Roswell Fanatics

CHAPTER FORTY

Katain awoke with a start, rolling quickly to the floor from the couch, before even being fully awake. The trash can had hit the floor and now lay strewed on its side, contents spilling out over the floor. She stayed crouched down, not fully knowing what to expect. In the complete darkness, she plainly saw three shadows. The figure in front motioned silently to the two behind to check farther into the apartment.

Lucas! Someone's here. Three! She threw the thought out to him as hard as she had ever tried before, and to her great surprise he answered in thought! Bathroom.

She was on the floor crawling while struggling to stay quiet. She had no problem seeing in the dark, in fact she and Marshal had played many games with her gift when they were younger. But this...this wasn't a game. She made her way around and then behind the couch, which left her an opening to the hall into the bath.

At that moment a loud voice broke through the quiet. "Nothing back here," one of the men yelled. Nicholas stood very still sensing something, although he wasn't quite sure what. "The beds are empty," the voice continued. Nicholas reached around hitting the light switch on the wall. Whatever he was feeling, he needed to flush it out… now.

As the light brightened both the dining area and the living room, Katain jumped to her feet. In the space of the next few seconds, absolute chaos broke out in the small apartment. She yelled out, as she threw two glancing blows in his direction, sending him down and sliding across the floor, temporarily stunned and hurt.

Lucas was out of the bathroom just long enough to see the two men standing just inside the hall, backs toward him. He tapped one on the shoulder, and as the surprised soldier spun around, he was hit squarely with a barreling fist long before he had time to get his bearings.

Seeing the second man making his move to grab Lucas, Katain only nodded her head in his direction and sent a very controlled blast, hitting him squarely in the back and knocking him out to the floor. Quickly she turned around in time to dodge much of the same back from Nicholas, knocking over the sofa in her attempt to thwart the blow.

Lucas watched in complete utter amazement, not just at the battle proceeding in front of him, but of the intensity in which Katain fought. Her alien powers not withstanding, she also so obviously possessed a full range of kick boxing moves. Apparently, Lucas thought to himself, as he let her take center stage, there was much about Katain that he hadn't come to know yet.

The fury between the two continued on, with lamps shattering and holes ripping into the sheetrock around them. Several direct hits on Nicholas left the wind completely knocked out of him more than once. The last thing he had ever expected when he choose to come to this shitty little town, was that he'd run into anything with a power like this chick was bringing down on him. He may have just had the shit blasted out of him, but it didn't surprise him that he felt sexually excited by her show of strength.

He quickly checked the hallway for some support, only to find his two comrades still face down there. He shook his head and smiled, slowly raising both hands into the air. "Time!" he yelled out, somewhat reluctantly, as he hobbled out from cover. "Damn!" he said with surprise. "Besides being really hot… who the hell are you?"

"Your worst nightmare right now, little man," she answered breathlessly, as she still held a stance. "There's nothing here for you." Lucas looked around the room at the broken glass and debris, then looking at Nicholas and trying to catch his own breath, he asked, "Maybe you better tell us just who the hell you are and what you're doing here."

"I'm Nicholas Levieth. And you, you must be the father and mother," he nodded his head, wiping the large cut on his face and brushing the smoldering embers from his shirt. "Damn, and this was my best shirt too," he sounded like a ten year old, then continued, "I represent people who have a great interest in your daughters."

"No parentage here," Katain exclaimed. Lucas looked from the corner of his eye at her, and agreed shaking his head. Nicholas looked somewhat confused. It was then that Nicholas realized that they hadn't been surprised at all with his showing up here. He glanced over to the door and the trash spilled on the floor. In a matter of speaking he had been set up, he thought to himself. There was absolutely no element of surprise here, and for the life of him he couldn't grasp a reason why. No one else knew they were coming here.

He sighed. "They're not here are they?" he asked matter-of-factly. "...in Lovell?" he asked with impatience and an overall feeling that he had spent the last twenty four hours completely wasting his time. "Are they in this freak'n country? This galaxy?" His voice rose with every question. He tried to take a step forward and found that he couldn't move from the spot. His entire body felt horribly weighted down. His feet felt like part of the floor. His eyes met the piercing cold eyes of the tall brunette. "What's this?" he exclaimed, still waiting for the possibility that one of his team would arouse themselves from the floor. "Very nice trick… whoever you are. Are you with the federalists?"

"The federalists?" Lucas repeated, not understanding.

Nicholas was getting tired of this game, and he wasn't happy about being immobilized either. "Well, you're so obviously not human. So who are you two? It's okay, you can tell me. We might be on the same side." He smiled, thinking that at this point he'd be on any side they needed him to be. Short of the blonde psycho, he had never witnessed another woman with the power of this one.

"Same side?" she laughed. "That's a pretty big negative," Katain assured him. "We're here to protect the keys, and there are many of us," she lied so well, Lucas thought. "So I doubt we are supporting the same cause, Levieth."

Lucas felt much like a fish out of water, and he was very worried that the two on the floor would soon regain consciousness. Katain answered coldly without leaving the spot where she stood. "They're not dead. Not yet. Neither one is feeling too well right now. I think they need serious medical attention." She tossed an iron from the fireplace over to Lucas. "So, I suggest that you take your friends and go crawl back into the hole you came out of. We number many, Levieth, and we are all dutifully sworn to stop anyone from acquiring the children."

"Well, I'm impressed," Nicholas replied and then winked at her. He again tried to move his feet from the floor. To his surprise this time, he could.

Katain demanded, "Don't be stupid enough to confront any of us again, or you can be sure that you won't be fortunate enough to walk away the next time." Nicholas never took his eyes from her, as he made his way to the back hall. Spotting a vase filled with Irises on the table in the hall, he dumped the water over the two figures on the floor. Nicholas helped one of them as the other limped badly toward the front door. Nicholas lagged behind.

"Just one more thing, tell your superior that you will never have the keys, and if you insist, you will all die trying."

Nicholas frowned and turned back towards her. "Your name?"

"You needn't know my name, Levieth. But I'm sure you will remember my face, no?" she said with conviction. He nodded and closed the door behind him, and Katain collapsed into the only upright chair.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Monday morning came early for everyone at the Brown ranch. It was close to eight before anyone was awake and downstairs. Liz was sitting at the table with Maria, explaining all the events of the night before, and John was again on the phone with Serena for the third time since she had left the night before. They were at the half way mark on their trip back to Stanford University. He told her briefly of the problems with Tess, and how Larek had saved Liz's life. He left out the part about Tess actually seeing Emily. She'd only worry, and she already had enough to deal with. She assured him that she was fine... that everything was going perfectly.

"I'm meeting my mom for lunch today," Maria was saying. Liz looked at her questioningly, not believing what she'd heard.

"Maria, no. You can't. Tess could be anywhere in town right this minute and probably is." Michael came into the kitchen and overheard the conversation. "Are you crazy? Where've you been for the last three days, Maria?"

"That's my point Michael. I've been cooped up here... I need some air. Besides, I'm not alien. They don't want me," she said instinctively. Liz spoke up before Michael could get the words out of his mouth. "Maria, it has nothing to do with whether you're alien or human."

"Tess knows you on sight, and she'd just follow you back here. We can't have that happen as long as the girls are still here. Look, I know this has been hard on you... it's been hard on every single person in this house. But this is the way it has to be at least till after the funeral," Liz answered, feeling Maria's panic once again starting.

"Then what, Liz?" she asked dryly. "Where do we go then? Can we go back to Lovell?... I don't think so."

Michael moved in closer. "Nicholas is not going to stay in Lovell forever, Maria. He may be gone already. Given another thirty-six hours, we'll know much more than we do now. I should be hearing again from Larek very soon on the events at the pod chamber. They'll be making their move later today, I'm sure. Then we need to brace our feet and see where it all goes from there." He sucked in his breath and leaned to kiss her quickly on the head. "I need your cell."

At that moment another cell phone rang out in the house. Kal frowned as he stood pouring his first cup of coffee of the day, "Ahh the sweet sounds of technology," he said sarcastically.

Liz ran for the phone on the coffee table in the other room. "Hello?" There was a moment of silence on the other end, then a girl's voice asked, "Is Max there?" Liz, feeling that it was Ava, felt her stomach flip slightly. "I'll get him. Is this Ava?"

The brunette replied, "No. This is Katain Duncan. Who is this?" Katain's vision flashed instantly once again, the same one she had had when holding the statue back in the apartment earlier.

"This is Liz, Liz Evans," she answered. Liz remembered the girl's name as one of the Duncans that John and Max had told her about.

"Tell him that we've had a little company out here," the voice continued. Liz's face dropped. "Hold on, I'll get him."

The vision this time had been so strong that Katain felt her head begin to spin. She took several deep breaths. "It's her," she said calmly to Lucas. With an I told you so tone, she added. "It's the ghost." She held the phone outside the booth to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael was on the porch with Maria's cell, still waiting for an answer after the fifth ring. "Hello? Took? Yeah," he smiled. "It's me... finally. Look we've run into a problem out here. Liz's mother… well, she died a few days ago and things have been... well, let's just say I haven't had a chance to call you two to let you know anything. I'm really sorry."

He listened as the voice on the other end assured him that under the circumstances they understood. He let her finish before he went on. "Is everything… alright out there? Anything strange or different? Any news?"

"No everything is just as boring as ever," she explained. "Chandler's got us a drummer to fill in and he's doing alright. Not as good as you, Mike, but anything in a pinch, right? Listen, you take all the time you need. Don't worry."

"Listen, Took. I'm gonna go way out on a limb here. Ahh, I have a huge favor to ask of you and Charlie. There's something that I need some desperate help with. It's huge, Took. I wouldn't ordinarily ask something this big… but I have no one else to turn to. No one. It's... well, I'll be honest with you, it's a matter of life or death to two very cute, very young children. They need your help."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz found Max in the study with John. "It's one of the Duncan girls. She says they've had company."

Max took the phone. "Katain?" Max asked worried for the two strangers so far away.

"No, it's me, Lucas. Seems I owe you an apology, Max. Thought you were a nutcase, but you were right. Nicholas broke into the apartment around three this morning."

"Jesus, are you two alright?" Max asked, having experienced Nicholas's head tricks before.

"Oh yeah, a little banged up, but okay. Well actually Katain had complete control most of the time. I'd say he's been given a strong message. We told him that the girl's weren't in Lovell, and that there were many of us who were here to protect the keys... well, actually Katain said all that." He looked at her pacing back and forth outside the booth, still astonished at what he had witnessed six hours before. "Listen, Max. We've been discussing this and we've decided to hang here till tomorrow."

"That's probably a good idea. Maybe you two should find a motel or something. There's a nice rooming house on the opposite end of the park from our place," Max suggested. "Just in case they decide to come back and catch you off guard this time. Although knowing Nicholas the way I do, it's a good bet that he's already making plans to get lost in the wilds of North Carolina somewhere rather than return to Jared."

"Not sure right now just where we'll stay tonight. Can I talk to my wife?" his anxiousness rang clear in his voice. Max turned to see Kal and Nicole standing in the doorway, her face blushing scarlet. Max held out the phone with a smile, "It's for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General Prost was on his way upstairs. Way upstairs, he laughed to himself. It had been requested that he meet with the Brigadier General. This was the top, he reminded himself. Every order on the Aquarius Project that he had received over the past thirty-five years had been from the Brig's office. He had just that morning finished filing his confidential report on Eagle Rock, and he was assuming at this point, that this was a follow-up meeting to that report.

He had gathered so much incredible classified information in all his years with the project. He had even been allowed, just once when he first arrived, to see the prized possessions of Yucca flats. It had been rumored through the past years inside the installation that there were now three, the last one being acquired in conjunction with the Chechnya find in 1954, back when Russia was still Russia, he thought to himself.

He himself knew of only two extraterrestrial aircraft that were housed down almost three quarters of a mile deep in catacombs of the mountain. To his knowledge there had been quite a few visitors to this world over just his own tenure with the organization, and that didn't count those who came before. Several had been captured in the beginning by overzealous notoriety seekers feeling they were doing something so necessary for their country in the name of the United States Government. Alex Madison had fallen into that category. Quickly in the beginning, the AFOSI began to understand the huge implications of messing wildly with another species, and so had done their best to covertly handle the dangerous situations that had cropped up from time to time over the last sixty years.

He still sometimes found it hard to believe. But the truth was... they were here. As they were all to later find out, they had been here for a very, very long time. Over generations they safely and securely, and some with no conscious memory of their identity at all, had integrated into the population at large. No one knew the exact figure, but there were on record, six generations of three families. He remembered the very day that he had first learned the truth. It had been the most incredible day of his then twenty-seven years of life. The entire world took on new meaning. The universe became an awe-inspiring frontier to him. A frontier of endless minute possibilities. The people involved in the Aquarius Project over the years, shared a very special secret, very special indeed.

He also knew that something else had been brewing for a while now. There was an even greater excitement in the air. It had started ten years before, just at the same time that the lid was clamped down tightly on the entire situation. He was praying that he might get a few hints from this meeting today into the bigger overall picture at this point. Everyone who worked at Yucca Flats knew there was something else going on, but stories and rumors fly easily in a place like this. And sometimes the truths here are crazier than the rumors.

Of course, the whole experience had been nothing but huge gigantic pluses for the US government, most especially the military. What the scientists learned truly boggled the mind. There had been all the technology and research and development. Such an incredible amount of scientific information, it was difficult to fathom. Things that the average Joe Citizen, at this point almost sixty years later, had already now begun to take for granted.

Of course the reverse engineering people had always had their work cut out for them, but scuttlebutt had it that that last disc found was almost ninety percent intact upon recovery. Of course, he personally had no confirmation of this. He himself had assumed that if it were anywhere in this country, it would be right here in this installation. If it wasn't here, along with the other two, he didn't know why.

This organization's inner workings had demanded the greatest of patience for many decades, and patience was a trait that Prost was very happy to have acquired himself in his years here. The anti-gravity studies, the magnetic alloy studies, quantum propulsion, atomic reactors, stealth technology, electromagnetic fields, heat shielded satellites, the fascinating glasslike lens of the Hubble spacecraft, codes, particularly the hex-decimal code, even an ingenious little thing like Velcro, he laughed to himself... the list went on and on. He also knew that there were few of the Aquarius team members, both old or new, who were privy to the really high-class material.

He himself had kept an exemplary record with Yucca, many years of dedicated service. He'd worked on many a project within the system. Projects far above the capacity of most human imagination.

The NSA headed up the special divisions such as Aquarius, as well as the most recent Manzano Project, with the full backing of the AFOSI. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations had been started back in the late '50's, and behind closed doors it had continued on, operating for the last fifty-three years. In 1990, the AFOSI found itself in the middle of a coming quagmire, which was growing fast. It was to be called the Freedom of Information Act. It was at that point that the operation went underground, quickly and completely, both philosophically as well as literally.

The elevator stopped on the third floor. High Security Clearance the sign read as he stepped off into the corridor. The armed guard at the elevator exit asked for his credentials, which he quickly took from his wallet. He was then given a badge with a 4 in large red print, and directed five doors down on the right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE


Before the call with Lucas had ended, John had taken his chance to talk to him. Lucas had again explained the events of the early morning hours. Kal stood catching the entire conversation through John. Then Kal had asked to speak to Katain.

Both John and Kal had been sure only to explain the important pertinent facts of the day. They didn't see any point in going over anything else over the phone. It had been agreed by the end of the conversation, that Lucas and Katain would stay in Lovell for the next twenty-four hours. Kal had explained, once Katain had been put on the line, that if there were to be repercussions there because of the failure in the search for Sierra and Emily, it would happen soon or not at all. According to the text message that Larek had managed to send out the night before, before his discovery of Liz in the desert, Jared didn't have much time left here. The wormhole was growing more and more unstable as the hours ticked by. It had been explained to the team heading to Roswell upon leaving camp that they had only a thirty-six hour window in which to acquire the granolith and the keys and return to camp, or be stranded here indefinitely.

By John's calculations using Larek's figures, that only gave Jared until approximately four o’clock the following afternoon, give or take a few hours, to return back through the wormhole to Adia, whether it be empty handed or not. Of course the only thing that they themselves here could do was to make sure that until that time, the girl's stayed safe and within eye sight, and to hope that Serena's trip was progressing unhindered and as planned.

Understandably, after the phone call, Nicole had a much stronger attitude about everything that was going on. She had no doubt now that Lucas was alive and well, even if not presently close by. It had been so good to talk to him after all the time that had passed. It had been the longest six months of her life, and certainly her hopeful mood was now rubbing off onto the girls as well.

Michael had called a strategy meeting. Max, Liz, and Kal joined him and John in the study following breakfast. "We have a place to send the girl's, if that's the way we decide to go," Michael stated. "I talked to them this morning. They have no problem with any of it. I have no doubt that they'll be safe there. I did however tell Took that we would compensate them for all their trouble. It's only fair, and if I have to duplicate the money myself, I will," he forced a frown. "They'll be waiting to hear from us as to the flight number and airline." Kal nodded his head in full agreement.

Liz looked stunned, looking from Michael to Kal. "No, we can't just send them off like that! Michael, I know that you trust Charlie and Took, but why would we have to do that? I don't understand. Why can't they just stay with us? And how is Nicole supposed to deal with all this? You can't possibly ask her to choose between her daughters and her husband. These kids have been shuttled around enough!"

Max was torn about the decision as well. "I just don't trust letting them out of our sight. If they are our responsibility, why would we be sending them away? How can we keep them safe from so far away?

John stood up and moved to stand behind Michael's chair. "Because, after final respects are paid to Liz's Mom tomorrow morning, we've decided that Sierra and Emily should be a bit of a distance from all of the major players in this production … the one that apparently is on the coming horizon." John shook his head, as if wishing there were another way, but they had already covered every possible scenario for hours upon hours during the night. He turned around as he stopped pacing, facing both Liz and Max. "Kal and I have been sharing the same dreams for the last three nights, ever since you kids arrived here Friday night."

"Even Nicole's dream is pertinent in this," Michael interjected. "She said she had several where Larek was present. Nicole had never had the pleasure of meeting Larek before Saturday night, there's no way she should have recognized him."

Max remembered their conversation about Nicole's dreams involving Larek and Lucas. "What's happening in your dreams, John?" Max asked, his level of curiosity now rising.

"It's a gathering. Maybe fifteen or so people. Men and women. There's a familiarity with all those there...others besides us here," John motioned around the room. "And then the dream changes direction rapidly. It's a scene from space, the very last thing we saw as we left Antar. A beautiful world, slowing growing smaller and smaller fading away from us, but still with an aura of hope there," he paused. "That was what this trip was all about...it was about hope," the corners of his mouth curved upwards ever so slightly.

"The dream goes on," he cleared his throat and both Liz and Max had no doubt of the emotion that he was feeling in the retelling, and they could not stop themselves from feeling it as well. "That beautiful world was just hanging there in space. The place of my birth..." he added and looked around the room, "...and Zan's, Rath's and Lan's... " He stopped getting back to the details of the dream. “One minute it was there the next it was gone. All then horribly destroyed in the most fiery cataclysmic explosion that I have ever...ever witnessed." The sweat was beading up on John's forehead, as he continued with his memory of the dream. "Nothing but dust and mere specks of a civilization floating out into the surrounding cosmos."

Kal looked up from the floor and picked up from there. "The dream then showed us Adia, as it is today. The gray sadness of Castle Leoch." He glanced over at Liz and saw the lost look in her eyes as she heard his words and envisioned the same scene. "People starving to death and being butchered right in their own streets. Countrymen and women being hung in the courtyard of the palace for simply continuing to believe in hope. The colors of the flag of Eos flying high above the turret there now." Max sees in Kal's eyes all the painful echoes of the dream. "Then the crystal clarity turns to hazy wonder, and we are now shown Trinity in all its splendor. At first still untouched by Jared's iron fist, yet suffering just the same. Adia, under Jared's rule, has placed all sanctions against Trinity at present. The federalists...what few remain of the hundreds of thousands before Antar was destroyed and those driven from Adia most recently, have taken cover in the mountains there."

Kal was now looking out the grand picture window of the study, out onto the landscape. "Picture that all of this," he motioned out the glass, "all of it, and everything else encompassing this world all around our little personal corner of it... picture it suddenly and rapidly gone... being taken away forever...for good, destroyed to the point of nonexistence. That's what your people of Trinity are facing. The great evil within, finally consuming everything in its sight. It has been coming for decades. It has been prophesized for centuries."

Michael's fingers were interlocked and placed over his eyes, but he was seeing it all clearly just the same, just as he had the night before when he had heard it for the first time. Memories of Antar and Adia were now so very fresh in the minds of them all. Liz held Max's hand so tightly, as they listened to the story of the end of the world...but plural this time. Worlds, she thought, worlds that once belonged to them. All a part of a home so far away. Her mind wandered back to the Max of the future, and how he had once come here pleading with her to help him, to help him to save his world. Catching her thoughts, Max brought her hand to his mouth, kissing it gently, as the sound of John and Kal's voice lead them once again through their own visions of the dream.

John began again quietly. "In the last scene of the dream, the incredible flowers that cover the meadows of Trinity have turned scarlet against a pale violet sky, and the mountain streams run tinged with pink, from the blood of those who have lost the battle for freedom. In a matter of seconds the planet is engulfed with flame and implodes within itself, creating a massive black hole. The sky, which had held four shining lights of life, now holds but two. Eos and a near lifeless Adia."

The room was quiet, as John finished. Everyone sat in the silence of their own memories and their own fears. Liz bit down on her bottom lip, as she turned to Max. They shared only a very few short seconds in each other's eyes, but more was not needed. Max stood then, and with one hand helped to pull her to her feet. She limped ever so slightly still as she walked slowly toward John, a single tear escaped her eye. Reaching his side, he looked down into her face.

"I will not cry," she says as she stands steadfast in his gaze. "You have brought us here. We owe our lives to you. You gave us life, a life in exchange for hope. And I will be forever grateful for everything that you've both done for us." Her eyes cleared and smiled at him. "I'm ready to fulfill my destiny. Whatever it is, whatever it means," she looked over her shoulder at Max and Michael, then back at the two men standing before her. "We all are."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Charlie, he sounded so desperate. He needs our help," Took explained. "He says one child was already killed for god sake! There's a branch of the government...a secret branch that studies paranormal activity and they've been hunting them down like animals for the last two years."

"I don't know, Babe. This all sounds pretty deep to me. Are you sure Mike was telling you everything about all of this? I mean, I can understand Uncle Sam doin' this, they did it all the time when my dad was my age, back in the '60s and '70s, and then again when we protested a few years back. I know there's tons of secret agencies spying on all the little people out here, but I can't help but wonder, how does this have anything to do with Mike?"

"He said it's his two nieces, Charlie. His sister's kids. No wonder he's frantic. He told me that they've gotten pretty close to really harming these kids just a few days ago...we have to help them if we can." He knew by the look in her eyes that there was no arguing the point with her. Charlie shook his head. "Damn government...still up to the same old shit!"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


They had checked into a motel just on the edge of town. "One room will be fine, as long as you mind your manners," Katain said with a chuckle. It had been one of only a few times that Lucas could remember seeing her laugh. As beautiful as she was normally with her stoic facade, he saw that when she smiled it took all the edges off her face, and she was very attractive in a much softer way. Of course, the smile hadn't lasted long enough for him to even consider mentioning it to her. "Where did you learn to fight like that," he asked as he lay across one of the twin beds.

She looked at him surprised by the question. "Fight like what? It's just who I've always been. Marshal and I always tested each other while we were growing up. So I guess the answer to your question would be... lot's of practice." She smiled again. "You...you need to concentrate on your gifts. I know they’re in there." She pointed to his head, in a mocking way. She unzipped her duffle bag, removing a few articles of clothing. "I'm taking a shower. Lock and bolt the door, Lucas. Draw the curtain too."

He opened his eyes and reluctantly pulled himself again to a sitting position on the bed. "Aye, Aye, sir." She disappeared into the bathroom, grabbing a towel off the dresser.

