Roswell Fanatics

The Four Faces of Rath



Changes Of Heart

Chapter 30

XXX



Liz opened her door to find a very distraught Kyle Valenti standing in front of her.

“May I come in, Liz?”

“Kyle! Sure! Yeah, come in… Have a seat…” Liz showed him to the living room and motioned to a large armchair… then she sat down herself in a chair nearby.

“What are you doing here, Kyle? Aren’t you a little far from your stomping grounds?”

“My Dad got killed, Liz.”

Liz looked surprised, then sympathetic. “Kyle, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. What happened?”

“We don’t know. Well, somebody killed him… I know that… He was shot. But the new sheriff they appointed, Hansen, thinks it was an accident.”

“An accident?”

“Hansen thinks Dad fell while he was investigating something out at the old quarry.”

“You said he was shot. I would think even Hansen could tell that.”

“Hansen thinks Dad shot himself accidentally when he fell into the quarry. He was shot with his own gun.”

“Oh! Well… I guess… I can see how he might think then…”

“Dad would never shoot himself accidentally, Liz… and he would never fall into the quarry. He was shot and pushed in. Dad’s been all over that quarry more times than I can remember. There were always reports of weird things going on out there, and he was always running out there to check on something… ever since I was little. Dad didn’t fall, and he didn’t shoot himself.”

Liz nodded. “I believe you, Kyle. I do. I don’t think he would fall or shoot himself either. I can see how Hansen might think that, though.”

“Hansen knew Dad well, Liz. How could he have thought that?”

Liz shook her head. “People sometimes believe whatever’s easiest to believe… or to explain, Kyle. Hansen was pretty young when I lived in Roswell, but even then I knew that he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the package, you know? Your Dad’s death being an accident is probably all that he can imagine.”

“Maybe.”

“How can I help, Kyle?”

“Well, that’s why I’m here, Liz. It’s just that… that… well, how can I put this? This isn’t easy for me…”

“Just say it, Kyle. I’ll understand, whatever it is.”

Kyle smiled slightly, grateful for the confidence.

“Liz, I was thinking about what that guy said… you know, Michael, the one who claimed to be from out there somewhere…” Kyle pointed randomly upward toward the sky.

“Antar,” Liz said, nodding.

“Yeah… well, whatever. It’s not that I really believe it, you know, but…”

“It’s true,” Liz said. “I’ve been there.”

Kyle looked at Liz with a startled look. “You’ve been there? How? Geez, Liz, that’s a lot to lay on me… this ‘I’ve been to another planet,’ stuff. I’m not the most trusting guy in the world, you know. If you were anyone else but you, I’d write you off right now as another crazy abductee kook.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve seen it with my own eyes, Kyle. I called it home for a little over a year.”

“When did this happen, Liz?”

Liz smiled. “In the future. I didn’t tell Michael or my Dad that I was there that long. I returned here only a few minutes after I left. But, yeah… I was there a little over a year. It’s all true, Kyle. Believe me if you don’t believe Michael.”

“Maybe you’re crazy, too, Liz. But if you are, hell, so am I, ‘cause… as hard as it is for me to say this… I do believe you, and the crazy part is, I think… maybe… I might want to go there, too.”

“What about your life in Roswell, Kyle? What about your football trainer career… the money… the respect… you know, all that?”

“Yeah, well, I just woke up this morning and realized that all that was not as important as I thought it was, Liz. When Dad died, I… I… well… Michael said something about a whole different life up there. Do you think Dad would be alive there, Liz?”

Liz smiled. “He was when I was there. Don’t ask me any more, Kyle. I can’t tell you any more about the future.”

“Why not, Liz? It’s not our future. It’s a whole different future in another place and time.”

“It still may be your future, Kyle.”

“I’m going to have a lot of trouble wrapping my mind around that thought, Liz. I’m trying… believe me.”

“So you really think you want to return to that life, Kyle?”

“Return? Oh, yeah, Michael said I was there before and time got screwed up or something, didn’t he? Yeah, I don’t know, well, yeah, I guess so. No, hell, I know so. I’ll just say it.”

Kyle turned slightly red as he made this admission. It was like admitting he believed in the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. In fact, in Kyle’s mind, the tooth fairy was probably more likely to exist than some alternate time on an alien world… with him in it. But he was ready to take a chance… to embarrass himself if that’s what it took… to get back what he really cared about in life. In this time, Kyle had no family except his Dad. There was no wife, except the brief marriage he had had just out of high school… and that had ended badly. There were no children. Michael said he had had all these things on Antar. Could that be so bad?

Kyle had trouble imagining himself happily married, with children, but Michael said that on Antar he was. Could that really be a bad thing? He had no football career there, but Michael said there were a lot of other things. Could that be so bad? Now that Jim was gone, the football career seemed tragically unimportant. Maybe part of it’s importance had always been that it had impressed his Dad. Kyle hadn’t been a stay-at-home. He had cut out on his own right after high school, and he had always been his own man. But he realized that a lot of the enjoyment he got in life was in knowing that his successes pleased and impressed his Dad. He realized it now more than ever… now that everything he had lived for… everything he had treasured and built his life around… suddenly had no real meaning to him.

“You want to take a little trip, Kyle?”

“Where to?”

“You’ll see.” Liz called for the portal.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to this, Liz. This is just weird.”

Liz smiled and took Kyle’s hand. “Portal, take us to Michael.” They stepped through the portal and onto one of the balconies of the royal palace on Antar. Zan and Michael were both standing there looking out at the city and the Golden Sea just beyond. Both of them turned to look at Liz and Kyle, as they stepped out of the portal. Liz’s face turned a rosy pink, as they suddenly both looked at her.

“Zan… Michael… Hi! I hope I didn’t interrupt something important. I’m sorry to just barge in on you. I thought you’d want to know that Kyle had a change of heart. He wants to come back.”

Kyle stared out at the Golden Sea, the unknown landscape, the moons in the day sky… and the slightly visible planets aligned like a V in the sky, with the one he was on forming the junction of the V. For a moment, he almost had no awareness of those around him. Then he suddenly realized that people were talking. Some of what he was hearing was distinctly not English. It was also not Spanish. He had heard plenty of that in New Mexico, and though he didn’t speak it himself, he had picked up enough to understand a good bit of what he heard. This did not sound like Spanish.

“So, you’re ready to come back,” Michael asked Kyle.

Zan smiled and said something to Michael in Antarian, and Michael nodded.

“Zan says you look like you’d make a great Captain.”

Kyle shook his head. “I’m not interested in being a soldier… but I’m ready to get my old life back… the one you told me about… if that’s still an option.”

“I’m still working on it, Kyle, but yeah, it’s still an option. I’m glad you want to return.” Michael spoke to Zan in Antarian, and Zan smiled understandingly.

“This is Antar? This is where I lived in that… other time you told me about?”

“Yeah. This is it, Kyle. The people in the palace are a little different… well, kind of. Max and Liz were the king and queen. Zan here is Max, but that’s kind of a long story. And all our families are missing, so it doesn’t feel the same… but the planet’s still the same. How do you like it?”

Kyle hadn’t heard anything after Michael said, “Max and Liz were the king and queen.”

“Liz… my Liz? This Liz! You didn’t tell me about that, Liz.”

Liz nodded and blushed slightly.

“Your Liz?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, well, you know, the Earth Liz… like me… the Liz I know. Liz, how the heck did you get to be the queen… of another planet? I really want to hear this.”

“I got together an army and mounted a rebellion against the palace. Then I ousted the royal family, and the people made me their queen.”

Kyle stood with his mouth open and nothing coming out. Liz giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm…

“No big plots, Kyle. I married the king… Max… that’s all. Zan, he’s called here.”

“Yeah,” Michael added, “then we found out she really was the rightful queen all along. Remind me to tell you about that sometime.”

“Count on it,” Kyle said, nodding incredulously.

“So what do you think, Kyle? Could you live here and be happy,” Michael asked.

“It’s got its charm,” Kyle said. “It’ll take some getting used to, though, I think.”

“Maybe not,” Michael said. “If I succeed in restoring time to its former path, you’ll again be who you were before, and you’ll be used to it already. You lived on Antar for about twenty years… longer than anyone else from Earth but Max and me, longer than Liz and the others. We rescued them from Earth later. You came here with Max and me when we first returned to our planet.

“How the hell did you get me to do that?”

“Earth was falling apart. Kivar blew it up.”

“Oh. That might work, I guess.”

Liz slapped Kyle on the arm again.

Kyle grinned. “Who was Kivar anyway?”

“He was the guy who really wanted to oust the royal family and take over Antar… and some other planets.”

“Oh… a galactic bad guy. And he blew up the Earth?”

“He was after us. I don’t think he meant to blow the Earth up, but that’s what happened.”

“And you changed that some way, I take it. I mean, otherwise I wouldn’t be around on Earth in my time, would I?”

“I don’t know how this time stuff works exactly, Kyle,” Michael said, “but yeah, Max and I went back and changed it and rescued Liz and Maria… and all the others who were being held by the special FBI alien unit. Alex helped. You stayed on Antar.”

“Alex?”

“Yeah, Alex Whitman.”

“This just gets cozier and cozier! Alex Whitman was here?”

“He came later… with Tess. That reminds me… Liz?”

“Yeah?”

“You said I had to find Alex, Kyle, Jim, Kathleen, and Tess. We’ve found everyone but Tess, and now that Kyle wants to come back, everyone but Tess is taken care of. How am I supposed to find someone who doesn’t exist?”

“Tess?” Kyle asked.

“Tess Harding. She was the fourth royal… the queen before Kivar deposed… killed us. Tess was Ava’s double or reincarnation. But in this time, we didn’t get killed. Ava is still alive, and Tess was never born on Earth, because Ava’s DNA was never taken there.”

“Well, I don’t know what Tess Harding was,” Kyle said… “but she did exist on Earth. She still does. At least somebody’s cashing my alimony checks.”

Michael and Liz both looked at Kyle with obvious surprise on their faces.

“Well, she could have been an alien,” Kyle said. “That might explain a lot. That girl could really warp my mind!”

“That was one of her powers,” Michael said… “mind warps.”

“Well, I didn’t mean that literally,” Kyle said. “I was speaking figuratively. Oh, I guess she wasn’t so bad. We were both young and naïve. We weren’t ready for marriage. I know I wasn’t.”

“Do you know where she is… what she’s doing?” Liz asked.

Kyle shook his head. “I haven’t kept up with her. I just send a check to a PO box every month. Well, my attorney does.”

Liz looked at Michael, and Michael nodded. Liz called the portal.

“Kyle, you’re coming with us,” Michael said.

“You got that right. I’m not staying here by myself on an alien planet with no one that speaks English! How would I even find the bathroom? Do they even have those here? No offense, Zan.”

Zan smiled, though he didn’t understand a word of what Kyle had said. Liz told the portal to take them to Tess Harding, and Michael stepped into the opening. Liz followed with Kyle.

