Chrystalkay: Well, we can tell you that the next few parts are ready and we’re posting a new one today! Thanks for reading!
keepsmiling7: Here’s another update so at least the last part should still be fresh in your mind, lol! Thanks for reading!
Part 151
“Do you think we’re doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?”
After sitting in silence for the past hour, that was the last thing Alex had expected Isabel to ask. They had ended up having dinner with his parents because she had jumped on the invitation his mom extended. Afterwards she had insisted on helping clear the table and get the dishes sorted. He was aware of his girlfriend’s penchant for organizing things to death when she was stressed out so he had simply stayed out of the way and let her get her thoughts in order.
He had been ready with a backup plan in the event Plan A failed when she finally ran out of things to clean in the kitchen, but as it turned out he hadn’t needed it. His mom had been happily going on about some story from his childhood when he’d caught the flash of fear that skated across Isabel’s features. She must have sensed his focus on her because she hadn’t been looking at him, but she had given a nearly unnoticeable shake of her head when he started to tell his mom they had to go.
Isabel had carried her end of the conversation until his mom had excused herself to get ready for the movie his dad was taking her to see. He hadn’t mistaken the relief that had been so apparent in her eyes when they were left alone. Taking the opportunity that had fallen in his lap he had asked if she had ever seen Hercules. Her expression had been one of surprise that was quickly replaced with a lack of interest before he’d assured her he wasn’t talking about television shows or movies.
They had driven out to Frasier Woods and found a good spot to gaze up at the stars and they’d taken turns pointing out the constellations, talking about nothing of consequence for a while before falling silent. It hadn’t been an uncomfortable silence, but it had carried the weight of unspoken words, and he had sensed that she had to be the one to break it.
“I think we’re only doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past if we don’t learn from them.” He took one of her hands, rubbing it between both of his when he felt how cold it was. It wasn’t the temperature causing the cold that permeated her skin because it was just over eighty degrees. He had a feeling it was directly related to the emotional rollercoaster she had been on all day.
“But how do you know?” She turned to look at him, desperately seeking reassurance. “I mean, what if it’s not the same when you’ve lived before, at least in some form?”
“You think you’re predisposed to certain behavior simply because they cloned your essence?”
“What if I am?”
He shook his head. “That’s not the way it works.”
“You don’t know that!” She jerked her hand free and pushed away from the boulder they had been sitting on. She paced back and forth, agitated and out of sorts. “We were engineered, Alex. These bodies were cloned from alien and human genetic material and they transferred our essences into them. Why? If it wasn’t to retain who we were on Antar, then what was the point?”
“I don’t know why they did what they did. I don’t know why they chose Earth as your destination. I don’t know if there was some nefarious purpose for their decision to clone your essence or if it was done out of love and a desire to see you free to live a life of your choosing. We may never know the answer to those questions.”
She slowed to a stop and looked at him, assessing. “And you can live with not knowing?”
Alex smiled. “I know what I need to know about you, Isabel Evans.”
“You may know Isabel Evans but you don’t know Vilondra.” She looked away and swallowed hard.
“Vilondra,” he said slowly, testing the name out. “That was your name on Antar?”
She nodded and looked up at the sky, searching the constellations. “The name of a traitor,” she whispered after several long, heavy minutes.
“You think you betrayed someone?”
“Someone?” she laughed, the sound harsh as she fought to control her emotions. “Didn’t you see the way he looked at me today? No, I didn’t betray someone, Alex, I betrayed everyone. I’m the reason we were killed on Antar.”
Knowing she was volatile in her current frame of mind, Alex chose to wait her out. If she hurt him in this state she would feel like she was giving credence to her belief that she was somehow tainted by the past. He pulled his right leg up, resting his heel on the boulder and looping his arms around his knee so he could prop his chin on it.
“How did you betray them?”
“There was a man there… I can’t really pull him into focus, but he was important. He was an enemy of Antar, from another, I don’t know, kingdom or realm, I don’t know what the territories or whatever were called there. I know he wanted the throne of Antar and I… I helped him try to take it.”
He studied her, taking in every nuance of expression that crossed her features as she tried to reconcile a past she suddenly remembered. “Why?”
“What?”
“Why did you help him try to overthrow the throne?”
“I was in love with him.”
He’d expected the answer. “Can you remember how you ended up together? What led you to believe that following that path was a good idea?”
“He was charismatic and he didn’t treat me as if I was insignificant. It was the first time anyone had ever really listened to anything I had to say. Maria was right when she said it was a patriarchal society. I was suffocating. It’s not like women were abused or mistreated. Quite the contrary. The women of Antar were held in high regard – protected, cared for and revered, but at the same time it was very isolating.”
“Women were basically decorative ornaments meant to keep their opinions to themselves.” He shrugged when she looked at him in surprise. “It’s not so unusual in a society like that.” They had studied societies like that in their History classes the past couple of years. “It’s no wonder you were suffocating in that environment.”
“It doesn’t excuse the fact that I betrayed my family, my people.”
“No, it doesn’t.” He pondered that a moment. “But do you remember everything?”
She shook her head. “What if it happens again, Alex? I mean, if I was capable of it in that other life, what’s to stop me this time around?”
