Is it Friday already??
As always, thank you for your continuing support for my story. And can I say, I miss my cliffhangers. Just like the old days, huh? Like those ones from BRH... or OCaK?? There were some good ones!
Can I just say.... poor Raul. I needed an excuse to get him off the boat (and captured) and NOT have Julia refusing to leave him behind. So I needed him to make a play. It was either him or one of the others
BehrObsession - But then... Nah. I would never be mean enough to kill Liz twice, would I??
youre my dreamgirl - LOL - I was never off form. Just being nice to you guys
polar vixen - Evil? Me? But then you already knew that
AJK001 - he he he... bucke up!
roswck - Yup
Yes. Luke is insisting on telling the people who are helping him. It seems he has learned SOMETHING from his last lifetime dawnuk - I have an awesome rolse for Anders to play. I wonder if you will spot it
Now, Coffee... I would prefer a Saturday towards the middle/end of October. How about the 21st?Timelord31 - Thats what everyone said waaaaay back in Part 1 chapter 3!
Ellie - It gets pretty noisy when the wind is blowing through you sails.
roswellluver - Maybe they are and maybe they aren't!
roswell3050 - Thank you
Yes, I think Luke would give up. smokie - Heh heh heh - since when have I done things that you guys think I "have" to?
Luke told Raul about their origins. As he knows them. When Luke/Max trusts someone, he trusts them.omwf - YOu mean... you would see me go hungry? Yes, I'm like a vampire. I feed on your angst!
paper - Yes, I think Luke decided that if Raul was going to help them, he should at least know why. Clearly someone born to lead.
frenchkiss70 - I do! I love it!
Really? Luke and Julia have no connection (well, they do, sorta) so you think he might still know if she died or not? Hmmm... I wonder what he thinks?heatherbelieze - Thank you
I do strive to keep my stories different. I like to explore angles that other authors have not. It gets harder with each new story, though.Emz80m - Thank you.
Roswellostcause - I know exactly how you feel!
Good to have you back.Jull_ana - Lurkdom? Lurkdon? No, no , no. That would never do.
Red Shift
Part 3
Chapter 7
Luke was feeling a little 'wooly headed' when he emerged from his tent a little after the sun had risen. He stood up and stretched.
"So what was that little outburst about, last night," Maria asked him.
"Excuse me?" Luke frowned.
"Yeah," Michael nodded. "What was that about?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Luke shook his head in confusion.
"You know," Leia narrowed her eyes. "Standing there like a zombie, saying 'Help her', over and over again."
"Was I?" Luke seemed surprised.
"Yes," everyone nodded.
"Sorry," he shrugged.
"Help who?" Maria asked.
"I have no idea," Luke shook his head again. "Sorry."
"Did you have another one of your dreams?" Leia frowned.
"I don't think so," Luke tried to concentrate on whether he had dreamed or not. "I don't remember dreaming about anything."
"Weird," was all Michael could say.
* * *
By the time the buses arrived, the news buzzing around camp was that someone had escaped from the stockade in a rather mysterious fashion. There were rumors that the army had captured a high ranking alien officer, but alien commandos had rescued him.
"Great," Michael groaned. "How much closer to the truth could they get?"
Although the search was concentrated on the surrounding countryside, they still conducted a thorough search inside the camp. With soldiers checking everyone's papers, and circulating throughout the camp, Luke had come up with a novel idea.
"They're looking for someone on their own," he told them. "So Maria, you act like you are with Raul, okay? Michael, you stay with Leia. I'll be the one on his own."
"Why can't Leia and Raul buddy up?" Michael demanded.
"If we need to run," Luke wouldn't look at Michael. "It's better we act like we don't know these two. They can then just mingle into the crowd and disassociate themselves from us."
"Disassociate?" Maria snapped. "I never got involved with this to disassociate myself, Luke."
"That's not what I meant, Maria," Luke groaned. "We won't leave without you, but if we have to make a run for it, we can pick you guys up later, right?"
"Right," Michael nodded. "Just keep your hands where I can see them, Raul."
"I don't have any papers," Raul was showing signs of panic as they neared the guards checking everyone onto the bus they had lined up near.
"Relax," Maria sighed. "Just act normally."
He almost bolted when one of the wandering guards stopped next to him.
