Captain Liz (AU, CC, Mature) complete 12/25

Finished stories set in an alternate universe to that introduced in the show, or which alter events from the show significantly, but which include the Roswell characters. Aliens play a role in these fics. All complete stories on the main AU with Aliens board will eventually be moved here.

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thumper1942
Addicted Roswellian
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:37 pm

Captain Liz (AU, CC, Mature) complete 12/25

Post by thumper1942 »

Title: Captain Liz
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell.
Pairings: CC
Rating: MATURE
Summary: This one is AU obviously. Tess is not evil (always thought that was dumb) and the Special Unit was MILITARY not FBI (absolutely Katim’s dumbest idea). No dupes. Major Pierce gets tipped off by Valenti and since Nascedo had offed a few and left the handprint that got him going. So early on he was watching. But since he could not have his people right there it was only on spotting Nascedo using an old form that they had pictures of that he moved. Grabbing Max.


Liz was not sure of the new Alien (Nascedo) or Hybrid (Tess) but getting Max out was the most important thing.

It did not help that she was starting to change; Nascedo had explained that her brain was altered by Max’s healing and that she was now beginning to become more Antaran. He was not sure just how far her powers would go; this had never happened before with a Human. The crackling green energy that appeared whenever she became agitated was not good; however the ability to astral project could come in handy.

Nascedo shape shifted to a guard form; and got them inside. Valenti and Kyle waited outside with vehicles ready. Nascedo and the others slipped through the main gate after Michael zapped the other guards; rendering them unconscious. The practice Liz had pushed on them to figure out how to incapacitate as well as kill had come in handy.

Eagle Rock had the appearances of an abandoned military base; that had been deliberate since it was very clear the Special Unit was if not rogue certainly not officially on the roles. Which helped in that they could not post sentries and the like as it would be noticed. Once through the main gate they were able to immediately access the underground structures where the special unit was operating.

To say Max was scared was to say the Pacific was wide and deep. They had drugged him up with something; but unknown to them it was not quite enough to keep him out; so he was able to listen, if not move.

“All tests to this point indicate a Human alien hybrid. The DNA was kept for most human features; the changes we can find unfortunately we have not yet fully figured out with our science.” That was the Dr; Max was scared more of him then Pierce since he had recently read about Mengele and the other Nazi doctors from WW2. He was just like them.

“Would regular DNA scans even spot them?”

“Not at this time. Only because we had other samples of the aliens that were with the ship can we really tell. We are still in the infancy of understanding DNA.”

“Their powers.”

“Must be generated by the brain. But the autopsies of those from the ship showed no real difference that could not be explained by averages differences in humanity.”

“Dr, its seems like you are saying we are not going to learn much about them from him.”

“A full vivisection would in all probability not advance our knowledge to any great degree.”

Max listened to this and it was all he could do to remain still. The cold way this was being discussed was far more chilling than any other possibility.

Nascedo was in the lead; Tess beside him mind warping all they came into contact with; fortunately there were no cameras covering the corridors. The arrogance of the Special Unit was once again coming in handy.

Finally they got to where it looked like the main functioning part of the base was; as per the plan Isabelle and Michael moved off to find the control room for power and the like in order to cut it and hopefully as Liz had put it find a way to blow this place up.

Liz stayed with Nascedo and Tess; she had been blunt.

“The state Max will be in he will need someone he trusts right with him; that is me. Our connection will do that; I can just barely feel him; his powers are not completely gone.”

Nascedo was not happy that Max and Liz had a connection; but realized in this case it could be handy. So Liz then took the lead; following her steadily growing connection to Max.


Michael looked around the control room; Isabelle was at the door watching; he carefully placed the bomb they had brought with them near the large boiler of the heating plant. Then he carefully disconnected the gas valve and started leaking gas into the room. He looked at Isabelle.
“When that bomb goes off with all this gas, and leaking into other rooms, there is a good chance this whole building will collapse.”

“Let’s hope so; we need to get back to the others.”


Tess mind warped the two soldiers outside the door and Nascedo killed them quickly. Liz peaked in the window and saw Max strapped to a table. With Pierce and a man in a lab coat nearby. She could not see anyone else. She looked at the others and held up 2 fingers. They nodded. Tess moved to the door and concentrated on the two humans.

Pierce blinked; he turned towards the far wall as did the Dr. The wall began to glow. Words formed.
“The end is Near.”

Liz, watching this, had a slight smirk on her face. Tess had a nasty sense of humor.

Nascedo placed his hand on the door and focused heat, melting the lock. Then shoved it open.

Pierce and the doctor turned to get hit by Nascedo and Tess; they were both dead before they hit the floor. Liz was at Max’s side in an instant. She placed a hand on his head and he opened his eyes.

Max was very certain he had never seen a more beautiful sight. Liz quickly unstrapped him and helped him up; he staggered and Nascedo held him up.
“I think I can walk ok, they apparently underestimated how much they needed to give me to put me all the way out.”

Slowly they moved down the hall, Tess in front with Nascedo and Liz helping Max.


They met Isabelle and Michael and headed towards the exit. Liz looked at Michael.
“How long?”

“10 minutes. That was a big room the main boiler was in and by the time the bomb goes off there will be a lot of gas there. ”

Isabelle sniffed. “I can smell it already.” The others agreed. Liz shook her head.

“I did not see any fire alarms, smoke detectors or anything like that. Means that probably they have no gas detectors either.”

They got to the top of the steps and carefully left the building. Michael shook his head.
“They must not have very many people in this special unit.”

Nascedo was calm. “It was always small; funding for anything more would have been hard to explain.”


Outside the gate they had just gotten near the cars where Kyle and Valenti were waiting when there was a rumble; then the ground shook. They turned to look down at the base, perhaps a quarter mile away. A dust cloud arose just over where the building had been; in the light of a full moon not much more could be seen. Eerily it was very quiet; no alarms or shouts from anyone at all. They all looked at each other. Isabelle voiced what they all thought.
“I guess we got them all.”

Liz reminded them. “Except for the main gate guards.”

Nascedo shrugged. “I killed them as we left. There will be no survivors.”

Liz sighed but had to admit it was probably better this way. They got into the vehicles and headed back to Roswell.


General Morgan glared at his deputy.
“I should have been told the minute they missed the check in.”

“Sir, the procedures in place do not have that.”

“Well change them now. And get my jet ready; we are going there right now and I am going to have another conversation with Major Pierce.”



In only an hour the jet was in the air. Morgan brooded as he tried to sit back and relax a little. He had only been made commander of Area 51 just over 6 months ago; and if being in charge of what was thought to be the base that had the only alien space ship in the world was not enough, he was also over sight for what was called the Special Unit. Alien hunters.

The Roswell crash had killed 3 of the aliens that they knew for certain were in it; they had apparently not been secured and the ship had done a sudden turn or something like that and they had been thrown to hit the side of the ship and had suffered fatal injuries. One however had escaped; a shape shifter. One that apparently had no compunctions about killing. Though Morgan had wondered if it was just the case more, at least early on, that he had been scared shitless. Probably would never know. At any rate the Special Unit had been formed with the mission to kill/capture the 4th Alien. Which in 50 years succeeding units had failed to do. The alien had killed two people in those years; at least that they knew of. But very little trace had been found outside of that. Morgan frankly wondered why the unit was still around; considering its spectacular failure; and since it had been heavy handed about UFO types; several times very nearly causing serious incidents. Morgan had been ordered to reign them in; their political support was still sufficient to prevent the disbandment; but he had a hunch it was more the case of who would take over the mission then and the fact that no one wanted it outside the military and no one in the military in the know (admittedly a VERY small number) wanted it either.


Liz and the others were in the home Nascedo had rented for himself and Tess. Liz shook her head.
“It is time that their parents found out the truth; they love their children and this will make no difference. Besides from what Max has said, he and Isabelle have done a couple of things over the years that have to make them wonder anyway. This will just take the uncertainty out of it. Besides, who knows how long Max is going to be groggy from that drug; and they will notice. It is time.”

Nascedo shook his head. “This is unwise; we must spend all efforts to locate the Granolith so that king Zan can be returned to Antar to over throw Kivar.”

“That can wait; this cannot. Besides, from what you have said, the Granolith was supposed to constantly be sending out mental messages to them; that has not happened. So either it is not operating or its not here.”

“The Granolith was sent shortly after the ship was; since it could travel much faster it was kept behind to continue to hide it; before the crash the message had come that it was on its way. It is here, nearby.”

