BETHANN, aaaawwnn thanks for the compliments! I actually write my own stories in Spanish as well, but writing is just a hobby. I read a lot too, hehe, so I write about what I would like to read
And yup, I'm in Guatemala, on my own corner of the world 
It's so weird that you guys are so far away! This is the first time so many people is reading something I've written, and that's so cool! Especially since English is my second language.Majandria, I like Jake too
Oh, the "running" bit, you'll get to know sooner or later 
Timelord31, I'm glad that Jake strikes you like a nice a guy
That's certainly how he hopes the podsters will see him too.nibbles2, well, there are only like 25 chapters left for book 1, sooo... you'll get to know
xmag, now you are making me blush! If I ever get published I'll be thankful if I get half of the great compliments you have given me so far!
Well, I guess psychology is part of the fic... I just plain love insights, that's all
And why Liz, Maria and Kyle are sent to the gym is in part because of what you said, but there are a couple more reasons behind it. You'll see in time 
So, now is time to see how it all went with Kyle on his interview
X
Sparks
Kyle walked through the corridor feeling as if he were actually trespassing the borders to the Twilight Zone. Now that he was reflecting on it, he had had that feeling ever since he had woken up on that tiny blue room no more than two days ago. Gosh! Only two days? And now he was walking as a “free” man? That was almost unbelievable… But as he was so fond of saying: No conditions are permanent. No conditions are reliable. Nothing is self.
He wondered for a brief moment if now was the time to change religions or philosophies again, in order to find a balance in an upside down world. After all, when little green men had invaded his life, Buddhism had been the perfect way –the salvation, really- for his sanity. Now the world had shifted again, had thrown at him unthinkable possibilities, and yet here he was, dealing with it.
He had been surprised back in that summer away from Roswell almost three years ago, about how really good he had been at dealing with it. “It” meaning knowing that not only aliens did exist, but that he had gone to school with three of them for most of his life. He hadn’t told a soul, more out of knowing that no one would believe him than to protect the pod squad’s secret, but still, the fact remained: Kyle had kept his mouth shut, and had done so ever since, no matter what.
Now he was walking to meet a man who expected him to tell him a great deal about said secret, and that made Kyle feel uncomfortable. It almost made him feel like a traitor. Even if the thought was foolish and very well misplaced, Kyle couldn’t help himself. He had gone over in his head all night about what he was supposed to say and what he wasn’t supposed to say. The worst part was, according to what they had agreed in a van in the middle of nowhere, everything that they hadn’t discussed was supposed to remain as it was. Kyle sighed. Those were a lot of “supposed to’s” in one thought…
The good thing was, whatever he said, Kyle would have time later on to brief the others, so they would stick to the same stories. He wondered why Dave hadn’t made them all be questioned at the same time, like the police did, so they couldn’t put their stories straight. Wasn’t Dave expecting them to lie to him? Because Kyle could think of a lot of words to describe Dave, and naïve wasn’t one of them. Calculated was, so Kyle suspected that there was a bigger reason for these meetings to take place one a day, with each one of them.
He wished he could know why. He wished too he didn’t have to walk all the way up to Dave’s office alone. Liz and Maria had stayed at the Gym. The Pod Squad had gone together to the Lab. But poor innocent Kyle had to go –with his dark thoughts following close by- all by himself, while wallowing in doom and gloom. Kyle sighed again, this time trying to find his center, trying to clear his mind. Something he was actually succeeding at until he stepped in front of the elevator that would bring him to the surface, and looked at himself reflected in the metallic doors. A tiny spark caught his eyes around his left hand, so briefly and so elusive, that Kyle wasn’t sure if he had actually seen it or if his mind was playing tricks on him.
Was it a blue spark or a green spark? Kyle frenetically thought, as the double doors opened. Because if it had been a blue one, then it could have been just static, right? On the other hand, if it had been green, then… Kyle looked at his much better reflected self in the mirrors inside the elevator that was now going up –way up- and didn’t see either blue or green, just plain white. He was white as a paper sheet.
Ever since last November, when his powers had started to show, he had this constant feeling in the tips of his fingers, like a tickle. Very subtle and very not visible at all. Liz had told him that she too felt it. But she was so used to it by then, that she didn’t pay attention to it. Kyle had forgotten all about the tickle too, apparently getting used to it as well, when he had stopped glowing in the dark. It hadn’t been till their experience in the blue rooms that he had actually remembered the tickling when neither Max, nor Isabel, nor Michael had had their powers. But that tickle had been there, both in Liz’s and in his fingertips, assuring them that their powers –or whatever they were at that stage- were still very present.
Right now Kyle wished his powers would skip attendance and desert him… What the hell was he going to do if he started to spark all around Dave’s office? Calm yourself down, Kyle said in his mind, closing his eyes, and find your center… oh, and by the way, stop sparkling too… His stomach flinched, and he wasn’t sure if he was glad or not for having skipped breakfast earlier. Gosh, he was going to be a nervous mess if he didn’t get a grip on himself ipso facto.
By the time the doors opened Kyle wasn’t feeling any better… but at least he wasn’t feeling any worse either. That had to count, right? If he kept concentrating on the “good” points and not the “bad” points, he would get himself under control. For a moment he wondered if that was how Max managed to keep that appearance of being calmed and in control 95% of the time.
Kyle stepped out of the elevator into the 9 foot corridor that separated said elevator from the main room where they had entered less than two days before –and again, the thought startled him- and started walking. He glanced at his watch, 6:56, clenched his fingers, fidgeted with the cords of his jacket, and passed his hands –both at different times- through his hair before he had reached the doors that separated the corridor from the big living room. The only thing that actually made a ghost of a smile appear on his lips before entering the room was that he hadn’t seen any other spark. That had to count for something too, right?