"Don't I know you?" his face was screwed up in concentration. His eyes widened in sudden recognition.
Raul's face went white.
"No," Leia spoke from beside him. "That's not him at all. It looks like him but this guy is much taller."
"Sorry, Pal," he continued his walk.
Raul was too busy staring at Leia to notice Maria hand two sets of papers to the guard.
"Say goodbye to Beaumont," Michael sighed with relief as the bus pulled out of the compound.
"How did I get passed that guard?" Raul turned to Maria, sitting beside him.
"With these," Maria handed him a set of suspiciously new looking papers.
"Where did you get these?" he examined them, front and back.
"I thought Luke explained everything to you?" Maria narrowed her eyes.
"You mean... he just made them?"
"Duh," she rolled her eyes.
"I thought he was fooling around with me, you know?" Raul slumped into the seat. "To get even with me."
"Why would Luke want to get even with you?" Maria wanted to know.
"Never mind," he shook his head. "So everything he told me... that was true?"
"I don't really know how much he told you," Maria shrugged.
"You know, uhm..." Raul pointed upward.
"Yeah," Maria nodded. "That much is certainly true. Why? Does it make a difference?"
Raul couldn't answer straight away. He had to think back on everything they had ever done together, as friends.
"I guess not," he shrugged. "Not if they're opposed to the ones who invaded us."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," she started to chuckle. "These guys are just about more opposed to those aliens than the humans are."
"Does Julia know?"
"What?" Maria smirked. "If Luke and them are opposed to the other aliens?"
"No," he shook his head. "Does Julia know that the guy she's head over heels in love with is... is an... you know."
"I really don't know what Luke told her that night they spent together," Maria shook her head. "So I don't know if Julia does or does not know. But I can tell you one thing."
"What's that?"
"It won't make a blind bit of difference. She will love Luke, whoever he is."
* * *
"Andy! Julia!"
As the light gradually grew and the darkness receded, Lyle had kept calling the names of his friends. Over and over again. His voice was getting hoarse now, and he was almost too exhausted to continue. How long he had been calling, he couldn't say.
"Annnn-dyyyyy! Juuuu-llliiiiaaaa!" he tried one last time.
He had had enough. Lyle could not continue shouting any longer. His body had taken all it could and he reluctantly knew that it was time to give up his search. His friends were gone.
Then he heard it.
"Lyle!" a weak call from somewhere out to sea. "Is that y..."
The voice was suddenly cut off. A surge of adrenaline gave Lyle a second wind. His eyes swept from one wave to another, searching for something... anything.
There! Lyle spotted a flash of white, maybe fifty yards out to sea. It looked like a body. Wasting not a second more, Lyle was in the water and moving through it like an Olympic athlete. At long last, the shape was close enough for him to grab. He had been right, it was a body. It was Anders.
"I got you, buddy," he was shouting with joy. "Just hang on!"
With one hand holding onto Anders, Lyle used his other arm and his legs to power himself back to shore. He had him on his back, on the wet sand. Calling up all of his first aide classes, Lyle was pumping Anders' chest, and using CPR to fill his lungs with air.
"Don't give up on me!" Lyle was screaming as he pumped on his chest some more. "Damn you Anders, don't you die on me!"
Almost frantically, Lyle worked at bringing Anders back. At last he was rewarded with a cough, the ejection of seawater and choking.
"Oh, god," Lyle hugged his friend. "You're alive."
"Does this mean we're engaged?" Anders' weak voice groaned. "Were you kissing me?"
"Tell a single soul," Lyle chuckled with relief, "and I'll drown you all over again."
Anders reached up and grabbed Lyle's upper arm.
"You saved my life," he coughed.
"Yeah," Lyle nodded with a grin. "And I don't think I can even begin to tell you how good that makes me feel inside."
"Where..." Anders was almost too afraid to ask. Lyle had somehow built a fire and they were sitting in front of its warmth. "Where's Julia?"
"I don't know," Lyle shook his head after an agonizing moment of silence. "I couldn't find her."
"Do you think..." But he left the sentence unfinished.
"No," Lyle shook his head. "She's alive. I know she is. She never came all this way to drown before she even got to see Luke."
"I think I saw her jump," Anders stared into the fire. "Just before I did. But I never saw her after that."
"I shouted to you both and jumped," Lyle's voice was filled with disgust. "I should have made sure before I jumped. I should have waited for her."
