. “Someone asked, could Max and Liz have disappeared together? Last night shows that they did,” Isabel explained.

“Why didn’t you want us to try and catch them last night?” Maria asked.

“If you observed them closely you would see that they are under the constant surveillance of several men dressed all in black. I met Liz at the university lunchroom at the Student Union. She doesn’t know me. We talked for a time, but a man was listening to us all the time. He had some sort of black box, which he kept adjusting in our direction. Liz kept glancing over at him all the time we were talking. I think she was afraid that he would make her leave,” Isabel explained.

“Have you seen her again?” Maria asked.

“No, that was two weeks ago. I glanced at the books in her backpack, they are due today. I have been watching the checkout table almost every day. I placed a request for one of the books she has. They have not acknowledged that the book has been returned. She knows you and will, maybe, give some sort of sign that will cause the men in black to interfere. Let me approach her and, maybe we can find someway to talk to her without their knowledge.

Nasedo

Nasedo couldn’t believe that the little child from the pod chamber could have gotten so strong. Nasedo knew little about the royal family. The only one he had any close experience with was the little queen. Tess was not properly part of the royal family. She had been purchased, by royal favors, as the wife for the royal heir. This was the common way the royals did things back on Antar. Ava had been a beautiful young woman. The royal heir was a good looking young man. Everyone, including Ava had been satisfied with the bargain. No one knew how close Kivar was to revolution. Ava had been included with the rest of the royals, when they were asked to give up DNA samples. These samples could be used for identification or to generate organs or limbs if sickness or accident occurred.

The queen mother had been absent from the palace when Kivar attacked. It had been reported that her granddaughter had, someway, assisted his entrance. The queen mother did not have time to sort that out. Antarian scientist had been planning a small invasion of Earth for research purposes. By abductions, they had amassed a large amount of human DNA. Gandarium would be used to force the human part to act with the royal genes. Of course, the queen mother included her grandson, the heir. She also included the DNA of her granddaughter. No matter what Vilandra had done, the queen mother loved her. The heir had a friend whose father was a member of the royal bodyguard. His DNA was on file so the queen mother included this. The pod chamber had room for four infants to be incubated. Remembering the young woman who had just been delivered as wife to the heir, the queen mother included her DNA, also.

There was noise in the outside courtyard. The queen mother quickly had them push the pod chamber into an ancient robot called the granolith. They would need care during the transit so, the queen mother grabbed one of her household slaves. He was of another species. She thought no more about including him than she would of packing an extra coat in their luggage. Just before Nasedo or whatever the name he had been using then was sealed in the granolith, he was passed a note from Kivar. The granolith knew how to defend itself. Once closed and programmed, it was impenetrable. Nasedo did not hear the screams of those left behind, screams from all, but the handful of slaves who had already given their allegiance to Kivar.

Nasedo cared nothing about the royal family. He would have carried out Kivar’s mission, except that when the ship crashed, Nasedo had to contend with the local army. The granolith moved itself over a hundred miles from the crash site to sandstone cliffs outside of Roswell. Probably the artifacts the army had taken from the crash site and moved to Roswell drew the granolith there. Nasedo, finally, escaped and it took him several years to detect the granolith. By the time he arrived at the site of the pod chamber, only the queen remained. Nasedo angrily took her and with a hiss like a snake, he took Tessss until he could raise her to a breeding age and find the other children. Tess changed her official name to Teresa.

Nasedo had never feared Tess. He had never allowed her to get out from under his control. He could wave his hand and have her stripped and lying on a bed waiting for the kings pleasure. After the concert, Nasedo had real concerns about ordering the king to do the deed. It had been many years since Nasedo had faced an adult Antarian Royal. Even at a distance, Nasedo felt the power reminding him of the queen mother. Now there was a woman who could make Nasedo cringe. If the king refused to impregnate the queen, Nasedo was not sure he could make him comply.

Now, Nasedo had another problem. The woman with the king had both elements of the people like those of antar as well as those of humans. Had she been sent to take the seed away from the king for another faction of the civil war? Kivar would not be pleased if another contender to the throne appeared. Nasedo quickly saw the need to kill the usurper.

Max and Liz the next morning

Liz kissed Max as she moved about getting breakfast. She was coming to terms with her self and her choice. One of the bodyguards had included a copy of a newspaper from the city where they had been abducted. Liz would look at it later, now she had to get ready for the trip to the university. Liz hadn’t mentioned her time with Isabel to Max. He might have cautioned her against strangers. They never knew who might wish them harm. It had been so nice to talk to a woman that Liz felt this would remain her secret for the time. Liz was now dressed, had her backpack with the list of books for Max and her newspaper. It was a 20 minute drive to the University, so Liz would look at the paper on the way. It was opened to the section on upcoming marriages. That was where she saw, “Mr. and Mrs. Robertson announce the marriage of their daughter, Gillian, to John Stevens. The couple are teachers at West Mount high. They will wed and return to finish their semester teaching. Liz dropped the paper. John had moved on. That is about all Liz had time to think about. Their sedan went flying off the road.

The men in black had arranged for their charges to live in a small community just north of the city. The city was one of the largest in New Mexico. It had been founded on the ruins of several Pueblo Indian sites on the east bank of the river. Even the river had been changed as the railroad wanted the stability of the original river bed. They had moved the original river several miles west and built up dikes to keep it there. Every once in a while, the river remembered its original home and tried to return. The railroad had the power to move mountains and rivers. The river was always made to return. The new river was defined by steep banks, on its west side. The newly planned community was on the tops of those banks and hills. The road back into the city was steeply curved. At the bottom of the curve were the bridges, which crossed the river. The heavy sedan coming around this curve was very stable. Then, Nasedo hit it with a powerful power blast and the sedan went rolling off the road and down the hill.

Liz made no voluntary attempt to save herself, but the alien genes, which were now brewing in her, took over. At the first strike of an alien power blast, a green haze grew from her fingertips. The haze grew until it encompassed both Liz and the driver. As the car rolled, the driver and Liz felt like they were swimming in Jello. The sedan seemed to rotate about the passengers who, at least to themselves, remained stationary. When the sedan came to rest, the haze expanded with a “Whoosh,” extinguishing any hint of fire.
-----------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch15 pg7 May 12, 201

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: No, Eve Liz is not pregnant yet. Tess was simply thinking that if Max had a girl friend or maybe was a playboy he already could have an heir. This would mess up Nasedo's and Kivar's plans. It hasn't happened yet. I think it might be sad, but John Stevens might have been a boyfriend of chance. It was seen that when he dicided Liz was gone, he found another teacher down the hall.

Keepsmiling7: I decided to make the use of Gandarium an imoportant part of the story. I include its history with the people of Antar.

L-J-L 76: The blood transfusion has changed Liz. Now she has the green flakes, the flakes are protecting their host. The place where Nasedo had planed to wreck the car has a steep cliff. I have worked many wrecks on this hill while working with the state police. Most of them ended in fatalities


Chapter 16

Back at the university

Isabel and Maria were sitting in the entryway to the university library. They were in the biology branch where Isabel had seen Liz the time before. It was well past noon. “Maybe, she isn’t coming in today,” Maria said.

“Well, I don’t think we have missed her,” Isabel replied. “I have been spending almost everyday this week looking for Liz,” Izzy continued.

About that time, a tall man dressed in black wearing dark glasses and carrying a backpack walked up to the desk. He placed the books from the backpack on the desk. As the girl watched, he took out a list and carefully divided the books into two stacks. “Liz Mendoza was in an automobile accident this morning. Could I return this stack and renew this one. Mrs. Mendoza asked if you could get a student to find these books for her,” he said to the girl at the desk.

Isabel carefully placed her hand over Maria’s mouth and whispered in her ear, “That is Liz’s backpack. I will bet anything that those are some of the books I saw two weeks ago.

The girl busied herself with the books marking those turned in and renewing those that the man had requested. She motioned to a girl returning with a cart from the stacks. “This is Sherry, she will help you find the books on the list. I take it they are all biology books?” she asked.

The man in black shrugged and in his deep voice he answered. “I think so. Biology is not really my thing. I am more into Tom Clancy stories.” He left with the girl Sherry. The girl at the desk placed the backpack under the desk until they would return.

Safe house

The safe house was only about three miles from where the sedan had been blown off the road. When Nasedo let loose his blast it was as if a hot needle was thrust through Max’s head. Of course, the sirens in the house, which warned that one of the vehicles had been attacked did not help. The men in black were at the scene while the dust was still in the air. They were ready to move bodies the minute they saw the wreck. No one must be allowed to see the subject. She must remain hidden in death or life.