Liz thought about that. “It was homed in on the ship, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You do not know how long the lag was before it got here, do you.”

“Could not have been long; it is capable of incredible speeds – it basically is beaming itself as energy.”

“But the military took the ship soon after the crash. Would not the Granolith then had just gotten nearby the ship and hidden itself?”

Nascedo had never thought of that. That was clear. Liz sighed. Nascedo was a soldier who obeyed orders; and had about as much imagination as a box of rocks.

“OK. Area 51 is not that far away; and hopefully all the rumors about it going there are true. So we need to get near there and wait and hope that it is still doing its mission. But that can wait; time to let the Evan’s know the truth.”

The entire time Max had been dozing on the sofa, his head on Liz’s shoulder and her arm around him, comforting him. He slowly raised his head and looked at Liz. The Yearning look in his eyes to finally tell his parents the truth was clear. Mirrored in Isabelle’s eyes.
“Liz, you really think it will be ok?”

“Max I can still remember the time I first saw you; I was only 8 but it was clear even then how much they cared for the two of you even back then. It had only grown over the years, I promise you.”


So Liz and Isabelle and Max took the Jeep back to the Evan’s; Michael headed off to let Maria and Alex know things were ok; she would take her car and pick up Liz later.

Liz had to help Max through the front door; Dianne opened her mouth as it looked like Max was drunk but Liz held up her hand as she guided Max to the sofa.
“Max is not drunk; he got drugged and it was not his doing.”

Phillip had come in and blinked at this. Isabelle sighed.
“Mom, Dad, there is something we have been hiding from you for a lot of years.”

Liz looked up. “You love them, don’t you?”

Phillip and Diane nodded, surprised to even be asked. Liz nodded in satisfaction.
“You remember how they were unable to do anything for themselves?”

Dianne nodded. “Could not feed themselves or anything. Worst case of neglect the Child Welfare people had ever seen that did not have physical scars from beatings and the like.”

“It was not neglect. They had just been born that same day.”

Two mouths dropped open.

Isabelle went over to the flower pot on the coffee table and turned it into a cactus plant. Then back again.

Two mouths remained open.

Liz continued. “The crash was real. Isabelle and Max were in pods; and for some reason they did not come out until the same day you found them. They really did not know how to do anything because there were supposed to be others waiting for them to teach them. However the crash screwed all of that up. One of the aliens managed to get the pods away and hide them in a cave. Not sure whatever happened to him. One other escaped and the Military have been chasing him ever since. He only recently came back here and explained things.”

Isabelle took it from there. “We knew we were different but that was all. A little over 2 years ago we found the cave where the pods are; they had been sending out a signal that Max and I could hear; and knowing we were different we wanted to learn more. All we learned was that we were aliens; not freaks.”

Dianne recovered first and hugged her daughter. “Of course you are not a freak.”
Phillip hugged Max; and soon they were all crying. At that Liz got up.
“Maria should be waiting outside to take me home. This is for the four of you to take from here.”

Max took her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you so much Liz.”

“Well, it is not like I did not owe you, Max. This just paid the debt a little.”
And Liz waved to the rest and went out the door.

Phillip looked at Max. “What do she mean?”

Max sighed. “The shooting at the Crashdown; Liz was hit; she would have died but I have the ability to heal. We have to connect to have it work; and she could get from me how I was different. She has been helping us out ever since.”

Phillip and Dianne sighed. Then sat down and cuddled their children between them. He was firm.
“The whole story now.”


Maria was bouncing.
“I take it went ok, Chica?”

“Of course it did. They love their children so it was no big deal.”

“Chica, you know very well it could have gone bad.”

“It didn’t. And that is what matters.”


The Jet landed at the airstrip and the General and his soldier headed towards the nearby base. It was only a half a mile and it was early in the morning so it was not very hot. No communications had been received and by now the General was having a very bad feeling. Then they saw the hole in the ground.


“No guards found?”

“No sir. The Gate was closed from the inside, from all appearances.”

“Still, to not have any guards on the gate is beyond stupid.”

“Yes sir.”

“How long to get the digging equipment?”

“The Air Force is flying it in this afternoon. We will be digging before dark.”



It took almost 24 hours of digging to reach the first occupied level; only bodies were found.

“No indications of survivors?”

“No sir. Total collapse of the complex. It appears to have been a gas explosion. At least that is what we can tell so far.”

“Washington is hot about this, needless to say. No one rests.”

“Yes sir.”



“In other news tonight, the abandoned military base at Eagle Rock apparently suffered a underground building collapse sometime recently; a care taker inspection found the damage and at this time the scene is being excavated to make sure no one had broken in and had been trapped there. A military spokesman indicated that if anyone was inside the complex at the time they are almost certainly dead.”


Liz sighed. Well so far so good. Valenti indicated he had heard nothing at all; and if there luck held the military would believe that it was accidental.



“Gas explosion.”

“The experts all agree sir. What is more is that the system was old and had no modern gas detectors or monitoring equipment. There could have been a substantial build up and unless someone smelled it they would never have known.”

“Well frankly good riddance. The files we managed to salvage paint a picture that is very ugly.”

“Yes sir.”

“I never would have believed that the US Military would have its own Heydrich and Mengele; but that is exactly who Pierce and Donaldson resemble. Their plans to vivisect alive any other aliens found no matter what is nauseating.”


“Yes sir. At least this will destroy any support to keep the unit active.”

“It should. A unit that officially does not exist can do whatever it wants and as this case showed will do so.”

“Sir, what about those indications about Aliens in Roswell?”

“Those files were badly damaged, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“And most of the information came from UFO forums?”

“Yes sir. Though there are signs that they had the Sheriff of Roswell as someone they expected to keep an eye out.”

“His father was one of the conspiracy believers?”

“Yes sir. The Special Unit thought he was too obvious and arranged for him to be discredited and fired.”

“So his son was trying to validate the old man?”

“Possibly sir.”

“Anything from him?”

“Nothing in the files sir.”

“Interview him.”

“Yes Sir.”


“Sheriff Valenti, I can guess you have some questions.”

“I had some contact with them over the years; they wanted me to keep an eye out. Never had anything to tell them. They were at Eagle Rock?”

“Yes. There was a gas explosion and as far as we can tell the entire unit was killed.”

“I am sorry.”

“Sheriff this is for your ears alone; but we found files in there that pretty much made that special unit look like an SS team from a Nazi concentration camp complete with their own Dr Joseph Mengele.”

“Good god. Though I must say the only communications I ever had with Major Pierce he struck me as being a very cold individual.”

“To say the least. You have never found anything?”

“Nothing. My father was a great believer; but I had to see evidence before I could say the same. He got laughed out of town.”

“I am sorry to say that the Special Unit was responsible for that; they felt he was getting too much attention.”

“Those bastards.”

“Will not argue that at all, Sheriff.”



“Well the Pentagon made it official. The remaining alien will just be ignored unless he causes more trouble than he has. One lone alien is not a threat to national security. So the special unit is truly dead and buried.”

“Well that is pretty good news.”

“Yes it is. Time to head to the officers club and drink a toast to having gotten rid of some truly rabid animals.”

“I have the latest report from the Team.”

“Anything new?”

“No sir. Still cannot get much beyond where we were ten years ago; until we can figure out the basic theory we are stumped. Two drives; one obviously FTL and one not; but we have no idea how they work.”

“File it.”

“Yes sir.”



One week later the group were near Area 51. After some careful work on the internet by Liz and Alex, they had narrowed down the area where they thought the ship might be. You could not get within 10 miles of the actual base; but Nascedo was fairly certain that the range of the signal the Granolith sent out was much further than that. Liz and Alex felt that they could believe that one area was where the ship was; and looking over a terrain map of the area they figured that the Granolith if it was here would go up in the mountains; according to Nascedo it would have been able to bore itself into the rock easily.

It was decided to go to Rachel and wait and see if they could get a signal there.


They had a van and just acted like they were sitting and resting; with some awnings and coolers and such. After about an hour Max, Michael, Isabelle and Tess all sat up straight and as one looked towards the northwest. Liz got up and went to Max.
“All of you point in the direction you feel it coming from.”

They all pointed in basically the same area.

“Ok we need to triangulate.”