They stepped out on the other side into what appeared to be a yacht, a very big yacht.

“Tess must be making the most of my alimony checks,” Kyle said, looking at the beautiful yacht around them. Suddenly, they heard noises. Someone was trying to speak, but their voice was muffled.

“Shut up,” another voice said gruffly.

“Let her scream,” a third voice said. “No one’s going to hear her out here.”

“It grates on my noives,” the other male voice said.

“My ‘noives!’ My ‘noives!’” the second voice mocked sarcastically. “Just get her over to the side.”

There were more muffled sounds. Michael and Kyle ran around the back of the boat with Liz right behind them. “Damn, this is a big boat,” Kyle thought to himself. “Takes forever to get anywhere on it.” As they rounded the back, they saw two big men struggling with a young, blonde-headed woman. She was gagged, and her feet had been stuck through the two holes in a large cinder block then the holes had been sealed with concrete around her ankles so that she would not be able to pull her feet back through.

“Tess!” Kyle yelled. The young woman looked at him with terror in her eyes. Then the two men hoisted her over the side. The last Kyle heard was a muffled scream and a big splash, as the cinder block hit the water and sank quickly to the bottom, a hundred and twenty feet below, taking its victim with it.



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Davy Jones’ Locker

Chapter 31

XXXI



Kyle ran toward the men, as they tossed Tess –with the cinder block around her ankles- into the sea. He caught one of the men broadside before the man could turn around completely to face him. The much larger man, knocked off balance, fell over the side. The second man, who was at least as big as the first, grabbed Kyle by the neck and literally lifted him off the deck. Kyle gasped for air, as the large man’s hand wrapped almost completely around his neck, pressing like a vise against his trachea and closing off the airway. Though well-toned and muscular, and no small guy himself, Kyle found himself nevertheless unable to reach the hulking ogre that held him effortlessly in the air with one hand as it strangled the life out of him. He tried to kick or punch the man, but it was to no avail. His arms and legs simply wouldn’t reach him.

“Damn,” Kyle thought, as he began to lose consciousness, “Just my luck to be killed out here by the Incredible Hulk’s evil white brother.”

Suddenly, a bolt of power flashed past Kyle’s face and struck the large man square in the middle of the chest. The powerful burst of energy sent the large man backwards right through the rail and over the side… with Kyle still in his hand. Michael watched as Kyle went over the side. He hadn’t expected to go this far, but what had to be done had to be done. He quickly kicked off his shoes and pulled off his shirt then jumped overboard. The larger man had released Kyle when they hit the water, and Kyle was floundering, half-conscious, on the surface. Michael grabbed Kyle by the chin and lifted his face out of the water, as he swam back to the side of the boat with him.

“Liz! …Liz! …Drop me a ladder or something,” Michael yelled, spitting out some salt water. He waited a few moments then yelled again. “Liz! Where are you? I need a ladder over here!” Getting no response, Michael looked around for a way to get himself and Kyle back onto the small ship. He spotted the anchor line at the bow. “Liz, you’d better have a real good reason for disappearing on me up there,” Michael said, more to himself than to anyone in particular, as he paddled with one hand toward the anchor line while holding Kyle with the other hand. Kyle seemed to be regaining consciousness. At least that was a good sign. He could keep himself afloat if need be. Michael reached the anchor line at last and grabbed hold of it with one hand, testing his remaining strength.

“Can you hold onto me, Kyle, while I get us out of here?”

“I think so,” Kyle said. “Is Goliath gone?”

“Yeah. Hold on tight. We’re going up.”

Kyle put his arms around Michael’s shoulders.

“Not that close,” Michael said, looking Kyle in the eyes. “I can’t move my arms… and I can smell your breath.”

“Naw, that’s just the fish in my shirt,” Kyle said, grinning as much as he could under the circumstances. Kyle slid down a little and grabbed hold around Michael’s waist to allow Michael to move his arms freely. Michael grabbed the anchor line with both hands and began to climb, pulling himself and Kyle up the chain one stroke at a time. As he climbed, Kyle began to help, finally grabbing hold of the chain himself and pulling himself the rest of the way up. The two climbed over the bow onto the yacht and looked around.

“Where is Liz,” Michael asked, his voice now showing genuine concern.




One hundred and twenty feet below the surface of the sea, a silvery, mirror-like apparition appeared in front of a panicking young woman whose feet were stuck in a cement block. Tess had held her breath about as long as she could, and she had tried every way she could –and a few that she couldn’t- to get the block off of her feet or to somehow swim or move with it on, but it was useless. Now she was at the point of sheer exhaustion and panic. She saw the silvery apparition appear in front of her, looking hazy through the water, and her only thought was that she must be ready to die and this was some light leading her to the next life. She was relieved to think that it wouldn’t all end here, but it saddened her, too, to go this way… this suddenly… this… needlessly. Tess closed her eyes and prepared to succumb to the overwhelming urge to breathe. She knew that her burning lungs would merely fill with water, but she had already held her breath longer than she had thought was humanly possible.

As she started to breathe in, a hand reached out and grabbed her, pinching her nose and mouth closed. Tess opened her eyes wide in shock and looked through the haze of the water at the figure in front of her. If she was being taken to Heaven or… some place else… either way, she hadn’t expected to be taken like this. She momentarily almost forgot that her lungs were burning as though being seared by flames with a desperation to breathe. The figure swimming in front of her laboriously moved the cinder block a few inches at a time toward the silvery apparition. It took only a matter of moments… twenty, maybe thirty seconds… to reach the apparition, but to Tess it was an eternity. She was losing consciousness as the figure pulled her into the apparition. The next moment, the hand came off of Tess’ nose and mouth, and Tess gulped in air… real air… delicious air… with several deep reflexive gasps. Collapsing at the feet of the unknown figure who had pulled her through the apparition, Tess looked up thankfully into the smiling face of a young woman with brown eyes and hair. She was sure that she was looking into the face of an angel. Whether she was dead or alive, either way, she was looking at the face of an angel.

“That was close,” the dark-haired woman said, attempting to press some of the salt water out of her long, drenched hair. “I’m glad we made it in time. I’m Liz, by the way.”

Tess gasped again, gulping in more of the precious air that her lungs and body were starved for. Then she surprised Liz by grabbing her around the legs and starting to cry. Liz slid down next to her and put her arms around her.

“It’s alright. You’re okay now. You’re safe.”

“I know,” Tess said, tears streaming down her face. “I know… thanks to you. I don’t know how you did it, but thanks… so much! You’re an angel!”

“Pshhh… just someone who knows a few special tricks,” Liz said, holding Tess and rocking with her back and forth.

“How did you get in this mess anyway,” Liz asked. “Who were those guys?”

Tess looked away momentarily. Then she looked back at Liz with a sense of determination.

“You deserve to know. I’ve never told anyone before, not even my husband when I was married.”

“Kyle?”

Tess looked surprised. “You know Kyle?”

“Yeah. He’s here… somewhere.”

“I thought I saw him right before they threw me in the water… then I thought maybe it was just my life flashing before my eyes, you know.”

“Yeah.”

“You wanted to know why they were trying to kill me?”

“If you want to tell me.”

“I’ll tell you. Like I said, you deserve to know. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t saved me… I still don’t know how you did that!”

“That’s my secret,” Liz said. “But I might tell you later. What did those guys want?”

“They’re just hired thugs,” Tess said. “It’s who they work for that matters.”

“Who’s that?”

Tess looked around again. “I don’t want you to think I’m making things up. You might think I’m lying to you, and I wouldn’t do that… not after you saved my life.”

“I won’t think you’re lying.”

Tess nodded. Somehow, she sensed that Liz really would believe her.

“Okay… well, the people the thugs work for… they’re not from around here.”

“Not from… I don’t even know where here is,” Liz said, just realizing this fact. She and Michael had asked the sphere to take them to Tess. She had no idea where that might be, though.

“Well, we’re about twenty miles east of the Bahamas,” Tess said. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant that the people those thugs are working for are… aliens.”

“Aliens… like Mexicans? …or aliens like, you know, Martians?”

“Like Martians,” Tess said. “They’re shape-shifters from a planet called Copro… and from Antar.”

Tess thought she noticed a look of surprise in Liz’s eyes at the mention of Antar. She wasn’t sure what to make of it, though.

“Did the thugs come from there, too,” Liz asked.

“Oh, no! They didn’t even know they were working for aliens. They just know they’re well-paid. It’s just business for them.”

“Some business!”

“Yeah. Did you put them out of business, Liz?”

“Me? No, I think Michael and Kyle did that.” Liz looked around with a look of concern on her face.

“You’re worried about your friend and Kyle, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, well, they were here, and now they’re not… But I trust them. They’ll be okay.”

Tess smiled and nodded. But she could see the worry in Liz’s face.

“What did these aliens want with you, Tess?”

“They’ve always wanted me,” Tess said. “Ever since I came here I’ve been hiding from them.”

“Where did you come here from?”

“Well…” Tess looked down again. “Don’t think I’m lying to you…”

“I promise.”

“Antar.”

Tess noticed that same look of surprise in Liz’s eyes.

“You know something, don’t you, Liz? How do you know about Antar?”

“You won’t think I’m lying, will you?” Liz asked.

Tess smiled. “Okay, I had that coming, I guess. No, I promise.”

“I’ve been there,” Liz said. She decided to wait until she knew more about this girl before telling her that Michael was from there.

Tess looked surprised but then nodded. “I knew there was something about you. You aren’t a shape-shifter.”

Liz laughed. “No!”

“I know that. You don’t look like you’re Antarian… but I can’t be sure. There’s not that much difference.”

“I’m from Roswell… New Mexico.”

“Oh.”

“Why were these shape-shifters after you, Tess?”

“Because they made me.”

Liz could not conceal the shock that this statement caused in her. Tess noticed it immediately.

“I guess you aren’t here to take me back if you don’t know who I am,” Tess said.

“No. I’m only here to help you, Tess.”

“I can tell that. Thanks, Liz.”

“What did you mean, ‘they made you?’”

“They work for a real bad type known as Kivar.”

“I’ve heard of him.”

Tess looked surprised but just barely.

“Well, anyway, Kivar bribed someone to get him some of the queen’s hair from one of her hair brushes then he had his scientists isolate her DNA and combine it with human DNA here on Earth.”

“Why?”

“Because he hoped to kill the real queen, Ava, and replace her with his creation.”

“You.”

Tess nodded. “I was supposed to be indoctrinated and raised to be obedient to Kivar while I grew up here on Earth, but I escaped. Another shape-shifter, Nasedo, took me away when I was little and hid me. The sheriff in Roswell helped us.”

“That explains that,” Liz said to herself. “How could you replace Ava, though? I met Ava. She’s like ninety years old now. You’re nowhere near that.”

“The plan was to age progress me over time until I was the same age as the queen then kill her and put me in her place. Then Kivar would take over, because I would be there helping him from inside the palace. No one would ever suspect the queen.”