The surprise was that the driver and Liz were lying side by side just a short distance from the wreck. They both were bruised, but no laceration and no broken bones. The side of the sedan was blown in almost to the centerline. Later when the police department of the development town arrived, one officer observing the wreck scene remarked, “What did they do with the locomotive?”

Locomotive, some of the men in the small department had been working for police departments all over the state. They had experienced all kinds of wrecks. They agreed that the only thing that did this much damage was a freight train. None of them had worked a train wreck where anyone in the automobile lived. Trains were like that. They didn’t leave much left. The nearest railroad was almost five miles away on the other side of the river. They, finally, decided that they had no idea of what happened. Interrogation of the victims wouldn’t have yielded much, even if the man in black had permitted that. No one questioned that anyone living through a wreck like that, would not be able to remember much. The men in black quickly took their own back to the safe house. This time it included Liz Mendoza.

The officers of the small department offered to call a wrecker. Before they got their offer said, a wrecker drove up. Of course, it was painted all black with no decals telling what company it belonged to. None of the officers had been allowed to see, much less interview, either Liz or the driver. They were already hidden in the back seat of another black sedan. Someone handed Liz her backpack.

Max couldn’t help but be worried. An alien had attacked Liz. Somehow, she had survived, without more than being shaken up. Max looked in on Liz. She was slightly upset, but she seemed to be doing all right. There was no one to tell him not to, so Max walked into the barracks room. The driver was napping restlessly. Max quietly walked up and placed his hand on the driver’s brow. His breathing became more regular and he drifted into a peaceful sleep.

When the men in black returned to the safe house, they found the driver peacefully sleeping and Max sitting on Liz’s bed holding her hand.

“Mrs. Mendoza,” one of the men said. “If you give me your backpack and your book list, I can run them to the library to renew and to get what new books you want.”

The man in black picked up the backpack and saw the list Max had made on top. He had also looked at the collection of books. They both were very bright people. It was really too bad that political realities made their termination likely. Let them have what enjoyment they could find, while they could. That was why he had put the newspaper on her breakfast table this morning. He knew that Liz had been reluctant to sleep with Max. He had heard her talking to Max about her boyfriend, John. John was gone. Liz should just forget him. Maybe seeing that John had moved on would encourage her to make the most of what time they were going to allow her to have. He was sure when the time came, the Major would terminate them. The Major had not a drop of blood in his veins. The Major had assured all those in the project that they were going to rewrite the assassination they way he wanted it to be. There would be no witnesses to say otherwise. First he had to make sure which side was going to trump the other. There were questions whether democracy would even exist any longer.

Kyle and Tess.

Tess knew the second Nasedo let off his power blast. She was attuned to Nasedo as he was to her. Tess also knew that whatever Nasedo had tried had failed. Nasedo was not one to hide his anger. Tess had no idea of who he had attacked, she just knew that the person was still alive. She held on to Kyle. Tess believed that, eventually, Nasedo would win. He had spent her whole life telling her how invincible he was. Tess held on to Kyle, because she did not know how long she would have him. She didn’t believe that she could save or protect Kyle from Nasedo. Of course, Kyle told her he didn’t need protection. When Nasedo attacked Kyle, then placed Tess flat on her back, the king would soon follow.

Michael and Isabel

Neither Michael nor Isabel had enough experience to know when another alien was fighting. The both experienced a little discomfort, but they said nothing to those they were with.

The safe house

One thing the accident had done was to increase Max and Liz’s lease on life. “If someone wants them dead that badly, then we want them alive. Someone will pay to get at the Mendoza’s,” the Major growled.

Their bodyguards were doubled. No longer did they have one driver. There were always two or more. Max was sure that having more than one bodyguard at a time was to prevent treachery. You might turn one man, but to turn several would be next to impossible. Their loyalties were with the Major.

That night, Max, dressed only in boxer shorts, was curled up with Liz. He was glad that now they were a couple. Max believed that the Major had plans of his own. If he chose to do something at night, he would find that an angered or frightened alien could easily go nova. When the time came, Max hoped that he could bust out taking Liz with him. Max did not know where he would hide, but he had no intention of allowing himself or Liz to be hurt. Max had always believed that they were in a lot more danger than he let on to Liz.

Max was to find that he also had an important thing to learn, as soon as he went to bed, or that is, went to sleep.

Max in a dream world

Sleep came. Max was happier than he had been in two years. There were visions of Liz drifting through his mind. Then, he saw a woman in a pair of red lounge pajamas walking towards him. The woman looked familiar, Max couldn’t be sure until she spoke. “Max, it is Isabel talking.” Max was so startled that he almost woke up. When he had settled down, he saw in his dream, a woman several feet away just watching him. “Max, can I approach?” she asked.

“Max, remember the dream walks I used to do when we were growing up. This is just a little more mature,” the dream Isabel stated.

“But, you are still a dream, aren’t you?” Max asked again.

“Kinda.” She answered.

“This is my dream so it serves no purpose, does it?” Max asked himself, forgetting that in his dream Isabel, also, was party to his thoughts.

“Yes, it serves a purpose,” she answered. “I have found the other two children from the pod chamber. I, also, have found one purpose for our being here,” she stated.

“Since this would already be in my mind, nothing you could say would prove anything,” Max answered.

“I don’t think this would ever have been in your mind,” she replied.

“What can you say that has never graced my mind at sometime?” Max asked.

“Stud service,” Isabel stated.

“Stud service!” Max exclaimed.

“That is what I said, but don’t get too big a head. As soon as you accomplish this service, you are to be executed,” Isabel informed him.

Max restlessly moved in his sleep. “I gotta tell Liz to cut down on the spices in our dinners,” he thought. “Maybe, it isn’t Liz. Maybe, it is the men in black. They are trying to drive me insane so I can be disposed of easier,” Max’s mind continued. Then, he went back to the dream, “What is your purpose in this plan?” he asked the dream Isabel.

“A sex toy,” she said.

The dream Isabel was right. These were things that Max wouldn’t think of on his own in a million years. The psychology that Max had studied in college strained to understand where Max had stored things like sex toy and stud service in his mind. He might as well go further. “What about the other two pod mates?” he asked.

“The first child, the one that mom and dad missed, is a soldier. In this plan he will be destroyed. The last one that came out after mom and dad left is the queen. She is to receive your stud service and get pregnant with your child,” the dream Isabel explained.

“You said this was one of our purposes, one plan. What is the other?” Max inquired.

“That is the plan of our enemy. That is why an attempt to kill Liz was made today. The original plan was to mix with the human gene pool and live happily ever after,” she stated.

“Do we have a choice?” Max asked. There definitely was a difference in the two different futures.

At that moment, Liz turned over and bumping against Max, he woke up.

Max and Liz talking

Max swung his legs off the bed. He sat there for several minutes. He felt Liz stirring behind him. “Max, what is wrong?” she asked.

“Liz, can we go into the kitchen and talk a bit,” he asked her. “I just had a very disturbing dream,”

Max poured two glasses of milk. He, in his shorts, and Liz, in a dressing gown, sat talking. “Liz when we were growing up, Isabel had this game. It was like, nayh, nayh, I can do something that you can’t. Isabel claimed, and she gave enough evidence that what she said was true, that she could enter people’s dreams. She tried it on mom and mom freaked out, thinking that Isabel had died and gone to heaven to returned as a ghost. In school, when one of her boyfriends had plans to get her laid, Isabel had already gone into his dream and knew everything he planned to do. She managed to tease him senseless. She did tell me that one girl had the hots for me and I, finally, had the courage to take her out. Izzy was right. That little gal scared the hell out of me. Now, Isabel is close enough to enter my dream and tell me all the things she has found out about us,” Max related.

“Max, what does Isabel look like?” Liz asked.

“She is tall, blonde when it suits her, large brown eyes, I don’t know. Sometimes, I can’t remember her anymore,” Max said.

“I think we might have had lunch together at the university,” Liz said. “I don’t know if she knew who I was, but she was interested in my room mate who I said, then, was not my boyfriend.

“Well, Isabel has some terribly disturbing news that has nothing to do with our handlers. She says that there is another type of alien out there that has plans to use and kill us.

“Wow! That is scary. What else does she say?” Liz asked.

“When Philip Evans found us, there were four pods containing alien children. One of the pods had already opened. The child had disappeared. Isabel and I came out next. Philip and Diane were able to take us. There was a fourth child, which wasn’t ready to come out. When my dad came back the pod had already broken opened. The strange alien must have taken the child and raised it. There is something about killing some of us and breeding some of us and taking us back to where we came from. Remember, this was a dream. I wasn’t taking notes,” Max explained.

“Where do I come in?” Liz asked.

“I don’t know. I woke up before we got to that part. It wasn’t like a real dream. ‘Stud service’ and ‘sex toy’ these are not terms I would use to describe anyone. I think Isabel is close enough to dream walk me,” Max stated.

