The Granolith's Chosen Ones M/L/CC, Mat, Complete, 11.9.07

[uw51]

continued Part 37a

”As most of you know, King Max of Roswell, also known as the late King Zan of Antar and the High King of the Whirlwind Galaxy, is right now at a special peace summit with the leaders of the Whirlwind Galaxy. We will get into this later, but for now I want you to know that he is safe. Right now King Max, King Larek and General Nicholas Crawford are discussing little Zander’s return to his grandparents on earth.”

Suddenly on the right side of the Granolith a big screen appeared on the chamber’s wall. The Granolith informed them “Mr. Evans, Mrs. Evans, take a look. You can see that your son is well. To his right side you can see King Larek of the planet Kias. In Max’s former life Larek was Zan’s and Vilandra’s cousin, best friend and a very loyal ally. The young looking person to my King’s left is General Nicholas Crawford and who was Khivar’s right-hand on earth.”

Sensing the group’s animosity towards Nicholas the Granolith clarified “You don’t have to worry, Nicholas has joined Max’s camp for good, even though he will have to return to Khivar and play the enemy until little Zander is in safety. But I can guarantee that he’s sincere and trustworthy. Also, he understands that when the summit is over, General Crawford will have to stand on trial and he is willing to accept any punishment given!”

Philip couldn’t stop himself and deprecatingly murmured “yeah, right, from sinner to saint!” and Jeff added, “yeah, I’d like to read his instruction manual on it!” Johnny, ever the military man, had a hard time believing this bit of news too and stated, “once an enemy, always an enemy. Can’t trust turncoats!”

The Granolith let them have their say and then informed them, “as you all know there are no rules without exceptions. And let me assure you, Nicholas IS the exception! And if you want to know why he changed, the answer is simple, Alex Whitman! Alex showed him another way of life, of friendship, trust and honor, and Nick realized that what he had was nothing to be proud of, hence, after much soul-searching he changed sides.”
*~~*~~*
After seeing Max, the Evans’ were very emotional and the Granolith gave them a moment to regain their composure.

”Now, I just showed you Max to let you know he was fine and we can concentrate on what has been going on down here lately!”
*~~*~~*
”Before I explain what happened with you all, I have to tell you, why I let things happen. Why I, the Granolith, didn’t help you.”

Here, the pod-squad and the first members of the IKAAC became very nervous. Thanks to Michael and his list, they had realized that they all had been mindwarped. That thought made them feel violated and very vulnerable. Not really knowing whom to look at, they all stared at the Granolith expectantly.

The Granolith began “after the last dark ages” Hearing the kids exasperated sighs and grunts and Kyle’s ‘Gramps, not again!’, the Granolith informed them “calm down young grasshoppers, I’m not telling you the whole story of our planet. That we can do some other time. Right now you just get the facts you need to understand all this!”

Seeing their acceptance he began again “after the last dark ages our great Mother, along with the elders of her convent and some seers, realized that things went back to normal far too quickly and that the people forgot all the promises they had given in their time of need. Things were relatively quiet for many centuries, except for a few trouble makers who liked to stir up the peace. Her people grew self-satisfied and indolent.“

”Knowing only all too well her people and their tendency to follow the easier path if the promises were right, the Great Mother met with a few of her chosen people and had many talks. The result was unanimous and very clear: When the next dark ages came, I was to stay out of commission, at least not be able to actively help. To that end, I was programmed to cut off all contact from the moment the people turned to support the enemy of my King until he was reborn and ready to take back his crown. I was only allowed to observe and learn as much as possible. I was not to interfere in any way until he was of age or he had bonded with his chosen queen.

Also, I was to choose a ‘Keeper’, meaning someone special as a mediator between the Granolith and the King and anybody seeking my advice. When these two events had happened it would activate my programming.”
*~~*~~*
Continuing with his story the Granolith said ”then the King and my Keeper were to be tested to see if they trusted and respected me, no questions asked, to lead them in their difficulties. After all, at this stage I was the only one with all the answers. As it turned out, King Zan chose my Keeper for his Queen. It was important that he chose her by himself, with no interference from the royal protocol or even from me.”

”Even though it was prophecied that the reborn King would need to choose his soulmate to be strong enough to bring peace to the Whirlwind Galaxy, nobody was to interfere or help him. It was essential that he find her by himself.”