"You did what you had to do, Lyle," Anders voice was gentle. "At least you gave us a chance. If you hadn't warned us, neither of us would be here now."
"I hope she's okay," he groaned.
"Let me catch my breath," Anders nodded in agreement. "Then we can search for her."
"Okay," Lyle nodded.
Together, the two boys scoured the shoreline, taking turns to call out her name. Although they found lots of wreckage that had washed ashore, including the name plate of the boat, they found no trace of Julia.
"What do we do?" Anders collapsed to the sand, breathing heavily.
"We keep searching," Lyle was just as exhausted. "We keep looking until midmorning."
"Then what?" his friend's voice was a sad whisper.
"Then..." Lyle paused. "Then we head inland. Julia was trying to warn Luke about something. While I don't know what it was she was going to warn him about, we can at least try to find him and let him know."
"Where, though? New Mexico is a big place."
"Well..." Lyle shrugged. "I guess we could always start in the alien capital of the world. Roswell."
After another hour or two of searching, they had lost all hope. They had both given up the faint possibility that Julia had survived. It had only been Lyle's fitness that had saved him, and Anders. Julia, being half the size... Lyle doubted that she had managed to avoid the current of the bigger boat. He hoped that she had not been sucked into the propellers.
"We just keep following this beach," Anders suggested. "We'll find civilization soon enough."
The beach was actually a kind of causeway that ran parallel to the mainland. After hours of calling Julia's name, both of the boys remained silent as they trudged along beach. Both of their thoughts were with the strong willed young girl who had sailed across the gulf, chasing after her destiny, only to meet it in a collision with a large navy ship.
"I have some money," Lyle finally broke the long silence. "There's a town up ahead. Maybe we can find a diner or something. We should get something to eat."
"I doubt I could eat anything," Anders' stomach gave a long low grumble.
"Me neither," Lyle shook his head. "But if we plan to finish this journey, we need to regain our strength. And that means food."
"Unless eating is against the new Martial Law or something," Anders gave a soft snort.
They arrived at the small diner just as the owner was opening up.
"You boys look like you've been through hell," he commented as he held the door open for them.
"Twice, I think," Lyle groaned. "I don't suppose you've seen a young girl, about so high, probably in as bad a shape as we are, have you?"
"Hardly see anyone these days," he shrugged. "Not since Martial Law, anyway."
"Could we have two big breakfasts, please?" Lyle was almost done.
He had been hoping that maybe Julia had made it further along the beach. He was sure she would make for somewhere like a café or diner. The fact that she was not here...
"I'm sorry," he looked at their beaten condition. "I can't serve you without any papers."
"I was right," Anders rolled his eyes.
"We've run away from home," Lyle told the man. "We want to sign up with this volunteer force, you know? But our folks... they didn't want us to. We had to sneak out without our papers."
"I'll tell you what," the man looked around the room. It was empty. "I'll serve you a breakfast, okay? But if any soldiers appear, you two have to duck out the back, pronto. Got it?"
They sat at the counter while the man cooked them a full breakfast.
"You must be headed for Midland, then," he called over his shoulder.
Anders and Lyle looked at each other and shrugged questioningly at one another.
"Uh, yeah," Lyle finally answered. "I guess."
"You guess?" the man turned to look at them, one eyebrow raised. "Seeing as that's the biggest recruitment and training base in this area, it's probably the best one to head for. I think they have buses leaving for Midland later on, from the Corpus Christi bus despot."
"Whereabouts is Midland?" Lyle was trying to remember the geography of Texas.
"I'll show you," the man answered, placing the two breakfast plates in front of the boys.
He ducked into a back room while they started to tuck into their meal as though they had not eaten in ages. He returned with a large map of the state.
"We're here," he pointed to a town called Port Aransas, a small town on the causeway. "And over here, about ten miles as the crow flies is Corpus Christi." His finger moved South and West. "Midland is way up here." His finger moved up close to the corner formed by the New Mexico border.
"Midland is about forty miles from the border, right on Highway 20. It's a journey of nearly six hundred miles. By my reckoning, you should get there by tomorrow night. As long as you can get to the bus station by noon."
"Did you spot it?" Anders asked when the man had taken the map back to the back room he had it stored in.
"Sure I did," Lyle nodded. "He pointed right at it."