“Dream walk?” Liz asked.

“Yeah, that is a term Isabel used to call going into someone’s dream,” Max said.

In a dark place, in a dark room, in a dark building in a large city.

“Hey, we had to kill that son-of-a-bitch. The sanctimonious bastard threatened to turn us in. Why couldn’t he be reasonable like his old man. That old fart took money from us all his life. Hell, we paid for that kids Ivy League college. Least he could have done was to shut up and help us get control of congress,” a large man smoking a Cuban cigar spoke out.

“I thought it was assured that there were no living witnesses?” another dapper man in an expensive Italian suit remarked.

Another man dressed in a polo shirt with dark slacks spoke up, “That damned Major has hinted that he has witnesses on ice and he just might thaw them out if it suits his pleasure.”

“Hell, then zap the Major. He has been a thorn in our side for too many years anyway,” said cigar.

“Yeah, you try to get close to the Major and a little old lady standing beside you will fill your ass with cyanide. There is no telling how many operatives he surrounds himself with. Has he made any demands as to what he wants?” the shirt asked.

“Making a deal with that bastard is really dancing with the devil. He will sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ or kiss up to Benedict Arnold depending on which way the wind blows,” dapper suit stated. “We have an informant in his organization. They are all stirred up. Seems that some other players are in the game, now. Someone tried to take out one of the witnesses the other day. That someone, is who we need to find. They know all about where the witnesses are stashed,” he continued.

At a beautiful country estate somewhere in Virginia.

“Gentlemen, it is even more important that we find out who killed the senator. We need to close up ranks. If someone tried to get to that woman the other day, we need to find out if we have a leak. Reserve a couple cells in Guantanamo Cuba. I don’t care if they are closing it down. That means they will pay less attention to what we are doing in some dark hallway. Pick up a couple subjects from each side of the political system and interrogate them a bit. We’ve got to find out what they used to blow that vehicle off the road. Our boys say they have never seen so much destruction to have no casualties.” The Major hadn’t got to where he was by being stupid. He had a rock solid organization or so he thought. If there was a leak somewhere, he damned well was going to plug it. Maybe a few bodies scattered somewhere, would convince people where their best interest lay.
-----------------------
Stories by Ken
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch16 pg7 May 20, 201

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: Sometimes it is hard to tell the players without a playbook. Here is your playbook. Max and Liz are captives of a governmental agency run by a man called the Major. Sort of like our government now, this agency operates without much supervision.

Max and Liz were the only survivors of an assassination plot against a senator. The senator was killed because unlike his father, he wouldn't take bribes. The assassins are from a super secret organization that pulls strings on many governments. They use bribery and threats to control governments for their own reasons. They control elections in many different governments. This organization is run by three men who never give their true identities.

Nasado is not an Antarian. He is a household slave who was forced to go with the four infants to Earth. Unfortunately, he had been turned by Kivar. He must get Tess pregnant by Max and return her to Kivar. He must kill Michael then bring Max to Antar to be executed. Isabel is to be brought as a gift to Kivar if possible.

The human companions are trying to help the hybrids.

L-J-L 76 and Keepsmiling7: Yes Isabel has been looking for Liz since the concert. Dreams are not good or accurate ways to convey information. Isabel is trying to tell Max that they are near and work out a method to get them free.

Chapter 17

In a small apartment in the university area.

“You can talk in dreams,” Maria asked.

“Sort of. I become part of someone’s dream and I can convey ideas to them,” Isabel stated.

“How accurate it that? How do you convince people you are not just another dream of no importance that they will forget soon after waking up?” Maria asked.

Isabel shook her head. “That is a problem. I had to tell Max something he would have never thought of on his own. He also woke up before I could tell him more or arrange someway to talk to him normally,” Isabel explained.

“What did you tell him that he would not think of on his own?” Maria asked.

“I told him that this Nasedo fellow wanted him for ‘stud service’” Isabel stated.

Maria laughed. “Yeah, I guess not many smart guys would think that their only purpose was stud service. I am sure that blew his ego a bit. Did you find out what Liz is doing with him?” Maria asked.

“No, I told you, he woke up. Once awake, there are too many distractions for me to appear in his mind. We need to find a way to get a message to him and from him. Someway that will get past the men in black. First, we need to figure out what we most need to know. Then, we need to code it so if it is found, no one will make a big deal of it and get Max and Liz in trouble,” Isabel explained.

Somewhere in the city

Nasedo had hit the vehicle with everything he had. Nasedo didn’t know anything about bullet-proofed automobiles. The vehicle had been a lot heavier than it looked. It was also stronger than it looked. It dented, but it didn’t break apart that damned outsider; her powers were totally not anticipated. She wasn’t from Antar. Nasedo could smell Antarians. His people had been servants of Antarians for generations. In his mind, Nasedo listed the other known powers in the general vicinity of his home world. She had insulated herself and the other person, who was the driver, so that they were barely scratched. Nasedo had allegiance to Kivar because Kivar had promised Nasedo freedom. Nasedo had no problem, if he found a stronger power, of switching his support. That damned queen had always been a problem. If the woman now with the king was stronger, then screw the queen. Nasedo could cut the queen loose and not have to worry about what she was doing. He could simply kill her as a loose end that needed cleaning up or maybe, even using her for a weekend of enjoyment as he tortured her until she expired. Killing an Antarian, with out consequence, could be pleasurable.

Maybe, the strange woman would give him freedom in exchange for what he knew about Kivar. If she was able to get an heir from the king, she would have a great amount of power. Nasedo had to be careful. This interstellar politics could be tricky. A misstep could cause the death of millions back home. Nasedo would try to approach this woman before he did anything else.

Nighttime at the safe house

Liz had to admit that she was a lot happier now that she had moved into the same bedroom as Max. This alien stuff still confused her. Liz had seen that the transfusion directly from Max had given her many things beyond blood. Max had only a vague idea of what that green stuff in her blood was. He had explained that what ever had saved Liz and the driver was alien related. He could do similar things, but he did not know how to do them on purpose. The day of the assassination, he had no idea of doing anything like that. Even Max had no idea what was going to happen to Liz. Max wasn’t even sure of all that was happening to himself. She could have been angry, but why? Max was all she had and he had done these things to save her life. That automobile accident the other day, she only remembered a little of what happened. She and the driver had lived through it. Liz only had a slight memory of what the vehicle looked like after the wreck. She knew nothing of investigating car accidents, but she did know that both of them should have been hurt worse.

Liz squirmed a little to find a more comfortable position against Max. Finally, she began to drift to sleep. Usually, dreams slowly build up. To Liz’s surprise, she saw Isabel waiting for her as her breathing steadied out. The “Hi Liz,” startled her.

“Isabel, are you the same person I had lunch with two weeks ago?” Liz asked.

“The same,” The dream answered.

“If you are Max’s sister, why didn’t you say something while we were talking?” Liz inquired.

“First, I was not sure that Max was the room mate you were telling me about. Second, I saw the man listening to everything we said. The first question was answered at the Rolling Stones concert, when we saw you together. Tell Max he has a really cheesy hair do. Red is definitely not his color, his beard might have promise though,” the dream stated.

“Oh, were you there?” Liz asked the dream.

“Yes, and so was Maria,” The dream Isabel answered.

“Is she there with you now?” Liz inquired.

“No, I am here alone. Maria didn’t know that you were alive. Everyone thinks you were murdered by some persons unknown, back east. How did you and my brother get thrown together?” the dream asked.

“Do you remember the assassination of the senator? Max and I were the only witnesses. They have kept us from seeing or talking to anyone ever since. I had a boyfriend, but I read in a newspaper that he is getting married. I guess my parents think I was murdered somewhere. They know I wouldn’t run off or anything. Max is worried that we have more to fear from those watching over us than we do from the original group involved in the assassination,” Liz explained.

“You also have another alien to fear. He wants to use Max and then, kill him. That alien is the one who caused your car wreck. He is probably afraid you and Max are lovers. He has plans for Max,” The dream stated.

“What should we do?” Liz asked.

“We don’t know, yet. Reassure Max that the other two alien children are now together. That may help. Your news that those watching over you are dangerous is news, but not unexpected. I take it that no one knows anything about the assassins is correct. If so, the assassins are still to be reckoned with. We need to get all of our enemies set up in a row and then see what we can use against them. Before you wake up, I need to know, how did you survive that car wreck the other day? I saw it and it was bad.” Isabel inquired.