Lucas locked and bolted the door, then looked out into the parking lot. "This place does a pretty good business for being a small town," he said out loud at the cars in the parking lot, as the shower began to run in the other room. He pulled the curtains closed and clicked on the bedside light. He felt really good about talking to Nicole. God, he had missed her so much. He couldn't wait to see her, and the girls' both sounded so grown up on the phone. For six months he had remembered them as only babies, he'd see them soon, he had promised them and no matter what, he intended to have his family together again. He considered calling Ava, but thought it best to wait until Katain was out of the shower in case she had anything to say to her brother or sister.

It had been so good to see Jonathan again, too. So many years had passed since he had left the family back when they were all still at the estate in France. Jonathan had always been so much older than his years, even when he was quite young. He remembered his big brother telling him that he had learned a lot while staying with the Duncans. He was sorry that he had left so quickly after their arrival, not having much time to talk to him, to fill in all the gaps of the last ten years. Well, he thought, there'd be plenty of time for that once they were all back home again.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Look, Eagle Rock is closed and without a doubt, this is the very good news," Liz stated, sitting on the desktop, still with the others in the study. Maria and Nicole had now joined the group as well. "It would seem that whoever Madison had been working for… for whatever reason, these people are not willing to continue backing any of it financially anymore. I don't pretend to understand all the reasons why this has happened and especially now, only that apparently he's gone and the facility is abandoned...again. Although I have to admit, the presence of Air Force helicopters has me a bit worried. There was one just last night flying low over the highway out there." She shifted her position. "The other good news is that hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow, Jared and all of his little friends will be gone back home. But, they'll only be gone temporarily. We know that going back without the prizes that he came for is not going to bide well with Jared and certainly not with any of his supporters back on Adia or even Eos," she moved from the desk to the couch. "There's nothing for us to do right now. We're pretty much waiting to find out whether Vilondra compromised the security of the ranch."

Max's stomach flipped at the mention of his sister's name, and for a second he felt nauseous. Without saying a word Liz sat back and leaned against him, letting him know that she was there and that she understood.

Kal continued on, "Depending on what we hear from Larek later today, we have decided that it's imperative for the Landaus and the Duncans to meet with us all here...here at the ranch. That would also include the members of their families back in Dakota." He paused, looking around the room. "Any objections?" Nicole looked surprised, but there was no other response. "Hey, what better place for you all to ...meet the family," Kal said with an engaging grin.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Brigadier General Webb and two other uniformed men sat in the nicely furnished office. Prost could tell right away that they were both Major Generals. Yes, he thought to himself, it was the brass of the brass.

"General Prost, good of you to come so punctually. This is Major Generals Fannel and Schmidt." Prost saluted both. "No need for ceremony here," Webb said quickly. He then shook hands with the two men and took a seat. "Major Fannel will be joining us for the meeting. Major Schmidt has business to attend to elsewhere." He turned to face the middle-aged man who was already rising to his feet. "I'll be waiting for a full report from you." The officer nodded and left the room.

For the next fifteen minutes the three officers discussed the report that Prost had submitted on Eagle Rock. It was obvious that both men were very pleased. "Have there been any new developments from Alex Madison, Sir?"

"Oh, Mr. Madison has told us pretty much everything we needed to know, and then some," he smiled first, and then actually laughed. "We're very proud of the fine and speedy work that you accomplished out in Roswell, Prost. You've done excellent work here at Aquarius, very much so, indeed. And it's for that very reason that Major General Fannel here, and I have agreed that you need to be pulled a bit further into things at this point."

Prost was nodding his head as the excitement grew inside him. "Anything, Sir. I'll do my best."

The General opened the top file of three on his desk. "I know that it probably comes as no surprise to you that one of the projects under Aquarius is one known as Manzano; and you're familiar with Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, correct?" He looked up long enough to see Prost nod to his questions. "Well, located on the southeast corner of Kirtland is the Manzano Storage Area. Inside the storage area is something we call the WSA Bunker. Are you familiar with this?" He handed Prost a black and white photo showing an aerial shot of Kirtland, the area in question on the lower right corner was in the shape of an oval, noted on the photo in red ink.

Prost looked at the photo. "I've never known of this particular bunker before, but I am familiar with the rest of Kirtland. We just flew a few Apache's out of there this past weekend. They were very helpful at the airbase to every one of our requests."

"That's because they were following orders from this office, General." Prost nodded. The Brigadier General pushed back his chair, letting himself relax. "You see the AFOSI has a sister project to Aquarius, known as Project Gemini," he laughed subtly, almost to himself. "You know ... Twins? Split personalities? Dual identities? Seems we've become very astrologically inclined in this last half century." Prost smiled knowingly, as the General sitting next to him nodded his head in total ironic agreement. "You'll be working on both Aquarius and Gemini. It seems we've gotten to a point now where they somewhat go hand in hand." Prost nodded his head, completely understanding.

The meeting lasted two hours. As Prost got to his feet to stretch his legs, General Webb stood and held out his hand. "Good to have you fully on board, Prost." The other officer had been called away just a few moments before their meeting came to an end. "Major General Fannel will be leaving for Roswell very early tomorrow morning, and I'd like for you to accompany him. There's to be a funeral there in the morning, and we need you to attend."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

It was late morning, and Sierra was quietly coloring on the floor. Emily had cunningly convinced Michael that she could beat him at rummy, and Maria watched the game quietly from the sidelines.

Liz looked for Max and then realized that neither Kal nor John seemed to be anywhere in the main house either, she concluded that they were somewhere together. Climbing the stairs slowly she smiled down at Maria, who rolled her eyes in Michael's direction. "I'm just sitting here making sure Michael's vocabulary stays at the proper parent rating... I've played rummy with him before," she commented, knowing how easy it was for him to get carried away, especially when he was losing.

"I'm gonna lie down for a bit, leg's been doing some throbbing. I think I've been standing too much this morning,” Liz winced at bit.

Maria nodded to her, "You should get Max to look at it again. Ya know… do his thing again."

Liz had to agree with her on that one, since it had been hurting her more than she had wanted to admit. "Not sure where he is," she answered as she slowly reached the top landing.

Michael took his eyes off his cards a minute to glance up over his shoulder at her. "He's out in the tack house with John and Kal. Going over some stuff."

Liz again nodded, knowing that Kal had been with Michael most of the morning. Liz wondered why she hadn't been called in on the meetings. "That would be because we want you to rest up and get that leg back to normal," Michael replied to her thought. Sighing, he added, "It's funny how sometimes you guys come in loud and clear and other times I can't make any sense at all of what you're thinking."

Liz leaned hard on the rail, taking weight off her bad leg. "Well, when he comes out of there, tell him I'm trying to catch some rest, will ya?" She turned, heading down the hall.

"Maria, come on," Michael asked, remembering her comment earlier about being cooped up inside with nothing to do. "Play a few hands with us. I think Emily's got me on this game."

"Yeah, come on Maria. You and Michael against me," Emily grinned widely.

Maria slid down off the chair onto the floor, responding back to her, "Now, if you said you and I against Michael... now that I could get into."

Emily rolled her eyes in classic Maria fashion. "What fun would that be? We'd slay him." Michael quickly gathered up the cards and began shuffling the deck. "That ain't gonna happen, sweetie. Every man for himself. No teams."

Maria looked at him as he dealt out the cards into three piles. No teams, he had said. Funny, how that one statement exactly suited Maria's mood at that moment. It had been a while since she had felt like part of the team, not since being back in Roswell. And with this all important gathering of the clan coming sometime in the near future, she felt that this feeling of hers was going to get a lot worse, before it had any chance of getting better... if it was to get better at all.

She knew how much Michael loved her; she wasn't dismissing that fact. It was always she herself that felt like she never quite fit in. Then of course when they had found out back in June that Liz was a little green around the gills, well, it had pushed her even farther away in her own mind. She became odd man out. It wasn't like Max or Liz, or even Michael had treated her any differently then, it was all in her head and she knew it. Knowing something and truly convincing yourself that it's true can sometimes be miles apart, she thought. She had no idea where she would be fitting into the whole equation. Would they ever be able to go back to Lovell now? Would their real home here in Roswell ever again be like it was back in the beginning, a place where she had felt safe? Cabin fever was rearing its ugly head and she knew it. She just couldn't stop it from running rampant with her thoughts.

She remembered how she used to sit in class and daydream about her life and her future. It usually boiled down to the same two daydreams; two in particular after meeting this Guerin boy. One was how she'd feel one day, when the space boy disappeared off the face of this earth. She always tried to remind herself that he was just visiting, but it never worked. She had fallen in love with him anyway. In this one daydream, she was standing on a hilltop in the dead of night watching the love of her life leave in a brightly lit spaceship. She even felt the crush of her heart as she stood until the last faint point of light disappeared into the endless dark sky. And then, she smiled to herself, there was the other one. The other was the fairytale; the little white house with the proverbial picket fence and three little boys, who looked so very much like their daddy playing out on the swings in the yard. Of course, the latter dream also included a precious light haired, gorgeous little girl sitting on the back porch and looking so much like her mommy. She frowned to herself. But, there wasn't time to daydream anymore. Everything now was all too real.

She had no idea what would lay ahead for Michael, she doubted that any of them really knew for sure what would be happening five years from this very day. He had once chosen to stay behind because he needed her in his life. But if he had to make that choice again, for different reasons, would he? Could he? And once their future course was fully established, where would her place be? She wasn't one of them. Would she be looked at as even more of an outsider by these new people who had found them? She sighed, thinking how she had felt that her and Nicole had much in common through all of this. Now though, she knew that wasn't really true, not in the technical sense. They were the same, except for one thing. Nicole was married to Lucas, and she was the mother of the two most important things to all of them right now, quite possibly the most important denominators to the world at large right now. For all of those reasons, she knew that Nicole had already been accepted as one of them, without question.

"Psst... Maria! Wake up," Michael kicked her leg lightly, as she stared off into space deep in her thoughts. "Are you playing or what?"

She stared down, picking up her cards... Am I playing? Good question, Michael, she thought to herself.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kyle was taking his daily jog around town. Well actually he had missed it yesterday, he said to himself, so he was running twice as fast today. It was that old Valenti reasoning. As he came closer to the Crashdown, he was surprised to see the front doors propped open. Slowing down and trying to adjust his breathing, he stopped and ran in place for a few moments right outside the door. "Kyle," someone yelled from inside the restaurant to him. He then saw a hand wave.

"Hey, Mr. Parker, good to see you," Kyle was surprised to see him standing just inside, sweeping the floor. He had just naturally assumed that the Crashdown would remain closed until at least after the funeral the next morning. "Need some help?" he asked, yelling back inside to him.

"No thanks, Kyle. I've just got a few things left to do here now. Just needed to keep busy, you know?" Jeff answered and walked out onto the sidewalk terrace. "It's been really strange… kinda empty knowing that Nancy's not back there in the kitchen." Kyle saw the glistening in his eyes, and politely looked away. "But I need to be here, to keep busy," his voice grew stronger with every word. "Can't sit and stare at the walls anymore waiting for my Nancy to come walking into the room. She wouldn't be happy if she knew I had let the restaurant go like this."

Kyle felt so uncomfortable. He didn't know what he should say to this man he had known for so long, all his life, in fact. Was there anything he could say to him? He had just lost the other half of himself. Kyle remembered back to when Jeff's mother had passed away almost three years before. It had happened so quickly and had been such a horrible shock to everyone, much like this had been. Although this time, Kyle reminded himself, this time was very different.

He thought of Alex Madison and wished that Michael had just killed him when he had first arrived in town. He knew it wasn't a pleasant thought, but this goon had taken a precious life. And even though he knew that the Parkers had all been so horribly devastated at the loss of Grandma Claudia, he couldn't even begin to imagine what Jeff was going through right at this moment.

"What are your plans for the fall, Kyle? You goin' off to college?" Jeff asked, trying to change subject.

"I'm going to keep working at the garage and maybe pick up a few computer classes come November. I figured it couldn't hurt, computers is what the future will be about. Don't ya think?"

Jeff smiled back at him, knowing that Kyle had always put all his energies into sports, into believing that one day he'd get a scholarship because of it. It was good to hear him now changing the direction of his life. He shook his head agreeing, "Most definitely, Kyle."

"When do you think you might open the place back up again?" Kyle asked, starting once again to run in place. "You know, I'd be glad to come around and give you a hand. All you have to do is call, Mr. Parker. I can be here in no time at all. She was a really sweet lady, and we're all going to miss her a lot."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Jared paced as the sand swirled up around his legs, and then funneled farther up into his face. He now remained alone in camp with only four of his guards. He hadn't had any contact with Nicholas in over four hours. His head began to ache, as his fury steadily grew. He was expecting to again hear from Tess within mere hours to inform him that they were in possession of the icon.

A dispatch had just arrived from Adia with the very best of news. The wormhole would remain operational for another day and a half at the most, but during that time he was warned that it would be very unstable. He had been advised not to wait any longer than necessary. That had bought him more than enough time to accomplish what needed to be done. He soothed his anxiety by reminding himself that in a very short while they would have succeeded in acquiring something that so many before him had set their sights on. He was about to succeed where so many others had failed. He walked slowly back and forth. Twenty hours, and then he would have to leave, he finally decided smiling to himself. That was eighteen more than he had just yesterday. There would never be a need to depend again on this unreliable and outdated mode of travel, he thought as he watched the shimmering curtain visibly waver from time to time in the distance, occasionally losing it's density and color.

Once he had the icon in his possession he would have at his fingertips, the complete control of countless worlds. He felt the power rising inside of him. Trinity would be but a small victory to him, as would this small insignificant world where he now stood. None of it compared to the countless worlds of other galaxies that would be within his reach. The possibilities were endless. The time tears... all the dimensional possibilities. It was a machine of the Gods, he thought with a nod of his head, and he would be that god very soon now. Suddenly his mind returned to the here and now, and he again found himself getting edgy. Where was Levieth? Why had he heard nothing more from Lovell?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz felt that the pain in her leg was easing up, since propping it up on the bed with a pillow. Max had done his best to heal the wound the night before and she couldn't understand why it was still giving her trouble. She hadn't really been able to relax at all since waking up that morning, and lying here now like this was beginning to feel like heaven to her.

Trying to wipe every thought possible from her mind, she focused on the light fixture on the ceiling, until she was relaxed enough to close her eyes without feeling like she was forcing them closed. A few deep breaths and she began to feel the sensation of floating. It was a wonderful feeling and she smiled to herself. As she finally drifted off to sleep, it was Kyle's smiling face that appeared before her. She was slowly aware that a vision was beginning. It was more than a dream; she had come now to know the difference. He was jogging, she could hear his breathing, she could almost hear his heart beating in her own ears. She smiled in her sleep, as the vision continued. Instantly something changed and he was running faster, much faster. This time not running for the jog, but running for his life. She felt his fear, without seeing everything that was happening around him. At the height of the vision, she felt him lose his footing and fall to the ground and heard an agonizing scream.

She sat up, eyes wide. "Kyle," she yelled out, and quickly caught sight of Max standing just outside the bedroom doorway.

"Liz! What is it? Kyle? You screamed Kyle," he rushed toward her, stopping her before she reached the door.

"It's Kyle," she said breathlessly. "Something’s wrong. Max, we have to do something. Something..someone was chasing him!" Before she could say another word, Michael appeared at the bedroom door, having heard her cries. Maria stood behind him, wrapping her arms around Emily to keep her out in the hallway.

"Where was he?" Michael demanded. "Do you know where, Liz?"

She was shaking her head, panic still in her eyes. "It looked like town. Like Citrus… maybe over by the bus depot, I don't know. I've got to go to him!" she cried out.

Max held her tightly from behind, trying to comfort her. "You've got to stay here, Liz," he looked down at her, then up at Michael and said, "I'll go. I'll take Kal's jeep."

Liz spun around, "No, Max.” She was so upset and confused.

Michael was already descending the stairs. "John! Call Valenti, tell him Kyle is in serious danger. Liz just flashed on him. He was being chased by something or someone." Michael shouted out the order as he looked down at the coffee table. Why the hell hadn't Larek called in yet, his thoughts screamed out as he checked the cell lying there.

Kal came up behind him. "Probably because he has nothing to report yet,” he had caught Michael’s frantic thought. “Relax, we'll hear from him. John's got Jim on the phone right now. He's saying that Kyle is out jogging."

Liz, now on the landing at the top of the stairs, looked down on them. "Yes, he was jogging, he was jogging in the vision, Kal! You've got to get to him now!"

John's voice spoke up from the dining room, "Jim's already on it. He's going to call the minute he's got him in sight."

Liz leaned back against Max feeling so very helpless. Damn her, she thought, damn her to hell!

"It's got to be Tess. If she does anything to hurt him..." Max gently turned her around, pulling her close.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Serena pulled off highway 42, just east of the California borderline. They had made exceptionally good time. Traveling during the night had been the best decision they had made for several reasons. She pulled to the side of the road, put the truck into park, and sighed as she read the sign not thirty feet in front of them. California State Line 4 miles.

"Gotta love that sign," Serena noted.

Coby continued to fiddle with the air conditioner in the dashboard of the truck. "I think it needs freon. Everything else, from what I can see, is working properly... just no cold air," he reported, with a lap full of small parts and screws. Diligently he worked to put it back into order.

"Well out of all the trucks that Kal could of picked up, he gets one without air, yeah, that figures," a tinge of disgust rang out in Pete's voice. He was tired, having just finished up his two hour driving shift only ten minutes before. Serena drank from the Poland Springs water bottle, and then replaced the cap setting it down on the floor next to the other bottles.

"I know it's a little late in the game for this question, but do you think taking this thing to Stanford is the best idea?" Pete hadn't had much to say since around dawn. That was when, at John's suggestion, Serena had told them both about Vilondra. She had been very sure to refer to her only as Lonnie, even though she knew what a futile attempt that was at smoothing the truth. She hadn't wanted to be the one to tell Pete, but she had no choice. He had to be told. Knowing that their relationship had progressed as far as it had, she still wasn't completely sure of Pete's deeper feelings for Isabel. He had never talked to her about it after he and Coby had returned from France. Had this been just a passing thing for him...a consensual one nighter, or had he really fallen for the young woman? His verbal response to the news hadn't been much at all, but she caught a glimpse of loss in his eyes, aside from the shock of the news on his face. The van had then become quiet.

"I don't know if it is the right thing, Pete. All I know is that it needed to be moved from the ranch. We have no idea what Lonnie told Jared, and what he in turn told Tess. Hopefully this move is very temporary. I do know that it will be safe on campus. You know as well as I do, that absolutely no one bothers us over in the Quantum Building. We've got the place to ourselves except for a few strays." They all knew this to be true. The entire campus stayed pretty clear of the Quirk Quacks, as someone had once labeled them. That was where the lone gun men reference had begun as well. Anything paranormal on campus was automatically considered weird, and the people involved were just nerdy geeks that ate and slept their obsessions.

"We're almost there, boys. Pete," Serena tried to remain positive, "why don't you try to get some sleep." The excitement, or maybe it was more the stress, had kept them all wide-awake. But the sun was now blazing down and the tired factor was beginning to take its toll. "I’ll be fine," Serena said, "You two try to rest. Coby, you're up again in a little over eighty minutes," she smiled. "Listen, before we start up again, I want to go back and check everything."

"Serena," Pete assured her with a look. "It's not going anywhere. It's in the same place it was the last time you checked, three hours ago." She forced a frown at him.

Coby answered for her, not bothering to look up from the internal wiring of his project at the dash. "It's the mother hen thing, Peter. Let her alone." Serena opened the door and hopped out, staring for a second up into the heat of the sun. Unlocking the back door, she swung it opened. "Well it's still here," she yelled sarcastically up to the front of the truck.

She jumped up into the back of the truck, pulled herself to a standing position inside and walked closer to the granolith. They had taken very good care to stabilize it, crating it the best that they could. The last thing they needed was for it to fall over while driving mountain roads.

She sighed looking closer, but stepping back slightly. She couldn't help but still be overwhelmed at the possible age of this machine in their possession, and of the people so far away from here who had been intelligent enough to understand what they were doing when they built it. The icon was either the most amazing machine ever to be invented, or it was the most dangerous thing that would ever be known to man... or any other species in the galaxies. She felt the heat in the back of the truck as perspiration gathered across the back of her neck. Hopping down, she closed and locked the door.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Tess was in the passenger seat of the old Chevy panel van. They had been fortunate, Larek thought, in that no one seemed to be around the farmhouse from where they had liberated it. The steering mechanism and shocks were bad, and he tried as best he could to keep it on the road. "This thing is never going to make it back to Moab," he shouted above the noisy engine.

Tess looked sideward at him. "We won't be driving it all the way back, Larek. Just keep driving. That's where we're going," she said, pointing a short distance in front of them.

Larek took in the horizon and saw the jagged form of the desolate mountain. Eight men continued to bounce around in the back of the truck. "And just what is the plan, once we load the icon into the back. It'll be a bit crowded back there. And then how do we get it back to camp?" Not everyone was going to fit back into the van, and he knew it. He had to assume at this point that Tess intended to transport the icon back to Jared in much the same way that she had transported the team closer to Roswell.

"Let's just get there first, then we'll take care of the unimportant incidentals, shall we?" she smirked. As they pulled closer, Larek could just barely make out the entrance of a small cave opening about half way out onto a jutting precipice. "I take it that's the pod chamber," he asked.

She smiled with a look of unabated excitement. "We are about to change worlds, Larek." He swallowed hard, hoping she hadn't noticed.

The icon was so close now, she believed she could almost feel its presence. She remembered this place well. Nascedo had found it's location years before. Of course back then, neither of them had any idea that the fabled granolith was actually hidden farther back in the very same cave. It had been Isabel, in fact who had discovered it, and by that time their ingenious plan had already been put into place. She had posed as Zan's queen, and had completely convinced them all of her assumed identity. It had been a bit rocky in the beginning, but it hadn't taken too very long for the royal three to be thoroughly duped.

This place had been the find of the century for her and Nascedo. He wasn't around anymore, but she was more than willing to take the glory for it all now. The book on the other hand had been a problem. The last pages had been indiscernible, a code of some kind, Nascedo had explained to her. But just the knowledge of the icon had been enough at the time. Then came the fake pregnancy and the supposed trip back home with the royals.

After Nascedo was killed, she had been pretty much at a loss as to the operation of the granolith. She decided to continue with his plan, still believing that she would be returning with not only the royal family but also the icon itself. Of course, the bottom of the plan had completely fallen through, not only because of Liz Parker's involvement at the time in distracting Max Evans, but with the realization that the icon had in fact remained stationary in the pod chamber. Still believing the icon to be fully functional, she had then learned quite differently, being forced to make the trip through the most agonizing of wormholes that she could ever have imagined. Once on the other side and near death, she had then been forced to face Kivar's wrath at returning completely and totally empty handed.

It had been then that she had developed a plan of her own. Whenever she was questioned, she claimed complete amnesia as to her visit here. She was in no position to bargain at that time, knowing that Kivar would simply kill her had she disclosed the location to him. Instead she suffered the degradation of the Penal Colony on Eos, knowing that time was on her side, and eventually if she played her cards well, she would be given another chance. Kivar's death had been a perfect continuation of her plan. Jared had taken over as king, and he had come through for her with flying colors. He needed someone who knew the lay of the land. She was about to change all of her past now, she would be the one to deliver this treasure to her new King, and she had no doubts she would be rewarded handsomely for it.

The van had come to a stop at the foot of the mountain. As Larek climbed out on the driver’s side, he tossed his duffle bag behind the front tire out of sight, and secured the tracker deep inside his pants pocket as Tess opened the doors at the back of the van. Tess gave the order then for the team to begin the ascent, with herself and Larek in the lead. They moved at a quick pace, as Tess kept close watch on the surrounding area. She hadn't forgotten about the two on the road that had disappeared the night before. She was ready for any interference that might come. Nothing was going to stop her now.

Just outside the entrance she brought everyone to a stop. She walked slightly farther ahead on the incline, and Larek saw her pull a communicator from her backpack. Assuming she was contacting Jared, he leaned against the rock exterior and waited with the others.