Carefully they fanned out and moved to about a hundred yards from each other; a quarter mile all together one to the last. Then they all looked at the compasses they had and tried to get to the nearest degree. Alex was plotting this; and an hour later they moved 20 miles north up 375 and did it again. Then they headed to the motel near Las Vegas. Liz and Alex worked on the map until they believed they had it pin pointed. It was indeed in the mountains but NORTH of Groom lake, Mt Wandell. Which was a relief since that was NOT on the test range.


The next day they headed up to the area indicated; as they got higher up all four of the hybrids could feel it getting closer.

Finally the vehicles could go no farther and they began to hike – after about an hour the four stopped and pointed at a jutting rock and got close to it. Then there was a shimmer and a cave appeared. Slowly they walked in.

Inside a cavern that was probably about 50 foot square and about 20 feet high stood a black cylinder. Featureless but seemingly perfectly symmetrical.

Max grew close to it; Liz at his side; the others just behind.

“Welcome King Zan. Long I have waited.”

Max took a deep breath. “We were nowhere near here; only recently did we know that we had to look for you.”

“It is as I had theorized. The ship was not where you were.”

“We came from where it first crashed.”

“My orders were to follow the ship and stay nearby. It is now clear those orders were incorrect.”

“They would have been correct if the ship had not been moved.”

“That is so.”

Max took a deep breath. “Do you have any information about conditions on Antar?”

“Once a year I receive a message. Kivar still rules. Evidence suggests he still believes that I am hidden somewhere on Antar. But as long as there is no member of the Royal family to answer my call, he does not seem to consider it important. There is much unrest but he is firmly in control. However the return of the Royal Four and I would begin the war again; many would turn on Kivar if opportunity presented itself. I estimate the probability of his downfall at 81.24% should you return and oppose him.”

“We are only teenagers; we have not been trained or taught anything about fighting or leading or even Antar. We only found out that is where we came from in the last week.”


There was silence for a moment.
“Your logic is correct. However, in war often what is perception is greater than what exists. As a symbol, as rallying points, you would be a great asset to the resistance. Kivar has been cruel and petty; rewarding some with what was taken from many. Only his forces keep him in power; but against the will of united people he will fall. You have allies on Granular; and he has none off of Antar.”

Max sighed; Liz squeezed his hand and then spoke.
“Granolith, will you be able to transport all to Antar?”

“Mate of Zan, I cannot. This sun is not the sun I was designed for; the transport to this planet depleted my energy reserves; and I have not been able to fully replenish even in all this time. I can transport 5 and no more.”

There were gasps inside from several.

Liz shook her head. “Are there no ships available?”

“There were few capable of this trip; and most were destroyed during the wars early years. None have been built since. Short range ships for use within the Pegasus System. But able to travel 10,000 light years? Perhaps one or two might still exist. I am not privy to that information.”

Liz slowly nodded. Then she looked at Max. “It is clear the four of you need to go; and Nascedo should as well. He should go home.”

Nascedo was surprised that the young female would make such a gesture. And it showed.

Max closed his eyes. How could he do this without Liz at his side? Yet his duty was clear. “IF there is a way to get you there, I will find it Liz.”

“I will wait for you. I will finish school and hopefully start at Harvard after next year. Hopefully anyway. But I will come, know that.”


It was decided to wait until the end of the school year, which was only a month off. The Evans were very saddened; but understood. It was arranged for Max and Isabelle to supposedly attend a prep academy. Since Max and Liz were a couple and so were Alex and Isabelle, and Alex was aiming at MIT, and Liz at Harvard, it was being put out that they wanted to prep to try and get in schools there; Isabelle at Brown and Max hopefully if not at Harvard Boston College.

Max and Liz, Alex and Isabelle, Michael and Maria tried to use the time they had to the utmost. But it was hard.

“Chica, it is not like Michael is the ideal boyfriend, unlike lover boy. But I will miss him so.”

“That is love Maria. I am going to feel like I am only half here. I have decided to try and get in some summer classes this summer and next summer and if I have gotten into Harvard I am going to work my butt off; that way maybe I will be too busy for it to hurt so much.”


And she started right off the day after Max and the others left. She started working on summer college courses. Looking for anything scientific she could find. And found some possibilities in a strange place.


General Morgan definitely had an easier time with no more Special Unit. However something had come up but was seemingly just an interesting happening.

“The Satellite showed what was thought to be a heat plume in the Wandells?”

“Yes sir. Unfortunately it was out of our regular satellite coverage for our area; just about 40 miles north east. The IR sat caught the plume. But that is all. The Temperature was over 5000 degrees F. That melts solid rock like butter. We got a recon plane to go over the area and found nothing.”


The Granolith had covered up its tracks as it had left with Max and the others. This was to be a mystery for quite a while.


“Well keep it open. Now as regards the proposal from the Team?”

“Kind of makes us look bad in a way; something we should have thought of before.”

“Considering how top secret it is, maybe not.”

“Still sir, we do need some original thinking. Conventional thinking has not done too well.”

“They could not find anything in the Special Unit files?”

“Unfortunately the ones the Dr had were mostly destroyed.”

“Which frankly might have made us all throw us also.”

“Very possible Sir.”

“Anyway, trying to find some of the young best and brightest that have original thinking is a good idea in any organization that is supposedly cutting edge.”

“I will have a draft to you by the end of the week. Legal and Security will have to buy off on it.”

“Of Course. But since we do have parts of Nellis that are fully open we can have them work there. It seems to be just a matter of how we can do this without people connecting it to Area 51.”


“Liz. Found something you might be interested in.”


Her guidance counselor showed her a paper. Liz took it and sat down and read it. Then blinked. She looked up at him.
“This is different.”

“Definitely is. But the fact that they want original thinking in the government is even stranger. But it says right there they want top science students with open minds and imaginations. To bring suggestions for basic research.”


Liz was not certain; but an open house at Nellis? Why not. And it did look interesting. She had gotten back a questioner from Harvard to prepare her for her application there. Anything that would look good on her application would help. This might.

One thing Liz had been working on quietly was her powers; which were increasing. She was now able to blast some; nowhere near the others could be she could probably hit someone hard enough to burn them some and probably knock them down. It was steadily getting stronger. Her astral projection ability had also gotten more easily controlled. She had taken up Tai Chai as a way to meditate and center herself; and it was helping. She still had to work to control her energy spike when angry or really agitated. She had found though that if she could find a good ground she could dump the energy quickly. A convenient water pipe or the like worked well.

In the first of August Liz boarded a bus for Las Vegas and the first session of the Free Thinkers Scientific meeting at Nellis.


Liz had a blast at the meeting; there were over 100 other high school students there; and most of them very bright. A few flakes and nuts, but most were good thinkers. It was three days that went very fast.


“Well?”

“For a first time I think it went well. Got some good publicity for us as well.”

“That is a good thing. Anything really brilliant come up?”

“Nothing ground breaking; but our people there were very impressed by some of the students. Getting their names and keeping track of them over the next 5 years and maybe guiding them our way. We need new blood in our R & D program for certain.”

“That is true.”


They were to hold these meetings every 3 months for the next year and Liz was able to make all of them. She really enjoyed it.

True to her words to Maria, Liz had put her nose to the grindstone and was going to graduate in December; and then more prep classes after that. Harvard had accepted her application and was processing it. Liz knew she had to knock her SATs out of the park to get there. She not only had to gain admission, which she had a good shot at; but get scholarships. Harvard was VERY expensive.

Max was like a missing tooth; your tongue always finds it. Liz sometimes literally ached for him.


Max sighed. Then stretched. Michael smirked.
“Thought they were a pain in the butt, not the back?”

“They are a pain everywhere. A king must act this way and that; he must always be like this or that. It is driving me nuts.”

“Could be worse. You could be like Iz and having to put up with all her ladies in Waiting.”

“True.”


Their arrival had been low key which Max was very grateful for. They had gone to a far off part of Antar that was sparsely populated and of little interest to Kivar. Their resistance members had been training Max and the others in the things that they SHOULD have learned after coming out of the pods. Luckily the training they had done the last year in Roswell had helped a lot; and it was mostly refining skills already learned. Max was very proud that some of the things Liz had gotten them to try had not occurred to the so called professionals. Generating cloud banks; distractions; things like that.

So far they had appeared to keep their arrival a secret from Kivar. Buying time to get ready for launching the war when they were ready. The plan was to start stirring things up slowly and try and get Kivar to commit men piecemeal; so they could start wearing him down. They hoped to have an entire year to prepare.