“I got hurt in a kitchen accident a while ago. I seriously cut myself with a kitchen knife. Max gave me a direct blood transfusion. I was bleeding and we were cut off from communication and our bodyguards wouldn’t have let anyone treat me, anyway. Max is not sure, but he says that he thinks that the stuff which allows you to be hybrids, is what is changing me. Max has learned a lot about his genetics in the last two years. When the car was rolling, something in me protected us. Neither the driver nor I were hurt very much,” Liz explained.

“Liz, I think you are about to wake up. You are beginning to stir. If you see Maria, you must act like you do not know her. I will introduce her as my friend. Good bye, for now.” The dream faded from Liz. She woke up and immediately woke Max. She wanted to relate the dream before she forgot it.

In a small dark room not far from the safe house

Nasedo had been trying to sense the strange alien all evening. She must be strong indeed. She had kept him out so far. Not as blocking him purposely, rather she was busy and she was making him stand at the dream door, so to speak, his hat in hand. She must be some kind of royal. Nasedo would have to approach her carefully.

Even though she would not yet let him into her mind, Nasedo ticked off what he could sense about her. She was in bed with the king. No, they were not at the moment, mating. Yes she seemed to have a familiarity with him to suggest that they had mated before. She must be playing with him as she was not with royal issue. Any one as powerful as he assumed she must be, could get with the king’s heir at will. If she had mated in the past, she must be enjoying his favors and not be ready to take from him, his issue. Maybe, she, likewise, had orders to kill him once she got what she wanted. If she did, then Nasedo had to make contact with her. For another, to take, what Kivar thought was his, in front of Nasedo’s nose, would not do for him to ever be in the presence of the despot again.

Liz in bed, just before morning

Liz had talked with Max for a long time that night. She explained everything Isabel had told her. Now, she had worries of her own, maybe they were not worries, exactly. They were concerns. Liz would never return. Someday, she might again see her parents and friends, but it wouldn’t really be the same Liz they knew. Liz was thinking, how much would this change her? To all appearances, Max was human. Liz had no idea of him being different until after she received the blood transfusion.

Later that morning, when she got out of the shower, she stood in front of the mirror. She couldn’t see any change in herself. Max had suggested, last night (or was it early this morning?) that the changes would appear in times of stress. Until something happened, Liz would just do things as normal. Things, of course weren’t normal, even the normal dictated by the men in black. Liz had a friend. She just had to find a way to see her.

Somewhere in the city or maybe, he was still in the development community, Nasedo could never keep these human boundries straight.

Nasedo had found the strange female who was invading his world. A slave is not equipped to understand the machinations of his masters. The one thing he didn’t want was to be involved in a battle between Kivar and some other power. Kivar would demand the soul custody of any child born of the king. He wouldn’t accept a child who didn’t have the genetics of royalty. The power, Nasedo sensed brewing within this stranger was great indeed. There was much evidence that she, as yet, wasn’t aware of how much power she had. When she tired of the situation and demanded the king give her the seed, then Nasedo better be her closest ally. A slave must have a master or they are no longer a slave. Nasedo hadn’t yet reached that point to see the possibility of his freedom. It was probable that too many generations of slavery on his people made the idea of freedom impossible. The promises made by Kivar were just dreams in the sky. Nasedo did not have the idea of being completely free.

Her mind was not anymore practiced than that of a child. To Nasedo she was like Tess when he first took her out of the pod chamber. Tess was created with her powers, but as a child, she had to discover them. That was what Nasedo used to control her. By the time her powers were mature, he was firmly in control as a father figure and a power figure. No matter how much Tess grew to hate him, she would not be able to rebel unless she could get by the things he placed in her mind in childhood. If Nasedo could integrate himself with the stranger, he could abandon Tess and her attitudes. Would the incipient powers of the stranger allow him any room to command her or if not, room to serve her? Nasedo began his surveillance of the woman.

As Nasedo saw Liz go about her schedule, he became even more confused. She was surrounded constantly by humans. These humans Nasedo knew well. They were dangerous like the soldiers who had captured him after the crash. At the original crash site, Nasedo remembered the human word “alien.” He grew to understand this word meant someone not of this world. Later, he understood it to mean someone not like us. In the confusing language Nasedo was presented with, “alien” had many meanings, none of them good. These men did not think of aliens. They thought of power, wars and death. They thought the same as Kivar. Nasedo entertained a strange feeling. What if these men represented a part of the Earth government who understood what Max was and like Kivar, they wanted the heir of the king to extend their rule galactic wide?

The woman had powers, which the men didn’t. She would be the one to get close to. If Nasedo was to offer his services to her, then he would be protected from the men.

A hidden room in the city where a report was being given to the Major.

No, we haven’t been able to make him. We know he is around, but so far we haven’t caught him yet. We figured that any person who has interest in either of our subjects was up to no good. He is a balding man of medium height and build. That is his key, he appears as normal as possible. He is too canny (shrewd, crafty) to be a normal citizen. All we have now is that he has been seen in the vicinity of our female subject several times. We thought we had something in that other female who contacted our subject at the library, but she turned out to be a socialite from back east. The man she lives with is one Alex Whitman. Whitman is a CEO of a company, which is about as apolitical as possible. He sells computers and that is his major interest. Originally, he came from Roswell a town about 200 miles south of the city. They were vacationing with his home folks for a while. Now, he goes between the city and his business back east, while his girl plays about the city. We don’t know why she remains. They are friends with another couple from Roswell, one a singer and music teacher and the other an artist. The artist is giving guest lectures at the University.

If there is a leak or if another character is coming to the party, we think the best bet is the stranger who is shadowing Liz. We need to concentrate on him.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch17 pg7 May 27, 201

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: Welcome to the real world. Our present government is not above detaining without any warrant. they do this with regularity here and in the base at Guantanmo. they entice people to work for them and then throw them in jail when what they do is discovered. (Fast and Furious a gun smuggling deal headed by Eric Holder and president Obama.) Many people just disappeared during the Clinton administration. A life has little value if you know the truth about something the government wants to cover up.

L-J-L 76: Max and Liz have to go through many bad things before they are saved. Evan then those who save them are not to be trusted.

keepsmiling7: Almost no one can be trusted.



Chapter 18

At a coffee shop near the university

“I am going to dream walk Liz again tonight. I might dream walk Max, also, if I have time. Liz seems to be the easiest to contact. She is out with the men in black more often. Max receives a lot of FEDEX and UPS deliveries, but he seldom leaves the house where they live. When I dream walked him the first time, I did not get a feel for anything beyond his study and a strange feeling about Liz. Liz has many feelings about both the small city where they live and about the big city. Liz has many thoughts about the university,” Isabel explained.

“I saw a movie once where spies left notes in a book that nobody else would read in a library. Do you suppose we could do the same?” Maria asked.

“Not a bad idea. The first message would have to be a bit cryptic so if found by anyone else they would not understand it. We need more information from them than they do of us. Unless they are planning an escape from whatever holds them, it is us who needs to know more about their situation. Liz needs to prepare a letter for us and hide it somewhere in the library. That may be very dangerous for her. We need clearer knowledge than I obtain in dream walks,” Isabel stated.

At the “Bargain Barn.”

Even if it was essentially government money she was spending, Liz’s heritage did not allow her to be wasteful. Even after two years, there were household items they needed. The house had been bare-bones when they moved in. It had just been built. The men in black had brought a few items so it would be livable, but Liz from, time to time, would seek out furnishings they didn’t think of. There is more to a living room than a 52 inch LCD Television. Liz had, long ago, traded out the serviceable generic mattresses and replaced them with “Sleep Number” sets. If she and Max had to stay there, she insisted they both needed their comfort. Now, she was glad as the “Sleep Number” had adjustable sides. Sleeping in the same bed with Max all the time, assured that they both had their comforts.

Max had asked Liz to find him a reclining chair. Since their relationship had ripened, Max wanted to spend more time with Liz in the evenings. He still considered that his work in his make-shift lab was important, but now, he wanted to bask in the warmth of his feelings toward Liz. They were so much better than he remembered from Connie. Max had seen a few mentions of Connie in the entertainment section of the papers that were furnished them. He had no regrets about the day he left her. Slamming Elizabeth Parker to the sidewalk was about the best thing that ever happened to him. It would have been better if he didn’t feel that he was in prison at the moment, but if your life had to be confined, there was no better partner than Liz.

One perk of her life, at this time, was that when shopping, Liz didn’t have the hassle of getting her purchases to the register. She merely indicated what she wanted and men in black arranged the purchase and the loading of same onto a black truck parked in the lot. Liz had picked out what she thought Max would like in the way of a chair. She had included a new, more efficient microwave. The one the men in black had found was simple and not very attractive in their kitchen. Liz felt that she didn’t have to put up with second best, so she had asked for it to be removed.