His plan had been completely set in his mind all along as to what would happen after the discovery of the missing granolith, but with just learning of Tess's plan for the incidental baggage along on this trip and considering himself in her mind to be part of that baggage, he now had to devise something else and he still at this point wasn't sure exactly what. He'd have to play this one as it came, he thought.

Tess returned to the group. "We have to hurry. Jared claims there's not much time left. Tess turned quickly entering the cave without waiting for the others. Larek stepped in behind her. She walked back passed the pods, as he stood just inside the entrance staring at the incredible scene on the wall before him. He had been told about them from Lan and Kolt, the night he had visited the ranch, but it couldn't compare to the wonder in front of him now. So empty, yet once so full of the possibility of life. And blue, he strangely thought to himself. They appeared to still be luminescent, almost glowing in the dark. Three pods being a bit larger than the fourth.

Tess ran on deeper into the chamber. Mere seconds later there were horrific screams. She was out of sight of the others, but Larek pictured the scene in his mind. He quickly entered the adjoining room, running up beside her.

Her face was ashen, as her eyes, still bugging out, could not believe what she was seeing, or not seeing. "Is this the right place? Are you sure it wasn't back farther into the cave, Tess?" His lip service questions fell on deaf ears. She never broke her stare into the emptiness, falling slowly to land on her knees on the rocky floor. "I said … where is it?" Larek’s voice bellowed loudly and most convincingly.

Her body shook from the fear that had so quickly replaced the excitement and anticipation of just moments before. "What the hell is going on, Larek?" she yelled back to him accusingly, as he walked forward to examine the markings so evident on the cave floor. "This can't be happening!" she screamed out. The remaining troops were now deeper inside the chamber.

"It isn't here?" one of the team exclaimed in loud disbelief. "All this and it isn't even here?"

She quickly whirled around and hit him directly in the stomach with a fiery blast. The jolt echoed throughout the interior of the cave, sending particles of dust, dirt and small boulders down from the ceiling and walls.

"Tess!" Larek yelled in her direction. "Stop! What are you doing?"

She ran to the outer room, madly looking around. A look of fear was shared by those soldiers still remaining on their feet, as they quickly dashed for cover. But cover was not enough. In a few swift moments, the screams of two men ablaze filled the chamber.

"No Tess!" Larek's voice bellowed out again. Turning her fury in his direction, he quickly dove for cover just as a fireball grazed his left shoulder. She continued blasting the cave in every direction, the last of the blasts hitting and destroying the pods themselves Clouds of eerie blue dust floated everywhere in the air. "I'll kill them," she screamed out as her face contorted. "I'll kill them all!"

The last of the team ran for the entrance, but she was quicker in response. Those that weren't killed instantly wished they had been. The interior of the cave was filled with dust and debris and the smell of burning flesh, as the entire mountain seemed to shake. "We have to get out of here, we need to start back, NOW," Larek exclaimed, holding onto his shoulder. "There's not much time left."

She looked at him with a blank stare, realizing that he spoke the truth. One of the soldiers moaned and she turned, her body swaying slightly. Larek saw the chance and tackled her from behind. He grabbed at her hair, pulling her head back hard, kneeing her in the spine. She screamed out and retaliated, sharply elbowing him in the mid section, throwing him off balance. She broke free and turned quickly to face him again from a safer distance, her hands raised defensively in front of her. "This is your doing, Larek! I knew it, I never trusted you. I should kill you right now, but I won't. I want you so much to live to see your precious Zan dead and the dreams of your world ended once and for all!" Her eyes were red with rage. I will see to it that Jared knows the truth. This isn't over. There will be other wormholes, but none that will ever take you home again, Larek." She took several steps backward, and smiled at him. With one swift and overly dramatic whirl of her arms, she dematerialized into thin air and was gone.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Liz, please, lay down," Max begged for the third time. "Let me look at your leg again." He was doing his best to keep her calm, all the while his own heart was racing at the thought that Kyle could at this moment be at the mercy of the same bitch who had shown so little remorse in killing Alex not so very long ago, and attempting to kill Liz just the night before. She reluctantly lay back onto the bed.

"Valenti will find him. He's going to be alright," he continued to say what she needed, what they all needed to believe. Looking once again at the wound he placed his hand over what remained there, a deepening reddish bruising. "I'll do this again," he tried to smile at her, placing his hand over the bruise. "You should have told me that it was bothering you so much." She nodded, biting her lip as she felt the heat begin to build. A few seconds later he raised his hand and the redness was gone, with only a small scar remaining.

Liz tried carefully to bend her leg. "It's better," she whispered. "Still stiff, but much better."

Max's eyes looked deep into hers, "You've got to stay off of it as much as possible, babe. It was no scratch. The muscle and bone were really badly burned. This fire is not your ordinary earth grown fire," he smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Max, something is very different with Tess. She's much more powerful now than we ever saw from her before." Max thought back. Tess was homicidal and her pyromania was something definitely to be feared, but it didn't sit well with him that Liz now sensed something more than that. They had always suspected that she had shared powers as Nascedo's apprentice; and Larek had mentioned in their meeting that night, that she had spent much time at a horrific penal colony on the planet Eos. There was always the possibility that she had refined her powers or learned a few new ones from the company she kept while incarcerated there. Then again, he didn't have to remind himself that she was now Jared's apprentice.

Liz reached up touching the side of his face, breaking his deep thoughts. "Max what's going to happen to us, to all of us?" He laid down pulling himself closer to her body, as she searched his eyes for an answer. "None of us know the answer to that right now. That's what we were just butting heads about in the study."

"We're all being drawn together, Max. The Landaus... the Duncans. Are we supposed to know what we're doing right now?" she asked in complete confusion. "What did you three discuss?"

"Kal believes just as he's always believed, that it is supposed to be happening just as it is. He believes and I do too now, that we've been destined to meet the girl's.. and now the Duncans. We can only take one step at a time though. We're securing the safety and location of the granolith and of the girls. Either is of no use to Jared, or anyone else, without the other."

Their conversation was interrupted by the now familiar sound of Michael's cell from downstairs.



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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Larek stood in the dust, staring at the spot where Tess had just stood several seconds before. The entire scene had been surreal. Around him lay the wreckage from her reaction to the missing granolith. Finally he breathed a heavy sigh. Walking out into the sunlight he stared out over the desert, out toward the direction of Kolt's ranch.

He did know one thing, and that was that at no time in the cave did Tess have even the slightest thought about John or Kal. For a few minutes right before they had entered the cave, she had paid close watch to the area down around them, and at that time he had picked up on her fear of someone interfering. But even after discovering that the prize was no longer inside the chamber, there wasn't anything that would have led him to believe that she had any knowledge at all as to the whereabouts of either of the protectors. He knew she was in an awfully big hurry to inform Jared that he, Larek, was a traitor to the King and the truce. He was sure that to Tess this news would certainly blur the fine line of blame at her loss of the icon. He had no doubt that Adia, and his troops on truce in Trinity would pay the price for it all. He sighed again and grimaced.

There was one other thing that Larek continued to remind himself. He knew that Tess was aware that there was at least one of the keys nearby, having seen her the night before out on the highway; although he found it very peculiar that she hadn't mentioned anything at all about the girl, or for that matter anything of the horror attempted on Ava the night before. She hadn't mentioned it at all. There was a lot going on in that little mind of hers while they stood in that cave, but nothing else that Larek had been interested in. Most of what he felt from her could only be compared to an explosion of sickening emotions inside her head. The sudden realization that her little plan had once again failed.

He walked down to the solid ground below and turned one last time to gaze back at the birthplace of the royal quad. Then slowly as he raised his hand, slabs of stones and dirt began sliding and rolling down onto the ledge above him, down over the entrance to the cave. More and more fell, packing itself tightly against the opening, as he moved his hand out farther and spread his fingers wider. It didn't take long before the entrance was finally sealed over completely. Walking to the Chevy van, he found a shady spot there and heavily leaned against the side panel. He reached into his pant's pocket, taking out the communicator.


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Nicholas sat on a park bench, directly across from the Evan's apartment. "They're not here either," he murmured, talking to himself staring up at the second floor windows. He looked around him, and shook his head. Two of his men where sprawled out, looking like they had just fought a war, instead of a small battle with a woman, he smirked. Two of his team had already disappeared, and Nicholas couldn't say he blamed them one bit. He could return to camp, or he could begin again somewhere out here...or there...anywhere he damn well chose to.

He didn't have a gripe with the royals anymore. Kivar was dead and it had been his fight. All Jared really cared about was the granolith and all the power associated with it, and even that had lost a lot of its sparkle to Nicholas. He was bored, bored with it all. He remembered back to when Kolt, Lan and Rath had sent him back to Adia, after Kivar was killed. Once back there, he had wished then that he hadn't returned at all. So here he was again, being given yet another chance. Time to choose.

"Listen up people," he stood and spoke to the few left around him. You are to return to Moab. I have further orders to attend to... for Jared,” he added. “I'll be returning hopefully in time to catch the last of the wormhole home." The others looked at each other confused. Nicholas nailed his point home to them, "The keys," he said plainly, "they are not here; this mission is a bust. I don't really want to run into Wonder Woman again, or her family, and I doubt that the rest of you do either, so run along. Tell Jared that I'll try my best to see him real soon," his smirk turned quickly into a smile, before any one of them noticed. The last time he saw any of them, they were crossing the park, headed for the bus station.

Nicholas thought it was time to find himself something to eat and find a drug store that stocked some Nivea cream. He'd catch the next bus right after theirs. He wouldn't be going west though, he'd be heading up north. Not the infamous New York City this time, he thought to himself, making a disgusting face. No somewhere much farther north.


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"It's him," Michael exclaimed, although no one in the room by that point had any doubt at all as to who was texting Michael. Michael looked down, read the few lines, then passed the cell to Max.

"What? What is it?" Liz asked from the head of the stairs, at the look crossing Michael's face. "Is Larek alright?" Liz asked, with nothing but worry in her voice.

Max read out to the group from the LCD on the phone. R., Podchamber has been destroyed. Cover compromised. Tess returning to Jared. Await Zan's directive. L. At that exact moment Maria's phone on the end table rang out Yankee Doodle Dandy, making them all jump. Maria ran to answer it, frowning to apologize for the invasiveness of the tune. "Gotta figure out how to turn that thing off," she tried to laugh. Answering, she said, "Yes! Hold on, Valenti. Liz, it's Kyle."

"Oh thank god!" Liz exclaimed, as Maria brought the phone to her. Everyone in the room was relieved that apparently Kyle seemed to be okay. "Kyle?" Liz anxiously questioned. "Are you alright?" She waited for his response while her heart again raced. "Oh, Kyle," she said with the relief at hearing his voice. "I am so glad. I had this vision. I guess your Dad told you, right?"

She nodded into the phone, as he assured her that the only strange thing that had happened during his run had been that Mrs. Brewer's little mangy mutt hadn't chased him the way the thing usually did.

They talked a few minutes more, mainly about the preparations for the funeral the next morning. He told her that he had talked to her Dad just a short time before at the Crashdown, and he seemed to be holding up well, all things considered. She sighed and ended the call. Looking at everyone around her, she felt the need to apologize. "I guess it was just a bad dream, after all. I'm really sorry to get everyone so upset, but it seemed so real to me."

"I'd rather that you upset us, Liz, than to take the chance by not telling us what you foresaw...or even dreamed," Kal replied. "It's always better not to take the chance. You have to understand that you have a powerful gift with your insight. Don't ever apologize." He winked at her, remembering how strong Ava's power of mind had been, and he knew beyond a doubt that Liz would soon be just as capable.

Kal turned back to the others. "Now, Max. What are your orders for Larek? It seems he doesn't have many options left open to him at this point, and I'm sure that he's not too happy about that. You can be assured that he'd much rather be back in control of things on Trinity, then trapped down here. But the order is yours. Does he return to camp and do his best to straighten things out there with Jared's trust again, or..."

Max glanced up at Liz, than over at Michael. Both of their faces told the same story that he himself was feeling. What was there to decide? Larek was one of them. "There's no question here at all," Max stated. "If in fact, he is sure that Tess is not lurking somewhere close by him, and if he thinks he can do it, undetected...bring him in. I want him here."

Without a hesitation, Michael took the cell back from Max and proceeded to punch in several sets of numbers and letters. John looked to Kal, as Max spoke thoughts that they all shared at that moment. "He's fortunate to have escaped with his life in all this, although I have to agree with Kal that having to remain here now, will be pretty difficult for him."

They all understood what Larek would be feeling, but none as much as Max and Liz. Liz couldn't imagine how he would ever adjust here knowing he was needed so much more back there. Things here were so very different from what had been going on back on Adia and Trinity. And knowing how dedicated and loyal he had always been to the cause, she worried for him. She also couldn't help wonder what would happen to the Federalist forces, now that it appeared their leader was quite probably not returning.

"Well," Michael spoke up, as he tried hard to see the positive in the situation confronting Larek. "I can use all the help I can get, once master Landau and the Duncans get here. And who knows, it's quite possibly just a temporary port for him." He looked at Kal, who looked to the floor, as Liz followed his gaze. "And, anyway, it's not like he's among strangers. We all know things about each other that no one else could ever possibly know, and that's a very good thing. And... Larek's expertise and knowledge of exactly what is happening back on Adia can only help us for whatever is going to happen next." He glanced at Maria and caught her eye for only a second before she uncomfortably looked away.

There was that 'whatever' word again, she thought. Liz's eyes met with Maria's. "Maria, I need some help up here. Nicole is putting some things together for us, and we could use your help." Maria reluctantly headed for the stairs, as Kal interrupted. "Can that wait a half hour or so?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Liz, there's a few things we need to catch you up on... and Max, would you join us back in the study again, please."

"Kal, I'd like Maria to hear what's going on, if that's okay with the rest of you. I think it's important that she know. It involves her too," Liz stated clearly.

Kal looked at Michael for a response. "I don't have a problem with it," answered Michael, nodding at Maria. She felt a slight blush on her face, as she followed Liz into the study.


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General Prost took great pains to pack up his one and only suitcase with everything that would fit, and then slumped into the nearest chair; his mind still dancing with everything new that he had learned in the last twenty-four hours.

As he had always suspected, there had been more going on... much more, and he couldn't help but feel like the most fortunate man in the entire world right now, well one of the most fortunate, anyway. And the truth was that there were but a few. The Gemini project itself, he had discovered, was a very small but tight group that consisted half of scientists and half very high-ranking military personnel. There were no records or evidence anywhere that Gemini even existed. It drew it's funding from NSA directly. Of course, Aquarius had always been a black agency and still was, but it wasn't quite as covert as it had once been so many years before. Prost felt humbled to now be privy to Gemini information, let alone to be directly associated now with the project itself.

It did sometimes sadden him to think that the world at large had absolutely no idea what had been taking place in their very own world all this time. He had always been in awe of how something of this magnitude could have been hidden so incredibly well for so very long. The thought of that, he admitted, had even scared him a little from time to time. But a very big part of him understood the worry. People would not be willing to accept that those living next door to them could possibly be anything other than 100% completely human.

Take Pierce and Madison for instance. They were prime examples of a system gone horribly wrong. In some, he supposed it was just instinct that took over. That old preempted strike thing. For people like this it was easy to see the infamous green or gray around the gills as being a hostile threat. It was a shame really, because in all of Prost's research with Aquarius, he never had a moment of fear about any of these people. To him they were wondrous creatures who had been, for whatever reasons, delegated to this world a long time ago. Immigrants of days gone by, if you will.

Prost sighed, as he grabbed a cold beer from the kitchen. This had always been big, but the events during the next few years would be the most important of all. Direly important, came to his mind. The very future of this world could depend on it.

The third step of Project Gemini was scheduled to begin tomorrow. The very first step had been taken back in 1955 while it had still technically been a small unknown department in Aquarius. Back then, very special cargo had been delivered undercover from Chechnya, by way of Dulles, to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, where it had found a home all these years.

After attending the funeral tomorrow, he and Fannel were to remain at Kirtland for the next month. He was now partially responsible for the success of Gemini, and the load weighed heavily on his mind. Heavily indeed.


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The five of them settled themselves in the study. Max sitting on the leather couch, and Kal sitting himself on the edge of John's desk. Maria sat in the matching armchair. John watched Liz as she stood looking once again at the pendant in the shadowbox hanging on the wall behind the desk. She realized he was watching her and then smiled at him. It was sad really, she thought to herself. This symbol now represented a world that no longer existed. It only now was a silent reminder of all those who had given their lives, some willingly and some not so willingly. It was however still the symbol of refugees who had scattered. Never to forget their heritage... and their hope.

"Liz?" Kal started, she turned and immediately filled the space next to Max. "John and I have already met with Michael this morning, and again with Max just a short while ago. We discussed several things that are important right now, and a few things that could come into play down the road." She nodded, as Kal went on. "First of all, I'll keep this brief. I know you have a lot on your mind, Liz. Plus, we want you off your leg as much as possible." He paused slightly.

"The three of us are in agreement that Lucas be told to come here to see his family. I don't believe he'll object to that, he only wants to be with them, I don't think it matters much to him right now, where that happens. Of course Katain Duncan will be with him. She in turn, will contact her family and Lucas's sister and grandmother, and an older brother...from what I understand, about setting up an agreeable day and time for a meeting between us all. Tentatively, it will be here, but much of that depends, of course, on Jared's activities... which we are hoping Larek can help us with once he arrives. Lucas is planning on calling Nicole a little after four today. We can also at that time find out any updates on Nicholas. Although my money is riding on him being long gone from both Lovell and Jared."

"The second topic is Tess. Liz, this is something that we've unanimously decided without you. Her game has come to the end of its rope. Under any and all circumstances, the very next time she shows her face close enough to any one of us, her life is over... no questions asked. We do have the upper hand right now, in that she obviously still believes that she has succeeded in doing away with you." Max tightened his hand on hers as Kal spoke.

Liz never looked away from Kal's eyes as he spoke. "She will pay, Sparrow. She will pay," Kal replied back to her with certainty. "And the mere fact that she believes that she's succeeded may just be enough to keep her from doing anymore snooping around right now. She has a lot of explaining to do to Jared, and let's not forget, they are running on a very unstable wormhole departing schedule. She never had any idea that the granolith wouldn't be there, as it had always been all these years. More than likely, she plans on placing all the blame onto Larek, if for no other reason than to distract the blame from herself. Jared is going to be a very pissed off king when she tells him the news."

"Speaking of the granolith. Serena, Pete and Coby should be very near to Stanford at this time. Last call that John had, they seemed to have had a very uneventful trip. The deciphering of the last page is still underway and will continue as soon as they get things set up again. We have high hopes that we will have the answers we need as to the feasibility of travel, very soon now." A deepening silence filled the room. Feasibility of travel? The words seemed to ricochet off the walls around them.

Kal quickly moved on. "Now, the funeral, tomorrow morning. Michael and, as per Michael's instructions.. Maria, will be going with the two of you tomorrow," he said nodding to Max, Liz and then Maria. "Both John and I, and I suppose now Larek, will be staying here with the girl's and Nicole. Jim Valenti will be attending, he will keep John and I steadily appraised of the situation, with the very least bit of interruption to your Mom's service," he assured Liz.

"I'd like to go to my Dad's first and then go on to the cemetery with him from the house," Liz explained.

Kal and John both nodded their heads. "That's fine, Liz," John gave her a small smile. Kal continued talking. "It's going to be a small closed service, not lasting much longer than thirty minutes. Keep your ears and eyes open." He finished and clipped the end of the cigar he had been playing with since entering the room. "I'll be on the porch, if you have any other questions," he frowned, then looked at John. "You'll continue with this, right?"

John shook his head in response. He stood and walked around to the front of the desk. It took a minute for John to look up at them, when he did, he tried very hard to smile. "As Michael already knows, there's something else that needs to be openly discussed now."

He was interrupted by Maria who was still sitting frozen to the floor. "Would this have anything to do with the whole.. feasibility of travel?" she asked just above a shaky whisper. Liz felt the same chill run through her body that she had felt earlier while John was describing his and Kal's dreams to them. Max's arm strengthened around her shoulder.

John looked down at Maria's face, now tinged with green. He stared into her eyes for a swift second before looking into the face of the two sitting above her on the couch. He took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes it does."


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"Jared it was all I could do to get out of there alive!" she screamed out in horror. The two stood face to face in his tent. "It was all Larek's doing. He bloodily murdered everyone of my troops and was only inches and mere seconds from destroying me as well, when thanks to your shared gifts, I was just barely able to escape." She walked the floor convincingly as Jared looked on, his face well defined by the clenching of his jaw.

He calmly stated for the fourth time since her sudden arrival back at camp, "Where is the icon, Tess?"

"Jared, I don't know where it is," she pleaded. "I believe that somehow, and I don't pretend to know how, that Larek was able to warn the protectors." Grabbing her by the arms, he shook her, yelling into her face. "I can't believe that Larek would risk the lives of his countrymen and his home worlds to disavow the truce in this way." He hesitated only shortly. "Why didn't you torture the information from Larek?"

Tess thought quickly, not knowing at first how to respond. "I had to kill him in defense of my men, Jared. I tried my best to get him to confess on his deathbed, but he has always been a staunch Federalist who would rather die than give up the dream." Seeing a chance to shift gears temporarily, she added, "What of Nicholas? Is he in possession of the keys?" Jared let her arms fall to her side, as the seriousness of the situation came upon him. "I have not heard from Lovell in over six hours."

Tess looked stunned. "He was never to be trusted either, Jared. Nicholas was always Kivar's lackey. A man of honor he has never been, even to your predecessor."

Jared poured almost the last of the water, refilling his pouch. "I suppose it is possible that the royals somehow defeated Nicholas in Lovell. It was my understanding that they have been living there to protect the girls. The last message from Nicholas only stated that the keys were not in town, and he felt sure that they would not be returning there. I ordered him to continue on with the search, and I am still waiting on a reply to that order."

"What about the wormhole? How much time now is there left?" Tess wasn't sure what the next direction would turn out to be, but she did know that she had no intention of being stranded here on this planet with Jared. Not now. Now she needed to revise her plan. She had yet to give up.

"We have several hours yet, possibly into tomorrow night. Of course, under all these new circumstances, we probably should return to Adia for more troops." Every time he looked at Tess, he felt his anger rise. She had sworn to him that she knew of the exact whereabouts of the icon from the very first day that she had communicated with him from the colony back on Eos. Could she have been stupid enough to have lied to him all this time. Had the protectors taken it upon themselves to move the icon to some safer ground?

He couldn't believe he had come so close and yet so far from this dream. He took several deep breaths, trying desperately to hold on. Tess waited so very cautiously on his next words, trying to discern what his next action might be toward her. She had played it the best way she knew how. She could do nothing more now than to wait. Before entering camp, she had reminded herself that she hadn't yet played the trump card. Not just yet.

"Tess," Jared said, with a wave of his hand. "Sit down. We have much to talk about before we return."


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Lucas called the ranch at 4:30 that afternoon. Max had answered John's phone and explained the best he could of the situation. Liz mother's funeral was the following day, and no one was traveling anywhere until the day after that or maybe not even until later in the week. He knew that Lucas would not want to be away from his family any longer. It was decided as Max winked at Kal who was watching from the dining room, that Lucas and Katain would notify those at home that they were traveling on to Roswell, and hopefully they'd be able to get a flight out by the next afternoon.

Michael had motioned frantically to Max to let him talk to Lucas. Max handed him the phone and walked out to Kal, telling him that they would call this number once they were close to Roswell. We can lead them in from there," Max explained. Kal nodded.

Michael called out to Nicole. "You've got someone patiently waiting on the phone for you, Nicole." She appeared around the corner a very short time later, grinning ear to ear. As Michael handed the phone over to her, he pulled at her hair playfully, and Max saw shades of Rath.

Michael turned with a huge smile. "Hey, you both are going to love this," he said with excitement. "They're driving the Hummer back! Is that great or what? I told them where it's parked. The only problem was the keys, but Katain assured Lucas that that would be no problem at all. They'll be driving straight through, gonna leave tonight." He was so happy with himself, it was difficult for anyone to be upset with him.