Now the Royal part of things were much more trying. How to act and talk and even walk and such. It got old real fast. And of course they started to talk about the succession and how he would have to choose a queen. He very bluntly told them he had one; and when a ship was available she would come here. That was not received well but he did not care. He told them flat out if they said she could not be queen then he would not be King and would go back to Earth.

The Granolith had been of great help; that had really impressed the resistance fighters. The fact that it clearly recognized the Royal Four as the true heirs settled things quickly. And it was a great addition to the cause as now with it on Antaran soil it could listen in on Kivars supposedly secure communications system. They could now track all movements of his forces. Which would be very good to have when the attacks started.


Liz took her Diploma at the quiet ceremony in December and smiled. There were only 11 others getting theirs early, but she did not miss out as far as she was concerned. True she would not be class valedictorian as she had once dreamed of, but in the long run it did not matter. Her SAT scores had come back and she had gotten into the 99th percentile which was important; Harvard had granted her admittance and she was now working hard on getting scholarships.

Liz hugged her parents and Maria and Alex, and the Evans had come as well. They were still sad about Max and Isabelle, but hopeful.


Just a week before Christmas she went to the next meeting at Nellis. There were not as many here as before, but considering the time of year that was no surprise. And this time she got to spend time with the R & D people there from the government.

Dr Johnson was happy to do these meetings, unlike most of his colleagues. He knew they needed new blood on the team and this was one way to try and start finding them early. One he had pegged quickly was now here, Elizabeth Parker from Roswell. Of course that made him smile inside. He checked her file and was pleased to see the admittance to Harvard; and some VERY high SAT scores. And she had graduated early; was working at all available college prep courses and CLEP tests. Very good indeed. Microbiology and Quantum Mechanics and Neural Research. Well. VERY interesting.

Liz liked Dr Johnson; he seemed to look forward to this.

“Miss Parker. Congratulations on gaining admittance to Harvard.”

“Thank you, Dr Johnson. But that is half the battle; the other half is getting the money together to go there.”

“That is true. But Harvard gives out a lot of scholarship money.”

“I need all I can get. My parents are not rich.”
“They run the Crashdown in Roswell? I ate there once some years ago.”

“Must have happened before I became a waitress there.”

“It was about 7 years ago.”

“Before my time. I started when I was 12.”

“So do you believe?”

“In Aliens? Why not? It is a very big and old universe. Thinking we are all there is would be the height of arrogance; and stupidity.”

“And do you think we have been visited?”

“If so, they must have gotten lost. No intelligent life here.”

He had to laugh at that.

“I notice your proposals are an interesting mix?


“Well, if you look at man’s development and evolution, it’s been centered about the brain for the last 100,000 years at least. Why should that not continue? We are almost certainly only using a tiny fraction of the potential of the brain; we need to concentrate on that. Perhaps we will one day evolve into pure energy, which is my idea of the ultimate life form.”

Johnson nodded. He had the same feelings about things like that.
“Your bit here about Neural research?”

“The military has been doing that for a while, right? Trying to direct wire the brain into systems to cut down lag time that right now limits aircraft. If a pilot can think turn instead of having to move his arm, he will do it quicker and more precisely then anyone can now using a stick.”

“Somehow I think you are looking beyond that?”

Liz paused for a moment. She needed to be careful; she tried to act like she was looking for the precise words.
“I am still trying to word that right myself. What I meant was that if we can generate the energy in the mind, we do not need linkage- not mechanical nor electrical.”

Dr Johnson blinked at that. “You mean literally power of the mind?”

“Yes. Maybe man is not there yet; maybe it will take another 100,000 years. But we need to start trying. Who knows what can happen?”

“Power ships and such with only the mind?”

“Or use the mind to link the ships and such to things like the electromagnetic spectrum; a source of inexhaustible energy. A conduit perhaps; or a trigger.”

“Or a focus?”

“Why not?”


Dr Johnson was to think about that over the next few weeks; as he reviewed the annual report on the Ship.


It was about 2/3 the size of the Space Shuttle; and it was not a saucer but more like something from some of the science fiction genre. It did not have wings; but it was not boxy like a shuttle from Star Trek. It was slightly triangular –pointed but not really so. It had some minor damage from the crash. Some outer panels had been damaged. The metal was 10 times the strength of anything man had come up with; they had managed to carve out a few pieces in areas not thought to be critical and had spent the last 50+ years analyzing them. And everything else in the ship.
Two drives seemed clear; a FTL long range and a sub light short range. How each was powered was the big mystery. There seemed to be no fuel source. It was not a sleeper ship; there had been what they thought were sleeping pods but as near as they could tell it was a case of more to conserve resources over a trip then anything like a generation ship. Its central section was laid out with 6 seats; one in the center and 5 facing outwards. Their size indicated human shape and dimensions; borne out by the bodies they had found. It was clear they crashed; why not so clear. There had been a huge electrical storm that day; but why should lightning be able to bother something that could cross light years?

Common thought was something had broken on the ship – no matter how advanced something can always go wrong.

Thinking about Miss Parker’s ideas, he looked at the ship and wondered. Perhaps it did tap the galaxy’s power; a good an explanation as any. They had over time been able to take off access covers and look at its innards. The circuits were crystalline; conduits something like that but that was about all. They had been totally unable to find any fuel of any kind recognizable to humans.


Liz sighed as she ended her shift. Not being in school put her in the Crash Down a lot more than before; but she would need every penny. She had gotten quite a bit of scholarship money; and Harvard was more and more looking possible. But it was a grind. The good news was a year of Tai Chai had given her great control over her powers; which were still increasing. She was now able to molecularly modify things, as Max and the others had done. She had also found she could focus her mind and move things; and just recently on a whim had been able to power her blow dryer; as a matter of fact she had almost burned it out. In her last session out in the wilds, she had been able to split a huge boulder and explode a dead tree into toothpicks.




“It is time.”

Max nodded to the head of the resistance group they had spent the last year with. They were as ready as they could hope. And so far Kivar was clueless.
“Time to get this done.”

And he thought, the sooner this was done then he could have Liz brought here. Her absence was a constant ache deep in his chest.


The plan was kept simple; while other units would attack and cause confusion outside the capital, Antares, Max and the others would slip inside the city and reach the Palace. And take Kivar down there.

The last few months had seen increasing attacks; Kivar had reacted and ordered strong reprisals and the like; guaranteed to stir up more resistance.

Kivar sat and brooded. Something was going on; it had been years since the rebels had been this active. What was it?


Tess had to rest; the constant mind warps had drained her. The small group consisting of the Royal Four and half a dozen rebels had managed to penetrate to within a short distance of the Palace. However Kivar had declared a curfew and they had to dodge half a dozen patrols. So they were inside a vacant building letting her rest and carefully examining the Palace. They were due to move to another building right outside the walls and there take a tunnel that had been carefully dug over the last year that would bring them right into the basement of the Palace itself.




Liz had to work at it to not brood about Max or worry about what was going on 10,000 light years away. But it was hard. Whenever the need grew the worst, she would concentrate on something else.

Right now was an offer from the Nellis people to work the summer there; Liz had to think about that since she had plans to do more college work; then realized that she did not need to do that. So she accepted.



“Doing a background check on a girl just 18 who has lived in the same town all her life is a breeze.”

The other security officer smirked. “That place her parents own is really tacky.”

“Yeah. But successful. Found out something; the girl had a picture made up of an alien and uses it now and then on especially obnoxious UFO nuts to get a bigger tip.”

“That is great! Glad to see she is not totally a miss goody two shoes; those people always worry me.”

“I hear that. That SOB in the FBI they caught only a year ago was a supposed good family man church going all around perfect guy and he had been selling out his country for over 10 years.”


“Dr Johnson, this is an unusual request.”

“Sir I think this is an unusual student. She is going to Harvard and her areas of interest dovetail with the Team to a significant degree. We can work to get her to agree to come here after her doctorate; and from all appearances she could very well get one in record time. She already has half a semester of credit; and by the time she starts there in September will be three fourths done on her first semester; she plans to have her BS in 3 years, Master in 4 and PHD in 5. And if we agree to fund her graduate studies we can lock her in here. She has a very open mind welded to a very disciplined and keen intellect that in addition according the to the IQ test we just gave her over 150 which qualifies her for MENSA.”

General Morgan blinked. “Well. I guess maybe she is. How about her background check?”

“Absolutely clean. Of course an 18 year old girl who has lived her entire life in one mid-sized town is pretty easy to screen.”

“True. Very well then. Start her out and we shall see. But no more than level one without my approval.”