The door had an electronic key, so, remembering what Liz had said about the white cards being keys, he took his out and slid it through the slot. The door opened without a sound, and Kyle found himself staring at the dark blue sofas in the middle of the living room. He wondered if there was a reason for things to be so blue, since the floor in the complex –not to mention their detention cells- had also been blue. However, his eyes left the furniture and turned to his left. A door was open in the middle of the wall, a door he hadn’t noticed before.
It was creepy how things could be so damned concealed in this place. First the screens that looked like paintings –or fridge’s doors- and now doors that didn’t look like doors but parts of walls. Of course, he couldn’t forget that he wasn’t even sure if this Dave was the real Dave.
“If he isn’t the genuine Dave,” Liz had said the night before, after William had gone, “we have to assume he has to be speaking with all his authority, right? This person wouldn’t be making deals and setting rules without Dave’s permission… One way or another, whoever is making this deal, must be aware of everything that is said about it.” Liz had ended, logically and rationally explaining her thoughts, as she usually did.
“Great,” Michael had grunted, finishing the last of his soda, clearly not happy with this situation.
“We are forgetting something,” Max had cut in, “if this person isn’t Dave, then why did I get a flash of him? It wouldn’t make sense what I saw…”
“It would if this fake Dave is as concerned about us staying here as the real one is…” Isabel had corrected her brother.
Which had left them right where they had begun: With no clue as to who the hell they were going to meet all week long… not to mention who the hell had they made a deal with.
Leaving his musing behind, Kyle walked straight to the large room that could now be seen. At almost 7:00 a.m. on a February morning, there wasn’t much light coming from the huge windows. The room, however, was well lit up with white light coming from a very high placed lamp in the ceiling. Kyle stood in front of the door frame, unsure of what to do. In the middle of the room was a huge –and he meant huge- black wood desk, that had been cleared of everything but one thing: A puzzle. Or more likely, hundreds, if not thousands, of puzzle pieces. Dave was sitting at the other end of the desk, with the windows at his back, carefully selecting pieces here and there. It seemed to Kyle as if Dave were completely absorbed in this task and had equally completely forgotten about his appointment. His fingertips started to tickle, and Kyle’s sudden movement to place them –conceal them- inside his jacket pockets seemed to get Dave’s attention.
And before that awful interrogation started –because who was he kidding? Appointment? Sure…- Kyle prayed to all the High Powers that he could remember everything there was to remember. He just really hoped he wasn’t going to blow this up, not in a figurative way and most certainly not in a literal way.
* * *
Dave would have laughed at that instant if he had known that he had thought exactly the same thing that Jake did when his appointment arrived: Kyle looked as if he was just minutes away from fainting. The difference was that Dave didn’t actually say it aloud.
“Come in,” Dave told Kyle, discretely looking at his watch. Years of being with Jake had made him, too, start to count things. Luckily for him, he had gotten rid of the habit almost as fast as it had started to sink in, except that he was always counting the seconds for a short time after seeing the hour. Since last time he had checked the hour it had been 6:23:48, he was still counting them in his head. He wasn’t expecting Kyle till 7:00 a.m., and –as he already knew- it was 6:57:12.
Kyle entered, uncertain of what to do, so Dave gestured to him to sit down opposite to him.
“Sorry about the mess,” he said leaving the puzzle pieces he had been working with at one side, “early birthday present,” he quietly added, almost with a guilty expression, as a way of explaining why he was putting a puzzle together in a middle of an interview. Of course, the puzzle had its purpose, but he didn’t have to tell that to Kyle, did he? Let’s see if they can figure it out.
“You like puzzles?” Kyle asked, clearly seeking a way of starting a conversation. For someone who was probably thinking he was walking into a lion’s den –a.k.a. interrogation- he was way too eager to talk.
“I love puzzles,” Dave truthfully said, “two dimensional, three dimensional, solid or abstract. I’ve loved them all since I can remember. Ever since Jake found out, he’s always giving me a different puzzle every year. I’ve been working on this one since 4:00 this morning. They are addictive you know?”
“¿4:00 a.m.?” Kyle said incredulous. That’s it, Kyle, think this is a normal conversation within normal circumstances… it’s the only way you are going to be honest with me. Or as honest as you’re gonna get with me.
“I never really sleep much. Besides, it’s a 15,000 pieces puzzle, so if I want to finish it before I have to leave the complex, I’d better hurry up.”
“What is it about?” Kyle said leaning forward to see a group of pieces, trying to decipher the entire picture by only having less than 15 parts. Welcome to my world, Dave silently thought.
“A desert storm. I’ve already memorized the picture so I don’t have to go back at it every minute. And speaking of that,” Dave said as if it wasn’t a big deal –which really wasn’t for him- he took one piece and placed it randomly at his left, “this room has no recording devices in it. Everything you say will stay between you, me, and this puzzle.”
Kyle stopped looking at the pieces and looked straight at him, almost as if saying: Is that supposed to make me feel better?
“So, Kyle,” Dave continued with his pieces search, being the first to quit the staring contest. Really, there was no point in sending the unspoken message that Dave was the one who had the upper hand here, if only by making Kyle lower his eyes first. Trust wasn’t built by competition. Fitting two pieces together, Dave looked at Kyle again as casually as he could master. He was about to ask something to which he wanted to see Kyle’s reaction.
“You know, you kids are a puzzle as well. That’s why I’m so intrigued with you.” Kyle kept silent, his hands in his pockets for all Dave could tell, clearly uncertain of what to do or say. “But you know, there are some things that intrigue me more than others, and that’s where I hope to find answers. Like, you know, why are you traveling with them?” Dave fitted a third piece into his other two, but leveled his eyes just in time to catch Kyle’s reaction.
Kyle was surprised. If Dave had been able to read minds, he would have read something along the lines why the hell didn’t we think about that? and would have proceeded to see a cascade of events, starting with a bullet wound and a glowing hand, culminating with a green spark in front of an elevator. But of course, Dave was only human, and an unchanged one, for that matter, so all he could see was Kyle lowering his eyes to no point in particular of the black wood desk, clearly trying to figure out how best to answer this.