In the living room Maria was questioning Liz in detail about the subject discussed in the meeting. "Maria, I swear I don't know much more than you do at this point... neither do John or Kal. Listen, let's go waaay out on a limb here and say that it was decided that we would go back to Adia, how would we get there Maria. The granolith isn't ready and Serena doesn't think it has even a chance of being ready if at all, for years. Years, Maria. There's a lot happening back there, Maria. And truthfully, yes I wish there was a way we could help...I mean really help them to win against Jared and all the oppression. It's my home Maria, it's as much my home as Roswell is."

Maria sat looking at her, not believing what she was hearing. "You can't be telling me that you would really go back there if you could. Liz, please tell me that's not what you're saying..."

"All I'm saying is that it doesn't make any difference at this point. We don't have the capability of going back, even if we wanted to. We can't just take the bus, Maria." She tried to smile, and then pulled her dear friend into a hug. "We can't worry about any of this right now. All we do is get ourselves upset. Max and I have already agreed not to talk about this subject, because it's too... confusing. It's futile, Maria. Because, just as John said in there, it's something that just isn't feasible."

Maria seemed finally ready to put it to rest for a while. Michael asked her to help him fix dinner, and she seemed to brighten up at the prospect of doing something different. "Let's make a feast for our incoming visitor."

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Several hours before dinner, Liz had called to check on her Dad. They talked about his seeing Kyle earlier that morning, and then reminisced for the longest while about special moments in time, with all the kids, as they were growing up. Liz felt so comfortable talking to him, for the first time in a very long while. She had found it difficult to feel relaxed around either her dad or mom, after finding out the truth about her adoption. And then of course, after they all had left on their road trip... and she and Max had been married, well, she could never truly let her guard down when she'd call home, always being afraid that she'd slip and let the cat out of the bag.

But now, even with both of them having so many other intense emotions going on in their minds and in their hearts, it was good to share some wonderful old memories. For a short while, Liz was remembering the Roswell that used to be for all of them. She knew to most people it was just a quirky little tourist trap, but it was a small crazy tourist trap that they all called home. The place where they had all grown up not so very long ago, and nothing ever quite compared to home. Jeff Parker had thought several times during their conversation about how his daughter would be returning once again to the east coast, but he choked back the question. Instead, they continued talking on and on, each smiling at the memories.

There was a silence on the line, as both father and daughter's thoughts continued. After a few moments, Liz's dad's voice softly broke through the silence. "You'll all be going back soon, won't you, honey?"

Liz wiped at her eyes. At first she couldn't find the words to say, she could hardly swallow. How could she ever tell him what she now completely understood in her heart? When she finally had composed herself, she answered in the only way she knew how. "I love you Daddy," she whispered as tears clouded her eyes.

"I love you too baby. I just want you to know that it's okay. I understand why you have to leave. You and Max will be having your own family soon. You have to do what you have to do, even if that means that your future lies somewhere far away from me. But no matter how far the distance between us, promise me that you will remember that I will always love you, honey. I will be here for you when you need to come home again." Liz's hand went up instantly to cover her face, as she choked down the sobs, her emotion and the absolute irony of her Dad's words, hitting her so hard.


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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Chapter Banner

Dinner was being put on the table, just as the guard dogs at the tack house began barking loudly. Michael jumped up from the table excusing himself to the others, only to find they were all right close behind him as he sprinted to the front door. As he opened the door stepping out, Larek was already up onto the porch, duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He looked tired, dirty and disheveled.

"Damn it's good to see ya," Michael greeted him. Max was first to welcome him into safety, throwing his arm up over his back and leading him into the house. Liz was by his side instantly and found that words wouldn't come. She could only smile at the relief she was feeling at seeing him alive. She only reached out and touched at his jacket lightly, until he pulled her into a tight embrace. "So good to see you all healed up," he said, forcing a smile, but then wincing noticeably as he released her from the hug. Their close calls with death were shared in each others eyes.

"Your shoulder!... You're hurt.." Liz exclaimed. "Max..." She looked helplessly between the two.

"It's not really that bad. Seems I was a wee bit faster on the dive than you were, Sparrow," Larek winked at her, while squeezing her hand for her concern.

Max stepped up as Larek slid off his jacket, reveling the bloodied shirt and burned skin just under it. Max placed a hand lightly over the torn shirt, and within seconds it seemed Larek's blistered shoulder appeared to be healed. "That will probably need a second go round tomorrow," he said. "Once wasn't enough for Liz's leg either. She seems to be wielding a pretty powerful heat nowadays," Max commented to him.

"She's being helped," Larek replied out to them all, referring to Tess's increase in power.

"We were afraid of that being the case," Kal replied. "You weren't followed?"

Larek answered by shaking his head, "Why do you think it took me so long to get here?" He smiled and even with the exhaustion so clear on his face, a small but tired dimple appeared. He glanced over at Michael, and couldn't help but laugh at his old friend's thoughts and replied, "Yes! I'm famished too," he said, reading Michael’s thoughts.

He stood quiet with all of them around him. "It is so good to see you all. When I left here last time, I wasn't the least bit sure that this would ever again be possible." He sighed. "The fates it would seem have indeed played their own little game with my life today." He then nodded his head in recognition of the two small redheads, bobbing up and down and smiling enthusiastically up at him; their mother and their Aunt Maria not far away.

"Hello Larek," Sierra chirped, as she grinned. He rustled the hair on top of her head with his hand, and looked at the two familiar faces now standing behind them both. He winked at Maria, and Max saw a small smile cross his face as he nodded his head to Nicole. Liz swore she saw a slight blush appear on Nicole's cheeks after Larek looked away. He had always been a charming and most attractive young man, Liz thought; and she had not failed to notice that he had matured very handsomely since she had last seen him on that morning of her wedding. Although now he had the wisdom of battle there both on his face and in his eyes, as well. They weren't the very brightest of blue that they had once been, but there were times in their reunion a few nights back that she had noticed that they still held all the same sparkle whenever he smiled.

Liz hugged again at his arm. "Larek, you're safe and that's all that matters right now. I can't tell you how happy we all are to see you again."

John clapped his hands together once, in anticipation of returning to the dinner table with their guest. "All right, people. Let's eat, shall we? Larek, as you will soon see, Michael and Maria made plenty,...it's a feast fixed just especially for you. Our home is now your home, Larek. Please, make yourself comfortable. I was beginning to wonder if we'd have to nuke you up a plate when you finally did arrive."

"Nuke?" Larek asked, puzzled.

Max placed his hand on Larek's good shoulder and directed him toward the dining room. "Ah yes, my friend, they'll be a few things that we'll need to explain to you. But first we eat, then we get business out of the way… then we hang out."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I know that one," he sparred with Max, jokingly. Stopping abruptly, he raised one finger into the air, "Would one of you beautiful little ladies care to show me where I might wash up for dinner?" He bowed very low at the waist, and Emily laughed at him. He looked over at John, "You know, you might end up being somewhat sorry to have me aboard... after all, I do have a habit of eating like a horse," he purposely grinned down at the little ones, then made a neighing sound.

Both Max and Michael answered at much the same time, "Oh… we remember that well."


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After dinner, the men gathered in the study so Larek could bring them up to date on everything he knew about Tess and Jared; and so they could in turn make him current on the Landaus, the Duncans and the latest news of the granolith.

Maria sat with Liz and Nicole in the living room, and the girl's watched Snow White on the VCR upstairs. "So you must be pretty excited about seeing Lucas again after all this time. Kal said they should be here sometime tomorrow night," Maria said, stretching out and undoing the snap on her jeans at the same time. "I ate entirely too much food," she frowned.

"Me too," Nicole laughed. "It really was all quite good, Maria. You two did a wonderful job. You and Michael are a great team. Maybe we should compare notes," she replied and sighed. "What I mean is that you probably could help me put the proper prospective on things in my life, now that I know this incredible truth that the love of my life is a hybrid." There was a nervous ring to her voice that was all too clear to Maria. She was not just confused, she was scared. Probably just as scared of all the same things that she repeatedly found herself analyzing about.

"Nicole, let me tell you, I was petrified of Michael when I first found out about his... past. Liz will tell you. I had nightmares...serious fear factor. But... once I realized who he really was...he was just Michael, ya know. I knew that none of it really mattered. I fell in love with him almost from the start. That's not to say that I don't obsess sometimes about it, even now. Cause I do. I'm always trying to second guess what's happening or what will come next."

"I've been doing a lot of that myself," Nicole confessed. "Having known Lucas for so long before hand should be making this easier. But it's not." She sipped at her mug of coffee, looking up. "Liz, is it true that you three can actually remember being Ava, Zan and Rath?"

Liz smiled up from the magazine in her lap. She nodded. "Yeah. I guess it's difficult to understand, but we really remember just as much about them now as we do about who we've been for the last eighteen years."

Nicole studied Liz's face as she talked, thinking back of all the things Angelique had once told them all about this princess, about her loyalty and courage; but most importantly about her love for Zan who had once been known as the prince of the people of Antar. She had given the greatest sacrifice one could give for her world, and yet here she was once again, sitting right in front of her. The romantic in Nicole had been awakened with this love story that had continued to unveil itself around her. It had seemed a fairytale come true to her, or at the very least a very important part of a prophecy that she had once only knew vaguely; but one which was beginning to make so much more sense to her now.

"I didn't think I'd ever be saying this but, I'm very proud to know who I am. To be who I am. I know Ava as well as I know myself now. I haven't developed all of her powers yet, but Kal says that that will come too in time. I know Rath is coming through more and more with Michael, I see it clearer everyday... and Zan? Well, Max is Zan, although he tends to spend a lot of time fighting that. We're all trying graciously to accept them, and sometimes it's easier than other times."

"What I witnessed here last night was the most incredible thing I've ever seen in my life. Max healed you," the awe in Nicole's voice was still so obvious. "I still find myself so intimidated by even the thought of that. It's so difficult to believe. Is this something only Max... or Zan was capable of?"

Liz shook her head. "Ava has the ability, too. Actually there are others born on Adia with the same gift. Mine has only come to me once. That was when Max was in serious danger of dying, which I guess you could say was pretty good timing on my part," Liz smiled. "Ava had complete control with healing, and John has informed me that I will too, in time," Liz answered. "I suppose that would be… when I'm ready."

"Lucas has never shown any gifts at all," Nicole stated. "Otherwise, I might not have been so surprised when the girls were born with theirs, even with all the weird stories I heard in that house through the years about relatives of the past, I could never let myself believe what somewhere down deep inside I've always known." Nicole was sitting up now, leaning forward on the edge of the seat. "Do you think that will change now? Do you think that the hybrid in Lucas will become stronger, like yours have? I know that he stressed several times to me over the phone that this… Katain, single handedly battled three men and won. According to Lucas she has some pretty strong gifts... powers," she corrected herself. "...I'm sorry," she couldn't hide a smile, "... it just seems so sci-fi to even try to use that term in a serious way."

"You're tell'n me?" Maria chimed in. "But trust me, Nicole, in time you'll be just fine with the vocabulary and everything else, especially once it saves your hide a time or two."

"So Lucas hasn't ever done anything... out of the ordinary?" Liz asked. Nicole shook her head. Liz shrugged. "Well that doesn't really mean much. Look at me. I didn't know anything of Ava or her gifts until four months ago. So it's quite possible that Lucas just hasn't come into his gifts yet. Maybe the Duncans, for whatever reasons, are farther advanced with accepting who they are. It will be interesting to find out about them and where they're from."

"Lucas’ brother, Jonathan, he's two years older," Nicole explained. "He’s been living with them in Seattle." She hesitated remembering something. "Ava, his sister, used to say that there had been times when they were all little, that Jonathan would lock himself in his room and not come out... sometimes for days. Maybe he realized things back then. But he left the family estate and Lucas never heard from him again until earlier this past weekend when he showed up with the Duncans in Dakota. I never met him, although I've seen pictures. Lucas looks a lot like him."

Their conversation was interrupted by Liz's cell phone. She reached over to the end table where the cell lay, trying to keep her elevated leg steady, she answered it. With a look of recognition, she answered, "Hi, Sheriff. Yes, he made it here fine. They've all gathered in what seems to be a men's only meeting. But they shouldn't be too much longer, why?" She listened intently, closing her eyes. When he had finished, Liz could say nothing more than, "Okay, I'll let them know."

Maria saw the look in her eye. "What is it, Chica?"

"Valenti just wanted us to know that several hikers have reported that there was an avalanche up at the mountain. He checked it out. The pod chamber is sealed up tighter than a drum." Liz had read the text that Larek had sent to Rath earlier that afternoon about the destruction there, but hearing it now from Valenti, was making her stomach twist. There was a hollow feeling deep inside of her. She laid her head back against the cushion at the back of the chair and closed her eyes.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"He's helped her throughout this entire maneuver," Larek was saying, back in the study. "That's not to say that the witch isn't powerful on her own. That she is. I do believe though, that Jared has been sharing a lot of his energy this time in order to fulfill this quest of his. Let's just call Tess his present beneficiary. She has no conscience, which makes her a wonderful fighting and killing soldier for his cause. She caught me quite by surprise in the chamber with the absolute power that I saw her display there. Four of her men were struck dead instantaneously with one blow. She could very well have totally destroyed the entire mountain." He moved his shoulder in small circles as he spoke, trying to work out the numbness he was beginning to feel there.

"It's going to be stiff for a while," Kal replied, watching him closely. "After the first healing, Liz's leg was too, and still is. If what you're saying is true, I suppose these wounds are of a different caliber as a result of combined powers between Jared and Tess. It would explain a lot. When Liz first arrived back here last night, she seemed to be suffering from a residual effect… aside from shock. It seemed to be spreading up her calf into the thigh area, as if it were something traveling through her blood stream." Kal rubbed at his chin, thinking. "Wish I knew more about Jared. We know that for centuries Eos has been a breeding-ground for horrific genetically induced and/or altered cretins. Could be that Tess had also learned a few things from the best while she was there."

"Doesn't matter," Larek insisted. "Jared's forces are plenty strong all on their own, Kal. Thousands of troops back on Adia, just lying in wait for the resistance now...and with me here..." Larek's head fell back, he took a deep breath. He then hurriedly continued explaining. "Once Jared announces the end to the truce, it will take little time for Adia to completely fall. It could be a matter of months at worst, before the morale is completely broken. Trinity will not be far behind. So many of my troops still have families living on Adia, and they are Jared's leverage. My men are strong, but how strong can a man remain when everything is taken from him, and he no longer has a home left to fight for?"

"My friend," Kal sighed, "you're exhausted. "The answers to these questions will not be coming to any of us tonight," Kal broke in, seeing his physical and emotional fatigue. "They'll be plenty of time to sort things out. Right now, none of us are thinking with a very clear head."

Michael poured Larek a cold can of soda. His attention was diverted long enough from the meeting to drink from the tall ice filled glass of Coke. "This is good," he nodded. "Spirited?"

"You can spice it up with rum, but no, that one's just soda. It's called Coca Cola," Michael explained, remembering that as Rath he had once been able to drink tankards of ale or any other spirit with no ill effects. He could always hold his alcohol well, he thought to himself. But as Michael, just one beer would totally wack him out. It so obviously was the hybrid factor, he thought.

"You could not!" Max laughed out loud at Michael's thoughts. "I suppose that's why the two of us carried you home so many times!"

Michael frowned. "Okay so I sometimes overindulged..."

"Sometimes?" Larek joined in. "Rath, my man, a drinking man you were never, ah… but a fighter, forever." John couldn't help grinning as he was reminded of the song they had all sung so often in the taverns on Antar.

"More like brawling, from what I remember," Max couldn't yet let the ribbing die.

"Hey, the other guy always got the worst of it," Michael claimed. He then thought for a split second and added quickly, "Although to be fair, I do remember a few times you two saved me from the wolves." Michael began laughing at the memory. "I really do miss throw'n back a few, though."

"Yeah, right," Kal frowned at the three's bantering. "Damn memory lane's a trip, ain't it?"

John smiled, This is good for them, Kal. Lighten up. Kal returned his thought with a wink and a grin, to let him know he too underneath, agreed.

Max overheard the thought, and cleared his throat, trying to be somewhat serious. "Anyway Michael... Kal knows how to help you with the alcohol intolerance stuff. When I was out in LA this last time, he put some kind of whammy on me. If I remember correctly, I then had more than a few beers, and it didn't have that extreme effect on me that it had earlier."

"Wasn't a whammy at all, just a mind suggestion and a few pressure points," John replied. "You might even be able to do it yourself by now. But don't try right now, okay? We need you sober for tomorrow." He looked to Larek to explain. "Liz's mother’s funeral is in the morning. That's the only reason that these guys stayed after you left here. Otherwise, I guess they would have been back in Lovell dealing with Nicholas and the other team first hand. And the fact that we might not have known that a team was going out there, could have been disastrous. He might have caught them completely off guard. The fates can be a strange muse, to be sure."

Drinking more of the coke, Larek quickly replied, "Jared had heard nothing recently from Nicholas, of that I'm sure. Knowing Nickie the way I do, the last thing he really wanted was to run into any of the royal family. His plans were made far in advance of leaving camp. That's not to say that he wouldn't have nabbed the keys had he the chance, but apparently he had some resistance in doing that, so he immediately moved on to his reserve plan." Larek smiled. "I don't think Jared will be hearing from Nicholas anytime soon."

"Well I can't say that I'd be much surprised at him deserting," Max added. "Nicholas has always been an opportunist of the third degree. I feel sorry for anyone he happens to latch onto right now." Larek agreed, nodding his head.

John started gathering his notebook and papers together. "It's been a long day," he stood and the two men shook hands. "Larek, I am very honored to have you here in my home. I hope you'll consider it yours, as well. There are three empty bedrooms and two baths on the second floor. Choose whichever room you like. Make yourself comfortable. If you need clothes, I have a few tee shirts and sweats that I'll bring to you, they should do until tomorrow. I'll head into town tomorrow afternoon and pick up whatever else you need."

"Well it was good to wash up, but a hot bath... now that would be a true slice of heaven," Larek returned a smile to him.

John continued. "Once we know that the wormhole is closed, and you'll be able to pick up the energy field or lack of it with your communicator, then we'll all be freer to move around. At that point we'll decide what you two are going to do about Lovell," he looked at Max and Michael.

Kal spoke up, as he stood stretching his arms above his head. "So we've agreed then that we'll notify the Duncans for a gathering here this coming weekend, or should we make that the following weekend?"

"I say we get it over with. Do it this weekend. It gives them three days to make arrangements. That's plenty of time," Max stated bluntly. "I don't think we're going to learn anything earth shattering in this meeting, but we'll all get the opportunity to meet each other. We'll all know more of what we're dealing with. We can bring them up to date about Jared and the wormhole, then. Larek, the moment that energy field closes, I want to know about it." Larek nodded his head.

"I'd really like to get things back to normal as soon as possible," Max said. "I think Michael feels the same way, and I know that Liz and Maria do. We've started a life out there on the coast, Kal. We all have jobs and responsibilities there. We want to return to Lovell. Once back there, we'll all be able to get back to all of this one step at a time."

Michael stood to his feet. "Ditto," he said. "I completely agree with Maxwell. Especially since there seems at this point to be no possible way to join into the fight against Jared. It's time to bring some kind of normal back to our lives at least for a while."

Kal looked out of the corner of his eye at their guest. They all knew how difficult it was going to be for Larek to feel any kind of normal in being here, but hopefully he'd adjust. He was a soldier, he had over the years adjusted to worse scenarios. Well maybe not worst, Kal thought, but extremely difficult scenarios.

"I agree in that there's not much that can be done right now," Larek explained. "Once the portal closes, Jared will be forced to wait, possibly indefinitely, before he can return here. His quest will most definitely be set back, but don't for a minute think that he's going to give it all up. That will never happen, especially now that he knows that the keys are here on this planet along with the icon. I can only hope that Chavez will attempt to reach me somehow, possibly the same way that I used Brody to reach you," he said looking at Max. "He is...he was, my second in command. He'll be moving up to control now...and rightfully so, he's a good man… one of the best. They are all dedicated to the cause of freedom. They will continue on with or without me." His voice was strong, but the confusion and disappointment of the here and now was clear on his face. They had been forced once to continue on fighting for the dream of free worlds, even with the loss of the rightful heirs to the throne. Now they would have also lost the leader of their resistance, and deep inside he remained very proud of them all. He found he was missing them already.

Larek paced a moment or two. "It would be good to know what's happening there. It could very well be imperative for several very different reasons now. There is something that has not been discussed with you or John as yet," he directed to Kal. "Aside from Jared and the continuing war, and the now apparent short-lived truce; other things back on Adia in the past months have been slowly but steadily changing."

He had succeeded in getting everyone's attention. "Directly after the destruction of Antar, strange inconsistencies began to appear in and around the atmosphere above Adia. Calculations showed the possibility of even a slight shift in the axis's rotation. We assumed that the massive explosion of Antar had left some residual effects behind. But as of the day I left, things had not improved. In fact they have worsened. The first signs of this phenomenon were unnatural and rapid climate fluctuations, and extraordinarily strong riptides. And most evident were the slight but yet very significant changes in star co-ordinates. It's the belief of a few scientific specialists who are loyal to the Federalists, that whatever the cause, it could also be what is effecting the stability of the recent wormhole."

They listened intently. This being the first mention of any atmospheric changes in their galaxy, Kal could only shake his head. Whatever it was, John also knew that it wasn't a good sign...not a promising sign at all. War was not just a destroyer of worlds and lives, but it also had the probability of destroying or tainting natural water resources, as well as the very air that was needed for any form of life to survive. Everything that made life on that world possible was put in harms way. Jared's weapons had been powerful enough to completely annihilate an entire planet over a relatively short amount of time. And that was a lot of power.

John remembered his dream, as did Kal, at that very same moment. "Had you had any contact in those last few months with anyone at the observatory at Rochell," Kal asked Larek.

Rochell was an ancient mountaintop observatory that had existed back on Adia for longer than any of them could calculate. Constant updating and revamping of it's internal and external workings through the last centuries had been kept up regularly by the friars who occupied the mountain… It's telescope, and accompanying electronic digital dish, were the largest in their galaxy. Neither John nor himself had given the institute a second thought in over sixty years. Much like Castle Leoch, they had assumed that Jared and his people would have taken siege over the institute, as well, as they had done with most else in the capital city. Rochell had at one time been the meeting place at which all decisions for their united worlds had been made. Those decisions had always been based upon the stars. Everything from agriculture... to love... to weather... to technology… and most especially to war. All of it had been clearly deciphered and calculated from the heavens above them.

"It still stands on land untouched by Eos to my own knowledge. Jared has no belief in the stars. He is, in his own mind, his own god. He needs no others. Why do you ask about Rochell?" Larek replied.

"Kal and I have shared a dream several times recently about the explosion of Antar, and of a huge disturbance that's caused by the destruction. We know it here as a black hole. It's a tear in the universe that folds in upon itself, slowly sucking in everything around it. We believe the dream could be prophetic. I can't help but wonder if this might not be what's beginning to occur back home. The black hole would explain the very recent changes taking place there. Most especially the changes in star co-ordinations, which would in turn effect the moons of Trinity, effecting tides."

John couldn't help but wish that Serena were here right now. This was her cup of tea...her expertise. He checked his watch. She wouldn't be calling until morning now, sometime right after having moved the granolith to the basement of Building D on the Stanford campus.

"We want to hear everything that's been happening since we left, Larek.. and with Trinity, too. But, not tonight." JB hastily wrote a few notations inside his notebook. "I think that's enough for now. Tomorrow night we'll call this up again, bringing everyone into the meeting. I especially want Liz and you two present."