Now that her planned purchases had been concluded, Liz dream shopped as she wandered up and down the aisles. As Liz proceeded through the tables of women’s clothes and other mundane things, the men in black stationed them selves on opposite sides of the long rows and just kept up with her progress.

This was Nasedo’s chance. Now that she was some distance from the soldiers following her; Nasedo would make an attempt to contact her. The first attempt he would assume she was a competitor of Kivar and Nasedo would offer her his knowledge of the despot in exchange for protection. If she was indeed of an intergalactic race unknown to Nasedo, then she would appreciate his knowledge of the Antarians.

Nasedo was wearing a sweat shirt with a hood. He was carrying a basket and had filled it with several random things. He noticed she was not a considerable distance from either of her bodyguards. Nasedo came up behind Liz and in a horse whisper said, “My lady, I bring you information of the Antarians. I served Kivar and am now willing to serve you.”

Liz jumped and turned to see the bald forehead of the man behind her. She had no idea what he was talking about. Max had warned her that there might be many who would try to meet her and she should be careful. This man made no sense at all, with this talk about serving. Serving Kivar, who ever he was and the talk about serving Liz, this made no sense. She jumped back.

Nasedo thought she was not reacting as he had expected. Maybe while she was undecided, he should just kill her. That would bring him back to using Tess. Nasedo was glad he hadn’t yet rid himself of Tess. He might still need her.

Liz saw his hood fall back. She had never seen him before. She did see his hands were sparking. When he lifted his hand to direct a powerblast point blank at her, Liz reacted. She was immediately surrounded by a green transparent shield. The energy bouncing off the shield knocked the merchandise off the shelves nearby.

The two men in black closest to Liz both whispered into the microphone in their sleeves, “Code red. The subject is under attack.” They started to run toward Liz. Nasedo, thinking Liz must indeed, be a strong entity, had put all of his energy into the blast. Now with the two soldiers running towards him, he let loose with two feeble blasts, which were the best he could do. The two men were knocked off their feet and it was all they could do to hold on to their SIG service pistols. At the “Code red” signal, men from the parking lot came running through the front door. They brushed off the store clerks checking for membership cards and when the clerks saw the drawn weapons, they decided that if these men wanted memberships that badly, who were they to stand in the way.

Liz was crying. She was terrified at both the attempted assault and her response to it. The two men who had rushed to her aid were trying to stand up on very weak, shaky legs. Now, other men in black had arrived and behind them came the white shirted security guards. Everyone wanted to interview Liz. The men in black would wait until they were back at the safe house. The security guards were shooed away by the badges of the men in black. Liz was quickly moved to the sedan she had arrived in and soon, was on her way to the house she shared with Max. Her purchases were loaded into the black truck and they were delivered that afternoon.

In one of the many offices the Major maintained.

“Yes, it was the stranger. Nobody noticed how he got into the store. He approached the woman subject. She was under surveillance all the time. No, I don’t think she knew him. She seemed afraid of him. The two men closest to her advanced, but somehow they both slipped on the slick floor; there is no telling what customers dropped there. We closed down the store as fast as we could. All we found was a skinny, geeky kid in a sweatshirt. He no way could fit the description of the stranger. Yes, we agree that we should prepare a new safe house. Maybe, we should consider the termination of the subjects. We need to know more. We grabbed several subjects from both political parties. Yes, they were always minor aids, people who will not be missed for several days. We got them to the prison in Cuba. The technicians interrogating them were the best. So far, we do not have anything. If any politicians were involved in the assassination, they did not allow any of their aids to know about it. We will mind scrub them, drug them and dump them in some park in Washington. Aids getting stoned is nothing new.”

The Major slowly digested the report. This stranger was of concern. The Major had already set in motion, that if he had to terminate the subjects, they would be found as unsolvable evidence of road kill, in two widely separated states. The Major was not in a hurry. What if he needed them as witnesses of the assassination against one party or the other? It would not do to destroy them until he was sure they were completely useless.

Max and Liz in the safe house. Once again it did not seem so safe.

“Max I can’t tell you what he looked like. He looked like anybody. He mentioned strange names like Kivar and Antar. These don’t mean anything to me. He said something about serving this Kivar and something about serving me. Suddenly, he showed his palm to me and then, I don’t know what happened. I was surrounded in a green haze and there was an orange fire coming from his palm. The blast knocked everything off the shelves in the store. When the bodyguards came toward me, he hit each of them with a blast. It was considerably weaker than that he directed at me.” Liz was frightened and hoping that Max would have some explanations.

“Liz, the names do not mean anything to me either. The blast, I do think I can explain.” Max took an empty Coke can and placed it on a table. He looked quickly around to see if any of the men in black were around. He held out his palm and an orange lightening came from the palm. The Coke can was hit and smashed against the wall.

Liz jumped. That was exactly like what the man had done.

“Liz, I think we all have this ability. Even you might find it eventually. As far as I can tell, we create a super conductor to the object we are pointing too. Somehow, energy follows this conductor to the object. We have always known that we can manipulate matter. Creating this super conductor is just another manipulation. It is somehow built into as a defense. This stranger has similar genes as I,” Max stated. Max was thoughtful for a few minutes. “Liz, I think I know how the car was wrecked the other day. We already know how you and the driver were saved. The same way you saved yourself at the store. This creature must have hit the car with a powerblast and knocked it off the road. It must have been a very powerful blast, but it must have taken tremendous energy. That is why the two bodyguards were not hurt too badly at the store. The stranger used up almost all his energy on you.”

Liz sat looking at her hands. They looked perfectly normal. When they were making love, Max looked perfectly normal, also. Well, maybe, allowing for the affection she was building around him, he was perfectly normal for a wonderful man. “Max, how long have you known about this power?” she asked.

“Since we were children. Our parents knew that we were different when they found us, but when we developed some of our powers, we hid the powers from them. We were afraid that they might react as some would if you saw a child with a loaded gun. It wasn’t about the gun, neither was it about powers, Isabel and I realized the responsibility we had in this power. Isabel and I would play with these powers when we were alone. We learned to be careful about using them. We, also, felt we had to be careful about letting others ever know about powers. I don’t know about Isabel, but I have never explored these powers as weapons. If I had known more about them, I would have blown that car off the road the day of the assassination and we wouldn’t be in this mess. There would never have been an assassination.” Max was realizing that this alien had used his powers as powerful tools. This was something Max had to consider. He so much needed to sit down with Isabel or someone else, facing the use of powers.

That night when Max was peacefully sleeping, he started dreaming. The dream started out perfectly normal. Max was on a flat plane. As far as you could see, there was just grass. He needed to get to the far side of this place. This dream was no different as it had been before. Max never understood why he had to cross this plane. Out of the mist on the plane, walked Isabel. Maybe, she was a little older. Maybe, she seemed a bit more responsible and mature, after all it had been two years since Max had seen her. “Max, you do believe I am here this time? We don’t have to waste time trying to validate my presence,” she asked.

Max was paying a lot more attention this time. “Yes, Isabel, I believe you. I do wish we could meet in person,” he replied.

“Max, we need a better explanation of why you are in this situation. We need to know what freedoms you have and how we can exploit them. As soon as I leave you, I am going to approach Liz Parker. By the way, we need to know a lot more about what is changing in her. There has to be a way we can use the university library to pass information. We need to know if you want to break out of this situation? Liz’s parents are devastated and ours are not that much better. We need to know how much we can tell them,” Isabel stated.

“We are in danger. The people who act as our bodyguards could just as easily be our executioners. There is always the group who executed the senator. Our protectors do not know any thing, yet about them. Now, at least Liz seems to be attacked by some alien force. We have many questions. There were two words we need to understand. We need to understand who/what do ‘Kivar’ and ‘Antar’ mean. These were words thrown at Liz during the alien attack. We both want freedom, but not freedom to be killed by our many enemies,” Max explained.

“I have to dream walk Liz before she wakes up. Later, Max.” and Isabel slipped away.

Max woke up! Since he knew that Isabel intended to dream walk Liz, Max tried to remain perfectly still to not wake her. Since all of this had been in his dream, none of it was as clear to him in his waking state. This was the reason Isabel felt she needed some better methods of communication.

Liz was dreaming also, her dreams were of her teen years working at the Crashdown restaurant owned by her parents. Many times, while being waitresses, they had encountered difficult customer. In her dreams, all the dissatisfied customers were in the restaurant at once. She and Maria were trying their best to satisfy each person. Nothing was working, when Isabel appeared and said, “Liz take a break. I need to talk to you.”

