Another Life II Part 9
Liz was worn out by the time she got back to the Crashdown. It was only 3pm, but she felt ready for bed. She told Grace that she was going to get a few hours sleep and then meet her at her motel around 7 to go out and get something to eat. Liz had her sword wrapped up in her coat as she went in the back door to find Michael and Maria sitting in the break room going at it. Maria looked up as she came in, then widened her eyes and jumped up.
“Liz, did you have another fight? You are all messed up and you look like you just went through the ringer.”
Liz nodded, sat down, and unwrapped her sword which still had blood stains on it. Michael handed her some paper towels and some cleaner. Liz told her story as she cleaned her sword.
“Grace and I were just touring the town when we felt a buzz, from a car parked alongside the road. Grace said a headhunter had been after her, but she thought she had lost him. Turns out she hadn’t. SO I directed her to a place northeast of town that was pretty deserted, and I got out and waited for him. Turned out to be an unpleasant little shit by the name of Ian Calder—basically the male version of Felicia Rising. He was better than Felicia, but not that much better, and I was able to get him off balance and take him down before taking his head. His quickening was about the same as hers—he prayed on the helpless and weak and inexperienced. Just another vulture. Since Grace won’t fight, he thought he was going to get two cheap quickening—instead, he got the short haircut and hopefully is roasting in hell right alongside Felicia.”
This had been repeated in a very matter of fact way while Liz cleaned her sword. Maria looked very closely at her friend. This unemotional and robotic Liz wigged her out. She was starting to worry that Liz was beginning to shut down her emotions all too much. Maria could understand having to do that while fighting—but to start doing that all the time was just wrong.
Michael was also beginning to worry about Liz. She seemed to be falling into the trap that many professional soldiers seem to go into—shutting down emotions and just getting it done. He could understand that for some of the time, but for someone like Liz to start doing it full time would be a very bad thing.
Liz finished cleaning her sword and wrapped it up in her coat again. She told them that she was tired and would be taking a nap for a few hours. Then she went upstairs.
Maria looked at Michael and said “I am going to talk to Alex; you get a hold of Max. I think we all need to talk about this. I think Liz is going down a dark road, and we need to detour her.” Michael nodded and went over to the phone on the wall to call Max.
Liz walked into the apartment to find her Mother sitting in the living room reading a book. Nancy looked up and saw Liz carrying something wrapped in her coat—had to be her sword. She then noticed that Liz looked a little mussed up and somewhat dirty. Her eyes widened, and she exclaimed “Liz! Did you have another fight?”
Liz sighed and sat down and recounted the afternoon’s events.
Nancy took a deep breath. Like Maria and Michael, she was worried about how unemotional Liz seemed to be about the whole thing. “Liz, just how are you feeling?”
Liz shrugged. “Tired. I am going to go take a nap. I told Grace I would meet her at her motel at 7 to go find a good place to eat that is not a tourist trap.” She then went into her room, leaving Nancy thinking hard.
By 5pm that afternoon, they were all at Tess’s house. Max, Maria, Alex, Isabel, Michael, Tess, Sheriff Valenti, and Kyle. Maria had talked to Nancy and had gotten a hold of Grace at the motel and convinced her to attend as well. She had also called Duncan, and he had agreed that Liz might be overcompensating, and told her that Grace might be a good person to talk this over with.
Maria took the floor first. “When Liz got back this afternoon and I asked her what had happened, she recounted the events like a robot; No real emotion or anything. Thinking hard about it, I realized that lately she seems to be going down that road more and more often, and I think that we have a problem.”
Max reluctantly nodded. “It started right after her fight with Felicia, I think. It was pretty gradual, but I noticed it most when she got back after the mess with Nasedo. Outside of apologizing to Tess about killing him, she showed very little emotion. She seems to be shutting down more and more.”
Sheriff Valenti looked thoughtful. “I have known more than a few professional soldiers over the years, and a lot of them are like that. It’s a defense mechanism that allows them to get through that kind of life. I guess in a way, it’s not surprising that Liz is doing it as well. But I agree that it might not be the healthiest thing for her to do.”
Grace had sat back and listened and watched the group interact. It astounded her that Liz had let so many into her secret, but at the same time, it was clear they all cared about her and were worried. For someone like herself that had to continually move around over the centuries, having this many friends and caring individuals around her had never happened. She thought Liz was very fortunate indeed. Knowing Duncan and being acquainted over the years with a fair number of professional soldiers, she saw that Liz was indeed following that old road of shutting down your emotions. She also knew what that cost them as well. It was not the best thing for Liz even if it was understandable. She roused herself when Maria asked for her input.
“I am over 500 years old, a little older then Duncan. I have known a lot of professional soldiers over the years, and Liz is indeed following that pattern of emotional shutdown. Now many of them needed that to survive the horrors of war, but Liz really does not need to do that—and it is indeed unhealthy from a mental health point of view. The next step is usually to start distancing oneself from friends and family and start to become a loner. We Immortals to a certain extent are forced to do that since we have to continually move around so as not to attract attention to the fact that we do not age. Many do become loners and frankly very lonely. I try and counteract that by every now and then becoming the local doctor to a small community and thus interacting with people on a daily basis. Liz is vulnerable to this since she is still very young and while she is right now surrounded by you people and her parents, she is very aware that she will have to leave. I believe she is subconsciously trying to protect herself by sealing herself off now so that it will not hurt as much when she has to leave. All of you need to work on this—basically refuse to allow Liz to distance herself. It’s not going to be easy since even though I just met her today, I already can see that she can be a very stubborn individual.”
Max was thinking hard. IT all seemed very clear now what Liz was doing—he agreed with Grace that this was more than likely a subconscious thing on Liz’s part rather than a conscious decision. An idea occurred to him, and he turned to Grace.
“Grace, is there any reason you have to leave soon?”
A little startled, she shook her head no. “I had already started to make preparations to move on when that headhunter showed up. All my household goods and professional books and papers are already in storage, ready to be shipped to wherever I settle down to.”
Max nodded then leaned forward. “Do you have a problem with staying in Roswell for a while?”
A little mystified, she once again shook her head no. “You have an idea I take it?”
Taking a deep breath, Max nodded then started on his idea. “Liz has always dreamed of attending Harvard and getting her PHD and then one day becoming the head of research in Microbiology there, or somewhere equally as prominent. Being Immortal has shot that idea down, although she is firm about attending college somewhere. I think that realizing that that dream is gone is one of the reasons she has started to shut herself down. You probably know more about microbiology then any professor anywhere considering how many years you have been in the field, and have done research in different areas at different times. If you could stay here for say six months or a year, however long you can stand such a small town, and teach Liz what you can, that could very well help her right herself and get balanced again and get a proper perspective on things.”
Tess was slowly nodding. “You could stay here. That way the sheriff could say he is renting out the house, and had decided not to sell it. And this place has a huge basement that is unfinished. You could probably set up quite a lab down there. That way, you could be doing research that Liz could help you with. Something else that would help keep her involved and interacting with people.”
Grace sat back and thought. She owed Liz for getting rid of the headhunter, and she really wanted to see to it that Liz did not become a loner like all too many Immortals were. Alien tackiness aside, she kind of liked Roswell. This part of the US was certainly not a place that would attract Immortals; the two headhunters that had come here had been chasing others and had otherwise no interest in a place like this. Also she would be able to visit Duncan now and then, and she felt a little guilty about not staying in touch with him. She looked around at the others and nodded. “OK, I’ll do it.”
Max then looked at Isabel and then Michael and Tess, and jerked his head towards Grace. After a couple of minutes, they all nodded at him. He then got up and walked over to Grace.
“There is one secret that you should know since you are going to be here for a while.”
Grace headed towards the Crashdown for her dinner engagement with Liz, still trying to come to grips with what Max had told her, then showed her. Aliens existed—and Irony of Ironies, right here in Roswell. She once again shook her head, still bemused. She had intellectually believed for a long time that alien life was certainly possible in the vastness that was the Milky Way galaxy. But having met some and realized that she would be living around some was a whole other matter that would take some getting used to. Still it was another reason that staying in Roswell for a while could be very interesting indeed.
Dominic’s was a quiet Italian restaurant that did not cater to the Alien Theme like so many businesses in Roswell. It had very good food and was a very comfortable place to eat. Liz thought that Grace would appreciate it and she was right. Italian food was Grace’s favorite, and she regaled Liz with stories about where some of the so called traditional Italian dishes actually came from and when. After eating, Liz asked her to come back with her to the Crashdown to sit on the balcony and talk. Grace decided that that would be a good time to tell her about her decision to stay. And that by chance, she had talked to Maria that afternoon, and she had had her talk to Sheriff Valenti and Tess.
Liz sat and pondered what Grace had told her. She was very happy that the Immortal woman would be staying for a while and more so that she had asked Liz to help out with some experiments and research that she would be doing once she got the lab going in the basement of Tess’s house. She was also, however, wondering what had prompted this since she knew that Grace was a European through and through. So she decided to find out.
“What is the real reason you are staying Grace? Is it because of some kind of gratitude that I took out the headhunter? Sure you were the reason that he came through here, but that was pure chance. And once he knew I was here, he would have come after me sooner or later anyway. I know you are most comfortable in Europe, and this place is pretty far away literally and figuratively.”
Grace had been prepared for that question—Liz was far too observant and sharp not to wonder.
“A small part is gratitude of course. But mostly, I have realized that this place would be quite a change over what I am used to, and that that might be the best reason to stay here. Maybe I have gotten into a rut as well. Add to that I will have a chance to visit Duncan now and then, and I was a little guilty about the fact I had promised to stay in touch, and I really have not. Doing some independent lab work and research is also appealing. And add to that is that maybe it’s time I gave a little back to all those Immortals over the years who have helped me—Duncan saved my life several times, others like you have as well, and I have never really had anything to do with Newbies. And I sense a kindred spirit in you as regards research. We have a huge advantage over non-immortals in that we will with any luck be around for a long time, and thus, from a research point of view, can watch things develop over a really long-term period.”
Thoughtfully, Liz looked at Grace and nodded. “OK, those are all valid reasons, but I get the feeling there is something else as well.”
Grace sat and thought for a moment and then decided to be honest with Liz.
“Another part of the reason is that after talking to Maria and a couple others who know you pretty well, I found that they are worried about you. You are starting to close yourself off emotionally from others, even those closest to you. This is a common thing among Immortals, and it’s understandable. It’s also not the healthiest thing to do either. I have seen it happen and have nearly let it happen to me on several occasions over the centuries. It’s something you have to guard against and fight it away when it comes. You are very lucky Liz in that you have been able to continue your life as it was—something very few Immortals are lucky enough to do. You have a pretty large number of people who care about you and know what you are. Don’t let it go to waste by closing yourself off. Being immortal means to LIVE a long life; not just exist.”
Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Complete 9/10/09
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thumper1942
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:37 pm
Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 9 8/24/09
Another Life II Part 10
Liz had spent some time thinking about what Grace had told her as regards not cutting herself off from her friends and family. She truly had not realized that she had started to do that, but going back over the last couple of months, she could see that unconsciously she had been pulling back from those around her. She was determined to not do that again, and realized that she had to rely on those around her letting her know when or if she started to do it again. She decided that she needed to make a point of mixing with her friends more often; she had allowed herself to narrow her focus to school, working at the Crashdown, and training. That had to change.
Max had made a personal vow to make sure Liz interacted with her friends more often. He also thought that it would be better for Michael and Isabel to get out more as well and decided that involving them in the whole program would make everything better. He also felt, and he knew Michael was of the same mindset, that they needed to practice more as regards their own powers. While it was a good thing that the Military was apparently hot and heavy after the other aliens, they still needed to make sure they were ready for anything that might come their way. He remembered Liz offering to help by researching and trying to figure out if maybe they had other capabilities that they had not yet discovered. That would also be another way to keep Liz involved.
Grace had gotten right to work setting up her lab in Tess’s basement. It was quite a large area, and should have more than enough room for what Grace wanted. Now it was a case of finding the equipment. After mentioning this to Liz, she had been surprised when Liz pulled out her cell phone and called someone. A quick conversation and Liz had her heading over to a clinic nearby that was where Liz had stayed for a while after her shooting to cover up her fast healing.
Liz had decided to start with Cynthia since she actually did work at the clinic. She remembered that one of the reasons they were able to set it up so fast was that a lot of the needed equipment was here in Roswell, left over from a couple of clinics that had closed. She wondered if some of that was still here, and if so, then maybe it would help getting Grace set up.
Cynthia was a little surprised that Liz wanted to see her at such short notice. She wondered what it was all about. Maybe about what happened to the body of the headhunter? If so, she would have to fudge a little. Sam Turner had not had to wait long before some Watchers showed up and took care of the body. She was at the reception desk when Liz showed up with Grace.
After introducing them, she got right to the point as regards the equipment. Cynthia motioned them to follow her to see Dr. Levins, who had decided to stay at the Roswell Clinic rather than return to the Deming Clinic.
Dr. Levins listened to what Grace wanted and then pulled out the list of items he knew were still in storage in Roswell. He gave it to her and watched as she ran down the list, putting checkmarks to items she could use. She looked at him and said, “About 2/3 of what I need is on this list. The basic lab equipment, centrifuges, Bunsen burners, etc. is there. Also standard microscopes. What I will also need is a basic Electron Microscope; that will probably be the toughest item to get. Pretty much everything else are standard items I can get fairly easily.”
Dr. Levins considered the electron microscope. He thought that he knew of one available at a lab that was closing in Albuquerque, but he would have to check. Grace sounded like she was putting together a very complete compact lab. But then he had heard of her before—she had been doing medical and biological research before anyone had invented the terms. He was willing to bet it all had something to do with Liz. He knew that Liz had a big interest in Microbiology; Grace looking as if she was staying for a while and putting together her own lab pointed towards her beginning to teach Liz the basics at least.
He called the lab he was thinking of and was pleased to find out that they indeed still had the Microscope; they also had a Spectroanalysis Machine which was something he was willing to bet Grace would want as well. He let Grace know about the equipment, and from the way her eyes lit up as regard the Spectro, he was not surprised that she put in her bid for that as well.
Armed with the address of the warehouse where the equipment was being stored, Liz and Grace headed over to take a firsthand look. The fact that the realtor was there waiting for them by the time they got there was a good indication that he wanted to get rid of the equipment as well. Liz called up Maria (who she knew was home right now) and asked if she could come over with the van; they could pick up a lot of the equipment right away. Grace looked over what was available in the warehouse and was pleased to see that there were mundane things like lab tables and such that would also be needed. She huddled with the Realtor to haggle about the price while Liz wandered around looking out of curiosity.
Maria arrived half an hour later with the van just after Grace and the Realtor had come to a deal on the equipment. Fully 2/3 of what was left in the warehouse would be going to the lab. Looking at it all, Liz estimated that it would take a couple of trips even if they packed the van to the gills. She also considered the muscle end of things and called Max. He agreed to collar Michael and come on over to help out.
Michael had not been all that enthusiastic about helping out, but Max told him that if he didn’t, it would give Maria more ammunition to chew on him about, and did he really want that? A very convincing argument.
It actually took three trips, but it was all in Tess’s basement by 6PM, and they all went to Dominic’s to eat—Grace telling them it was on her. Cynthia had to turn down the invitation, claiming an early shift in the morning (actually figuring that maybe she should not spend THIS much time with her Subject). Liz had tweaked Grace a little on that mentioning that she should know that Michael Guerin was a renowned bottomless pit. That set the tone for the evening, and a fun time was had by all.
Grace was astonished how easily she was fitting into this relatively young group. Of course, it helped that in many ways, all of the teens had aged years beyond their chronological years. They were not having to worry about forbidden subjects and secrets (they had gotten a double table right at the rear of the restaurant), and tonight it was not particularly busy; there was no one close enough to overhear them. Grace thought that spending a year or so here would be a nice change, and she thought she would be very comfortable here.
Maria in particular, after finding out that Grace had known Duncan for at least a couple of centuries, begged for some stories about him. Her normal taciturn nature in regards to Immortals somewhat loosened up by a couple of glasses of wine; she went into some fairly juicy details about their first meeting and the results of it. Maria then of course asked, “So is he as good as he looks like he would be in bed?” Liz’s cry of “Maria” completely failed to stop or even slow her down. In somewhat of a glow due to the wine and fun company, Grace gave a somewhat enigmatic smile and said, “Tremendous.”
Being as it was a school night, the gang reluctantly headed home around 9. Grace had already moved into Tess’s house, so she went alone back there while Max took Liz home (Maria and Michael decided that bickering was enough fun that they would head back together).
Duncan called Liz the next afternoon and asked her how long Grace was going to stay. On being informed that she might be there for a year or more, Duncan was a little startled. Knowing how comfortable Grace was in Europe, he was a little surprised that she was willing to stay that long. Liz said she thought that part of it was the novelty; part of it was being truly out of the way and not having to worry about headhunters; and part of it was Grace thinking she owed Liz something. Duncan nodded thoughtfully to himself and agreed that Liz was probably about right on it. He let her know that he would be coming down for a few days the following weekend and thus could help Liz stay sharp. Liz told him that she was always glad to see him, but that he should pencil in some time to spend with Grace. Duncan said that that was part of the reason he was coming.
After getting off the phone, Duncan decided to head over to Joe’s and let him know his subject would be out of town in Roswell for a few days. Upon walking into the Bar, Duncan spotted Methos in his usual spot with his usual beer. Sitting down next to him and ordering a beer, he waited for Joe to come by.
Joe saw Duncan come in and finished his set. Wandering over to the bar, he relieved Sam of his “problem children” and sat down and waited for Duncan to let him know why he was there.
“Just talked to Liz, and she told me that Grace would be staying for a while in Roswell, setting up a lab and teaching Liz the basics of Microbiology. Grace can probably teach in one year what a university would take four to do. From what Liz said, she thought that the novelty and being out of the way appealed to Grace right now. That and helping out Liz partially out of gratitude for getting rid of the headhunter. I will be heading down there next weekend for a few days. Most of that to spar with Liz but some of it to spend some time with Grace. We have not really talked in a long time.”
Liz had called Max and asked him to drop by the Crashdown Saturday morning at around 11 just before her shift ended. A little mystified but quite happy to comply, Max agreed. When he got there, he found Liz finishing her shift and motioning for him to go upstairs. Still in the dark, he nodded and headed up the stairs, and knocked on the apartment door. Nancy let him in and told him to go out on the balcony, and Liz would be right with him. It was only a few minutes later when Liz joined him, holding a notepad. He looked at it and raised an eyebrow as he looked at Liz. She grinned at him and proceeded to let him know what was going on.
“Alex and I have over the last month or so done all the research we could on mental projection of various powers. We have no idea if any of you can do these, but we can try and find out. Since no instructions were left with you and apparently no one survived except Nasedo, we might as well take a shot at finding out your limits this way. We know you can all project energy, and you can heal, Max; and Isabel can enter dreams; and Tess can apparently make people see things that are not there. But I believe there is more to be found. You said you can change items at a molecular level; I think you can also do other things on that area as well. Such as heat water molecules and form a fog bank; or say overheat a tire on a pursuing vehicle; maybe move rocks instead of blasting them, and so on. So let’s start now.” Liz pointed at a rock about the size of a soft ball sitting in the middle of the balcony.
“Concentrate on that rock, Max, and see if you can move it; first by using your mind only, then by pointing your hand at it and using your mind.”
Max took a deep breath and concentrated on the rock for several minutes, but it did not move. Then he pointed his hand at it and concentrated again; the rock rose up a few inches; he moved his hand, and the rock moved with it; then he let it down. And took a deep breath.
Liz was very pleased and wrote down on her notepad a checkmark against telekinesis.
“Now use your hand and concentrate on heating water molecules.”
Max did this, but nothing happened.
“OK—try just heating and pointing your hand.”
Max did so, and they could both see shimmering heat waves.
Liz nodded and wrote down—heating air.
She then pointed at a plastic bucket full of water—“Use your hand and heat that water.”
Max did, and in a couple of minutes, the water begin to bubble, and the bucket began to melt—at which point he stopped.
Liz wrote down—can boil water at a distance.
“Now use your hand and see if you can freeze that water”
Max found that it took longer and more exertion, but he could freeze the water.
“Max, see that piece of paper laying on the floor—see if you can set it on fire.”
It took even more exertion, but he was able to cause it to catch fire.
Liz wrote down—pyrokinesis—but not quickly.
Liz then got up and picked up some small nerf balls.
“Max, I am going to throw these at you—see if you can raise a shield to stop them.”
Liz then started to throw them at him—the first one hit, but the second and third bounced off some kind of shield. Liz nodded and made a note. “We are going to have to work on that and see how strong the shield is. Ideally, we would like one that could stop bullets.”
By now Max was starting to sweat and was breathing heavily. Liz sat down and pulled out a cold bottle of water from a cooler she had sitting there and handed it to Max who drank down the pint in about 10 seconds. “I think that is plenty for now, Max. We now know you can do other things. I bet Isabel and Michael and Tess can as well. It’s just a matter of trial and error, and time.”
It had been 10 days since the battle with the Aliens and the military had left no stone unturned to try and find where they had been based. It had been established that they had somehow gotten the two vans that were apparently parked nearby (intensive study of the ground and tire tracks had established that they were vans) over a rough road over the mountains—totally unexpected. Major Tolner had had a team studying satellite photos of the area, and finally after several days, they were able to spot the vans heading north then west and then north. They were able to track them to the north of Albuquerque, but not any further. But they had identified the vans as Dodge Ram 3500’s. Then the DMV records for New Mexico and Colorado were gone over, and it was found that 2 white Dodge Ram 3500 Vans were owned by what was called the Friendship League in Copper Summit, Colorado. Which was in line with where the two vans were headed when they passed beyond the satellite photos available. Further investigation of the supposedly non-denominational group found that it had been established only 3 years after the Roswell Crash. Now it was determined that the Aliens from the crash were not the same kind as they had just fought—but the timing was just too close to be a coincidence. Only one thing argued against that, and that was the distance from Roswell. And back in 1950, it would have taken a lot longer to get to Roswell than it did now. The local county sheriff was asked quietly by the FBI about the Friendship League and was told they were harmless. He was asked to check their status, and a day later, came back and told them that there appeared to be a much smaller number of them. He had not asked any questions but had noticed that the small town was even smaller. As far as Tolner was concerned, that was enough to swoop down on the small town—and his superiors agreed. It was decided in 48 hours to surround the town and move in.
Courtney had not been one of those selected to go on the data hunt for which she was quite happy about, especially considering what happened. Since almost 10 days had gone by and no one had noticed anything suspicious in the immediate area, the rest of them were starting to relax. But not her—she thought it was just a matter of time. She was very well aware of the satellite capability of the Military and figured it was just a matter of time before they identified the vans and then traced back their ownership to here. Courtney had quietly and secretly been planning a way out for herself—she had managed to scrounge an extra skin and had managed to get it FED EXED to a PO Box that she had gotten online in Roswell—figuring if she got out that would be the last place the Military would look for her. Without the chambers, it would take longer to get the skin ready, but she felt she had at least one more year before her current skin gave out on her. She had been careful over the last few years not to exert herself as much as possible, and that had given her a time edge over the rest of them. She had gotten also quietly a small Kawasaki 100 motorcycle which should be sufficient to get her to Roswell—and if necessary escape Copper Summit much easier than a car. She had decided to head out that night—by pushing the cycle out of hearing range of anyone in town, then taking a dirt trail up and out. It was a full moon and clear—which should be just enough light for her to make it.
Major Tolner, for the fourth or fifth time, checked the deployment of his troops. He had much larger force this time—almost a full company. They had managed to scrounge enough street sweeper type 40MM’s and about a dozen more super tasers. He had ordered them to start to deploy around 2AM. They would move into town from all sides at sunrise.
Courtney had just gotten the cycle up the dirt trail to the top of the small mountain by midnight when she noticed the vehicles starting to converge on it and decided to take a chance and keep going. She was not using the light on the cycle and hoped that they could not hear it. She got lucky—and made it down a hill and into a dry stream bed just before the HUM-V’s passed her. She shut off the cycle and waited until the vehicles got out of earshot, then started it up and quickly moved down the road—light still off.
Major Tolner waited until the first faint light from the coming dawn hit the town and ordered the troops to move in.
Gerrold had just woken up and had moved downstairs in his house when he saw military troops moving in a line approaching the town. He froze in horror for a moment, then instinctively hit the alert button that would ring in every residence in town. He knew it was futile as he saw that they would probably be outnumbered 10 to 1, and these troops had certainly been briefed on how to fight. He was determined not to be captured and experimented on, and he was confident that the rest of them felt the same way.
Major Tolner sighed as he observed the burning town—probably 90% of the buildings were burning and while an occasional shot was still heard, he doubted that any of the aliens were left alive. He had no reports of any surrenders or captures and really did not expect any. However, the second line of troops had reported that no one had made it past them, and he had no reason to doubt that. They had caught them totally by surprise. He just hoped that this was the end, and that no more were left out there.
Courtney made it to Roswell by 6PM. She had ditched the bike just in case as soon as she got to Albuquerque and had taken a bus from there to Roswell. She had carefully been planning to get out for several years and had managed to steal and save and convert items in town to cash. She had enough to last her a couple of years if necessary. But first, she had to start getting her new skin ready. She had made contact a few weeks ago and had managed to get a small apartment all ready to go. She just had to see the realtor, sign the paperwork, and pick up the keys. She spent the night in a small, cheap motel. She had watched the news with interest at 10PM, and they had mentioned a fire in a small Colorado town that had burnt most of it down and killed several residents. Due to worries about toxic gases from some small factories, the authorities were keeping everyone except emergency personnel out of the town. Courtney shook her head. She had just barely made it out. She was pretty certain that no one had surrendered and that everyone was dead. And she felt that she was in the clear since there would also be no one to point out that one was missing.
Liz had spent some time thinking about what Grace had told her as regards not cutting herself off from her friends and family. She truly had not realized that she had started to do that, but going back over the last couple of months, she could see that unconsciously she had been pulling back from those around her. She was determined to not do that again, and realized that she had to rely on those around her letting her know when or if she started to do it again. She decided that she needed to make a point of mixing with her friends more often; she had allowed herself to narrow her focus to school, working at the Crashdown, and training. That had to change.
Max had made a personal vow to make sure Liz interacted with her friends more often. He also thought that it would be better for Michael and Isabel to get out more as well and decided that involving them in the whole program would make everything better. He also felt, and he knew Michael was of the same mindset, that they needed to practice more as regards their own powers. While it was a good thing that the Military was apparently hot and heavy after the other aliens, they still needed to make sure they were ready for anything that might come their way. He remembered Liz offering to help by researching and trying to figure out if maybe they had other capabilities that they had not yet discovered. That would also be another way to keep Liz involved.
Grace had gotten right to work setting up her lab in Tess’s basement. It was quite a large area, and should have more than enough room for what Grace wanted. Now it was a case of finding the equipment. After mentioning this to Liz, she had been surprised when Liz pulled out her cell phone and called someone. A quick conversation and Liz had her heading over to a clinic nearby that was where Liz had stayed for a while after her shooting to cover up her fast healing.
Liz had decided to start with Cynthia since she actually did work at the clinic. She remembered that one of the reasons they were able to set it up so fast was that a lot of the needed equipment was here in Roswell, left over from a couple of clinics that had closed. She wondered if some of that was still here, and if so, then maybe it would help getting Grace set up.
Cynthia was a little surprised that Liz wanted to see her at such short notice. She wondered what it was all about. Maybe about what happened to the body of the headhunter? If so, she would have to fudge a little. Sam Turner had not had to wait long before some Watchers showed up and took care of the body. She was at the reception desk when Liz showed up with Grace.
After introducing them, she got right to the point as regards the equipment. Cynthia motioned them to follow her to see Dr. Levins, who had decided to stay at the Roswell Clinic rather than return to the Deming Clinic.
Dr. Levins listened to what Grace wanted and then pulled out the list of items he knew were still in storage in Roswell. He gave it to her and watched as she ran down the list, putting checkmarks to items she could use. She looked at him and said, “About 2/3 of what I need is on this list. The basic lab equipment, centrifuges, Bunsen burners, etc. is there. Also standard microscopes. What I will also need is a basic Electron Microscope; that will probably be the toughest item to get. Pretty much everything else are standard items I can get fairly easily.”
Dr. Levins considered the electron microscope. He thought that he knew of one available at a lab that was closing in Albuquerque, but he would have to check. Grace sounded like she was putting together a very complete compact lab. But then he had heard of her before—she had been doing medical and biological research before anyone had invented the terms. He was willing to bet it all had something to do with Liz. He knew that Liz had a big interest in Microbiology; Grace looking as if she was staying for a while and putting together her own lab pointed towards her beginning to teach Liz the basics at least.
He called the lab he was thinking of and was pleased to find out that they indeed still had the Microscope; they also had a Spectroanalysis Machine which was something he was willing to bet Grace would want as well. He let Grace know about the equipment, and from the way her eyes lit up as regard the Spectro, he was not surprised that she put in her bid for that as well.
Armed with the address of the warehouse where the equipment was being stored, Liz and Grace headed over to take a firsthand look. The fact that the realtor was there waiting for them by the time they got there was a good indication that he wanted to get rid of the equipment as well. Liz called up Maria (who she knew was home right now) and asked if she could come over with the van; they could pick up a lot of the equipment right away. Grace looked over what was available in the warehouse and was pleased to see that there were mundane things like lab tables and such that would also be needed. She huddled with the Realtor to haggle about the price while Liz wandered around looking out of curiosity.