“Ingenious. Nasty… but ingenious. You spoiled their plans, huh…”

“Yeah… big time. I escaped from Kivar and his shape-shifters when I was only seven. Nasedo found me before the others did; and instead of taking me back, he helped me get away. The sheriff helped us, too, for a while, as I said before. He found us a place to hide… a safe house. Nasedo explained everything pretty much to the sheriff, I think. He trusted him. Not so much at first, but later he did. That’s how I met Kyle. But Jim never told anyone… not even Kyle… what I was. He kept my secret. He wanted me to tell Kyle, but I never could. How can you tell someone you care about that you’re not real,” Tess asked, swallowing a sob and looking at her own hands as though she didn’t know what they were.

“You’re real, honey,” Liz said. “You’re as real as me! You may have been brought to life by the scientists who combined Ava’s DNA with human DNA, but you’re every bit as real as I am.”

Tess smiled. “Thanks, Liz. You’re nice… a lot like Jim. I miss him… and Kyle, too, in a way.”

“Somebody killed Jim,” Liz said.

Tess was stunned… then tears began to well up in her eyes again. “Jim’s dead? How? When?”

“A couple of days ago… at the old quarry outside of Roswell. We don’t know who did it. He was shot with his own gun. The deputy… the new sheriff… Hansen… thinks Jim slipped and fell into the quarry and accidentally shot himself.”

Tess shook her head vehemently. “No! Jim would never do that! You don’t know about the quarry, Liz. Stay away from there! It’s a dangerous place!”

“Well, I figured that out,” Liz said. “Kathleen told me that. She said it’s spooky. There’s no sound out there… not a bird or a cricket, not even a breeze to rustle the leaves of the trees or bushes. She said it’s like being inside a strange invisible box.”

“Don’t let her go there again if you care about her,” Tess said. “Please!”

“Why? What’s the deal with the old quarry?”

Tess grimaced. She didn’t want to say too much, but she felt somehow compelled to tell Liz everything.

“The shape-shifters’ space craft is there. They put a force canopy over the whole area.”

“How were Jim and Kathleen able to get in there then? If a space ship is there, why didn’t they see it?”

“The ship is buried under the rocks at the bottom of the quarry. The force canopy doesn’t keep people out… people won’t even notice it. Animals seem to be aware of it, though, and they stay away. The purpose of the force canopy is to provide the shape-shifters with remote information about what’s happening there. It’s like a radar field. They’re… connected… somehow… to the force canopy. Anything that happens there, they can see it or sense it in some way. If they feel it’s a threat to them… they eliminate the threat.”

“Why didn’t you tell Jim this?”

“I wanted to tell him… but I was afraid he’d go out there and try to do something and they’d kill him. I didn’t want anything to happen to him. There was nothing Jim could have done against the shape-shifters. He wouldn’t have had a chance… He didn’t have a chance.”

“They killed him?”

“I’m sure of it. That’s probably how they found me.”

“Jim wouldn’t have told them where you were… not even if they tortured him.”

“He wouldn’t need to,” Tess said. “I’m sure they knew he wouldn’t give up any information. But all they have to do is touch someone’s forehead to see all their thoughts.”

“You think Jim let them do that?”

“No. They would have sneaked up on him disguised as something… a bird, a cat, a puppy… it could be anything. If Jim picked it up, it could have had his gun and shot him before he knew what happened. They could get the information in the seconds before he died… maybe even after he died… in the first few seconds.”

Liz was appalled and shocked by what Tess was telling her.

“So Jim really would have been defenseless against them,” Liz said.

“Yeah.”

“Someone could have notified the military.”

“The Secret Service and the military aren’t high on my slumber party invitation list, Liz. Jim wasn’t just protecting me from shape-shifters and from Kivar…”

“Oh! I see.”

“Besides, anything that drew attention to the presence of aliens and appeared in any way to be connected to Jim would have caused nothing but trouble for him from the military.”

“You’re probably right.”

Liz looked around again for Michael and Kyle. She was more that a little worried now by their disappearance.

“I think we’d better look for Michael and Kyle. You up to walking?”

“Yeah… I’ll be okay now. Thanks, Liz. I’ll go with you. Maybe I can help.”

Liz nodded and headed off toward the front of the yacht, walking along the port side, with Tess beside her. As they reached the bow, Liz looked around for any sign of her two missing friends. She saw nothing. Then, suddenly, two large hands closed around her eyes and mouth from behind. She heard Tess let out a muffled cry and knew that they had her, too. Moments later, the hands came off, and Liz and Tess looked around. They were inside a large stateroom. A couple of large men left the room and locked the door behind them.

“I’m so glad you could join the party,” a voice behind Liz and Tess said.

Both spun around at the same time.

“It was really not very considerate of you to escape when I wanted you to drown, Tess.”

Tess gasped. “Nicholas?”

The boy grinned. “At your service… temporarily… very temporarily.”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Nicholas Out-Of-Time

Chapter 32

XXXII



“You didn’t think those two Neanderthal-brains that you threw overboard were the only two crewmen on this boat, did you, Tess,” Nicholas asked sarcastically. “Really! Somebody has to run this dingy. I doubt those two morons could figure out how a rowboat works.”

Tess frowned, unamused by Nicholas’ attempt at wittiness.

“I didn’t know you knew anything about boats, Nicholas.”

“Ah, my dear, dear girl! Shows how little you know! Okay, it’s true, I’m not the one running the boat. I have more important things to occupy my time with. That’s what captains are for. The pea-brains you already met are just useless crew… muscle to back up my will.”

“Does Kivar know you tried to drown me, Nicholas? He went to a lot of trouble to make me. I can’t believe he’d just toss out his ace.”

“Defective merchandise, Tess… No reason to keep you.”

“Is that what Kivar thinks?”

Nicholas smiled very slightly, making an obviously forced effort to produce his trademark sarcastic grin, but he seemed inhibited…

“It doesn’t really matter what Kivar thinks, Tess. You’re not going to tell him, are you?” His trademark grin returned. “What Kivar doesn’t know won’t hurt me… will it? Kivar could start over and do it right if he would just give up on you. But no! He still thinks he’ll find you and complete his plans. But we both know that even if he does find you, you’ll never be what he’s looking for, don’t we, Tess?”

Tess was silent.

“No… that’s what I thought. You’ve been corrupted by the humans who’ve been helping you. You don’t have that ruthless instinct that Kivar wanted to breed into you. You’d be a liability now, not a help, to our cause. Kivar is reluctant to give up on you, but we know you’re defective, don’t we, Tess?”

“I think you’re defective, Nicholas, if you really want to know,” Tess said.

Nicholas grinned. “Now that’s the Tess I like… sarcastic!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to turn you on.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Tess. You’re not my type.”

“Oh, that’s right… seventy years of popping pre-adolescent zits and having women pat you on the head and walk away has turned your attentions in other directions, hasn’t it?”

Nicholas frowned. “My private life is none of your concern, Tess. Besides, there are some shape-shifters that are more than willing to please me.”

Liz grimaced and wrinkled her nose.

“Ew! I really didn’t need to know that.”

“Welcome to the twisted world of NicholasPerv,” Tess said to Liz. “You get off with shadows, Nicholas?”

“That’s just their natural appearance. They can be anything I want.”

“Ew,” Liz said again, her mind running wild with unwanted images of what might turn Nicholas on. “Let’s change the subject.”

“I’d love to stay and chat with you ladies, but my duty calls,” Nicholas said with a dramatic flare. “There is no rest for some of us.”

“We wouldn’t want to keep you from your duty, Nicholas,” Tess said sarcastically. “I’m sure we’ll pull ourselves together and manage without you somehow.”

Nicholas grinned and knocked on the door. One of his steroid-enhanced crewmen opened the door for him then closed it back and locked it, leaving Tess and Liz alone in the room.

“Do you think they got Kyle and your friend, Liz,” Tess asked.

Liz was silent for a moment. Then she frowned… “I don’t know. I’m afraid of that… but Nicholas didn’t mention them. He impresses me as the type who wouldn’t have been able to keep from bragging about it if he had them.”

Tess nodded. “Yeah! Yeah, that’s a good point. I think you’re right, Liz. He would have said something. I wonder where they went.”

“If they saw those other goons, they may be scouting the ship to find out who else is onboard… or planning our rescue. But we can’t count on that.”

“But what can we do,” Tess asked.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t look like there’s any way out of here.”

“Well, I don’t want to just wait for Nicholas’ gorillas to put my feet in concrete and toss me overboard again,” Tess said, her eyes showing genuine fear. “How did you get that cement block off of my feet, Liz?”

“I didn’t. I guess the portal transported you back onto the ship and left the block down there.”

“Portal? Is that what that thing was? What kind of portal?”

“It’s a bit complicated, Tess. It’s something an alien king from another planet gave to a… an ancestor of mine… a sphere that creates a portal that can take you wherever you want to go.”

“Cool! Don’t let Nicholas find out about it!”

“I won’t… but it wouldn’t help him if he did. It won’t work for him.”

“Now that’s really cool… something that Nicholas can’t use and you can! I like that! I never had anything like that.”

“I could use the portal to get us out… but if we left the boat, we’d be abandoning Michael and Kyle… and if we don’t leave the boat, those guys will just grab us again. You know, Tess… you might just have something that can help us at that. Michael told me you used to do mindwarps… in another time.”

“Mindwarps? What’s that?”

“Mindwarps! You know.”

Tess shook her head.

“You could make people think they were seeing things that weren’t there.”

“Like hypnosis?”

“Well, kind of, but more… I don’t know, invasive… more proactive. You didn’t have to talk to them or dangle a spinning wheel in front of them. It’s just something you did with your mind.”

“That would be… cool… but I can’t do it. I’ve never done that.”

“Maybe you could if you tried. If you could, you could make Nicholas and those steroid monkeys of his think they were seeing an empty room when they came back, and we could walk out the door right past them.”

“I wish I could do that, Liz, but I don’t know how.”

“Didn’t Nasedo teach you?”

“No. He insisted that we act as human as possible. He wanted us to blend in and be inconspicuous.”

“That’s not the Nasedo I heard about. Our timeline and the other one that Michael came from obviously have some differences.”

“Nasedo taught me all about my planet, Antar, and he told me all about Nicholas and Kivar… the things that I didn’t know, so that I could protect myself. But he insisted that we never mention any of them around other humans.”

“That was smart, probably. Look, Tess, why don’t you try it… you know… a mindwarp.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Just think about it. Close your eyes and concentrate. Try to make me think you’re not here.”

“Tess closed her eyes and concentrated. Then she opened her eyes. “Do you still see me?”

Liz nodded. “Maybe you have to internalize it somehow…”

“How do I do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I can’t do it’ Liz. I wish I could, but I just can’t.”