The question was legitimate. Dave had some ideas and theories as to why Kyle Valenti was riding with the other five teenagers who had “legitimate” reasons to be on the road. That was why he had picked Kyle to be the first, too. Whatever the reason, Kyle was the biggest outsider of this group, so Kyle would give him the bases to seek what he needed to know from each one of them. In this puzzle, Kyle was the outer limit, the frame that was supposed to be always put together first. Oh yeah, Dave just plain loved puzzles.
“Max saved my life,” Kyle said, still his eyes unseeing, almost as if he were lost in a moment years behind. Dave stopped looking for the fourth piece to join the other three.
“How?” He simply asked, frowning a little, looking at Kyle in the eyes again. This hadn’t been in his ideas or theories, not really.
“It’s a pretty long story,” Kyle said, bringing his eyesight to the present, for the first time putting his hands over the desk. Dave noticed too that color was returning to Kyle’s skin. Whatever was crossing the nineteen year old’s mind, it was clear that he was more than fine with it. “But the main thing you should know is that, you are searching for aliens, and there are none in this story… not in this group, anyway. Max… Isabel and Michael… they are not aliens, and you should not think of them like that. Hell, they are more human than half the people who are in this story.” Kyle emphasized pointing at him, trying to make his point as clear as he could.
“Well Kyle, you said it is a long story, and this is a very big puzzle. I think there’s time.” Dave said smiling, leaning back in his chair. He knew he was going to like these interviews, not only because they would give him the other pieces he needed in order to understand his… guests, but because he was going to get to know them and how they viewed themselves and each other in this tight little group of theirs.
When Kyle had started with the fact that he and Liz had been dating for a while before Max had saved Liz’s life, Dave had frowned even more deeply than the first time around. He already knew they had dated, of course, but hearing Kyle saying it as the first thing seemed odd to him. And since Dave had never been a good listener without having something else to do with his hands, by the time Kyle had reached the part where he had finally decided to make peace with Max because of some radio contest, Dave had already put together all the bottom line of his puzzle.
He paid particular attention to the fact that Max could get drunk, and also knew that Jake would get wide-eyed and start on a rant about bio-chemistry or something of the sort. Sure, Dave had the brains for knowing such things, but he just wasn’t all that interested. His strength lay in numbers, in abstract concepts, not in cells, and neurons, and proteins. That was why he and Jake could work so perfectly well: They both complemented each other’s strengths.
“And all that time I was in the dark,” Kyle continued, finally joining him in trying to put two pieces together, failing miserably at it, “so I was always thinking that Max and their group were involved in pretty bad stuff. I mean, Dad was seriously obsessed with him, until the whole Hubble incident, where that wacko almost killed Max.”
Hubble. Dave’s brain made a quick review. An alien hunter. A shooting. Something that would come a year later to haunt former Sheriff Valenti. But alien hunters and shootings weren’t part of Kyle’s “expertise”. This was something Dave had to investigate directly from the source: That wacko almost killed Max. So Max must knew something about it… And Kyle had been right, this was indeed a long story, and at no point could Dave decipher where the dark haired boy had saved Kyle’s life. How had Kyle gotten involved in all this?
So, for another half an hour, Kyle continued, this time bringing Tess. Tess was the mystery in this whole mess. She wasn’t just “a” piece, she was like a quarter of the whole 15,000 pieces puzzle. They barely had information about her, about her disappearance and much less about her returning home. Tess was a subject he would actually raise with each one of them, because he knew that was the only way he was going to get a somewhat clear picture of the fourth hybrid. Or so he hoped.
In that same half hour, Kyle efficiently pointed out how, even if he had been in the dark right then, the Special Unit had finally made their move. How Nasedo, the real shapeshifter, as Kyle had emphasized, had also made his move, endangering Liz’s life and, by extension, the whole group’s survival.
“And they got him, they got Max” Kyle said, putting aside his pieces, clearly attempting to sound as serious as he could. Dave also left his “distraction” aside and looked at Kyle. Dave knew what was next with this part. And he hated it. For more reasons than any of them –except maybe Max himself- could have.
“He never talks about it,” Kyle said lowering his voice, making Dave feel as if Kyle was telling him this as some sort of confidence. Just between Kyle, Dave and the puzzle. “I know he has never told Liz about it either, and the most that I have ever talked to him about it was when he said as a non-comment that he had learned to control his dreams in order to be able to sleep.”
That had gotten Dave’s attention in an instant.
“He controls them?”
“He said so…” Kyle said, looking as if he’d rather not have mentioned that.
“No, no, I know few people can do that, but… Max is already the controlling type, isn’t he? You would believe he could at least lose it in dreams…”
“You would believe there aren’t such hells as the one Max went through. No reasons at all to control one’s dreams.” Kyle’s voice sounded cold this time. He was actually defending his friend in a very subtle way. So Dave finally got Kyle’s point for his very long story –one that wasn’t finished yet, by the way. He had told him all about Max’s shyness, and Max’s jealousy and Max’s suffering that made him so… human. And even if that was the main point, he hadn’t left the others outside either, pointing out as well how lost they had been that first years after sharing their secret. Of course Kyle had had the most trouble with Max, who had “kidnapped” Liz from his side, turned his dad into a stalker and without wanting it, dragging him, ultimately, into a life on the roads.
