Title: Strangers and milliseconds
Author: Ken_r AKA Ken242 AKA Kenneth Renouard
Rating: Mature but mostly teen
Genera: AU with aliens.
Couples are conventional for the most part.
Disclaimer: also see author’s notes following. The Roswell cast is just on loan for prepared characters. That part is never mine.
Author’s notes: There are many things I wanted to explore. I am always interested in the concept of the fragility of constitutional laws and the belief in divine protection. Any student of political history can tell you that the constitution is violated almost daily even by presidents. If citizens don’t complain, politicians will continue illegal acts at their pleasure. I wanted to explore different ways the aliens were discovered by the humans in their lives. Also, I wanted to explore what the aliens wanted from the humans and what the humans wanted in return. I wanted Philip and Diane to be present at the time the pods opened up. They would have knowledge of their children’s difference from the beginning. For most creatures, birth is a painful experience. The picture of Max being plopped in a puddle of slime on the floor of the cavern, coughing and spitting as he took his first breath has stuck with me for a long time. I wanted to release Tess from the strangle hold Nasedo had on her life. I wanted more adult friendship between Max and Liz before she discovers his alien side. The idea started from the trailer of the movie, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” After I had written almost a hundred pages I did see the movie. I picked up a couple of tips. The TV show, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” is filmed in Albuquerque so that might have been an incentive. I have lived in a neighborhood where there were people who I am sure were in the witness protection program. The story is extremely fragmented so I made notes where and when each action is taking place. This is a different style than I have used in the past. This story has been about two years in the writing.
Almost a character in itself, the word ‘millisecond,’ becomes the representative of units of time. Actions and decisions are seen as units of time, some short like a millisecond and some taking more time and thought to accomplish. The title comes from the ways strangers change their lives in this small fraction of time.
For obvious reasons seen later, the large city where much of the action takes place and the smaller city where Max and Liz find their safe house are not real. I used several cities in New Mexico to make up their descriptions. Since several things described in these cities are just parts of my imagination, I mean no disrespect to any agency or group.
Strangers and Milliseconds
It would be later when Max would ask the question. Right now like playing “Jeopardy,” he knew the answer. A millisecond was the time that one’s life, could make a complete change. He saw the car and he saw what was hanging out the windows. Max launched himself at the woman. She screamed because she thought she was being attacked. Max slammed her to the concrete wrapping his arms around her and taking the brunt of the force with his own arms. Her screams were eclipsed by the many other screams as men and women died. Then even that was over shadowed by the rapid gunfire. No one can successfully describe this to another, what it is like to be under gunfire. Little bees are zinging just above your head. It is surreal. You hear the shots, but they seem disconnected from the deadly pellets flying by. The only thing you can do is be thankful that you can still hear them and that your blood is not running out on the street to mix with the other trash in the gutter. You breathe deeply because every breath affirms that you are still alive. Max, covering her with his body, tried to wrap his arms around her head and pull it under his protective shadow. In her confusion, she bit the hand that was trying so hard to protect her face. Even then, Max tried to spread his body to cover her. He was trying to take any stray bullet himself instead of feeling her jerk with pain as she would, if hit.
Thirty minutes before at the Blue Sky luxury apartments.
“Max you are suffocating me. I don’t care if we are living together. I want to have some freedom to choose when I want other company. For god’s sakes you were gone for almost a week. What did you expect me to do?”
Connie was mad. Max had come home unexpectedly and found her with her manager. They were in bed and she was pumping him for all she was worth. Connie was an athlete. Her game was dance. Max personally knew what those hard formed legs could do. Connie had almost a perfect looking body, but once you had your hands on her person, you found how hard bodied and muscular she actually was. More than just her body could be hard and cold. Making love with Connie was exhausting. Once started you didn’t dare give up until Connie released you.
Max and Connie had been living together for three months. Max enjoyed sex, but to Connie it was an addiction. Max needed to be out of town for a week. On the phone every night, he had endured her entreaties of how much she missed him. He hurried his business to make it home early. That was when he found Connie with Sam her manager. When Max opened the door, Sam made it out by way of the fire escape. Max looked out the window and saw Sam, at least, had the presence of mind to grab his pants on the way out.
Connie was mad. She berated Max for not letting her know that he was coming home early. She was angry that Sam had left before she was through with him. She was angry with Max for standing there judging her. There was no use arguing with Connie. Max had learned earlier that silence was the best weapon. Silence was the one thing Connie couldn’t stand, the one thing she couldn’t fight against. He turned and left followed by her curses screamed so loudly they almost couldn’t be understood.