Liz looked frustrated but not yet defeated. “You need to concentrate on the other person’s mind… block it somehow from seeing you. Let me think…” Liz closed her eyes tight and concentrated, thinking about how a mind warp might work. After a moment, she opened her eyes.

“I think I’ve got an idea, Tess, but I’m not sure I can explain it…”

Tess was walking around the room with a frightened look in her eyes…

“Liz? Where are you? Don’t leave me here by myself! Where’d you go?”

“I’m right here, Tess!” Liz waved her hand in Tess’ face.

“Liz, please! Come back! You’re scaring me!”

“I’m right in front of you, Tess! Look at me!” Suddenly, Tess saw Liz.

“How’d you do that? You just disappeared! You were gone! Don’t do that, Liz! I was scared you wouldn’t come back.”

“I don’t know how I did it, Tess. I didn’t mean to. I was just thinking about how to do it and it happened.”

“But you’re not Antarian… you’re human.”

“Yeah… I know. Maybe when I was on Antar I picked up some kind of ability from Max… I don’t know.”

“You can mindwarp them for us, Liz.”

“I… I’m not sure I can. I’m not sure how I did it. I might not be able to do it when I need to.”

“Sure you can, Liz. You just closed your eyes and concentrated on my mind… like this.”

Suddenly, Tess began to fade from view… then she was gone. A moment later, she was back.

Liz’s eyes were wide. “That was amazing!”

“What? What did I do?”

“You disappeared! You started to fade out, and then you just weren’t there! It was incredible!”

“I did? I could still see me.”

“But I couldn’t. How’d you do it?”

“Like you told me… I just thought about blocking my image from your mind. It really wasn’t very hard… once you know what to do it’s not. You try it again.”

Liz closed her eyes and concentrated.

“Think about my mind, Liz. Block it from seeing you.”

Liz nodded. Then she began to fade from sight.

“Okay… okay, Liz, that’s enough! Come back!”

Liz dissolved the block in Tess’ mind, and Tess saw her again.

“Cool! Liz, you’re the greatest! You could teach me so much!”

“I don’t know how to do these things myself, Tess. I’m just learning… like you.”

At that moment, the door began to unlock. Tess turned toward the door, her eyes wide with fear. The door opened, and one of the large thugs came in carrying two cement blocks, one for Tess and one for Liz. The other thug was right behind him with a bag of concrete. Both men stopped and looked around the room then started to yell for Nicholas. Within moments, Nicholas was there.

“They’re gone? How? Weren’t you idiots watching them?”

“They were locked in! They couldn’t have got out!”

“Well they did, didn’t they! Idiot! Moron! Find them!”

The big men turned to go one way, and Nicholas turned to go the other way. Suddenly, a foot kicked one of the large men in the behind, and another foot kicked Nicholas in the behind. Both turned back quickly to face each other.

“How dare you,” Nicholas said, his child-like face turning red with rage. “Nobody…!”

“Nobody does that to me,” the big man said, picking Nicholas up by the pants waist. “Youse just pushed your luck and ran out of time, runt!”

With that, the oversized thug spun around twice like a discus thrower and sent Nicholas flying into the sea about a hundred feet from the yacht. Nicholas hit the water with a splash and came up sputtering.

“You’ll regret this,” he yelled, as the yacht suddenly came to life and began to head towards the Bahamas.

“I’ll find you… every one of you,” Nicholas yelled. “There won’t be any place you can hide from me!”

Suddenly, Nicholas felt something nudge him from behind. It was a dolphin. Nicholas swatted at it.

“Go away! Go away, whatever you are!”

The dolphin picked Nicholas up by pushing its snout under him and playfully tossed him to another dolphin.

“I’m not a frikkin’ beach ball, dammit! Cut it out! I said cut it out! Aw geez…”

Still invisible to the thugs, Liz and Tess watched and giggled from the side of the yacht as the dolphins tossed Nicholas back and forth from one dolphin to the other.

“You kicked that big guy good, Liz. I was laughing so hard. It’s a good thing those guys couldn’t hear us or see us.”

“You kicked Nicholas pretty good yourself, Tess! I thought he was gonna sail over the side. Did Kyle teach you to kick field goals like that?”

Tess giggled.

“I won’t forget this,” Nicholas yelled at the disappearing yacht. “I promise you… I won’t forget…”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Mutiny On the High Seas

Chapter 33

XXXIII



Tess turned to Liz with a worried look on her face. “Liz, what are we going to do about getting back home? How many more thugs do you think Nicholas has on here? And where are Kyle and Michael? We need to find out what happened to them.”

Liz swallowed hard. “Yeah… I’m beginning to get really worried about Michael and Kyle, too. I don’t know how many more thugs Nicholas has onboard. I don’t know how many he needed to run this thing. If we run into any more… maybe we can use a mindwarp to make them think the deck goes that way…” -Liz indicated the ocean off the starboard side- “and make them walk off the side or something.”

“I think we may need the Captain, Liz… I don’t know how to run a yacht. Do you?”

“No. I’ve never even been on one. I just got my solo spacecraft license right before I left Antar… that year I spent there. I wonder if a yacht’s anything like a spaceship.”

“You learned to fly a spaceship?”

“Yeah. Well, Max said I should. He said that in the other timeline I knew how to fly them and even repair them.”

“That’s so cool!”

“He said that you did, too, Tess.”

“Me? Liz, I can’t even fix a vacuum cleaner when the belt breaks!”

Liz smiled. “I guess you just don’t know what you can do until you’ve done it, Tess. Max said you were quite good. He said you and I helped to repair the Antarian mothership, the New Granolith, once when it was badly damaged on Earth.”

“Wow! That’s really… excellent! I never imagined…”

“Let’s take a walk around this yacht and scout it out,” Liz said. I want to see what’s up there on the bridge running this thing.”

Tess shuddered involuntarily. “I hope it’s not Kivar! Can we mindwarp Kivar?”

Liz thought a moment. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

Liz led the way until they found some stairs that looked like they might lead up to the bridge. Then the two carefully climbed the stairs and slowly opened the door. It appeared that there were only two men on the bridge… the Captain and a First Mate.

“Stay with me, Tess.”

“You don’t need to tell me, Liz. I’m your shadow!”

Liz crept over to the Captain and looked at him. Then she looked at the other man.

“Tess, take a look.”

Tess looked at the two men.

“Kyle?”

“And Michael,” Liz said. “What do you think they’re doing up here on the bridge?”

“And why aren’t they looking for us,” Tess said.

“Exactly! Ooh! I’m starting to think some naughty thoughts, Tess.”

Tess smiled.

“You, too, huh?”

Tess nodded.

“You take Kyle. I’ll take Michael,” Liz said. The two girls looked at each other then shoved Michael and Kyle out of their seats at the same time.

“Kyle! What the crap!”

“You shoved me!” Kyle exclaimed.

“I didn’t shove you… You shoved me!”

“I didn’t shove you, Kyle! Who shoved me?” Michael looked around the room… “Okay, Liz! Where are you? Show yourself!”

Michael and Kyle heard giggling then laughing, as the two girls appeared… sitting in their seats.

“Very funny,” Michael said. “Where did you girls come from?”

“The question you should be asking, Michael, is “Why wasn’t I out there trying to rescue Liz and Tess when they were about to be thrown overboard with concrete shoes on?”

Tess pulled Kyle up by the ear. “I’m waiting to hear that answer, too, Kyle!”

“Ow, Tess! Leggo of my ear! That hurts!”

“I know more things that can hurt, Kyle… unless you start explaining.”

“We were looking for you, Tess… then we were attacked by a couple of those big gorillas Nicholas got out of a zoo somewhere.”

“We gave ‘em a banana and sent ‘em back to the zoo,” Michael added.

“What does that mean,” Liz asked.

“We threw ‘em overboard,” Kyle said.

Liz and Tess stared at the two guys.

“What? You don’t think we could do it?”

“I don’t know, Kyle,” Tess said. “Michael could have alien powers or something, but how did you…?”

“Kyle just ducked when the big goon swung at him,” Michael said. “Then when the big lug fell over him, Kyle just stood up and let him roll over his back… and splash! Into the water he went!”

“Okay… but why didn’t you come to rescue us then,” Tess asked.

“We did,” Michael said. “After we found out where you were, we went to rescue you, but we saw two of those gorillas walking toward the door carrying some cinder blocks and cement. We hid behind some crates figuring we’d attack them and get you girls out when they opened the door; but then they started yelling that you were gone.”

“At first, we couldn’t figure it out,” Kyle said. “Michael thought you must be hiding in the room somewhere, but when we saw something kick that big galoot’s ass and then something kick Nicholas’ ass and Nicholas almost do a somersault, we figured it out.”

“Yeah! Then we watched the big gorilla throw Nicholas over the side,” Michael continued. “Then the two big guys went back toward the bridge, so we followed them. We figured you girls would be okay after that. That’s when the two thugs saw us, and we threw them over. We found the Captain on the bridge. He was by himself. We tied him up and put him in the stockroom. He was easy… nothing like the steroid gorillas. I think we’ve got ‘em all now.”

“I didn’t know you could pilot a yacht, Michael,” Liz said.

“Kyle’s teaching me.”

“When did you lean to pilot a yacht, Kyle,” Tess asked.

“I’ve been on a few,” Kyle said. “Football parties and all, you know. Some of the team owners have some pretty big toys… a few of the players do, too.”

“Oh. You never took me on one when we were married.”

“We were just out of high school, Tess. I didn’t know all these rich people back then.”

“By the way, Liz,” Michael said, “When did you learn to become invisible?”

“Well… I…”

“Isn’t it cool,” Tess said. “Liz taught me how to do mindwarps!”

“Liz taught you to… What!” Michael looked at Liz with a shocked look…

“Liz, are you out of your frikkin’ mind? Do you know what you did? What were you thinking? You and I are going to have to have a serious talk!”

Liz stuck her tongue out and smiled. “Well, you didn’t come to rescue us, so we took matters into our own hands. You didn’t think we were just going to sit there and let them put cement on our feet and throw us overboard, did you? I mean… if we had to depend on you two…” Liz grinned and shook her head…

“You didn’t think we had to depend on you guys, did you?”

“Well…”

“Well, what? You think we can’t take care of ourselves?”

“Well…”

“Oh, really!”

“No… No… I know you can take care of yourselves. Why do you think we didn’t help you?”

Liz gasped.

Kyle grinned. “You’re digging your hole deeper, Michael. I was married… I know. Give it up. You can’t win.”

“It’s okay,” Liz said. “I’m just giving you guys a hard time because you didn’t show yourselves and we were… concerned… a little… not too much… just a little.”

“I’m touched,” Michael said.

“Well, don’t let it go to your head,” Liz said. “We may not come to save you the next time.”

“Save us!” Michael exclaimed, his mouth open.

Kyle laughed.

“Well, they did come looking for us, Michael. You’ve gotta give ‘em that! And they found us. It looks to me like nobody needed saving.”