“You see,” Kyle proceeded, “I was one of those who thought the worst about Max Evans and I didn’t even factor in that he was half alien. Hell, I was probably the only one who actually had the right reasons to not like him, and yet I do now. But for what Isabel once told me on one of our road trips, what she thought Pierce did to Max gave her nightmares, and all Pierce had was all these false conclusions about Max because he happened to have the wrong set of genes. So, I don’t know what you think about Max or Michael or Isabel, but don’t do that, okay?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions?” Dave said, amused at Kyle’s semi-explosion. “I think that’s why I’m actually hearing you all out, don’t you think? Get to know you, and kind of like you for all the right reasons. But you haven’t told me yet, how did you get involved in all of this? Directly and knowingly, I mean”
So, in another half an hour, with as much detail as Kyle could remember, he finally got around to answering Dave’s second question: How had Max Evans saved Kyle’s life. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight,” Dave had said, leaning over the desk, looking straight at him, “Max saved you and you felt indebted to him for the rest of your natural life? That’s just it?” Sure, he had read that a lot in novels, but it had hardly happened in real life. No one stayed with another person just because of that sole incident. There had to be other reasons, other conveniences, for that matter. At least, that was how Dave thought of it.
“Hell, that’s so not just it,” Kyle said, taking a sip of the second soda that Dave had giving him like an hour before. “That’s how things started out for me. But Max saving my life, and the fact that he was, well, you know… an alien… that changed me. That’s why I went on the road with them. I do owe him, but not just Max. They became my family.”
Before his watch marked 11:00 a.m. Dave had heard pretty much all about how Kyle had ended up considering them family, and how a blonde’s treachery had felt like a sister’s betrayal. A sister who had returned, just to lose a son. Oh, did Dave want to know about that. But this, again, wasn’t Kyle’s subject to talk about. Dave wasn’t even sure of how he was going to address this particular part to Max, but he was sure that his off-the-chart IQ would figure out something by Saturday morning.
“When we gathered outside in the desert, it was just clear to me,” Kyle said, trying to put two pieces together, again, and this time actually succeeding at it. By now he had half the line of the upper frame. “There was nothing for me in Roswell. No life, no future to pursue. No future I liked, anyway. And Alex had been right that day at the cave: I am part of something amazing. I mean, isn’t that what intrigued you in the first place?” Dave stopped in midair, totally forgetting he had finally found the piece he had been looking for, and for one moment he felt somehow busted. Still, years of practice paid off, because all Kyle would perceive was a mildly amused expression.
“What do you mean?” Dave asked with a small frown, his tone even.
“Why you want them, why you are protecting them, in this twisted way of yours. You want to be part of it, don’t you?” Kyle said with expectation in his eyes, almost as if he had finally figured out Dave’s real motives.
Dave smiled, lowering his eyes to the desk, placing the puzzle piece with another one, trying to look as if he had actually been busted. “Well… that’s why I didn’t come earlier into the picture, if you like. I didn’t want to shatter the illusion of that amazing life.” It was Kyle’s turn to frown.
“I thought you said you didn’t know what to do with them back then…”
“I also said I was watching them to try to figure them out. You are right, Kyle, this knowledge is amazing. What you know, what you’ve lived is something terribly unique. And I know one or two things about being unique… and about being caged… They were already unique, and I guess part of me just wanted to see them free. That was, of course, after they acted like your ordinary teenagers with your ordinary trouble…”
“You would have come for them earlier otherwise? Like Pierce did?” Kyle asked, forgetting all about his pieces and staring into Dave’s eyes. They say that the best way to catch a liar is to see into their eyes, but that didn’t quite apply to Dave. He had mastered the art of lying since he was seven. So Kyle trying to see if he was lying or not was a futile act, although Dave wasn’t going to take Kyle’s hope away. So he kept his eyes pinned to Kyle’s.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Circumstances are always changing. But you have to factor in, Kyle, that by the time I finally found the truth about Max, he had healed children. Alien invaders would have not taken such… risk. Still, I think we both felt the same thing about them: They are just trying to have a life.”
“If you already know that, why are you doing this? Why are you so interested in their lives?” Kyle asked in an upsetting tone, almost outraged. Why was Dave messing with them?
Dave shrugged. “Wouldn’t you want to know the whole story of those who are living that amazing life? Six billion people out there don’t have a clue about this. Who knows, Kyle, maybe in six thousand years our names are going to be part of history too. But that’s not the main thing. Human, alien, hybrid, whatever, the six of you are now under my wing, but you are also getting to know things that same six billion people out there don’t know about me. I have to make sure I know everything about who I am dealing with.”
“What if you decide we are too much of a risk?” Kyle asked cautiously, clearly considering every single word he had said since 7:00 a.m.
“Kyle, if you were that much of a risk, you wouldn’t be here,” Dave answered smiling.
“Or maybe, we wouldn’t be talking to you, right?” There was something odd about the way Kyle had said that, almost with a sarcastic undertone. What was Kyle aiming for? And then it hit him.
“You’ve met Jeremy,” Dave said leaning back in his chair, this time smiling more broadly. “Ray told me yesterday, that’s true. I bet you are wondering just about now who you are dealing with, uh? Am I the genuine article?” Dave leaned over his desk, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. He wasn’t exactly the theatrical type, but he enjoyed the suspense. “Let me tell you a little secret, Kyle: I’ve been having this chase, this mouse-cat chase ever since I started to work with Network Keepers. They love it, I like it, and it spreads one hell of a lot of rumors about me that I gladly encourage. When you talk to Jeremy next week, he’ll tell you he has confirmed visual contact with the mythical Dave in six other places over three different continents. Trust me, I’ll make sure of it.”
Straightening himself up in his chair, Dave continued talking, now with a clear tone. “But even if neither of you believe I’m the real Dave, trust that my words are real. I never fool around with that. Never. And none of my other representatives would. You think you have a tight deal? You don’t want to know what kind of deal they have.”