"No," Anders shook his head. "Did you spot the highway that runs practically parallel to the course we sailed? I bet that's the same highway Luke and the others took. And it leads all the way to Midland. Maybe we can intercept them there, 'cause I bet you that they'll head there first. Pretending to join up so they can travel."
"And..." Lyle narrowed his eyes.
"And we make our way to Corpus Christi bus depot, and get a ride to Midland by pretending we're joining up, too. You heard him. Forty miles from New Mexico."
"What if we don't find them there?"
"Then I hack into their computer, un-enlist us, and sneak away."
"Right," Lyle grinned with enthusiasm. "Then we head out for New Mexico, find a suitable place and cross the border."
"You realize that the border's going to be watched, yeah? Not only by soldiers and aliens, but probably by tons of electronic stuff, too. How are we going to sneak through?"
"By using our wits," Lyle shrugged. "But we have to get there first. And the longest journey starts with the first step."
"Where did that come from?" Anders smirked. "Sounded kind of Buddhist."
"Yeah," Lyle reached into his shirt and pulled out the small jade Buddha, tied around his neck with a leather strip. He studied it for a second. "It did, didn't it?"
* * *
"This is it," Maria looked out over the military encampment that the bus had just pulled up into. "Home, sweet home."
Built to the north of Midland Airport, which had been taken over by the Armed Forces, midway between Midland and Odessa, the camp had been sectioned into three main areas. The first area was a transit camp. Surrounding the square where the buses pulled up and deposited the influx of volunteers was a sea of tents. Included among these were the latrines, the showers and the kitchens. This transit camp was closest to the runways of the airport. The people who milled about the tent city were for the most part, civilians. A few uniforms seemed to be moving around, acting as some sort of police force.
Beyond the transit camp was row upon row of wooden barrack type buildings. The people milling about those buildings were dressed in military fatigues and moved like soldiers. Some were in units, being drilled, while others marched from one place to another, on some errand or other. The fields beyond the barracks seemed to contain towers and rope netting, and other forms of apparatus over which numbers of bodies were scurrying. In the distance, the steady sound of gunfire could be heard, presumably where the recruits were learning how to handle a gun.
They filed off of the bus and stood in a loose group, waiting for other groups from other buses to join them.
"Welcome to Midland Training Camp," a soldier stood on a large wooden crate and yelled out at the group. "This is where we will turn you into soldiers. This is where we start to fight back against the alien scum who are here to take over our planet."
"Steady," Luke placed a calming hand on Michael's shoulder. "That's not us they're talking about."
"The large building behind me is our processing center. As soon as you are ready, please file into the building and sign the papers. Once you have signed, you will officially be in the U.S. Military. You will be a member of the new Volunteer Force. From there, you will be assigned to a unit, and your barracks. As you can see, the barracks are a lot more comfortable than the tents you've been staying in up till now."
He paused to allow everyone to look over at the barracks and appreciate his little joke.
"Obviously, we are unable to process everyone at once, and there are many of you who might not be ready to sign up yet. Perhaps you are waiting for friends to join you. Until you have signed up, you will remain here in the tents. And if you wish to sign up with friends and be in the same unit, then please make sure you fill the appropriate boxes on your forms. It's best to sign up all together, because we fill up one barrack at a time. While you are here, in training, or waiting, you will have to work. You will be allocated chores to do. A camp this size does not run itself and we ran out of maids."
"The guy's a regular comedian," Raul rolled his eyes. "Well guys? What do we do?"
"We're not signing up," Michael turned to face the group. "As soon as it's dark, we'll slip out of here."
"Let's stay here tonight," Luke suggested. "We'll wait here tomorrow, too. We can spend the day resting up. Tomorrow evening, we can make our move, maybe using an incoming bus as cover, you know, slipping away in the chaos. And that gives the others a chance to catch up to us... if they think to come here."
"Makes sense," Maria nodded. "I mean, I would love to see Julia again."
"One day," Michael agreed. "But we leave tomorrow night."
"Agreed," Luke nodded. "Let's go find our tents and see what 'chores' we get to do."
As always, they took turns to keep watch through the night. They received some strange looks from the patrolling guards who passed them, but they did as Luke suggested and did not offer up any kind of explanation. Raul had seemed less jumpy and didn't even flinch when, unable to sleep, Luke joined him earlier than he should have.