“Just don’t worry us like that again,” Liz said.

“I thought you said you weren’t too worried…”

“I didn’t say I was worried, Michael. I just said don’t do it again.”

Michael smiled. “Thanks, Liz.”

“For what?”

“For coming to rescue us.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Did you, uh, talk to Tess about… you know… the reason we’re here, Liz?”

“Oh! …yeah, sort of… not completely…”

“Liz said you want me to go back with you or something?”

“Well, not exactly, Tess,” Michael said. “You can’t go back right now, but we need you to want to come back… Does that make any sense?”

Tess shook her head. “Why do you need me to want to come back if I can’t go back with you?”

“Liz? You answer that. You’re the one who went to the future and came back with that message. I don’t really understand it exactly myself.”

“Well… it’s what I was told,” Liz said. “Max said that we all need to be together for the life we had before to resume the exact course it was on before. If any one of us doesn’t want to return to that timeline, then we… that person… won’t… and the timeline will be different in ways that we can’t totally predict. It’s like this… if Tess isn’t there… then the work she did on the New Granolith wouldn’t have happened in any new timeline that doesn’t include her. And anything else she ever did or said there would be…” Liz waved her hands in a gesture that meant, “gone… poof.” “If Tess hadn’t helped us fix the ship it might have taken longer… or worse, we might not have escaped from Zwolinski’s squad.”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “Tess was the one who put a bubble around Zwolinski and the others to keep them from shooting at us anymore and give us the chance to try to save the ones he’d shot. I don’t want to think what the adjusted timeline would be like if she hadn’t been there then.”

“I did all that?” Tess asked, her cheeks flushing a rosy pink.

“Yeah,” Michael said. “You did… and a lot of stuff I can’t tell you.”

“Good or bad?”

Michael thought for a moment. He started to say, “In which timeline?” But he decided that would be unfair… not to mention confusing. The timeline he remembered from long ago was no more. In the timeline he hoped to return to, Tess was different… that was the Tess he knew now… or had known… before he screwed up that timeline.

“Good,” Michael said simply. “All good.”

“And I have to want to go there? What will happen to me if I don’t want to go?”

“You’ll continue to live your life… the one you’re living now… in this timeline,” Liz said. “Nothing will change for you because you didn’t go…”

“Maybe I want it to change,” Tess said. “Nobody needs me here. Well, no one but Kivar, but he’s not… you know…”

“Yeah,” Liz said, smiling.

“Are you going, Kyle?”

Kyle nodded. “I’m crazy, Tess, I know. It’s not like me… but when Dad was killed… well, they explained that in the timeline they knew, he didn’t get killed. He lived on Amstar…”

“Antar,” Michael corrected. “Get it right, Kyle. You lived there.”

“Yeah. Antar,” Kyle said. “It’s funny, but it’s starting to sound right to me… starting to grow on me… you know?”

“I came from there,” Tess said. “I don’t remember it… much, but it’s in my DNA, so I would be going home in a way. And I would be with friends… friends who actually need me… not just people I needed… to hide me. I want to go, Liz!”

Liz looked at Michael and smiled.

“That makes it a full house, Michael.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Well, technically, Jim never agreed to go, but I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t want to… under the circumstances.”

“Dad will be glad to be there,” Kyle said. “I’ll be there.”

“Good point,” Michael said. “So it’s a full house. What do we have to do now, Liz?”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Double Dreamin’

Chapter 34

XXXIV



In spite of what should have been a fairly important victory in his quest, Michael’s face appeared tired and sad, and Liz couldn’t help but notice.

“We’re half way there, Michael. Don’t give up now.”

“I’m not giving up, Liz. I don’t know what ‘give up’ means. I’m just… angry with myself…”

“For what?”

“For screwing up the whole frikkin’ time line in the first place. This whole thing is my fault. I had to go off searching for who I was… like some no-brained… airheaded… nincompoop.”

Liz looked at Michael’s tortured face and pursed her lips together tightly as though that would keep the words inside that she wanted so badly to say. It was killing her to keep secrets from Michael, but Liz was dependable… Dependable Liz! It seemed that whatever timeline she was in, Liz could be counted on to be… dependable. When she was still at Roswell High, in the other timeline, she had almost destroyed her relationship with Max. It had torn her apart emotionally… but future Max had told her that the world depended on her forcing Max away from her… so Liz set Max up to think she had slept with Kyle… Dependable. Liz would race into the fires of Hell for those she cared about and never look back… Dependable. Liz would tear her own heart out and walk on it if it would help Max or almost anyone else… but especially Max… Dependable. It wasn’t that she was stupid or even naïve. She knew the consequences… perhaps better than anyone. But Liz was, above and beyond all else, Liz… and “Liz” was dependable.

Wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye, Liz looked up and smiled.

“We’ll straighten everything out, Michael. It’s going to take some time, but we’ll get there. I’m not letting this go. I’ve got too much invested in it now.”

Michael smiled slightly but looked downward more than usual… “You wouldn’t even exist in this time, Liz… You would still be with Max… with your children… if it weren’t for me. None of you would be here in this time. It’s my fault. I have to accept that.”

“We’ll talk about that later, Michael. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t… you may not know all the facts.”

“I know the facts. I screwed it up for all of us.”

Liz shook her head slightly… “I need to go somewhere… I’ll find you again with the sphere when I know more.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, Liz.”

Liz bit down on her lower lip and summoned the portal. She stepped into it before saying her destination. She didn’t want Michael to know.



**********



As Max stood alone, staring out at the Golden Sea from the balcony of his palace, two hands wrapped themselves around his eyes. Max smiled, and his heart leapt. He reached up and took Liz’s hands gently in his then turned to face her.

“I’ve missed you, Liz.”

“I missed you, too, Max. God, you don’t know how I’ve missed you.”

Max looked deeply into Liz’s eyes, and his lips and hers drew inexorably closer together… then, softly, gently, their lips touched. Liz sighed deeply. She felt that Max was somehow draining all her cares… all her worries… all her pains away. Max felt it, too. Liz opened her lips and put one hand behind Max’s head, as she kissed him with all the passion that she had built up inside her… and Max returned her passion… with interest. Liz wrapped both arms around Max’s neck, pulling herself tighter into his embrace, and Max reached down and lifted her off the floor into his arms. For a few moments… Liz didn’t know how long… he held her there and time stopped. Liz tasted his lips and kisses, and Max tasted hers, drinking in each other’s essences like two drunks who couldn’t stop. Max carried Liz over to the bed and laid her down on it, then he lay down beside her.

“Do you want to check on Jeffy first, Liz?”

Liz smiled. “I already did. I stopped by the nursery before I came in here. I didn’t want to get interrupted once I got… you know… started on something. I know how hard it is to pull myself away from you.”

Max kissed her again, and Liz closed her eyes and smiled, savoring the touch she had missed.

“Mmmmmm… Max… What are you going to do if Michael straightens the timeline out and this future changes… you know… and… she comes back?”

“I’ll have two of you, I guess,” Max said matter-of-factly.

Liz gave him a playful push on the chest. “I don’t know, Max. I’m the jealous type. I really don’t think I could share you. Isn’t there a law against bigamy… on Antar?”

“I never checked.”

“You’d better hope your experts are all correct then and I do become one with my other self… other half… whatever she is… we are… when she comes back.”

“I became one with my other self,” Max said. “Michael did, too… and so did Kyle… when we returned from Earth the first time. We merged with our other selves. The Nogi-Ky’a said that you will, too. We were actually the same person as our counterparts in time… and you’re the same Liz… my Liz! You just grew up in a different time and place.”

“And if they’re wrong?”

Max looked at Liz, and a smile slowly covered his face. “Well, Liz, you’re the only girl I could never get enough of.”

Liz fell back on her pillow and smiled defeatedly. “You’re hopeless, Max. Be serious.”

“I am serious. There’s only one Liz Parker, and that’s my Liz Parker… Liz Parker Evans. I couldn’t imagine you with anyone else, Liz. Besides… I feel it. When we kiss… when we touch… It’s you. Even if you don’t have all her… all your memories yet… you’re you. I would know you anywhere, Liz… anywhere in the universe… or in time. We were meant to be… together.”

Liz rolled over and looked into Max’s eyes as she slowly traced an imaginary line down Max’s chest with a fingertip, stopping at his belt. “I hate keeping the whole truth from Michael, Max. He’s suffering a lot. He believes the whole time mess-up was his fault. I really wish I could tell him something.”

Max swallowed then shook his head. “The Nogi-Ky’a say it could affect the future. I don’t know how, but they’re experts on time matters. They probably know what they’re talking about. Did Michael find any more of the ones they said to look for?”

Liz nodded. “All of them. They all want to return.”

Max sat up suddenly. “All of them?”

Liz pushed him back down. “Uh huh.”

“Then… we have to talk with the Nogi-Ky’a… see what we can do next,” Max said. He looked at Liz, and Liz tossed the belt in her hands onto a chair beside the bed… along with her neatly folded blouse.

“I know how you feel, Liz… seeing Michael’s face… I wish we could tell him it wasn’t his fault, too… that the Nogi-Ky’a did it and they’re trying to correct their mistake. I just don’t want to ruin our chances.”

Liz nodded. “I know. Me either.” She carefully folded Max’s pants and laid them on the chair with her blouse. Max smiled. “I would’ve just tossed ‘em on the floor.”

Liz wrinkled her nose slightly and smiled back at him. “Good thing they were in my hands then, huh?”

“I guess. We can go see the Nogi-Ky’a right away… talk to them… whenever you’re ready, Liz…”

Liz reached over and turned out the light, and for a moment, there was silence in the darkness.

Then Max spoke…

“Oh! But I guess it can wait.”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



If You’re Him and He’s You… Who Am I

Chapter 35

XXXV



Max looked Durj’ori in the eyes…

“Durj’ori, we need answers… straight answers. Michael found everyone you said needed to be found… Alex, Liz, Tess, Kyle… What are our chances now of this timeline returning to its rightful path?”

“Not Michael,” the Nogi-K’ya said. “Rath.”

“What do you mean,” Liz asked.

“I mean that Michael doesn’t exist anymore. At least his body doesn’t. When the timeline changed, two things changed for him: Rath was never killed… and Michael was never born.”

“So that is Rath I met on Earth?”

Durj’ori nodded.

“But…” Liz shook her head. “From all that I’ve heard, Rath was warlike… angry. And besides, he remembers all the people from Roswell! Rath wouldn’t know them!”

Durj’ori thought a moment. “It is possible that Rath received Michael’s consciousness when Michael ceased to exist. They are the same person… essentially, you know.”

“But… why isn’t he acting like Rath?”

“Michael’s consciousness may have pushed Rath’s consciousness into the background. But I assure you, it is Rath. The body is. The mind is, too. At least, Rath’s mind is there. I believe it is probable that Rath could not cope with having two streams of consciousness active at the same time, one that he was unfamiliar with… so Michael’s consciousness became dominant. But that is not to say that he is Michael… or that he is not.”