“Isabel,” he leaned forward and captured her hands, “listen to me. You don’t have total recall of everything that led up to that betrayal. You said the guy was charismatic, right? Well, people with that particular trait also have the ability to abuse it, to manipulate it and twist it into something dark and evil if they want to.”
“You’re saying he used me.” She looked at him, wanting to believe it, wanting some of the weight from the burden of guilt and shame to ease.
“You said you loved him, but you didn’t say he loved you. There’s a reason for that old line about there being a thin line between love and hate. Maybe he did love you, I don’t know, but the fact of the matter is, he was an enemy of the throne and he wanted that throne for himself. It doesn’t sound to me like he was very discriminating in how he achieved that goal. And if using your feelings for him to obtain that goal was his method of carrying it out then I think that just makes him a snake and a coward.” He shook his head. “I think you were isolated and fighting to be free. I don’t think you simply followed his lead with the intention of betraying your family and your people.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s not who you are, Isabel. You’d take on anyone who intended to harm the people you care about, I don’t see that part of your character changing from one life to another. I’m as certain of that as I am that I need air to breathe.” He shook her gently, making sure he had her attention. “Do you remember what else the hologram said?” He fell silent for a moment, trying to pull the words into focus so he could get it right. “He said, ‘It was the inability to believe that evil could infiltrate our ranks at such a high level that led to your deaths. Know your enemies, know each other, and most importantly, know yourselves and do not fall prey to deceit.’ Between what you’ve told me and what he said I can only draw one conclusion.”
“What?” A spark of hope ignited in her chest, chasing the icy feeling of fear and dread back into the shadows.
“The society you were raised in at that time was patriarchal, which kept you separated from two important parts of yourself. No matter the time you wouldn’t have been satisfied to just sit back and let life pass you by. You’d have wanted more in that life just like you do now. This guy you’ve remembered, he would’ve seen that, determined it to be a weakness and then lied to get what he wanted.”
“Maybe…”
He chuckled and shook his head. It was only a theory after all, but he thought it was a damn good one. Sobering, he met her gaze head on. “Isabel, you said you were the reason you were all killed on Antar.
All of you, not just the others. I can’t imagine that you knew what he intended to do to your family or your people because that goes against the heart of who you are. Some things about people are so deeply ingrained that nothing can change them, and when it comes to you, protecting those you care about is one of those things. You, Max and Michael are a strong unit and I’ve seen that bond strengthen over the past few months. Where one of you might be a little weak in areas, the others take up for that in different ways and it creates a seal that protects all of you. You were denied that on Antar, so you struggled to find your way in another manner that didn’t end so well.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Thank you for that,” she said dryly.
“My point is, that’s not gonna happen here. You’ve got that bond with your brothers, you’ve got a family that loves and encourages you to be yourself…” he trailed off when she pressed a finger to his lips, stilling the flow of words.
“I’ve got you,” she whispered and replaced her finger with her lips. He was right, but then she’d found that he usually was. He didn’t simply rush to judgment. No, he weighed the issue at hand before drawing a conclusion. She was the same person she had been on Antar, but at the same time, she was also different. Maybe she would never know the truth, but after listening to him, she had to agree that he had made some valid points and she was happy with the conclusion he had come to.
*****
Max knocked on the café door, every strike of his knuckles reverberating through his arm. He had walked around town for a couple of hours after the talk with his dad, going over his words of advice repeatedly. He knew Liz had to come to the realization that he wasn’t going anywhere in her own time, but he was afraid that if he let it sit too long she’d decide her hypothesis was right.
He wasn’t willing to wait for that to happen because she wasn’t right.
He raised his fist to begin another round of knocking when the door was suddenly pulled open and he found himself staring at his girlfriend. She didn’t look all that surprised to see him but the misery was clear on her face.
“Max, what’re you doing here?!” she hissed.
He drew himself up to his full height and pushed past her, deciding to take the bull by the horns.
Liz’s mouth dropped open in surprise when he just walked in without so much as a word. He’d been spending too much time around Michael, she decided uncharitably. “My parents – “
“ – aren’t here,” he finished before she could get any further with the lie.
She hurried to lock up again before following him as he moved through the dining room with purpose. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked when she finally caught up with him. He was standing in the break room, calmly erasing the whiteboard she had painstakingly worked on to create the employee chart and graph.
“I’m here to refute your conclusion before your brain has the chance to upload the results.” He nodded at the chair off to the side. “Sit down.”
Yeah, way too much Michael exposure, she mused when he spit the order out exactly the way the other guy did.
“You’re so sure I’ve got some destiny to follow, that I apparently don’t have the backbone to make my own decisions,” he held a hand up when she opened her mouth to protest, simply pointing to the chair and continuing, “and that I have no choice in the matter. I’ve listened to you so now you’re gonna listen to me.”
Liz sat down more out of shock than in response to any order he’d given. How did he not understand? She didn’t want to lose him, but what right did she have to hold onto him when he had something much bigger in store for him than a life on Earth?