Maria arrived half an hour later with the van just after Grace and the Realtor had come to a deal on the equipment. Fully 2/3 of what was left in the warehouse would be going to the lab. Looking at it all, Liz estimated that it would take a couple of trips even if they packed the van to the gills. She also considered the muscle end of things and called Max. He agreed to collar Michael and come on over to help out.
Michael had not been all that enthusiastic about helping out, but Max told him that if he didn’t, it would give Maria more ammunition to chew on him about, and did he really want that? A very convincing argument.
It actually took three trips, but it was all in Tess’s basement by 6PM, and they all went to Dominic’s to eat—Grace telling them it was on her. Cynthia had to turn down the invitation, claiming an early shift in the morning (actually figuring that maybe she should not spend THIS much time with her Subject). Liz had tweaked Grace a little on that mentioning that she should know that Michael Guerin was a renowned bottomless pit. That set the tone for the evening, and a fun time was had by all.
Grace was astonished how easily she was fitting into this relatively young group. Of course, it helped that in many ways, all of the teens had aged years beyond their chronological years. They were not having to worry about forbidden subjects and secrets (they had gotten a double table right at the rear of the restaurant), and tonight it was not particularly busy; there was no one close enough to overhear them. Grace thought that spending a year or so here would be a nice change, and she thought she would be very comfortable here.
Maria in particular, after finding out that Grace had known Duncan for at least a couple of centuries, begged for some stories about him. Her normal taciturn nature in regards to Immortals somewhat loosened up by a couple of glasses of wine; she went into some fairly juicy details about their first meeting and the results of it. Maria then of course asked, “So is he as good as he looks like he would be in bed?” Liz’s cry of “Maria” completely failed to stop or even slow her down. In somewhat of a glow due to the wine and fun company, Grace gave a somewhat enigmatic smile and said, “Tremendous.”
Being as it was a school night, the gang reluctantly headed home around 9. Grace had already moved into Tess’s house, so she went alone back there while Max took Liz home (Maria and Michael decided that bickering was enough fun that they would head back together).
Duncan called Liz the next afternoon and asked her how long Grace was going to stay. On being informed that she might be there for a year or more, Duncan was a little startled. Knowing how comfortable Grace was in Europe, he was a little surprised that she was willing to stay that long. Liz said she thought that part of it was the novelty; part of it was being truly out of the way and not having to worry about headhunters; and part of it was Grace thinking she owed Liz something. Duncan nodded thoughtfully to himself and agreed that Liz was probably about right on it. He let her know that he would be coming down for a few days the following weekend and thus could help Liz stay sharp. Liz told him that she was always glad to see him, but that he should pencil in some time to spend with Grace. Duncan said that that was part of the reason he was coming.
After getting off the phone, Duncan decided to head over to Joe’s and let him know his subject would be out of town in Roswell for a few days. Upon walking into the Bar, Duncan spotted Methos in his usual spot with his usual beer. Sitting down next to him and ordering a beer, he waited for Joe to come by.
Joe saw Duncan come in and finished his set. Wandering over to the bar, he relieved Sam of his “problem children” and sat down and waited for Duncan to let him know why he was there.
“Just talked to Liz, and she told me that Grace would be staying for a while in Roswell, setting up a lab and teaching Liz the basics of Microbiology. Grace can probably teach in one year what a university would take four to do. From what Liz said, she thought that the novelty and being out of the way appealed to Grace right now. That and helping out Liz partially out of gratitude for getting rid of the headhunter. I will be heading down there next weekend for a few days. Most of that to spar with Liz but some of it to spend some time with Grace. We have not really talked in a long time.”
Liz had called Max and asked him to drop by the Crashdown Saturday morning at around 11 just before her shift ended. A little mystified but quite happy to comply, Max agreed. When he got there, he found Liz finishing her shift and motioning for him to go upstairs. Still in the dark, he nodded and headed up the stairs, and knocked on the apartment door. Nancy let him in and told him to go out on the balcony, and Liz would be right with him. It was only a few minutes later when Liz joined him, holding a notepad. He looked at it and raised an eyebrow as he looked at Liz. She grinned at him and proceeded to let him know what was going on.
“Alex and I have over the last month or so done all the research we could on mental projection of various powers. We have no idea if any of you can do these, but we can try and find out. Since no instructions were left with you and apparently no one survived except Nasedo, we might as well take a shot at finding out your limits this way. We know you can all project energy, and you can heal, Max; and Isabel can enter dreams; and Tess can apparently make people see things that are not there. But I believe there is more to be found. You said you can change items at a molecular level; I think you can also do other things on that area as well. Such as heat water molecules and form a fog bank; or say overheat a tire on a pursuing vehicle; maybe move rocks instead of blasting them, and so on. So let’s start now.” Liz pointed at a rock about the size of a soft ball sitting in the middle of the balcony.
“Concentrate on that rock, Max, and see if you can move it; first by using your mind only, then by pointing your hand at it and using your mind.”
Max took a deep breath and concentrated on the rock for several minutes, but it did not move. Then he pointed his hand at it and concentrated again; the rock rose up a few inches; he moved his hand, and the rock moved with it; then he let it down. And took a deep breath.
Liz was very pleased and wrote down on her notepad a checkmark against telekinesis.
“Now use your hand and concentrate on heating water molecules.”
Max did this, but nothing happened.
“OK—try just heating and pointing your hand.”
Max did so, and they could both see shimmering heat waves.
Liz nodded and wrote down—heating air.
She then pointed at a plastic bucket full of water—“Use your hand and heat that water.”
Max did, and in a couple of minutes, the water begin to bubble, and the bucket began to melt—at which point he stopped.
Liz wrote down—can boil water at a distance.
“Now use your hand and see if you can freeze that water”
Max found that it took longer and more exertion, but he could freeze the water.
“Max, see that piece of paper laying on the floor—see if you can set it on fire.”
It took even more exertion, but he was able to cause it to catch fire.
Liz wrote down—pyrokinesis—but not quickly.
Liz then got up and picked up some small nerf balls.
“Max, I am going to throw these at you—see if you can raise a shield to stop them.”
Liz then started to throw them at him—the first one hit, but the second and third bounced off some kind of shield. Liz nodded and made a note. “We are going to have to work on that and see how strong the shield is. Ideally, we would like one that could stop bullets.”
By now Max was starting to sweat and was breathing heavily. Liz sat down and pulled out a cold bottle of water from a cooler she had sitting there and handed it to Max who drank down the pint in about 10 seconds. “I think that is plenty for now, Max. We now know you can do other things. I bet Isabel and Michael and Tess can as well. It’s just a matter of trial and error, and time.”
It had been 10 days since the battle with the Aliens and the military had left no stone unturned to try and find where they had been based. It had been established that they had somehow gotten the two vans that were apparently parked nearby (intensive study of the ground and tire tracks had established that they were vans) over a rough road over the mountains—totally unexpected. Major Tolner had had a team studying satellite photos of the area, and finally after several days, they were able to spot the vans heading north then west and then north. They were able to track them to the north of Albuquerque, but not any further. But they had identified the vans as Dodge Ram 3500’s. Then the DMV records for New Mexico and Colorado were gone over, and it was found that 2 white Dodge Ram 3500 Vans were owned by what was called the Friendship League in Copper Summit, Colorado. Which was in line with where the two vans were headed when they passed beyond the satellite photos available. Further investigation of the supposedly non-denominational group found that it had been established only 3 years after the Roswell Crash. Now it was determined that the Aliens from the crash were not the same kind as they had just fought—but the timing was just too close to be a coincidence. Only one thing argued against that, and that was the distance from Roswell. And back in 1950, it would have taken a lot longer to get to Roswell than it did now. The local county sheriff was asked quietly by the FBI about the Friendship League and was told they were harmless. He was asked to check their status, and a day later, came back and told them that there appeared to be a much smaller number of them. He had not asked any questions but had noticed that the small town was even smaller. As far as Tolner was concerned, that was enough to swoop down on the small town—and his superiors agreed. It was decided in 48 hours to surround the town and move in.
Courtney had not been one of those selected to go on the data hunt for which she was quite happy about, especially considering what happened. Since almost 10 days had gone by and no one had noticed anything suspicious in the immediate area, the rest of them were starting to relax. But not her—she thought it was just a matter of time. She was very well aware of the satellite capability of the Military and figured it was just a matter of time before they identified the vans and then traced back their ownership to here. Courtney had quietly and secretly been planning a way out for herself—she had managed to scrounge an extra skin and had managed to get it FED EXED to a PO Box that she had gotten online in Roswell—figuring if she got out that would be the last place the Military would look for her. Without the chambers, it would take longer to get the skin ready, but she felt she had at least one more year before her current skin gave out on her. She had been careful over the last few years not to exert herself as much as possible, and that had given her a time edge over the rest of them. She had gotten also quietly a small Kawasaki 100 motorcycle which should be sufficient to get her to Roswell—and if necessary escape Copper Summit much easier than a car. She had decided to head out that night—by pushing the cycle out of hearing range of anyone in town, then taking a dirt trail up and out. It was a full moon and clear—which should be just enough light for her to make it.
Major Tolner, for the fourth or fifth time, checked the deployment of his troops. He had much larger force this time—almost a full company. They had managed to scrounge enough street sweeper type 40MM’s and about a dozen more super tasers. He had ordered them to start to deploy around 2AM. They would move into town from all sides at sunrise.
Courtney had just gotten the cycle up the dirt trail to the top of the small mountain by midnight when she noticed the vehicles starting to converge on it and decided to take a chance and keep going. She was not using the light on the cycle and hoped that they could not hear it. She got lucky—and made it down a hill and into a dry stream bed just before the HUM-V’s passed her. She shut off the cycle and waited until the vehicles got out of earshot, then started it up and quickly moved down the road—light still off.
Major Tolner waited until the first faint light from the coming dawn hit the town and ordered the troops to move in.
Gerrold had just woken up and had moved downstairs in his house when he saw military troops moving in a line approaching the town. He froze in horror for a moment, then instinctively hit the alert button that would ring in every residence in town. He knew it was futile as he saw that they would probably be outnumbered 10 to 1, and these troops had certainly been briefed on how to fight. He was determined not to be captured and experimented on, and he was confident that the rest of them felt the same way.
Major Tolner sighed as he observed the burning town—probably 90% of the buildings were burning and while an occasional shot was still heard, he doubted that any of the aliens were left alive. He had no reports of any surrenders or captures and really did not expect any. However, the second line of troops had reported that no one had made it past them, and he had no reason to doubt that. They had caught them totally by surprise. He just hoped that this was the end, and that no more were left out there.
Courtney made it to Roswell by 6PM. She had ditched the bike just in case as soon as she got to Albuquerque and had taken a bus from there to Roswell. She had carefully been planning to get out for several years and had managed to steal and save and convert items in town to cash. She had enough to last her a couple of years if necessary. But first, she had to start getting her new skin ready. She had made contact a few weeks ago and had managed to get a small apartment all ready to go. She just had to see the realtor, sign the paperwork, and pick up the keys. She spent the night in a small, cheap motel. She had watched the news with interest at 10PM, and they had mentioned a fire in a small Colorado town that had burnt most of it down and killed several residents. Due to worries about toxic gases from some small factories, the authorities were keeping everyone except emergency personnel out of the town. Courtney shook her head. She had just barely made it out. She was pretty certain that no one had surrendered and that everyone was dead. And she felt that she was in the clear since there would also be no one to point out that one was missing.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
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Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 10 8/26/09
Another Life II Part 11
Max had told Isabel, Tess, and Michael about the experiments Liz had tried, and that she thought there was a good chance they all had abilities and ways to use their powers that they had never tried or even thought of. Michael was very interested in finding out what they could do; the girls less so. But they all agreed that it would be a good idea to find out their limits, and you never knew when extra powers might come in handy. It was decided that they would all get together at Tess’s house and try out some of the ideas Liz had had. Grace was called, and told them that the Lab Equipment that was coming from Albuquerque would be in the Friday, and that the day after would be a good time to try things out. Also, Duncan would be in that weekend, and extra input could not hurt. Not to mention, it would be a good thing to have extra people around to put the lab gear in the basement and start getting it ready.
Liz and Alex had gotten together that Saturday evening since Max was worn out and went home early; Liz filled him in on what they had found, and they brainstormed some more as regards other possibilities. Alex admitted that a lot of what they were looking at was bad science fiction, but Liz pointed out that since it could be said they were LIVING bad science fiction so what? It was decided to have the whole gang come to Tess’s house on that coming Saturday and have another full meeting.
Major Tolner was going over the briefing paper he was going to have to give to a big wig coming in from the Pentagon for a full report on the activities of the last 2 weeks. They had found parts of aliens and had figured that there were 10 left in the town, and they had killed 15 at the previous battle; and they had not found anything to indicate that there were any left—at least from THIS group. There had been hints that possibly one of the Roswell aliens had escaped, but if so, that one had kept a very low profile since. Of course, it could be argued that the Copper Summit Aliens had done a good job of staying out of sight as well. One thing that was very interesting is that the examination of the alien bodies had shown that they could not survive in this kind of atmosphere; what they had were a kind of environmental suit that appeared to be permanent. Once it was breached, they died very quickly; but it was very tough to penetrate. Only the Thermite/Phosphorus rds had been able to do that; direct hits from 40MM HE rds had not been able to do it. It was thought that it would take something along the lines of an AT-4 84MM HEAT warhead to do it. The Thermite/Phosphorus rds penetrated by heat alone. 5000 degrees is a lot for ANYTHING to withstand. They had gone through the wreckage of the buildings, and in one, had found what looked to be chambers of some kind—and what appeared to be new suits that were being grown inside. So that argued that the suits then would last approx 50 years and then had to be replaced—assuming this was the first time they had to do so. There was no trace of any kind of ship at all which was probably not a surprise—they were probably dropped off, and the ship left. And it was not like it would have been noticed in 1950 anyway with the state of the radar of the time. He wondered what the mission of his unit was going to be now that they had fought their first hostile alien force. The question of course was—are they all that were here?
Courtney found that she was able to settle in fairly quickly. She was busy putting together what would be needed to get her new skin ready. She could put together a new chamber fairly easily—it would not have to withstand high pressure or high temperature, so common materials like aluminum and heavy glass would do. The power source would be a little tricky since she had to have one that would not be affected by power outages—which meant setting up a generator and a system of batteries to make sure there would be no loss of power which could critically damage the skin when it was in its final phase of development. She reluctantly realized that it could not be done in her apartment, and she would have to find somewhere else—an abandoned building or warehouse which of course would be a problem in itself. However, she did have some time, so she would just have to start looking around town. And in the meantime, she could start building the chamber.
Michael was in the local Home Depot getting some parts for the toilet in his apartment which had started to leak. He was just pushing his cart down the aisle towards the rear where building materials were on display, more out of curiosity and boredom than anything else, when he passed by a cute blond looking at some heavy gauge aluminum sheets—and felt a weird prickling that he had never felt before. He managed not to stop but kept on going until he was out of sight. Then he parked his cart in the next aisle and carefully went back to observe without being seen. The blond picked up some sheets and put them on the big dolly—and did it rather easily for someone of her size and build. That further got Michael on edge—extra strength and setting off his senses was NOT a good thing. He watched her go on down and started looking at some other aluminum beams, and decided to take a chance and get to a pay phone and call Max. He was lucky in that the Home Depot was within walking distance of his apartment, but if he was going to follow the blonde, then he needed wheels.
Max listened to what Michael said and told him he would be there in about 20 minutes. He too was a little worried—the extra strength part might not be such a big deal, but the sense thing was. They had never gotten anything like that off of Nasedo, according to Tess, and not even Liz or any of the Immortals felt different to the hybrids. And they felt nothing between themselves. So to run into someone that did was something they could not ignore.
Michael was glad the blond was taking her time—she certainly was gathering an interesting mix of items. Luckily that evening, the store was fairly busy, so she was having to wait in line for a while. Michael had decided to get the stuff he was originally there for so as to look just like another customer. She had just checked out and was wheeling her dolly to a pickup—which looked like a rental—when Max pulled into the parking lot. Michael went right over to him and got in and pointed to the blond. She was rather casually loading a fair amount of heavy items into the back of the truck and certainly did not appear to be straining. They hung back and followed her to a small apartment complex in the north end of town. It was about ¾ of a mile away from where Tess’s house was—right on the edge of the developed part of town. They waited until she took the last load inside, then followed her inside, trying to keep their distance. She was on the first floor and they got the number of her apartment then checked the PO Boxes in the lobby—the name Courtney Williams was on the box with her apartment number. They then left to contact the others and try and figure out what to do next.
Max wasted no time in getting a hold of Sheriff Valenti and letting him know that they might have run across another alien. The Sheriff promised to see what he could find out. Max was able to give him the license plate number of the rental truck as well. Max then told Liz what was going on, and Michael called Tess; Max would tell Isabel when he got home. They agreed that there did not seem to be any great hurry—though what she was going to do with the materials she had bought was an interesting question in itself.
Liz was very interested in what Max told her; she had to agree that the blond sounded suspicious. She remembered that Methos had mentioned that he was able to sense just barely the hybrids—she wondered if he could sense this one as well. She decided to call Duncan.
Duncan listened to what Liz had to tell him and agreed that they probably needed Methos to get close enough to her to see what kind of vibe if any she gave off. He thought that it was very interesting that Michael could sense her, but apparently she could not sense him. He decided to head down to Joe’s and see if his luck was running good and that Methos would be there.
Joe had just finished his set and was heading to the bar when he saw Duncan come in. Him visiting twice in just a few days was fairly rare—so he wondered if anything was up. He then saw the way Duncan looked around and then went right to where Methos was and figured that something was up.
Duncan sat down next to Methos and got right to the point. “Feel like another trip to Roswell?”
Methos took a long draught from his beer and fixed Duncan with the gimlet eye. “I take it there is a good reason for me to go there?” Joe had arrived just in time to here the question and semi answer.
“What’s up Duncan?”
“Liz just called. Michael was in a local store when he passed by a young blond, and he got a strange buzz type feeling from her. He called Max, and they followed her to her home—she displayed some surprising physical strength as well. Max was also able to get close enough to her to get the same feeling—and apparently she did not sense anything from them. Since Methos was the only one to get anything from the hybrids, she thought it would be a good idea to see what he got from the blond.”
Methos looked thoughtful. “Another different one?” He did not say alien since he did not want to take a chance on someone over hearing that. Liz had called Duncan and had given a carefully worded account of what apparently happened near Roswell the day after they got word from the Sheriff. Methos had done some checking (Joe had as well), and nothing they had found out contradicted what was suspected. It was getting stranger and stranger. “Well it’s not like I am very busy at the moment, so why not? I have to admit to some curiosity.”
Joe and Duncan looked at each other and grinned. The fact that he admitted to any curiosity at all was very unusual for the ancient Immortal.
Courtney looked at the material that currently filled her guest bedroom and decided to get started. She had only rented the truck for 2 days, and she wanted to make sure she would not have to make any more trips then the other one she would need to pick up the glass. She thought she had most of what she would need to get started. She would not need the electrical parts and other items for a while.
Liz was waiting at the local airport for the commuter flight bringing Duncan and Methos. She and Maria would pick them up and drop them at the rental car place downtown—Duncan made it a habit to never use the same rental car service twice if at all possible. Part of the ingrained habit of a seasoned Immortal in keeping a low profile. Maria was very interested in the new possible alien in town but was not very worried since it appeared she was alone. She had remarked to Liz when told that overall the aliens were causing less trouble then Immortals, so it was probably a good thing. They had brought the van since Maria’s car was rather small. And this way no one would be able to see inside and see who was in it.
Duncan was glad to get off the small airplane—he found that he did not like the smaller ones now that he had had a long time to get used to full size airliners. Methos was much more blaze about it and tweaked Duncan for being antsy. “You remember what it was like in the 20’s and 30’s—this is an airliner compared to them.” Duncan just ignored him as he greeted Liz and Maria. They piled into the van after picking up their sword cases from the baggage claim. One thing Duncan did not like about the current security situation was that there was no way they could bring the swords with them into the passenger cabin no matter what anymore.
After being dropped off at the rental car place, Maria and Liz went home and let Duncan and Methos settle into the apartment above the clinic. It was fairly late, and they all knew Saturday was going to be busy.
Grace was busy getting her lab organized—only the heavy tables, the Electron Microscope and the Spectro machine had to be brought down from the garage where they currently resided. The other tables and equipment were already down in the basement and set up. Meanwhile, she had to admit that the word on a possible new and different alien was very intriguing. It had to be no coincidence that she would come to town right after the battle with aliens outside of town; and the word that they had gotten quietly from the Sheriff that the Military had found the home base of the aliens and had taken it out—apparently accounting for all known aliens in the process. Liz had asked her if she could do a DNA analysis if they were able to get a sample somehow, and Grace had told her that once her equipment was up and running, that she could do a pretty detailed one. Better than the one Methos had done at New Mexico State. The only question was, how were they going to get the sample without her noticing. Liz felt that a hair sample was their best bet. They could arrange for one of them to bump into her, distracting her while another sniped a hair sample. Things were getting fairly busy with Christmas only a little more than a week off. Luckily school was out until after New Year’s, so they would have plenty of time to work on their various projects—especially the new one that had just come up.
Tess had been a little surprised how easily she was able to get along with the Sheriff and Kyle—though right off the bat, she had made it clear to them that the house was no longer a bachelor pad, and that it would be cleaner and better kept than it had been. Forced to learn to cook out of self-preservation, since Nasedo had a very limited and strange diet, Tess, to her surprise, had found that she liked to cook and had gotten pretty good at it. Certainly better then Kyle and the Sheriff. So she took over the kitchen immediately. Having someone around who actually cared about her was a big change and one she found very comforting. And she had to admit, Kyle was cute. She just had to do some work on him to make him presentable in civilized society.
It had been decided that early on the Saturday, they would all head out to Tess’s to get Grace’s lab equipment set up and going, then work on getting the DNA sample from the blond. Liz and Duncan would also do some sparing that day, and a lot more on Sunday and Monday. Duncan had tentative plans to head back that Tuesday, but let Liz know that if she needed him to stay for an extra day or two, that would not be a problem. Of course, now with the possible new alien in town, that was a lot more probable than it had been. Max and the others would also start testing out to find out what powers they actually had and what the limits were. All in all, it looked like it would be a busy next several days.
Max had told Isabel, Tess, and Michael about the experiments Liz had tried, and that she thought there was a good chance they all had abilities and ways to use their powers that they had never tried or even thought of. Michael was very interested in finding out what they could do; the girls less so. But they all agreed that it would be a good idea to find out their limits, and you never knew when extra powers might come in handy. It was decided that they would all get together at Tess’s house and try out some of the ideas Liz had had. Grace was called, and told them that the Lab Equipment that was coming from Albuquerque would be in the Friday, and that the day after would be a good time to try things out. Also, Duncan would be in that weekend, and extra input could not hurt. Not to mention, it would be a good thing to have extra people around to put the lab gear in the basement and start getting it ready.
Liz and Alex had gotten together that Saturday evening since Max was worn out and went home early; Liz filled him in on what they had found, and they brainstormed some more as regards other possibilities. Alex admitted that a lot of what they were looking at was bad science fiction, but Liz pointed out that since it could be said they were LIVING bad science fiction so what? It was decided to have the whole gang come to Tess’s house on that coming Saturday and have another full meeting.
Major Tolner was going over the briefing paper he was going to have to give to a big wig coming in from the Pentagon for a full report on the activities of the last 2 weeks. They had found parts of aliens and had figured that there were 10 left in the town, and they had killed 15 at the previous battle; and they had not found anything to indicate that there were any left—at least from THIS group. There had been hints that possibly one of the Roswell aliens had escaped, but if so, that one had kept a very low profile since. Of course, it could be argued that the Copper Summit Aliens had done a good job of staying out of sight as well. One thing that was very interesting is that the examination of the alien bodies had shown that they could not survive in this kind of atmosphere; what they had were a kind of environmental suit that appeared to be permanent. Once it was breached, they died very quickly; but it was very tough to penetrate. Only the Thermite/Phosphorus rds had been able to do that; direct hits from 40MM HE rds had not been able to do it. It was thought that it would take something along the lines of an AT-4 84MM HEAT warhead to do it. The Thermite/Phosphorus rds penetrated by heat alone. 5000 degrees is a lot for ANYTHING to withstand. They had gone through the wreckage of the buildings, and in one, had found what looked to be chambers of some kind—and what appeared to be new suits that were being grown inside. So that argued that the suits then would last approx 50 years and then had to be replaced—assuming this was the first time they had to do so. There was no trace of any kind of ship at all which was probably not a surprise—they were probably dropped off, and the ship left. And it was not like it would have been noticed in 1950 anyway with the state of the radar of the time. He wondered what the mission of his unit was going to be now that they had fought their first hostile alien force. The question of course was—are they all that were here?
Courtney found that she was able to settle in fairly quickly. She was busy putting together what would be needed to get her new skin ready. She could put together a new chamber fairly easily—it would not have to withstand high pressure or high temperature, so common materials like aluminum and heavy glass would do. The power source would be a little tricky since she had to have one that would not be affected by power outages—which meant setting up a generator and a system of batteries to make sure there would be no loss of power which could critically damage the skin when it was in its final phase of development. She reluctantly realized that it could not be done in her apartment, and she would have to find somewhere else—an abandoned building or warehouse which of course would be a problem in itself. However, she did have some time, so she would just have to start looking around town. And in the meantime, she could start building the chamber.
Michael was in the local Home Depot getting some parts for the toilet in his apartment which had started to leak. He was just pushing his cart down the aisle towards the rear where building materials were on display, more out of curiosity and boredom than anything else, when he passed by a cute blond looking at some heavy gauge aluminum sheets—and felt a weird prickling that he had never felt before. He managed not to stop but kept on going until he was out of sight. Then he parked his cart in the next aisle and carefully went back to observe without being seen. The blond picked up some sheets and put them on the big dolly—and did it rather easily for someone of her size and build. That further got Michael on edge—extra strength and setting off his senses was NOT a good thing. He watched her go on down and started looking at some other aluminum beams, and decided to take a chance and get to a pay phone and call Max. He was lucky in that the Home Depot was within walking distance of his apartment, but if he was going to follow the blonde, then he needed wheels.
Max listened to what Michael said and told him he would be there in about 20 minutes. He too was a little worried—the extra strength part might not be such a big deal, but the sense thing was. They had never gotten anything like that off of Nasedo, according to Tess, and not even Liz or any of the Immortals felt different to the hybrids. And they felt nothing between themselves. So to run into someone that did was something they could not ignore.
Michael was glad the blond was taking her time—she certainly was gathering an interesting mix of items. Luckily that evening, the store was fairly busy, so she was having to wait in line for a while. Michael had decided to get the stuff he was originally there for so as to look just like another customer. She had just checked out and was wheeling her dolly to a pickup—which looked like a rental—when Max pulled into the parking lot. Michael went right over to him and got in and pointed to the blond. She was rather casually loading a fair amount of heavy items into the back of the truck and certainly did not appear to be straining. They hung back and followed her to a small apartment complex in the north end of town. It was about ¾ of a mile away from where Tess’s house was—right on the edge of the developed part of town. They waited until she took the last load inside, then followed her inside, trying to keep their distance. She was on the first floor and they got the number of her apartment then checked the PO Boxes in the lobby—the name Courtney Williams was on the box with her apartment number. They then left to contact the others and try and figure out what to do next.
Max wasted no time in getting a hold of Sheriff Valenti and letting him know that they might have run across another alien. The Sheriff promised to see what he could find out. Max was able to give him the license plate number of the rental truck as well. Max then told Liz what was going on, and Michael called Tess; Max would tell Isabel when he got home. They agreed that there did not seem to be any great hurry—though what she was going to do with the materials she had bought was an interesting question in itself.
Liz was very interested in what Max told her; she had to agree that the blond sounded suspicious. She remembered that Methos had mentioned that he was able to sense just barely the hybrids—she wondered if he could sense this one as well. She decided to call Duncan.
Duncan listened to what Liz had to tell him and agreed that they probably needed Methos to get close enough to her to see what kind of vibe if any she gave off. He thought that it was very interesting that Michael could sense her, but apparently she could not sense him. He decided to head down to Joe’s and see if his luck was running good and that Methos would be there.
Joe had just finished his set and was heading to the bar when he saw Duncan come in. Him visiting twice in just a few days was fairly rare—so he wondered if anything was up. He then saw the way Duncan looked around and then went right to where Methos was and figured that something was up.
Duncan sat down next to Methos and got right to the point. “Feel like another trip to Roswell?”
Methos took a long draught from his beer and fixed Duncan with the gimlet eye. “I take it there is a good reason for me to go there?” Joe had arrived just in time to here the question and semi answer.
“What’s up Duncan?”
“Liz just called. Michael was in a local store when he passed by a young blond, and he got a strange buzz type feeling from her. He called Max, and they followed her to her home—she displayed some surprising physical strength as well. Max was also able to get close enough to her to get the same feeling—and apparently she did not sense anything from them. Since Methos was the only one to get anything from the hybrids, she thought it would be a good idea to see what he got from the blond.”
Methos looked thoughtful. “Another different one?” He did not say alien since he did not want to take a chance on someone over hearing that. Liz had called Duncan and had given a carefully worded account of what apparently happened near Roswell the day after they got word from the Sheriff. Methos had done some checking (Joe had as well), and nothing they had found out contradicted what was suspected. It was getting stranger and stranger. “Well it’s not like I am very busy at the moment, so why not? I have to admit to some curiosity.”