Kyle didn’t move a muscle, staring at Dave, obviously surprised at this little outburst of confidentiality. But it was all calculated, really. There were things they had to know and others they had to suspect. And of course, there were others that would remain in the dark for quite a while. Dave knew that by keeping them close by here – or anywhere, for that matter- rumors about who he was and what he looked like and all sorts of stupid theories would sooner or later reach their ears. He couldn’t afford them looking too closely into his profile; that they would go investigating just to clear out the mist that surrounded his person. So a little bit of the truth would have to be enough to sustain their curiosity. Jeremy and any Network Keeper could go around with their theories, and the kids would still be all right. After all, he was making them part of the “big” secret, wasn’t he?
Dave stood up in order to reach a far away piece, leaving his musings about truths and omissions aside. “Do you miss Roswell, Kyle?”
Kyle had been staring at him, clearly lost in thought about Dave’s last words, which coincidentally matched Liz’s earlier words, though Dave wasn’t aware of that. Snapping out of it, Kyle focused again on finding the next piece in his ever growing line.
“Of course I do. I’ve missed Dad every single day since we left.”
“You miss your home town even if you don’t have a future there?”
“It doesn’t mean I don’t have a past there,” Kyle defensively answered.
Dave lifted both hands in a gesture of peace. “Sorry, my bad. Anyway, what were they like? You know, when you were all kids…”
Kyle’s stomach growled before a word could leave his mouth. Kyle looked slightly embarrassed as he was placing a piece next to another, trying to ignore his hunger. Dave looked at his watch, absently saying: “I keep forgetting you kids don’t eat,” clearly remembering how Liz and Maria’s stomachs had cut him out two days before. It was 11:27:13 a.m. by then, and Dave’s stomach also protested for the lack of food since 6:00 a.m. He had just completely forgotten to eat, a problem that had given him some serious trouble about ten years ago. Still, on occasions like this one –not only hearing a story he had wanted to hear for two years now, but putting this puzzle together as well- he kept forgetting to eat at proper hours.
“I hope you like sandwiches, because that’s all I have up here,” Dave told Kyle, going to one side of the concealed office. Just like Jake had his mini fridge and mini cupboard, so did Dave. It was funny, he thought, because the main reason for all of this being here was because of his older friend. Jake was always grabbing food everywhere.
When Dave had offered Kyle a soda some two hours ago and another one an hour after that, Kyle had accepted but had also stayed seated on his side of the desk. This time his guest actually stood up, a little bit hesitantly, but clearly going to see what kind of sandwiches was Dave talking about.
“Anything without red meat would do,” Kyle said as Dave was rummaging through the four or five submarine kind of sandwiches stocked in there. Dave made a mental note about cleaning up this place before his departure on Saturday night.
“Tuna?” Dave offered, raising an eyebrow to Kyle.
“Sure. You have any more sodas in there?” Kyle asked while taking the large tuna submarine out of Dave’s hand.
“Diet Coke?”
“I’m not that healthy,” Kyle said grinning, Dave turning around to fetch him a non diet soda, and getting himself the other tuna sandwich in there. Luckily for Dave, both Ray and Jake despised the fish-kind sandwiches, so usually those were always available.
Both men remained standing, leaning over the wood cupboard that occupied the whole length of the wall. Even in this interlude, part of Dave’s mind was mentally placing pieces together. He knew he was going to do that all week long too. He had put way too many puzzles together in his life to not know it.
“What does that mean?” Kyle asked staring at the opposite wall. A 9 feet by 9 feet square was hanging there. A 16 x 16 math matrix was neatly written on it. The 16 rows and 16 columns of black numbers didn’t quiet look fashionable, or even remotely like a decoration in there. Probably the only place where they would actually fit as decoration would be at a math laboratory or some eminence math whiz’s office... oh yeah, he was a math whiz and this was his office too… Shrugging more to himself than to Kyle, Dave simply replied: “Decoration.”
Kyle’s lack of understanding didn’t make Dave want to extend on his explanation. “So, how were you all at the age of 7? Did you think you were all going to grow into the almost adults you are now?”
The once athlete of the month at West Roswell High School actually laughed at Dave’s question. “You mean if I thought I would become a Buddhist cracking jokes at the Ice Princess? That answer is easy: Not a snowball’s chance in hell.” Kyle sipped his soda, and placing it over the wood surface, took on a more serious note. “None of us had a clue that we would end up together… and certainly if we had, we wouldn’t have thought it would be like this.” Kyle ended, emphasizing the last word. There wasn’t regret in his words, not really, just a little twinge of resignation, Dave guessed. It was the voice of a man who had come to terms with his reality and had accepted it, even trying to make the best of it. A voice Dave often heard in Jake’s words, and just as many times in his own words.
“I’ve known Liz since the first grade in Elementary School, though we didn’t become friends till freshman year,” Kyle continued, oblivious to Dave’s insights, clearly more comfortably now than just four and half hours ago. “And Maria came into the picture the next year. Max, Isabel and Michael arrived in the third year, if I remember correctly. Alex a year after.”
“They were already together by then? The three of them?”
“No… I think Max and Isabel met with Michael till then. I believe Max and Isabel used to go to an Elementary school close by Goddard High until their parents moved to their new house. That’s how they ended up with us. I’ve never heard Michael’s story, but Michael is not exactly the let’s-talk-about-my-past kind of guy, you know?”
Oh, did Dave know about that. He had had a really hard time factoring Michael into everything, because not only wasn’t there much to piece together about Michael’s past, and Michael’s life in general, but because Michael himself could be really unpredictable. Still, Dave only nodded his understanding to Kyle while biting his tuna sandwich, Kyle doing so himself.
“They were a strange trio…” Kyle reflected, his eyes lost in some distant memory. “I mean, Maria and Liz were instant friends in the second year. You couldn’t see one without the other, and it was cool, you know? Best friends and all. But with the pod squad…” Even if Kyle wasn’t looking, Dave arched both eyebrows at Kyle’s pet name of the “strange trio”. It was pretty amusing.