Liz’s mind never questioned how Izzy’s request could be fulfilled so easily. Liz sat down in a booth opposite Isabel. “Liz, I need to talk to you. You are under very heavy guard so we are not sure how this will be possible. You need to read a book found in the English literature section. It is titled ‘Commentaries on Elizabethan Poetry.’ I checked and this book has not been checked out in ten years. If you find a coded message addressed in someway to you, please take the message and leave one in its place. We need to know how you are changing? What is happening? Can you tell us anymore about the alien? Maybe give us some description or something. Max gave us two words, ‘Antar’ and ‘Kivar.’ Can you elaborate? Next time you see me, Maria will be with me. Your bodyguards know that you talked to me once before, but you must greet Maria as a stranger. Don’t tell me how difficult controlling her is going to be. I already know. She fancies herself as an actress. I may be able to impress on her that this will be her greatest performance.” Isabel felt Liz beginning to stir. She could only hope that Liz would retain what she said about the book on Elizabethan poetry.
Last edited by ken_r on Sat Jun 08, 2013 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
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Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch18 pg8 June 1, 202

Post by ken_r »

keepsmiling7:

begonia9508: I have always known that governments do immoral, unethical and illegal things. It seems that in today's world, they are more obvious and uncaring what they do.

L-J-L 76: The major and the men in black do not know what they have. later the three men who are so mysterious figure some of this out. The mysterious, the men in black with the major and any of the rest of the government are after what men always are after, money and power.



Chapter 19

Maria and Isabel in the coffee house

Isabel was explaining to Maria the importance of what she wanted to do. “Here is the note I intend to leave. I think it would only have importance to Liz or Max,” she explained as she slid the note across to Maria.

The Valedictorian of Roswell. You became the prodigal
daughter rather than the son. You need to reveal the
mysteries of your life, unless like Henry Houdini, your
secrets die with you. The regent of the realm seeks
your downfall. Twice, his lackey has attacked. Twice,
he has failed. Prince charming he wants; you he is
unsure of.

Maria raised her eyebrows. This sort of intrigue was not her thing. Maria was a much more direct type of girl. “I guess she will recognize it. You are right, she was the valedictorian her senior year. She did disappear. I just hope she realizes the significance of that reference. I think most people would know about the prodigal son. Mysteries of her life, should re-enforce the dream walk you took.

About this time, they both looked up and recognized Tess approaching them. Tess sat down. “Being shut down, while hiding from Nasedo, surely makes finding each other difficult,” she stated.

Maria looked at Isabel. Did Isabel realize that she had to guard herself from Nasedo? Did dream walking count? Could he sense this?

Isabel slid the note across the table. “We are going to try to slip this note to Liz next time we see her at the library. We need information and dreams are not that clear or reliable,” she explained.

Tess scanned the note. “Should work. If she can get away with it she can send better details. I understand that Nasedo has attacked Liz twice. Each time, something repelled him. I can feel that he is mightily pissed. He doesn’t know what to do about it, yet,” Tess stated.

Isabel looked at Tess. “Liz repelled him?” she said as a question. “She is getting very strong powers.”

“That is why he is leaving me alone. He thinks that Liz will steel the genes of the king and if she does, Nasedo wants either to be on her side or turn her over to Kivar,” Tess mused.

“That is one of the words that Max asked me about. ‘Kivar’ and ‘Antar.’ He wanted to know what they meant?” Isabel asked

“Kivar is the despot I told you about. We all come from a place called Antar. We were created by genetic matter from the original rulers of Antar. Believe me, none of our donors were ever perfect. They were royalty and they did not have much care for the commoners. My donor was purchased by royalty to be mate of the royal heir. My donor never had any choice in the matter. Nasedo wants to make me fulfill the obligation my donor had, before she was killed. Kivar started a people’s revolution. When he declared he was first person, the rest of the people couldn’t tell much difference between him and the royalty. Oh yes, there was constant war, which they didn’t have under the royalty.

In a dark place, in a dark room, in a dark building in a large city. Present were Suit, Cuban cigar and Polo shirt

Cigar spoke up, “The Major had quite a mess at the Bargain Barn the other day. His bully boys got the shit kicked out of them. Someone tried to assault the woman under their protection and two rows of merchandise were destroyed. Our informant was standing guard outside the building. He saw the bald man thar the Major is concerned about. He correctly assumed that the bald man was going to go after the woman. If he did it, it would save us a lot of trouble. We still need to remove both of those witnesses. Word is out that the Major is willing to negotiate. If we get those witnesses, we can tell that old fart to screw himself. Now, maybe, we need to capture the woman. If she held off the bald man, she might have value to someone.”

Suit leaned over and stated, “Maybe, just maybe, we should look into getting the bald man. If he was responsible for that car wreck, then he might have use to us. He might be reasoned with; anyone is better than dealing with that damned Major.”

Polo shirt was stretched out in his chair, his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. “Either bald man or the woman might give us power to shut down congress for good. They might have the power for us to take over the world. It might be worth loosing a couple hundred troops to capture them,” he mused.

Suit looked up and said, “What about that man the Major is sitting on? Does he represent any power? The informant says that the Major is holding them because they are the only witnesses to the assassination. Well, if they know so much, why hasn’t the Major made a move against us?”

Cigar nodded, “I say we pump up the informant. We need to know more about all three of them, the man, the woman and the bald man. Soon, I say, we either buy the Major off or we go up against him. If he has assets of power, we want them. He might not even know what he has. He is smart, but sometimes, we make him seem invincible.”

Back at the safe house.

Liz was preparing for a trip to the library. She and Max had worked up a missive giving as much detail of their situation as they could. They had written it on very light weight paper and Liz had concealed it the best she could.

Max had explained what he had learned about alien genetics. He was now sure that female hybrids would have no problem accepting human sperm. The magic that made them hybrids made their bodies pretty acceptable to any reasonable species. He was concerned that for a human female to accept hybrid sperm, she would have to undergo a transformation much like Liz had experienced. He did this for Liz to save her life. Would a human female undergo this just for the sake of an alien lover? Max was sure that intercourse would be no problem, but to get past sterility, the female would need the gandarium. He didn’t know how much value this would have to the people Isabel was with, but she needed to know about it. Max did state that all he knew about aliens was from his own body. He knew almost nothing about hybrid females.

The men in black drove a van past the hill they had to traverse. The van parked at the bottom of the hill and two man got out and were glassing the area with their field glasses. The sedan carrying Liz only started when the man at the bottom of the hill declared it to be safe. They played hop-scotch, like this, all the way to the university without any incident.

The library at the university is composed of several buildings. Each Major department has their own branch. There is a central building, built on to the original library, where all the older books and many of those with limited circulation are kept. Picking up the books, which Max wanted was easy. Two of them were found reserved for him at the desk at the Biology Library. The other two were found in the stacks which simply meant looking up the titles on a computer station connected to the main library, and getting the correct number. Then as students have been doing for years, Liz walked down the rows of books following the numbers until she arrived at the one she wanted. There was another book, which the library would have to borrow from another institution. Liz just had to sign a paper that she would accept the liability for the borrowed item and they promised to have it in two weeks when she had to come in to renew the books she already had.

Because the house where they lived faced out across the valley, their view of the city and the vacant lands between, Liz had developed an interest in the history of this location. Like many places in the southwest, there were two histories, sometimes three. There was the archeology of the area, the study of the people who lived here before the Spanish came. Then there was the Hispanic history of the area, richly colored by the intrigues from Spain and the unique changes the Spanish made as they fit into the new country. Finally, there was the modern history. This was a polyglot of the many cultures, which became unique to the southwest. Liz was spending a lot of her time learning all three of these histories. She looked at her list and picked out several books next on her reading list.

Next, Liz seemed to just browse. This was not abnormal and the men in black who followed her today just kept a respectful distance and watched as she picked up one volume after another to replace them as she drifted through the stacks. Soon, she was in the older part of the library. This building was over one hundred years old. The building creaked and moaned, the elevator made noises, which would have terrified the “Otis elevator brake company.” Liz doubted if old Elisha Otis himself would have been willing to ride the device. http://inventors.about.com/library/inve ... evator.htm

Many students at the university were convinced that this old part of the building was haunted. Even the man in black who followed Liz, cast an apprehensive glance about. He stood with his back against the wall as she wandered through the musty stacks. Liz gave a nervous laugh to her self. The atmosphere of the place made anyone a bit on edge. http://www.roswellfanatics.net/viewtopi ... 36&t=20749

Liz had to blow the dust off several of the books as she walked down the aisle. She finally came to an ancient book, labeled “Elizabethan Novels Studied in the Twentieth Century.” The book showed evidence that it had been utilized recently. Opening the book Liz found a slip of paper with the message:

The valedictorian of Roswell. You became the prodigal daughter rather than the son. You need to reveal the mysteries of your life unless like Henry Houdini your secrets die with you. The regent of the realm seeks your downfall. Twice his lackey has attacked. Twice he has failed. Prince charming he wants, you he is unsure of.