Joe and Duncan looked at each other and grinned. The fact that he admitted to any curiosity at all was very unusual for the ancient Immortal.
Courtney looked at the material that currently filled her guest bedroom and decided to get started. She had only rented the truck for 2 days, and she wanted to make sure she would not have to make any more trips then the other one she would need to pick up the glass. She thought she had most of what she would need to get started. She would not need the electrical parts and other items for a while.
Liz was waiting at the local airport for the commuter flight bringing Duncan and Methos. She and Maria would pick them up and drop them at the rental car place downtown—Duncan made it a habit to never use the same rental car service twice if at all possible. Part of the ingrained habit of a seasoned Immortal in keeping a low profile. Maria was very interested in the new possible alien in town but was not very worried since it appeared she was alone. She had remarked to Liz when told that overall the aliens were causing less trouble then Immortals, so it was probably a good thing. They had brought the van since Maria’s car was rather small. And this way no one would be able to see inside and see who was in it.
Duncan was glad to get off the small airplane—he found that he did not like the smaller ones now that he had had a long time to get used to full size airliners. Methos was much more blaze about it and tweaked Duncan for being antsy. “You remember what it was like in the 20’s and 30’s—this is an airliner compared to them.” Duncan just ignored him as he greeted Liz and Maria. They piled into the van after picking up their sword cases from the baggage claim. One thing Duncan did not like about the current security situation was that there was no way they could bring the swords with them into the passenger cabin no matter what anymore.
After being dropped off at the rental car place, Maria and Liz went home and let Duncan and Methos settle into the apartment above the clinic. It was fairly late, and they all knew Saturday was going to be busy.
Grace was busy getting her lab organized—only the heavy tables, the Electron Microscope and the Spectro machine had to be brought down from the garage where they currently resided. The other tables and equipment were already down in the basement and set up. Meanwhile, she had to admit that the word on a possible new and different alien was very intriguing. It had to be no coincidence that she would come to town right after the battle with aliens outside of town; and the word that they had gotten quietly from the Sheriff that the Military had found the home base of the aliens and had taken it out—apparently accounting for all known aliens in the process. Liz had asked her if she could do a DNA analysis if they were able to get a sample somehow, and Grace had told her that once her equipment was up and running, that she could do a pretty detailed one. Better than the one Methos had done at New Mexico State. The only question was, how were they going to get the sample without her noticing. Liz felt that a hair sample was their best bet. They could arrange for one of them to bump into her, distracting her while another sniped a hair sample. Things were getting fairly busy with Christmas only a little more than a week off. Luckily school was out until after New Year’s, so they would have plenty of time to work on their various projects—especially the new one that had just come up.
Tess had been a little surprised how easily she was able to get along with the Sheriff and Kyle—though right off the bat, she had made it clear to them that the house was no longer a bachelor pad, and that it would be cleaner and better kept than it had been. Forced to learn to cook out of self-preservation, since Nasedo had a very limited and strange diet, Tess, to her surprise, had found that she liked to cook and had gotten pretty good at it. Certainly better then Kyle and the Sheriff. So she took over the kitchen immediately. Having someone around who actually cared about her was a big change and one she found very comforting. And she had to admit, Kyle was cute. She just had to do some work on him to make him presentable in civilized society.
It had been decided that early on the Saturday, they would all head out to Tess’s to get Grace’s lab equipment set up and going, then work on getting the DNA sample from the blond. Liz and Duncan would also do some sparing that day, and a lot more on Sunday and Monday. Duncan had tentative plans to head back that Tuesday, but let Liz know that if she needed him to stay for an extra day or two, that would not be a problem. Of course, now with the possible new alien in town, that was a lot more probable than it had been. Max and the others would also start testing out to find out what powers they actually had and what the limits were. All in all, it looked like it would be a busy next several days.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
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- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:37 pm
Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 10 8/26/09
Another Life II Part 12
Max picked up Liz at 8AM on Saturday; Isabel and Alex would be driven in by Maria. Max passed by Michael’s apartment and picked him up, and they went right to Tess’s House. They were the first ones there and found Grace already waiting for them in the garage to get the heavy items down to the basement. Max and Michael agreed they would start, but not exert themselves that much until the rest of them got there. Liz and Grace went down to the basement and examined the proposed areas for the Electron Microscope and the rest of the equipment. Liz thought that Grace had things pretty well thought out and told her so. They then moved on to discussing the possible new alien and the steps they were working on to positively identify her.
Maria, Alex, and Isabel arrived about half an hour after Max, Liz, and Michael. To be followed only minutes later by the Sheriff, Kyle, and Tess. Once everyone got together, they went to work lugging the heavy stuff down the stairs to the basement. That only took about half an hour. Then came the meeting where the main topic of discussion was the new alien. It was agreed that they needed to find out for sure if she was. Liz let them know that Duncan and Adam would be over in a little while, and Adam was the one they needed to get close to her. Isabel suggested that they phony up a survey and have Adam doing that door to door. Alex immediately remembered something that was going through town and got on his laptop and got on the Roswell City page and found it. He was able to download it and print it on Grace’s new printer. So that took care of getting Adam close to her. Getting the DNA sample would be a little more tricky—they needed her out in public for that to work. Michael volunteered to start doing surveillance, but it was pointed out that he would be kind of conspicuous around there since it was a pretty quiet, new area of town. Alex then came up with an idea—he was able to find at the Local Sam’s Club a cheap surveillance camera that could be powered by batteries and would have a wireless link. After some discussion, they figured that they could set it up so that a periodic observation/download would give them an idea of her movements. It might take a week or so, but it was thought that that would be the best way.
The Sheriff reported that his background check showed no obvious discrepancies, but if one knew what to look for, you would be able to see through a manufactured background. She was supposedly 22, had just moved from Denver Colorado after graduating from Colorado State University. Her parents had died in a car accident just a couple years ago, and she was currently living off the life insurance. That would explain not having any job references. Or Income Tax returns. Her transcript was fairly normal and would not stick out—just a standard BA of Liberal Arts. The Sheriff was willing to bet that a much closer examination would find no evidence that she had ever really attended the school. However, he did say that this one had been done and updated over the last few years so that it would look a lot more normal. Very professionally done in several ways, but the signs were there if you were familiar with manufactured backgrounds.
Duncan and Adam arrived shortly after the Sheriff finished his report. Adam, upon being informed on how he would be meeting the new alien, was not particularly happy about the method but agreed it would be the quickest way to get it done. It was decided that Maria would drop him off and wait nearby, and they would head right out as it was getting close to 9:30 and would be a good time to do it. Duncan told Liz to get out her sword, and they would spar in the time being. Also, the hybrids could work on their powers while the rest of them would help Grace get the lab up and running.
Maria dropped Adam off a block away, then found a parking place next to a branch of a local bank where she could see the entrance of the apartment building. Adam casually walked into the lobby, and after checking the apartment number of Courtney Williams, was pleased that she was the second one in that row. He would go to the first one and then to hers, and then leave.
Methos had figured out how to make it go more quickly by getting a couple of envelopes and having Alex have them filled out by the printer and he put a couple of stamps on them, that way the people could fill them out when they wanted to and then just drop them in the mail. Since the whole thing was just to get him close to Courtney once, that should do the trick. He was even luckier when no one answered at the first apartment. He then went to the next apartment and knocked on the door.
Courtney had been working on the chamber for over an hour and was actually happy to be interrupted. She went to her front door to find a fairly attractive man in his late 20’s wanting her to fill out a survey. He handed the papers to her and mentioned that the SSAE would make it very easy to send in and to have a nice day. Courtney shrugged and dropped it into her waste basket, a little disappointed he had not stayed longer.
Methos walked out the door of the building and signaled to Maria who came right over.
“That was quick. So is she or isn’t she?”
“There certainly is something there; different than Max and the others. About as strong, but different.”
“Great. Another one. Well at least we hope there is only one.”
“That might be all that is left if the Sheriff’s info was correct. She might have decided to get out and was smart enough to have made arrangements ahead of time. No way was any of this done recently.”
“That could make her a problem if she is smarter than the average alien.”
Methos had to smile at that one.
Liz and Duncan were going hard at it while the hybrids were trying out their suspected new powers. Tess and Isabel found out that they could pretty much do the same things that Max had done, and since Tess had described how her mindwarps worked, and Isabel already knew that she could get into dreams, they decided that going into those areas might be more up their alley. Max and Michael started working on the shield which they thought might be the most useful power to work on at the moment. Duncan was pushing Liz hard and making her sweat quite a bit, which tended to distract Max, and Michael had to bring him back to earth several times. It had not taken the Sheriff, Kyle, Alex and Grace as long as they thought to get the lab equipment up to the point that they could—there would have to be rewiring done, but the Sheriff knew someone who owed him a favor who could do it quietly. They then went up and sat on the back porch and watched Liz and Duncan sparing and the hybrids working on their powers.
The sheriff was very interested in the shield that Max and Michael were working on. They had reached the point of being able to deflect rocks and the like—but the real test would be if they could stop bullets and energy blasts. The Sheriff told them they would have to go out in the hills to really try and see if they could stop bullets since the sound of the shots would attract too much attention here. However, they were able to test the blast part to a certain extent; Max put up his shield and Michael tried to penetrate it with mild blasts which were stopped. As he ramped it up Max began to sweat and strain, and they both agreed to not try right now with Michael’s full blasting capability. Isabel and Tess grabbed Alex and Kyle and used them as guinea pigs for being distracted and seeing things. They found out that while Tess was better at manufacturing things to distract them, Isabel was better at making them think they saw something they actually did not. Tess was able to reach the point where you actually had to try and touch the things to see that they actually did not exist.
Duncan finally allowed Liz to rest after almost a full hour workout. He was glad to see that not having a sparring partner for a time had not make her sloppy or careless, and she still seemed sharp. Of course just recently surviving another challenge probably had a fair amount to do with that. Now it was just a matter of her refining her particular style and keeping it up.
Adam and Maria arrived back just after Max and Michael had decided to take a break, and Duncan had called the end of the sparing session. They all gathered together in the living room as usual when they wanted to discuss anything really important.
Adam took the floor. “There is no doubt that she is something not of earth; she gave off a buzz of pretty much the same strength as Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess, but it is very different. I would say that she is probably of a different species and is wearing some kind of protective suit that makes her look human. I am wondering if getting a hair sample will tell us all that much, but getting anything else will be pretty tough to do. However I do not see any other way to find out anything more without being a lot more obvious. This pretty much falls in line with what the Sheriff was able to find out about the aliens that the military fought; it seems clear to me that she is a survivor of that group; maybe the only one.”
The Sheriff nodded. “That is what it looks like to me as well. I have had to be pretty circumspect as regards trying to get too much information, but everything we are learning about this Courtney Williams seems to indicate that she belonged to that group and was smart enough to get out before it all came apart. As long as we can determine she is the only one left, she is probably no threat at all. I would say right now, she just wants to keep her head down and survive.”
It was decided to get the surveillance camera, and get it set up over the next couple of days. Alex would be the one to get it done; Isabel made it clear that she was going to keep an eye on Alex. There were a few discrete smiles about this; Isabel seemed to be coming out of her Ice Queen phase. Then the discussion went to the work the hybrids had been doing on their powers. Max and Michael were very interested to see if they could each put up a shield that would make them bullet and blast proof. The sheriff made the point that any shooting going on had to be well out in the country and far enough away from anyone not to attract attention. Tess and Isabel demonstrated some of what they had found they could do; Tess created at 5 ft high dog that paced around the room and growled; Isabel could make each one of them think they saw something different—but she could only do it on one person at a time.
Grace reported that as soon as the electrical rewiring could be done, she could start calibrating the equipment and felt that it would only take her a couple of days to do that. The Sheriff had already called the electrician that owed him a favor, and he would be out on Monday. Liz looked around the room and remarked that things seemed to be going pretty well and that maybe they should just take it easy for a bit. Just relax and enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other better. The Sheriff thought that was a good idea, but said that he had to get back on duty. Tess and Kyle could stay, though.
After the meeting broke up, Duncan had Liz out in the back for more sparing. He wanted to get her to work on her attacks and had her trying everything she could think of to get through his defense. Max was the only one who stayed out back to watch; the rest of them were just talking. Grace had buttonholed Adam and was questioning him on his experiences. She had a hunch that he was Methos from something she had heard Duncan say and was trying to get him to slip up. Methos knew what she was doing but played the game and delighted in frustrating her. Michael and Maria were on one of their “conversations”; which an impartial observer would have classified as verbal combat. Alex and Isabel were discussing details on how they would go about planting the camera and setting it up so that no one would notice; they agreed it would be best to do that Sunday morning just before the sun came up. Isabel grabbed the keys to Max’s jeep and they headed over to, as Alex put it, “case the joint.” Tess and Kyle took a walk around the area to get better acquainted.
Around 11, Liz, Tess, and Grace decided it was time to come up with lunch. Together they managed to whip up a meal that had most everyone else drooling. They got it ready just as Alex and Isabel got back from checking out the apartment block. Alex had found an out of business gas station that they could set the camera up on top of the building and tap into the power there which was still on—so only a small battery backup would be needed. He decided to use a small recorder instead of putting together a wireless transmitter which would take a lot more work. Once a day, someone could stop by and replace the tape—he had figured out a place to hide the recorder on the side of the building so that no one would need to get onto the roof.
After lunch and sitting around a while to let it go down, Duncan had Liz out again sparing. Max was getting a little put out with the way Duncan was pushing her, but Liz made it clear that she knew why Duncan was pushing her on her attack moves since she had spent so much time working on her defense. Liz was working hard and decided to try something a little screwy, but you never knew. She feinted a high strike then stabbed low, and as Duncan blocked it, she spun in a circle and stabbed again only low—and was astonished when she hit Duncan right in the stomach. For a moment both stood in shock, then Liz pulled out her sword and Duncan groaned and went to his knees. Max ran over and started to try and heal Duncan, but he held up one bloody hand and said between groans, “No, I need to let this hurt as a reminder not to get careless and cocky. That was a good move, Liz.” Liz’s startled shriek brought everyone out of the house. They were all stunned to see a bloody Duncan on his knees holding in his stomach. And a very guilty-looking Liz standing there with a bloody sword. Methos walked over to Duncan and said, “Well Boy Scout, the saying that no good deed goes unpunished has once again been proven correct.” Duncan had the presence of mind to raise one hand with a certain digit prominent.
Max picked up Liz at 8AM on Saturday; Isabel and Alex would be driven in by Maria. Max passed by Michael’s apartment and picked him up, and they went right to Tess’s House. They were the first ones there and found Grace already waiting for them in the garage to get the heavy items down to the basement. Max and Michael agreed they would start, but not exert themselves that much until the rest of them got there. Liz and Grace went down to the basement and examined the proposed areas for the Electron Microscope and the rest of the equipment. Liz thought that Grace had things pretty well thought out and told her so. They then moved on to discussing the possible new alien and the steps they were working on to positively identify her.
Maria, Alex, and Isabel arrived about half an hour after Max, Liz, and Michael. To be followed only minutes later by the Sheriff, Kyle, and Tess. Once everyone got together, they went to work lugging the heavy stuff down the stairs to the basement. That only took about half an hour. Then came the meeting where the main topic of discussion was the new alien. It was agreed that they needed to find out for sure if she was. Liz let them know that Duncan and Adam would be over in a little while, and Adam was the one they needed to get close to her. Isabel suggested that they phony up a survey and have Adam doing that door to door. Alex immediately remembered something that was going through town and got on his laptop and got on the Roswell City page and found it. He was able to download it and print it on Grace’s new printer. So that took care of getting Adam close to her. Getting the DNA sample would be a little more tricky—they needed her out in public for that to work. Michael volunteered to start doing surveillance, but it was pointed out that he would be kind of conspicuous around there since it was a pretty quiet, new area of town. Alex then came up with an idea—he was able to find at the Local Sam’s Club a cheap surveillance camera that could be powered by batteries and would have a wireless link. After some discussion, they figured that they could set it up so that a periodic observation/download would give them an idea of her movements. It might take a week or so, but it was thought that that would be the best way.
The Sheriff reported that his background check showed no obvious discrepancies, but if one knew what to look for, you would be able to see through a manufactured background. She was supposedly 22, had just moved from Denver Colorado after graduating from Colorado State University. Her parents had died in a car accident just a couple years ago, and she was currently living off the life insurance. That would explain not having any job references. Or Income Tax returns. Her transcript was fairly normal and would not stick out—just a standard BA of Liberal Arts. The Sheriff was willing to bet that a much closer examination would find no evidence that she had ever really attended the school. However, he did say that this one had been done and updated over the last few years so that it would look a lot more normal. Very professionally done in several ways, but the signs were there if you were familiar with manufactured backgrounds.
Duncan and Adam arrived shortly after the Sheriff finished his report. Adam, upon being informed on how he would be meeting the new alien, was not particularly happy about the method but agreed it would be the quickest way to get it done. It was decided that Maria would drop him off and wait nearby, and they would head right out as it was getting close to 9:30 and would be a good time to do it. Duncan told Liz to get out her sword, and they would spar in the time being. Also, the hybrids could work on their powers while the rest of them would help Grace get the lab up and running.
Maria dropped Adam off a block away, then found a parking place next to a branch of a local bank where she could see the entrance of the apartment building. Adam casually walked into the lobby, and after checking the apartment number of Courtney Williams, was pleased that she was the second one in that row. He would go to the first one and then to hers, and then leave.
Methos had figured out how to make it go more quickly by getting a couple of envelopes and having Alex have them filled out by the printer and he put a couple of stamps on them, that way the people could fill them out when they wanted to and then just drop them in the mail. Since the whole thing was just to get him close to Courtney once, that should do the trick. He was even luckier when no one answered at the first apartment. He then went to the next apartment and knocked on the door.
Courtney had been working on the chamber for over an hour and was actually happy to be interrupted. She went to her front door to find a fairly attractive man in his late 20’s wanting her to fill out a survey. He handed the papers to her and mentioned that the SSAE would make it very easy to send in and to have a nice day. Courtney shrugged and dropped it into her waste basket, a little disappointed he had not stayed longer.
Methos walked out the door of the building and signaled to Maria who came right over.
“That was quick. So is she or isn’t she?”
“There certainly is something there; different than Max and the others. About as strong, but different.”
“Great. Another one. Well at least we hope there is only one.”
“That might be all that is left if the Sheriff’s info was correct. She might have decided to get out and was smart enough to have made arrangements ahead of time. No way was any of this done recently.”
“That could make her a problem if she is smarter than the average alien.”
Methos had to smile at that one.
Liz and Duncan were going hard at it while the hybrids were trying out their suspected new powers. Tess and Isabel found out that they could pretty much do the same things that Max had done, and since Tess had described how her mindwarps worked, and Isabel already knew that she could get into dreams, they decided that going into those areas might be more up their alley. Max and Michael started working on the shield which they thought might be the most useful power to work on at the moment. Duncan was pushing Liz hard and making her sweat quite a bit, which tended to distract Max, and Michael had to bring him back to earth several times. It had not taken the Sheriff, Kyle, Alex and Grace as long as they thought to get the lab equipment up to the point that they could—there would have to be rewiring done, but the Sheriff knew someone who owed him a favor who could do it quietly. They then went up and sat on the back porch and watched Liz and Duncan sparing and the hybrids working on their powers.
The sheriff was very interested in the shield that Max and Michael were working on. They had reached the point of being able to deflect rocks and the like—but the real test would be if they could stop bullets and energy blasts. The Sheriff told them they would have to go out in the hills to really try and see if they could stop bullets since the sound of the shots would attract too much attention here. However, they were able to test the blast part to a certain extent; Max put up his shield and Michael tried to penetrate it with mild blasts which were stopped. As he ramped it up Max began to sweat and strain, and they both agreed to not try right now with Michael’s full blasting capability. Isabel and Tess grabbed Alex and Kyle and used them as guinea pigs for being distracted and seeing things. They found out that while Tess was better at manufacturing things to distract them, Isabel was better at making them think they saw something they actually did not. Tess was able to reach the point where you actually had to try and touch the things to see that they actually did not exist.
Duncan finally allowed Liz to rest after almost a full hour workout. He was glad to see that not having a sparring partner for a time had not make her sloppy or careless, and she still seemed sharp. Of course just recently surviving another challenge probably had a fair amount to do with that. Now it was just a matter of her refining her particular style and keeping it up.
Adam and Maria arrived back just after Max and Michael had decided to take a break, and Duncan had called the end of the sparing session. They all gathered together in the living room as usual when they wanted to discuss anything really important.
Adam took the floor. “There is no doubt that she is something not of earth; she gave off a buzz of pretty much the same strength as Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess, but it is very different. I would say that she is probably of a different species and is wearing some kind of protective suit that makes her look human. I am wondering if getting a hair sample will tell us all that much, but getting anything else will be pretty tough to do. However I do not see any other way to find out anything more without being a lot more obvious. This pretty much falls in line with what the Sheriff was able to find out about the aliens that the military fought; it seems clear to me that she is a survivor of that group; maybe the only one.”
The Sheriff nodded. “That is what it looks like to me as well. I have had to be pretty circumspect as regards trying to get too much information, but everything we are learning about this Courtney Williams seems to indicate that she belonged to that group and was smart enough to get out before it all came apart. As long as we can determine she is the only one left, she is probably no threat at all. I would say right now, she just wants to keep her head down and survive.”
It was decided to get the surveillance camera, and get it set up over the next couple of days. Alex would be the one to get it done; Isabel made it clear that she was going to keep an eye on Alex. There were a few discrete smiles about this; Isabel seemed to be coming out of her Ice Queen phase. Then the discussion went to the work the hybrids had been doing on their powers. Max and Michael were very interested to see if they could each put up a shield that would make them bullet and blast proof. The sheriff made the point that any shooting going on had to be well out in the country and far enough away from anyone not to attract attention. Tess and Isabel demonstrated some of what they had found they could do; Tess created at 5 ft high dog that paced around the room and growled; Isabel could make each one of them think they saw something different—but she could only do it on one person at a time.
Grace reported that as soon as the electrical rewiring could be done, she could start calibrating the equipment and felt that it would only take her a couple of days to do that. The Sheriff had already called the electrician that owed him a favor, and he would be out on Monday. Liz looked around the room and remarked that things seemed to be going pretty well and that maybe they should just take it easy for a bit. Just relax and enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other better. The Sheriff thought that was a good idea, but said that he had to get back on duty. Tess and Kyle could stay, though.
After the meeting broke up, Duncan had Liz out in the back for more sparing. He wanted to get her to work on her attacks and had her trying everything she could think of to get through his defense. Max was the only one who stayed out back to watch; the rest of them were just talking. Grace had buttonholed Adam and was questioning him on his experiences. She had a hunch that he was Methos from something she had heard Duncan say and was trying to get him to slip up. Methos knew what she was doing but played the game and delighted in frustrating her. Michael and Maria were on one of their “conversations”; which an impartial observer would have classified as verbal combat. Alex and Isabel were discussing details on how they would go about planting the camera and setting it up so that no one would notice; they agreed it would be best to do that Sunday morning just before the sun came up. Isabel grabbed the keys to Max’s jeep and they headed over to, as Alex put it, “case the joint.” Tess and Kyle took a walk around the area to get better acquainted.
Around 11, Liz, Tess, and Grace decided it was time to come up with lunch. Together they managed to whip up a meal that had most everyone else drooling. They got it ready just as Alex and Isabel got back from checking out the apartment block. Alex had found an out of business gas station that they could set the camera up on top of the building and tap into the power there which was still on—so only a small battery backup would be needed. He decided to use a small recorder instead of putting together a wireless transmitter which would take a lot more work. Once a day, someone could stop by and replace the tape—he had figured out a place to hide the recorder on the side of the building so that no one would need to get onto the roof.
After lunch and sitting around a while to let it go down, Duncan had Liz out again sparing. Max was getting a little put out with the way Duncan was pushing her, but Liz made it clear that she knew why Duncan was pushing her on her attack moves since she had spent so much time working on her defense. Liz was working hard and decided to try something a little screwy, but you never knew. She feinted a high strike then stabbed low, and as Duncan blocked it, she spun in a circle and stabbed again only low—and was astonished when she hit Duncan right in the stomach. For a moment both stood in shock, then Liz pulled out her sword and Duncan groaned and went to his knees. Max ran over and started to try and heal Duncan, but he held up one bloody hand and said between groans, “No, I need to let this hurt as a reminder not to get careless and cocky. That was a good move, Liz.” Liz’s startled shriek brought everyone out of the house. They were all stunned to see a bloody Duncan on his knees holding in his stomach. And a very guilty-looking Liz standing there with a bloody sword. Methos walked over to Duncan and said, “Well Boy Scout, the saying that no good deed goes unpunished has once again been proven correct.” Duncan had the presence of mind to raise one hand with a certain digit prominent.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
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Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 12 8/26/09
Another Life II Part 13
Duncan had to tell Liz several times that what had happened was a good thing—for both of them. He had to learn not to be careless and cocky; and she had found a way to get past his defense. He was a little worried that this would affect Liz as regards her next challenge, but she quickly shot that down by telling him she had a completely different mindset when she was fighting for her life vs. sparing with a friend. He told her that any old soldier emphasizes that you fight as you train. Liz countered by saying she was not an old soldier, just a young woman trying to survive, and as long as it worked for her, that was all that really mattered.
The rest of the group were a little shaken up about what had happened, even the ones that had seen Liz fight, which was most of them. Though that was probably more due to Duncan healing that wound in a few minutes then the actual event itself. Max was both a little shaken up about it and at the same time proud that Liz had been able to score that well. Michael considered it a sign of progress for Liz. Maria was shaken up some but also proud of Liz. Alex just thought that it was a sad comment on what Liz had to do just to survive. Isabel was a little more shaken up then she let on, but at the same time realizing that what had to be had to be. The Sheriff was much more in Michael’s way of thinking. Tess did not like the sight of blood but agreed that it’s what Liz had to do and a sign of progress for her. Kyle was probably the most shaken since this was the first time he had seen anything like it. The wound and Liz standing there with a bloody sword shook him up more then he let on. Grace just sadly shook her head. Methos of course just took it as something else he could jerk Duncan’s chain about.
The rest of the day passed much more smoothly. Liz tried to entice Methos into sparing but he refused; which of course got Duncan going on his payback. Duncan then took Grace out for a drive and a long talk. After that Liz then went down in the basement to watch Grace get the equipment situated. They had found out that the only special wiring needed would be for the Electron Microscope as everything else except the Spectro scope could be plugged into normal sockets. The Spectro needed 220 but was situated close enough to where the dryer was that a simple two plug instead of one plug arrangement would suffice. In the meantime, Grace plugged the Spectro into the dryer plug and started to calibrate it. That was a fairly fascinating process for Liz, and she watched it avidly. The hybrids went back to working on their powers. The Sheriff had to leave again but promised to find a good place for the Hybrids to work on their training where they would not have to worry about noise and such. Alex, Maria and Kyle just kept watching the hybrids, occasionally helping or serving as guinea pigs.
Cynthia was a little frustrated. She knew that everyone was at Tess’s house, and that with the arrival of Duncan McLeod, Liz would be doing some sparing and training. Unfortunately, there was no way for her to see anything since the privacy fence was 7 ft tall, and there were no higher areas nearby that would serve to help her Watch. So she was forced to just make some general notes and leave it at that. Not that anyone higher could complain since she had a lot more detail in Liz’s chronicle then most did. Grace’s watcher was staying with her for a while until her apartment was ready—since it seemed clear that Grace would be around for a while, it had been decided to have Rebecca establish herself in Roswell. Having an experienced Watcher (Rebecca had been Grace’s watcher for almost 20 years) to talk to helped Cynthia a lot. Of course, Grace was very unusual in that she did not fight and had no sword. Rebecca told Cynthia that she really liked Grace, and it bothered her that she would not protect herself. She mentioned that Liz had not been the first Immortal in her time watching to save Grace from a headhunter. It had happened several times. Cynthia wondered if maybe that was a sign of something, that there always seemed to be someone around to protect Grace. Rebecca had thought about that and said that there was so much still unknown about Immortals, and how they came about, and what was truly involved that anything was possible. She thought Liz had a good chance to last since she seemed to have some natural gifts that counted more than physical size and strength.
The next day, Liz was once again out early sparing with Duncan; this time they started at 7 since Liz had the noon shift at the Crashdown. The rest of the gang scattered around doing what they wanted. Alex and Isabel got out early before dawn and planted the camera outside of Courtney’s apartment building. Maria spent time with her mother; Michael and Max kept an eye on Isabel and Alex. Tess made a production of cooking breakfast for the sheriff and Kyle; who were properly appreciative. Grace kept working on getting the lab up and running.
Liz showed a little more reluctance in being aggressive, and Duncan kept pushing her. Methos watched and criticized; and he agreed that Liz had to step it up and put yesterday behind her. Liz responded by tweaking him about not sparing himself.
Liz was very surprised when around 9, her mother and father showed up. She had told them Duncan was in town and that they would be sparing at a friend’s place, and she had given them the address. Grace answered the doorbell, and after being introduced, showed them the back yard where Liz and Duncan were sparing.