“They weren’t instant best friends?” Dave inquired after Kyle’s silence had prolonged a little bit too much, clearly seeking the right words.
“No, it wasn’t that, it was that they were too tight, you know? Too protective and always so intense. You couldn’t say a thing about Michael without Isabel giving you one of her patented ice glares. And you really didn’t want to have Isabel pissed off at you, for some reason… Of course, Michael himself was a problem you didn’t want to bring upon yourself either. And then there was Max… the quiet type…” Kyle said, still lost in thought, somehow finding his last statement curious.
Dave had researched everything there was to know about their school years, both in elementary school and high school, but grades, gossips, and teachers’ musings didn’t exactly make a complete picture. This was the first hand information he needed to put these pieces together. What would it be like to look for trouble with aliens? Or to stay out of it if you were one…
“You never messed with them? Or one of your friends?”
“I was never the mean kind of kid… but sure there were others. Except that… Max and Michael were pretty much untouchable. Michael for the obvious reasons. You picked a fight with him, you were sure going to suffer something back, and it wasn’t going to be nice. You could see it in his eyes. And well, they were always together, so picking on Max meant picking on Michael as well… but still… even if Max had been alone, he had this, I don’t know, this presence I guess. Kids sense that, you know? I bet if Max had gotten into trouble he would have been perfectly able to fight back.” Kyle ended up, shrugging.
It was hard to picture a little Max fighting back, though he had no problem envisioning a little Michael in the same act. The fact that Max’s fight record was zero and Michael’s was high on the scale did help a lot in that insight.
“And Isabel was the ‘Ice Princess’,” Dave pressed, not wanting Kyle to stop recalling the oh so important past.
“I don’t know who came up with the term, but she had earned it by freshman year, I assure you. The way she looked at you when she didn’t approve of what you were doing… that was cold… But what was glacial was if anyone, and I mean anyone picked on either Max or Michael, as I have already told you. The three of them are so protective of themselves. They have always stuck with each other no matter what…” Kyle trailed off, giving Dave the sensation that Kyle wasn’t saying everything there was to say, or that he wasn’t being exactly accurate with his last words. Still, Dave let it pass. Others would fill in the gaps.
“And you know what?” Kyle said turning to look at him, his submarine half forgotten in his left hand, “when we became part of their tight little circle, we also became protective of them.”
“I understand that…” Dave said lowering his hand to get his soda.
“No, no, I’m not just saying it. Don’t take this wrong, but if you harm them don’t think that your problems would be over with us.”
“That I also know, Kyle. And I also respect it. Don’t think this is just about the three of them. You three are a major factor in their lives, and main pieces in the puzzle.” Kyle just looked at him with a slight suspiciousness in his eyes. Dave guessed that Kyle knew, just as well as he did, that there was not much they could actually do against Dave, or against the Special Unit or against whoever or whatever came after the ‘pod squad’, but still they would try. And the man who had offered a chance at a normal life did respect that.
* * *
Liz kept staring at the clock on the wall, making Maria’s anxiousness go sky high. Maria wanted to pull up a chair, stand on it, grab the damned thing, and smash it into the carpeted floor if only to make sure Liz would just stop looking at it. Oh, and the wristwatch would have to go as well. Ray seemed to sense Maria’s despair –maybe be actually sharing it- because he smiled at her with a small, sympathetic gesture of his mouth, returning his gaze to the small brunette. Liz’s eyes finally left the clock and focused on Ray’s.
“It’s midday, can we go now?” Liz asked half pleading, half demanding. Ray just arched his eyebrows, mildly amused at Liz’s boldness. She hadn’t exactly been snapping at Ray all morning –which Maria would had sworn was going to happen when they had arrived earlier- but hadn’t exactly been paying attention either. She had been, well, absent.
“You are free to go,” Ray said with mock seriousness, almost as if he were a teacher dismissing his class. Liz didn’t need to hear it twice, and immediately headed for the showers. For one instant there, Maria had thought Liz would just simply go straight out of the Gym area and into the Cafeteria, where they had all agreed to meet. Of course, if Max and the others weren’t there –well, if Max wasn’t there- Liz probably would just pass by the Cafeteria and head directly to a Lab labeled 2 – 00 – 22, two blocks far away and two floors below this one. God knew the girl had clearance for it. But Liz knew, just like Maria knew, that they both needed a shower.
“I hope you had had a good time…” Ray tentatively said, reaching for Maria’s towel and handing it over.
“I’m sure tomorrow will be better…” Maria said with a sigh, starting to move towards the showers. Then, thinking better of it, she turned around and faced Ray. “I mean, you do realize that… we’re just… it wasn’t… I mean…” closing her eyes in desperation for her loss of words, Maria finally managed to say, “We’ll get better at this thing.” Ray just nodded in understanding, so Maria turned again and walked to the showers.
They could have had a good time if it weren’t for the circumstances, Maria thought. And she hoped too that Ray knew that. Sure, since they had arrived Maria hadn’t thought of the older man as anything but their jailer, potential spy, and perpetual stalker, but things had gone pretty smoothly the whole morning. Of course, that didn’t mean that Maria was now thinking about Ray without the latter adjectives, but at least there were some things written on the “good” side of the list. Like patience.
Liz and Maria had been the first ones to arrive at their designated places, watching as everybody continued walking to the Cafeteria where three of them would go north and the remaining Kyle would go west. The schedule hadn’t said how long they would have to be there, because the afternoon schedules all started at 3:00 p.m. Which meant that somewhere between the morning ‘appointments’ and the afternoon ones they were supposed to lunch. Or at least that’s what they hoped. But that also meant that some of them could go earlier than others. So that had been when they had decided to wait at the Cafeteria.
As strange as it was, Maria had been the one remaining logical and over-all right with the circumstances when Liz had pretty much hugged herself while watching Max go, almost as if her husband was going to war and not coming back for months, maybe years. She had hugged Liz then with one arm, trying to comfort her while turning them both into the Gym.