Glancing around, Liz saw that the man in black couldn’t see what she was doing. She quickly slipped the note into her pocket and placed the folded papers she and Max had prepared, between the pages. Now, Liz continued her wandering until she returned to the elevator. She and the man in black braved the ghosts of the library as they descended to the ground floor. It was now noontime, so the man in black followed Liz into the Student Union Cafeteria.

Liz was playing with her salad and staring out the window when she looked up. Two women were approaching her table. “Liz, Liz Mendoza, isn’t it?” Isabel inquired.

Liz nodded. She gave a furtive glance at the man in black, but all he was doing was to set up his listening device again. “Isabel, I am so glad to see you again,” Liz responded.

Isabel stepped aside. “This is my friend Maria. We are on a sky-lark tour of the city. I saw you looking out the window and thought we might join you,” Isabel said.

To Maria, it was just weird. She had known Elizabeth Parker her whole life. Now, she was being introduced to a Liz Mendoza as if they were complete strangers. As they sat down, Maria let Isabel take the lead . She glanced about the cafeteria and quickly spotted the man in black. He looked like a lawyer, banker or maybe, some austere preacher. He didn’t look dangerous. Maria had been assured, by Isabel, that he was armed and willing to use force in a moments notice. Maria thought this was good if her best friend might be in danger as she had been two times just recently. Then Maria remembered that not only did the man in black protect Liz, he also guarded her from escape. He was a two edged sword and this frightened Maria greatly.

Isabel was speaking, “We asked the girl at the desk in the library if she had seen you recently. She said you were in a car accident. I hope you have recovered.”

“Yes, thank you, the driver and I escaped with nothing more than being shaken up. Probably attributed to the luck I have received recently,” Liz stated. Liz turned to Maria, “Where are you from?” she asked.

“Roswell, New Mexico, originally,” Maria replied. “My boyfriend has a guest lecturing gig at the university. Sometimes, I work at various schools in music education and I have been on a couple short singing tours. I did manage to ‘cut’ a few records,” Maira continued.

This was the lead, Liz wanted. “How are the people in Roswell?” she asked. Then, she amended her question. “What are they like?”

Maria cast a look at Isabel who frowned and slightly tilted her head towards the man in black. “They are like people everywhere. Recently, they have been very sad. One of their favorite daughters was murdered. It has been very difficult for all those who knew her.” Maria was thankful that Isabel gave a sigh of relief. Maria had done well in Izzy’s opinion. There had been no movement from the man a few yards away.

The women chatted for almost an hour. Isabel and Maria were very careful as they imparted the information that Isabel’s boyfriend was Alex an old friend of Maria’s. Isabel now knew two others, who might be her cousins and were much like her. The old, (un-named) café in Roswell was doing well, but they missed those who used to hang around there.

Isabel and Maria stood up. “Liz, it has been nice talking with you. Maria and I have to get going if we are going to hit the malls this afternoon. Would you like to come with us?” she asked.

Liz Mendoza slowly shook her head. “No, I still have to find some more books and get back to my room mate. He doesn’t get out much, he is doing research and hoping for a break through. Guys, thank you anyway,” Liz sadly said.

Night in the office of the Major in the nearby city.

The Major and his aide were talking at his desk. The aide was a young man. He had graduated from Princeton, and the Major valued his opinions greatly. The Major trusted him implicitly. The young man was given to many excesses. The leash the Major held on him was the fact that the Major had gotten him out of many predicaments. The Major cared little for his social life. He couldn’t understand a man like that, but he did understand controlling men, period.

“It is sure that we have a leak,” the young man stated. “The bald man shouldn’t have gotten into the Bargain Barn. It looks like one of three people might have let him in. I am not thinking of incompetence; rather, I am thinking or treachery,” he concluded.

The Major stretch out in his comfortable desk chair, “You find out who it is and I will make him road kill, personally. They will find his body along an open highway somewhere in Wyoming. What else do you have for me?”

The young man carefully looked at his notes. “The bald man is powerful. He used something on our people which knocked them down. One of our people said he saw something going on between the bald man and the woman. He swears that there was electricity flowing between them. He suggested we look more closely at her. You know neither of them ever had a medical check. We just wanted to get them on ice. Maybe, we acted to quickly,” the young man stated.

The Major frowned as he digested the report of his aide. “When we picked them up, she was just a dumb school teacher. She had a boyfriend, but he went down the hall with his affections readily enough. She moved in with the man, when we let her see the paper announcing the wedding of her former boyfriend. The man is a researcher in the field of genetics. We have looked at a few of his papers, he seems to be interested in breeding between different species. His interest has been in sterile off spring such as the mule and different species of cats, which can lead to a viable off spring, that can reproduce. That keeps him happy and is a lot less trouble than we had on the golf course. Who knows, when he is gone, his research might be valuable to someone,” the Major summed up what he knew.

The aide frowned, “She is anything but dumb. She has a doctorate from Harvard in biology. She just decided she wanted to teach. With her credentials, she could probably work anywhere. Lately, he has had her working with him on the research. It is my suggestion that we have both of them checked over. They might have value, other than as witnesses to the assassination.” With this, the aide rested the two points of his report. The Major would listen, always, but he made his own decisions.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
User avatar
ken_r
Obsessed Roswellian
Posts: 861
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:34 pm
Location: New Mexico

Re: Strangers & Milliseconds CC,mature, ch19 pg8 June 8, 201

Post by ken_r »

begonia9508: watch carefully because there are going to be 5 groups all fighting to take the king. reasonable control means more than isolating the subjects. the subjects must assume reasonable contact with others if there is no information involved. Hence Isabel is allowed to talk to Liz as long as they can listen in to the conversation

keepsmiling7: I thought i did pretty good making the cryptic message

L-J-L 76: Max adn Tess will have to work together to get rid of Nasedo

Chapter 20

Kyle and Tess at a small apartment.

“Kyle tell me more about this Elizabeth Parker,” Tess requested.

“She was kind of skinny when I dated her in high school. She had a fine ass and it was a matter of principle that I intended to have her simply because it would be difficult. We were doing pretty well, but her father told me one day that if I trifled with his daughter, he would serve my balls as pickles the next day. I understand she was pissed at the old man for interfering, but the vision of him standing at the doorway with that meat clever convinced me that cheerleaders were an easier lay. She was the smartest girl in high school. That was my point. Intelligence had nothing over hormones, any time,” Kyle related.

“You may have been saved from more than the meat cleaver. Nasedo has made two tries to kill her and she has defeated him both time. I know I couldn’t defeat Nasedo, so where did she get the power?” Tess asked.

“How do you know you couldn’t defeat Nasedo? Kyle asked.

“Look Kyle, I grew up with that monster. Don’t you think I would have turned him to dust if I could?” Tess answered.

“Dad used to tell me a story when I was small. Once upon a time there was a baby elephant. The keepers kept him chained so he could eat and walk around, but try as hard as he could, the baby elephant could not break the chain or pull up the stake. When he was grown and the keepers wanted him to stay put, they chained him the same way. Now a full grown elephant could easily break the chain or demolish the stake, but he was raised to never believe that he could. Dad would always end the story by saying ‘Kyle, don’t let things of childhood limit you when you are grown. Don’t be a baby elephant,’” Kyle declared. “Tess, maybe, Nasedo just made you think he couldn’t be defeated. You are a powerful woman now. If Liz could defeat him, what makes you think you can’t do the same?”

Tess was quiet for the rest of the night. She remembered one time when she was still in grade school that she made a power blast and threw it at Nasedo. He had laughed and then he made her life miserable for weeks after that. Liz Parker was human. How did she fend off that alien servant, who had become Tess’s master? Liz had been living with the king. Had he changed Liz in anyway?

In a dark place, in a dark room, in a dark building in a large city. Present were Suit, Cuban cigar and Polo shirt

One would think that as powerful as these three men were they would have a penthouse office somewhere. Their very power lay in their anonymity. Men who they bribed had vague concepts that some powerful person wanted favors done and was willing to pay for them. No man had the knowledge that the power was three men and no one had ever seen them in this position. In the real world Suit was a banker, Cuban Cigar was a sports promoter and Polo Shirt was a professor at a large prestigious college for women.

The building where they met was owned by a company, that they all held shares in, but no one would ever discover this. It had been condemned several times, but monthly checks to different zoning inspectors kept the building off any demolition lists. Street people were superstitious about the building as were teen vandals. The few people who entered the building or desecrated it, ended up face down in tide water on the east side. There was never anything to connect them with the building.

Suit started off. “What do you gentlemen know about aliens?” he asked.