Jeff was alternatively horrified and yet proud of his daughter for holding her own against what Grace called a master swordsman. Nancy was more just horrified. Methos then put his foot into it when he casually mentioned the accident the day before. That wigged Nancy out completely. Liz then had to stop sparing to talk with them. Duncan made it a point to emphasize that Liz being able to get past his defense like she did was a very good sign of her progress. Jeff started to ask questions about the Game and how challenges happened. He was glad to find out that few immortals stayed in this part of the country and virtually none ever had anything to do with Roswell. The only two that had come through were chasing particular targets—so it was unlikely that any others would come into town. Jeff asked if the whole alien theme was a factor in keeping them away. Duncan thought that was possible, and Methos agreed—saying that any place that had people looking for the unusual was not a good place normally for an Immortal. In Liz’s case since she had been there all her life; it was a different story as long as she was careful. Having family and friends to help out was a big plus. Duncan and Methos both made the point that Liz’s situation was VERY unusual for new Immortals. Nancy wanted to know just how good Liz was and what she could not handle. Duncan felt he needed to be honest and told her that while Liz had gotten him good the previous day, any Immortal that was close to his ability would be able to beat Liz. Jeff and Nancy blanched at that; and Liz then pointed out that she had done all right up to now; and without being Immortal, she would already be in her grave. That brought Nancy and Jeff up short; they had tried to put the shooting out of their minds, but Liz was right; one could make the point she was on borrowed or extra time right now. Every day forward was a bonus to a life that by all rights should have ended more than 6 months ago.
Courtney was steadily working away at her chamber; she had decided to assemble it in her apartment, and then take it apart when she found the place she needed to set it up. So far, she had finished the framework and was working on the glass covering that would allow her to keep track of the progress of the skin formulation. She had been looking at the process manual and realized that some of what she did not have could be substituted with common items; nutrients could be switched with vitamins and supplements and herbs. What was necessary was a steady power flow to keep the temperature in a very narrow range; and keep the chamber pressurized. She realized that she would need to hook up a compressor to keep that up—it needed to be over 50 PSI. She also needed to figure out some kind of airlock so that she could keep adding the nutrients/supplements over time without shutting down the heat or letting the pressure drop.
Courtney had decided to go back to Home Depot and get some more items; her problem was that she had turned in the rental truck and had no way to bring anything heavy back with her. So she decided to call a cab. It did not take her long to get what she needed and was a little surprised that the fare was as low as it was. She felt that perhaps she would not need to lease a car as she had been thinking about. Around 7, she felt like taking a walk.
Max and Michael had kept an eye on Isabel and Alex while they planted the camera and then headed out to just run around and relax. They decided to take one more swing near the apartment building just in case.
Gus Atwater was a punk and a thug; several times in jail but lucky in that he never got a long term. A drug addict and needing his next fix, he was prowling the north of town when he spotted a blond young woman walking by herself. He decided she would make a good target. He was about the make the biggest and last mistake of his life.
Courtney had an idea she was being followed; decided that it was probably a mugger or someone like that rather than any other threat. So she carefully picked her way to an alley that was between a closed business and a condemned building. And waited.
Max and Michael had been following her at a distance when they saw what looked like a street punk start to close in. They saw her walk down an alley and looked at each other. Michael quietly said, “She is setting a trap for him. It’s not like he was being all that subtle about following her.” Max nodded, and they parked the jeep and followed on foot.
Gus thought he had really gotten lucky when the bimbo walked into an alley. He pulled the gun he had gotten just a few days earlier and moved in. To find her waiting with her arms crossed.
“Well are you going to do something or just stand there looking stupid? You should keep doing what you clearly know how to do well, so just stand there.”
The bitch thought that she was being funny. He would show her. He pointed the gun at her and got closer.
Courtney just shook her head and looked at him. “This is the last mistake you will make.”
Gus, ticked off and needing money for his next fix, shot her. And was astounded when she did not seem to be affected at all. He got closer and fired again and saw the bullet hit her chest and ricochet.
Thinking she was wearing a vest, he got within 10 feet and fired right at her head. And nothing happened. So he fired the last 3 bullets the cheap .38 had and none of them had any effect at all.
Stunned he stood there with his mouth open as she raised her hand and sent something his way. That was the last thought he ever had.
Max and Michael had been watching from the corner of the alley, and after she blasted the punk—sending his body flying towards the wall to slump down burned and bloody there—they looked at each other. Max made the decision on the fly. He walked down the alley towards the blond.
Courtney saw the two young men head her way and was prepared to blast them when she noticed the one in the lead holding up his hands to show he had no weapon. She wondered what they wanted—they certainly did not look like the type to be friends with the dead thug.
Michael was ticked off with Max for taking this chance, but he had to support his friend, and he followed him down the alley, ready to send his own blast if she tried anything.
Max got within 20 feet and stopped. For a moment, there was silence as he tried to figure out what to say.
Courtney saw that the young man was trying to come up with the words and decided to help—somewhat.
“Well, what do you want?”
Max took a deep breath. “Unless I am greatly mistaken, you are something like I am. Not exactly from around here.” Then he pointed up.
Courtney stopped in shock. If he was saying what she thought he was saying, then he could only be one of the Royal Four. The one behind him was probably another. What a joke—they had been looking for them for years, and they were right under their noses all the time. Not that Courtney really cared anymore, or had for years. She thought the whole mission was stupid since there was apparently no way the Royal Four could get back to Antar—since no one had found any trace of the Granolith. It had always been a waste as far as she was concerned. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Well, yes. Only the ones I was with had been hunting the Royal Four for years and never found a trace. The military found us recently, and I am the only one that got away. I am right now just trying to keep my head down and survive. Probably pretty much the same as you, right?”
Max nodded. “That is about the size of it. My name is Max, and this is Michael. One problem with keeping a low profile is that the military is looking for wounds and dead bodies like the one you just did. Now I am not saying the lowlife did not have it coming, but it does kind of stick out. Luckily, we have some contacts here, and I am going to call one and see if we can get rid of the body. It’s better for all of us.”
Courtney thought about it and decided that Max was right—this body would attract the wrong type of attention. So she just nodded at him.
Max pulled out his cell phone and called the sheriff. He promised to be there in 10 minutes and to keep an eye out—he had just gotten a report of shots fired in that area, and he would respond—his report would say kids with firecrackers. He told Max to get a hold of Maria and get the van. They needed to be able to transport the body very quietly.
Max then called Maria, and she agreed to pick up Liz and head over. He also called Tess and found that Kyle was with her and told them to head over as well. Having someone that could perhaps put up a mindwarp might come in handy. Max looked over at Michael and gestured towards the end of the alley to keep an eye out. He looked at Courtney and pointed towards the other end of the alley and said, “We need to keep an eye out to make sure no one else notices anything.” Courtney nodded and went with him.
Maria stopped by Tess’s and picked up Liz; Liz felt that they needed to keep the numbers down so as not to attract any more attention. Methos was very intrigued and wanted to come, but Liz nixed that—the fewer around right now the better. Duncan agreed.
The Sheriff appeared about 10 minutes after the call and examined the body. He agreed that this would attract too much attention of the wrong type. Max introduced him to Courtney who was astonished that the Royal Four was so plugged into Roswell. No wonder they had never found out anything. Maria and Liz and the van showed up ten minutes later. After introductions were made, Max and Michael loaded the body into the back, wrapped up in some plastic wrap left over from the last supply run for Amy DeLuca’s curiosity shop. Then they all piled in the van and followed the Sheriff where he took them out of town up into the mountains. Where an abandoned mine shaft was fenced off. Max dissolved the fence and they tossed the body down the shaft which was hundreds of feet deep. Max then rebuilt the fence. After that, for a moment, they just stood around. Liz broke the silence and told Max to get out the word—time for another meeting. They would all head over to Tess’s place for a long talk.
Duncan had to tell Liz several times that what had happened was a good thing—for both of them. He had to learn not to be careless and cocky; and she had found a way to get past his defense. He was a little worried that this would affect Liz as regards her next challenge, but she quickly shot that down by telling him she had a completely different mindset when she was fighting for her life vs. sparing with a friend. He told her that any old soldier emphasizes that you fight as you train. Liz countered by saying she was not an old soldier, just a young woman trying to survive, and as long as it worked for her, that was all that really mattered.
The rest of the group were a little shaken up about what had happened, even the ones that had seen Liz fight, which was most of them. Though that was probably more due to Duncan healing that wound in a few minutes then the actual event itself. Max was both a little shaken up about it and at the same time proud that Liz had been able to score that well. Michael considered it a sign of progress for Liz. Maria was shaken up some but also proud of Liz. Alex just thought that it was a sad comment on what Liz had to do just to survive. Isabel was a little more shaken up then she let on, but at the same time realizing that what had to be had to be. The Sheriff was much more in Michael’s way of thinking. Tess did not like the sight of blood but agreed that it’s what Liz had to do and a sign of progress for her. Kyle was probably the most shaken since this was the first time he had seen anything like it. The wound and Liz standing there with a bloody sword shook him up more then he let on. Grace just sadly shook her head. Methos of course just took it as something else he could jerk Duncan’s chain about.
The rest of the day passed much more smoothly. Liz tried to entice Methos into sparing but he refused; which of course got Duncan going on his payback. Duncan then took Grace out for a drive and a long talk. After that Liz then went down in the basement to watch Grace get the equipment situated. They had found out that the only special wiring needed would be for the Electron Microscope as everything else except the Spectro scope could be plugged into normal sockets. The Spectro needed 220 but was situated close enough to where the dryer was that a simple two plug instead of one plug arrangement would suffice. In the meantime, Grace plugged the Spectro into the dryer plug and started to calibrate it. That was a fairly fascinating process for Liz, and she watched it avidly. The hybrids went back to working on their powers. The Sheriff had to leave again but promised to find a good place for the Hybrids to work on their training where they would not have to worry about noise and such. Alex, Maria and Kyle just kept watching the hybrids, occasionally helping or serving as guinea pigs.
Cynthia was a little frustrated. She knew that everyone was at Tess’s house, and that with the arrival of Duncan McLeod, Liz would be doing some sparing and training. Unfortunately, there was no way for her to see anything since the privacy fence was 7 ft tall, and there were no higher areas nearby that would serve to help her Watch. So she was forced to just make some general notes and leave it at that. Not that anyone higher could complain since she had a lot more detail in Liz’s chronicle then most did. Grace’s watcher was staying with her for a while until her apartment was ready—since it seemed clear that Grace would be around for a while, it had been decided to have Rebecca establish herself in Roswell. Having an experienced Watcher (Rebecca had been Grace’s watcher for almost 20 years) to talk to helped Cynthia a lot. Of course, Grace was very unusual in that she did not fight and had no sword. Rebecca told Cynthia that she really liked Grace, and it bothered her that she would not protect herself. She mentioned that Liz had not been the first Immortal in her time watching to save Grace from a headhunter. It had happened several times. Cynthia wondered if maybe that was a sign of something, that there always seemed to be someone around to protect Grace. Rebecca had thought about that and said that there was so much still unknown about Immortals, and how they came about, and what was truly involved that anything was possible. She thought Liz had a good chance to last since she seemed to have some natural gifts that counted more than physical size and strength.
The next day, Liz was once again out early sparing with Duncan; this time they started at 7 since Liz had the noon shift at the Crashdown. The rest of the gang scattered around doing what they wanted. Alex and Isabel got out early before dawn and planted the camera outside of Courtney’s apartment building. Maria spent time with her mother; Michael and Max kept an eye on Isabel and Alex. Tess made a production of cooking breakfast for the sheriff and Kyle; who were properly appreciative. Grace kept working on getting the lab up and running.
Liz showed a little more reluctance in being aggressive, and Duncan kept pushing her. Methos watched and criticized; and he agreed that Liz had to step it up and put yesterday behind her. Liz responded by tweaking him about not sparing himself.
Liz was very surprised when around 9, her mother and father showed up. She had told them Duncan was in town and that they would be sparing at a friend’s place, and she had given them the address. Grace answered the doorbell, and after being introduced, showed them the back yard where Liz and Duncan were sparing.
Jeff was alternatively horrified and yet proud of his daughter for holding her own against what Grace called a master swordsman. Nancy was more just horrified. Methos then put his foot into it when he casually mentioned the accident the day before. That wigged Nancy out completely. Liz then had to stop sparing to talk with them. Duncan made it a point to emphasize that Liz being able to get past his defense like she did was a very good sign of her progress. Jeff started to ask questions about the Game and how challenges happened. He was glad to find out that few immortals stayed in this part of the country and virtually none ever had anything to do with Roswell. The only two that had come through were chasing particular targets—so it was unlikely that any others would come into town. Jeff asked if the whole alien theme was a factor in keeping them away. Duncan thought that was possible, and Methos agreed—saying that any place that had people looking for the unusual was not a good place normally for an Immortal. In Liz’s case since she had been there all her life; it was a different story as long as she was careful. Having family and friends to help out was a big plus. Duncan and Methos both made the point that Liz’s situation was VERY unusual for new Immortals. Nancy wanted to know just how good Liz was and what she could not handle. Duncan felt he needed to be honest and told her that while Liz had gotten him good the previous day, any Immortal that was close to his ability would be able to beat Liz. Jeff and Nancy blanched at that; and Liz then pointed out that she had done all right up to now; and without being Immortal, she would already be in her grave. That brought Nancy and Jeff up short; they had tried to put the shooting out of their minds, but Liz was right; one could make the point she was on borrowed or extra time right now. Every day forward was a bonus to a life that by all rights should have ended more than 6 months ago.
Courtney was steadily working away at her chamber; she had decided to assemble it in her apartment, and then take it apart when she found the place she needed to set it up. So far, she had finished the framework and was working on the glass covering that would allow her to keep track of the progress of the skin formulation. She had been looking at the process manual and realized that some of what she did not have could be substituted with common items; nutrients could be switched with vitamins and supplements and herbs. What was necessary was a steady power flow to keep the temperature in a very narrow range; and keep the chamber pressurized. She realized that she would need to hook up a compressor to keep that up—it needed to be over 50 PSI. She also needed to figure out some kind of airlock so that she could keep adding the nutrients/supplements over time without shutting down the heat or letting the pressure drop.
Courtney had decided to go back to Home Depot and get some more items; her problem was that she had turned in the rental truck and had no way to bring anything heavy back with her. So she decided to call a cab. It did not take her long to get what she needed and was a little surprised that the fare was as low as it was. She felt that perhaps she would not need to lease a car as she had been thinking about. Around 7, she felt like taking a walk.
Max and Michael had kept an eye on Isabel and Alex while they planted the camera and then headed out to just run around and relax. They decided to take one more swing near the apartment building just in case.
Gus Atwater was a punk and a thug; several times in jail but lucky in that he never got a long term. A drug addict and needing his next fix, he was prowling the north of town when he spotted a blond young woman walking by herself. He decided she would make a good target. He was about the make the biggest and last mistake of his life.
Courtney had an idea she was being followed; decided that it was probably a mugger or someone like that rather than any other threat. So she carefully picked her way to an alley that was between a closed business and a condemned building. And waited.
Max and Michael had been following her at a distance when they saw what looked like a street punk start to close in. They saw her walk down an alley and looked at each other. Michael quietly said, “She is setting a trap for him. It’s not like he was being all that subtle about following her.” Max nodded, and they parked the jeep and followed on foot.
Gus thought he had really gotten lucky when the bimbo walked into an alley. He pulled the gun he had gotten just a few days earlier and moved in. To find her waiting with her arms crossed.
“Well are you going to do something or just stand there looking stupid? You should keep doing what you clearly know how to do well, so just stand there.”
The bitch thought that she was being funny. He would show her. He pointed the gun at her and got closer.
Courtney just shook her head and looked at him. “This is the last mistake you will make.”
Gus, ticked off and needing money for his next fix, shot her. And was astounded when she did not seem to be affected at all. He got closer and fired again and saw the bullet hit her chest and ricochet.
Thinking she was wearing a vest, he got within 10 feet and fired right at her head. And nothing happened. So he fired the last 3 bullets the cheap .38 had and none of them had any effect at all.
Stunned he stood there with his mouth open as she raised her hand and sent something his way. That was the last thought he ever had.
Max and Michael had been watching from the corner of the alley, and after she blasted the punk—sending his body flying towards the wall to slump down burned and bloody there—they looked at each other. Max made the decision on the fly. He walked down the alley towards the blond.
Courtney saw the two young men head her way and was prepared to blast them when she noticed the one in the lead holding up his hands to show he had no weapon. She wondered what they wanted—they certainly did not look like the type to be friends with the dead thug.
Michael was ticked off with Max for taking this chance, but he had to support his friend, and he followed him down the alley, ready to send his own blast if she tried anything.
Max got within 20 feet and stopped. For a moment, there was silence as he tried to figure out what to say.
Courtney saw that the young man was trying to come up with the words and decided to help—somewhat.
“Well, what do you want?”
Max took a deep breath. “Unless I am greatly mistaken, you are something like I am. Not exactly from around here.” Then he pointed up.
Courtney stopped in shock. If he was saying what she thought he was saying, then he could only be one of the Royal Four. The one behind him was probably another. What a joke—they had been looking for them for years, and they were right under their noses all the time. Not that Courtney really cared anymore, or had for years. She thought the whole mission was stupid since there was apparently no way the Royal Four could get back to Antar—since no one had found any trace of the Granolith. It had always been a waste as far as she was concerned. She put her hands on her hips and said, “Well, yes. Only the ones I was with had been hunting the Royal Four for years and never found a trace. The military found us recently, and I am the only one that got away. I am right now just trying to keep my head down and survive. Probably pretty much the same as you, right?”
Max nodded. “That is about the size of it. My name is Max, and this is Michael. One problem with keeping a low profile is that the military is looking for wounds and dead bodies like the one you just did. Now I am not saying the lowlife did not have it coming, but it does kind of stick out. Luckily, we have some contacts here, and I am going to call one and see if we can get rid of the body. It’s better for all of us.”
Courtney thought about it and decided that Max was right—this body would attract the wrong type of attention. So she just nodded at him.
Max pulled out his cell phone and called the sheriff. He promised to be there in 10 minutes and to keep an eye out—he had just gotten a report of shots fired in that area, and he would respond—his report would say kids with firecrackers. He told Max to get a hold of Maria and get the van. They needed to be able to transport the body very quietly.
Max then called Maria, and she agreed to pick up Liz and head over. He also called Tess and found that Kyle was with her and told them to head over as well. Having someone that could perhaps put up a mindwarp might come in handy. Max looked over at Michael and gestured towards the end of the alley to keep an eye out. He looked at Courtney and pointed towards the other end of the alley and said, “We need to keep an eye out to make sure no one else notices anything.” Courtney nodded and went with him.
Maria stopped by Tess’s and picked up Liz; Liz felt that they needed to keep the numbers down so as not to attract any more attention. Methos was very intrigued and wanted to come, but Liz nixed that—the fewer around right now the better. Duncan agreed.
The Sheriff appeared about 10 minutes after the call and examined the body. He agreed that this would attract too much attention of the wrong type. Max introduced him to Courtney who was astonished that the Royal Four was so plugged into Roswell. No wonder they had never found out anything. Maria and Liz and the van showed up ten minutes later. After introductions were made, Max and Michael loaded the body into the back, wrapped up in some plastic wrap left over from the last supply run for Amy DeLuca’s curiosity shop. Then they all piled in the van and followed the Sheriff where he took them out of town up into the mountains. Where an abandoned mine shaft was fenced off. Max dissolved the fence and they tossed the body down the shaft which was hundreds of feet deep. Max then rebuilt the fence. After that, for a moment, they just stood around. Liz broke the silence and told Max to get out the word—time for another meeting. They would all head over to Tess’s place for a long talk.
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thumper1942
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Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 13 8/27/09
Another Life II Part 14
It took only another hour to get everyone to the house. Gathered in the living room, Liz took the floor and briefed the others on what had happened. She then looked at Courtney and asked, “We got some of the story from the so called guardian who turned out to be a traitor. The Royal Four were assassinated then remade as clones here on earth to grow up in safety and prepare to retake Antar from Kivar. I take it he hired you all or your people were his allies and were here to take out the Royal Four but never found them. They got wiped out by the military. You are the only one left. What we want to know is if there are any other groups out there, and where they are if there are any.”
Courtney took a deep breath. “We are from a planet not far from Antar. Our ruler is an ally of Kivar, and we were sent here a few years after the Royal Four to stop them. What we did not expect is for the pods to stay dormant as long as they did. They were supposed to hatch, or we were told this, more than 40 years ago—about ten years after landing. Why the delay, we had no idea. Frankly, we were pretty much going through the motions even a couple of weeks ago. No one believed the Royal Four had survived, and we were just wasting our time here. However, we have no way to get home; we have pretty much been abandoned. When our senior survivor made his report—we do have that capability—he was told to keep doing the mission. Nothing else. It seems pretty clear that Kivar or whoever is running Antar now no longer seems to think that the Royal Four is any threat. The only possible way home is if we can find the Granolith—but it should have been right there in the same area as the pods, and if you have found them, you SHOULD have been able to sense it—it was supposed to start sending out signals 8 years after you hatched. This is what I have learned over the years.”
Max, Michael, and Isabel all looked at each other. They had all been out to the pod chamber several times in the last year and had felt nothing. Max said “We have been out there several times and nothing. We need to show Tess where it is and have her try, but I doubt that that will work either. I am guessing that the Granolith is either not nearby or it’s not working. Frankly, I am not all that certain I want to find it—trying to go back to a far planet and fight a civil war is not something I look forward to doing. And it’s been fifty years—more actually—so who knows what the real situation is.”
Liz was thinking hard. “Courtney, you appear to be wearing some kind of environmental suit or skin—and you have been here 50 years. How long does it last?”
“Around 50 of your years—we were preparing out next set of skins when the military hit us. I had been quietly making arrangements for several years in case we got found out, and I have been working since I got here on a chamber to prepare my skin. I have about a year left before mine fails and I die.”
“What do you need to prepare your skin?”
“A chamber that can maintain a temperature of around 150 degrees and about 50 PSI with no interruption for about 6-9 months, and an airlock so that I can keep applying nutrients without losing pressure. I have got it about half done and am looking for a place I can put it.”
“How big is it?”
“It’s a cylinder about 5 feet long and 2 feet in diameter.”
Liz looked at Grace who thought for a minute and nodded. Liz looked at Courtney. “We have enough room in the basement here, and we are having the electrical system beefed up for a lab we are fixing up here. Should be no real trouble to put it in a corner down there, and we can get a UPS put together to insure the power stays steady.”
She then looked at the hybrids who were not looking too comfortable with what Liz was suggesting.
“She really is in the same boat you guys are. Sent here on a mission that has pretty much failed. Stuck here with no way home. She cannot even call for help, and if she did, it sounds like it would be ignored. So what if you were supposed to be enemies? Does not really matter now. All we can do is get along and work together. The only thing we really need to do besides get her chamber up and running is to try and find the Granolith. Outside of that, we should just live our lives the best we can.”
The rest of them looked at each other and realized that Liz had pretty much said it all.
Liz then looked at Duncan, Methos and Grace. They looked back at her and each other. Methos shrugged. Grace slowly nodded. Duncan looked at the two others then at Liz and also nodded.
Liz turned to Courtney. “One other thing to tell you….”
Liz and Maria had dropped off Courtney at her apartment after the meeting broke up. It was agreed that once the electrician had finished the wiring enhancement, they would transport the chamber to the basement, and start it going. Then they would start searching the area again for the Granolith, after first making sure the military was no longer around.
Courtney sat in her apartment and went over in her mind all that she had found out that day. She was a little surprised that she seemed to be accepted by most of the others; though clearly it was somewhat conditional with the Royal Four. When Liz had demonstrated her immortality, that had really stunned Courtney. Nothing she had ever heard indicated that that was a possibility anywhere else. Courtney did not really believe in any higher power or God, but hearing all about Immortality made her wonder. How could they just appear like they did with no family or anything around; and the other parts of it were just as astonishing. Clearly something was in play that did not smack of just science. On the other hand, the rather easy acceptance by Liz and to a lesser degree the rest of them made her feel a lot less lonely.
Max and the other hybrids did get together for a discussion, but they really did not disagree with the current course of things. Michael was of course the most skeptical but did agree that it was the decent thing to do. Isabel and Tess agreed, Tess pointing out that the way Nasedo had things planned, she could be considered just as much an enemy as Courtney. And they all indeed appeared to be in the same boat—stranded here on earth on what looked like an obsolete mission that no one appeared to care about any more. So it was left up to them to make the best of their lives here.
Duncan, Methos and Grace had had a discussion of their own. Methos stating that since so many of his cherished beliefs of the last 5000 years had gone up in smoke recently, he felt that making any judgments or pronouncements would be the height of arrogance. Duncan needled him that that was a HUGE change. Grace was looking forward to getting a sample of the hybrids and Courtney’s DNA to start analyzing it. She felt she might be able to make some serious breakthroughs in Microbiology and Genetics. And that would help her teach Liz as well. Duncan then asked the other two what they thought of telling Joe the whole story—since he already knew about the hybrids. Methos and Grace both agreed (Grace had told Duncan that she had figured out she was being watched a long time ago and that it had to be a pretty big organization). So he had told her about the watchers after talking to Joe—who felt that since she was going to be around for a while, it was only fitting that she should know the whole story. Telling Joe about Courtney and the rest of it would be a fair pay back. Methos told Duncan that he would tell Joe about it when they got back to Seacouver. He wanted to see the look on his face.
Kyle and the sheriff with Tess had headed back to their home, along the way talking about the day’s events. The Sheriff admitted that dumping the body had gone against the grain as a law officer, but that anything else would have caused serious trouble. Kyle pointed out that it was not like they could really have done much else without everything coming apart. Tess agreed.
The next morning Duncan told Liz that they would be heading back to Seacouver the following day, so they had to make this day’s training count. Since the electrician would be there most of the day, they would be using the training room at the clinic. Liz then called Cynthia to let her know. Duncan listened to this and thought about asking Joe for permission to tell Liz the whole story about the watchers, but decided to leave things as they were. He knew that Liz was still a pretty high profile newbie to the Watcher council and did not want to cause Joe any more grief.
Cynthia was glad to hear that Liz and Duncan would be using the training room so that she could observe. That would make up for not being able to watch the last two days.
Liz asked Duncan what he thought about telling Cynthia about the aliens, since it was clear to her that Cynthia would be around for a long time and could very well see some things that would have her asking questions; not to mention what could be going into notes for WHOEVER was interested in reading them. She then fixed Duncan with the gimlet eye and waited.
Duncan felt he was between a rock and a hard place on this. Liz was right about what Cynthia might end up putting down in Liz’s Chronicle, and that it would be read by many others. He had promised Joe to not tell Liz about the watchers—but then telling one watcher about what was really going on was not out of line. But he felt he needed to run it by Joe just in case.
The next day passed by quickly with no problems coming up. The electrician was able to get the work done in one day; Max and Michael had gotten a small air compressor from Home Depot, and it would do nicely for the chamber. They headed over to Courtney’s that night to pick up the chamber and get it to the house. Liz was there as well after saying goodbye to Duncan and Methos; she was very interested in the process. She was also frankly glad the sparing was over since it had been a strain for her. The next day was spent getting the lab and the chamber up and running. They were all rather surprised that the chamber seemed to be operating with no problems; and so did the lab equipment. Courtney had no trouble giving a DNA sample since it was clear that Grace was just into research and that was all. Plus she felt she was beholden to all of them. Courtney then approached Liz about working at the crashdown for the time being; she felt she needed to be doing something until she figured out what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Liz had no problem with that and let her know to stop by when she wanted to get the paperwork filled out. She asked her what she thought she might want to do. Courtney frankly told her she had no idea; she had been for almost 40 years just preparing things along with the others and trying to fulfill their mission; it had really only been in the last 5 years or so that she had been looking to get out. As regards a permanent job or career, she just had no idea at all. But she knew she needed to be doing something, or she would go nuts with boredom. Liz then asked her if she was interested in research and the like since that was what Liz and Grace would be doing. Courtney did not really think that she would be interested, but agreed to help out and maybe find out if she was of a mindset to do that.
Duncan and Methos decided to talk to Joe right away once they got back to Seacouver. Joe was not really surprised to see Duncan and Methos the same day they got back, but them wanting to talk to him right away did startle him a little. They went back into the small office of the bar, and Joe sat down behind his desk. “OK, I guess you have another surprise for me, so let me have it.”
Methos grinned evilly. And said, “Well, it gets more interesting for sure. And the boy scout here needs to ask you a few things as well.”
After they left, Joe sat down again a little limp. Another different Alien. Last one of a group that had just been wiped out by the US Military. And finding out what it was all about. A civil war on a planet many light years away that had seemed to spill over to earth—only from the sound of it, the ones supposed to be fighting it here had been ignored and all but abandoned. As a Vietnam vet, Joe could see some nasty parallels. He just shook his head. Duncan’s request to fill in Cynthia was something to think about. Duncan was right in that they could not really afford to have Liz’s chronicle to have certain things put in it. And the only way to really make sure of that would be for her to know. But that then left Rebecca, Grace’s watcher. However since Grace did not fight her chronicle to a certain extent was not really all that important. She was Watched because she was an immortal; and frankly, it had always been thought by the Council that ones like Grace were just cannon fodder for the Game. So it really would not be that hard to keep Rebecca from finding out, especially with Cynthia’s help. He decided that he would let Duncan know it was up to Liz and the aliens to make that call—since it really involved them more than anyone else.