“Come on, Lizzie. You know they have to treat them right.” Maria had said, trying to knock some sense into her in a nice way.
“How can you know?” Liz had answered back in a whisper.
“Because this is business,” Maria had said matter of factly. “They respect their part of the deal, we respect our part of the deal, and both parties are happy. Besides, do you seriously believe they would screw with us on the first day?”
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Liz had said, looking her friend in the eyes. Still, she had loosened up a little, even if she was chewing on her lower lip.
Ray had met with them then. He had showed them around the whole Gym complex, saying something about it was a pity that Kyle wasn’t there because they would have to do this again the next day. Judging by Liz’s complete lack of attention, Maria had judged that it was probably going to be a good thing too. The Gym was a very large space, with probably more than 100 machines, though she doubted that they were all in use at the same time. Around fifteen people were in the place besides them.
There was a schedule on one of the walls where various different types of classes were appointed. Both girls had stared at it, hardly believing that at some point that day there were going to be classes from dancing to self protection to yoga. Ray had stopped to look at the schedule, trying to decipher what was different on it, until he had noticed that it was the first time the girls were seeing it.
“You bring in aerobics teachers?” Maria had asked in disbelief, wondering what kind of deal an aerobic teacher could make. Ray had laughed hard at that one.
“They are not exclusively aerobics teachers,” he had said, still chuckling, “they have other assignments, of course, but they volunteer to have these programs. The salsa classes are very popular within our single’s circle under thirty on Friday nights.”
Both girls had still seemed unconvinced. Who would volunteer to give classes? And that aside, who would take salsa classes 100 feet below the surface?
“It helps with the neighbors’ relationships thing and to take the stress of work out. Especially since, as you know, you can’t go outside. You have to find ways of occupying your time outside your lab and your apartment. Some people teach classes, some take them. Nothing formal, no fee at the end of the month… You can participate too, you know? If anything interests you, come around the time of the class and ask around. You’ll get to meet a lot of people that way too.
Well, the dance classes were pretty much out of the question since Michael had already been pronounced ‘unteachable’, but there might be some other things of interest… especially after they had settled down and started to get a hold of the daily stuff. Sure enough, sooner or later, they were going to get bored of staying at ‘home’, being paranoid all the time. It might even prove itself as a good way of getting information as well…
After that, Ray had started to talk about the routines they could go on. Starting easy, as he had said, at which Maria had looked at him skeptically. In her book gym equaled to pain, getting up early, more pain, sweat, still even more pain, discipline and, oh yeah, pain all over your body not only for the entire day, but for the entire week. She had tried it twice about four years back, as in a let’s-meet-guys kind of thing, uh-uh. She was the healthy type, just not that healthy. She had practically had to drag herself out of bed that morning, a prospect that didn’t light her days in the future, either. Liz, of course, had been totally out of it, not giving a damn about what Ray was talking about. She was way too focused on trying to decipher what was happening to Max and the others to care what was happening on this side of her connection.
Maria and Ray had sighed in unison. Both out of resignation, she guessed, but they both had smiled at each other in a conspiratorial kind of way.
“Or we can go sky diving if you want. What do you think Liz?” Ray had said mischievously.
“Yeah, fine. If Maria wants to go sky diving—” Liz re-focused her eyes onto Ray’s face. “What?” She asked, thinking she had obviously missed something. Ray just smiled, a little bit embarrassed.
“You can call Jake’s Lab if you want,” he offered, gesturing with his head to a phone on a desk in the entry that no one was using. Liz’s eyes glistened for a second, and then, as fast as it had happened, she lost the brilliance. “No… I’ll just… I’ll just wait…” Liz truly had looked appalled, and Maria’s heart went out to her. “Did you say something about warming up?” Liz had said back, no trace of humor in her voice.
So they had started to warm up before doing any exercise, something that reminded Maria how much “out of shape” she really was. God, if this is hurting now and it’s just warming up, Maria had thought back then, I really don’t want to know what I am going to feel tonight… And okay, they had started, that didn’t mean they had finished though.
While Ray had gone to say hi to some guys, Liz had suddenly sat down on a cube out of the floor. Those were everywhere, and both girls had guessed they were for you to sit down. Liz had placed her face between her hands, seriously freaking Maria out.
“Is something wrong?” Maria had asked against her latest affirmation that things couldn’t go wrong at all.
“I don’t know. Or Max is really good at blocking me out today… or… or…”
“Or maybe he’s just fine and he’s letting you know exactly that.” Maria had finished, Ray just two steps behind her, worry in his face.
“Is everything okay?”
Liz had barely nodded, and had remained pretty quiet for the next hour. Ray had glanced at Maria with worried looks, which Maria had kept dismissing. Looking back at this day, Maria was thinking as she had finally reached the showers, she was tremendously glad Michael could effectively block her. He had been doing so all day long –hell, all night long too- and Maria was just… resigned to the fact. She couldn’t get angry with him, and she certainly couldn’t make him open up to her, so, what was there to do?
But Liz had been so focused on picking up something wrong, anything at all, that she had pretty much gone to limbo leaving her behind. It had sucked big time, but part of her understood Liz. If Maria had been able to feel Michael, she would probably have done the same thing. And she had to admit that part of her was relieved that Liz wasn’t picking up anything out of the ordinary. It reassured her that her theory about how to do business was right.