Larek walked across the room, mesmerized by the orange glow of the setting sun drawing him to the picture window there. He stared in awe at the sun setting behind the mountain stretched out on the horizon, and turned to again face the others. "Lovely, absolutely lovely." He raised his arm holding his empty glass of Coca-Cola up in front of him. "Where do I find more of this?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Nice transportation," Katain commented to Lucas, as they stood along side of the Hummer. "I like their style," she added, more and more she was growing anxious to meet these Roswell people. She smiled to herself and passed her hand over the door handle, releasing the lock. Stepping up high inside, she threw their two bags into the back. "I'll take the first half of the journey. You can take over after that." Lucas nodded, being more than happy to leave the decision making up to her.

"What are you doing out there, Lucas?" she yelled out to him, as he searched for the hood release at the front of the truck. She sighed with impatience at him. "I can start it from inside," she explained, and almost instantly the engine turned over.

As he climbed into the passenger seat, he replied, "Well of course you can. I knew that," he lied.

"Now," she smiled at him and relaxed in the driver's seat. "Let's go meet the cousins..."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A big Hi to roswelluver and moonlight and everyone else who is reading. Please don't be shy.

Moonlight thank you so much for the nod in the nomination categories. It really means so much to me that you would take the time not only to leave feedback here, but to mention Smoke and Mirrors and Here and Now for possible nominations.

I won't mention the other site again to ya if you're trying to stay strong. :lol

Here's 45.



CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Everyone had long since retired, except for Max and Larek who were still sitting comfortably in front of the fireplace. After hours of burning, the fire there was finally on its way out. The two of them had talked for hours about both the present and the past, with a definite and almost deliberate exclusion of any talk of the future. It had been Larek who had finally brought up Lonnie, feeling that it couldn't be ignored forever. Max had grown suddenly quiet as he listened to the events of the day that Larek had returned to the Moab camp. Larek sensed the deep guilt within Max and after very little thought he told him that he regretted what he had to do just as much as Zan regretted having to order up such a deed. He then had reassured him that neither of them had had any other choice. The royal lives had depended on it. It was a difficult subject for both of them.

It had been Max who had then steered the conversation past it and on to other things. It was still very clear to Larek, as well as it would be to anyone else knowing anything about Max Evans, that the guilt at the loss of the sister he had once known for such a short while, would remain with him for a very long time. In changing the direction of their thoughts, Max asked, "So… Larek. Was there a lady in your life before leaving Trinity? Knowing you as I have, I'd find it hard to believe if there wasn't." Max joked.

"I have settled down a bit since the old days," Larek stated strongly. "My life doesn't allow much time for those things anymore. A serious relationship just wouldn't be possible. I have from time to time been involved with a few women, Federalists," he clarified. "But I can't say that I've ever truly loved them. My life hasn't been my own for a very long time, Zan. There's no time for the nurturing that is so badly needed in a relationship," he stated honestly. "Besides, there has been far too much else going on. Love hasn't been important to me for quite some time now." Max listened to his words as a large piece of the charred log fell into glowing ash on the floor of the fireplace.

Max always did suspect that although Larek never seemed to be without a lady by his side, he had never through all these years become serious about anyone. Deeper in the back of his mind, Max was also aware that he had had his heart broken many many years before. He had always hoped that his best friend would eventually find the special one... the girl of his dreams. It was again time to change the course of this conversation, Max thought to himself. "I totally agree," Larek said out loud and smiled.

Max had then let Larek know how deeply he felt about his continued dedication with the Federalists, and his sacrifices for the freedom of Adia and Trinity. He made sure that he understood how very proud he was that he had taken up the cause in the name of the royal family. The two had finally talked themselves out, and all was quiet for the longest while. "I think it's about that time," Max said finally, stifling a yawn.

"It would seem so," Larek spoke just above a whisper. "I'm a bit exhausted." He rubbed at his eyes, and sipped from the brandy glass. Only the sound of the crackling dying embers filled the darkened living room.

Max stared at the floor, not knowing exactly how to begin to say what he was feeling in his heart. He took a breath and began. "I haven't been able to find the right words to thank you for saving Liz's life last night. Those two little words thank you, hardly even begin to cover what I'm feeling inside of me. I owe you the world for that, any world," he smiled at Larek, who kept his head lowered. "I can't think of anything that I could possibly do for the rest of my entire life that could ever repay you for what you have given back to me." Larek looked him in the eye, but still said nothing. "She is everything to me, Larek. She has always meant more to me than my own life, and you are one of the very few who has always known that. I should have been there to help her. It should have been me out there with her. When I think back of how close we both came to never finding each other again, it makes me crazy. I made some serious mistakes as Max Evans, Larek. I allowed myself to be deceived by Tess. I've hurt Ava so very much in the past, you have no idea. Now that I've found her again, I couldn't bear to live a day without her." He paused and swallowed hard. "You have been such a true and loyal friend to us both, Larek. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

The one side of Larek's mouth curved up, as his tired eyes gazed at the small amount of brandy left in the snifter in his hands. "It was but fate that had me there and not you. I swore a long time ago to protect her at all costs. I could do no less. I pledged my devotion to Ava a long time ago, Max. I will never do less." Max looked at him, somewhat surprised that he had referred to him just then as Max.

Larek nodded, seeing his reaction. "You will always be Zan and Ava to me in my heart, but if I'm going to be hanging here with you all, I need to get with the program, wouldn't you say? I can't promise that I can make it stick all of the time, but I will do my best." The two men stood and quickly shared a short embrace. "I'll stay down here a little while longer and tend to the fire. Get some rest, my friend, tomorrow will be a trying day for Ava," Larek smiled, tiredly. "And Liz will need you at your best."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The next morning was dark and rainy. Max, Liz, Michael and Maria had left for the Parker house already. Conversation had been few and far between, each one dreading the morning that was to follow. Larek sat at the kitchen table with Sierra, checking the communicator and calculated that the wormhole was still open, although much fainter than it had been the day before. Kal couldn't decide if that was good news or bad.

"Listen, it's on its way out, Kal," Larek stated. "That's a very good sign. I know we'll all feel better when it's completely closed, but for now we have to take what we can get. I can try to zero in on Jared if you'd like. It would be a weak frequency that he couldn't very well trace, especially given the short amount of time he has left here. I tend to believe that they are back on Adia. He would not take the chance of being trapped here now without the proper troops.

"See what else you can find out. But be discreet, Larek. We certainly don't want to blow things now." Larek nodded at him and continued setting up the communicator.

"If you lower the frequency it won't be such an obvious signal," Emily stated, as she entered the kitchen. Larek looked surprisingly at Kal.

"Yes, even now, she still never ceases to amaze me," Kal remarked, watching her pour two bowls of Captain Crunch.

"I will do just that, little one," Larek smiled, wondering what else was stored in the wee one's mind.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Thunder rolled repeatedly overhead as a small damp group of mourners gathered at the cemetery on Bronson's Hill. Liz thought it was somehow very fitting that it was raining. Her Mom had always loved the rain. She used to say that it had such a cleansing effect on everything it touched. She sat next to Jeff at the graveside, with Max standing behind her, his one hand resting comfortingly on her shoulders, his free hand holding a large umbrella over them. Jeff sobbed quietly. Liz's hand automatically tightened its hold on her Dad's, as she fought back the tears that needed so badly to fill her eyes at that moment. Taking a deep breath, she again took hold of her emotions, as her eyes stared longingly at the casket before them.

Maria sat on the opposite side of Liz, with Kyle sitting to Maria's left. Michael stood back several yards behind the group, with a constant visual around the hill. Father Ramsey sat perfectly still at the head of the gravesite. A dear friend of her mom's began to sing as the soft strains of Amazing Grace filled the air. In attendance were approximately thirty intimate friends of Nancy's, each personally invited by Jeff to attend the closed service. Sheriff Valenti stood silently next to Michael, keeping vigil.

Most of those in attendance, Liz and Max had recognized from town. Many had been daily customers at the Crashdown, lifelong residents of Roswell. To Liz's knowledge her mother had no living relatives. Her older sister, Liz's aunt, having passed away six years before from ovarian cancer. One man sitting silently and alone was not familiar to Liz, although she had seen her father speaking with him earlier, when they had all first arrived on the hilltop.

"Dad," Liz whispered. "The man in the dark gray raincoat, I don't think I've seen him before, have I?"

Jeff shook his head. "That's Evan Prost. He was a very good friend of your Aunt Nora's before she passed away. He gave me a call last night, after seeing your mom’s obituary in the Albuquerque Times. He happened to be passing through this area on a business trip, and was greatly shocked and saddened to hear the news." He smiled in the stranger's direction. "Very nice gentlemen. He asked if I'd mind if he'd pay his respects to your Mom while here this morning." Max overhearing their conversation looked in his direction. The stranger never looked up from the ground. He seemed harmless enough, Max thought to himself, but decided to keep a good watch on him throughout the service. I've got him, Michael replied to his thoughts. Max then relaxed the best he could to concentrate on Liz.

Father Ramsey rose to his feet, signaling to the others who then did the same. "We are gathered here today to bid farewell to our beloved Nancy Parker. A dear wife, mother and friend to us all. She was taken suddenly from us, but her spirit has now been joyously welcomed into the gates of heaven, to spend an eternal life with our dear Lord. She'll walk among the flowers there, free of the pain and strife of her earthly existence. We will miss her presence greatly, but the comfort and love that she has bestowed on us all will always remain with those she has temporarily left behind."

The rain never let up throughout the twenty-minute service. Maria at one point stood and gathered an armful of roses. She walked solemnly around, handing one to each of the guests. Her knees were wobbling, as she returned to her place next to Liz.

At several times during the service, Max's eye was caught by the stranger's. Each time, he only nodded slightly to him, in understanding of the sadness that was felt so deeply by all. Kyle was the first to walk forward. Stooping slightly, he placed the white rose on the casket, blessed himself, and then walked back behind the group to where Michael was standing, hands clasped firmly behind his back. Sheriff Valenti, who had been slowly circling the entire group, watching cautiously for any signs of trouble, was the second to lay his rose for Nancy. Slowly, one by one, the mourners came forward. Each laying their flower upon the beautifully carved mahogany box. Many said a few sad words there before walking over to comfort Jeff and Liz, as they sat quietly to the side.

Valenti, Kyle and Michael stood back waiting for the others who quickly gathered around them. There was to be a small spread of refreshments at the Crashdown, and they took this time to invite everyone back there after the service. Everything had already been set up by a few of the town's people who were not attending at the cemetery, so that Jeff hadn't a need to worry about any of the food or drinks.

Max leaned and kissed Liz on the cheek, squeezing her hand one last time, before shaking hands with her dad and stepping back with Michael and the others. Many of the mourners had already started back to their cars, and the only sound then had been the quiet humming of car engines down on the main road below.

Evan Prost had done his best to lag behind, letting those ahead of him each have their short private time with the Parkers. Father Ramsey was among the last, passing a flower to them both, as Liz stood to thank him with a hug. Jeff tried gallantly to smile at him, as he shook his hand.

Prost slowly approached the man and his daughter, as he noticed Max and several other men stepping up closer behind her. He was on his own here, he thought. He had informed his superiors that he knew what his orders were for this trip, and that he didn't need to be told exactly what to say to the two grief stricken figures before him. He held out his hand to Jeff Parker. As Jeff shook his hand he introduced the teary eyed young lady by his side. "Evan, this is my daughter, Liz." Liz smiled as the stranger briefly hugged her. A brief chill ran through him as he sensed the wonderment of the young woman in his arms. Liz had a direct reaction to his touch, but couldn't explain the sensation she was feeling.

"I'm so very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Evans. I knew your mother for only a short time, but she was a wonderful person, and I knew her sister, Nora, loved her dearly."

Liz could only nod and smile. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Prost. My mother would be very happy that you're here." He nodded, then turned ever so slowly and walked toward Max and the other men standing back under an oak tree for cover. Stretching out his hand, he introduced himself again. Max cautiously took his hand. "I'm Max Evans, Mr. Prost. These are our friends Michael, Kyle and his dad, Jim Valenti. It was so kind of you to take the time to come here today."

Evan Prost's heart rate was increasing at his own personal excitement in finally meeting two of the young men he had recently heard and read so very much about. It was an awe inspiring feeling that completely took hold of him. He couldn't help but visualize himself from above, shaking hands with these wondrous creatures. The Gemini's, he thought to himself. It was contact, something he had dreamed about all of his military life. "I'm working nearby for a short time," he explained, then looking up at the falling rain, he continued. "It's a shame, you know," he stated clearly. "But somehow fitting. The angels are crying."

As he spoke the words, Max had an instant succession of short yet clear flashes. Emily...Sierra...he and Liz together...a serene scene of the Trinity they all remembered so well... He could tell that Michael, who was standing close beside him, had felt it as strongly as he had. What the hell, they thought simultaneously.

Prost had continued speaking. "I'm hoping that if there is anything... anything at all I can do to help your situation while I'm here, that you will contact me." As he spoke, he extended his hand to Michael, a business card was passed into his hand. "My line of work may be very helpful to you." The stranger then nodded back to Max and glanced over to where Liz was standing by the grave one last time. "It's been an absolute honor to have met you all." He then walked slowly down the hillside to his car, sat there for a few minutes looking back up the hill, then drove away.

"What the hell just happened?" Michael exclaimed in confusion. He opened his hand, revealing the plain white business card trimmed in black. EVAN PROST 772-226-9088 was neatly engraved on the front side. As Michael flipped the card over, their attention was held by what had been handwritten on the back of the card.
...for they have sent down their Angels to watch over us...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Katain had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. Waking suddenly she opened the glove box, taking out the map she had placed there earlier. After several moments of tracking their progress she looked out the window at the dark clouds ahead of them. "Pull over Lucas and call Nicole," Katain said, looking at the map. Lucas slowed the Hummer and carefully steered it to the shoulder of the road. "Now?" he asked with surprise.

Pulling her hair back tightly into a barrette at the base of her neck, she answered him. "Tell her we're about four hours away. The time has come to know exactly where we are going." Katain folded up the map and threw it back into the glove box.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Max led Liz and her father away from the graveside toward the walkway down the steep hill. "You've really got to take better care, honey. Stairs can be very dangerous when you're in a hurry and I know you... you're always rushing around," he exclaimed. Liz had explained away her limping by telling him that she had pulled a muscle when she tripped down a flight of stairs earlier that morning. "You really should go get an x-ray done up," he insisted.

"It's not broken, Daddy, really it isn't. I just need to stay off it for a little while, til it heals up," Liz answered convincingly.

"I promise you, Mr. Parker. She will be off that leg for the rest of the day," Max added. Several people stood waiting by their car below. Jeff broke a slight smile. "George and Louisa are going to take me back to the restaurant," he explained. "I'm gonna hold you to that promise, Max. I know you'll take good care of her," he looked in Max's direction with something close to a stern look. "How soon will you both be heading back to the east coast?" Jeff asked, placing his arm around Liz.

"Probably on Sunday. We'll both be coming over to see you tomorrow, Daddy." Liz forced a convincing smile looking up into her father's face. "Are you sure you'll be alright now," she asked, knowing full well that George Anders had been a lifelong friend, and if he needed anyone by his side while trying to stay strong, he would be in the best of hands. George would be very good medicine for him. "I'll call you later on tonight, okay? And if you need me for anything please don't be afraid to call my cell. I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetie. You just get back to John's and take care of that leg, young lady. That's what's important to me right now."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The two girls had settled in after breakfast with a project that Maria had left for them. Photos were now strewn across the dining room table, and the girl's had the job of picking out ten new pictures that they thought would be good for Maria's scrapbook. It was a project that had the potential of lasting for hours. Nicole had smiled and excused herself as she went to the kitchen to put on the water for tea. The girls laughed with John who was supervising the hunt, killing time while he waited for Serena to call.

Larek looked up from a collection of John's notes, watching Nicole at the stove. "You must be very excited about seeing your husband again. John tells me he should be here by the afternoon today."

She smiled, "I'm very nervous. It's been a long while since I've seen him." She reached into the cabinet for a cup, motioning if he'd care to join her.

He nodded. "Love is love. Everything will be fine," he assured her. "He was very brave to leave his family behind the way he did. It must have been horribly difficult for both of you." She placed the cups on the table and turned back to the stove, wishing that the water would boil more quickly. Larek sensed her nervousness. "Is something wrong?" he asked with concern.

"It's okay. It's silly I know, but it's that damn dream." She turned the flame higher on the kettle.

"Dream?" Larek replied, curiously. "What dream would that be?"

"Before you came here I didn't know who you were. I had no idea. And yet for months after Lucas left us, I dreamed of the two of you." The kettle began to whistle and she filled the small teapot on the table.

"Hmm, interesting. Precognitive, obviously," he suggested. She looked strangely at him, a look to which he replied, "Precognitive. Meaning, fated, something predestined."

"I know what precognitive means, Larek. I just don't understand how I could possibly know how you would look so many months before actually meeting you," she stammered slightly, filling her cup from the teapot.

"Well," he again sensed her nervousness as he motioned for her to sit down at the table. "Hybrids apparently have very strong presence. Possibly, something from the girls unconscious memory seeped through to you. I have no doubt that they had some knowledge of me even before meeting me. They are little individuals with a very high awareness, if you understand my meaning."

"So, you're saying that there was a transference of some kind, for some reason, from the girls to me, having to do with their father?" She sat across from him and poured his tea.

"Exactly," he answered. "I don't pretend to understand it, mind you; but I do know that you have nothing to fear from me, Nicole," his eyes sparkled as he smiled, making her feel so much calmer than she had just moments before.

"I think I'm realizing that, slowly," she smiled back, and veered the subject elsewhere. "So you were dear friends with Zan and Ava in that other world."

"Dear friends, yes. We grew up together. We shared a lot of very memorable times and some ...not so memorable ones as well." He played with the spoon in his cup. She looked up at him, knowing what he was referring to. "It was an incredibly sad thing that happened to them back there. It must have all been heartbreaking for you."

"Adia has become a very sad place. Yes, it is heartbreaking," he responded.

"That isn't what I meant," she said softly.

"What did you mean," he asked her quietly.

"Nothing," she answered slowly, as the phone rang out in the study. Mere seconds later, John called into her, Lucas was on the line. He had wanted John to tell her that they'd be there in a little over four hours...by two or three in the afternoon. Larek nodded at her. "It won't be too long now."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Prost drove cautiously in the pouring rainstorm, the highway was slick and the wind had picked up, as he headed for Kirtland Air Force Base. Reaching down, he punched out a number onto his cell phone. The call was answered immediately. "Contact has been made, Fannel. It was truly amazing," he sighed.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

As the two couples arrived back from the cemetery, Max insisted that Liz go up and lay down. "You get changed, and I'll make you some soup and a sandwich, how's that? You'll have lunch served to you in bed," he touched his lips to her forehead and than looked deep into her eyes. "Everything's going to be fine. I promise you, babe."

Being now away from her dad and having gotten through the last horrible two hours, Liz was very much closer now to losing her grip. Her bottom lip quivered, and her arms immediately went around his neck. Max squeezed her tightly, "I'll be right up." Reluctantly she climbed the stairs, with Maria close behind her.

Michael came up along side of him and placed his hand on Max's shoulder, "We need to talk to Kal and John about the guy at the service. We shouldn't wait on this," his voice was terribly anxious. Max walked to the kitchen unaffected. "I'm making her something to eat first, then I'm going to spend some time with her. She's ready to crack, Michael. I'm not leaving her alone now. You talk to Kal. I'll join you all after she's safely asleep."

Michael could only nod, being distracted by the large pot of beef stew simmering on the stove for dinner. "It's not ready yet, Michael," Nicole insisted, as he hovered over it. "I just diced up the potatoes and carrots a few minutes ago. Give it another forty five to cook."

"Where's Kal," he asked her, as he watched Max opening the can of chicken noodle soup at the sink. Nicole answered stirring the pot, "He and Larek are in the study. I'm not sure where John is." A few moments later Michael left the kitchen, business card in hand.

Maria came into the kitchen just as Max was leaving, holding a tray of soup, crackers and tea. "Well she's laying down, but she says she's not tired," Maria told him. "I tried to get her to talk to me, but she said she just really needs to listen to the quiet."

"What she needs is to eat something," Max answered with concern, and continued for the back stairs.

Maria took a deep breath turning back into the kitchen. "Hmm, smells yummy. Stew, right?" she asked.

Nicole smiled. "Yep, it's one of Lucas's favorites. He called, they'll be here in time for a nice early dinner. Maria then noticed that the ringlets of curls in Nicole's hair were still slightly wet from washing, and the smell of a light airy cologne mixed with the smell of brown gravy. Maria smiled at her, "The girls are really excited at the idea of seeing their daddy." Nicole shook her head, fully understanding their anticipation.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"There was nothing else unusual about him?" Kal asked turning over the business card. "Not a thing. Just looked like your average Joe." Michael said, flatly.

"No bells or whistles went off in your head when he was near you?" John said, trying to get more of Michael's feelings about this stranger at Nancy's service.

"John, I'm telling you, there wasn't anything strange about him at all, until he said that the angels were crying because it was raining...even that wouldn't have been so strange except that both Max and I got this immediate sense that he was saying so much more. Max got flashes...strong ones of him and Liz and the girls, and I think he said Trinity, too. And then he gave me that," Michael pointed to the card in Kal's hand. "He said that in his line of business he might be able to help us."

"Help us with what? And he never said what kind of business he was in?" Kal questioned. "...they sent down their angels to watch over us..." he read from the card for the third time in as many minutes. "Well, it sure doesn't seem like a coincidence. You say Liz had never met him before?"

"Nope, and neither had Jeff Parker. He claimed to have seen the obit in a newspaper, so he came by to pay his respects. Supposedly, he knew Mrs. Parker's sister a while back. But anybody could have gotten that information, Kal. No... this means something. I feel it. Just as sure as I'm standing here. That phrase is referring to the girls, and we have to find out who the hell he is and how he knows about them, and fast."

"I suppose he could be one of Jared's men, but why all the cloak and dagger, once he got there and saw all of you. Or it could have something to do with Madison..." John sat slowly into his chair. "So what do we do?"

"I say we call the number and find out who he is," Michael stated strongly. "What other choice do we have?"

"And then what?" Kal asked. "Do ya think this guy's gonna say...'why yes, I am an alien and I want something you have....'"

John was still for a short while before he spoke. "No. None of this makes sense if he were with Jared. That wormhole is about to close up, they don't have time for cat and mouse with us now. Anyway, he would have just followed you four back home, if he was looking for Emily and Sierra."

"Well that didn't happen," Michael replied. "The only way I can see to find out anything at all is to call the number." Kal looked to John, both knowing that he was right.

"I can't say why, but I just don't think he was alien at all," Michael said thoughtfully. "In fact... ya know what? I'd bet on it that he's not. So, that leaves Madison or one of his cronies. I say we nip this in the bud."

"I tend to agree," John replied. "We'll wait ‘til we all can gather in here after dinner tonight, then I'll do the calling."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Nicole and Maria sat across from each other at the kitchen table, each paring apples for a planned apple pie. "Boy, Lucas is one lucky man," Maria joked. "Michael would have to do something stupendous for me to make him a pie from scratch." They both laughed.

"Well maybe we should make up two, since we'll have three more than usual for dinner tonight. And all of these guys have huge appetites. I'd hate to see the bill for food," Nicole shook her head, rolling her eyes. "I've tried to give something to John, you know to help out since we've been staying here and all... but, he won't have any of it."

"Yeah, that's John. He's really made something here for himself and Serena. He's been a successful cattle rancher for years and years. I'm sure he can afford a few high food bills. In fact, I think he's really happy to have us all here, especially since Serena's gone back to the university. This time of the year has always been hard for him. But now we're here to stop him from being too lonely." Maria reached for three more apples out of the basket on the floor. "I'll have to pay close attention to how you do this, cause once Michael tastes this and knows it's the real thing, and not Mrs. Smith's, he'll be nagg'n me to make them this way. Frozen pies will be never more in the Guerin household!" Maria laughed, realizing how much fun she was having.

"I had a chance to talk to Larek today, while you were at the funeral," Nicole confided. "He's not quite the monster I thought he was," she blushed as she exaggerated her feelings. "He asked me why I was nervous and seemed scared around him, so I told him about the dreams."