Max walked. He would return later for his things, maybe waiting until he was sure Connie would be at her dance practice. Max didn’t have much and there was no way he wanted to face Connie in her frame of mind. Now, he had to let his mind find its balance. That was when he saw “her.”
She was dressed in a suit. The trim skirt was a few inches above her knees. As she passed him, Max couldn’t help but admire the view. Her hair was long and it was the color of chestnuts. Max remembered a racing horse he once saw, which had a coat the color of her hair. The horse had been paraded in the sunlight. As the woman walked in front of him, Max saw the same sheen he remembered before. The horse had been paraded to show his best, but the woman was walking naturally letting nature frame her beauty. Max had missed her eyes, but he imagined that they would be deep pools a man could dive into and become completely lost. Her legs were not those of a dancer. That was the first thing that came to Max’s attention. Max watched the bends of her knees as they flexed under her hose. His mind drifted as his attention worked up her legs. Her thighs were trim and her butt was compact. In all ways, that Max had noticed so far, she was smaller and softer than what he remembered of Connie.
Remembered of Connie. Was Max’s mind forgetting the woman he had bedded the last few months so quickly? Maybe not forgetting, but rather purging the sight he had of Sam wiggling, like a frog on a pike, in the embrace of her legs as she took from him all his seed.
Max had been going nowhere special. He had just been performing an exorcism of Connie from his memory. Max’s mind could not help but think what being with this woman, would be like in bed. There was a gentle sway to her ass as she walked through the crowds. She stood straight with her shoulders thrown back causing her breasts to jut proudly out. She did not have the voluptuous breasts of Connie. Max could only dream that her smaller breasts would be soft and pulsing with life, items to fall asleep between. Max could see himself curling up between her breasts, but not becoming suffocated between them. He had maneuvered close enough to now smell the fragrance of her perfume. She hadn’t seen Max and if she had seen him, she would have probably thought his intense study itself, was an assault. That was when Max saw the gun barrels sticking out of the windows of an approaching car. That was when Max launched himself at her back.
About Twenty-two years earlier.
Philip and Diane Evans were exploring the sandstone cliffs outside of Roswell. They were both young. Well, they were young as they could be, having both passed the state bar exam and having started up a law practice in Roswell. They had been together all through college. Things had been good for the Evanses. Things had been good except for the recent doctor’s report that Diane would never be able to carry a child. Like many couples of their generation, they had made careful plans. They had delayed parenthood until their practice was established. There would be plenty of time to conceive a child. The practice was running, the time was now and the Evanses faced the unpleasant fact that Diane could never become pregnant. She followed Philip in his interest in geological formations. Since she could never give him anything except companionship and love, Diane would try to do her best at that. Roswell was famous for stories of aliens. It was the hope of every rock hound and explorer in the area to find evidence of something “out of this world.”
Diane and Philip had been on this path a dozen times. The path ran at the foot of a sandstone cliff and climbed up the sandstone side to where it would over look the valley below. They both had noticed that the trail seemed to be worn into the cliff itself. Philip, holding her hand, helped Diane up the path. Near the top was an opening. Both could swear that the opening had never been there before. The opening was smooth. One might believe that it had been carved out of the face of the cliff by the ancient ones. Looking inside, they could see machines. These machines were something they had never seen before. There were remnants of something erupting and pouring its contents on the floor. There was a puddle of slime. There was evidence that something had walked through the slime, leaving tiny footprints through the doorway. The machine held three other packages. They looked like the translucent eggs of insects. You could see what was inside. Touching the packages, they appeared to be leather. Diane thought they were more like living skin. Inside two of the packages, there was movement. There were faintly infantile human shapes.
Suddenly, one of the packages split and slime puddled on the floor again. The creature inside fell on the floor. It stood and to all appearances, it was a naked six-year old boy. He was covered by whatever the semi liquid was and he was coughing, spitting out the same liquid. When his nose and throat were finally cleared, he stood there breathing deeply.
There was a hum from somewhere and the second package split. This time the creature deposited in the puddle of slime was definitely female. When she had cleared her breathing passages she stood beside the boy. The boy made the first motion since he had started breathing on his own. He reached for her hand and together they faced the Evanses.
Philip returned to his SUV and brought back some towels and a container of water. The slime came off easily with the water. They waited, but nothing else happened. Looking at the first package, Diane couldn’t help but believe that somewhere in the desert was a scared child who had come out first and left the cave. There was no more motion from the machine. They saw that there was one more package. They could wait no longer. They needed to get the children home. The children needed to be wrapped in something for the cold. Philip hoped they could come back later and see what had happened to the last package.