“Yes, General.”


Liz was psyched; a chance to work with some of the absolute best. Her orientation had begun that morning; now she was being briefed on some of the basic areas. This was in Quantum Mechanics; something she had studied a lot over the last year. So she had the basics down pretty well. Dr Williams was running over the basic formulas for Strings.

“This is the last one Dr Jacobs finished before his retirement.”

Liz nodded and looked down where she had copied it. Then looked again. Then at the formula on the board. Then down again. Dr Williams noticed this.
“Question Miss Parker?”

“Dr, the third line, halfway, the MCQ part after designation of the 4th power. That part looks strange. Could you explain it to me?”

He looked at the formula and began. “This has the connection complex with the primary string to supporting string as you see here…” and he trailed off. And looked hard.
“Jenson!”

“Yes Dr Williams?”

“You made a mistake here on copying this formula.”

“Sir, I thought I got it right from Dr Jacobs’s notes.”

“Get them now.”


Minutes later. “Sir that is exactly as he had it.”

“Well it is wrong.”

“Yes sir.”

“OK. We now do a full review of his formulas. Miss Parker, since you spotted something we should have months ago, you will help Jenson here check all this.”

“Thank You Dr.”

“No Miss Parker thank you. We have been having trouble for the last six months and it looks like the reason is right here.”



“Jacobs was always an arrogant prick; but I at least thought he was a competent one.”

“He was but his arrogance tripped him up there; we found two other mistakes as well. Not as important but they would have cause problems down the road.”

“Miss Parker is already an asset.”

“Definitely. No telling how long we might have missed that.”

“Sir?”

“Very well Level Two.”



Liz was beginning to get the very wild idea that this group she was helping just MIGHT be one that was working on more than just theory. If what she suspected was true… She clamped down on that thought and banished it.


“I thought she was ambitious in her academic schedule. Now I am beginning to think she was just being pragmatic.”

“If I did not know better I would have thought she was already working on her masters. Clearly she has been studying up here but the speed at which she grasps the basics and moves on to the next level is astonishing.”




Max carefully looked around the corner; they were in the basement of the Palace and were just starting to move up. No one in sight. They crept on.


Kivar ordered all units to full alert. He was worried. He ordered another unit to the Palace.


They were one floor below the throne room, where from all reports Kivar spent most of his time. They moved closer.


Kivar looked at the latest report. The attacks were moving closer to the Capital and increasing in intensity. Suddenly he knew; they were going for HIM.


Tess gathered herself and concentrated on the 4 guards outside the main door to the throne room.

Max and Michael got ready; the guards blinked and looked at each other; and then down the hall away from where Max and the rest were around the corner. They moved.

Kivar looked up as the main door to the throne room blasted open and a group of Rebels came right at him; his guards in the room moved to block them; he stared at those in front; they were so young. Then he KNEW.

The rebels took out the guards with the help of Isabelle, Michael and Tess. Max went straight for Kivar.


Kivar stood there; then laughed. “Foolish Child. So ready to die?”

Max smiled grimly. “Foolish usurper, so ready for Death?”

Kivar realized then who he was facing and it threw him; just long enough. Kivar was older and overall more powerful; but he had not been training for the last year for this. And Max had. In battle there was only the quick and the dead.

Max hit Kivar who just barely got his shield up in time; but he was off balance and falling backwards; Max poured it on, ignoring his own defense. Blast after blast as Kivar stumbled backwards. Then fell. And Max was on him and his hand broke through the shield to contact Kivar’s chest. Then Kivar screamed.


Max slowly stood up, looking down on the dead dictator. His chest now adorned with Max’s own palm print. In Death.

The others gathered around him. Two of the rebels had died but they had killed all the guards. Isabelle hugged Max.
“It’s over.”

Slowly he nodded. Then Michael pulled out his communicator.
“Rath to Command. Kivar is dead.”


Max mentally contacted the Granolith.
“It is done. Get here quickly.”

“On my way.”


The fighting continued in the capital city; then a loud roar was heard and all stopped and looked up. At the Granolith as it slowly moved over the city and to the Palace; and then lowered itself in the millennia old traditional position it had always been in; before Kivar.

Then one and all realized what had happened; and the government forces began to surrender. They knew it was all over. If the Granolith had appeared then one of the Royal Four had called it in; Kivar was either dead or captured.



Liz could not remember a time when she had been so challenged; she could barely keep up with all the knowledge she had come to in the last 2 months. But it was also so exciting.


“Sir?”

“Very well. Though how we are going to convince her to go to Harvard NOW after seeing that…”







Max sat on the throne of Antar and received the pledges of Loyalty. It had only been a few days. Antar was just beginning to sober up after the celebrations over the demise of Kivar. So now the nobles and others were giving their oaths of Fealty. He had to remain poker faced and calm and dignified. But all he wanted to do was find out if there was a ship available to bring Liz to him. His need for her seemed to have grown by the day.

He straightened up just a bit. This next noble was very important for personal reasons.

“Hail King Zan. I pledge to you my loyalty and all those that follow me.”

Max stood up and moved down and put his hand on the old Noble’s shoulder.
“Rise Lord Korag. You were his Fathers friend; and you were King Zan’s adviser. Your loyalty has been constant and true; and it cost you and yours greatly.”

This was unusual but Max had felt this was the right thing to do. The old Noble slowly got up; his eyes wet.
“Thank You, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you. I have been told Kivar not only confiscated your lands but destroyed all your homes and structures.”

“That he did, Your Majesty.”

“In Partial Repayment I once again grant you back all your lands; and in addition all of Kivar’s before his attack.”

“Thank you, Sire.”

“For 50 years you stood constant in opposition. It is only a small repayment for a very large debt.” Max then looked around the throne room.
“And in addition I now appoint you as Head of the Privy Council.”

What would in other governments be called the Cabinet.

The next day the Council met for the first time in over 50 years.
“As King I call this meeting to order. I want to make one thing very clear; I only want to hear truth in this room. No platitudes or political speeches or posing. Only as it really is.” He then turned to Lord Korag.

“Lord Korag, please start.”

“Thank you Sire. I believe the first order of business must be to see to it that all the war criminals be identified so that justice may be done.”

“I agree. However, I have been told that all courts were abolished except for toadies of Kivar. To have justice we must have judges and courts and form.”

“There are still judges left who would not serve Kivar; and I believe there are enough for those needs.”

“Good. However we must also began to get regular courts operating as well; for day to day law and order.”

And so on down the line as each advisor gave his input.



Dr Williams had all he could do not to laugh. Liz just stood there with her mouth open as she gazed at the Alien Ship.

Finally Liz squealed. “ALL RIGHT!”

He had to grin. As mature as she was in so many ways, she was still an 18 year old girl and they squealed.

Liz was like a starving lion devouring a gazelle as she was shown the ship. She touched the sides and ran her hand over the scars. Of course they had no idea that she was envisioning Max and the others in this ship over 50 years earlier. Then they went inside and began to look around. Finally they got to what was called by some the Control Room and by Trekkies as the Bridge.



“There are none.”


“Your Majesty the last one was destroyed not two months ago. There are currently no ships that are capable of that voyage. We will start to build new ones but that will take time.”

Max sighed. “Other priorities come first. Rebuilding Antar and bringing back the refugees and many other things. Those ships are long down the list.”


“Sucks Max.”

“Yeah Michael it does. The Granolith told me it will take it two years to recharge sufficiently to transport anyone from Earth to here.”

“And no ships for longer than that?”

“At least a couple more. We have bigger needs.”



Liz slowly moved towards the center seat; it was calling to her. She sat down. Then placed her hands on the rests; fitting her fingers into slots as naturally as if she had done it a thousand times before.

Dr Williams was intrigued; the way she was acting and moving was strange; as if she somehow knew… then the lights of the ship came on for the first time. The ship powered up.


Outside there were shouts as the ship began to hum. The Alert was sent out.


“Welcome Child of Antar.”


Liz heard this in her mind. “But I am not a Child of Antar. I am human.”


“You carry the genetic code. You have activated the ship.”


“I was healed just over one and a half earth years ago by King Zan. That changed me. Before I was human completely.”

“Unexpected this is. My programming does not account for this.”

“It was unknown that this could happen.”

“That is clear. However your imprint is clear; your connection to King Zan is apparent. Therefore you are indeed authorized. What are your orders?”

“What is the condition of the ship?”