"Yeah, what was all that about anyway? I never heard the whole story," Maria asked, curiously.

"Well that first night that he was here, I recognized him. It scared the crap out of me. I had been having this same dream, oh, maybe five or six times since Lucas left. Well, anyway," she continued, getting up to roll the dough on the countertop, "He was in my dream. It was him and Lucas. No doubt about that. I just couldn't figure out how I would have dreamt him, when I didn't know him. It was just too weird."

"Yeah, that's weird alright. But, guess what Nicole, everything alien related is weird. Weird becomes normal," Maria munched on an apple wedge. "What else was happening in this dream?"

"I can only remember the two of them standing and talking. They were outside, it was bright. And Lucas says...'This has never been good for me, the loss of my family or the situation I find myself in as a Landau. I'm not ready for any of this.' ... each time he says exactly the same words... and then the dream ends very quickly, and I wake up in a cold sweat, shaking uncontrollably."

"And what is Larek doing or saying in this dream?" she had Maria's attention.

"He's just standing there talking to Lucas in the beginning of the dream, but I can't seem to remember all of what it is that he's saying. Something about responsibilities… playing fair.. striking out at someone...." She sighed. "I can't seem to put it together… it's all disconnected somehow. But I remember what Lucas said. That comes out loud and clear to me. At any rate, Larek seems to think that the girls are unconsciously sending me information… because they're worried about their dad... and worried about everything else that's going on. I felt much better after we talked. I had the chance to talk to Lucas on the phone in-between our conversation, so I think that helped too."

Maria sighed as she finished with the last apple. "Well dreaming about Larek doesn't have to be a bad thing." She mumbled, chuckling to herself.

"What? What's going on?" Michael was suddenly standing behind her. Maria jumped and was caught completely off guard. "Michael! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that? You scared the wits out of me." He smiled at Nicole, "I'm not touch'n that one."

"We're making pie, Michael, that's all. No national secret happening in here," Nicole winked at him. As he left the kitchen, she turned quickly to Maria, trying not to laugh, "You are bad, girl."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


General Prost and Fannel rode in the jeep to the far south end of Kirtland. Then they quietly walked a ways, side by side. Both men were following an MP with orders to escort them to the WSA Bunker at the southeast corner of the Manzano Storage Area. As they came closer, the first thing Prost noticed was the increased security. A high chain link fence with infer-red scoping devices surrounded the compound. Every ten feet or so, he noticed surveillance cameras scanning the grounds, both outside and inside the storage area. There they found another gate house. They each showed their credentials and were allowed to pass. The MP directed them to the seventh bunker on the left, and saluted before returning to his post. There were approximately ten or twelve bunkers, very small windowless cubicles.

They approached the seventh bunker. Passing their digital cards through the scanner at the entrance, the door clicked open and they entered into a small room, maybe 6x6 feet. The room was completely gray and barren of anything on its concrete walls.

"This is interesting," Prost whispered to Fannel, who seemed to have faded to a light gray color himself. "I hate tight places. I thought it looked a little small from topside," Fannel replied.

The men suddenly had a strange sensation of moving. Prost felt the room dropping ever so slowly and moving to the right. "We're going down and ...." Before he could finish, the large gray wall before them slid back revealing the interior of a huge brightly lit hanger. A swish of air quickly filled the elevator as the two men stepped out. A tall soldier walked stealthily in their direction. "Prost and Fannel? I'm Jackson, Colonel Matthew Jackson. Good to see you both."

Prost was too busy staring at the huge object at the far end of the underground hanger. His heart was skipping beats left and right, and he had the odd feeling that his normal rate might never return. It was so much larger than the two at Yucca. So much larger, and shaped much differently too. He checked to make sure his jaw wasn't hanging open.

"This, my friends, is the Horizon, founded in Chechnya in '54. I imagine it's very different from what you two have been used to at the Flats."

"Jesus... it's incredible," Prost was completely and utterly amazed, questions began popping into his head left and right. This one was so very different from anything he had even seen at Yucca Flats, different than anything captured in pictures. The Brigadier General had told him that it was a true sight to behold, but he never dreamed he'd be standing here at this moment looking at a thing of such size and wonder. Contrary to the earlier finds, this could not be classified as a saucer. It was far from saucer shaped. It was more the shape of a huge boomerang. Brushed gold in color, with engraved markings all along its sides. "What's its dimensions?"

"800 x 300 basically...of course that would be on each wing. She's got three levels," he talked as he led them over for a closer look, and his voice echoed in the great vastness of the hanger around them. "It's our belief that she's a cargo or transport ship. Much bigger than the scouting ships found before her. And of course, the icing on the cake... she's fully functional. There was virtually no damage to her hull upon crash."

"Was anything else recovered at the crash site?" Fannel asked.

Jackson shook his head. "Not that the Russians have seen fit to mention to us," he replied, empathetically. "Care to go on board, gentlemen?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz had managed to eat half of her soup and a few sips of tea. She munched on a saltine and glanced over at Max sitting on the bottom of the bed watching her closely. "I'm okay, Max," she insisted. "Thank you for making this up for me. But I really wish you'd stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" he asked with a grin.

"Like I'm going to go stark raving mad any second," she answered, settling herself back against the pillow. "I just need to take a nap is all."

He gathered the things together on the tray on her lap. "Well, now that you've got something in that beautiful little stomach of yours, I'm going to let you do just that," he scooted up closer to her, kissing her on the cheek. As he stood to take the tray off the bed, she reached for his hand. "Lay with me for a little while, okay? Just ‘til I fall off to sleep."

He laid the tray onto the floor and positioned himself on the bed by her side, making a comfortable pillow of his arm under her head. "Anything you need, I'm here. I'll always be here," he said softly and rested his chin on top of her head that was resting so naturally high up on his chest. "It was a really nice service. I think Father Ramsey's words were beautiful. Don't ya think?"

She nodded her head and closed her eyes. "I wish I had paid more attention to Mom when she was here. There were so many times when we'd be right there in the same room together, and not say a word to each other. I wish things could have been different. I'll always regret that."

"I know," he rubbed his hand lightly on her arm. "She knows you love her, Liz. You have to think of all the happy, fun times you and your mom and dad had while you were growing up. It'll take a while, but one day soon you'll be able to smile when you think about her. That's what grieving is all about. You have to get past the sadness. I'm really glad that we came back to Roswell when we did. It's good that she got to see you again, and that you had some time to spend with her at the hospital."

"Not enough time. It could never have been enough time," her voice filled with emotion and cracked, and then she began to cry. "I want to tell her how much she meant to me and now I'll never have that chance to." Her body shook uncontrollably and the tears started. He pulled her tight to him and said nothing as months and months of pent up emotion came finally flooding to the surface. "I love you, Liz. I'm so sorry." He stayed with her until she had cried herself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lucas had insisted on pulling into the next food stop they could find, which ended up being the Cozy Shak on County Road 16. "Sorry but I couldn't go another mile without eating. Don't you eat?" he asked as they both settled into a booth in the otherwise empty diner. "Of course, I eat. I'm just more disciplined than you are. In a lot of ways," she added.

"Listen I'm sorry that I'm not as into this whole thing as you and the others seem to be. I spent a lot of time running for my life before ending up in Dakota with Ava and my grandmother." He reached for the menu.

"Lucas, we're all running for our lives. You're no different than any of us. Just because you abandoned your family..."

He interrupted her immediately. "I didn't abandon them, Katain. I just thought they'd be safer without me."

"Yes, and yet you knew that your girls were different early on. And you claim that you had no idea at that point that you yourself were different. Isn't that what you said before?" she eyed the waitress and motioned for her.

He shot her a look over the menu. "What are you saying?"

She sighed. "Look we all get scared, but we usually try to do anything and everything to protect our own."

Lucas' face turned ashen. "So let me get this straight. You think that I was running away from what I thought was going to happen."

She took a minute to form her thoughts. "I'm not so sure you did it intentionally to protect the girls, no. I think that knowing that the girls where different, just as others you had heard about in your ancestry… yes, I think you ran."

He threw down the menu. "I watched my nephew get murdered in a peaceful meadow in Maine. Now I don't expect you to understand what that feels like, but I needed to get away from the danger. I needed to get them away from the danger."

"The responsibility that was yours was then laid at the feet of your wife, Lucas. She's the one who has had to bare the brunt of all of this for the last six months. I just don't think it was the responsible thing for you to do."

The waitress walked to the table to take their order. Lucas looked up and calmly ordered a BLT with fries and a coke, and smiled at the waitress. Katain ordered a Caesar Salad. After the young woman walked back to the kitchen, he answered her accusation. "I did what I thought I had to do. Look at you... you left a small child behind. Is that what you call responsible?"

"If I had a small child I would never under any circumstances, knowing the danger, leave their side. I lied. I don't have any children," she said bluntly. "I needed to gain your trust, and so I told you that I understood what you where going through."

"You lied to me? What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you lie about something like that?" His face was flush with the anger he was feeling at being betrayed in such a harsh way.

The waitress returned with his soda, and Katain remained quiet until she was out of earshot. "Lucas, I needed you to trust me. Time was of the essence. I'm only telling you all this now because there are a few things that you need to face before you see your family again. It was a small lie on my part, but I fear your lies to be much bigger."

"Is that right? You think you have all the answers, don't you," he looked out the window, not being able to meet her eyes.

"Well, tell me then, Lucas. What are you plans once we see your family? And I don't mean what you think we all want you to feel, what do you honestly plan on doing?"

"I'm taking my family back to Dakota. I want no parts of any of this shit,” he continued to stare out the diner window. Katain said nothing, knowing she had made her point. "I'm not like you or the others," he said. "I don't have any special fantastic powers at my fingertips, and I don't want any. That's the truth. I don't care what the rest of you have up your sleeves, me and my family will not be part of it."

"You don't have a choice where your daughters are concerned, Lucas. They are a very big part of a much larger puzzle. Besides, I believe Nicole has some say in this matter. They have accepted who they are, why can't you?"

Lucas grinned. "My wife will do what I want her to do. I haven't waited all this time to be told by you or anyone else what is good for my family."

"Had Nicole not called Ava to get in touch with you, or had my family not shown up on your doorstep, you had intended on going on with your life. Otherwise, Lucas, you would have tried in some feeble way to contact your family during the last six months, to find out whether they were indeed dead or alive. You weren't being noble. Your intentions were all about you, not them. Face the facts, for they are very clear."

Their meals were served and both grew quiet. Neither spoke until their food was finished and the waitress brought the bill. "I've got it," Katain stated, taking out money from her back jeans pocket.

Lucas started to respond slowly. He could continue the lie, he thought, but what was the use, she saw right through him. He swallowed hard. "I was scared, Katain. I'm still scared. And yes, you're right. I had no intention of contacting them," Lucas confessed, with little if any remorse to his voice. "I figured it would be better for everyone concerned. A new start."

"Why were you so anxious then to go to Lovell to find them," she asked as they walked to the register. "No," she added, "Let me tell you why, since you claim that I know it all. You were guilted into it. Once we arrived, and you found out the whole truth, you had to save face." Lucas said nothing as they walked outside and stood beside the truck. "That's so very sad," she hopped up into the drivers seat. "I'm thinking that we love your daughters so much deeper than you ever could, Lucas. Because we accept them for who they are. We respect something that is much more important than ourselves."

She hardly waited for his door to close before hitting the gas and pulling back out onto the highway. "It looks to me like you have a little more than an hour to decide who you love more, and how far you will go to protect that love. It is their destiny, Lucas. You can be a part of it or not, but you can not stop them from fulfilling it."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

John answered the phone at twelve when Serena called. A good deal of the conversation consisted of her reassuring him that they were all fine and that the granolith was tucked away deep in the basement of their building. The trip had turned out to be relatively uneventful, to all their relief. He had filled her in on Larek's arrival, after the confrontation between him and Tess at the podchamber, Liz's mom's funeral, and the strange man at the services. He then told her that he wasn't sure exactly how they were going to handle things, but that he would call her immediately after the decision had been made.

"One other thing, hon. Larek has informed us that there's been some atmospheric changes happening around Adia. It seems to have begun after the explosion of Antar. Tides are intense and star constellations have changed. Does this sound like a possible black hole to you?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line. "I'd like to talk to Larek… see if I can get any other details from him. It would make sense that the destruction of a planet so near to others around it would be bound to through off some disturbances. I can't say for sure," she said with concern. "I can try to get into the observatory here on campus, and check records there for the last month or so, to see if anything's been recorded or surmised. I'll get Coby to check some things out on the Internet."

"Well, Larek isn't here right now to talk to. Kal took him into town to pick up some clothes. He had pretty much only what was on his back and a few personal items with him," John set his coffee cup down on the desk. "I miss you terribly."

"I know, I miss you too," there was an emotional pause. "This is really hard John...I mean me just getting up and having to leave so quickly like that. I wish there could have been another way, but there just wasn't. If what you say is true and the wormhole is about to close, I am so very relieved that the danger will have left for at least a short while. I can't begin to tell you how relieved. Although, I'm guessing that Larek's gotta be really going crazy, being trapped here like this."

"He's a big boy, he'll be fine," John answered, not wanting to give her anything else to worry about. "It's gonna take some time, but he'll adjust. He's got a lot to learn about this place he'll be calling home now. We'll all be there for him, to help him through."

"Okay, well I'm gonna let you go for now. I know you have a lot on your plate there. I will call you with any information that Coby might find out, even if it's not relevant. You'll be the judge of that, okay? I don't want to miss anything. Stay safe, and don't worry about me. I'll be okay. I love you, John." He heard her voice crack near the end of her spoken words. A few moments later, he reluctantly ended the conversation.

He sat at his desk staring at the wall for a very long time after he had hung up the phone. Things were changing so fast now, he thought. Something was on the horizon. Adia had already gone through hell with Jared there in control, but it could very well be in even dire straits, if his and Kal's dream had any relevancy at all. He looked down at the business card sitting in the middle of the desk blotter. It seemed to call up at him. He absentmindedly reached into the top desk drawer and took out the TicTacs. Shaking a few into his mouth, he picked up the phone again.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz woke to see Sierra standing in the bedroom doorway. She pushed herself up onto one elbow. "Hi, sweetie. What‘cha doin’?" The little one looked confused and shaken. "What's wrong Sierra?"

"I was napping on the couch and I had a dream," she said in a whisper. Liz patted on the comforter next to her and Sierra climbed into bed with her. "Well it sounds like it wasn't a very nice dream. It's okay. Was it a nightmare? You know, sometimes I have nightmares in the daytime too when I sleep."

"I dreamed of a ship," Sierra said quietly, eyes wide. "A space ship. You and me and Max were there. So was Uncle Michael and John and Aunt Maria. We were sitting around playing rummy and... and I wanted to go outside and play, but Max said that I couldn't," the little one pouted.

Liz hugged her close to her. "It's okay. I dream of space ships too sometimes," she smiled down at her. "What was it that scared you so much, though?" Sierra fidgeted and pulled the comforter over her, snuggling in closer. "Aunt Maria said that I should color for a while with her. She said I should draw my pretty flowers, but I couldn't. I tried and I tried but I just couldn't draw them like I always do."

Liz smiled at her. "Well maybe you didn't have the right colored crayons," she suggested, trying to do her best to calm her. "Is that what scared you? That you couldn't draw the flowers?"

"No." She shook her head and her eyes wandered aimlessly around the room, as Liz waited for a response. Sierra's eyebrows lowered into another frown. "I know I was scared... really frightened." She laid her head back on the pillow. "I don't know. I forget."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At three fifteen that afternoon a familiar truck was roaring up the Brown driveway. Michael stood up from his seat on the front porch steps. God, he had missed the ole tank. She was still a beauty, but badly in need of a bath, he thought as he stepped down to be the first to meet their two new guests. "We've got company," he yelled loudly over his shoulder into the house. The sky had now cleared to a hazy gray, but at least the rain had stopped early on in the afternoon.

Katain turned off the engine and stared around out the windows, taking in everything around her. "This is magnificent," she said in a low voice, while Lucas stared at the young man who was approaching the truck. "Who's that?" he asked.

"Lucas, I don't know anymore than you do right now. Please… try to relax, or we'll be revoking your membership in the Hybrid Club," she smiled for maybe only the fifth time since Lucas had met her.

He knew that she was trying to lighten the mood but his stomach was in knots anyway. Conversation for the last hour had been pretty well nonexistent. He had had plenty of time to think, but he still was feeling no different than he had for the last four hundred miles. He looked around for his wife.

Katain was the first to step out of the vehicle, as Michael approached the driver’s side. "Katain Duncan," she said extending her hand.

Michael grabbed on. "Michael Guerin," he returned to her nod. "Pleasure to meet you Katain." He noticed immediately what an attractive, and yet strong young woman stood before him.

"Nice taste in tanks," she motioned behind her to the H2.

Michael laughed, "Yep she's a beaut isn't she? She actually belongs to John," he admitted sadly. "But it's kind of communal, if ya know what I mean." He looked across the hood as Lucas climbed out. "You must be Lucas," Michael said with a welcome smile. "That would be me," Lucas replied back with something short of the same.

"LUCAS!" Nicole yelled out from the porch as the screen door slammed behind her. She ran to him arms outstretched, with tears growing in her eyes "My god, Lucas," she broke down as his arms went around her. "Nicole, are you alright?" he asked most seriously, looking past her at the three strangers now standing out on the porch.

John, Max and Liz stood looking out at the reunion before them. They knew how much this all meant to Nicole, but Liz sensed as did the other two, that things weren't quite as happy with their male visitor.

Michael and Katain walked to the porch, and again Katain nodded to them. "This is Katain," Michael said. "Katain, this is John Brown and Max and Liz Evans." She shook hands with each one and her eyes fell last on Liz. "You're my ghost," she announced. Then seeing Liz’s surprise at her words she added, "I had a few visions of you. A statue at Nicole's apartment," she explained. "...I flashed on your face. You've got to be Ava," she said. "I am deeply honored."

Liz returned her smile. "Yes… yes I’m Ava." Liz felt the personality within her, and was suddenly feeling overwhelmingly proud.

Katain then turned to Max, "…and you're Zan." She held out her hand. "I can't tell you what this all means to me. I've spent most of my life waiting for this day." Max felt vaguely uncomfortable at the honor she was so obviously bestowing on meeting them both. He had up to now, thought of them all as hybrids, not wanting to separate the significance of either himself or Liz to the entire group. But he supposed the facts were the facts, and he realized that from this moment on things had the possibility of being very different for everyone concerned.

"I'm fine, Lucas," Nicole was saying to her husband as they still stood down by the Hummer. "And now that you're here, I'm even better. The girls are so anxious to see you," she exclaimed. Lucas looked around the huge yard. "Where are they?" Nicole hugged him tightly again. "Their Aunt Maria has them inside. She was trying to give us a few moments together, before untying them," she giggled, joking. "Come… let me introduce you to a few very special friends." She led him to the house. The others had already gone inside, leaving the two some privacy, which at the time was beginning to seem unnecessary to Nicole, but she continued to push her fears away.

As the group gathered inside, Max continued with the introductions. "This is Maria DeLuca, and I think you know the two little ones hiding behind her," Max smiled, kiddingly. "Look who's here!" Max said announced as two small red heads peeked out from around Maria's jeans.

Emily was the first to walk to her dad. He leaned down and scooped her up and motioned over to her sister. "Sierra, honey, its daddy! Come here let me see you." Sierra half reluctantly, half grinning, walked to him. Both girls hung onto his neck as he whispered to them, "I love you and I've missed you both so much." Katain watched him closely and looked to Max, who caught her eye.

"Come in the living room and sit," Liz said. "You both must be exhausted after driving all night and day. Nicole has made some delicious surprises for dinner. We can eat whenever you're ready to."

Michael spoke up from the kitchen doorway. "Well I'm hungry," he said rolling his eyes. "You guys must be too." Maria slid her arms around his waist. "Michael you're never not hungry." He nodded with an expression of so what.

"Actually we just had a little something about an hour ago. Lucas couldn't wait," Katain replied at the invitation. "But you go on ahead. Maybe we could get washed up some while you all have your dinner?"

"I'll tell you what," John suggested, "let's wait for Kal and Larek, they should be back any minute. And lord knows they'll be hungry, maybe by then you two will be too." He smiled at Katain, who he noticed was having no trouble adjusting to the meeting. Lucas on the other hand was another story... he thought to himself. Something else was going on there, and he wasn't sure just what. As he finished his thought, he looked from Lucas to Katain, and his eyes met hers in an understanding way. Yes, he thought, it seemed the girl’s father could be having trouble adjusting.

Lucas sat farther into the living room with his family, after returning from freshening up in the bath upstairs. Katain left them alone and entered the dining area, where Liz and Maria were setting the large table for dinner.

"It smells wonderful," Katain exclaimed. "Maybe I'm hungrier than I thought, no?" Maria looked up into the strong dark eyes across from her. "Well there's plenty here," she replied. "So, Katain, that's a great name. Where do you hail from originally?" Liz smiled to herself, thinking that if anyone had any success in pulling information from a stranger, it would be Maria. She was so honest, people always felt natural around her.

"The Duncan family was originally from Bolivia. I was born there, along with my older brother Marshall and younger sister, Jessica. There's also our grandfather, Raymond Duncan. We moved to the States about twelve years ago. Recently we've been living out in Seattle."

Liz nodded with a smile, "Wow, Bolivia? I couldn’t quite place the accent. It's beautiful country down there I hear." Maria motioned for her to take a seat as the table dressing finished.

"Yes it is beautiful. Very different from up here." She grew quiet, not quite comfortable with the yet comfortable feeling she was feeling around them. "How many hybrids live here?" she asked.

Maria tensed up at her reference, as Liz answered her. "Well, there's eleven of us, when we're all here, that's including Nicole and the girls. Two aren't here right this moment. That would be the Kal and Larek that John mentioned earlier. They're off in town, buying Larek some clothes. He just ...arrived, actually." Liz too was feeling strange about the openness she was feeling talking with this new stranger. Funny, she thought, Katain didn't feel like a stranger at all. She almost felt she had known her for some time already. "Michael and Maria, Max and I don't really live here. We've only come back to Roswell for my mother. She passed away this last weekend."

"Liz, I'm so sorry. Had she been ill long?" The color began to drain from Liz's face. "No… no she hadn't been." As she looked up into Katain's eyes, she realized instantly that the girl was reading her thoughts. Liz herself had felt Katain's strong anger when she remembered the reason her mother was no longer with them. I'm sorry. They both smiled at realizing they shared the same gifts. "I don't know why I'm surprised," Katain said out loud. "I would imagine that Ava is a very strong personality with many gifts."

Liz could only nod her head, "Yes, she is… and she does have a few…gifts." They smiled at each other once again, and Liz felt how great it was to be talking to someone else who truly understood. They were both hybrids, but for different reasons they had now arrived at the same place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The sound of Kal's noisy jeep was heard out in front, and Max, Michael and John immediately came out of the study. Lucas looked up from his conversation with his family to watch them all carefully. As Larek and Kal entered through the back kitchen door, the introductions began again as they all moved back into the dining room.

As Kal shook Lucas's hand politely he got a strong vibe of mistrust, but temporarily brushed it off. On the other hand, he was immediately taken with Katain's aura, stature and height; and Larek as usual was his charming self to both newcomers.

Katain asked while shaking his hand, "So you've just gotten here too, no?"

Larek looked a bit startled at first, looking immediately to Liz. "Aah, yes I have," he answered, holding onto her hand for a few seconds longer. "Did you come far?" she asked in innocence.

Kal stepped in. "He's here from Adia." Liz quickly looked at Kal, surprised at his response. Katain's hand tightened on Larek's. "My Lord. You have come a distance, haven't you?" she stuttered as a beautiful smile broke across her face. "I'm...I'm speechless."

"Yeah, it was quite the trip," he grinned back to her. Liz caught the slight blush on his face and couldn't help but wonder if it was there because Kal had revealed his 'secret' so honestly and openly, or if he was in fact taken with the girl. For that split second Liz couldn't read him. Katain smiled at them both.