Alex had told Isabel that they probably should take out the camera since it was no longer needed, and she agreed. Plus she liked the time alone with him. She borrowed Max’s Jeep and they went out that following night to retrieve the camera. Alex took advantage of the situation to get Isabel to go out to a place south of town that he had found a year ago—a beautiful spot to be alone and watch the stars. That evening brought them closer together than ever.
Max made it a point by the end of the week—which was also only a few days before Christmas—to get Liz and spend some alone time with her just tooling around town or sitting on her balcony. Kyle was quietly preparing to try and start dating Tess—and was then surprised when she made the first move—and was even more surprised when she told him straight up that he had to change some of his ways if he wanted to be with her. Kyle was rather startled when he realized that he did not mind that at all. Michael had been thinking more and more about his relationship with Maria and was a little surprised that he really felt he wanted to get serious. He decided to bite the bullet the day after they had gotten the chamber and the lab up and running. Finishing their shift at the Crashdown, he asked to talk to her in the break room. Maria was a little worried since this was a first for Michael. She was stunned when he admitted he really wanted to have a relationship with her. She burst out in tears, and that really shook him up. She settled that when she laid a big kiss on him.
It took only another hour to get everyone to the house. Gathered in the living room, Liz took the floor and briefed the others on what had happened. She then looked at Courtney and asked, “We got some of the story from the so called guardian who turned out to be a traitor. The Royal Four were assassinated then remade as clones here on earth to grow up in safety and prepare to retake Antar from Kivar. I take it he hired you all or your people were his allies and were here to take out the Royal Four but never found them. They got wiped out by the military. You are the only one left. What we want to know is if there are any other groups out there, and where they are if there are any.”
Courtney took a deep breath. “We are from a planet not far from Antar. Our ruler is an ally of Kivar, and we were sent here a few years after the Royal Four to stop them. What we did not expect is for the pods to stay dormant as long as they did. They were supposed to hatch, or we were told this, more than 40 years ago—about ten years after landing. Why the delay, we had no idea. Frankly, we were pretty much going through the motions even a couple of weeks ago. No one believed the Royal Four had survived, and we were just wasting our time here. However, we have no way to get home; we have pretty much been abandoned. When our senior survivor made his report—we do have that capability—he was told to keep doing the mission. Nothing else. It seems pretty clear that Kivar or whoever is running Antar now no longer seems to think that the Royal Four is any threat. The only possible way home is if we can find the Granolith—but it should have been right there in the same area as the pods, and if you have found them, you SHOULD have been able to sense it—it was supposed to start sending out signals 8 years after you hatched. This is what I have learned over the years.”
Max, Michael, and Isabel all looked at each other. They had all been out to the pod chamber several times in the last year and had felt nothing. Max said “We have been out there several times and nothing. We need to show Tess where it is and have her try, but I doubt that that will work either. I am guessing that the Granolith is either not nearby or it’s not working. Frankly, I am not all that certain I want to find it—trying to go back to a far planet and fight a civil war is not something I look forward to doing. And it’s been fifty years—more actually—so who knows what the real situation is.”
Liz was thinking hard. “Courtney, you appear to be wearing some kind of environmental suit or skin—and you have been here 50 years. How long does it last?”
“Around 50 of your years—we were preparing out next set of skins when the military hit us. I had been quietly making arrangements for several years in case we got found out, and I have been working since I got here on a chamber to prepare my skin. I have about a year left before mine fails and I die.”
“What do you need to prepare your skin?”
“A chamber that can maintain a temperature of around 150 degrees and about 50 PSI with no interruption for about 6-9 months, and an airlock so that I can keep applying nutrients without losing pressure. I have got it about half done and am looking for a place I can put it.”
“How big is it?”
“It’s a cylinder about 5 feet long and 2 feet in diameter.”
Liz looked at Grace who thought for a minute and nodded. Liz looked at Courtney. “We have enough room in the basement here, and we are having the electrical system beefed up for a lab we are fixing up here. Should be no real trouble to put it in a corner down there, and we can get a UPS put together to insure the power stays steady.”
She then looked at the hybrids who were not looking too comfortable with what Liz was suggesting.
“She really is in the same boat you guys are. Sent here on a mission that has pretty much failed. Stuck here with no way home. She cannot even call for help, and if she did, it sounds like it would be ignored. So what if you were supposed to be enemies? Does not really matter now. All we can do is get along and work together. The only thing we really need to do besides get her chamber up and running is to try and find the Granolith. Outside of that, we should just live our lives the best we can.”
The rest of them looked at each other and realized that Liz had pretty much said it all.
Liz then looked at Duncan, Methos and Grace. They looked back at her and each other. Methos shrugged. Grace slowly nodded. Duncan looked at the two others then at Liz and also nodded.
Liz turned to Courtney. “One other thing to tell you….”
Liz and Maria had dropped off Courtney at her apartment after the meeting broke up. It was agreed that once the electrician had finished the wiring enhancement, they would transport the chamber to the basement, and start it going. Then they would start searching the area again for the Granolith, after first making sure the military was no longer around.
Courtney sat in her apartment and went over in her mind all that she had found out that day. She was a little surprised that she seemed to be accepted by most of the others; though clearly it was somewhat conditional with the Royal Four. When Liz had demonstrated her immortality, that had really stunned Courtney. Nothing she had ever heard indicated that that was a possibility anywhere else. Courtney did not really believe in any higher power or God, but hearing all about Immortality made her wonder. How could they just appear like they did with no family or anything around; and the other parts of it were just as astonishing. Clearly something was in play that did not smack of just science. On the other hand, the rather easy acceptance by Liz and to a lesser degree the rest of them made her feel a lot less lonely.
Max and the other hybrids did get together for a discussion, but they really did not disagree with the current course of things. Michael was of course the most skeptical but did agree that it was the decent thing to do. Isabel and Tess agreed, Tess pointing out that the way Nasedo had things planned, she could be considered just as much an enemy as Courtney. And they all indeed appeared to be in the same boat—stranded here on earth on what looked like an obsolete mission that no one appeared to care about any more. So it was left up to them to make the best of their lives here.
Duncan, Methos and Grace had had a discussion of their own. Methos stating that since so many of his cherished beliefs of the last 5000 years had gone up in smoke recently, he felt that making any judgments or pronouncements would be the height of arrogance. Duncan needled him that that was a HUGE change. Grace was looking forward to getting a sample of the hybrids and Courtney’s DNA to start analyzing it. She felt she might be able to make some serious breakthroughs in Microbiology and Genetics. And that would help her teach Liz as well. Duncan then asked the other two what they thought of telling Joe the whole story—since he already knew about the hybrids. Methos and Grace both agreed (Grace had told Duncan that she had figured out she was being watched a long time ago and that it had to be a pretty big organization). So he had told her about the watchers after talking to Joe—who felt that since she was going to be around for a while, it was only fitting that she should know the whole story. Telling Joe about Courtney and the rest of it would be a fair pay back. Methos told Duncan that he would tell Joe about it when they got back to Seacouver. He wanted to see the look on his face.
Kyle and the sheriff with Tess had headed back to their home, along the way talking about the day’s events. The Sheriff admitted that dumping the body had gone against the grain as a law officer, but that anything else would have caused serious trouble. Kyle pointed out that it was not like they could really have done much else without everything coming apart. Tess agreed.
The next morning Duncan told Liz that they would be heading back to Seacouver the following day, so they had to make this day’s training count. Since the electrician would be there most of the day, they would be using the training room at the clinic. Liz then called Cynthia to let her know. Duncan listened to this and thought about asking Joe for permission to tell Liz the whole story about the watchers, but decided to leave things as they were. He knew that Liz was still a pretty high profile newbie to the Watcher council and did not want to cause Joe any more grief.
Cynthia was glad to hear that Liz and Duncan would be using the training room so that she could observe. That would make up for not being able to watch the last two days.
Liz asked Duncan what he thought about telling Cynthia about the aliens, since it was clear to her that Cynthia would be around for a long time and could very well see some things that would have her asking questions; not to mention what could be going into notes for WHOEVER was interested in reading them. She then fixed Duncan with the gimlet eye and waited.
Duncan felt he was between a rock and a hard place on this. Liz was right about what Cynthia might end up putting down in Liz’s Chronicle, and that it would be read by many others. He had promised Joe to not tell Liz about the watchers—but then telling one watcher about what was really going on was not out of line. But he felt he needed to run it by Joe just in case.
The next day passed by quickly with no problems coming up. The electrician was able to get the work done in one day; Max and Michael had gotten a small air compressor from Home Depot, and it would do nicely for the chamber. They headed over to Courtney’s that night to pick up the chamber and get it to the house. Liz was there as well after saying goodbye to Duncan and Methos; she was very interested in the process. She was also frankly glad the sparing was over since it had been a strain for her. The next day was spent getting the lab and the chamber up and running. They were all rather surprised that the chamber seemed to be operating with no problems; and so did the lab equipment. Courtney had no trouble giving a DNA sample since it was clear that Grace was just into research and that was all. Plus she felt she was beholden to all of them. Courtney then approached Liz about working at the crashdown for the time being; she felt she needed to be doing something until she figured out what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. Liz had no problem with that and let her know to stop by when she wanted to get the paperwork filled out. She asked her what she thought she might want to do. Courtney frankly told her she had no idea; she had been for almost 40 years just preparing things along with the others and trying to fulfill their mission; it had really only been in the last 5 years or so that she had been looking to get out. As regards a permanent job or career, she just had no idea at all. But she knew she needed to be doing something, or she would go nuts with boredom. Liz then asked her if she was interested in research and the like since that was what Liz and Grace would be doing. Courtney did not really think that she would be interested, but agreed to help out and maybe find out if she was of a mindset to do that.
Duncan and Methos decided to talk to Joe right away once they got back to Seacouver. Joe was not really surprised to see Duncan and Methos the same day they got back, but them wanting to talk to him right away did startle him a little. They went back into the small office of the bar, and Joe sat down behind his desk. “OK, I guess you have another surprise for me, so let me have it.”
Methos grinned evilly. And said, “Well, it gets more interesting for sure. And the boy scout here needs to ask you a few things as well.”
After they left, Joe sat down again a little limp. Another different Alien. Last one of a group that had just been wiped out by the US Military. And finding out what it was all about. A civil war on a planet many light years away that had seemed to spill over to earth—only from the sound of it, the ones supposed to be fighting it here had been ignored and all but abandoned. As a Vietnam vet, Joe could see some nasty parallels. He just shook his head. Duncan’s request to fill in Cynthia was something to think about. Duncan was right in that they could not really afford to have Liz’s chronicle to have certain things put in it. And the only way to really make sure of that would be for her to know. But that then left Rebecca, Grace’s watcher. However since Grace did not fight her chronicle to a certain extent was not really all that important. She was Watched because she was an immortal; and frankly, it had always been thought by the Council that ones like Grace were just cannon fodder for the Game. So it really would not be that hard to keep Rebecca from finding out, especially with Cynthia’s help. He decided that he would let Duncan know it was up to Liz and the aliens to make that call—since it really involved them more than anyone else.
Alex had told Isabel that they probably should take out the camera since it was no longer needed, and she agreed. Plus she liked the time alone with him. She borrowed Max’s Jeep and they went out that following night to retrieve the camera. Alex took advantage of the situation to get Isabel to go out to a place south of town that he had found a year ago—a beautiful spot to be alone and watch the stars. That evening brought them closer together than ever.
Max made it a point by the end of the week—which was also only a few days before Christmas—to get Liz and spend some alone time with her just tooling around town or sitting on her balcony. Kyle was quietly preparing to try and start dating Tess—and was then surprised when she made the first move—and was even more surprised when she told him straight up that he had to change some of his ways if he wanted to be with her. Kyle was rather startled when he realized that he did not mind that at all. Michael had been thinking more and more about his relationship with Maria and was a little surprised that he really felt he wanted to get serious. He decided to bite the bullet the day after they had gotten the chamber and the lab up and running. Finishing their shift at the Crashdown, he asked to talk to her in the break room. Maria was a little worried since this was a first for Michael. She was stunned when he admitted he really wanted to have a relationship with her. She burst out in tears, and that really shook him up. She settled that when she laid a big kiss on him.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
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- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:37 pm
Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 14 8/30/9
Another Life II Part 15
Liz had decided that having a New Year’s Eve Party would be just the thing to ring in the New Year. She wanted everyone to be there, so she started working on it just before Christmas. She started with Duncan and the Seacouver crowd; she wanted Amanda, Richie, Methos, Charlie and hopefully Joe Dawson (still determined to get to the bottom of her “observers” situation) to come. Tess’s house and the Apartment should have enough room. Tess was enthusiastic about having a real party—something she had never had before. Liz had gotten rather unexpectedly close to Tess and felt that the girl had been badly deprived of a real life and needed to make up for that. So Liz really wanted this party to be a good one. And she wanted all those in the know to be together. She was seriously considering bringing in Cynthia all the way into the know—especially since Liz suspected that a lot of alien type information could find its way into whatever she was compiling.
Duncan was seriously considering Liz’s request for a full invasion by the Seacouver gang; it might be fun, and also a real party like that with people that you did not have to guard what you said would be a very unique situation. So he went upstairs to talk to Amanda.
Amanda thought it might be a blast—and she agreed that having a real party and not having to worry about what was said would be a unique situation for her as well. Not since she stayed with Rebecca and all there knew about Immortals; and that was almost a thousand years ago.
Richie was quite agreeable—always up for a party. Charlie looked interested; that is when Duncan remembered that Charlie was not yet part of the Alien in the Know crowd. However, he did not think it would be that big of a problem since Liz already knew him pretty well and would vouch to the hybrids for him. Charlie did question about the Dojo, but agreed with Duncan when he pointed out that they usually had very few people there anyway for those days. With the three of them in line, Duncan headed out to the Bar to see Joe—who might be a tougher sell, not to mention Methos.
As it turned out, it was not a tough sell for either Joe or Methos; Joe wanted to see Cynthia and the other watcher for Grace, and also he was looking at seeing that Cynthia was fully briefed in on the alien situation. He had come to realize that she needed to know to prevent unwanted information going into Liz’s Chronicle. The situation with Grace’s watcher had worked itself out when Rebecca’s mother had a fall and broke her hip and needed to be looked after—Joe had decided that Cynthia could watch both of them since Liz and Grace spent a lot of time together, not to mention Grace’s special situation anyway. Methos was still curious about the hybrids and the aliens, and besides—free beer would be flowing.
So Duncan was able to call Liz back the next day and say that the invasion was scheduled for the 30th, and they would stay and leave on the 3rd. Very heartened by that, Liz went to work on everyone else. She met little resistance from anyone and soon had things set up. She, Tess, and Grace looked the house over and rented some extra beds and furniture—until Grace pointed out that renting was almost as expensive as buying and that they might as well set the place up so that on short notice a lot of people could stay. It was a big house with 5 full bedrooms and 3 full baths. The apartment had a spare room, so it was figured Amanda and Duncan would stay there plus one more. With Joe’s legs, he would have the downstairs bedroom; Charlie and Richie or Methos would share the spare room at the apartment and the extra bedroom at the house. Liz was looking at asking Cynthia to stay there as well so as to fully acclimate her to the situation. Courtney had also agreed to stay. She had rather, to her surprise and some others, blended well into the Alien/Hybrid/Human/Immortal Society as Maria called it.
Cynthia was surprised at Liz’s call to stay over for a long New Year’s Party with what she understood to be the whole gang and the Seacouver group as well. A call to Joe Dawson indicated that he felt she should stay since there was information that she needed to know. That really piqued her interest as she wondered what else could be going on.
One nice thing about the climate of Roswell is that it rarely got very cold even in late December and early January; and with the sun usually out, it felt warmer than the average of the high 50’s that was the norm. So they could count on using the backyard for sparing or just getting out of the house without worrying about anyone seeing anything.
Maria shook her head at Liz; she was really going a little overboard on this whole New Year’s party extravaganza. She had wheedled her father into letting them take the big outside barbecue to Tess’s house so that they could use it there. Liz had talked to Maria about whether to bring her parents into the Alien conspiracy as Maria liked to call it. Maria was of the opinion that, with the growing number of Aliens that seemed to be coming out of the woodwork, it was probably inevitable anyway. Max had already agreed that if Liz thought it necessary, he was ok with it. Even Michael thought so—and as he put it, the less he had to worry about someone noticing, the easier life was anyway. Isabel was rather astonishingly indifferent—she felt so many already knew, what was a couple more—and as long as they had a vested interest in keeping the secret, it was OK with her. Tess was a little more ambivalent, but her increasingly closer friendship with Liz had made her quite prepared to accept her evaluation of the situation.
Duncan had arranged for a full luxury Van so as to make it easier to move people around. So Cynthia and Liz picked up the vehicle and were waiting at the Roswell Airport. Duncan had chartered a plane that was somewhat bigger than the usual aircraft that flew there so as to make it a more comfortable flight. Liz remarked to Cynthia that she wondered how much Amanda had to do with that arrangement. Cynthia laughed and said probably quite a bit, but also since Joe had some trouble getting around, that was probably just as big a factor.
Once off of the plane, they had gotten all of the luggage (Richie and Charlie loudly noticed that Amanda had as much luggage as all the rest of them put together—and got a look from her that promised hideous revenge sometime soon). That exchange got Duncan thinking that he still needed to get back at them for his “date,” and enlisting Amanda in the scheme might pay dividends. Liz had decided that the barbeque would do for this day and tomorrow; and on New Year’s day, a full blown dinner in the house. So she had arranged with the Crashdown’s meat supplier for a full range of steaks to be prepared and kept in the big freezer there to be brought over that afternoon. The rest could stay at the Crashdown and brought over as needed. Having grown up in a diner, Liz had better grasp of feeding large numbers of people than most people did, so the meals for the next few days would not be a big change for her. Tess and Grace had agreed that she would take care of the planning for the meals since neither one wanted the responsibility. Liz was also thinking that bringing in her Parents on the Alien secret would also help in that they could be there all the time without anyone worrying about spilling the beans. Also, her dad could help out with the barbecue.
Once at the house, Liz buttonholed Joe and Duncan, took them down in the basement, and showed them the Lab and Courtney’s chamber. Both were very interested in the chamber and properly appreciative of the scale of the lab. Grace came down with Methos, and they talked about the DNA testing that they had done on Courtney and the Hybrids—there was a rather interesting similarity between them—not as many differences as one would think. The atmosphere of Courtney’s home planet had a large amount of methane in it, but the actual physical differences were relatively minor; if Courtney could take off her skin she would not look very different from the average human—the only real thing to note was that the physical makeup of her species was very homogenous; very little difference at all between individuals. Courtney had remarked that being exposed to earth had shown her a diversity that as far as she knew was unique to here. Antar and the systems around it had species that were very much the same.
Liz wanted to speak to Joe about Cynthia; she was a little startled when he readily agreed that she should be brought in completely. Liz recovered quickly, then needled him that she felt that he owed her the full explanation as regards her “Observer”. Joe, Duncan, and Methos had had an extensive talk about it, and they both agreed that Joe should reciprocate since he and Cynthia would know all THEIR secrets. The basic fairness of that was hard to argue with, and Joe felt that enough was enough, and despite what the Council might want, it was best for Cynthia to be brought in all the way, and Liz at least to know fully about the Watchers. Joe then asked Liz what she thought she knew. Liz then surprised him.
“Well it’s clear we are talking about an old and very extensive organization. There are thousands of immortals, which means there must be thousands of observers, and a supporting organization would have to be pretty big and well funded. Probably around for a couple thousand years, maybe more. With people pretty much all over the world—from Secouver to Albuquerque to now Roswell. Alex and I modified an internet search engine to be much more specific, and you might be surprised to know that there are sites out there that mention the Quickening and speculate about the Game. They are very fringe sites so no one really notices them much, but they are out there. And there are mentions of people who WATCH the Immortals. So I figure your organization is called the Watchers. You are probably head of the US or North American Division or section or whatever you call it. Since clearly the watchers I have been around answer to you. I figure one of the reasons Felicia Rising got you guys all upset is that my guess that she got her information from you and that is a big no no. Her “observer” was helping her out, which I estimate is a real big rule-breaker. Cynthia is mine—and she writes whatever she observes down, and they keep it as long as the Immortal keeps his or her head, and when they lose it, it probably gets filed in a big depository somewhere. Since you guys watch people that live for hundreds if not thousands of years, you constantly have to replace the people as they get old and sick and no longer capable of following young immortals around. So you must have ways to recruit and train, and that means you probably have a school or academy somewhere. Probably do most of your recruiting from established families. Probably multiple generations from each family. I imagine that from time to time, you have had some people go rogue on you and either help out Immortals or maybe even hunt them down as some kind of abomination to humanity. It’s human nature, and no organization, no matter how well run, is going to avoid that sort of thing forever. So how am I doing?”
Joe was flabbergasted, and Duncan and Methos were laughing while Grace just smiled and shook her head.
“Well Liz, Duncan said he thought you had pretty much figured it out, and Cynthia agreed. Turns out the only thing you do not know is the official title of our group. It’s called the Watchers. Other than that, you hit the nail right on the head with everything else you said. I must admit, I am surprised that you made the connection with Felicia Rising and her watcher but you were correct there. You were also sadly correct about some watchers going rogue and hunting down Immortals. That just happened a few years ago, and Duncan is one of the reasons they were quickly stopped. That is how he found out about the Watchers. Adam here actually is currently part of the Watchers, but no one knows that he is an immortal. It’s his current hiding place. He is assigned the task of trying to prove that Methos exists and is not just a rumor or legend.”
Liz nodded in satisfaction about being right and then told them that she would inform Cynthia that same day. She also told them that she had talked to Max and the others about Charlie, and they had agreed that it would be just one more secret he kept since he already knew about Immortals. She had decided to do both of them together and was considering also having her parents in as well to get it all over with in one shot. That raised some eyebrows but no real comments.
Liz then went upstairs and called her parents and asked them to come over to Tess’s house. They said they would be over in half an hour. She then tracked down Cynthia and Charlie and took them outside.
Liz noticed that there seemed to be some sparks between Cynthia and Charlie, and that got her thinking. The only problem with that was that Charlie was a full time Seacouver resident. But on the other hand….
Charlie was wondering what Liz had to tell them but had no objection with being with Cynthia who he thought was very cute, and since already in the know about Immortals, fit right in. Cynthia’s thoughts were mirroring Charlie’s to a startlingly degree if they had known it; it had been a while since she had had a relationship, and even a long distance one was looking pretty good to her.
Tess then told Liz that they needed some more supplies for the cookout that night, and Liz decided to get Max and the SUV, and get it—she looked at her watch and figured that they could make a trip to the local supermarket and be back about the same time as her parents got there. She decided to take Charlie and Cynthia to give them some time together as well.
The nearest supermarket was only about a mile away, so it did not take much time. They were on the way back and going through an intersection when Liz looked up to see a car running the light—her warning to Cynthia was too late, and they got broadsided—Charlie was in the passenger seat up front and caught the full impact.
Liz shook her head and managed to get her door open. It was suddenly very quiet. Max was stirring and slowly moving, and she grabbed him and managed to get him out—he quickly recovered and went to the front driver door and opened it. Cynthia was a little dazed, but ok and told him so, and slowly got out. Liz went to the passenger door and was horrified at the state that side of the car was in. Using all her strength, she was just able to get the door open. Charlie was pushed half way to the middle, and his right leg was bleeding badly. She called to Max right away. She looked over at the other vehicle and took a quick look inside—and realized that there was no hurry about doing anything there. It had been an older model sedan without airbags, and the driver had not been wearing his seatbelt. Max looked at Charlie’s leg and realized that he was pinned in there and there was no way to stop the bleeding. Liz looked at him and nodded.
Charlie was dazed and responded to Max’s call to look at him slowly—but then blinked and felt the pain in his leg suddenly decrease. He slowly looked down and saw the big cut on his leg start to heal; he could actually feel it—and he could also feel Max.
Cynthia was badly worried about Charlie when she saw Liz and Max look at each other then Max lean inside to call Charlie’s name. She got closer and was amazed to see the terrible cut in his leg heal right before her eyes—but not like an Immortal healing; no blue sparks. It was just healing. She looked at Max and realized that he was doing it, and that it was a strain on him.
Liz, meanwhile, was glad that this was a deserted intersection; so far no one had come by. They were less than a half a mile from the house—she called the Sheriff first and let him know. He promised to be there in 15 minutes. She told him that the other driver was dead and that Max was healing the only person in their vehicle that had been injured. She also told him that he already knew about Immortals, so what was one more secret? The sheriff had to chuckle at that and told her that he would inform the necessary units to respond. She then called the house and got Grace and told her what had happened. She told her to keep everyone there and not to draw any attention. Grace was reluctant but agreed.
Charlie wanted to see if Max could get him out of the car, but Liz vetoed that saying they wanted to make this look as normal as possible. Max had not only healed the leg wound, but had repaired Charlie’s pants and removed the blood. There was no sign that he had been injured. He was just pinned in the vehicle. Max had even straightened the piece of door that had caused the wound.
Cynthia was holding Charlie’s hand, and she looked at Max and Liz and asked, “How?”
Max looked at Liz, and she sighed and nodded. Taking one more quick look around to see that no one had yet shown up she started.
“The Roswell Crash happened. Some pods were left, and Max and some others came out of them about 40 years later. It was all part of a plan to end a civil war on a planet a long ways away, and so far, it looks like it was a spectacular failure all around. The crash and the lack of guidance and an apparent mess up with the timer due to the accident or sabotage on the pods caused them to come out way after they were supposed to. Another group was sent from the other side to stop them. And they spent about 50 years doing nothing but looking, and finding nothing. Only one of them survived a recent fight with the military, and she is now with our group; different species and wears a skin that makes her look totally human. She would look fairly human without it, but her home planet atmosphere is very different, and she needs her skin to survive here. Max and the others are Human Hybrids—mostly human with a little extra something in their DNA. As you just saw, Max can heal. He tried to heal me the day I was shot, but I was unconscious and that is a necessary thing so that Max can make a conscious connection—or he cannot heal. That was why he had to get to Charlie while he was still conscious. The others have various powers that are from the brain and mental processes—their brains are a little different than ours—they are able to use more of their potential then we can. Bottom line is that Max and the others are stranded here and have no interest really in going back to get involved in a civil war. So they just want to make a life here and be happy. That’s the story.”
Just as Liz finished the Sheriff arrived, and the sirens from the ambulances and fire department were not far behind. He got out of his Blazer and Liz went over to him to let him know what was going on.
“We were going through the intersection when that car hit us broadside. Charlie was injured and Max had to heal him. So I just briefed Cynthia and Charlie on the alien situation, so they are in the know about Immortals and Aliens. Max cleaned up the car so there is no evidence Charlie was injured. If they look a little more dazed, it’s just because they now know that aliens not only exist but are right here.”
The Sheriff blinked and slowly nodded. Liz was getting really good at information relay in a quick and concise fashion.
Liz and Max and Cynthia backed off as the fire department rescue squad worked at getting Charlie free. The Paramedics were surprised that he was not injured, but reluctantly agreed that since he apparently was not injured and wished to refuse treatment, he had that right; and they got the paperwork for him to sign. As the driver of the other vehicle was dead on the scene, the Sheriff only had to get the statements of Cynthia and the others, and that did not take long. With no other witnesses, it was a fairly quick process. The only other thing was the car insurance for the SUV—it was still in Nasedo’s name and had not yet been transferred. The sheriff told Liz that it would not be a big deal—it was clear that the fault was the other driver, and there should be no problems. Only an hour after the crash, Liz called the house, and Duncan brought the van over to pick them up.
Liz had decided that having a New Year’s Eve Party would be just the thing to ring in the New Year. She wanted everyone to be there, so she started working on it just before Christmas. She started with Duncan and the Seacouver crowd; she wanted Amanda, Richie, Methos, Charlie and hopefully Joe Dawson (still determined to get to the bottom of her “observers” situation) to come. Tess’s house and the Apartment should have enough room. Tess was enthusiastic about having a real party—something she had never had before. Liz had gotten rather unexpectedly close to Tess and felt that the girl had been badly deprived of a real life and needed to make up for that. So Liz really wanted this party to be a good one. And she wanted all those in the know to be together. She was seriously considering bringing in Cynthia all the way into the know—especially since Liz suspected that a lot of alien type information could find its way into whatever she was compiling.
Duncan was seriously considering Liz’s request for a full invasion by the Seacouver gang; it might be fun, and also a real party like that with people that you did not have to guard what you said would be a very unique situation. So he went upstairs to talk to Amanda.
Amanda thought it might be a blast—and she agreed that having a real party and not having to worry about what was said would be a unique situation for her as well. Not since she stayed with Rebecca and all there knew about Immortals; and that was almost a thousand years ago.
Richie was quite agreeable—always up for a party. Charlie looked interested; that is when Duncan remembered that Charlie was not yet part of the Alien in the Know crowd. However, he did not think it would be that big of a problem since Liz already knew him pretty well and would vouch to the hybrids for him. Charlie did question about the Dojo, but agreed with Duncan when he pointed out that they usually had very few people there anyway for those days. With the three of them in line, Duncan headed out to the Bar to see Joe—who might be a tougher sell, not to mention Methos.
As it turned out, it was not a tough sell for either Joe or Methos; Joe wanted to see Cynthia and the other watcher for Grace, and also he was looking at seeing that Cynthia was fully briefed in on the alien situation. He had come to realize that she needed to know to prevent unwanted information going into Liz’s Chronicle. The situation with Grace’s watcher had worked itself out when Rebecca’s mother had a fall and broke her hip and needed to be looked after—Joe had decided that Cynthia could watch both of them since Liz and Grace spent a lot of time together, not to mention Grace’s special situation anyway. Methos was still curious about the hybrids and the aliens, and besides—free beer would be flowing.