"They're all teenagers," Luke looked at a small group of recruits what made their way past them. "Did you notice? All these kids should be thinking of college, and girlfriends, and just having fun. Not fighting against aliens."
"You, too," Raul observed. "You're a teenager too, you know."
Luke remained silent. How did he explain that he felt so much older? Only when he was with Julia did he ever truly feel like a human teenager.
"They want to defend their country," Raul shrugged. "This sort of thing has always happened, down throughout history. As soon as a country gets invaded, the people, and it's mainly the teenagers, flock to join up. As long as those aliens are here, then the kids will keep coming."
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "Maybe the one we're looking for will know of some way to make them all leave. The, uh... aliens, I mean."
"What about you?" Raul turned to look at Luke. "Would you just pack up and leave? If you could?"
"I don't know," he shook his head. "If I have a choice, no. When I find her... I never want to leave Julia again. But I really don't think that it's my decision." Luke released a heavy sigh.
During the next day, in between their manual chores, mostly food preparation, they took turns keeping an eye on the incoming buses. They also noticed a lot of regular army activity. Huge aircraft landed at the airport, and deposited large numbers of soldiers, marching smartly in formation to a fleet of trucks, which then disappeared with them. Huge trucks pulling flatbeds with tanks on them trundled along the highway. Armored personnel carriers were everywhere. Helicopters filled the skies. Sometimes just patrolling, sometimes dropping soldiers off, and sometimes taking soldiers away somewhere. And everywhere they looked, antiaircraft missile batteries were being set up.
As the sun was starting to drop behind the distant mountains, Michael called them all together.
"We have to go," he looked at Luke. "Now. We can't afford to wait. This build up isn't for show. We have to get in and find our King before the war starts. If the countryside is crawling with armies, we're never going to be able to sneak in and find him."
"Okay," Luke closed his eyes and nodded. "We'll make our way to the square. Tell anyone who asks we're expecting our friends. When a bus comes in, I'll make a wall to hide us. We head due west. See that hill out there? With the crown of trees? Make for that. If we get separated, we all know where to meet up. As soon as it's dark, we'll strike out and follow the road. Maybe tomorrow, we can find a town and I'll change our papers to read that we're heading for El Paso."
"You really thought of this, haven't you?" Leia grinned at him as they packed away their few possessions."
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "We really should know what were doing."
"What's next?"
"Let's just get to El Paso, first," he shrugged. "I'm still, uh, working on the rest."
"There's only two more busses due in tonight," Michael told them when they all gathered together at the square. "I just overheard those two guards talking. One's due any minute while the other is a couple of hours behind."
"We'll go with the first," Luke nodded. His face showed that he had been disappointed that Julia had not turned up.
"Can you feel her?" Leia asked.
"No," he shook his head.
"So we know she's not on this next bus, then," she placed her hand on his arm in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Luke."
"Maybe they went straight to New Mexico. Maybe I can follow her as soon as I can feel her."
"Want me to dream walk her?"
"No!" he was almost in a panic.
The last thing Luke wanted was Leia knowing that Julia had moved on to Lyle. Luke suspected that Leia liked Lyle herself.
"No," he said less urgently. "Let's just see what happens, okay?"
"Here it comes," Maria pointed out.
"We need to stand on the other side of it," Michael; suggested. "So that we're out of sight of the soldiers."
They moved to the back of the square as the bus pulled in and turned in a loop so that the doors were facing the welcoming committee.
"There's Lyle!" Raul's voice was almost filled with excitement.
"And Andy!" Maria laughed. "I don't see Julia, though."
The two boys on the bus saw their friends, and gave them a wave.
"They don't seem as excited to see us," Leia frowned at their dejected looks.
Anders and Lyle broke from the group and ran over to their friends. There were hugs for Maria and Leia while the men exchanged handshakes. Although they were genuinely pleased to have caught up with them, the others sensed an underlying sadness. And all the time, Luke ignored the fact that he couldn't feel anything and was searching the rest of the passengers in vain hope.
"Sorry, Luke," Lyle finally found the courage to answer the question that everyone wanted to ask. "She's not with us." Both Lyle and Anders looked heartbroken.
"Where..." his voice caught. "Where is she?"