Several minutes after the shooting.
Even though the pain in his wrists and palms was killing him, Max raised himself off the small lady beneath him. She quickly rolled over and soundly slapped Max. He pushed himself to a sitting position and sat there looking at her. Looking around, Liz saw the dead and dying. There was blood everywhere. Before her mind could begin to wrap itself around what had happened, a man and woman threw a blanket over her head and she found herself strapped to a stretcher. Max said nothing because he likewise was subdued. He felt himself placed in a vehicle and with sirens blaring, he was driven to some strange place. Max, eventually, could tell that they had been driven inside a building. Max felt them moving him; then, he felt the isolation. He was blinded and bound. He had no idea what had happened. He waited for several hours in that state. It felt like his bladder was about to burst.
Max heard movement and felt his straps removed. The blanket was removed and Max blinked at the sudden light. Max was in a doctor’s office and sitting on one of those metal tables on top of a paper sheet. There was another person on the other table. It was the woman. She, likewise, was blinking.
A man in a military uniform entered. He had a commanding appearance. “What did either of you see?” he demanded.
“I didn’t see anything. He knocked me to the concrete and I don’t know what happened after that,” she said pointing at Max.
“Yes, Miss and he probably saved your life. Thirty people died, one, the most important senator in Washington. He was the only one who might get the terribly partisan senate back together. We don’t know which side is responsible or if it was even our own people. It could have been outside terrorist.” He turned to Max. “And, you sir. What did you see?”
Max was still trying to get himself together, besides that his bladder was calling desperately. “I saw the car approaching and several gun barrels poking out the windows. I am afraid that everything I did after that was reflex,” Max explained.
“Did you see any of the men in the car?” the officer asked.
“Yes, I saw the one nearest to me, the one with the machine gun. I might recognize him if I saw him again,” Max continued.
“You two are the only ones left alive. We don’t know if this was a party of our own government or some outside group. We do know that you two are in extreme danger. Right now, we don’t know who to trust. We think our own people are secure, but we can’t even be sure of them. No one, but no one, is to know you two are still alive. For the moment we will try to keep you at a safe house. Remember, we will do everything possible, but even we, have no guarantees,” the officer stated. With that he left the room. Max did not miss the click of the lock on the door. Was he a prisoner, locked inside this room to prevent his escape or was he a refugee protected from those who would harm him on the outside? After returning from the restroom that was adjacent to the medical office, Max looked at his woman companion. Apparently, she had similar needs to his. She made a dash to the restroom as soon as he was out. Max felt embarrassed, he should have allowed her to go first, but for Max, at the time, it had been to urgent to think about anyone else.
Max heard a feeble voice as she returned. She was still shaking. “Hi, I guess I should apologize for slapping you. My name is Elizabeth,” she said, but I usually go by Liz
“Hey, no problem. We both are alive and that is something. By the way, my name is Max,” Max answered.
Liz was studying the man who now was in her company. He was slender with light brown eyes. He had black curly hair and was wearing a typical, dark gray business suit. His shoes were Italian and Liz was sure they were expensive. “Max, we were in a crowd of people. How come you picked me to force to the ground?” she asked.
This time, Max couldn’t help blushing. “I was watching you. I had been following you for several blocks,” he stated.
Liz made a face. “Following me! Are you some kind of stalker?” she demanded.
“No, no nothing like that,” Max answered quickly. “Look, I just had a messy break up with my girlfriend. I was walking to clear my mind. When you passed me, I saw you were so, not like her. As I was watching you my mind was drifting about how much a mistake Connie had been. I was thinking what my life might have been if I had been with someone like you,” Max confessed.
“Max, you know nothing about me. So how could you fantasize about being with me? Max, I have a boyfriend. You are still coming across as a bit scary and dangerous,” she said.
“Liz, I am sorry. I am still so messed up about Connie. Maybe some of my thoughts about you were not strictly honorable. I apologize. I am afraid that I wasn’t properly controlling my thinking. Anyway, the thoughts were so intense about you that when I saw the car approaching, with the guns pointing out the windows, I reacted without thinking at all. There wasn’t any time for that.” Now, Max asked himself, what could change in a millisecond of time? He already had thought the answer at the first of our story. He and the dark haired lady waited to see what fate had in store after they had met at this great crossroads.