“You define things scientifically, right? Fine, you want a hypothesis, so here goes.” He slapped the eraser down on the table next to him with enough force to leave a mark on the surface. He’d spent the past hour going over the steps it took to form a hypothesis using the scientific method, making sure he was ready before he’d approached the café. He uncapped the marker, ignoring its heavy scent as he pressed it to the board and started to write.
She winced when he mashed the tip of the marker to the board as he scrawled on its surface. She worked so hard to maintain the tips on the damn things.
“Number one, ask the question, right? Okay, do I have a choice in following some destiny I never asked for? Right?” He glanced over his shoulder, satisfied when she gave a meek nod in response. He scribbled out a YES next to the question. “Number two, research. You wanna know why I have a choice? Good, because I’m gonna tell you exactly why. Zan may not have had a choice in the matter, I don’t know, but I do. I wasn’t raised on Antar. I may have been a king in that other life, but here and now, there’s nothing royal about me. I’m just a guy trying to get on with his life by making it to college with his relationship with his girlfriend intact.”
He paused to draw a deep breath. “Now, you’ve got it in your head that what Tess said has some merit, but it doesn’t.” He scrawled her name across the board with more force than was necessary and then underlined it three times. “Her obsession with me was just that – an obsession. She wasn’t interested in me. I was nothing more than a means to an end. The attraction I felt for her was a controlled response and she was pulling the strings. As deranged as she was I can’t believe that you continue to believe that anything she said had any merit.” He didn’t look at her as he held a hand up to stop the interruption he knew was coming. “Yeah, there’s usually some truth in even the smallest lie, but again, I’m not the same guy I was on Antar. I have no interest in leaving you, in leaving Earth, or in going back to a planet I’ve never been to so I can rule a kingdom or planet or whatever the hell it is.”
He sighed and wrote DESTINY across the board before drawing an X through it. “I don’t believe in destiny, I never have. It implies that we really have no choice in the outcome of our lives. The hologram we saw today even said the same thing. ‘Nothing in life is predetermined, but without conscious effort, the mistakes of the past are destined to be repeated.’ We make our own path in life and the choices are ours to make. Yeah, I could choose that other life, but even if it was possible, I wouldn’t choose it, Liz.” He stared at the board, realizing he’d gotten off track as far as the hypothesis business was concerned.
Max sighed and shook his head as he capped the marker and carefully placed it in the thin tray at the bottom of the board. “I could stand here all night and give you a hundred different reasons why I wouldn’t choose to leave. I have no interest in that other life, I don’t want it. I may carry the same genes and essence but it’s not who I am now, I have a family I have no intention of deserting, I have a life that I love right here, but most importantly I have you, Liz.” He turned to look at her. “I wouldn’t leave you for anything in the world – this one or any other, don’t you understand that?”
“Finding that cave was so important to you.”
“Adopted kids often have a need to find their birth parents. I don’t have that option. Finding the cave where we were…” he made a face. He just couldn’t say ‘hatched’ because it sounded so wrong.
“Where you were born,” Liz spoke up when he fell silent.
“Yeah, that’s the closest I could get to learning about where I came from. It wasn’t a matter of wanting to go back to a life I don’t know, that I have any emotional connection to. I just wanted that closure so I could move forward without that question hanging over my head. If I’d known it was gonna cause so much trouble between us I would’ve just left it alone.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not fair to you.” She swallowed with difficulty and stood. “And I haven’t been fair to you either.” Her eyes locked on his as she closed the distance between them. Maria was right. The truth was right there in the depths of his dark eyes. She had been so blinded by the fact that there could be more for him that she’d stopped listening to him when he assured her what he wanted was her. “I’m sorry, Max.”
“I’m not goin’ anywhere, Liz. Everything I’ve ever wanted is right here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pendant he’d discovered in the cave.
“That’s from Antar,” she murmured as reached out to tentatively stroke the warm metal.
“Yeah.” He shrugged as he slowly removed the thin rope threaded through the small hole at the top of the pendant. “I didn’t take it because of its link to Antar. I took it because it’s a symbol of power, a symbol of family… a symbol of honor.” He folded his fingers around it and a glow pulsed around his fist for a few moments, fading as he slowly extended his hand in her direction.
Liz stared down at the ring that lay on his open palm, a perfect circle with the dark lines that created the Antarian symbol coming together to form a series of interconnected branches.
“I want you to have it, Liz. Power, family, honor and most importantly, love. It’s my promise to you. I want to go to college with you, I want to come home for the holidays and spend time with our families, I want us to make our way in life, together and separately because that’s important, and when we graduate I want to marry you.”
Her eyes welled up with tears and her lower lip trembled as she ran the tip of her finger around the band. How had she so completely misread the situation? She looked up at him and nodded and before she could get a word out he dropped to one knee before her.
“Liz Parker, will you marry me when we graduate college?”
She gave a watery laugh as she nodded and fell into his waiting arms. “Yes, Max, I’ll marry you. Four hours, four days, four weeks, four months, four years, whatever the timeframe, yes, I’ll marry you!”
“We’d better stick with after college. I’m not sure either of our parents will be too thrilled if we spring it on them sooner.” He laughed and held her tight, feeling his world finally right itself again.