The other two looked surprised. “Some of them make good ball players. I have a young fellow from Nicaragua who will make an excellent pitcher as soon as I get him a green card and set him up for citizenship,” Cigar said.

“As long as congress can keep fighting over the immigration laws, they don’t see some of the things we do,” Polo Shirt declared.

“I am not talking about that kind of alien,” Suit stated. I am talking about aliens from up there,” he declared as he pointed to the ceiling and beyond. “What do you fellows know about Roswell aliens?” he asked.

The other two sat looking first at each other and then, looking at Suit.

“Our informant sent me pictures of the damage done at the Bargain Barn. He was stationed outside, but he understands that neither of the Major’s men got that close to the bald man. He stopped them half way up the aisle. The damage was caused by the woman and the bald man. The woman’s name is Elizabeth Parker. She is originally from Roswell. Her parents still live there. We don’t know much about the man, yet. We were researching Elizabeth Parker and we came across an article about a lawyer couple, finding two children wandering about in the desert. The lawyers were named Philip and Diane Evans. Our informant thinks the real name of the man he is guarding is Evans; he isn’t sure. We did find a couple named Evans here in New York. Their son attended Cornell University; they had a daughter who attended New York State College. We have lost track of her. We still can’t find anything about Elizabeth Parker. She seems to be just a normal smart girl from a small town. There must be something special about her.” Suit had been thinking about all of this for some time. If they grabbed the power of a couple of aliens, working with those infantile congressmen could cease. They wouldn’t have to bribe them. They could just order them around.

At the Safe House.

Max had been working late every night. He had put all his research on a secure digital micro chip. The chip was so small that it could be easily taped to a note and not be detected. He put all his notes and those he had made about Liz. He didn’t know what Isabel could do with the chip, but he couldn’t stand to think of all he had learned being lost. Max spent a lot of his days with Liz. The men in black thought that it was just sex maturing into love. Let them have their passion. The Major might decide to terminate them any day.

Max was worried about Liz. She was learning things that he didn’t even know. With what Max saw of the wrecked car, this character must be very powerful. He had tried to kill Liz a second time. She had beat him off. Liz was more powerful than a native alien. “Liz, how did you know he was dangerous?” Max asked.

“I don’t know, Max. It is like when a rebellious student enters your room you just know he is Trouble. That is the way I felt about the bald man. My body seemed to know what to do. When he sent that blast or ray at me, I had already made one of those ‘green thingies.’ The ray couldn’t get to me, but it tore up the store. He must have been out of energy, because he only knocked the men in black off their feet. Right before my eyes, he turned into this teenaged kid and walked past the men in black with just a few words. They did not recognize him in his new form. Can you hybrids do that?” Liz asked. “Do you think I could do that someday?” she continued.

“We are not sure about there being only one kind of alien out there. I have never thought of shape shifting. We don’t know what you can eventually do,” Max answered her.

Hiding somewhere in the city near the safe house

Nasedo sat alone. Except for the times he was with Tess he preferred to be alone. Tess was just a reminder of what the royal family had done to his species. Beating her was a pleasure, but he had to be careful or he might damage her. That would put that option to rest. Now, he had to kill the woman with the king, but that had proven, so far impossible. His next option was to contact her and try to make a deal with her. If she represented some other race in the universe maybe, they would be happy to know all Nasedo knew about Kivar. Nasedo had no idea of how he had approached a power greater than himself on Earth. His experience with Tess made him believe that he could easily handle the hybrids from Antar. He had lost to the strange woman, but what if he captured the king himself? He must be a lot like Tess, so Nasedo would just knock him senseless before he had a chance to raise his powers. (Nasedo was getting braver by necessity.) Then in some way, imprison him until he could retrieve Tess. No matter where she hid, Nasedo always knew where she was. He would force them to copulate at gun point, if necessary, until she proved pregnant. Then, he could kill the king. That wasn’t exactly what Kivar wanted, but the most important thing was to return with the queen pregnant from the king.

Tess was hanging out with that human. If she was already pregnant, Nadedo would take care of it. He would avoid the human, if possible. There was something that reminded Nasedo of the man who pursued him so long ago. If he had the blood of the man long ago, he might prove dangerous.

In the apartment where Isabel was now living.

Alex had flown in. He planned to stay a couple weeks. Maria had agreed that too many of them at Liz’s table at the cafeteria might alert the man in black. She saw that Alex needed to see Liz, also. The three of them had been so close long ago. Tomorrow, Isabel intended to leave a message for Liz. She was fairly sure that it was safe to do so. She, also, hoped that Liz would have a message for them.

The four of them drove to the university. Alex and Isabel headed off toward the main library and the ancient stacks of books. Michael walked to the crowd of artists he was becoming close to and Maria headed to the Music department. She would kill time there until Michael picked her up for lunch and they headed to the restaurant across the street.

Isabel led Alex to the stacks where the book on Elizabethan poetry resided. They placed the message carefully in the book. Then, they walked the short distance to the Student Union Building. Isabel took the table where she normally met Liz. Alex frowned. “Izzy, this will make three times you have met her this way. You need to find another way or the men in black are going to get suspicious,” he stated.

“It is the only idea we have. This is the only place where the men in black give her any room. Otherwise, they are always too close for us to meet,” Isabel explained.

“You are going to have to figure something other than that English book. Unless Liz has a habit of reading a lot of Elizabethan poetry, they are going to question why she is doing so, now,” Alex stated.

“Well, maybe, you can think of someway of getting information across to her during lunch,” Isabel responded.

Several tables over, there was a student. He hadn’t shaved in weeks. His clothes were dirty and rumpled. He was resting his head on one hand. He mumbled to himself and it couldn’t be told if he was drunk or stoned. His table was piled high with books to discourage anyone asking to join him. He worked for the banker, many knew as Suit. He knew nothing about the other two men of power. Suit had given him his orders as he did many times. He was to seek out a lady known only from a picture in a New York City College yearbook. Suit had told him she was known as Isabel Evans. He had been in the cafeteria every day at lunchtime for a week. Now, he was again mumbling. “She just walked in with a man. They took a seat on the far side of the lunchroom. They are just sitting there talking.” He knew that the man we know as Suit was listening to a satellite signal in his office.

At the safe house

Liz was preparing to leave for the library. She had already hidden the missive from Max including the small chip. Max came up to her and kissed her, “Be careful, Liz,” he said. Then turning to the men in black who were preparing to take her to the library he said, “Guys watch that turn. I hope we don’t have any more car wrecks.”

They waved back. The Major had been much more blunt in his statement to be careful. Again, they would run a van in front, then, followed by the the sedan, which carried Liz. There were three people in the van and they had weapons for any problem.

It was always lonesome when Liz went off. Sometimes, Max missed the days at the tennis court, the golf course and even at the skeet range. He seemed so busy in his make shift lab and for some reason, he seem to feel that they were running out of time.

It was two hours since Liz had left. She should have picked up the message from Isabel and left their message in place. Liz would be at the cafeteria soon. Max did wish he could talk to his sister again. Dream walks were so ethereal. When he woke, he had to quickly write everything down or he would quickly forget it. Max was sure that his theories would work. The gandarium in the female hybrids would accept male sperm. They could have relationships with humans and even produce children. Max only knew his sister, Isabel. He understood that there was another female hybrid now. She would need to know this information, also. Max was sure that males could have relationships with human females, but the relationships would be sterile unless the human females were treated with gandarium. Max wasn’t sure how safe this was. He was carefully watching Liz. She was changing, but so far her changes were beneficial for her safety.

Max was going over his notes. He hoped that if Isabel didn’t understand them, she would get them to someone who would explain them to her. Isabel had said that there was another male hybrid. Max knew nothing about him, but if he, someday, wanted a family, he needed to know about the gandarium and to help his mate decide if she wanted to undergo the change.

There was a knock at their door. Max would have to go back through the house as he had blocked the garage door long ago with rows of chemicals and equipment. Max opened the door and never had a chance to even think about the bald man standing there. Max received a blast that knocked him unconscious.

Of course several men in black came running. This time Nasedo was prepared for them. He burned down the first two who came down the hall. He surrounded himself with his shield and hoisting Max over his shoulder, he ran to the vehicle he was driving. Alarms all over the country were telling the Major that men were down and they had been attacked.

Suit’s informant was one of those killed by Nasedo. It wasn’t until later that Suit heard from his man in the lunch room that he knew of the problems.
Last edited by ken_r on Mon Jun 24, 2013 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Good teachers are born that way, not made. No! Good human beings, are born that way. Some of them become teachers.

Of course, life is not fair. You shouldn't expect it to be fair, but you should expect it to be ironic.
JKR 1981-2001
History is made of wars, recovering from wars and preparing for the next war.
JJR 1975-
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