“Thanks for being so specific,” Liz mumbled. “Now I’m really confused.”

“Well, it is a fact that the Michael that existed in the timeline he is trying to bring back does not exist at this time. He was never born. It is equally certain that Rath does exist and that Rath is the one you have been in contact with on your planet. The fact that Rath may have two streams of consciousness in his mind –his and the one that was Michael’s- does not alter these facts. Rath has allowed the stream of consciousness that once was Michael to dominate… for the time being. That could change… especially if he becomes aware of the fact that his own stream of consciousness is being suppressed. Right now, it would appear that he believes he is Michael and has allowed that stream of consciousness to dominate. He is undoubtedly unaware that he is doing this.”

“I studied about split personalities and multiple personalities in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences,” Liz said. “But this is still hard to accept.”

“Michael’s stream of consciousness could cease to exist completely,” Durj’ori said, “if Rath’s consciousness does awaken. It is an aberration that it even exists. There was no Michael in your timeline; therefore, Michael cannot exist. His consciousness must have been overpoweringly strong to survive. Even so, it will only be able to survive so long as Rath does not… or cannot… push it out.”

“What about me,” Max asked. “Am I Max… or Zan?”

The Nogi-K’ya looked at him and nodded. “You are Max. Rath changed the timeline for you when he found Liz and she found out that she could use the spheres. Liz’s coming here to this future created this timeline that you are in. It’s like a bubble… one small bubble… in a huge frothing cauldron full of bubbles. That is why we forbid the Nogi-K’ya to alter time until all the possible ramifications and effects have been studied and determined… and that process can take hundreds of your years.”

“I’m beginning to see why,” Liz said.

“If Michael was never born…” Max said, “How is it that I was born in Liz’s altered future?”

“Do you want the short two-week explanation or the complete, seventy-year explanation?”

Max started to speak then decided not to.

“Never mind. I probably wouldn’t understand it anyway. I’d hate for you to spend seventy years explaining it and then have to ask you to repeat it.”

Durj’ori smiled. “Why? That happens in our councils all the time.”

Max and Liz looked at each other, their eyes wide.

“But what you should know now,” Durj’ori said, “Is that there is a significant danger to you… to your very existence.”

“What danger,” Max asked.

“We aren’t sure. It may take longer than your lifetime for us to find out. But we have seen it’s effects.”

“What effects,” Liz asked.

“Extermination…” Durj’ori said. “the complete elimination of all life… all living beings… all living things… on Antar.”

Max paled visibly. “When?”

“We don’t know. We believe that it will happen soon. We probably do not have enough time to find out when it will happen exactly before it happens. But it will happen. Unless you can discover what will cause it and prevent it from happening before it happens, Antar will be a dead planet in the timeline you are attempting to bring back.”

“I need to go to Earth with Liz and tell Rath,” Max said.

“No! You must not!” Durj’ori said emphatically. “You do not exist in that time! We do not know…”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. You’d need about three hundred years to determine all the ramifications and effects.”

“Well… maybe only a hundred and fifty in this case.”

“It might as well be three hundred,” Max said dejectedly. “What do you expect me to be able to do then?”

“Liz must return and warn Rath so that he can watch… and you must be wary of anything in this time… this bubble… that might cause disaster.”

“I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”

“Nor do we,” Durj’ori said. “Nor do we. Good luck, my friends.”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Staring Danger In The Face

Chapter 36

XXXVI



Liz walked out of the portal, catching Michael… or Rath, as the case might be… by surprise.

“Wha! Liz? Geez! Don’t you ever knock? I mean… God, Liz!”

Rath quickly turned around and zipped up his fly.

“This is the frikkin’ men’s room, Liz! You can’t just pop in here!”

“Sorry,” Liz said, turning red. “I didn’t know… I just asked the portal to take me to you.”

“Yeah well… it did. It could be worse, I guess. You need to be really specific with that sphere. I think it gets a kick out of embarrassing me.”

“It just did what I told it to, Michael… I mean… well…”

“It could have deposited you outside the men’s room door, Liz. It knows what it’s doing.”

“Don’t be silly, Michael. It’s just a dumb… machine… of a sophisticated sort.”

“Not so dumb, Liz. Believe me. It wants us to believe that.”

“You’re getting paranoid, Michael.”

“Well, for good reasons. Has it ever dumped you in the water?”

“No.”

“Well, it has me.”

“I think it might have done it to my counterpart… in the other timeline,” Liz said, remembering something Max had told her.

“Oh… yeah, well. See? There you are!”

“You just have to be specific, Michael.”

“Well, you are specifically in the men’s room, Liz!”

Liz blushed again. Another restaurant patron walked in, took a quick look at Liz, and turned around and walked back out.

“Let’s get out of here, Liz.”

“Don’t you have to finish… something… you know?”

“No! Out!”

Liz grinned and turned and walked out the door. Rath followed her out.

“You can go in,” Rath said to the other patron, who was standing at the door dancing nervously. “My brother’s a… kind of a drag queen. I’m getting him help.”

The man nodded and hurried into the restroom.

After paying the bill, Rath left the restaurant and walked down the sidewalk toward the east side of town with Liz beside him.

“So did you find out anything new, Liz?”

Liz thought a moment and considered what she should tell him.

“It’s coming along according to plan, Ra… Michael. But it’s far from a done thing. And there is some kind of danger ahead for us.”

“Danger? What kind of danger?”

“I don’t know. No one did.”

“Well, that’s not much help. What am I supposed to do about it if I don’t even know what it is?”

“I don’t know, Michael. Just keep your eyes open, I guess.”

Michael nodded. “Well, while you’ve been gone, I have made some progress.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“What? You going to tell me?”

“You know, we never had caught the ones who killed the sheriff.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Well, we caught ‘em?”

Liz stopped and looked at Rath. “You caught them? Who were they?”

“A shapeshifter and a couple of Antarian followers of Kivar’s.”

“What did you do with them?”

“Zwolinski’s got them.”

Liz stopped again and looked at Rath with disbelief.

“You turned them over to Zwolinski?”

“Well, not exactly. He was the reason we were able to track them down. Seems Zwolinski decided that helping some aliens in order to get the ones who killed his family was a reasonable trade-off.”

“And you trust him?”

Rath shook his head. “Not on your life. But he seems to be on the level. He was responsible for finding out who did it and flushing them out. I’ve got to give it to him… the man is resourceful.”

“Yeah, I know,” Liz agreed. “And that scares me all the more.”

“I’m keeping an eye on him, Liz… and watching my back.”

“He hasn’t tried to double-cross you… or kill you?”

“Nope. It’s all been on the up and up. I was able to use my powers to help him bring the killers down, but the collar was pretty much all his. That’s why he got the suspects.”

“Suspects, Rath. That word implies uncertainty.”

“No, they’re the ones, Liz. They tried to kill us… and they confessed to killing Valenti.”

“The way Zwolinski gets confessions?”

“No. They were proud of it. They admitted it. The shapeshifter was also involved in the killing of Zwolinski’s family when he was little.”

“Did he say why they did it?”

“No. Zwolinski’s working on getting that information.”

Liz shuddered involuntarily. “Well, I guess they deserve it… but I still don’t know if I like it, Michael.”

Liz continued to call Rath Michael, remembering that the Nogi-Ky’a had said that if Rath became aware of who he was and tried to push Michael’s consciousness out, Michael could cease to exist.

“Zwolinski’s actually a pretty nice guy, Liz… after you get to know him.”

“That scares me even more, Michael!”

“Well, he understands that the shapeshifters and Kivar’s followers aren’t all of the Antarians. He just wants the ones responsible.”

“I still don’t trust him.”

“That’s what Topolsky said. You girls have to learn to let go of the past, Liz.”

“I can let go… I just don’t forget lessons learned.”

“Forgiveness is a sign of intelligence, Liz.”

“Well, scientifically, Michael, women use more of their brains than men do.”

“They need the extra brain space to remember all the things we did years after we did them.”

“I’m noting things to remember now, Michael.”

“I’m shutting up.”

“Good,” Liz said, casting Rath a satisfied but menacing smile.

“What’s Zwolinski going to do to the… suspects?”

“I don’t know, Liz. I really don’t care much. They killed Valenti and a whole family… and who knows who else. And they wanted to kill the royal family and create a dictatorship on Antar.”

“Isn’t that what a king is, Michael?”

“No! A king is… a king. A dictator is something else.”

“Oh.”

“What if Kivar called himself the king?”

“He can’t be the king. He isn’t descended from the line. And he’s a dictator.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot.”

Rath opened the door to Zwolinski’s downtown office and motioned Liz in.

“I never thought I’d walk in here willingly, Michael.”

“Is this Liz,” Zwolinski asked, smiling. He rushed over and held out his hand to her. Liz pulled back involuntarily but then allowed him to take her hand.

“I understand if you don’t trust me,” Zwolinski said, “but hopefully, I can earn your trust. Michael and I have been working together, and the partnership has been very productive. I don’t hold any grudges against other… non-humans, Liz. I just wanted to get the ones responsible for causing mayhem on our planet… the ones that killed my family… I’ve done that now.”

Liz nodded. “Where are they?”

“At my lab… on the base. It’s the only secure place where we could keep them away from civilians that they might hurt.”

“Did you find out yet why they were interested in your family all those years ago?”

Zwolinski’s smile disappeared momentarily but then returned. “No… not yet. But I’m working on it.”

Liz winced. She had an idea what “working on it” meant to Zwolinski.

Rath patted Liz on the arm. “I just wanted to bring you here, Liz, so you could meet Zwolinski… and you know… see what we’re doing.”

Liz nodded but said nothing.

“We’ve got to go,” Rath said to Zwolinski. “We’ve got other things to do.”

“Well, keep in touch, Michael. We need to work more together.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Rath said. He opened the door, and Liz walked out. Rath followed her. As they left, a humvee drove up, and a special ops agent got out and went into Zwolinski’s office. Zwolinski hurried to get the agent a chair.

“Don’t bother, Zwolinski. I don’t have time. I just came to give you a message.”

“The one I’ve been waiting for?”

The agent nodded.

Zwolinski smiled, and his eyes sparkled. “Where is it?”

The agent took a small vial out of his breast coat pocket and handed it to Zwolinski.

“Excellent! Excellent!” Zwolinski said, as he looked at the silvery, mercurious liquid with small, sparkling threads in it. “I’ve waited my whole life for this.”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



The Choice

Chapter 37

XXXVII



Rath and Liz walked along the main street in silence… the main street where the CrashDown still existed in this timeline… The CrashDown… owned by Maria Davis. “Michael” gazed forlornly at the café as they passed by but said nothing. Clearly, he missed Maria, and knowing that she was married in this timeline… to Brody Davis no less… wasn’t helping anything.

“Michael… what do you plan to do now?”