“Light damage. The main circuit malfunctioned; causing the crash. Most damage had been repaired before Shut Down was mandated. Minor repairs will commence immediately. This ship will be at 100% in one solar day.”

Those watching outside saw the scars on the exterior begin to fade; glowing then disappearing.

Williams’s stared open mouthed as other damage was repaired as he watched. Then the security team came running in; and saw Liz in the center seat and started to point their weapons at her. Suddenly they glowed hot and they had to drop them.

A voice came out. “Warning. Any threat to the Child of Antar will be stopped.”

Liz slowly opened her eyes. Looked around. “Oh Shit.”





“Report.”

“Sir, we have sealed off the hanger. We are in contact with security outside the ship. It has powered up but that is all so far; except that it seems to be repairing itself.”

“What set it off?”


“Unknown Sir at this time.”



Liz sat and thought for a moment. Then communicated to the ship.
“I need to talk to them. But frankly they probably want to arrest me. How much protection can you give to me?”

“They do not have weapons here that can threaten this ship. Now the greatest known weapons that they possessed at the time this ship landed would destroy it. And if they have others as powerful they could as well.”

“They have nuclear weapons; as far as I know no one has anything except those.”

“Inside this ship security can prevent use of weapons. But once outside you will be vulnerable and I cannot do anything.”

“OK. That gives something for me to work with. Continue the repairs but otherwise power down except for security and sensors.”

“By your command.”

Williams noticed the hum subsiding; and it got quieter and many of the lights went off. But not all of them. Liz then stood up.
“OK. Believe it or not this was as big a shock to me as it is to you.”

Williams gave her the hairy eyeball.

“Yeah. I know.”


Liz sighed. “Well If I leave this ship you will arrest me. So frankly I will be staying here for the time being. I can explain most of what happened; the ship told me some of the story and I know part of the rest of the story.”

The Security detail chief did not know what to do. It seemed clear that the ship was capable of disarming his men no matter what. They had tried to pick up the weapons but each time they got hot when they were touched.

Williams took a deep breath. “Maybe start at the beginning?”


“OK. 18 months ago I was waitressing at the Crash Down when two idiots started to argue and one pulled a gun and it went off. The bullet hit me right in the stomach. I should have died. But I was saved. By a young boy that had been secretly in love with me for years but too shy to say anything. He was different; and he risked his life and more by saving me. But he did not hesitate. And by his healing me I began to change. My brain began to accelerate in development by thousands and tens of thousands of years. And I became what the ship first called me. A Child of Antar.”

The others were gobsmacked.


“Report.”

“Sir you are not going to believe this.”

“Try me.”





“OK. You were right. I do not believe this. But you say Williams and the Security chief both agree that is what she said?”

“Yes sir. The shooting incident was talked about a lot on the UFO forums; a number claimed she had indeed been shot and had been healed.”


General Morgan rubbed his head. Then sat back and thought hard. Then nodded. “I am going in and talk to her and no objections will be heard. Is that clear?”


Liz sat in the center seat. Williams and the Security Detail were the only ones there. The General was on his way. Liz tried to stay calm.

General Morgan walked into the ship; he could hear the faint hum and saw several lights. Then he looked towards the small young woman sitting in the command chair, as everyone had always called it. He took a deep breath.
“Miss Parker. Start at the beginning and come to the present moment.”



It took almost an hour. The General was silent.


Amazing. Yet it seems to fit the facts. The heat reading from the Wandells. Some of our theories on the way the ship works. What we knew about some of the aliens. It all fits. Still Washington is going to go ape shit. And no telling what they might do to her. Still…
“Washington is not going to be happy, Miss Parker.”

“Honestly General I am not surprised. But maybe someone should tell them this: This ship does not belong to them. It is property of Antar. It crashed due to a malfunction. So no evil intent was there. They merely wanted to hide the pods so that the children could grow up in safety and one day return to Antar and restore the rightful government. The United States has done things somewhat like that on occasion. What is the difference?”

Morgan sighed. From a legal standpoint she was correct. Legal. He began to think about that. Yes LEGAL. He turned to the Security Chief. “I want the JAG officer here NOW.”

The JAG, a Major, could not get over all of this. But the general was making it clear that legalities had to be observed.
“Sir. National Security has always been able to pretty much trump the laws. Has done so for a long time. This ship is incredibly valuable and therefore can easily be justified as a National Security Asset. It does not belong to an ally that we have a treaty with.”

“Very well. What about Miss Parker?”

“That one is more tricky sir. She is a citizen of the US and therefore has rights that no one can really take away. She is of legal age. Yet her ability to operate this ship is clear; and therefore her value to national security is clear as well. Very murky sir. Protective Custody would be all that could be legally done.”

“Major. Did you read the files from the Special Unit?”

“Yes sir. I know what you are saying. No doubt if they had gotten their hands on Miss Parker they would have done much worse.”

Liz decided to speak up. She had not talked about Eagle Rock.
“They got Max. Eagle Rock.”

General Morgan was very still. “That gas explosion was not an accident.”

“No it was not. We got Max out of there while Mengele Jr and Heydrich Sr were calmly discussing a live vivisection. I have no apologies about killing them.”
Liz was calm and hard and very clear about that.

Morgan slowly nodded. “I have no real problem with that. They got what was coming to them. But others might not agree.”

“And those others are willing to defend our own SS unit?”

“That would be an interesting debate with some; but the great majority would agree with you. Well that adds to things.”

Williams decided to side track things.
“Liz, where is Antar?”

“10,000 light years away along the Perseus Arm. The System is called Pegasus. IT has 4 habitable planets around a class M sun similar to our own. Antar is the inner most planet; all 4 are fairly close. The next planet is Granular; settled by Antar. The third planet is Crevsek; that is where the shape shifters come from. Their atmosphere is high in methane, but they are able to survive in earth’s atmosphere; we could not in theirs. The Fourth planet is Talnar. Also settled by Antar thousands of years ago.”

“So life began on Antar and Crevsek?”

“Yes. The other two had no sentient life.”

The others were fascinated by this but the General finally shook his head.
“AS much as this is truly fascinating we need to make some decisions here. You mentioned the shape shifter. You do know he killed several people.”

“Mostly after provocation, general. But I will not try and defend him. He was cold and hard; a professional soldier employed as bodyguard for the Royal Four. He went back with them.”

“So there are none left here on Earth?”

“Not certain about that. There were 4 Antarans and one Shape shifter on board with the pods. One of the Antarans got the pods away while the shape shifter made sure he was not followed. There has been no trace of him since that point. The Shape Shifter seemed to think he cut and ran; but he could have been killed at some point. While some Antaran’s can heal others and themselves, he was not one of them. They can die of basically the same things that can kill us.”

Morgan thought about that. It was indeed true that no one had heard of another alien in all these years. He probably was keeping a low profile; or he was dead. Probably did not really matter anyway.

He needed to make a decision.

“I think for the time being you should stay here Miss Parker. You will feel more secure and frankly if Washington acts badly you are better off where you can be protected by the ship. I will see to it that some water and such is brought in. I have to inform Washington of all this.”

Liz blushed a little. “Luckily the ship has facilities for personal needs sir. So I do not need access to a rest room.”

Morgan blushed a little as well. He had not thought of that.
“Very well. Dr Williams I take it you want to stay?”

His look was eloquent. “I will have a recorder brought in. That way it can be on the record.”


One hour later Morgan finished his verbal initial report. The Senior General was remarkably restrained.
“Situation is secure?”

“Yes sir.”

“Stand by.”

Liz sighed. “Dr, I am kind of tired. I would like to nap for a bit.”

“So am I Liz. But you do realize that we have more information here in these last hours then we learned since the first few days after the crash. So it is kind of understood that interest will trump exhaustion for a while.”

“I know that very well Dr. I am going to crash for a bit.” She then curled up in the middle chair and pretty much conked right out. Williams picked up the recorder tapes and walked out of the ship. He handed them to the waiting assistant.
“Transcribe these immediately. I am going to get something to eat. No one goes into the ship.”






“Max, maybe you need to see the healers. You seem to be in pain.”

“Rajan, I am fine. Just missing Liz.”

Rajan had been by their side since the first day and knew Max and the others very well. This was new.
“Max, you mean you have physical pain?”

“When I think of Liz, yeah deep in my chest.”

Rajan blinked. “Then you do need to see the healer. Because it will only get worse.”


“Your Majesty you have bonded with this young woman. A bond that is very rare. It is mental and physical. And unfortunately detrimental to your health.”