So Duncan was able to call Liz back the next day and say that the invasion was scheduled for the 30th, and they would stay and leave on the 3rd. Very heartened by that, Liz went to work on everyone else. She met little resistance from anyone and soon had things set up. She, Tess, and Grace looked the house over and rented some extra beds and furniture—until Grace pointed out that renting was almost as expensive as buying and that they might as well set the place up so that on short notice a lot of people could stay. It was a big house with 5 full bedrooms and 3 full baths. The apartment had a spare room, so it was figured Amanda and Duncan would stay there plus one more. With Joe’s legs, he would have the downstairs bedroom; Charlie and Richie or Methos would share the spare room at the apartment and the extra bedroom at the house. Liz was looking at asking Cynthia to stay there as well so as to fully acclimate her to the situation. Courtney had also agreed to stay. She had rather, to her surprise and some others, blended well into the Alien/Hybrid/Human/Immortal Society as Maria called it.
Cynthia was surprised at Liz’s call to stay over for a long New Year’s Party with what she understood to be the whole gang and the Seacouver group as well. A call to Joe Dawson indicated that he felt she should stay since there was information that she needed to know. That really piqued her interest as she wondered what else could be going on.
One nice thing about the climate of Roswell is that it rarely got very cold even in late December and early January; and with the sun usually out, it felt warmer than the average of the high 50’s that was the norm. So they could count on using the backyard for sparing or just getting out of the house without worrying about anyone seeing anything.
Maria shook her head at Liz; she was really going a little overboard on this whole New Year’s party extravaganza. She had wheedled her father into letting them take the big outside barbecue to Tess’s house so that they could use it there. Liz had talked to Maria about whether to bring her parents into the Alien conspiracy as Maria liked to call it. Maria was of the opinion that, with the growing number of Aliens that seemed to be coming out of the woodwork, it was probably inevitable anyway. Max had already agreed that if Liz thought it necessary, he was ok with it. Even Michael thought so—and as he put it, the less he had to worry about someone noticing, the easier life was anyway. Isabel was rather astonishingly indifferent—she felt so many already knew, what was a couple more—and as long as they had a vested interest in keeping the secret, it was OK with her. Tess was a little more ambivalent, but her increasingly closer friendship with Liz had made her quite prepared to accept her evaluation of the situation.
Duncan had arranged for a full luxury Van so as to make it easier to move people around. So Cynthia and Liz picked up the vehicle and were waiting at the Roswell Airport. Duncan had chartered a plane that was somewhat bigger than the usual aircraft that flew there so as to make it a more comfortable flight. Liz remarked to Cynthia that she wondered how much Amanda had to do with that arrangement. Cynthia laughed and said probably quite a bit, but also since Joe had some trouble getting around, that was probably just as big a factor.
Once off of the plane, they had gotten all of the luggage (Richie and Charlie loudly noticed that Amanda had as much luggage as all the rest of them put together—and got a look from her that promised hideous revenge sometime soon). That exchange got Duncan thinking that he still needed to get back at them for his “date,” and enlisting Amanda in the scheme might pay dividends. Liz had decided that the barbeque would do for this day and tomorrow; and on New Year’s day, a full blown dinner in the house. So she had arranged with the Crashdown’s meat supplier for a full range of steaks to be prepared and kept in the big freezer there to be brought over that afternoon. The rest could stay at the Crashdown and brought over as needed. Having grown up in a diner, Liz had better grasp of feeding large numbers of people than most people did, so the meals for the next few days would not be a big change for her. Tess and Grace had agreed that she would take care of the planning for the meals since neither one wanted the responsibility. Liz was also thinking that bringing in her Parents on the Alien secret would also help in that they could be there all the time without anyone worrying about spilling the beans. Also, her dad could help out with the barbecue.
Once at the house, Liz buttonholed Joe and Duncan, took them down in the basement, and showed them the Lab and Courtney’s chamber. Both were very interested in the chamber and properly appreciative of the scale of the lab. Grace came down with Methos, and they talked about the DNA testing that they had done on Courtney and the Hybrids—there was a rather interesting similarity between them—not as many differences as one would think. The atmosphere of Courtney’s home planet had a large amount of methane in it, but the actual physical differences were relatively minor; if Courtney could take off her skin she would not look very different from the average human—the only real thing to note was that the physical makeup of her species was very homogenous; very little difference at all between individuals. Courtney had remarked that being exposed to earth had shown her a diversity that as far as she knew was unique to here. Antar and the systems around it had species that were very much the same.
Liz wanted to speak to Joe about Cynthia; she was a little startled when he readily agreed that she should be brought in completely. Liz recovered quickly, then needled him that she felt that he owed her the full explanation as regards her “Observer”. Joe, Duncan, and Methos had had an extensive talk about it, and they both agreed that Joe should reciprocate since he and Cynthia would know all THEIR secrets. The basic fairness of that was hard to argue with, and Joe felt that enough was enough, and despite what the Council might want, it was best for Cynthia to be brought in all the way, and Liz at least to know fully about the Watchers. Joe then asked Liz what she thought she knew. Liz then surprised him.
“Well it’s clear we are talking about an old and very extensive organization. There are thousands of immortals, which means there must be thousands of observers, and a supporting organization would have to be pretty big and well funded. Probably around for a couple thousand years, maybe more. With people pretty much all over the world—from Secouver to Albuquerque to now Roswell. Alex and I modified an internet search engine to be much more specific, and you might be surprised to know that there are sites out there that mention the Quickening and speculate about the Game. They are very fringe sites so no one really notices them much, but they are out there. And there are mentions of people who WATCH the Immortals. So I figure your organization is called the Watchers. You are probably head of the US or North American Division or section or whatever you call it. Since clearly the watchers I have been around answer to you. I figure one of the reasons Felicia Rising got you guys all upset is that my guess that she got her information from you and that is a big no no. Her “observer” was helping her out, which I estimate is a real big rule-breaker. Cynthia is mine—and she writes whatever she observes down, and they keep it as long as the Immortal keeps his or her head, and when they lose it, it probably gets filed in a big depository somewhere. Since you guys watch people that live for hundreds if not thousands of years, you constantly have to replace the people as they get old and sick and no longer capable of following young immortals around. So you must have ways to recruit and train, and that means you probably have a school or academy somewhere. Probably do most of your recruiting from established families. Probably multiple generations from each family. I imagine that from time to time, you have had some people go rogue on you and either help out Immortals or maybe even hunt them down as some kind of abomination to humanity. It’s human nature, and no organization, no matter how well run, is going to avoid that sort of thing forever. So how am I doing?”
Joe was flabbergasted, and Duncan and Methos were laughing while Grace just smiled and shook her head.
“Well Liz, Duncan said he thought you had pretty much figured it out, and Cynthia agreed. Turns out the only thing you do not know is the official title of our group. It’s called the Watchers. Other than that, you hit the nail right on the head with everything else you said. I must admit, I am surprised that you made the connection with Felicia Rising and her watcher but you were correct there. You were also sadly correct about some watchers going rogue and hunting down Immortals. That just happened a few years ago, and Duncan is one of the reasons they were quickly stopped. That is how he found out about the Watchers. Adam here actually is currently part of the Watchers, but no one knows that he is an immortal. It’s his current hiding place. He is assigned the task of trying to prove that Methos exists and is not just a rumor or legend.”
Liz nodded in satisfaction about being right and then told them that she would inform Cynthia that same day. She also told them that she had talked to Max and the others about Charlie, and they had agreed that it would be just one more secret he kept since he already knew about Immortals. She had decided to do both of them together and was considering also having her parents in as well to get it all over with in one shot. That raised some eyebrows but no real comments.
Liz then went upstairs and called her parents and asked them to come over to Tess’s house. They said they would be over in half an hour. She then tracked down Cynthia and Charlie and took them outside.
Liz noticed that there seemed to be some sparks between Cynthia and Charlie, and that got her thinking. The only problem with that was that Charlie was a full time Seacouver resident. But on the other hand….
Charlie was wondering what Liz had to tell them but had no objection with being with Cynthia who he thought was very cute, and since already in the know about Immortals, fit right in. Cynthia’s thoughts were mirroring Charlie’s to a startlingly degree if they had known it; it had been a while since she had had a relationship, and even a long distance one was looking pretty good to her.
Tess then told Liz that they needed some more supplies for the cookout that night, and Liz decided to get Max and the SUV, and get it—she looked at her watch and figured that they could make a trip to the local supermarket and be back about the same time as her parents got there. She decided to take Charlie and Cynthia to give them some time together as well.
The nearest supermarket was only about a mile away, so it did not take much time. They were on the way back and going through an intersection when Liz looked up to see a car running the light—her warning to Cynthia was too late, and they got broadsided—Charlie was in the passenger seat up front and caught the full impact.
Liz shook her head and managed to get her door open. It was suddenly very quiet. Max was stirring and slowly moving, and she grabbed him and managed to get him out—he quickly recovered and went to the front driver door and opened it. Cynthia was a little dazed, but ok and told him so, and slowly got out. Liz went to the passenger door and was horrified at the state that side of the car was in. Using all her strength, she was just able to get the door open. Charlie was pushed half way to the middle, and his right leg was bleeding badly. She called to Max right away. She looked over at the other vehicle and took a quick look inside—and realized that there was no hurry about doing anything there. It had been an older model sedan without airbags, and the driver had not been wearing his seatbelt. Max looked at Charlie’s leg and realized that he was pinned in there and there was no way to stop the bleeding. Liz looked at him and nodded.
Charlie was dazed and responded to Max’s call to look at him slowly—but then blinked and felt the pain in his leg suddenly decrease. He slowly looked down and saw the big cut on his leg start to heal; he could actually feel it—and he could also feel Max.
Cynthia was badly worried about Charlie when she saw Liz and Max look at each other then Max lean inside to call Charlie’s name. She got closer and was amazed to see the terrible cut in his leg heal right before her eyes—but not like an Immortal healing; no blue sparks. It was just healing. She looked at Max and realized that he was doing it, and that it was a strain on him.
Liz, meanwhile, was glad that this was a deserted intersection; so far no one had come by. They were less than a half a mile from the house—she called the Sheriff first and let him know. He promised to be there in 15 minutes. She told him that the other driver was dead and that Max was healing the only person in their vehicle that had been injured. She also told him that he already knew about Immortals, so what was one more secret? The sheriff had to chuckle at that and told her that he would inform the necessary units to respond. She then called the house and got Grace and told her what had happened. She told her to keep everyone there and not to draw any attention. Grace was reluctant but agreed.
Charlie wanted to see if Max could get him out of the car, but Liz vetoed that saying they wanted to make this look as normal as possible. Max had not only healed the leg wound, but had repaired Charlie’s pants and removed the blood. There was no sign that he had been injured. He was just pinned in the vehicle. Max had even straightened the piece of door that had caused the wound.
Cynthia was holding Charlie’s hand, and she looked at Max and Liz and asked, “How?”
Max looked at Liz, and she sighed and nodded. Taking one more quick look around to see that no one had yet shown up she started.
“The Roswell Crash happened. Some pods were left, and Max and some others came out of them about 40 years later. It was all part of a plan to end a civil war on a planet a long ways away, and so far, it looks like it was a spectacular failure all around. The crash and the lack of guidance and an apparent mess up with the timer due to the accident or sabotage on the pods caused them to come out way after they were supposed to. Another group was sent from the other side to stop them. And they spent about 50 years doing nothing but looking, and finding nothing. Only one of them survived a recent fight with the military, and she is now with our group; different species and wears a skin that makes her look totally human. She would look fairly human without it, but her home planet atmosphere is very different, and she needs her skin to survive here. Max and the others are Human Hybrids—mostly human with a little extra something in their DNA. As you just saw, Max can heal. He tried to heal me the day I was shot, but I was unconscious and that is a necessary thing so that Max can make a conscious connection—or he cannot heal. That was why he had to get to Charlie while he was still conscious. The others have various powers that are from the brain and mental processes—their brains are a little different than ours—they are able to use more of their potential then we can. Bottom line is that Max and the others are stranded here and have no interest really in going back to get involved in a civil war. So they just want to make a life here and be happy. That’s the story.”
Just as Liz finished the Sheriff arrived, and the sirens from the ambulances and fire department were not far behind. He got out of his Blazer and Liz went over to him to let him know what was going on.
“We were going through the intersection when that car hit us broadside. Charlie was injured and Max had to heal him. So I just briefed Cynthia and Charlie on the alien situation, so they are in the know about Immortals and Aliens. Max cleaned up the car so there is no evidence Charlie was injured. If they look a little more dazed, it’s just because they now know that aliens not only exist but are right here.”
The Sheriff blinked and slowly nodded. Liz was getting really good at information relay in a quick and concise fashion.
Liz and Max and Cynthia backed off as the fire department rescue squad worked at getting Charlie free. The Paramedics were surprised that he was not injured, but reluctantly agreed that since he apparently was not injured and wished to refuse treatment, he had that right; and they got the paperwork for him to sign. As the driver of the other vehicle was dead on the scene, the Sheriff only had to get the statements of Cynthia and the others, and that did not take long. With no other witnesses, it was a fairly quick process. The only other thing was the car insurance for the SUV—it was still in Nasedo’s name and had not yet been transferred. The sheriff told Liz that it would not be a big deal—it was clear that the fault was the other driver, and there should be no problems. Only an hour after the crash, Liz called the house, and Duncan brought the van over to pick them up.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
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Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 15 9/1/09
Another Life II Part 16
Everyone was waiting for Liz and the rest to get back. Grace had let everyone know what had happened and that Liz had said to stay put so as not to draw attention. Michael was worried that someone would see something; so were the rest of them. The hour seemed like days, but when the call came for them to get picked up, Duncan was out the door and on the road in minutes. It took only 10 minutes before they were back. Jeff and Nancy had gotten there just before Liz called Grace the first time; it took several of them to convince Jeff not to go to the site of the accident.
Once back in the house, Liz looked at them and said, “Max had to heal Charlie, so he and Cynthia now know.” She looked at her parents and sighed. “I was kind of hoping to do everybody at once, but so much for that plan.”
Jeff and Nancy looked at each other—what could it be NOW?
Liz thought for a moment then motioned for her parents to follow her—she looked over at Max, and he nodded and went with them to the back yard.
Everyone else crowded around Charlie and Cynthia. Charlie sat for a moment, then looked up at Duncan.
“I thought that Immortals would be the strangest people I would ever meet. Just goes to show what you get for thinking.”
Cynthia was thinking hard as well. Joe sat next to her and patted her hand.
“Remember what you felt like when you found out about Immortals? This is really not all that much different. People are people no matter what they are. Some good, some bad, most in the middle. I happen to think that, so far, we have been lucky—out of the 6 aliens we have met, 5 of them are good people. Probably a better ratio then normal humans. Or for that matter, the average Immortal. Now what you have to do is just wrap it into a mindset that just accepts what is and deals with it. One thing—you cannot mention anything about this in your Chronicle. Which is fair in that it’s supposed to be about Liz’s Immortal life—just her life. So leaving out the alien part is not a big deal—and it is the right thing to do.”
Cynthia nodded. “I think I am ok now. Just the shock, and you are right, it’s like when I found out about Immortals. Pretty much the same feelings and emotions. I understand about being selective about what goes in the chronicle. I will make sure I do not mention anything Alien related. The Chronicle is about the Life of an Immortal—not who they are dating or with or anything else. It’s about the Immortal part of their life and nothing else.”
Liz had her parents sit down on the back porch. She motioned for Max to sit beside her.
Jeff looked at his daughter and said, “Just get it out Liz. It’s not like it will be a real shock no matter what it is—I think we are pretty much shocked out.” Nancy agreed.
Liz shook her head ruefully. “I kind of doubt that Dad; this is as big as Immortality; arguably bigger.”
Jeff and Nancy looked at each other, then at Liz.
Liz took a deep breath. “The Crash was real. Max is one of them that came here—he was in a pod, and not yet born. Something went wrong, whether accident or sabotage—they were not supposed to spend almost 40 years in a pod. They were sent here to grow up in safety then go back and lead a revolution to overthrow a dictator on a world a long ways from here. But with the accident and everything else they were never told anything and knew very little outside of the fact that they were different. They only found the pods last year and until another alien showed up they knew nothing else. That alien turned out to be a traitor.”
Here Liz paused. Deciding how to put the next part. “Tess was the only one that was brought up knowing what was going on, and even she only got part of the story and was lied to as well. The alien, named Nasedo, wanted Tess to get pregnant by Max so as to have an heir to the Thrown of Antar, an heir to be used as a pawn by the dictator Kivar. Nasedo had made a deal to betray the Royal Four, as Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess were to be known. Obviously, I was in the way. Nasedo came to Seacouver while I was visiting and tried to get rid of me. He killed me but knew nothing about Immortals; stuck me in the trunk of his car and was going to dump me in the Bay. Well, I revived inside the trunk, and when he opened it up, he got my Sword in his chest, and I beheaded him; turns out, that kills aliens as well. He was a different species then everyone else—a shape shifter whose natural form appears to be reptilian; or at least, after he was dead, that was how he appeared. Duncan chartered a plane, and we brought the body back here to get rid of it and give Tess closure. That was why I came home early. Luckily, Tess had figured out something was up a while ago, and since Nasedo was not exactly father of the year, she really did not mourn him. Just now in the accident, Charlie was bleeding badly and might have died; one of the Powers Max has is healing. He tried to heal me that day at the Crashdown, but I was unconscious, and that prevented him from helping. Though it might have strengthened my quickening. We probably never will know.” She then gestured to Max, and he went to the empty chair beside them and changed it into a planter, then a table, and back to a chair.
Jeff and Nancy just sat there with their mouths open. Max then squeezed Liz’s shoulder and went back inside the house to give her some time alone with her parents.
Nancy seemed to emerge first. “Liz, just how different is Max from human?”
“His DNA is mostly human with some elements that are not from this earth. He is much more human then alien; technically a hybrid. Courtney is a full alien; she wears a skin, a sort of environmental suit because her home world has a very different atmosphere. She is the only survivor of the group that was sent here to prevent the Royal Four from accomplishing their mission; only they got pretty much abandoned as well. We have no idea what is going on as regards the civil war and Antar; it has been over 50 years since it started, maybe closer to sixty. Courtney escaped when the military took out the skins; she just wants to live a life and be left alone. So we are helping her get her second skin ready—her current one will deteriorate and kill her in about a year. Luckily, we have already set up her pod in the basement and have started getting her skin ready. With any luck, in about 6-8 months, it will be ready. Right now, we all just want to keep a low profile and avoid the Military who have gotten a lot more active since they ran into the skins and wiped them out. We are hoping that after a while, they find nothing else, and things start to settle down. Between my Immortality and the headhunters and the skins getting wiped out, it’s been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks. That was one of the reasons I wanted this party; we all need to blow off some steam and have some fun. I hope we still can.”
Jeff had been thinking. “All those years with the Alien theme—yet Max kept coming over to see you. Now Michael works there as well. That must have been pretty strange. I feel so strange myself thinking about my Alien Themed Diner, and we have aliens there all the time.”
Liz smiled. “Max has always thought I looked cute in the weird costume. Looking back on it now, it was even more tacky then it seemed the first time I saw it and wore it. Now I am so used to it, I hardly give it a thought. Max is pretty much the same way. He makes me happy, and I think I do the same for him. And that is what really matters.”
Liz stood up and motioned for her parents to follow her back into the house. Once there, she looked around at everyone—the Sheriff had gotten there only a few minutes ago.
“OK people, someone has to make another supermarket run since we lost all the stuff we got due to the accident. Meanwhile, let’s get the barbecue going and get something to eat.”
Michael and Maria volunteered to go to the market. Tess and Grace started to pull out the meat, while Jeff told them that he would get the barbecue started, and for someone to make a list on how they wanted their meat cooked. Kyle was drafted to help him out, and the Sheriff got pulled in as well. Everyone shook themselves out of the lethargy that had overtaken them and got started getting the house ready for a real meal.
Duncan decided that in the meantime, a little sparing would not hurt. Liz rolled her eyes but agreed. Amanda told Duncan that she would spar with Liz so as to help her brush up on the sneaky skills needed by the females of the species. He agreed and told Richie to get his sword; they might as well work the kinks out. Richie was agreeable and went to get his sword. Cynthia roused herself and got out a note book to take notes. Charlie decided that being outside suited him and joined her. Liz observed this with a smile. She noticed that Methos and Grace seemed to be gravitating towards each other, and she smiled at this as well; she would like for Grace to have someone, and actually in a lot of ways, Methos would be a good match; he liked to stay out of fights and keep a low profile as well, and he had a big interest in science and biology.
Courtney had agreed to help Tess out with dinner. It turned out that even with the suit, she could eat and eat pretty much everything; but like the hybrids, it had to be highly seasoned to have any taste. Liz had been a little curious about bodily functions, and Courtney had told her that luckily the suit helped with that—it basically super dried any waste, and they only had to remove it once every few days. Isabel and Alex had found a love seat in the living room and were having a long conversation. Joe was talking to Jeff and Nancy and answering more of their questions about Immortals without letting on about the Watchers.
Despite the start, the day ended well. The barbecue was a big success, and everyone stuffed themselves. Afterwards, they all gathered in the living room, and a general discussion ensued. The Hybrids demonstrated some of their powers, and Tess did the big dog illusion again which impressed most of them. Michael then changed the color of the dress Maria wore to a vivid purple, and she threatened to rip him a new one if he did not change it back right away.
At about 9, everyone that was leaving started to get ready. Methos had volunteered to stay at the house, so it was Richie that ended up leaving with Duncan and Amanda. Cynthia had agreed to stay, so it was Grace, Charlie, Cynthia, Courtney, Joe, and Methos who stayed at the house. Maria and Michael headed off together, and so did Jeff and Nancy. The sheriff took Kyle and Tess. Max, Liz, Alex, and Isabel got in the jeep and went home.
Once home, Liz realized that her parents still wanted to talk to her about things alien and immortal.
Jeff started out. “Liz, I know you always talked about going to Harvard and such, and we all hoped that a way could be found, but clearly now that is out of the question. A place like New Mexico State is probably your best bet now. We realize that you have to worry about not aging and the questions that that would cause, so going to a relatively large regular university is a good idea. And being able to either commute or stay home is a good idea as well. I think it’s pretty clear that wherever you go, Max will go; and we really have no trouble with that. I mean it would be stupid to object to Max because he is a hybrid—since you are immortal; it’s not like you are like everyone else anyway.”
Nancy agreed. “I watch you with Max, and you are happy with him; it’s clear he would do anything for you, and that is what a mother hopes for the young man who is with her daughter. You still have a year and a half in High School to go, so you do not have to make plans right away. But you might as well start to look at things”
Liz nodded. “It’s been hard giving up my dream about Harvard. I had wanted to do that for so long. But reality is I have to keep a much lower profile, and that leaves a major university like that out. So I am looking at something fairly local—I really think living in a dorm is out. I need to keep more distance then that. I want to go four full years, but I might have to look at doing the first two years here locally at a community college and then the last two at one of the state universities. There is a campus in Carlsbad of NMSU; that would probably be the closest I could be as regards four year situation. One great thing about Grace staying for a while is I will get a real good fundamental introduction into Microbiology, which is still where I want to major. But what is is what is. I am going to get a degree somehow, someway.”
Duncan, Amanda and Richie discussed the new developments at the apartment. Amanda was of the opinion that with everyone now in the know as regards both Immortals and Aliens, things would settle down. Richie was not so sure—thinking that the more complicated things got, the more that happened. Duncan was of two minds on it; he could see both possibilities. He then looked at Amanda.
“Was it my imagination, or was Charlie showing real interest in Cynthia and vice versa.”
Amanda shook her head. Men could be so dense sometimes. “Yes, there is interest there. It’s a problem in that they live fairly far apart, but it can still happen. I think they will suit well.”
Richie then chimed in. “Unless I am seeing things as well, it appears to me that Methos is showing interest in Grace.”
Duncan nodded. “It’s the first interest he has shown in a woman since Alexa died, and I am glad to see it.”
Amanda agreed. “I think they just might fit well together; both like to keep a low profile, and both would rather run then fight. Grace more so off course, but Methos likes to keep light feet as well.”
Duncan mused on that. He hoped Grace would stay in Roswell for a while and settle down. Being with a group is always better than being alone. He realized that he had done a fairly decent job of putting together his own little group here.
Everyone was waiting for Liz and the rest to get back. Grace had let everyone know what had happened and that Liz had said to stay put so as not to draw attention. Michael was worried that someone would see something; so were the rest of them. The hour seemed like days, but when the call came for them to get picked up, Duncan was out the door and on the road in minutes. It took only 10 minutes before they were back. Jeff and Nancy had gotten there just before Liz called Grace the first time; it took several of them to convince Jeff not to go to the site of the accident.
Once back in the house, Liz looked at them and said, “Max had to heal Charlie, so he and Cynthia now know.” She looked at her parents and sighed. “I was kind of hoping to do everybody at once, but so much for that plan.”
Jeff and Nancy looked at each other—what could it be NOW?
Liz thought for a moment then motioned for her parents to follow her—she looked over at Max, and he nodded and went with them to the back yard.
Everyone else crowded around Charlie and Cynthia. Charlie sat for a moment, then looked up at Duncan.
“I thought that Immortals would be the strangest people I would ever meet. Just goes to show what you get for thinking.”
Cynthia was thinking hard as well. Joe sat next to her and patted her hand.
“Remember what you felt like when you found out about Immortals? This is really not all that much different. People are people no matter what they are. Some good, some bad, most in the middle. I happen to think that, so far, we have been lucky—out of the 6 aliens we have met, 5 of them are good people. Probably a better ratio then normal humans. Or for that matter, the average Immortal. Now what you have to do is just wrap it into a mindset that just accepts what is and deals with it. One thing—you cannot mention anything about this in your Chronicle. Which is fair in that it’s supposed to be about Liz’s Immortal life—just her life. So leaving out the alien part is not a big deal—and it is the right thing to do.”
Cynthia nodded. “I think I am ok now. Just the shock, and you are right, it’s like when I found out about Immortals. Pretty much the same feelings and emotions. I understand about being selective about what goes in the chronicle. I will make sure I do not mention anything Alien related. The Chronicle is about the Life of an Immortal—not who they are dating or with or anything else. It’s about the Immortal part of their life and nothing else.”
Liz had her parents sit down on the back porch. She motioned for Max to sit beside her.
Jeff looked at his daughter and said, “Just get it out Liz. It’s not like it will be a real shock no matter what it is—I think we are pretty much shocked out.” Nancy agreed.
Liz shook her head ruefully. “I kind of doubt that Dad; this is as big as Immortality; arguably bigger.”
Jeff and Nancy looked at each other, then at Liz.
Liz took a deep breath. “The Crash was real. Max is one of them that came here—he was in a pod, and not yet born. Something went wrong, whether accident or sabotage—they were not supposed to spend almost 40 years in a pod. They were sent here to grow up in safety then go back and lead a revolution to overthrow a dictator on a world a long ways from here. But with the accident and everything else they were never told anything and knew very little outside of the fact that they were different. They only found the pods last year and until another alien showed up they knew nothing else. That alien turned out to be a traitor.”
Here Liz paused. Deciding how to put the next part. “Tess was the only one that was brought up knowing what was going on, and even she only got part of the story and was lied to as well. The alien, named Nasedo, wanted Tess to get pregnant by Max so as to have an heir to the Thrown of Antar, an heir to be used as a pawn by the dictator Kivar. Nasedo had made a deal to betray the Royal Four, as Max, Isabel, Michael, and Tess were to be known. Obviously, I was in the way. Nasedo came to Seacouver while I was visiting and tried to get rid of me. He killed me but knew nothing about Immortals; stuck me in the trunk of his car and was going to dump me in the Bay. Well, I revived inside the trunk, and when he opened it up, he got my Sword in his chest, and I beheaded him; turns out, that kills aliens as well. He was a different species then everyone else—a shape shifter whose natural form appears to be reptilian; or at least, after he was dead, that was how he appeared. Duncan chartered a plane, and we brought the body back here to get rid of it and give Tess closure. That was why I came home early. Luckily, Tess had figured out something was up a while ago, and since Nasedo was not exactly father of the year, she really did not mourn him. Just now in the accident, Charlie was bleeding badly and might have died; one of the Powers Max has is healing. He tried to heal me that day at the Crashdown, but I was unconscious, and that prevented him from helping. Though it might have strengthened my quickening. We probably never will know.” She then gestured to Max, and he went to the empty chair beside them and changed it into a planter, then a table, and back to a chair.
Jeff and Nancy just sat there with their mouths open. Max then squeezed Liz’s shoulder and went back inside the house to give her some time alone with her parents.
Nancy seemed to emerge first. “Liz, just how different is Max from human?”
“His DNA is mostly human with some elements that are not from this earth. He is much more human then alien; technically a hybrid. Courtney is a full alien; she wears a skin, a sort of environmental suit because her home world has a very different atmosphere. She is the only survivor of the group that was sent here to prevent the Royal Four from accomplishing their mission; only they got pretty much abandoned as well. We have no idea what is going on as regards the civil war and Antar; it has been over 50 years since it started, maybe closer to sixty. Courtney escaped when the military took out the skins; she just wants to live a life and be left alone. So we are helping her get her second skin ready—her current one will deteriorate and kill her in about a year. Luckily, we have already set up her pod in the basement and have started getting her skin ready. With any luck, in about 6-8 months, it will be ready. Right now, we all just want to keep a low profile and avoid the Military who have gotten a lot more active since they ran into the skins and wiped them out. We are hoping that after a while, they find nothing else, and things start to settle down. Between my Immortality and the headhunters and the skins getting wiped out, it’s been pretty crazy the last couple of weeks. That was one of the reasons I wanted this party; we all need to blow off some steam and have some fun. I hope we still can.”