“I’m going back to Antar… maybe for a few days. Zan may be in his nineties, but he’s pretty sharp. I imagine he’s been working on the problem while I’ve been away.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t he?”

“Well, I can think of one reason, Michael. In the time you want to bring back, he doesn’t exist. He got killed. So did Ava.”

Rath stopped and considered Liz’s words.

“I don’t know why, but I never thought of that. Zan’s been so helpful… so has Ava. I just thought… I thought… I don’t know what I thought.”

“Well, his helping you, if he is helping you, can only mean extinction for him. Do you think he wants that?”

“No… well, I don’t know. I mean, no, he doesn’t want to stop existing, I’m sure. But he is trying to help me… isn’t he?”

Liz thought for a few moments. “Yeah, I got the impression he was sincere… Ava, too. I just don’t know why. When are you going back?”

‘Michael’ stopped and thought. “Well, there’s no time like the present. I guess you can get the sphere to take you back home. I guess you don’t need me.”

Liz smiled. She knew that Rath was right. She didn’t need him to “walk her home” or to defend her. Somehow, though, she appreciated that he had considered it.

“What are you gonna do first when you get there,” Liz asked, wondering how he would approach Zan now that he had considered Zan’s situation.

“Probably pee,” Rath said simply.

Liz laughed out loud in spite of herself and blushed slightly. “Sorry, Michael. I forgot all about you…”

“Portal,” Liz called. The doorway appeared.

“Your ride’s here, Michael,” she said with a smile.

“After you, Liz.”

Liz grinned. “Can it take us both at the same time?”

“To different places? I never tried it.”

Rath took Liz by the hand, and the two of them stepped into the portal together.

“Take me home,” Liz said… “No, on second thought, take me to Dad’s house.”

“Take me to the palace on Antar,” Rath said at the same time. The portal closed, and Rath and Liz were gone.




Liz stepped out of the portal and into the living room of Jeff and Nancy Parker’s home. Jeff shook his head as the portal disappeared behind her.

“Lizzie, I’m still working on mastering the computer. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that… whatever it is… and you popping in here like this through it.”

Liz hugged her Dad then her Mom, who had just entered the room.

“You love it, though, don’t you, Dad. Admit it.”

Jeff smiled then nodded. “I love it that you can stop by whenever you want to now. I just don’t understand that thing.”

“Nobody does, Dad.” Liz laughed.

On another plane of existence, “Michael” was stepping out of the portal. He looked around, but the surroundings did not look familiar. It definitely wasn’t the palace on Antar. In fact, he didn’t think it was even Antar. He started to say something, but the portal disappeared, leaving him there. Michael called for the portal to return. There was no reply… and no portal.

“Alright, get your bleeping little digital ass back here right now… or whatever kinda ass you’ve got…” Rath said, finally losing all patience. He waited a few more moments then looked around. It was a very… unusual place… wherever it was. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around. It looked like the windswept plains of Mars… only Mars didn’t have any rivers… at least he didn’t think it did anymore. This place had a river… and trees… here and there. It was something like an oasis in the desert.

“Where the crap did that little traitor leave me,” Rath wondered out loud.

“Here,” a voice said behind him. “That is enough for you to know… for now.”

Rath whirled around to face the source of the voice he had heard.

“Who… who are you? Where is ‘here?’”

The man gestured at their surroundings. “This is ‘here.’”

“’Here’ isn’t a place,” Rath said with some exasperation in his voice. “’Here’ is… is… a preposition… or something. I don’t remember. Doesn’t this place have a name?”

“What use does it have for a name,” the man asked. “It is what it is.”

Rath looked at the man, and slowly the recognition dawned on him.

“You… You’re that guy… the Drax guy… the Drax… ta-Kiya whatever. You’re the master of the river of time.”

The old man smiled. “No one is the master of the river of time, young man. It is its own master. One can alter it, just as one might shave the hair off of a pawgor. But it will still be a pawgor, and it will still eat you.”

Rath looked at the old man. His mind was somewhere between being fully Michael’s and being Rath’s. The words of the Drax-ta-Kiya meant little to him.

“You’re babbling. That didn’t make any sense at all. Why did the portal bring me here? And why won’t it respond to me now?”

“Perhaps because you needed to be here, Rath.”

“Michael,” Rath corrected.

“Suit yourself, but you are not Michael. Michael was never born.”

Rath thought about what the Drax–ta-Kiya said.

“I am Michael. I… I am… I know things… everything… I’m… I’m… Michael… I’m… Rath?”

“Yes. You are Rath… and Michael.”

“You’re crazy, old man,” Rath said. Make up your mind.”

“You have the memories… the aura… of Michael within you… along with your own aura.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t want to be Rath!”

“That is irrelevant.”

“I’m… Rath?”

The Drax-ta-Kiya nodded.

“Oh, shit.”

“Irrelevant,” the Drax-ta-Kiya said.

“If I’m Rath… where is Michael… me… my body… you know?”

“Never born,” the old man said plainly.

Rath stood there momentarily, trying to absorb this new information.

“But, how…?”

“Irrelevant,” the old man said again. “That you are what you are is all that matters.”

“Yeah, well, fine, but what is that? Who is that? You tell me I’m Rath, but I remember Michael… and… and maybe… Rath…”

“You see? You are Rath.”

“How is Michael able to be here… with me?”

“You allowed it… and Michael was strong.”

“I’m stronger! I can throw him out.”

“Then you admit that you are Rath?”

Rath thought about it. “Yes,” he said at end. “I am Rath.”

“Then throw Michael out… if that is what you wish to do.”

“I will,” Rath said.

“Well?”

“Well… give me time. Okay, what if I’m not ready to throw him out?”

“Why not? He’s taking over your body. You are Rath. Do you not want to control your own body… your own thoughts?”

“You know I do.”

“Then you must throw Michael out.”

“I… I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to. I don’t know why… but I don’t want to.”

“Who doesn’t want you to? You… or Michael?”

“Me… Michael… Both of us.”

“You can’t be both, Rath. You must choose. Will you give up your existence for Michael?”

“No! Of course not! I am Rath! I am me!”

“Then choose, Rath. Who will you be?”



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



The Choice, Part 2

Chapter 38

XXXVIII



Rath grimaced then yelled, like a man in pain.

“I can’t. I don’t want to change.”

“Change what, Rath?”

“Me. I want to exist… now.”

“Then you know what will happen.”

“Yes.”

“And Michael,” the Drax-ta-Kiya said, addressing Michael’s consciousness, “What is it that you want?”

“I want to exist… I want to bring back the time I lived in… Maria, my children, Max, Liz, and all the others.”

“Will you destroy Rath to bring back your time… your existence?”

“I… I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Because… I am Rath.”

“Are you not Michael? You went in search of who you are. What did you learn? Is Michael who you want to be? Or do you still want to be Rath?”

“I don’t want to be Rath. I never did.”

“Didn’t you?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Then why did you search for that part of you?”

Michael was silent for a time. Then he spoke hesitantly…

“I am Michael… and I am Rath. I don’t want to destroy Rath. I just want to be me. I had to know who is ‘me.’”

“And who is ‘you?’”

“Michael. I’m Michael.”

“Does Michael exist?”

“Michael exists in me.”

“In Rath’s body?”

Michael thought about it. “It’s me.”

“Then who was calling himself Rath? How does Michael exist if he was never born?”

“I’m supposed to be asking you the questions! You’re the master of time and all! Why are you asking me?”

“Because a future depends on your answers… on your choices.”

“I’m tired of making choices.”

“Are you tired of being Michael?”

“No. I didn’t say that.”

“But you sought out your past self. Why?”

“Curiosity.”

“Are you sure that’s all it was?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“That is the question. Why wouldn’t it be? What is the answer, Michael? Or is it Rath?”

Michael thought a moment. “It’s Michael. I don’t know how I exist if I wasn’t ever born… but I know it’s me.”

“Good. You are indeed Michael. And Rath?”

“Rath… Rath still exists… in his own time.”

“What time is that?”

“The past…”

“Then where are you?”

Michael looked around and thought about it a few moments…

“I must be in my own time.”

The Drax-ta-Kiya nodded. Michael looked at his surroundings. They did not appear to have changed.

“This place doesn’t change, Dad.”

Michael swung around. Kryys stood there, smiling.

“Kryys! Omigod, it’s so great to see you again! Where have you been,” Michael cried, not trying to hide his joy, hugging his son.

“Working on getting things back like they belonged, Dad… with the Drax-ta-Kiya.”

“I thought the Nogi-Ky’a were doing that. They seemed to think they caused the rift in time.”

“They did, Dad. And they were working on it. In about 183 years, they’ll figure it out. I didn’t think you wanted to wait that long.”

Michael laughed and brushed tears off his cheek.

“You’re right, Kryys. What are these? Tears? I thought we were… what do you call it? Incorporeal? Bodiless… here in this place.”

“We are. But we have our own forms here, of a sort… and tears… and joy.”

Michael hugged Kryys again, and the tears flowed silently down his face.

“Did I change time back just by making a choice,” Michael asked the Drax-ta-Kiya, as he held Kryys tightly to him.

“No. Kryys and I fixed it. You had to, how can I put it, open the door, that’s all.”

“So you fixed the timeline… I just couldn’t see it?”

“You had to open the door to go in, Michael. You had to come to terms with who you are… in your own time.”

Michael nodded. “I think I understand. I’ve always been repulsed by my ties to Rath, but at the same time, I’ve always been fascinated by them. I think… what I’ve learned is that…”

“Yes?” the Drax-ta-Kiya prodded.

“…that I was both repulsed and fascinated by my own past… all of it, not just Rath. That I was repulsed by my upbringing… with Hank, you know. I didn’t have real parents… just Hank. I wasn’t… normal. I was the outcast… the weird-o. But I became what I am… and I married Maria… and I have Kryys here… and the others.” Michael kissed Kryys on the cheek. “So I loved my life and rejected it at the same time. I loved what I had and didn’t want to lose it.”

“That’s pretty simplified,” the Drax-ta-Kiya nodded, “but that, basically, is the dilemma that you had created for yourself.”

“I understand. Hank wasn’t like a real parent, but I’m the one who created my own… dilemma or whatever. I’m not Hank. I’m me… and I’m Rath… in a sense. And I’ve come to terms with that now. It doesn’t repulse me. I understand Rath now.”

“Good. That is good. One must come to terms with themselves. That is always the way. For you, it was harder.”

“Can we go home, Kryys?”

Kryys smiled and took Michael by the hand. As he did, both dissolved into a swirling maelstrom of a billion brilliant atoms. Then they disappeared.