“What about Liz?”

“Since she is not a full Antaran nor a true Hybrid yet, the discomfort and such will be much less; though she will indeed feel it. You are in fact lucky that you are not full Antaran. If that had been the case you would be dead by now.”


Max was a little surprised at all this. But not really that much. His belief that Liz was his soul mate was just strengthened. The kind of bond he had was very rare indeed; and as was shown could be deadly.



General Morgan was now on a conference- video and audio with those cleared for the project.
“That is as it stands. Miss Parker is at this time napping on the ship. She feels that she is only safe there and it is hard to argue otherwise.”

“This is incredible, General. Needless to say but it had to be said. So the ship is fully functional?”

“Apparently so. It has self-repair capability for all but major problems. What had caused the crash had been repaired when it went to automatic shutdown mode. And it stayed there until Miss Parker sat in the command seat and it recognized her energy imprint.”

“This granolith. What about it?”

“That to me is far more incredible then the ship. It has the ability to travel 10,000 light years in a few days apparently; the ship took 6 months.”

The senior Physicist shook his head. “The speeds of that are just incredible. It can apparently go from one end of the galaxy to the other in less than a week. It is difficult to grasp the concept of that extreme velocity.”

“So to summarize, by sheerest chance probably the only person on earth who could power up that ship just happened to stop by.”

“That pretty much is it, sir.”


Liz woke up a little groggy and blinked. Then got up and stretched. She had decided NOT to think about what she would do if the Military got nasty. She would deal with it if it happened.

She looked up as General Morgan and Dr Williams walked in. She sat back in the center seat and waited.

“Miss Parker, it seems common sense rules at this time. I think also the advisory board is still trying to come to grips with things. So at the moment the decisions are at my discretion. I made sure the files of the Special Unit were open to them; they were reminded of why you were wary. So far so good. So basically we just need to continue on. Dr Williams here is very interested in just how this ship works. Clearly it is much beyond our understanding but getting the theory in place will help.”

Liz sighed in relief and nodded. “As I had thought, it taps into the energy of the universe; which is every bit as varied as one could imagine. Our own theories are sadly limited. The energies we are aware of are only the smallest fraction of what is available. This ship is able to tap into something like 5% of what they know of.”

Williams sat back with the recorder and kept asking questions.

“Could we duplicate the drives?”

“Several needed materials are not native to this solar system; at least as far as the survey team thought over 100 years ago when it first visited here. Now maybe on the outer planets, possibly. They looked at the inner planets and the asteroid belt. As regards the technology, it is over 2000 years old.”

Morgan blinked at that. “It has not been improved since then?”

“I asked the ship about that and basically it’s been tweaked some but not greatly improved. That surprised me as well. But on the other hand when what you have works this well the need to improve is small. But I do think it underlines a basic difference between an old culture like Antar and a new one like Earth. Antar has been industrialized for over 10,000 years. About 50 times longer than Earth. And while I could not get details everything I sense indicates that progress came much slower there then here. The computer was surprised- I think that is accurate- that we moved so quickly from pre-industrial to postindustrial, that is electronics, at the speed we did. It was very surprised at how much we had progressed in the last 50 years.”

Morgan and Williams looked at each other at that. Now that was information that could be very important.


“Liz, is this ship now capable of flight?”

“It has repaired itself to that point. It could take off now and head back to Antar. The trip would take approximately 6 months.”

“The sublight drive as we would call it; what is its speed?”

“10% of light speed. How it does FTL apparently involves generating its own wormhole. The sublight drive is basically anti-gravity.”

“So FTL in normal space is impossible.”

“Yes. Einstein was right about that.”

Morgan shook his head. “Some of the greatest questions scientists have had over the last 50 years have just been answered.”






Max looked out of the balcony of the Palace and sighed. The pain was manageable but still nagging. But then he was very lucky he was still alive so he could not really complain. But it was going to be a long wait.

Things in the last few months had settled down. The Government was slowly reconstructing itself; new courts were opening and Max had reappointed old judges who had refused to cowtow to Kivar. But they needed more. Sad thing was that Law Schools and the like had been closed down for 50 years. Antaran’s lived to 150 or so, but that still meant that with the war a lot of the professors and teachers were gone. Basically only industry and the like had been maintained by Kivar; and now Antar would be depending on help from the other planets to reestablish everything else. The first trials for those that had committed war crimes were due to start soon. He was not looking forward to the signing of Death Warrants he knew would be coming.

The good news is that most other things were building quicker. Life was getting easier and many of the refugees were already home or coming soon. The big question looming over everything was what kind of Government Antar would have.

Some kind of elected form was accepted; but since experience with that was very limited there was a lot of debate. Parliamentary forms from Earth seemed to be most favored; but a lot of Antarans out of loyalty to where the Royal Four had grown up were also interested in the American form of representative Republic. The checks and balances part appealed to a number of people who were worried about the fragmentation problems many Parliamentary systems suffered with. Small parties having inordinate power; or too many parties cutting up the electoral pie and forcing continuing coalition governments that were not very stable.

One thing he was not all that happy to see was that A strong Monarchy was still very popular, obviously for reasons connected to himself and his predecessor. He wanted that stopped; for two reasons. One he did not want the power or the responsibility; and two it would be inevitable down the road that there would be a bad king and what do you do then?

“Lord Korag, you have an idea on this?”

“Yes your majesty. Simply write into the Constitution that a King can be removed. I do like the idea of a written form of government that all can clearly read if even they interpret it differently.” He then went on.

“I think a form of which the King occupies a position such as your President does; while having a Parliament or Congress as another part; while a separate Judiciary forms a third. A triangle is the most stable form of structure. Both in building and in government.”


Max looked around at the Privy Council; most seemed to think this was going down the right road.
“Very well. Now one or two houses?”

Lord Moloocsh was definite. “Two. One elected and one of the Nobility. Much of the initial hostility to King Zan’s reforms came from the Nobility that felt threatened; and Kivar capitalized on that.”

Most nodded. Max nodded to himself. This was going better than he had hoped.

“Judiciary. Appointed by the king and approved by both houses.”

Once again most nodded and those that did not seemed accepting.

Max sat back. It seemed the basic structure would be as stated.



It was finally agreed that Liz would return to the base quarters she had been staying in. The information she had been able to supply from the Ship and other sources had the scientists absolutely giddy. Liz just wanted to sleep. As a concession to security, she would be escorted everywhere.


The Advisory Panel looked over the latest information. The General in charge looked at the Senior Physicist who was basically on a high. He had to smile.
“You seem cheerful doctor.”

“General I now have answers to questions that I feared I would not have before I died. And the cherry on top is that most of them are what I had thought anyway.”

The General looked around the room. “I am guessing one of the priorities most here have is taking the ship around the Solar System and getting a good look at everything?”

The senior Geologist smiled. “The holy grail for us General; being able to scan all the planets of the system and know how they are made up and what is where as regards resources and the like.”



Liz sat in the meeting with the General and the senior academics.
“Not surprising that everyone wants a ride. BUT the fact is that the ship is not that big. Realistically at most a dozen can be comfortably accommodated since the pods would not be used.”

The General smiled. “Miss Parker, I think several of the PHD’s here would not object to some discomfort for the ability to look close hand at Jupiter or Neptune.”

Liz looked around the table and sighed.

Liz had put off attending Harvard; and had a feeling it might never happen. But surprisingly she was getting to be OK with that. What she was a part of already was so far beyond Harvard.

One month later after carefully making sure no one would notice, Liz took the ship up for a trial run. Just to Mars and back. It took only a little over an hour to get there. They spent an hour looking it over then came back and since things were going well went to Venus and looked it over. Then back to the base before dawn; they had been gone a little over 5 hours.



Max was impassive as the announcements were made about the new Constitution that would be enacted; and the elections that would be held in 6 months. Sometimes being a king meant sitting there with just a blank face.


Liz sighed and stretched her back. As Captain of the Antares (the ship had no name so Liz gave it one) she had a lot of paper work to fill out. Somehow that had been established despite the fact that basically the ship consumed nothing that had to be supplied. They had just come back from the second trip to the Asteroid Belt; they had spent a full day slowly surveying it. The next trip would be to the outer planets. Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn and Neptune, and then a quick look to see Pluto. That trip would last 2 weeks.


The President was not happy. “I should have been informed by now. We have an operational space ship that can move around our solar system like a kid on his bicycle peddling around his neighborhood.”