"Larek," Liz spoke up quickly, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Maria interrupted her, stating, "Dinner's about ready so don't be too long."

Katain watched closely as Liz took his hand leading him out of the kitchen. As they reached the dining room, Max was standing waiting with a smile. "The porch please," Liz said curtly.

The two men followed her with a strange look to each other. Finally outside, Liz turned to the two. "First of all, you both need to know that Katain shares the gift of thought transference with us. So please, for now, be careful. It's not that I don't trust her, it's just that at this point, it could be important to watch our thoughts."

Max looked strangely at her and then to Larek. "I don't understand, Liz. I think we both figured that it was probable that they would all share at least some of the things that we do. It doesn't surprise me at all, really. What's your point, babe?"
She looked at Larek. "I don't know. I just think it doesn't hurt to be… careful."

Larek smiled, "Gotcha," he stated and winked. "Max... me thinks the Lady Ava has experienced a touch of jealousy." He grinned, as Liz's mouth dropped open in defiance.

Max looked with a half smile to his lady. "Well, Liz," he said. "There's nothing at all to worry about. We are the four musketeers, and we will not become five... unless absolutely necessary." Max patted Larek on the back as they both quipped little comments to each other and returned into the house, leaving Liz on the porch feeling a bit more than embarrassed.

Dinner was served, and Liz couldn't help thinking that all in all it had gone very well, despite the fact that Lucas said virtually nothing during the myriads of conversations breaking out at the table.

After dinner everyone took off to different sections of the ranch. It was Liz and Max's turn for dishes. Liz was washing as Max stood with the dishtowel in hand. As the sink filled with soapy foam, Max snuggled up behind her and whispered in her ear. "I've got wonderful news."

Liz turned her head to the side as he kissed the side of her neck. "What would that be, love?" she asked, as goose bumps ran up her spine at the touch of his lips on her skin.

Max lost himself for several moments around the soft skin at her ear. "God you smell great," he said, distractingly. "You're tickling me," she whispered. "Should I stop?" he asked, mischievously.

"Well considering that both my hands are wet and we're standing in the kitchen...yes. But don't forget to pick this up right here at this point… later." She turned to catch his eye. "What news?" she asked trying desperately to change the very subject that was at that instance beginning to run wild through her body.

"The wormhole is closed," he said slowly and very matter of factly. But then he couldn't hide his own relief anymore.

Liz's eyes opened wide in amazement. "WHAT? Oh my god, Max!" She whirled around to see the happy grin on his face, and threw her wet soap arms around his neck.

Max explained, "Larek can't pick up the electromagnetic field in any kind of signal off the communicator."

"Thank god," she whispered into his ear, as her eyes filled up. Thank you so much, Lord, she thought.

He hugged her hard, lifting her up off the floor and spinning her around. "Just two more small details to see to; this guy and his business card, and then the gathering on Saturday... and then we're going home," he kissed her hard and deep.

She finally pulled away only slightly looking up into his deep brown eyes. "Ohh, we can go home now," she repeated and kissed him back full on the mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone with the exception of the little ones gathered in John's study at seven that night. Lucas had finally given in to Nicole's wishes and joined them. The room was crowded, but everyone found a place to sit, whether it was on a chair or couch; or in Maria and Larek's case, the floor.

Michael was very anxious to know what they would decide to do about Evan Prost. John started out by telling everyone that he had relayed Larek’s information about the disturbances in the Whirlwind Galaxy to Serena earlier in the day, and commented that she was anxious to get on it, and she'd let them know as soon as any of them had any information.

He then officially welcomed Katain and Lucas, explaining the intricacies of all of their identities. Katain didn't seem surprised at all to learn that John and Kal had been the protectors here of the royal family, or that Michael was Zan's second in command as Rath. These were all names that she had become quite familiar with during her lifetime. She smiled again when Maria had boldly announced that she was just Maria, making for a light moment. Nicole also then raised her hand, laughing slightly, admitting her obvious human status. At that point, Larek had dramatically risen to his feet. "Well if we're going on an official record here today, I should mention that I am not of the hybrid persuasion. I'm just all Adian...and pretty proud of that too." He jokingly took a bow, as a few of the others in attendance clapped. Katain added in a comical tone, "Well I'd say that does make you pretty special, does it not?"

John's attention was drawn deeper into the group before him. He was relieved that they were already reacting to each other as a family. Not just Larek, but also Katain. In listening to the banter of the group, someone from the outside might think that they had all known each other quite well.

He waited ‘til the room returned to semi quiet again. "First of all, thanks to our Adian friend here, we have of course been informed that the withering wormhole has officially closed it doors. We're not going to dwell on that good news for too long though, because we do have some other pending business to attend to. I have taken the liberty of making an all important phone call."

Michael's face grew steadily more interested, as did the others in the room. "I've spoken to Evan Prost. Let me just say that he is 100% human, for those of you who may have been thinking otherwise." Kal smiled and put his head down, being fully aware of what was coming next. "Now I know that I should have mentioned this important fact to all of you earlier in the day, but Kal and I thought we'd take some time to let his information compute in our own minds before bringing the information to all of you." The room was suddenly completely quiet.

"I also want to preface what I'm about to say with the simple fact that I have no idea of anything else other than what I will tell you now. We are just as confused as I'm sure you will all be." He paused for a second then continued. "Mr. Prost, is actually General Evan Prost of the United States Air Force."

Liz felt her heart jump into her throat as she grabbed Max's hand. "What?" she exclaimed, horrified. Michael was heard to say in a whisper, "Jesus... we're done."

Max spoke up quickly, motioning with his hand around the room, "Settle down, everyone. What the hell does this mean, John?"

"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to have the conversation that I had with him. I am in a word, baffled, by the entire matter, but I think it warrants following up on. It's surprisingly not the bad news that we may have thought it to be. It seems he's associated with a covert branch of the military and scientific community, functioning under the title of the Aquarius Project. And recently has found himself in an extraordinary situation within a group who call themselves Project Gemini. This is a highly classified project, as is Aquarius. We do owe thanks to General Prost in that it was he who saw to it that Alex Madison was taken off of the front lines and to the dismantling of Eagle Rock."

"So he's a good guy?" Michael asked, trying to put the pieces together.

"I know this is going to be difficult to understand, but he claims that Project Gemini is completely and totally about protecting hybrids. It is very possible that he has some of the answers that we've all been looking for. At the very least we need to hear him out, as he seems to know all of our identities." There wasn't a single sound in the study as John continued on. "Prost claims that the project exists only to protect us. And yes, apparently they have their own reasons for wanting to do just that. I've arranged a meeting with him. Whoever would like to accompany me is free to do so. I will say this, without any doubt in my mind at all, I don't in any way perceive this man to be a danger to us." John leaned back in his chair, waiting for a response.

"Gemini," Maria whispered almost to herself. "As in astrology? The Twins? Well, yes, that would make a lot of sense," she played with her hair, nervously.

Michael spoke up as he rose to his feet. "The government? On our side? Since when?" Other questions immediately filled the air from all directions...A meeting? Where and when? What does he want? Can we trust him?

Kal walked behind John's desk and held both hands up for quiet. "We both feel that yes, he can be trusted. We want to hear what he has to say. He claims he is not here to change anything or to put any pressure on us at all. The meeting is simply to fill in details. To make us aware."

Katain looked at Max, as if waiting for a response. Max got to his feet. "I'm going with you, John." Michael and Katain both spoke the same words at exactly the same time without hesitation. "I'm in."

"I'm thinking that John, Max and Michael should go," Kal suggested, and Liz cut in before he could continue. "I'm thinking we all go, or no one goes. I want to see up close what this guy is all about. I won't sit here and be wondering if you all are safe," Liz stated bluntly.

John frowned, knowing ahead of time that this would be a problem. "We're meeting him at the Linary Rock Quarry outside of town." Max then nodded, clearly recognizing the spot. "Yeah we all know where that is... well, we four do. We used to go there all the time, back before we left Roswell. It's secluded… private."

"We know nothing more than John has just told you,” Kal interjected honestly. “Prost is coming alone, he's sworn his word on that. I trust John's feelings on the guy. And I think it's fair to say that we won't all be going..."

Michael looked at Max. "Max and I are going and that's the end of it," he stated. Max countered, "John, Michael and I."

Liz stood and grabbed at Max's sleeve, as Maria closed her eyes, putting her head down. "This is the government that we're talking about here. Why should we trust them now? For god's sake, they created the Special Unit," Liz exclaimed.

"I would tend to agree with you, Liz, but in this case, something is different… very different. I really do trust him. I can't tell you exactly why, but I do. And in the interest of trust, Mr. Prost thought that we might be hesitant, and so he mentioned an agent that had worked undercover at one time for Aquarius. The name...," John again hesitated, "...is a name that once was familiar to a few of you." John looked directly at Liz before continuing. "Kathleen Topolsky."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"This person? Was this someone that you trusted in the past," Katain asked, standing next to Max, with Liz at his side. The meeting had finally broken up with the decision that Prost would be met the following day. As to who would be attending, that decision had been left open at the moment.

"Yes, she tried to help us once. But, they had her killed,” Liz answered.

"Who had her killed?" Katain asked.

"I don't even know the answer to that anymore," Max said quietly. "She was posing as a guidance teacher at the high school, when in fact we discovered that she was working for the FBI. But then suddenly she seemed to become very sympathetic toward us. She had even warned Liz that the special unit was looking for me. And then she had left Roswell but then returned a year later to warn us again. And now it seems that she was in some way really associated with this Aquarius project."

"Like a double agent. Well do you trust this General, knowing that he has knowledge of this woman?" Larek asked.

Max shook his head. "Let's just say that my curiosity is a bit stronger than my actual trust at this point."

"Ahh, well if it's instinct that you two are going on, then I say I trust your instinct implicitly. I agree, we meet him. See what the man has to say," Larek replied to Max. He glanced over with a frown at Lucas who was sitting alone in the darkening living room flipping through a magazine while his family played outside in the last bit of daylight. "I'm going outside for a bit of air," he said with distain obvious in his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Liz motioned to Lucas, and Max took the hint. He walked into the room and plopped down on the chair across from him. "Hey," Max said lamely. "Umm, look I know you feel strange about all this. But I promise you that things are going to work out fine. You have two great kids there, and Nicole, well she's ..."

Lucas cut him off, "Listen Max, you don't have to do this small talk with me. It's not necessary. I'm way out of the loop here. I didn't understand a damn thing that was being said in there during that meeting of yours, and I don't care about your problems. I might have had the unfortunate fate of being born a Landau... into a family of crazy, weird relatives, but I am free to choose my own path. I will choose my own family’s path as well. And I really don't want anything to do with something that's going to put myself, my kids or my wife at risk."

"Hold up, Lucas," Max raised his voice a bit, as Lucas opened his mouth to continue. "I completely understand what you're feeling. There was a lot about me that I didn't want to face up to for a long time. Just discovering that I was a hybrid was difficult enough to deal with, but then to learn that I'm this prince that has the responsibility of another world... worlds," he corrected himself, "...in my hands.... worlds that I have already died once for... No, Lucas, none of it has been easy, and I don't try to kid myself into thinking that it's not going to continue to be difficult. But you know what makes it bearable, Lucas? I've got a lot of people that I care deeply about, and a woman who I would sell my soul to protect. I am doing this for them. You? You have two beautiful daughters and a loving wife who are trying very hard to figure out their purpose in this life of theirs. They're not asking you to come up with answers for things you don't know. They're not asking you to sell your soul for them. They just need you to stand up and be a man. If you truly love them, that's not a big thing to ask. But know this Lucas, we will protect them from harm with or without you there to help us."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The following morning John put the call in to Evan Prost. The meeting was set for ten o'clock at the Linary Rock Quarry. Prost confirmed that he was coming alone.

Max was sitting on the porch when John told him through the screen door. "So this is me, you and Michael, right?"

Max took a deep breath. "You're not going to like this John, but Liz is insisting on coming too." Max squinted out into the morning sun. "And truthfully there's a part of me that agrees that she should be there. She's strong willed about this John, we spent most of the night discussing it."

John walked out onto the porch. "I figured as much," he said with a sigh.

"She said that I wouldn't let her go out there without me if things were the other way around, and she's absolutely right. What makes this any different? She feels really strong about it." He looked up at him. "I already agreed with her...I just thought you'd want to know."

John looked away and smiled. "Looks like it's going to be a nice sunny day," he said, looking out over the mountaintops that framed the front of his land. Max stood to his feet, "Is Larek coming?"

"No, he's going to stay around here with Kal and keep an eye on things. He's also tracking the communicator, just to be on the safe side, to make sure their doorway remains closed.”

Max nodded, "Yeah that's the last thing we need now." He stretched his arms high over his head and yawned, "This place, the quarry… it's wide open. If Prost doesn't come alone and this is some kind of trap, we'll know it in plenty of time to react."

John turned and walked back inside, "I'm count'n on that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Evan Prost stood on the shale-covered precipice overlooking a huge man-made lake of blue quarry water. The air on the breeze was the freshest he had smelled in a very long time. The sky was the palest shade of baby blue, and scattered puffy white clouds completed the picture.

He was about to talk face to face once again with a hybrid, maybe more than one, he thought. He had already accomplished that feat for the first time at the cemetery the day before, but he couldn't help it, it still utterly amazed him.

He had the whole story for them, if they were interested. When he thought about Stage 3, Contact and Communication, he smiled to himself. Aquarius back at Yucca had always made him laugh with some of the strange titles, some downright hilarious, that would be given to certain projects throughout all of his years there. But Gemini on the other hand had few interproject titles. They were straight and to the point, in a strangely subtle way. They had only four agendas:

Stage 1 - Retrieval. Of course this one had been named after the fact. This pertained to the Chechnya find.

Stage 2 - Preparation and Discovery, which stood for all the decades of research and study into the hows and the whys of what was happening. Dissecting and reverse engineering the discs that had been found throughout those decades. And last but not least, into discovering their purpose here. This stage was without a doubt the lengthiest, taking decades to complete.

Stage 3 - Contact and Communication which was where they now found themselves. What happened in this stage was crucial to all the other stages.

So many years to complete just three stages, he thought. And then there was Stage 4. Would it take another twenty years? No, it can't, he thought. Time was crucial.

He took in a deep breath of fresh air and reminded himself, of all the positive accomplishments he had made in his career. Nothing….absolutely nothing could ever top this. In fact if everything went as planned, he was going to retire a few years early. He just couldn't ever ask for anything more. Hopefully this day would be something he could one day tell his great grandchildren about. Well, he corrected his thought, if he had ever found the right girl to settle down with, he could have, he chuckled to himself.

Looking up now into the sky above him, it was so very hard to see. Daylight was like that, he thought to himself. Just blue, or gray depending on the current weather. It was at night that the true picture was there high above us, in the depth of blackness and in the million points of light of other worlds. Endlessly there, stretching above us all every second of every day.

Seeing a bald eagle flying high up overhead, he turned to get a better look and his attention was diverted to a white Hummer coming up the trail below.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For those of you who are following the banner links (and there are quite a few in the three stories), I need to give credit for the borrowing of faces for the banners used in this three part story. Not because I think you might really want to know who these people are, but because it's the right thing to do.

I'm not sure if I've already posted this here or not, I kept thinking that I have, but when I just went looking for it I couldn't find it. O_well. If I am repeating myself :lol please just overlook the dupe post.
Anyway, they are all budding actresses and actors represented by a few talent agencies in Hollywood, which is why I felt comfortable using them... even the couple of non budding ones deserve the recognition here .

Of course it goes without saying that I also thank Shiri Appleby, Jason Behr, Majandra Delfino and Brendan Fehr. The others are:

Rath (before): Brad Pitt (okay so you already knew this one )
Kal Langley: Joe Pantaleone (and this one too )
Serena Nichols: Margaret Morninglight
Larek: Martin Henderson
Nicole Landau: Amanda Welsh
Sierra Landau: Erin Monihan
Emily Landau: Elise Kennedy
Ava Landau: Jackie London
Katain Duncan: Jennifer Rubright
Marshall Duncan: Jason Murray
Jessie Duncan: Anna Belknap
Jonathan/Lucas Landau: Twins who will, unfortunately, go forever nameless.

CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

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Kal sat on the floor in the girl's bedroom, hovering over a jigsaw puzzle. It had become his latest passion. It served two purposes, it kept his stress in check and it gave him something to do with the little ones. Presently the three had managed to put over one half of the 40 x 70 inch puzzle, entitled Happily Ever After, together. The scene depicted that infamous scene at the end of Snow White, where the Prince lifts her up onto his horse.

Of course Kal couldn't understand the title, saying once right after he first saw the puzzle, that they hadn't even gotten as far as his castle yet, so how would they know they would live happily ever after. Emily had scowled at him. He had then reminded himself to keep his adult opinions quiet. But it certainly was without a doubt the largest jigsaw puzzle he had ever laid eyes on before. He had promised the girls that once they had finished with it, he personally would see that it was matted and framed for them both to keep. Of course, noting that there were 2500 pieces, he figured that day would never really come anyway.

But as usual the girls had surprised him. He tried his best to play this puzzle game the human way, having found it to be not much of a challenge at all if he had chosen to wave his hand over the scattered pieces and end the fun. But watching the girls using their natural intelligence at the game for the last few days, he had been forced to cheat just a few times with just a few pieces, in order not to fall too far behind in their race. He hoped that they hadn't noticed.

"So, Kal. Where did Max and John go?" Emily asked in quite the grown up fashion, successfully fitting yet another tiny piece into the forest as she spoke.

He scattered a few more pieces around on the floor. "Well, kitten, they went with Liz and Michael to meet someone. And hopefully this meeting will turn out to be nothing too important, or at the least, nothing threatening. You know you might do better if you look at this puzzle right side up," he motioned to Emily as she sat at the top of the puzzle.

"I'm doing fine," she said, placing another piece into the horse's flank.

Kal nodded, "Indeed you are," he sighed at not being able to find anything that went anywhere even with the advantage of seeing the puzzle right side up.

"Maybe you should try it from over here," Sierra suggested, as she sat on the same side of the puzzle as her sister. "Here, I'll switch with you," she said innocently.

As the two began to switch sides on the floor, the phone in the study rang out. Kal painfully pushed himself up to his feet, as Nicole yelled up the stairs to him. "Kal, it's Serena."

"Carry on," he said back to the girls, who were popping in puzzle pieces left and right as he left the room. "Don't wait on me. "

He took the phone from Nicole. "Yo-o," he answered. "What's up, my sweet? Miss me?"

"Kal, where's John?" Serena asked.

Kal wasn't exactly sure he knew how to answer that question. "He went out with the kids, why, what's goin’ on?"

"To where Kal? Where did he go? He said he would call me before he did anything," she tried to control the emotion in her voice, but it just wasn't working.

"Slow down, darlin'. I wasn't aware that he was supposed to call you. I guess he just got wrapped up in the moment. But don't fret yourself, they'll be fine. Do you think for a minute that I'd still be here, if I thought or John thought we had a serious reason to worry?"

"Who is this guy, Kal? So you found out that there's nothing to this thing, right?" Serena asked nervously.

"Well I wouldn't put it that way, exactly," he hedged. Damn, he thought, he hated getting caught in the middle. "We'll know more once they get back here. He's... he's working supposedly with a covert classified project in the... scientific community." Kal responded.

"Scientific community?" Serena continued digging, not being satisfied with what she was getting back from Kal.

"... the military," Kal said, trying to mumble his words, but she heard him anyway.

"Oh! For the love off Mike! Kal?" she screamed out, pretty much just as Kal had anticipated as he had already moved the phone away from his ear.

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"Evan Prost," he said introducing himself and holding out his hand to the only person in the group that he hadn't already met the day before.

"John Brown. Nice to see you." John began, taking control of the conversation for the moment. "Mr. Prost, it's my understanding as per our phone call that my friends here and myself have been under surveillance of some kind by yourself and others. We're here with you to find out why we're being investigated by our own government." The four stood fast and strong, not knowing what to expect now that they were here. Liz and Max stood together, hand in hand in anticipation of Prost's every move; and Michael casually wandered, covering the surrounding area for any sign of additional company.

"Mr. Brown, first, please call me Evan. This is nothing formal, although as I hope you are about to understand, it is highly, highly important."

Max had noticed that at his side on the ground was a brown soft sided briefcase. The General continued. "Investigated is probably not the proper definition, Mr. Brown. The project that I represent has been, for over two decades now, studying the introduction of alien physiology into our society since before the turn of the century." Max's grip tightened around Liz's hand. "Your existence is common knowledge to the Gemini Project. I don't say that to frighten any of you," he added quickly, looking first at Liz, then the others. "We intend you no harm whatsoever. To the contrary, in fact, we've all sworn an oath to protect you. I'm being as honest as I know how to be, John. Now, you four can all just walk away, get back into your truck and go on back home and pretend none of this has happened; and I will be forced then to return without the progress that I had hoped for. No matter what you may be feeling right at this moment, there is something here to be gained by hearing me out."

"I think you may be very mistaken about who we are," Max said, as convincingly as he could.

"Mr. Evans, that isn't even questionable at this point. Please just listen to what I have to say, then as I said you can all choose to walk away, or not." Prost spoke honestly.

The five stood quiet on the edge of the quarry. Evan Prost took a minute and then began. "At the end of the year 2000, five children were healed at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. Surveillance cameras in the critical care unit there had successfully caught two young males entering, but never leaving the unit." Max looked down to the ground, avoiding his eye contact. He remembered that night all too well.

"Go on," John spoke up before anyone of them could respond. "We're listening."

Evan Prost noticeably took a few deep breaths, as he slowly turned his back to the group. "Let me first start with the four of you. In 1999, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was sent in to check out a shooting of a suspicious nature at a restaurant in Roswell, New Mexico, called the Crashdown Cafe. Seems a young waitress there was shot and then healed by a young man. Elizabeth Parker. Elizabeth Parker Evans,” he looked to Liz, as she wiped back the hair strands blowing across her face. “An agent working with the FBI at that time was one Kathleen Topolsky. Being privy to many of the FBI cases, Aquarius did some of their own background checks and found that this agent had become very sympathetic to the individuals that she had been sent in to spy on for the Bureau. Gemini at that time was still working in conjunction with Aquarius. After learning of our cause, she had joined up with the team. The young and highly dedicated woman was then killed by one Daniel Pierce, before we had the opportunity to react. Agent Pierce was a renegade agent who was then head of the Special Unit at the Eagle Rock Facility. He absolutely had no affiliation whatsoever with any projects being run by Aquarius. I want to make that very clear."

He turned to face Max. "But then you probably know more about Pierce than most of us on the projects do."

His words echoed in Max's head. Max and John exchanged glances several times as he spoke.

Remembering Ms. Topolsky and realizing now that she had been truthful about being on their side, Liz felt a chill run through her and she hugged onto Max's arm. She wasn’t at all sure that she wanted to hear what else he had to say. It was such an intimidating feeling to realize that someone you didn't know at all was revealing so much about your own life.

"So when Ms. Topolsky returned to Roswell that last time, she was working for Gemini?" Max asked the question shared in thought by Liz and Michael.

Prost turned back to face the group. "Yes she was. Those at Gemini knew little of the Special Unit at that point. Much goes on behind backs in the bureaucracy known as the United States Government." He put his head down, then quickly looked up into their faces again. "But please understand me. Gemini is very different from anything that has ever come before it. They have gone to painstaking lengths to discover information about your people, and the whys and hows of this entire situation."

Michael was still very cautious of the man before him. "Why would you care? Why the turn around in philosophy from this particular project of the military? Why don't you try to make that a little clearer, if you're for real."

Evan Prost softly kicked the briefcase still sitting in the sand with his foot. "I have brought with me copies of everything pertinent about Gemini. It's an enlightening experience to sort through. They are yours to take with you."

"On the phone you said that it was important for several reasons that we meet, and that the project was counting on this meeting," John said, "You also have mentioned that some of the information obtained and studied was over a century old. It's possible that there could be a few things beneficial to us from this meeting, General Prost."

Michael stooped down, picking up a few sparkling rocks of shale at his feet and tossed them into the water below. "Yeah, tell us something we don't already know."