She could understand why the pod squad was terrified of going to the lab to some degree, and why the six of them were at the edge of paranoia at all times, but it was just so obvious to her that things couldn’t go astray right now. Maybe it was a female instinct or something, she didn’t know, but she was certain that if things would actually go wrong, they wouldn’t be going wrong for everyone to see in plain light. Uh-uh, if Dave wanted something from them, he was the kind of man who would get it in a very subtle way, not letting anyone know till it was too late. If he wanted Michael to blow up a military base, he would probably not tell Michael it was a military base to begin with, and conceal the whole thing as training. That was how Maria envisioned it. Dave would certainly lie to them, anyone would lie to them, manipulate them, whatever, but no one would come up front and threaten them. Fear was very effective, but it also required a greater degree of control over them. And besides, there were better ways to get them to do whatever Dave wanted. Maria knew it, and she guessed they all did, but still the fear was there. Maybe tomorrow things would be better, as she had told Ray a couple of minutes before, because by then they would have had their first experience with this day.
Entering the shower room, Maria saw Liz splashing some water on her face in front of a mirror. She looked tired, not that Maria felt any more energetic.
“Sensing anything at all?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Liz said watching Maria in the mirror’s reflection. “After 7:30 everything has been pretty… smooth. At times there I could actually think he was having a good time…” Liz said turning around. By the way she had said it, Maria would have sworn Liz had meant the total opposite to “good time”.
“So, why the long face? He’s fine, you are fine, hopefully Space Boy’s fine too. We are going to lunch and get to know what happened to all of us on this absurdly long Monday, okay?”
Liz actually managed a small smile at her friend. “You are right, I’m acting stupidly…”
“Nah, you are just worried. I bet Max was checking in on you the whole time. Wondering if we were being taken hostages or something…”
Liz nodded with a little bit of enthusiasm this time, looking forward to meeting with Max of course. “We really need a shower,” Liz pointed out, wrinkling her nose, so both girls went into a hot, refreshing bath. Each shower was individual and private, and each one had its own soap and shampoo too. For a whole minute, Maria made herself believe she was having a vacation in some fancy hotel in the Bahamas. Great Gym, great shower, and great buffet in about ten minutes. Yep, in her book, that was what vacations were all about. Well, the gym might be a little bit of a stretch.
Her best friend in the world was already out and dressing herself by the time Maria went back to reality. Well, at least reality did come with gym, shower and buffet, she reflected. One of the many commodities the place had was that there were pants and sweaters to put on. Ray had said that sometimes people came straight from work without their gym clothes, so they could use these and return them later on. These clothes were also in five different colors: Yellow, red, black, purple and the ever present blue. Since there wasn’t white, the girls assumed it wasn’t the same color code that the cards hanging from their necks had. When Maria had first seen them she had almost expected that the sweaters said “Dave’s property” or just “Dave” alone both on the front and the back. But there was nothing written on them. Not even the Speedo logo.
By the corner of her eyes, Maria caught Liz staring at her hand, stretching it and slowly making it into a fist. What was Liz doing?
“What’s wrong?” She asked, wondering for an instant if Liz was actually sensing something not right… or even worse: Was Liz starting to spark again?!
“We did hit those things pretty hard, didn’t we?” Liz asked with an amused tone, almost laughing, without taking her eyes off her hand, effectively dismissing Maria’s fears.
“I know what you girls need,” Ray had said around 9:00 a.m. when Liz had looked at the wall clock like a million times already, barely jogging on the running machine. Maria was running right beside her, somehow feeling less stressed out now that she was actually exercising. Maybe it wasn’t a myth that running took all your worries away. Both girls had stopped, expecting Ray’s “great” idea of what they needed.
“Well, I’m not sure if it will work for you, but when I’m anxious, I hit the sacks” Ray had said, trying to sound reassuring.
“Hey, get me Michael and I’ll hit him all right,” Maria had joked back, desperately trying to lighten up Liz’s mood. Liz had looked unconvinced, indeed, but she had only shrugged in an indifferent way. Ray had gone for the boxing gloves and forty minutes later, he had been proven to be right. Liz had started first, slowly, but since Ray had kept encouraging her, she had taken strength with every hit. By the time the not so fragile brunette had stopped, both of Ray’s eyebrows were arched.
“A little anger management?” he had commented at the way Liz had hit that hanging sand sack, whatever it was called, sweat running down Liz’s face.
“At what time can we go?” she had asked, totally ignoring Ray’s comment, passing a hand-in-a-boxing glove over her front, trying to take some hair strands off her face.
“Midday sounds like a good hour,” Maria had said before Ray opened his mouth. If they were meeting to lunch, Maria didn’t want to be in the Cafeteria since 10:00 a.m., especially with Liz in the mood that she was right now.
“Fine,” Liz had said, in an indistinct tone, turning around, going to take some water.
“You wanna try?” Ray had asked Maria then, his eyes not quiet concealing how astonished he was at Liz’s display of energy. Or had it been fury?
So Maria had started, joking about Michael being a much better punching bag than this one, until Ray had cut her off.
“Is she really feeling him?” He had asked above a whisper, while Liz took her gloves off and went for a towel. It had been Maria’s turn to arch her eyebrows.
“What, you don’t know?” she had skeptically asked him. Ray had shaken his head, curiosity evidently winning some inner battle about not wanting to intrude.
“Sure she can. And Max can feel her back. Well, not like she knows what he’s thinking or anything like that,” Maria had explained in more detail when she had seen Ray’s eyes widen. “I thought you knew all there is to know about us.”
“Dave and Jake probably do. I just knew everything there was to know in order to trap you.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” Maria had said, punching the sack hard. Now she was getting to know why Liz had so fiercely attacked the poor innocent thing. It felt good to punch something pretending it was something else… or someone else. Suddenly her punching had begun gaining strength as well, as everything that had happened to her in the last year had started to come back.
“We did hit that thing hard,” Maria agreed with Liz, now both leaving the shower room, feeling fresh, if not exactly renewed. Her shoulders and arms hurt a lot, and her legs weren’t that far from aching either. “With a little luck, we’ll be able to find a pharmacy around here and have some analgesics before we collapse…”
Liz passed her right hand over her left shoulder, wincing a little. “You know Maria, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day long.”
TBC…
hehehehehe