"We got run down by this huge ship," Lyle was looking at the ground, unable to meet Luke's eyes. "It appeared from nowhere, and just... It ran into the back of us, Luke. Anders and me... we were up front. But Julia... she was steering."
Maria started to cry.
"We searched and searched, Luke," Anders continued. "All night and all morning too. We never found her. I'm so sorry. Luke. She never made it."
Everyone was stunned into silence, except for Maria who now had her head buried in Michael's chest, weeping loudly.
Luke looked at Anders and Lyle and just nodded. He turned away from the group and stared eastwards.
"Did you lose everything," Michael asked from over the top of Maria's head. "'Cause we're going to need more money."
"I never did trust boats," Lyle nodded. "As soon as I found out how... how Julia wanted to travel, I wrapped my money and my cell phone in a plastic bag and kept it with me. It stayed dry. I have the charger too."
"How much money do you have?"
"Nearly a thousand bucks," Anders shrugged. "What?" He looked at everyone who was staring in shock at him. "You'll be thanking me when we next eat."
"I never thought that far ahead," Anders shrugged. "Sorry."
"Well..." Michael looked at Luke. "There's nothing we can do, now. It's time we left. I think being in this army is going to be detrimental to our health."
"Where are we going?" Lyle looked at Luke, too.
"See that hill over there?" Michael pointed westward. "We're going to make our way to that and then, make for the road when it's totally dark. Hopefully, we can find a bus to El Paso.
"Come on," Luke," Leia stepped up beside him and took Luke's hand. "It's time, and we need you."
Luke nodded, and with a final wipe of his eye, he turned west.
* * *
In the end, it was easier than they had all expected. No one came looking for them, and neither did they get separated in the darkness. No one spoke, though, each of them thinking about the loss of Julia.
"I don't think she's dead," Luke finally announced when they reached the hill.
"What?" Maria gasped. "Why? What makes you say that?"
"I..." Luke suddenly flustered. "I don't know. I just... I just feel like I would know if she was dead. That's all. I don't think she's dead."
"I hope you're right, Luke," Lyle looked at his friend. "But me and Andy searched that beach for hours. And it took all I had to stay out of the undertow from the big boat. I nearly didn't make it. Andy was almost dead when I rescued him. And Julia, she's smaller... and weaker. Luke..."
"She's alive," Luke shook his head. "I know she is."
"We can't waste any time, Luke," Michael warned. "I'm sorry. But we have to keep going."
"I know," Luke sighed. "Let's make our way to the road. It's only a couple of miles. We should find a town before daybreak."
The dark ribbon of road grew closer as they carefully made their way over the uneven terrain. The moon was providing them a little light, but it was still not yet half its normal size.
"What's that?" Leia pointed at a dark shape by the road.
It was a long rectangle.
"Looks like a truck," Michael offered.
"There's someone there," Luke added. "Looks like he has a flat or something."
"Hey," Lyle offered. "Maybe if we help him, he can drive us to the next town. Saves on shoe leather."
The truck driver nearly jumped out of his skin when the seven of them appeared from darkness.
"My truck's empty," he warned them, watching them suspiciously. "And I aint got no money."
"Oh," Lyle laughed. "No, we're not here to rob you or anything. We're kind of hoping to trade our help for a lift. We're trying to get home to El Paso."
"You decide that you didn't like the idea of joining up after all?" he grinned at them.
"Something like that," Michael answered, his voice warning the others to be careful of what they said.
"Well," he shrugged. "I'd like to help you, you know? I was trying to get to Toyah, which is a hundred or so miles down the road, before curfew. But I got a flat."
"If we help you fix it," Luke pushed forward, "will you take us to Toyah?"
"Sorry," ht truck driver shook his head. "I don't have a spare. It got shredded a couple of hundred miles back. You can't get new ones unless the military authorize it and that takes ages."
"I learned this trick in science," Luke continued. "If I fix it, will you take us?"
"Hell, sure I will," he nodded.
"You guys climb in the back," Luke told them. "This won't take long."
While the others headed for the back of the truck, Luke went to the side of the road where he started to tear off leaves from some plants that grew there.
"What's he doing?" the driver scratched his head.
"Oh," Leia laughed. "Basic science, really. When you damage leaves of certain plants, they like, weep this sap stuff. When you mix the saps of other leaves, you can make like a glue. It dries like rubber. It should hold out easily for a hundred miles or so."