The Drax-ta-Kiya smiled then breathed in deeply with satisfaction. His sightless eyes seemed happy, as he, too, dissolved into a billion tiny fiery atoms then reappeared on his own balcony overlooking the beautiful Valley of Jeroglasst. The Drax-ta-Kiya let the breeze blow over his face, as he surveyed the valley below him with whatever sense he used. It wasn’t sight, as we know it. But he saw everything… everything. And he smiled.



tbc

The Four Faces of Rath



Homecoming

Chapter 39

XXXIX



A swirling stream of atoms poured into the country home of Michael and Maria Guerin. The atoms came through the ceiling and through the walls, as brilliant as a thousand candles, lighting the living room brighter than it had ever been lit. Then, the swirling molecules began to coalesce, some turning into Michael… others, his son, Kryys.

Michael looked around him at the familiar setting and smiled… then he hugged Kryys, who was now as solid as any normal little boy. At that moment, Maria walked into the living room…

“Well… the wandering husband has returned… and with our wayward child!”
Maria grinned. “Where have you two been? Dinner’s almost ready. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat a yorik, Mom,” Kryys said enthusiastically with a smile a mile wide.

“I think that goes for me, too,” Michael agreed. “For some reason, I’m starved!”

Hugging Maria to him, Michael kissed her passionately.

“Woah,” Maria gasped after she got her breath back. “Okay, you can go off once in a while, I guess… if you come back like this. You ready to eat?”

Kryys nodded with a smile.

Michael nodded, too. “Promise me, Maria, that you’ll never marry Brody Davis.”

Maria looked at Michael and raised her eyebrows. “Ooo-kay… I promise. What brought that on?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to be sure.”

“Well, I married you, space boy, and I don’t intend to let you go. And besides, you’re a handful enough for me. Anyway, you know Brody was just a… a friend. I’d never have married him!”

“We never know what might have been, Maria,” Michael said. “We never know.”

Maria shook her head and smiled, scrunching her brow in an amused sort of way. “No way. Come on, let’s eat.”

Michael nodded. “But first,” he said, heading for the bathroom, “I’ve been holding something for too long… and for two people, I think.”

Maria’s eyes followed him with an amused but slightly perplexed look. “You sure something didn’t happen to you while you were away, Michael?”

“Well, a lot happened, actually,” Michael yelled back from the bathroom. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime… or maybe you’ll remember.”

“Okay,” Maria said, “now that just sounds like something I should know about. Spill it cowboy. What about me? And why should I remember… and what is it that I should remember?”

“Well, I didn’t say you would,” Michael said, walking back into the dining room after a couple of minutes. “I just said you might.”

“Well, how ‘bout enlightening me a bit.”

“Sit down.”

“It’s that strange, huh?”

“Depends, I guess.”

“On what?”

“Whether you live in the Twilight Zone or not.” Michael softly intoned the opening strains from the old TV show, “Da, da, da, da… Da, da, da, da.”

Maria looked at Kryys. “Did you take your Dad into that Never Neverland or whatever it is you go to, Kryys… with the Drax guy?”

Kryys just smiled.

“Okay… how do I fit into this,” Maria asked, pouring Michael a cup of coffee and shoving a new bottle of Tabasco sauce toward him across the table. Michael took the lid off and poured several ounces into his coffee then added two teaspoons of sugar.

“Well, it’s kind of a long story,” Michael said, stirring his coffee-Tabasco mix.

“We’ve got a long time,” Maria said.

Michael smiled then leaned over and kissed Maria…

“Yeah! Yeah, we do, don’t we.”

His face seemed to light up, and Maria felt the happiness radiating outward from him almost palpably. It made Maria happy, too, and she leaned over and kissed Michael back.



**********



In the gardens den of the royal palace in CoruzAntar, Liz was sitting on Max’s lap with both arms around his neck as he went about trying to explain what he had to do in the afternoon… between occasional pauses for… sustenance. Max started to talk again, and Liz stopped him in mid-sentence with her lips on his. Max paused again and enjoyed the moment in spite of himself.

“Geez, Liz,” he said, coming up for air after a few moments, “what’s got you all revved up today?”

“What? Can’t I show my affection, Max?”

“Well, sure… I mean… you know I can’t get enough of it… of you. I’m not complaining, mind you. It’s just that I can barely get a word in. Don’t you want to hear what my plans are for the afternoon?”

“Maybe… after I’m finished…” Liz placed her lips on Max’s again, and Max surrendered with a smile.

“Ahem…”

Kyle stood in the entrance to the gardens den. Max looked over at him with one eye but continued to kiss Liz… or to enjoy her kiss.

“Ahem!”

“What is it, Kyle,” Max said at last, smiling somewhat like a child who had been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

“You have guests, Max. Michael and Maria.”

“Oh! Okay… well, send ‘em in, Kyle!”

Kyle nodded and grinned. He seemed to enjoy catching Max and Liz in their “playful” moments.

Liz jumped up to hug Maria as she came into the room with Michael.

“How’s it goin’ bro,” Max asked, slapping Michael’s hand playfully.

“Good. Good. No complaints, Max.”

“What you been up to, Michael? Anything new?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Yeah, well…” Michael looked at Liz, trying to ascertain whether this was the Liz he had been working with back on Earth to get them back to Antar in their own time or whether this Liz was the pure original and unaware of anything that had happened recently. Finding Liz sitting on Max’s lap involved in… heavy petting… was not particularly unusual. True, Michael didn’t see Liz on Max’s lap… she had already got up by the time he came in… but he knew. Something written all over their faces always told him. Maybe it was the smiles that still lingered on their faces like steam in a sauna.

Liz looked back at Michael and smiled. Was it a “knowing” smile or just a “glad to see you guys” smile. Michael couldn’t be sure.

“Max… do you have any… you know… unusual memories?”

“Well, I saw Carrot-top and Mister T sing Blue Moon and Yankee Doodle Dandy together in Central Park when I was in New York.”

Michael just looked at Max. “Not bizarre, Max… That would be bizarre. I just meant unusual.”

Max shook his head slowly and raised his eyebrows slightly. “Unusual… how?”

“Like, you know, memories from another lifetime or something.”

Max was silent for a moment. “Maybe you’d better tell me what it is I’m supposed to remember, Michael.”

Michael looked at Maria and she nodded.

“Well, Max, maybe you’d better be sitting down. It’s kind of a long story.”

Max nodded acceptingly. “Okay.” He sat down, and Liz sat beside him, cozying up to him. Michael looked at Liz’s eyes again.

“Does she know? What does she remember,” Michael wondered to himself. “She must remember something.” Liz smiled but said nothing. “Maybe she doesn’t remember…”

“So what were you going to tell us, Michael,” Max asked, bringing Michael back to reality.

“Oh! Yeah, well… you know, I was gone for a while…”

“Yeah… You went off to search for yourself. I see you’re here, so I guess you must have found yourself, huh?”

Michael looked at Max.

“Sorry, Michael. I’m just getting into this playful mood that Liz has been in, I think. What did you find out? We’d really like to know.”

Michael nodded, glancing again at Liz. He still couldn’t tell…

“Max, a lot happened after I left. Time got totally screwed up. I thought it was my fault, but it turned out to be some guys called Nogi-Ky’a that were responsible. They tried to fix it, but it was taking them too long, and Kryys and the Drax fixed it for them. That’s the short version.”

“I’d say so,” Max agreed. “Somehow I think there’s a lot more I haven’t heard.”

Michael nodded and began to tell Max about everything that had happened… everything that he remembered personally, that is. Liz’s life with Max in the future was an unknown to Michael. She never shared those details with him. Michael only knew that she had met Max in the future.

When Michael had finished, Max looked at Liz sitting beside him. “Do you remember anything, Liz?”

Liz smiled and looked fleetingly at Michael. “I remember some things, Max, but it’s more like a dream to me. I remember trying to get here… to you. I don’t quite remember all the details… And there was something else…”

“What,” Max asked.

“I don’t know,” Liz said, her smile fading and her face assuming a worried look. “It’s like there’s something I should remember… something… important. I just can’t remember what it is.”

Max nodded. “Well, maybe it’ll come back to you. Don’t worry about it.”

Liz shook her head. “It was important. How could I forget?”

“It was a different life, Liz,” Max said soothingly. “You can’t be expected to remember everything from a whole different life.”

“It was important,” Liz insisted, her face becoming somber. “I know I should remember… but…”

“Do you have any idea what she’s trying to remember, Michael,” Max asked.

Michael shook his head then sneezed suddenly.

“Gesundheit,” Maria said automatically.

“Are you okay,” Max asked.

“Yeah. Why shouldn’t I be?”

“Well, I don’t think I ever heard you sneeze before, Michael. Come to think of it, I’ve never heard any Antarian sneeze. We’re immune to colds and stuff.”

“Maybe you’ve got… dust or something, Max,” Michael said, but he knew that the palace was meticulously maintained. He’d have had a hard time finding any dust if he’d looked all day.

“Don’t worry about it, Max. It’s nothing, just a sneeze, a common sneeze. I just got back from Earth. Maybe in that different time I was in, the climate was different… or something.”

“Okay,” Max said. But he was clearly not convinced. “Maybe you ought to have an Antarian health maintenance scientist check you out anyway.”

“Give it a break, Max. It was just a sneeze. We don’t go the doctor here for check-ups.”

“No, but they are responsible for making sure that we stay healthy… as a world, you know.”

“If it’ll make you happy, I’ll tell Varec I sneezed next time I see him. When he says, “Yeah, so?” I’ll say, “I told you so,” Max. “You worry too much.”

“I’ve got a whole world to worry about,” Max said seriously.

“Yeah, okay,” Michael said with resignation. “I’ll have Varec check me out and certify me. You happy?”

Max nodded and smiled. “I think it’s a good idea. If it’s nothing, there’s nothing lost in getting checked.”

Michael nodded.

“Well, Max… Maria and I’d better go,” Michael said, looking at Liz cuddled up beside Max. Michael smiled. “I’ll let you two get back to… whatever it was you were doing.”

“Thanks, Michael,” Max said with a sheepish grin. “Don’t be strangers, okay?”

Michael nodded. Maria kissed Liz on the cheek, and the two of them left.

“Now, where were we,” Liz asked, turning to Max, her face regaining its joyful appearance.

“I was about to carry you up to the bedroom,” Max said.

“Ooh! Right!” Liz grinned. Max picked her up in his strong arms. Liz put her arms around Max’s neck and kissed him as he walked to the wide staircase and carried her up toward their night suite. Half way up, Max faltered then stopped momentarily.

“Why are we stopping, Max?”

“It’s nothing Liz.” Max took another few steps up the stairs then stopped again.

“What’s the matter, Max,” Liz asked, beginning to feel concerned.

Max shook his head. “I’ve got a headache, Liz.”

“Oh, that’s supposed to be my line, Max! You’re not getting out of this that easy,” Liz said playfully.

Max stepped backward, as if trying to keep his balance, then he collapsed, with Liz on top of him, on the stairs.

“Max! Max! What’s the matter? Kyle! KYLE! I NEED YOU!”

Kyle came running.

“Get a doctor, Kyle… or something. Get Varec! Max is…”

Kyle checked Max’s pulse, then without saying a word, he ran.



tbc