Jeff had been thinking. “All those years with the Alien theme—yet Max kept coming over to see you. Now Michael works there as well. That must have been pretty strange. I feel so strange myself thinking about my Alien Themed Diner, and we have aliens there all the time.”
Liz smiled. “Max has always thought I looked cute in the weird costume. Looking back on it now, it was even more tacky then it seemed the first time I saw it and wore it. Now I am so used to it, I hardly give it a thought. Max is pretty much the same way. He makes me happy, and I think I do the same for him. And that is what really matters.”
Liz stood up and motioned for her parents to follow her back into the house. Once there, she looked around at everyone—the Sheriff had gotten there only a few minutes ago.
“OK people, someone has to make another supermarket run since we lost all the stuff we got due to the accident. Meanwhile, let’s get the barbecue going and get something to eat.”
Michael and Maria volunteered to go to the market. Tess and Grace started to pull out the meat, while Jeff told them that he would get the barbecue started, and for someone to make a list on how they wanted their meat cooked. Kyle was drafted to help him out, and the Sheriff got pulled in as well. Everyone shook themselves out of the lethargy that had overtaken them and got started getting the house ready for a real meal.
Duncan decided that in the meantime, a little sparing would not hurt. Liz rolled her eyes but agreed. Amanda told Duncan that she would spar with Liz so as to help her brush up on the sneaky skills needed by the females of the species. He agreed and told Richie to get his sword; they might as well work the kinks out. Richie was agreeable and went to get his sword. Cynthia roused herself and got out a note book to take notes. Charlie decided that being outside suited him and joined her. Liz observed this with a smile. She noticed that Methos and Grace seemed to be gravitating towards each other, and she smiled at this as well; she would like for Grace to have someone, and actually in a lot of ways, Methos would be a good match; he liked to stay out of fights and keep a low profile as well, and he had a big interest in science and biology.
Courtney had agreed to help Tess out with dinner. It turned out that even with the suit, she could eat and eat pretty much everything; but like the hybrids, it had to be highly seasoned to have any taste. Liz had been a little curious about bodily functions, and Courtney had told her that luckily the suit helped with that—it basically super dried any waste, and they only had to remove it once every few days. Isabel and Alex had found a love seat in the living room and were having a long conversation. Joe was talking to Jeff and Nancy and answering more of their questions about Immortals without letting on about the Watchers.
Despite the start, the day ended well. The barbecue was a big success, and everyone stuffed themselves. Afterwards, they all gathered in the living room, and a general discussion ensued. The Hybrids demonstrated some of their powers, and Tess did the big dog illusion again which impressed most of them. Michael then changed the color of the dress Maria wore to a vivid purple, and she threatened to rip him a new one if he did not change it back right away.
At about 9, everyone that was leaving started to get ready. Methos had volunteered to stay at the house, so it was Richie that ended up leaving with Duncan and Amanda. Cynthia had agreed to stay, so it was Grace, Charlie, Cynthia, Courtney, Joe, and Methos who stayed at the house. Maria and Michael headed off together, and so did Jeff and Nancy. The sheriff took Kyle and Tess. Max, Liz, Alex, and Isabel got in the jeep and went home.
Once home, Liz realized that her parents still wanted to talk to her about things alien and immortal.
Jeff started out. “Liz, I know you always talked about going to Harvard and such, and we all hoped that a way could be found, but clearly now that is out of the question. A place like New Mexico State is probably your best bet now. We realize that you have to worry about not aging and the questions that that would cause, so going to a relatively large regular university is a good idea. And being able to either commute or stay home is a good idea as well. I think it’s pretty clear that wherever you go, Max will go; and we really have no trouble with that. I mean it would be stupid to object to Max because he is a hybrid—since you are immortal; it’s not like you are like everyone else anyway.”
Nancy agreed. “I watch you with Max, and you are happy with him; it’s clear he would do anything for you, and that is what a mother hopes for the young man who is with her daughter. You still have a year and a half in High School to go, so you do not have to make plans right away. But you might as well start to look at things”
Liz nodded. “It’s been hard giving up my dream about Harvard. I had wanted to do that for so long. But reality is I have to keep a much lower profile, and that leaves a major university like that out. So I am looking at something fairly local—I really think living in a dorm is out. I need to keep more distance then that. I want to go four full years, but I might have to look at doing the first two years here locally at a community college and then the last two at one of the state universities. There is a campus in Carlsbad of NMSU; that would probably be the closest I could be as regards four year situation. One great thing about Grace staying for a while is I will get a real good fundamental introduction into Microbiology, which is still where I want to major. But what is is what is. I am going to get a degree somehow, someway.”
Duncan, Amanda and Richie discussed the new developments at the apartment. Amanda was of the opinion that with everyone now in the know as regards both Immortals and Aliens, things would settle down. Richie was not so sure—thinking that the more complicated things got, the more that happened. Duncan was of two minds on it; he could see both possibilities. He then looked at Amanda.
“Was it my imagination, or was Charlie showing real interest in Cynthia and vice versa.”
Amanda shook her head. Men could be so dense sometimes. “Yes, there is interest there. It’s a problem in that they live fairly far apart, but it can still happen. I think they will suit well.”
Richie then chimed in. “Unless I am seeing things as well, it appears to me that Methos is showing interest in Grace.”
Duncan nodded. “It’s the first interest he has shown in a woman since Alexa died, and I am glad to see it.”
Amanda agreed. “I think they just might fit well together; both like to keep a low profile, and both would rather run then fight. Grace more so off course, but Methos likes to keep light feet as well.”
Duncan mused on that. He hoped Grace would stay in Roswell for a while and settle down. Being with a group is always better than being alone. He realized that he had done a fairly decent job of putting together his own little group here.
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thumper1942
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:37 pm
Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 15 9/1/09
Another Life II Part 17
The 31st dawned sunny and cool; typical Roswell weather at the end of December. It had been agreed to gather at the house by 11, since sleeping in was a rare thing for most of them. Liz wanted to have a full discussion of all subjects that mattered to anyone; a free-wheeling bull session. It was not likely that all of them would be able to get together like this very often; so trying to cover as much as possible of people’s concerns and plans would be for the best.
People started to trickle into the house around 10:30. Liz and her parents got there first. Duncan, Amanda and Richie soon followed. The Sheriff, Kyle and Tess right after. Maria had fetched Michael, while Max brought Isabel and Alex.
Those that had stayed at the house roused themselves around 9 or so. Grace fixed a breakfast with help from Cynthia; Charlie volunteered to do those dishes. Methos and Joe talked with Courtney, Methos was particularly interested in conditions on her home planet.
Once everyone was there, Liz took the floor since that had become the accepted procedure.
“What I want to do today is give everyone a chance to speak; their concerns, worries, plans and so on. What they want to do now and a few years from now. We are all pretty much in the same boat with our shared secrets, and our worlds clearly intertwine. This way everyone will know and can help and advise. I will start.”
She was silent for a few moments, gathering her thoughts.
“Everyone here knows what my dream was; Harvard, PHD in Microbiology, head of research there or someplace like it. That is gone now, and I have accepted that. What I want now is to get a college degree somewhere and still work on research and such in the future, much like Grace has done. I am very grateful she has decided to stay and help me learn. I will probably start out with NMSU at Carlsbad, since I could commute. After that, we will see—the closest campus that teaches Microbiology is in Las Cruces. Clearly staying in dorms is out for various obvious reasons. I cannot let people get too close for too long, or they will notice something. Max and I will be together one way or another. Now of course, that is all based on me not getting challenged by someone who takes my head. But that is my reality, and I think I have accepted it as best as I can. I was trying to distance myself earlier, but my friends and family here have reminded me that that is NOT the smart or good thing to do. I intend NOT to be a loner, as I think that is just existing and not living.” She then sat down next to Max who just squeezed her hand.
Max stood up next. “So much has changed for me in the last 6 months, it is hard for me to grasp it. I had hoped to get close to Liz for years, and for that dream to come true is almost more then I can say. Now I know what my so called Mission was—my reason for being here—and if I had to do it, I would do my best to convince Liz to come with me. I am not certain that if we do find the Granolith and find a way to get to Antar that I would go anyway. I believe that everyone has the right to decide their own fate—what someone thought 50 years ago has nothing to do with me today, unless I agree. I will go to school with Liz and try and get an education in a general way; I really do not have a great draw to any field. I just want to live my life the best I can and be with Liz.” Liz smiled at him with tears in her eyes.
Surprisingly, Michael was the next to stand up. “Looking back on the way I lived before the last 6 months, I was just existing; I really cannot say I was living. Now I have more friends and the beginning of more family, more than I ever really dreamed I would have. What will happen between me and Maria is anyone’s guess. But I hope to have it for a long time. I am not particularly ambitious as regards an education, but since money is a fact of life, I need to find a way to make a good living that I can at least tolerate. SO I probably will be looking at least at community college or maybe vocational school if I can find something I like to do and make good money at it.” He sat down and Maria stood up.
“Music is what I want—but in what way, I am not sure. I love to sing and perform, but that opens up a can of worms because of the way the music business is. I am now looking more into teaching, and performing at local clubs and such. So that means I will be looking at community college or maybe NMSU at Carlsbad as well. Spaceboy and I will be working on our relationship, and that means REAL work since I have still a lot to do to civilize him. But we have time, and we will use it.” Michael pulled her into his lap and hugged her. She grinned and hugged him back.
Isabel then stood up. “I have realized recently that I have cut myself off from so much that I want to do out of fear of being found out. I want to thank Liz for opening up the world for me, Alex for being stubborn and persistent enough to melt the Ice Queen, and all of you for giving me more than I ever thought I would have. Fashion has always been a great interest, but now I think interior decorating is where I want to go. So that means some school and probably NMSU at Carlsbad as well. So much yet we do not know, so beyond that, I think it’s a little foolish to really try and make hard plans. But I now know how to live, and that is something I will not let go of.” Alex smiled broadly and stood up.
“You all know me as the computer geek, and that is what I do. Programming and the like is fascinating to me. One good thing about that is you can get good schooling and courses in that just about anywhere. So wherever Isabel goes, I will be there right with her. Because she made me realize that there is more to the world then a computer screen—a lot more.”
Tess was the next. “Not sure what I want to do since I had not really given any thought to it due to what I thought was my destiny. Well that is gone, and I am glad. I want to thank the Sheriff for giving me a home and security and a caring father figure that I never had before. I figure I’ll start out at community college for a general degree, and then see what interests me. Kyle and I will be together, and you know that is going to be a battle since I think I might have more work to do with him then Maria has with Michael.” That brought more than a few laughs in the room. Kyle stood up next.
“Since I got pulled into the Alien/Immortal conspiracy,” that got a few sniggers and laughs as well, “I am truly done. Tess has informed me that my life is no longer mine, and she owns me. Strangely enough, that does not bother me at all, and therefore, I really have to turn in my official redneck badge.” More laughter “I love cars, and being an auto mechanic is what I want to do, and luckily, it seems I am good at it. I will not need much schooling, but Dad is insistent I get some, so I will be with Tess wherever she goes, and that is that.” The Sheriff then stood up.
“My father swore years ago that there were aliens here, and he got basically laughed out of town for it. It’s sad to me that he did not live to see the truth. But what is is what is. I can take comfort in knowing that somehow wherever he is, he knows now, and that helps. Maria has been worried that I am seeing her Mother, and she should be; I intend to be very serious in that area soon.” Maria groaned and put her head in her hands, and everyone laughed. “Now clearly down the road, we are going to have to probably bring her into the know on everything, but for the time being, it’s not necessary. Now I just have to see to it that Kyle and Tess do what they should for their future.”
Courtney looked around and slowly stood up. “Since it seems I am the latest into this group, I probably need to be a little more specific about things. Except for the Immortals here, I have been around longer than anyone else. For most of the 50 years I have been on this planet, I was supposed to be looking at finding and killing the Royal Four. I do not know how many years ago that ceased being important, but it’s been a while. Frankly, my life was pretty boring. I feel free for the first time in my life. My home world is certainly NOT free or a democracy or anything like it. Your family and your ruler has huge impacts on your life; you usually have very little choice. Now I have the freedom, and I am starting to learn how to be free. Liz offered me a job at the Crashdown as a start to really meet people and getting used to live what on this planet is a normal life. As regards school, it’s not a big deal to me since I have picked up quite a lot over the years. I now have to find out what I want to do, and then start doing it. Of course over the next 6-8 months, I will be spending most of my time getting my new skin ready—I might have to stay indoors a lot for the last few months depending on the condition of my current skin—it starts to peel and looks bad toward the end of its life. So really my plans right now are fairly short term; hopefully I can make more longer ranged plans down the road.”
Grace was the next. “I have lived over 500 years, and I spent a lot of it trying to heal people; most of the last 100 years, I have mostly done research. Of course, that is all dependent on dodging headhunters. Liz, the gratitude goes both ways. You did save me from that Headhunter, but you also made me realize that I needed to reach out more and become more involved. I lectured you about cutting yourself off, and I need to take my own advice. So I will be here for a while and doing research and teaching Liz as much as I can. And I am very lucky to have, for the first time in my life, a large number of people around me that I do not have to worry about what I say and do. It will take some getting used to, but I look forward to it.”
Cynthia looked around and stood up. “I think most of you by now have figured out that I am here to record what Liz does in her Immortal Life. It’s kind of a sensitive situation in some ways, but Liz and I are alright with it, and that is what matters.” She hesitated for a minute, then looked at Charlie. “I was mourning my single status just a week ago—but maybe that is changing.” Charlie winked at her, and she blushed.
Charlie slowly stood up. “As the latest inductee of the strange world we live in as regards to Immortals and Aliens and who knows what else is going to show up, I can safely say that I am still trying to figure things out. However changes have come, and I look forward to exploring them.” He looked at Cynthia who blushed some more.
No one else seemed to want to speak up, and Liz stood up and said, “Well if no one else wants to join the confession club, that’s ok, I think, with all of us. Now maybe we can just have a general discussion and look at things for the moment. The next couple of days, we should just enjoy getting to know each other, and any help any of us can be to anyone else here is, of course, welcome. We have access to a rather surprising amount of resources in a lot of ways, so anyone who needs something, just speak out. Right now, we need to keep a low profile until we are sure that the Military has settled down. The Sheriff has good contacts there, and he is keeping up on things. When he feels it’s safe, we can relax some. As regards the Immortal side of things, I will be keeping up my sparing here and training, and hopefully no more headhunters will come around. Other than that, as regards the short term, I think we are in pretty good shape. The Seacouver crowd will be leaving on the afternoon of the 2nd, so until then, we will probably be doing a fair amount of sparing. Does anyone else have anything else to bring up before the whole group?” Joe looked around and then started to stand up, and Duncan and Liz stopped him. Liz said “Just speak up, Joe; no need to get up.”
Joe thanked her and looked around. “Just to let you all know, I am Cynthia’s supervisor as regards the reports she sends in about Liz. Like Cynthia said, it’s kind of a sensitive thing inside my organization, and we have to keep it fairly low key. So I would appreciate it if everyone just sort of let it be. I have been aware of Immortals for over 30 years; just found out about aliens a few months ago. I never thought I would become aware of so much that I never suspected this late in my life. But I find that it also makes me want to live a lot longer and see what comes next. I have been very lucky in my life as regards friendships, and one should never take them lightly. My organization has a lot of contacts and a lot of resources, so if anyone here needs something, let me know. Frankly, a lot of the time, those resources are not used, and that is a waste. I look forward to getting to know all of you a lot better over the next few years. I think it’s going to be an interesting time.”
Jeff stood up next holding Nancy’s hand. “6 months ago, we almost lost our only child. Not too long later, we found out that if not for the tiny chance that Liz was different, we would have lost her anyway. So for the reality of Immortality, I can say I can never be thankful enough. Nancy and I can hope that Liz will be around long, long after we are gone. We are realistic enough that we know that Liz could lose a fight one day and be gone—but as she pointed out to us, she should already be in her grave, and every day extra is a blessing and a bonus—as long as she enjoys life and lives it. She will always have our whole hearted support and love, and we know what it means to her to give up her dream of Harvard. But we are glad to see that she still dreams and wants more, and hopefully always will. Courtney, you are welcome in the Crashdown whenever you want to start; what you were supposed to be doing before does not matter now. Just try and find a life that is good and live it. I want to thank Duncan and the other Immortals who have helped Liz adjust and thrive in her new life. Sheriff, you have always been a good friend, and for what you have done, we will always be grateful. To Charlie and Cynthia, welcome, and we will always be happy to see you. To Max, I can say you are the kind of young man that a father always wants to see with his daughter. Michael, Isabel, and Tess, we are glad to welcome you into our family as we did before with Maria and Alex. Joe, we share something in common as we were both in Vietnam, and only those that went there really understand that—so I am looking forward to getting to know you better. Now I think it’s time to stop being dear Abby and have some fun.” And everyone cheered that and agreed.
The 31st dawned sunny and cool; typical Roswell weather at the end of December. It had been agreed to gather at the house by 11, since sleeping in was a rare thing for most of them. Liz wanted to have a full discussion of all subjects that mattered to anyone; a free-wheeling bull session. It was not likely that all of them would be able to get together like this very often; so trying to cover as much as possible of people’s concerns and plans would be for the best.
People started to trickle into the house around 10:30. Liz and her parents got there first. Duncan, Amanda and Richie soon followed. The Sheriff, Kyle and Tess right after. Maria had fetched Michael, while Max brought Isabel and Alex.
Those that had stayed at the house roused themselves around 9 or so. Grace fixed a breakfast with help from Cynthia; Charlie volunteered to do those dishes. Methos and Joe talked with Courtney, Methos was particularly interested in conditions on her home planet.
Once everyone was there, Liz took the floor since that had become the accepted procedure.
“What I want to do today is give everyone a chance to speak; their concerns, worries, plans and so on. What they want to do now and a few years from now. We are all pretty much in the same boat with our shared secrets, and our worlds clearly intertwine. This way everyone will know and can help and advise. I will start.”
She was silent for a few moments, gathering her thoughts.
“Everyone here knows what my dream was; Harvard, PHD in Microbiology, head of research there or someplace like it. That is gone now, and I have accepted that. What I want now is to get a college degree somewhere and still work on research and such in the future, much like Grace has done. I am very grateful she has decided to stay and help me learn. I will probably start out with NMSU at Carlsbad, since I could commute. After that, we will see—the closest campus that teaches Microbiology is in Las Cruces. Clearly staying in dorms is out for various obvious reasons. I cannot let people get too close for too long, or they will notice something. Max and I will be together one way or another. Now of course, that is all based on me not getting challenged by someone who takes my head. But that is my reality, and I think I have accepted it as best as I can. I was trying to distance myself earlier, but my friends and family here have reminded me that that is NOT the smart or good thing to do. I intend NOT to be a loner, as I think that is just existing and not living.” She then sat down next to Max who just squeezed her hand.
Max stood up next. “So much has changed for me in the last 6 months, it is hard for me to grasp it. I had hoped to get close to Liz for years, and for that dream to come true is almost more then I can say. Now I know what my so called Mission was—my reason for being here—and if I had to do it, I would do my best to convince Liz to come with me. I am not certain that if we do find the Granolith and find a way to get to Antar that I would go anyway. I believe that everyone has the right to decide their own fate—what someone thought 50 years ago has nothing to do with me today, unless I agree. I will go to school with Liz and try and get an education in a general way; I really do not have a great draw to any field. I just want to live my life the best I can and be with Liz.” Liz smiled at him with tears in her eyes.
Surprisingly, Michael was the next to stand up. “Looking back on the way I lived before the last 6 months, I was just existing; I really cannot say I was living. Now I have more friends and the beginning of more family, more than I ever really dreamed I would have. What will happen between me and Maria is anyone’s guess. But I hope to have it for a long time. I am not particularly ambitious as regards an education, but since money is a fact of life, I need to find a way to make a good living that I can at least tolerate. SO I probably will be looking at least at community college or maybe vocational school if I can find something I like to do and make good money at it.” He sat down and Maria stood up.
“Music is what I want—but in what way, I am not sure. I love to sing and perform, but that opens up a can of worms because of the way the music business is. I am now looking more into teaching, and performing at local clubs and such. So that means I will be looking at community college or maybe NMSU at Carlsbad as well. Spaceboy and I will be working on our relationship, and that means REAL work since I have still a lot to do to civilize him. But we have time, and we will use it.” Michael pulled her into his lap and hugged her. She grinned and hugged him back.
Isabel then stood up. “I have realized recently that I have cut myself off from so much that I want to do out of fear of being found out. I want to thank Liz for opening up the world for me, Alex for being stubborn and persistent enough to melt the Ice Queen, and all of you for giving me more than I ever thought I would have. Fashion has always been a great interest, but now I think interior decorating is where I want to go. So that means some school and probably NMSU at Carlsbad as well. So much yet we do not know, so beyond that, I think it’s a little foolish to really try and make hard plans. But I now know how to live, and that is something I will not let go of.” Alex smiled broadly and stood up.
“You all know me as the computer geek, and that is what I do. Programming and the like is fascinating to me. One good thing about that is you can get good schooling and courses in that just about anywhere. So wherever Isabel goes, I will be there right with her. Because she made me realize that there is more to the world then a computer screen—a lot more.”
Tess was the next. “Not sure what I want to do since I had not really given any thought to it due to what I thought was my destiny. Well that is gone, and I am glad. I want to thank the Sheriff for giving me a home and security and a caring father figure that I never had before. I figure I’ll start out at community college for a general degree, and then see what interests me. Kyle and I will be together, and you know that is going to be a battle since I think I might have more work to do with him then Maria has with Michael.” That brought more than a few laughs in the room. Kyle stood up next.
“Since I got pulled into the Alien/Immortal conspiracy,” that got a few sniggers and laughs as well, “I am truly done. Tess has informed me that my life is no longer mine, and she owns me. Strangely enough, that does not bother me at all, and therefore, I really have to turn in my official redneck badge.” More laughter “I love cars, and being an auto mechanic is what I want to do, and luckily, it seems I am good at it. I will not need much schooling, but Dad is insistent I get some, so I will be with Tess wherever she goes, and that is that.” The Sheriff then stood up.
“My father swore years ago that there were aliens here, and he got basically laughed out of town for it. It’s sad to me that he did not live to see the truth. But what is is what is. I can take comfort in knowing that somehow wherever he is, he knows now, and that helps. Maria has been worried that I am seeing her Mother, and she should be; I intend to be very serious in that area soon.” Maria groaned and put her head in her hands, and everyone laughed. “Now clearly down the road, we are going to have to probably bring her into the know on everything, but for the time being, it’s not necessary. Now I just have to see to it that Kyle and Tess do what they should for their future.”
Courtney looked around and slowly stood up. “Since it seems I am the latest into this group, I probably need to be a little more specific about things. Except for the Immortals here, I have been around longer than anyone else. For most of the 50 years I have been on this planet, I was supposed to be looking at finding and killing the Royal Four. I do not know how many years ago that ceased being important, but it’s been a while. Frankly, my life was pretty boring. I feel free for the first time in my life. My home world is certainly NOT free or a democracy or anything like it. Your family and your ruler has huge impacts on your life; you usually have very little choice. Now I have the freedom, and I am starting to learn how to be free. Liz offered me a job at the Crashdown as a start to really meet people and getting used to live what on this planet is a normal life. As regards school, it’s not a big deal to me since I have picked up quite a lot over the years. I now have to find out what I want to do, and then start doing it. Of course over the next 6-8 months, I will be spending most of my time getting my new skin ready—I might have to stay indoors a lot for the last few months depending on the condition of my current skin—it starts to peel and looks bad toward the end of its life. So really my plans right now are fairly short term; hopefully I can make more longer ranged plans down the road.”
Grace was the next. “I have lived over 500 years, and I spent a lot of it trying to heal people; most of the last 100 years, I have mostly done research. Of course, that is all dependent on dodging headhunters. Liz, the gratitude goes both ways. You did save me from that Headhunter, but you also made me realize that I needed to reach out more and become more involved. I lectured you about cutting yourself off, and I need to take my own advice. So I will be here for a while and doing research and teaching Liz as much as I can. And I am very lucky to have, for the first time in my life, a large number of people around me that I do not have to worry about what I say and do. It will take some getting used to, but I look forward to it.”
Cynthia looked around and stood up. “I think most of you by now have figured out that I am here to record what Liz does in her Immortal Life. It’s kind of a sensitive situation in some ways, but Liz and I are alright with it, and that is what matters.” She hesitated for a minute, then looked at Charlie. “I was mourning my single status just a week ago—but maybe that is changing.” Charlie winked at her, and she blushed.
Charlie slowly stood up. “As the latest inductee of the strange world we live in as regards to Immortals and Aliens and who knows what else is going to show up, I can safely say that I am still trying to figure things out. However changes have come, and I look forward to exploring them.” He looked at Cynthia who blushed some more.
No one else seemed to want to speak up, and Liz stood up and said, “Well if no one else wants to join the confession club, that’s ok, I think, with all of us. Now maybe we can just have a general discussion and look at things for the moment. The next couple of days, we should just enjoy getting to know each other, and any help any of us can be to anyone else here is, of course, welcome. We have access to a rather surprising amount of resources in a lot of ways, so anyone who needs something, just speak out. Right now, we need to keep a low profile until we are sure that the Military has settled down. The Sheriff has good contacts there, and he is keeping up on things. When he feels it’s safe, we can relax some. As regards the Immortal side of things, I will be keeping up my sparing here and training, and hopefully no more headhunters will come around. Other than that, as regards the short term, I think we are in pretty good shape. The Seacouver crowd will be leaving on the afternoon of the 2nd, so until then, we will probably be doing a fair amount of sparing. Does anyone else have anything else to bring up before the whole group?” Joe looked around and then started to stand up, and Duncan and Liz stopped him. Liz said “Just speak up, Joe; no need to get up.”
Joe thanked her and looked around. “Just to let you all know, I am Cynthia’s supervisor as regards the reports she sends in about Liz. Like Cynthia said, it’s kind of a sensitive thing inside my organization, and we have to keep it fairly low key. So I would appreciate it if everyone just sort of let it be. I have been aware of Immortals for over 30 years; just found out about aliens a few months ago. I never thought I would become aware of so much that I never suspected this late in my life. But I find that it also makes me want to live a lot longer and see what comes next. I have been very lucky in my life as regards friendships, and one should never take them lightly. My organization has a lot of contacts and a lot of resources, so if anyone here needs something, let me know. Frankly, a lot of the time, those resources are not used, and that is a waste. I look forward to getting to know all of you a lot better over the next few years. I think it’s going to be an interesting time.”
Jeff stood up next holding Nancy’s hand. “6 months ago, we almost lost our only child. Not too long later, we found out that if not for the tiny chance that Liz was different, we would have lost her anyway. So for the reality of Immortality, I can say I can never be thankful enough. Nancy and I can hope that Liz will be around long, long after we are gone. We are realistic enough that we know that Liz could lose a fight one day and be gone—but as she pointed out to us, she should already be in her grave, and every day extra is a blessing and a bonus—as long as she enjoys life and lives it. She will always have our whole hearted support and love, and we know what it means to her to give up her dream of Harvard. But we are glad to see that she still dreams and wants more, and hopefully always will. Courtney, you are welcome in the Crashdown whenever you want to start; what you were supposed to be doing before does not matter now. Just try and find a life that is good and live it. I want to thank Duncan and the other Immortals who have helped Liz adjust and thrive in her new life. Sheriff, you have always been a good friend, and for what you have done, we will always be grateful. To Charlie and Cynthia, welcome, and we will always be happy to see you. To Max, I can say you are the kind of young man that a father always wants to see with his daughter. Michael, Isabel, and Tess, we are glad to welcome you into our family as we did before with Maria and Alex. Joe, we share something in common as we were both in Vietnam, and only those that went there really understand that—so I am looking forward to getting to know you better. Now I think it’s time to stop being dear Abby and have some fun.” And everyone cheered that and agreed.
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thumper1942
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Re: Another Life II(HLDR,XO,CC,Mature)Pt. 15 9/1/09
Another Life II Part 18
Liz was going through her KATA on her balcony, and as she cycled through the movements, she reflected back on the last 2 months since the New Year’s Eve Gathering (as she called it). Courtney had started working in the Crashdown just after New Year’s and had fit right in. Maria just could not leave it alone that a real honest to God alien was dressed as an Alien Waitress and was working there and had to keep tweaking Courtney about it; but she got back as good as she gave when Courtney figured out how to use her powers to have her Antenna follow Maria around like a dowsing rod. Though she made sure she only did it when there were no uninformed types around, it happened often enough to really start to creep Maria out; and since Michael and Liz thought it was hilarious, that only made it worse. That began a practical joke war that soon involved just about everyone. Maria got very inventive finding places to plant alien curiosities from her mother’s shop just where they would surprise Courtney; and when Liz felt constrained to help out Maria when Michael and Courtney began to work together, they teamed up with Tess to create a beheaded alien head wandering around with flashing antenna proclaiming, “There can only be ONE!” Liz then retaliated by enlisting Isabel and Max, and they created a Alien Chorus Line that had Roswell Alien bodies and heads that looked like Courtney, Michael and Tess dressed in Tutu’s and signing “It’s a Small World After All.”