Prost nodded his head at him. "Well Mr. Guerin, that's difficult to do, mainly because we're not at all sure, at this point, what it is that you do know. So I'll try to find an answer to your question, by starting at the beginning of your story." Leaning back against a few good sized boulders, he felt the shade fall onto his neck. The sun was beginning to blaze down, reflecting off the hot rocks around them. If it wasn't for the occasional stiff breeze, they'd all be frying out here, he thought.

"Let's just say that the story actually begins somewhere in or around the year 2005. One world is already gone. The people of Planet B, who after Planet A's destruction ... and with their own world within mere hours of destruction itself... send two dozen troops back into time to change the course of history." Max swallowed hard, as the granolith immediately came to all of their minds.

"They arrived here in or around the year 1855, into a world that they then knew only as Terra, in a galaxy far from their own. How exactly they succeeded in that trip back into time is something that we have yet to decipher. But that's not important," he said, then went on. "This information has been carefully documented over the last two decades." He gave them a minute to digest the information themselves, but heard only the sound of the wind kicking up around them. "What we do know for sure now, is that four months ago a massive explosion in the Delta Quadron of the star system Sirius, created the formation of a red dwarf star. A red dwarf is..."

"A dying star," Liz finished for him, her voice barely audible. She remembered Mr. Seligman explanation a few years before, and how she had asked him about the red planet in her vision.

"Exactly," Prost replied. "That dying star has now created of a massive black hole. A very unstable and unpredictable… huge black hole," he emphasized. "For the last months it's been slowly collapsing in upon itself. We also have recently attained current information that there have been explosions of atomic proportions taking place on a nearby sister planet to that of the demised red dwarf. You'll recognize this star system by it's name, the Whirlwind Galaxy."

Liz's head was spinning. Back in time? Of course it had to have been by means of the granolith, or of a similar version of it. It was used to leave the dying planet. "Wait,” she said outloud, "the explosion triggered a black hole and now one of its sister planets is on the verge of the same destruction, which would increase the size and dimension..."

"Catastrophic possibilities," Prost replied nodding in answer to her coming question. "It would have the potential of literally sucking in it's entire galaxy, and the potential of untold havoc in this one. I take it from your reactions, that you are somewhat familiar with what I've just told you."

John explained, "The destruction of the first world, yes. We’ve recently been made painfully aware of that." John was no longer skeptical of the man in their company. "The way in which the others had once reached this world? No, that we were not completely aware of. We weren't even aware of other hybrids until just recently. We had always speculated, of course, but we never knew anything for sure. By the way, the red dwarf star had a name, it was Antar. Planet A is a sister planet. Adia. Planet B that you referred to is known as Trinity."

"What's the fourth one?" Prost asked, curiously. John looked at him with surprise, although after everything the General had just told them, he wasn't sure why he should still feel surprised. Apparently the Gemini Project was up on all its information.

"Eos," Max replied. "A hostile planet. It's the reason for all the turmoil there."

The General nodded his head, suddenly understanding so much more. Prost then went on to explain the stages of Gemini Project to them, and how they had finally with this meeting, come to Stage 3.

"So what is Stage 4?" Liz asked apprehensively.

"We haven't arrived at Stage 4 yet," he answered. "If and when we do, trust me, you will be some of the first to know. The important thing now for you to understand is that we are here. And probably even more important, in light of recent events, is that we are on your side. But I have to tell you that Gemini will not interfere with the politics of other worlds. We will do what we need to do to protect you here, from human enemies or other factions of our government; but, we can not help you in whatever should lie ahead for your kind, with the exception of one small detail. We have one of your ships. It's at Kirtland, in Albuquerque."

Michael coughed out choking on the little saliva that was still left in his mouth. He had been pacing for the last ten minutes not believing everything he was hearing; and yet at the same time, wanting and needing so badly to believe it all could be true. He and John stood and continued talking with the General.

Liz didn't hear their words or questions anymore. She had walked over to the edge of the precipice by herself, looking out over the clear sky above her, completely lost in her thoughts. If what this man had said was all true, and at this point she had no reason to believe otherwise, then what they had all feared for the worlds back home was about to come true. John and Kal's dreams of the destruction of Adia and Trinity, the snuffing out of millions of lives on three planets...it was all just ahead of them… in the future, and not so far in the future after all.

Twenty-four troops had arrived back here many years ago, long before John and Kal had safely delivered the pods to the chamber up in the side of the mountain. Twenty-four people, men and women, had migrated through this world with a purpose. They had married and lived their generations of lives, many not having any idea after the passing of so much time, that they mattered so much in the overall picture. And in the here and now, the offspring of some of those people had succeeded in meeting up with the royal family in a quest to change what was about to happen again in their worlds. And a ship! she thought, as her mind whirled and her heart hurt at the possibility of what was destined to come next.

She bit at her bottom lip, as her mind wandered back over the last nineteen years of her life here… here in this world. This imperfect little world, even as it is now, and yet still a place that she could never ever again take for granted.

What was to happen to them all? How were they to know what they were being counted on to do? And here they were, Ava and Zan, at the very center of this spiral, a spiral that was just now beginning to spin. Everything was moving all too fast for her to comprehend. Max was suddenly there behind her, placing his hands carefully around her and pulling her back against him. Their thoughts, dreams and fears all mingled together.

I can't believe this is happening, he thought to her. I have never in my life... or in Zan's, been so completely torn in two different directions at the same time. Liz let her head fall back onto his chest and she sighed. I think we need to go home to Lovell, Max. We just need to get away from all of this, for just a little while. Her hands went up to cover her face, and even Ava’s strength was not enough to stop the tears that came.

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Nicole sat out on the rocker, alone. She assumed that Lucas was somewhere inside. But she was honestly beginning to wonder if it even mattered to her anymore. Things weren't supposed to be like this, she thought. It seemed whenever she even tried to bring the subject up now, he turned her off immediately. She didn't know what she should do. She heard the screen door close quietly and looked up to find Kal beside her, fishing in his pocket for matches. "I should really quit this habit of mine. But I'm not sure what I'd do if I couldn't get away by coming out here with the excuse of smoking on this," he held the cigar out, looking at it with a frown. "It's good to have some private time once in a while."

Nicole could only smile. "It really isn't good for your health," she reminded him quietly. He gave up on the matches and stuck the cigar back in his shirt pocket, unlit. "So, young lady. What's driven you out here to the sanctuary of the porch?"

"Life," she answered without hesitation. "… Lucas and responsibilities,” she added. “And not necessarily in that order," she tried to joke, but it fell flat.

Kal nodded his head. "Hmm, yes. I see. All three of those are tough ones. Let's hope in time Lucas will discover who he really is, for the sake of you and his daughters. And maybe his grandmother will be able to show him the way when she arrives. From what I understand from Emily, she's a tough cookie."

"That's putting it mildly, even for Emily. Angelique is very set in her ways, is true. But, Lucas has never paid her any mind in the past. I doubt that her being here hounding on him again will change any of that. Let me ask you something personal, Kal. You have a girlfriend I know, even though I don't hear you talk about her very much." He nodded, already knowing in which direction her questions were going. "And of course I'm only assuming that you love her a lot, because…well…you must, right?" He nodded again, letting her go on. "But, how much would you actually sacrifice for her?"

"How much would I sacrifice for the woman I love?" he repeated. "I can't say that I can answer that, Nicole. I can tell you that she has sacrificed a lot to be with me. She's living in Roswell, New Mexico... with a full blooded alien," he rolled his eyes. "I'd say moving from Los Angeles to here is probably a pretty big sacrifice for her." Nicole shook her head understanding what he was getting at. "I can tell you this much, darlin', the sad truth to the matter is that women can come and go, no matter how much you love them, but if I had two young and beautiful daughters, my own flesh and blood that loved me and depended on me, I'd do just about anything in this world or any other, to never lose that." He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, and returned inside the house.

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They had returned from the meeting at the quarry, quiet, tired and spent. Liz went immediately into the kitchen to find Maria already filling a pot for tea. Max and Michael joined Katain and Larek in the study, calling out for Kal to join them. "I think Kal's got Sierra out horseback riding," Maria yelled into the other room, in response.

Liz had tried the best she could to relay all of the information they had learned to Maria. "That's incredible," she whispered. "They came back in time? Just like that other Max did. And this project .. they’re talking about Kal and John's dream?" Her eyes grew wide as she sipped at the hot Chamomile. "What do you suppose this Gemini project is going to do in Stage 4?"

"I don't know, Maria," Liz was completely wiped out. "One positive note though, General Prost assured us that Alex Madison will never see the light of day. They have a charge of treason pending against him."

"Treason? Wow, I guess they're pretty serious about their secrets," Maria said without thinking. "Liz, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I guess I've tried to push the fact far from my mind. He deserves to have his ass fried for what he's done." Liz grew even more quiet, and Maria could feel something in the air. "What Chicca?" Maria looked closer at her friend's face. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Maybe you should go sit in on the meeting, Maria," she didn't look up at her.

"Why? What's going on?" Maria felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "I'd rather hear whatever it is from you, Liz?"

Liz doodled with the end of the spoon on the table cover. "This Gemini project. It's all about us, right?" she asked, being sure Maria understood the information she had already told her. Maria nodded, waiting. "Well they have a ship for us, Maria. One of the ships from… back home."

The color drained from Maria's face as she tried to set the shaking cup down carefully. "Oh my god. You're leaving aren't you?"

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CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

For the next day and a half, things began to return to some kind of weird normal for all at the ranch. Of course, it was alien normal, but that was to be expected. Everything was set, the remaining Landaus and Duncans would be arriving on Friday night sometime after dinner. After completing this gathering everyone would then be returning back to their own lives by Sunday afternoon.

Liz had explained to Maria that the idea of a departure was still too far ahead to comment much on right now. She had convinced herself as well that just because the Gemini Project had a ship, it didn't prove anything. It didn’t mean that any of them were even close to being ready to return to worlds they had known so long ago. She couldn't allow herself to even think about that right now.

Max had promised both Liz and Maria, that the four of them would be returning to Lovell early Sunday evening for a short but much needed respite from the abundance of information overwhelming them all. Max felt strongly about it and had voiced his concern to both John and Kal. They sorely needed a rest from it all. They had come back expecting to spend just a weekend with Liz's mom; what had transpired instead, before and then following Nancy's death, had been the most excruciating and ongoing six day nightmare for all of them, but most assuredly for Liz.

Katain had made quite the impression on Kal in those first days she was at the ranch, and he had taken her under his wing easily. Many hours were spent between the two of them with Michael and Larek. They shared both information, as well as the need to be completely clear about the full extent of her powers, as well as their own.

Liz and Maria became much closer to Nicole during this time too, as the gap between Lucas and Nicole continued to increase. "I don't understand how he can just be so calm about writing all of this off," she was saying to Liz, as they shared laundry duties on that Friday morning. "He doesn't… or won't, admit to himself just how important all of this is, and yet I know he has got to see it. He wants to go back to the farm in Dakota, and never be in contact with any of you again. That's not what I want. You've all become such dear friends to me, and to the girls, too. They'd be horrified to know that they wouldn't see or talk to any of you again... ever."

Her voice was so full of emotion that Liz couldn't help but give her a comforting hug. "Look, Nicole we're all going to be going back to our old lives again soon; and I, for one, am looking forward to having Max all to myself again; but none of us could ever forget about you or Emily and Sierra. You're all part of our family now... we're a very special family. We all share something that's extremely complicated, but... wondrous. I don't understand why Lucas is feeling this way, either. He's a Landau… how is it that he doesn't understand any of this?"

Nicole wiped her eyes. "I'm hoping that he's just scared. But he's met all of you now, and he's got to see that with the wormhole closed now… maybe forever, that the danger is pretty much over with."

Liz looked away, not wanting to look her in the eye. She was all too aware that it was only a matter of time before Jared would return. His sole mission in life was to acquire the keys and the granolith. They had beat him this time, but the question still remained as to what might happen with the next encounter. Sure they could all go back to their seemingly safe little lives elsewhere, but each one in their hearts knew that none of this was over for good.

"He'll come around," Liz tried to say what she knew Nicole needed to hear. "Besides, you've got to tell him how you feel. We're your friends. We haven't known him long enough to think of him in that way yet, and that's probably what he's feeling too about all of us right now. In the short time that we've known you, we've all been through a hell of a lot."

"I know that, and that's what's made this bond impossible for me to break now. He just doesn't understand that. He doesn't want to get to know any of you. I know you've all sensed that. I just don't know what I'm going to do. I've told him that I refuse to give up your friendships. I love him, just as much as ever, but I can't just pretend that none of you exist, and neither can Em and Sierra." Neither Liz nor Maria knew what to say to her anymore.


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After lunch on Friday, Liz wandered out onto the porch and was surprised to see Larek sitting there alone, rocking away. She looked at him out the corner of her eye, smiling. "Having some deep dark contemplations? Didn't mean to bother you."

"Don't be silly," his face brightened, as he motioned to the chair next to him. "Here, have a seat. I was just... zoning out, I think that's the term Michael uses," he smiled, with some embarrassment. "Just taking all this in out there. It's quite beautiful here."

"Yes, I love it here," Liz answered. "You were thinking of Adia, weren't you? I find myself doing that more and more lately, too."

"I'm glad to hear that, … Liz," he nodded his head, with a grin. "Damn hard to think of you as a Liz, though." She playfully elbowed him. "You may call me whatever makes you happy," she smiled back. "I... I also wanted to apologize for that whole thing with Katain the other day." She made a face, then blushed anyway. "You were right, some little part of me just didn't sit right with it all. Sorry."

"Sparrow, you needn't apologize to me. You did nothing wrong. In fact, I thought it was quite charming coming from you. It was the Ava I remembered." He rested his head back as the sun’s rays fell partially over his face. "I did think that Zan took it very well though," he sneaked a peek sideways at her.

"No, it was Max that took it very well," she giggled. "Zan would not have taken my jealousy for you quite so well," she began to grin. "Yooou, ah you're exhausting!" Liz said loudly, shaking her head dramatically.

His comeback was quick and with a wit of a true sparring partner. "I don't think Katain thinks of me that way," he smirked, but then busted out laughing.

Liz couldn't see straight from the tears she was laughing, as she blushed deeper. "Okaaaay, can we move on to... maybe... what a wonderful day it is today, especially with our guests arriving tonight?" Liz deliberately looked bug-eyed at him, as she still couldn't stop herself from laughing. She was trying so hard not to feel embarrassed. Afterall as Ava, she had known Larek all of his life, it was only normal that she would feel some jealousy.

It had been a very long time since the two of them had laughed so much together. He continued chuckling and leaned over, kissing her on the cheek. "Oh, I have really missed you, Ava," he added, within a smile.

They were suddenly interrupted with a start. "What? What is so funny? Tell me," Katain had come out onto the porch after hearing the commotion. She was naturally joining in with the laughter and yet having no idea as to why.

Liz jumped up quickly, her face becoming a deeper shade of crimson, and she very hastily stated, "I have ... something on the stove... I'll be back," and darted quickly back into the house, leaving Larek to deal with the fallout.


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The Duncans and Landau's were pulling up outside in a van they had rented at the airport. It was seven o'clock on Friday night. On sight, Max immediately worried for Angelique. She didn't look well at all; someone mentioned that she had felt a bit airsick on the flight down.

"It was a pretty turbulent flight, worst I've ever seen," Marshall added. "Hi, I'm Marshall Duncan and this is my grandfather, Raymond; and my younger sister Jessie. Where's Katain?" he asked searching the room.

"She's in the kitchen helping with the last of our dinner dishes.” Before John could finish, she was beside him, greeting the rest of her family, and it was obvious to all that they were a finely knit group. There was no mistaking the younger Duncans as siblings. They had many of the same facial characteristics and mannerisms, including it seemed, the ability to finish one another’s sentences.

Even with his older brother arriving, Lucas's attitude failed to change very much at all. Jonathan had greeted him with excitement, but it had fallen on deaf ears to the younger man.

Max and Liz shook hands with all, including the other young woman who Liz assumed was Ava. She was a pretty girl and Liz guessed that she was very close to her own age. Ava hung back shyly behind the others. Angelique had been helped into the livingroom and to the couch by her grandson.

At one point in the evening Liz had found herself sitting across from the old woman. "I'm so glad that we're getting the opportunity to do this. I'm sorry that you had to come from so far and that you're not feeling well." The woman didn't answer as she scrutinized Liz's face to the point that Liz found she needed to look away. She was so relieved when Maria had called her into the kitchen to talk to Ava.

The girl's eyes found hers as Liz stepped through the chatting crowd that had formed in the kitchen. "You have no idea how happy I am to meet you," she said. "I mean to really meet you. I am so.... I can't begin to tell you," Ava stammered quietly, thinking about all the years she had feared the outcome of her grandmothers beliefs about her own identity.

Liz answered for her. "Relieved?"

"Yes, most definitely relieved!" She smiled at the idea that Liz truly understood.

"Well, this is me. I know what you must have been going through all these years, wondering and worrying about who you really were. I'm feeling sad for your grandmother right now though. All this time she has believed something that wasn't true. I don't imagine that she's taken the news well about finding and meeting me. I feel really uncomfortable around her."

Ava touched her shoulder and leaned in to whisper, "Liz, we haven't told her yet. I know we should have done that before we got here, but none of us had the heart to tell her. She's been so sick."

As Liz looked back into the eyes of the young woman before her, she truly understood everything that was going on in her mind. "It's okay. We don't have to tell her right now. At least until she's feeling better." The gratitude was written clearly on Ava's face, and she added. "Oh, but I must say that she was so happy to have me meet Zan …and she loves him already." They smiled at each other. Two women, just strangers an hour before, were already forming a bond.

Marshall, Jonathan and Larek sat at the kitchen table comparing communicators. Each thought it was odd that the two objects were so different from each other. Marshall's and Angelique's looking of course older, and a bit more primitive than the one that Larek had called his own for the last ten years. They both appeared to work in exactly the same way though, one being only slightly more sensitive than the other. The markings on both, however, were identical. "I've often wondered how many like us are out there. Are we the only ones left?" Marshall stated, staring down at the two communicators in his hands.

Larek spoke up as Raymond approached the table, "John and Kal will bring a few of us together later tonight. We may have a few answers for you. But unfortunately, only a few."

The female visitors retired early to their rooms on the second floor, accompanied by Nicole, Lucas, Emily and Sierra. The house was now becoming a bit quieter. John had announced earlier, that he was throwing an old-fashioned pig roast the following day, and that they should all get plenty of rest. There would be food for all, and maybe a few games thrown in. They had all agreed before their guests arrived that since this would be their last weekend at the ranch for a while that it was time to loosen up a bit and have some fun.

Serena had called in, checking on the progress of the guests’ arrival and knowing what an absolutely full house John was dealing with. She had a million questions for him about each and every one of the Duncans and Landaus that she had yet to meet.

She reminded John to be sure to let Max know that Coby was keeping close watch on the goings on in the Delta Quadron of Sirius. There had been no further negative changes there in the last two days, which could only be good news, John thought. Pete had several friends checking and double-checking everything that they could find and yet still be discreet.

Around ten that night, Larek brought Marshall, Jonathan and Raymond into a short meeting with the others, with the intent of bringing them up to date on the news of their recent meeting with General Prost. John had wanted to keep the information private, but Kal had finally convinced him that all of them had the right to know. Max had totally agreed with Kal.

Raymond had brought a box of things with them. Newspaper clippings, pictures and copies of old birth and death certificates. While in Dakota, he had combined his things with those that Angelique had kept stored away. Everything was now in a beautiful box that had been passed down from Angelique's great grandmother. It was hand made of dark wood and was intricately carved on both it's top and two sides. The carving on the lid of the box was centered with the sign of infinity... the symbol representation of the world they all knew as Trinity.


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The following morning, the house was alive with activity. Breakfast had been served in two shifts, as some had awakened before others. Kal made it a point to spend some time with Angelique, who was looking better now that she had rested. The two of them decided to take a nice slow stroll around the property for privacy.

Liz was on the phone early. She called Kyle from the study, to invite him to the barbeque that afternoon. "Ahh, I don't know Liz. I'm not good around strangers, especially those from other worlds," he snickered.

"Kyle, it's not really like that. They're all really normal looking and very nice and only one or two have that nasty third eye at the back of their head," she teased him. "Kyle, we're going home to Lovell tomorrow night, and with all these people here, I'm not going to get a chance to come into town ‘til tomorrow morning. I'd really like to hang with you here for a little while, like old times. Come on, it'll be fun, I promise. No hocus pocus is planned, really. There's lots of pretty single girls here," she sang out the last comment to him.

"Yeah, well I've sworn off alien girlfriends this year. Listen, I'll try, but I'm not promising you anything for sure. You know me Parker... oops, can't go there anymore, can I?" he laughed. "And to call you Evans, well that just reminds me way too damn much of Max."

"How bout Parker-Evans? The hyphenation can be silent," Liz suggested, smiling to herself. "Never mind, just stick to Liz, Kyle."

"Okay, well, I gotta go. Got a lot to do today. Plus I have to go into work later this afternoon cause Jimmy Doolen's out sick at the shop. Got a tranny to put back together by Tuesday morning. Look, just promise me that if I don't make it over there, that you'll swing by here tomorrow after you go to see your Dad, before leaving for the Eastern Shores," Kyle said.

Liz was disappointed, as she absentmindedly spun the communicator sitting on John's desk blotter like a top. "Ooooh, alright..." Liz moaned, still hoping somehow that Kyle would change his mind, but she could hear it in his voice. She doubted he would show at all. "I'll see ya Kyle."

"Catch ya later, Parker-Evans." He hung up the phone and sat on the bed to tie up his running shoes.


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The croquet set was being set up for an anxious Sierra, who was already setting up teams. "Maria and Michael are on my team," she announced. "Emily you can have Mommy and Daddy."

"You're not the boss, Sierra," Emily looked at Michael, who threw her a look. Giving in, she sighed looking back at her sister. "Alright, but we get to start first."

Lucas picked up a mallet and approached the pin. A few of the others were gathering around, talking of starting up a horseshoe tournament. "Sounds good, count me in with that," Max commented. "Let me go get them out of the barn. Marshall, give me a hand pacing off the distance for the poles."

Liz and Katain sat on top of the picnic table nearby. "I've always hated horseshoes," Katain said with no enthusiasm whatsoever in her voice.

Liz agreed, "Me too. Just couldn't ever get into the game. Now softball, I like softball."

"Well we've got more than enough people here for two good sized teams," Katain laughed. They looked at each other, smiling. "Okay. It's decided," Liz replied. "After we eat, we have a good old fashioned game of girls against boys out behind the barn."

Jessie and Ava had heard part of their conversation. "I played shortstop for three years in high school," Ava boasted.

"Alright!" Liz cheered. "We've got this one in the bag, girls."


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Food was shared and things were going so smoothly. Kal sat next to John on the front step. "Just one big happy family," Kal said. "So glad it turned out this way. I have to admit, I had my doubts as to whether everyone would hit it off or not. Turned out better than I could have hoped."

"Gotta agree with you on that," John exclaimed. "A lot of different personalities, but one common interest that's been deep rooted in each and every one of them." He looked out at Angelique and Raymond. Lucas was setting up lawn chairs behind the barn for them in anticipation off the big game that was being planned. "Let me go get her an umbrella. It's going to be pretty sunny out here during the next few hours. You playing?"

"What, ball? You're kidding right," Kal responded with a laugh. "I volunteered to be third base ref, as long as I can sit down out there."

John smiled at his buddy, knowing that they both shared the same thoughts about the day. This gathering was a huge milestone in what they had both begun such a long time back up in the mountains. He also knew how grateful they both were for all the successes they had through the years. They had done a good job, he thought. He tried not to think about the fact that none of them were finished yet. "Sure, you can do the ref thing," John answered Kal. "Take a folding chair out there with you."

Inside the study, the voices and laughter from outside the main house, came filtering through the window screens. The empty room was filled with life; as the communicator on the desk began to faintly blink a pale yellow.


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