“Sir, it was established over 50 years ago that no elected officials would be informed of any of this. You are the first president to know about it.”

He shook his head and sighed. Then sat for a moment. “An 18 year old girl is the pilot?”

“Pilot and captain and the only one that can fly her. And she is just about to have her 19th birthday.”

“Very well. I take it a lot of questions have been asked and answered.”

“Mr President, the scientists are almost on information over load. So many questions have been answered that the impact will last for the next century at least.”

“If some of this information is let out. Which of course is the big decision to be made; how much and when?”

“That of course sir is the big headache. How do you announce findings like we have now about what is in this solar system without questions by those asking how we found out? Let alone the answers to how FTL drives can work and so forth.”

Pensively the president nodded. “We can’t. Simple as that. The social earthquake this would set off on the planet would be very unsettling. And if it was found out we had a ship that worked the diplomatic and political fallout would be even greater.”

No one in the room really had an answer for all that.


Liz had also been asked to demonstrate her powers and had with a little reluctance done so. But she had not shown them all nor their full power; she needed something up her sleeve just in case.


“When she uses her powers her EEG does not seem to shift as much as one would have thought.”

“No it doesn’t. I think her theory that a different portion that we have not been able to identify and the energy involved is as yet unknown to our instruments is correct. Unfortunately the ships computer has limited information on that; Antarans have been able to do this for millennia so why have details?”

“Nuts.”


Max went to the Granolith.
“King Zan, what is your request?”

“How long till you can transport multiple people to and from Earth?”

“1 Year. And then another two years to recharge.”

“Can anything be done to speed up your recharge?”

“I have been researching that; and it will be possible in the future for an increased solar collector to be built. However the ability to make that collector requires materials that are in short supply. Once built the time will be reduced to one third.”

Max sighed.


Liz had a quiet talk with Maria and Alex.

“Do you guys still want to be with Michael and Isabelle?”

Their looks said it all. Liz nodded.



“There it is General.”


“Liz they are not going to let that ship go.”


“It is not their ship to begin with and since no one can fly it but me they really have nothing to say about it. What we have already given to Earth is worth many times what the ship itself is.”

“Not arguing that Liz. Just telling you what the Government will say.”

“The ship is not capable of mining any strange ores we have found; what we can do we have already done. The scientists will be spending at least the next ten years just digesting what they already have.”

Morgan sighed. “What is it really Liz?”

Liz was quiet then said. “I physically ache; and I know it’s because I have bonded to Max. And the pain is getting worse.”

Morgan was quiet at that. “You think you might be in danger.”

“The ship was not sure; just does not have the information for something that was never done before. But it does show up in the medical scans it does on me. So it’s not in my head.”

Slowly he nodded. “Then do what you need to do Liz. You do not owe anyone anything.”


So Liz carefully planned all of it. Supplies were loaded aboard the ship and Liz let it be known she was doing a test run; that usually only lasted an hour or so.


The Evans were clear that they were coming. So it was them and Alex and Maria that were waiting on the outskirts of Roswell. Liz had left a letter behind for her parents; she did not want the scene that would come with all her revelations. They had been unhappy enough at her delaying Harvard to work with the Military.

Maria had a big grin as the ship in the moonlight slowly landed. Alex just said “cool.” The Evans were dumbfounded at seeing all of this. The ship landed and the hatch opened up and Liz poked her head out.
“All Aboard for Antar.”


Liz had gotten the ship to program the pods for all of them; it would pilot itself which was what it was designed to do.



“General Morgan. This report has made more than a few people unhappy.”


“As she pointed out sir, it was not our ship to begin with. And the data we have gotten will keep everyone involved with nothing additional for at least the next ten years. And she did promise to come back; she will keep her promise.”

“She took some people with her.”

“The adopted parents of Max and Isabelle; and her two best friends who were involved with the other two of the three Hybrids. I believe that their presence alone indicates that she is coming back. They all have parents who will want to see their children again.”


Liz groaned; waking up from hyper sleep as it was called was not fun. You really were groggy for some time. As per orders she was woken first. Part of the fun of being the captain.


“Chica, waking up from that is NOT fun.”

“Maria, you want to do the crime, you got to do the time.”

“Shut up Alex.”


“How are you Mrs. Evans?”

“Liz for the last time its Dianne and Phillip.”

“ok.”

“We will be fine. How long till we land?”

“Tomorrow we drop out of FTL and it will take another day to make it to Antar.”



“Wow Liz. This is incredible.”

“Yeah Chica.”


Coming out of FTL was a rainbow of color on the view screen. Then the Pegasus system was laid out in front. Unlike Earth’s solar system, there was only one gas giant beyond the asteroid belt that surrounded the inner planets. It was theorized that belts like that protected inner planets from comets and meteorites that might prevent the establishment of stable life.

“Farthest planet is Talnar, where Tess came from. Then Crevsek where Nascedo came from; then Granular then Antar. No inner planet close to the sun like Mercury. Actually a pretty sparse system; just teaming with life.”


There were no words as they got closer to the planet they all wanted to see. Liz could see on the tactical readout that other small ships were moving from the planets and to the asteroid belt; apparently they were mining there – which was new.


Liz sat in the center seat and communicated with the Ship.
“Is there protocol as regards checking in?”

“I have been monitoring the channels used in the past. They are silent. It is very possible that this is the last long range ship left. There were only 8 at one time 50 solar years ago.”

“Try contacting the Capital on those channels.”

“Attempting contact.” A minute went by. “No response.”

“Damn.”


They got steadily closer to Antar; finally almost to the large moon Hoopla which was almost as big as Earth’s moon and just as desolate.

Then Liz stiffened. Then smiled.
“Max.”



Max sighed; at least the meeting was almost over. Then he stiffened. The others saw this and were concerned; then he smiled.
“Liz.”


Liz glowed. “Antares, take us to the Palace. You can land there on the grounds.”

“By your command.”


Max headed out the door calling for Isabelle and Michael. Tess was visiting family on Talnar courtesy of the Granolith.


He left the palace and looked up. In minutes he saw a ship slowly descending. He had no doubt Liz was in that ship. He could feel her.

ON the view screen they could see Max and Isabelle and Michael. Plus some palace guards and no doubt others would start to gather. But who cared?


The ship extended its legs and softly landed. There was silence for a moment then the hatch opened up and a landing ramp deployed. Max moved closer followed by the others.

Out first came Dianne and Phillip and in a moment were engulfed in hugs by their crying children. Then came Maria who was grabbed by Michael and kissed senseless. Then out came Alex who was grabbed by Isabelle and similarly devoured. Then slowly as Dianne and Phillip stood back Liz walked down the ramp and into Max’s arms and all was right with the Universe.


Sometime later gathered in the Royal Suites the group began to come down from their high. Max had a firm grip on Liz but smiled down at her.
“OK. How?”

Liz smiled. “When you healed me it changed me more than we thought. I became a Child of Antar to the ship and it let me run it and pilot it.”

Max blinked. “But how did you get access to the ship?”

“That is a story in itself. Basically it started out as summer science fair things and I eventually ended up working in Area 51 because I had a good eye for details. Then they let me on the ship and I sat down in the Captain’s Chair and for the first time ever the ship came to life. And a year later that led here.”

Max sighed in pleasure. His pain was gone. “We still had almost another year to wait before the Granolith had recharged enough to get you all. And there are no ships left that can go that far. Other priorities came first rather than build any more.”

“I did promise to go back. Or at least send the ship back. It was used to map the solar system and look at all the planets and such. Not that anyone but an Antaran can pilot it.”

Michael snorted. “It is not their ship anyway.”

“But I did promise. And Phillip and Dianne need to go back some day.”

They looked at each other than at Liz and shook their heads.
“Why should we go back? Our children and hopefully someday our grandchildren will be here. Yes we have some family there and maybe to visit one day or to close up the firm but to stay? No.

Alex sighed. “I will need to see my parents again.”

Maria nodded. “I will want to see mom; but if she does marry sheriff Valenti I want no part of sharing anything with Kyle.”

Liz looked at Max. “I will need to see my parents again. I left a letter but still…”


In the end it was approved by the Government to send the ship to Earth for their use. A pilot was chosen and trained and it went back taking everyone for a visit; Max and the others wanted to visit Earth one more time so they came along; which made it a little crowded but no one really cared. They would all come back by the Granolith. It could make a one way transport with that many people.

General Morgan watched as the ship slowly landed. He smiled. He knew Liz would keep her promise.
Locked