Liz smiled to herself as she finished her KATA and put away her sword. Her father had finally put his foot down about the antics and pointed out that they were spending so much time doing that, that they might be neglecting other things and getting careless. Somewhat sheepishly they all agreed, and for most intents and purposes, stopped it, though Maria still occasionally tried her alien surprises, and Courtney would respond with her Maria Homing Antenna. To Liz, it was all worthwhile as it brought them all closer together. The pranks had had their practical side as it pushed the hybrids to work on their powers in different ways, and they had found other uses for their powers. Not necessarily useful ones, but one never knew what might come in handy. Liz was looking forward to the coming week that the High School took off for Spring Break; and since Tess had started school there in January, they all had that week off. Duncan, Amanda and Charlie were coming down for few days—Duncan and Amanda to spar with and train Liz; Charlie to see Cynthia (Liz was quite happy to see that relationship blossoming despite the distance). Methos was coming down a little earlier to spend more time with Grace (another relationship that all were happy to see getting closer). Since Joe had started to see Rebecca (it had been decided that while Grace was staying put in Roswell, Cynthia could watch both her and Liz, so Rebecca was staying in Seacouver helping Joe re-examine and tighten up Watcher procedures in light of the changes mandated by the Watchers Council after the Felicia Rising mess), Courtney had remarked that the only one not seeing anyone was herself; and she told Liz that after some real serious thought, she had come to the conclusion that she actually did not want a real relationship—and of course since as far as she knew, she was the last Skin alive, it’s not like she really had any options. Liz questioned her closely on that, but came away convinced that Courtney was OK, at least right now since she now had a group of good friends that she had never had before—the Copper Summit community really had not been very close. Partly due to the nature of the skins, and partly due to the mission and leadership. And she was right in that it would be fairly hard to have a real relationship with anyone else.
As regards the Hybrids and their human other halves, all the couples had steadily grown closer. Even Michael and Maria. While they still verbally battled, it was more and more clear that that happened because they loved to do it. Alex and Isabel had gotten very close, as had Kyle and Tess (after Tess proclaimed Kyle semi civilized for not burping at dinner for a whole week and not forgetting to put the toilet lid down for a whole month); meanwhile Max and Liz had just about merged into one. Maria thought it somewhat eerie that Liz and Max had just about reached the point of finishing each other’s sentences. Maria was somewhat put out that the Sheriff had asked Amy to marry him over St. Valentine’s Day and that they were looking to get one big house for both families. Despite Tess’s protestations, Maria did not consider Kyle really house broken.
Joe Dawson had just finished a set and was heading towards the bar where Rebecca was waiting for him when Duncan came in with Amanda. They all sat at the back of the bar far enough away not to be heard. Duncan came right to the point.
“I just got a call from a friend in Berlin that an Immortal named Johann Gertner is looking for me. Or more to the point, a student of mine—anyone he can find. Apparently, that Newbie that challenged me last year in Paris was his student, and he wants to even the score. Now that probably means he is going after Richie, but it’s also possible that he just might be able to figure out where Liz is—I understand it got around pretty far and wide that I had had a female student for the first time. Of course, the word also got around that she quickly took the heads of two headhunters, so I really was not too worried. But this looks personal, and that can make a big difference. Can you find out how good this guy is?”
Joe sat back and thought. While the procedures as regards enquiring about other immortals had been tightened up quite a bit, Duncan McLeod was his Immortal, and anyone gunning for him was of legitimate interest to his Watcher. Joe nodded. “I will put in a call tomorrow and see what I can find out. If you have never heard of him and I have not, and it’s a pretty safe bet Methos has not, then he cannot be too prominent.”
Duncan nodded. “I called Connor in New York, and he also asked a couple of Immortals that he knows in Europe, and they reported back that they had not heard of him either. The Newbie was young and cocky, and I gave him a chance to live, but he still tried to fight, and he left me with no choice. It kind of depends on what type this Gertner is; maybe reason might still work, but I need to make sure that Liz and Richie are ready if he shows up.”
Liz put down the phone and did some thinking. The call from Duncan had been unexpected since he was due to arrive in Roswell in 2 days anyway. His news had not been exactly welcome; though the bright spot was that from all appearances, Johann Gertner was not a headhunter; Joe had been able to get some details. He was about 150 years old and had not taken very many heads—and all that he had taken had challenged him. The newbie that Duncan had taken down, named Martin Writt, had been as far as the Watchers could tell Johann’s only student. Which might explain why he was out for revenge. Liz had some hope that if he came around Roswell, that reason might triumph. Because he did not sound like someone that would be easily angered and pushed into getting careless. Now she had to decide what to say to her friends and family. After thinking it over, she decided to stay quiet for a while. He might not even make it to Roswell.
Liz would have been more worried if she had known that Johann Gertner was pretty good at tracking people down—he just did not challenge that often. Determined to get revenge for Martins death, he was working hard at tracking Duncan McLeod’s movements over the last couple of years. As one of the few Immortals of any real age that were comfortable with computers, he was able to do most of it himself, and what he could not do, he paid some hackers to accomplish. Duncan McLeod’s movements could be explained as either visiting friends such as his cousin in NY or Paris; or his antique sideline that he still maintained despite his primary interest being his Gym/Dojo. BUT 3 separate trips to Roswell, NM in the last year and two of them charters piqued Johann Gertner’s interest. Tracking the time line, he looked over the Roswell Newspaper’s archives online and was caught by the shooting at a local diner of a young woman. Remembering the rumors about Duncan McLeod having a first ever female student, Johann Gertner thought this was worth checking out. His honor demanded that he even the score with Duncan McLeod; his Teutonic Ancestors would understand.
Maria was looking forward to the end of her shift; it was Saturday afternoon, and she had a date with Michael that night. She wanted to look really good for this one since she had decided to start to maneuver SpaceBoy into taking the next step in their relationship. He had seemed a little reluctant, and Maria had decided that she had waited long enough. She looked up as a man entered the Crashdown, and for some reason, she felt uneasy about him; it was in the mid 70’s and sunny outside, but he was wearing a long raincoat. She went to him to start serving.
Johann Gertner just shook his head at the alien themed diner and the blonde waitress in the ridiculous uniform. But since this is where he was looking for Liz Parker to see if she was immortal, he felt he had no choice.
“Hi, my name is Maria, and I will be your server today. Can I start you out with a drink?”
“A coke please, and I would like a menu. A friend of mine recommended here as a good place to eat when he visited last year. I guess it was just after that shooting incident. Is the girl who got shot still a waitress here?”
Maria’s radar was sounding the alarm. This guy was looking for Liz. Maybe another Immortal headhunter or maybe someone else for some reason, but she knew he was trouble. He was above average size and fairly solid of build. He looked calm and confident unlike the other headhunters who had shown up. As things happened, Liz was at the Roswell airport picking up Duncan, Charlie and Amanda, using the SUV that had been replaced after the accident (Liz had passed her Driver’s Ed course the previous semester with flying colors), and taking them over to the House where they would be staying.
“Liz hardly ever works here anymore—only when we get short due to vacations or sickness. She wants to be valedictorian and is working on her grades.”
Johann frowned at that. It did not appear that it was going to be as easy to find her as he had thought. No matter—he had lots of time.
Maria went to the back and into the break room where Courtney was getting ready for her shift.
“I think we might have a headhunter out front—he wants to find Liz.”
Courtney looked at Maria in concern. “Are you sure?”
Maria nodded. “Long raincoat in this weather—which probably means he is carrying a sword. And he specifically asked for the girl that was shot last year.”
Courtney got up and told Maria, “I will go past him and see if I can sense anything. And I want to get a good look at him anyway.”
Maria nodded and headed for the phone in the break room to call Liz.
Liz was waiting for the plane to land when her cell phone went off.
“Hey Maria, what’s up? Oh. Yeah long raincoat in this weather does seem to point that way. No I am not really surprised—Duncan called me about this possibility yesterday. But he seemed to think it would be days or weeks at least before the guy MIGHT come here. So this is pretty quick. His name is Johann Gertner; last year he had a student who was cocky and stupid, and challenged Duncan. Yeah, Duncan took him easily but gave him a chance to walk away, and he still tried to fight. So he got the short haircut. I guess Mr. Gertner wants revenge.”
Liz put the cell phone away and saw Duncan and his friends coming through the gate.
She walked up to him and hugged him and Charlie and Amanda. She then quietly said, “Looks like Mr. Gertner just got into town. He is at the Crashdown asking after me.”
Duncan was determined to confront Gertner. If he wanted to take revenge, let him try it on him, not his students. So he convinced Liz to take them right to the Crashdown.
Johann Gertner left the diner determined to stake out the building if he had to. He had just walked out the door when the felt the Buzz. He looked around and saw a tall dark haired man with a ponytail walking towards him.
“I am Duncan McLeod, and if you think you are going after one of my students, you first have to go through me.”
“You killed the only student I have ever had, and I shall have my revenge in the same way.”
“You will have to fight me one way or another—since if you take my students head, I will take yours.”
“Then so be it, Highlander. Tonight?”
“Tonight.” Duncan then gave him the location that Liz had used to fight Felicia Rising.
Liz had stayed in the car with the others by Duncan’s request. They watched Gertner walk away.
Duncan returned to the car and told Liz. “We will fight tonight where you fought Felicia.”
Liz sighed. “This is so unnecessary—you gave that kid a chance to walk away, and he refused to take it—so what beef does Gertner have with you?”
“He is old fashioned—Prussian I think—they are big on Honor and Revenge and all that.”
Liz shook her head. “Well let’s get you to the House. You can warm up, and Amanda and I can double team you and try and give you a good workout”
Amanda nodded. “Between the two of us, we should have you all nicely ready to give the Kraut the short haircut.”
Grace put the phone down and looked at Methos. “Duncan challenged Gertner, and they will be fighting tonight. That was Liz—they will be here in a few minutes ,and she said that Amanda and she would double team Duncan, and that should get him all ready to go for tonight.”
Methos nodded. He had just gotten in the night before and had found out about Gertner when Duncan had called him. He doubted that Duncan would have too much trouble with him; but he agreed with Grace that it was a waste—there was no good reason for a fight.
Liz called Maria and let her know what was going on. She was a little ticked since that pretty much put the kibosh on her date with Michael that night; but she was a lot happier that it was not going to be Liz that had to fight this time. She had told Michael right away. Then she went out front and signaled Courtney and let her know what was going on. Courtney agreed that it was a pretty stupid reason for a fight and was also glad that Liz was not on the spot for this one.
Liz then called Alex and told him to contact Isabel and Tess and Kyle. She had already called the sheriff, and he had agreed to make sure that there would be no patrols out there that evening. Since the holidays, the Military had gradually drifted away, and for the last month, there had been no sightings at all, so he thought there should be no problem. He did not like what was going to happen but knew there was nothing he could do about it—and like everyone else, he was glad that this time it was not Liz on the firing line.
Liz watched Duncan clean his sword and check it out—they were due to leave soon for the challenge. Liz had made it very clear that she was going with him, as was Amanda—they would stay at a distance, but they would be there. Cynthia had to since she had been detailed to watch—Gertner’s watcher had been caught on a busted airliner in Berlin and was a full day behind his Immortal. So she would be the only watcher there—it was rare when neither watcher for either Immortal in a challenge were present. Charlie had made it also clear that since Cynthia was going, so was he. The rest of them had gathered at the house and would wait for the outcome there. The sheriff was the only one not there—he had moved to a place at a distance where he could watch and make sure no one wandered close.
Gertner was waiting as Duncan was dropped off and walked towards him.
Liz parked the car at the rise that the others had used to watch her fight with Felicia Rising. She got out and looked at Amanda, Cynthia and Charlie. Then she got her sword and started walking towards the fight.
Duncan walked up to Gertner. “This is not necessary. Your student challenged me, knowing how much more experienced I was, and still fought. I wounded him and gave him a chance to live. He still tried to fight me, and I took his head.”
“You killed my student, so I must fight you. My honor demands it. Prepare yourself.”
Both men turned as they felt a new buzz.
“My name is Liz Parker. I guess you were looking for me to take my head. Tell me—what good with that have done you Herr Gertner? It would not bring back your student. I have heard from those that were there that Duncan McLeod gave him every chance to live. You have no reason to challenge him. And you must know that you have little hope of winning. Is your life worth so little? Do you have a death wish? Maybe you do. Maybe you think you failed your student. Maybe you think that if you had taught him better, he would have known better than to challenge a much better swordsman. I think it’s guilt more than honor that is driving you. I spent some time studying the History of Prussia when I found out you might be coming after me. The Teutonic Knights of Prussia in the middle ages were renowned for their unwavering honor—to them, Honor was truly more important than life. Can you tell me what would be honorable about dying here and now? You trained your student well from all accounts—but when you decided you had taught him all you could, you sent him on his way to make his own life. So it was his decision to do what he did—are you now going to insult his memory by saying he was stupid or wrong or arrogant or whatever? He challenged a much his only. It would be calling him a child and unfit to stand on his own to now say you must take revenge. Are you saying that he was a child and unfit?”
Gertner stood there thinking. His honor. What must he do? The young girl did correctly quote the Order. Was he wrong?
Duncan was not happy that Liz had stepped forward, but as he saw that Gertner was thinking about what she said, he decided that he had to try himself.
“I was found in the Highlands of Scotland and brought up as a chieftain’s son to one day lead my Clan. Honor was so important to us since we had so little else, and life was hard there. When a father or guardian declared a young man ready to fight and lead his own life, he had to then respect the decisions that that young man made, whether good or bad. Martin Writt never gave up; he fought to the end because that was what he thought he had to do. Some would call it courage, and some would call it foolish, but he made the choice. I deeply regretted his death, but he left me with no choice. I have no trouble taking the heads of those that swagger and brag and try to headhunt. Your student was none of that. He was just young and arrogant with that which comes with youth. There is no reason for us to fight. There are too many deaths among us as there is that have no good reason for occurring. Why add to it?”
Johann Gertner thought about it for many minutes. Then he turned and got into his car and drove away, never saying a word.
Duncan and Liz looked at each other, and Liz sighed with relief. “Well, for once, no blood and gore and lightning and such. That makes it a pretty good day.”
Liz was going through her KATA on her balcony, and as she cycled through the movements, she reflected back on the last 2 months since the New Year’s Eve Gathering (as she called it). Courtney had started working in the Crashdown just after New Year’s and had fit right in. Maria just could not leave it alone that a real honest to God alien was dressed as an Alien Waitress and was working there and had to keep tweaking Courtney about it; but she got back as good as she gave when Courtney figured out how to use her powers to have her Antenna follow Maria around like a dowsing rod. Though she made sure she only did it when there were no uninformed types around, it happened often enough to really start to creep Maria out; and since Michael and Liz thought it was hilarious, that only made it worse. That began a practical joke war that soon involved just about everyone. Maria got very inventive finding places to plant alien curiosities from her mother’s shop just where they would surprise Courtney; and when Liz felt constrained to help out Maria when Michael and Courtney began to work together, they teamed up with Tess to create a beheaded alien head wandering around with flashing antenna proclaiming, “There can only be ONE!” Liz then retaliated by enlisting Isabel and Max, and they created a Alien Chorus Line that had Roswell Alien bodies and heads that looked like Courtney, Michael and Tess dressed in Tutu’s and signing “It’s a Small World After All.”
Liz smiled to herself as she finished her KATA and put away her sword. Her father had finally put his foot down about the antics and pointed out that they were spending so much time doing that, that they might be neglecting other things and getting careless. Somewhat sheepishly they all agreed, and for most intents and purposes, stopped it, though Maria still occasionally tried her alien surprises, and Courtney would respond with her Maria Homing Antenna. To Liz, it was all worthwhile as it brought them all closer together. The pranks had had their practical side as it pushed the hybrids to work on their powers in different ways, and they had found other uses for their powers. Not necessarily useful ones, but one never knew what might come in handy. Liz was looking forward to the coming week that the High School took off for Spring Break; and since Tess had started school there in January, they all had that week off. Duncan, Amanda and Charlie were coming down for few days—Duncan and Amanda to spar with and train Liz; Charlie to see Cynthia (Liz was quite happy to see that relationship blossoming despite the distance). Methos was coming down a little earlier to spend more time with Grace (another relationship that all were happy to see getting closer). Since Joe had started to see Rebecca (it had been decided that while Grace was staying put in Roswell, Cynthia could watch both her and Liz, so Rebecca was staying in Seacouver helping Joe re-examine and tighten up Watcher procedures in light of the changes mandated by the Watchers Council after the Felicia Rising mess), Courtney had remarked that the only one not seeing anyone was herself; and she told Liz that after some real serious thought, she had come to the conclusion that she actually did not want a real relationship—and of course since as far as she knew, she was the last Skin alive, it’s not like she really had any options. Liz questioned her closely on that, but came away convinced that Courtney was OK, at least right now since she now had a group of good friends that she had never had before—the Copper Summit community really had not been very close. Partly due to the nature of the skins, and partly due to the mission and leadership. And she was right in that it would be fairly hard to have a real relationship with anyone else.
As regards the Hybrids and their human other halves, all the couples had steadily grown closer. Even Michael and Maria. While they still verbally battled, it was more and more clear that that happened because they loved to do it. Alex and Isabel had gotten very close, as had Kyle and Tess (after Tess proclaimed Kyle semi civilized for not burping at dinner for a whole week and not forgetting to put the toilet lid down for a whole month); meanwhile Max and Liz had just about merged into one. Maria thought it somewhat eerie that Liz and Max had just about reached the point of finishing each other’s sentences. Maria was somewhat put out that the Sheriff had asked Amy to marry him over St. Valentine’s Day and that they were looking to get one big house for both families. Despite Tess’s protestations, Maria did not consider Kyle really house broken.
Joe Dawson had just finished a set and was heading towards the bar where Rebecca was waiting for him when Duncan came in with Amanda. They all sat at the back of the bar far enough away not to be heard. Duncan came right to the point.
“I just got a call from a friend in Berlin that an Immortal named Johann Gertner is looking for me. Or more to the point, a student of mine—anyone he can find. Apparently, that Newbie that challenged me last year in Paris was his student, and he wants to even the score. Now that probably means he is going after Richie, but it’s also possible that he just might be able to figure out where Liz is—I understand it got around pretty far and wide that I had had a female student for the first time. Of course, the word also got around that she quickly took the heads of two headhunters, so I really was not too worried. But this looks personal, and that can make a big difference. Can you find out how good this guy is?”
Joe sat back and thought. While the procedures as regards enquiring about other immortals had been tightened up quite a bit, Duncan McLeod was his Immortal, and anyone gunning for him was of legitimate interest to his Watcher. Joe nodded. “I will put in a call tomorrow and see what I can find out. If you have never heard of him and I have not, and it’s a pretty safe bet Methos has not, then he cannot be too prominent.”
Duncan nodded. “I called Connor in New York, and he also asked a couple of Immortals that he knows in Europe, and they reported back that they had not heard of him either. The Newbie was young and cocky, and I gave him a chance to live, but he still tried to fight, and he left me with no choice. It kind of depends on what type this Gertner is; maybe reason might still work, but I need to make sure that Liz and Richie are ready if he shows up.”
Liz put down the phone and did some thinking. The call from Duncan had been unexpected since he was due to arrive in Roswell in 2 days anyway. His news had not been exactly welcome; though the bright spot was that from all appearances, Johann Gertner was not a headhunter; Joe had been able to get some details. He was about 150 years old and had not taken very many heads—and all that he had taken had challenged him. The newbie that Duncan had taken down, named Martin Writt, had been as far as the Watchers could tell Johann’s only student. Which might explain why he was out for revenge. Liz had some hope that if he came around Roswell, that reason might triumph. Because he did not sound like someone that would be easily angered and pushed into getting careless. Now she had to decide what to say to her friends and family. After thinking it over, she decided to stay quiet for a while. He might not even make it to Roswell.
Liz would have been more worried if she had known that Johann Gertner was pretty good at tracking people down—he just did not challenge that often. Determined to get revenge for Martins death, he was working hard at tracking Duncan McLeod’s movements over the last couple of years. As one of the few Immortals of any real age that were comfortable with computers, he was able to do most of it himself, and what he could not do, he paid some hackers to accomplish. Duncan McLeod’s movements could be explained as either visiting friends such as his cousin in NY or Paris; or his antique sideline that he still maintained despite his primary interest being his Gym/Dojo. BUT 3 separate trips to Roswell, NM in the last year and two of them charters piqued Johann Gertner’s interest. Tracking the time line, he looked over the Roswell Newspaper’s archives online and was caught by the shooting at a local diner of a young woman. Remembering the rumors about Duncan McLeod having a first ever female student, Johann Gertner thought this was worth checking out. His honor demanded that he even the score with Duncan McLeod; his Teutonic Ancestors would understand.
Maria was looking forward to the end of her shift; it was Saturday afternoon, and she had a date with Michael that night. She wanted to look really good for this one since she had decided to start to maneuver SpaceBoy into taking the next step in their relationship. He had seemed a little reluctant, and Maria had decided that she had waited long enough. She looked up as a man entered the Crashdown, and for some reason, she felt uneasy about him; it was in the mid 70’s and sunny outside, but he was wearing a long raincoat. She went to him to start serving.
Johann Gertner just shook his head at the alien themed diner and the blonde waitress in the ridiculous uniform. But since this is where he was looking for Liz Parker to see if she was immortal, he felt he had no choice.
“Hi, my name is Maria, and I will be your server today. Can I start you out with a drink?”
“A coke please, and I would like a menu. A friend of mine recommended here as a good place to eat when he visited last year. I guess it was just after that shooting incident. Is the girl who got shot still a waitress here?”
Maria’s radar was sounding the alarm. This guy was looking for Liz. Maybe another Immortal headhunter or maybe someone else for some reason, but she knew he was trouble. He was above average size and fairly solid of build. He looked calm and confident unlike the other headhunters who had shown up. As things happened, Liz was at the Roswell airport picking up Duncan, Charlie and Amanda, using the SUV that had been replaced after the accident (Liz had passed her Driver’s Ed course the previous semester with flying colors), and taking them over to the House where they would be staying.
“Liz hardly ever works here anymore—only when we get short due to vacations or sickness. She wants to be valedictorian and is working on her grades.”
Johann frowned at that. It did not appear that it was going to be as easy to find her as he had thought. No matter—he had lots of time.
Maria went to the back and into the break room where Courtney was getting ready for her shift.
“I think we might have a headhunter out front—he wants to find Liz.”
Courtney looked at Maria in concern. “Are you sure?”
Maria nodded. “Long raincoat in this weather—which probably means he is carrying a sword. And he specifically asked for the girl that was shot last year.”
Courtney got up and told Maria, “I will go past him and see if I can sense anything. And I want to get a good look at him anyway.”
Maria nodded and headed for the phone in the break room to call Liz.
Liz was waiting for the plane to land when her cell phone went off.
“Hey Maria, what’s up? Oh. Yeah long raincoat in this weather does seem to point that way. No I am not really surprised—Duncan called me about this possibility yesterday. But he seemed to think it would be days or weeks at least before the guy MIGHT come here. So this is pretty quick. His name is Johann Gertner; last year he had a student who was cocky and stupid, and challenged Duncan. Yeah, Duncan took him easily but gave him a chance to walk away, and he still tried to fight. So he got the short haircut. I guess Mr. Gertner wants revenge.”
Liz put the cell phone away and saw Duncan and his friends coming through the gate.
She walked up to him and hugged him and Charlie and Amanda. She then quietly said, “Looks like Mr. Gertner just got into town. He is at the Crashdown asking after me.”
Duncan was determined to confront Gertner. If he wanted to take revenge, let him try it on him, not his students. So he convinced Liz to take them right to the Crashdown.
Johann Gertner left the diner determined to stake out the building if he had to. He had just walked out the door when the felt the Buzz. He looked around and saw a tall dark haired man with a ponytail walking towards him.
“I am Duncan McLeod, and if you think you are going after one of my students, you first have to go through me.”
“You killed the only student I have ever had, and I shall have my revenge in the same way.”
“You will have to fight me one way or another—since if you take my students head, I will take yours.”
“Then so be it, Highlander. Tonight?”
“Tonight.” Duncan then gave him the location that Liz had used to fight Felicia Rising.
Liz had stayed in the car with the others by Duncan’s request. They watched Gertner walk away.
Duncan returned to the car and told Liz. “We will fight tonight where you fought Felicia.”
Liz sighed. “This is so unnecessary—you gave that kid a chance to walk away, and he refused to take it—so what beef does Gertner have with you?”
“He is old fashioned—Prussian I think—they are big on Honor and Revenge and all that.”
Liz shook her head. “Well let’s get you to the House. You can warm up, and Amanda and I can double team you and try and give you a good workout”
Amanda nodded. “Between the two of us, we should have you all nicely ready to give the Kraut the short haircut.”
Grace put the phone down and looked at Methos. “Duncan challenged Gertner, and they will be fighting tonight. That was Liz—they will be here in a few minutes ,and she said that Amanda and she would double team Duncan, and that should get him all ready to go for tonight.”
Methos nodded. He had just gotten in the night before and had found out about Gertner when Duncan had called him. He doubted that Duncan would have too much trouble with him; but he agreed with Grace that it was a waste—there was no good reason for a fight.
Liz called Maria and let her know what was going on. She was a little ticked since that pretty much put the kibosh on her date with Michael that night; but she was a lot happier that it was not going to be Liz that had to fight this time. She had told Michael right away. Then she went out front and signaled Courtney and let her know what was going on. Courtney agreed that it was a pretty stupid reason for a fight and was also glad that Liz was not on the spot for this one.
Liz then called Alex and told him to contact Isabel and Tess and Kyle. She had already called the sheriff, and he had agreed to make sure that there would be no patrols out there that evening. Since the holidays, the Military had gradually drifted away, and for the last month, there had been no sightings at all, so he thought there should be no problem. He did not like what was going to happen but knew there was nothing he could do about it—and like everyone else, he was glad that this time it was not Liz on the firing line.
Liz watched Duncan clean his sword and check it out—they were due to leave soon for the challenge. Liz had made it very clear that she was going with him, as was Amanda—they would stay at a distance, but they would be there. Cynthia had to since she had been detailed to watch—Gertner’s watcher had been caught on a busted airliner in Berlin and was a full day behind his Immortal. So she would be the only watcher there—it was rare when neither watcher for either Immortal in a challenge were present. Charlie had made it also clear that since Cynthia was going, so was he. The rest of them had gathered at the house and would wait for the outcome there. The sheriff was the only one not there—he had moved to a place at a distance where he could watch and make sure no one wandered close.
Gertner was waiting as Duncan was dropped off and walked towards him.
Liz parked the car at the rise that the others had used to watch her fight with Felicia Rising. She got out and looked at Amanda, Cynthia and Charlie. Then she got her sword and started walking towards the fight.
Duncan walked up to Gertner. “This is not necessary. Your student challenged me, knowing how much more experienced I was, and still fought. I wounded him and gave him a chance to live. He still tried to fight me, and I took his head.”
“You killed my student, so I must fight you. My honor demands it. Prepare yourself.”
Both men turned as they felt a new buzz.
“My name is Liz Parker. I guess you were looking for me to take my head. Tell me—what good with that have done you Herr Gertner? It would not bring back your student. I have heard from those that were there that Duncan McLeod gave him every chance to live. You have no reason to challenge him. And you must know that you have little hope of winning. Is your life worth so little? Do you have a death wish? Maybe you do. Maybe you think you failed your student. Maybe you think that if you had taught him better, he would have known better than to challenge a much better swordsman. I think it’s guilt more than honor that is driving you. I spent some time studying the History of Prussia when I found out you might be coming after me. The Teutonic Knights of Prussia in the middle ages were renowned for their unwavering honor—to them, Honor was truly more important than life. Can you tell me what would be honorable about dying here and now? You trained your student well from all accounts—but when you decided you had taught him all you could, you sent him on his way to make his own life. So it was his decision to do what he did—are you now going to insult his memory by saying he was stupid or wrong or arrogant or whatever? He challenged a much his only. It would be calling him a child and unfit to stand on his own to now say you must take revenge. Are you saying that he was a child and unfit?”
Gertner stood there thinking. His honor. What must he do? The young girl did correctly quote the Order. Was he wrong?
Duncan was not happy that Liz had stepped forward, but as he saw that Gertner was thinking about what she said, he decided that he had to try himself.
“I was found in the Highlands of Scotland and brought up as a chieftain’s son to one day lead my Clan. Honor was so important to us since we had so little else, and life was hard there. When a father or guardian declared a young man ready to fight and lead his own life, he had to then respect the decisions that that young man made, whether good or bad. Martin Writt never gave up; he fought to the end because that was what he thought he had to do. Some would call it courage, and some would call it foolish, but he made the choice. I deeply regretted his death, but he left me with no choice. I have no trouble taking the heads of those that swagger and brag and try to headhunt. Your student was none of that. He was just young and arrogant with that which comes with youth. There is no reason for us to fight. There are too many deaths among us as there is that have no good reason for occurring. Why add to it?”
Johann Gertner thought about it for many minutes. Then he turned and got into his car and drove away, never saying a word.
Duncan and Liz looked at each other, and Liz sighed with relief. “Well, for once, no blood and gore and lightning and such. That makes it a pretty good day.”