"Oh," the driver nodded, pretending that he had understood that. "Well, climb aboard then."
They watched Luke approach the flat tire and start to apply something to a few spots. He then ran his hands around the rim. Michael joined him, and leaned over, so that the driver would not see Luke's glowing hand.
"We can go now," Luke told the stunned driver.
He was so surprised, that not once did he think to ask how Luke had inflated the tire.
* * *
"Are you guys okay?" Maria looked at Anders and Lyle, sitting on the sofa in one of the motel rooms they had taken.
They both looked stunned. Like he had with Raul, Luke had told Lyle and Anders of their extra terrestrial origins. He did not like the idea of his friends getting involved in something they knew nothing about. The alien trio had left the human contingent to come to terms with their status. Maria and Raul were helping with the transition.
"Uh..." Lyle shook his head.
"It gets easier," Raul smiled. "Once you get past the part where they can kill you as easy as that." He snapped his fingers.
"All those times I teased him," Lyle shook his head, the shadow of panic showing in his eyes.
"They won't kill anyone," Maria assured them, glaring at Raul. "Unless you're their enemy. And you guys are their friends, so..."
"Anyway," Anders glared at Raul. "We're not talking to you."
"Huh?" Maria frowned. "Why not?"
"I already told Luke," Raul dropped his head. "He knows all about it."
"And you're still alive?" Lyle looked shocked.
"Knows all about what?"
"Did Luke tell Julia about his, uhm, origins?" Lyle narrowed his eyes at Maria.
"I don't know," she shook her head, looking at the three of them in confusion. "But like I told Raul. Do you really think it would have made a difference?"
* * *
"Okay," Raul broke the silence. They were all together in one room again. "Now that we're all on the same page, so to speak, I think it's time you let us in on the plan. I don't know about the others, but I don't like it when we just appear to stumble from one place to the next. We should at least know what we are trying to achieve, and how we are going to achieve it."
"Fair enough," Luke overrode Michael's objection. "Michael, Leia and I will amend our papers so that we have permission to return to our home, in Pine Springs, Texas."
"Why Pine Springs?" Maria asked. "I thought we were heading for El Paso?"
"We are, initially," Luke nodded, pulling out his map of Texas. "This road out of El Paso heads up into New Mexico, through this mountain range, the Guadalupe Mountains. I was thinking that we can cross over in the mountains where we can make use of the natural terrain to hide in. I can ferry you through one at a time so no one sees us, even if they set up cameras or something."
"How can you do that?" Lyle frowned.
"Oh," Raul grinned with a nonchalant wave. "Luke can set up this shield that makes him invisible."
"Neat trick," Anders nodded while both he and Lyle looked stunned. "Uhm... what then?"
"Well," Michael took over. "Then we do what it was we came here to do."
"What exactly is that?" Lyle asked. "Julia never said. All she told us was that you were looking for someone and that you didn't know about something."
"Didn't know what?" Luke narrowed his eyes.
"She never said," Anders finished. "It's like she thought she said too much and shut up."
"What we'll be doing," Luke continued, pushing his breaking heart into the bakcground, "is making our way to Roswell. We're pretty sure that we'll find who we're looking for there. If the aliens don't have him, then he'll have made his way to..." Luke's eyes narrowed. He turned to Michael. "Who will he make his way to?"
"The Dog," Michael said it like he knew who 'the Dog' was. "The Dog will know where he is."
"And if the aliens have him?" Anders asked.
"We find him, we free him, and then we make sure that the alien who killed Maria and me the first time around isn't breathing when we leave. Any questions?"
* * *
Sharing her room with Maria, Leia had been completely still for hours. She had been listening to her friend's breathing, waiting for that moment that signified when she would have fallen asleep. Waiting to make sure that her companion was indeed asleep, she eased herself up from the bed. Sliding her hand into her bag, she took out her cell phone, and slipped out through the door into the night air. Checking for any passing patrols, she crept across to the shelter of the trees next to the playground, where she turned on her phone. She tapped in the number from memory and waited.
"It's me," she whispered when the call was answered. "Keep quiet, and listen. I have something to tell you. Yes, it's important. Okay."
* * *
They will remain for ever more, Anders and Raul. Sorry. (Unless Julia chooses one of them 