This bit of news left them all staggering with the implications and Maria was the first one to voice the question that was on everybody’s mind, “what would’ve happened if Max hadn’t found Liz or had chosen someone else? Like, not his soulmate? I mean, this is a big chance you took with all our lives. Just imagine, would we just loose this big war? I mean, just think about it, we already have a whole bunch of aliens down here who aren’t all that friendly, in fact they…”

”Hey, watch it, we’re friendly here, you know!” Michael growled, insulted to be thrown into the same pot as their enemies.

Distracted, Maria turned to the tall alien, wondering what he was getting at; and when she realized that maybe she could have been misinterpreted she clarified her statement. “Oh, oh, sorry spaceboy, of course I wasn’t talking about our pod squad here!”

After she corrected herself Maria happened to glance at Cal and prudently added “and of course I wasn’t talking about you either, Mr. Langley, though I have to say that you were a real ass! I mean really, the way you treated Max, that was really, really wrong! I mean, he only wanted to find his son, at least he thought it was his son. You know, the one that actually turns out to be Alex’s son now, little Zander?”
*~~*~~*
”Interesting!” the Granolith said and added “I didn’t know that humans could talk this long without breathing, I’ll have to get more information on that!”

The audience stared at the Granolith quite flabbergasted, not really knowing what to think of it. Kyle wanted to know, “hey Gramps, was that supposed to be funny? Do you have a sense of humor?”

”A sense of humor?” the Granolith mused, “hhmmm, I don’t know if I have one, but I liked your reactions to my statement!”

Phil decided enough was enough and tried to bring some sort order into this levity. In his severest courtroom voice he boomed “now is not the moment for jokes, this situation is much too serious for that!”
*~~*~~*
The people who had just been called to the Granolith chamber had no idea what the blonde was rambling about and were confused. The others knew of Maria’s tendency to ramble and knew also enough of the baby-story, so they just let her ramble and patiently waited for the answer.

”Right, to come back to Maria’s question, there was a plan B. Just in case young Zan wouldn’t find his soulmate. Earth was never in any danger and I had my Keeper to run interference. The difference was that King Zan wouldn’t have been as strong as he is now. His judgment might also have been off a bit, but it would have affected only Antar and the Whirlwind Galaxy. It was never our intention to hurt Earth in any way! But luckily we don’t have to worry about all of this now since Zan is with his soulmate!”

Confused Brody wanted to know “Sorry to interrupt, but who is this Zan? I don’t know anyone by that name” Johnny and Kathy added their input “I don’t know anybody with that name either, do you?” “No, and that’s a Name I’d remember for sure!”
*~~*~~*
At this point the Granolith had to give a short explanation, without any trimming, to the newcomers about the Antarians, King Zan, his sister Princess Vilandra, the King’s second in Command Rath and the King’s bride Ava. How they all had been killed, then with their very advanced technology the scientist were able to mix their essences and create clones, that were born and raised on Earth as Max and Isabelle Evans, Michael Guerin and Tess Harding.
*~~*~~*
Hoping to be able to finally come to important stuff, the Granolith added “After my King Zan and his companions had emerged from the pods, I was to chose my keeper and all the helpers needed that when the time was right, they all could be called upon. What only a very few people on Antar knew was that I, the Granolith, am empowered to chose the King’s first entourage. And all of you, who are gathered here in my chamber at this very moment, have been selected and are ‘The Granolith’s Chosen Ones!’”

This statement elicited many strong reactions. “What!” “What?” “No way!” What for?” “Why?” was heard through out the shocked listeners.

“You didn’t think that we would expect you to save the home planet all by yourself, did you?” After hearing the embarrassed silence of his listeners the Granolith continued “even kings need help!”
*~~*~~*
continued next post

[uw51]

continued Part 37a

Amy wants to know…
Amy tried very hard to follow this cone-thing that they were to call ‘Gramps’ and she couldn’t really figure out what IT was. She needed to know exactly what it was, not just that it was very old, very smart, and very powerful. That could mean a lot of things; no she needed things spelled out for her, preferably in English. Especially if she was to trust it, and from what she’d heard so far, a lot was riding on their trust. As it was nothing made much sense, Kings and Queens, Princess and Generals and not to forget but utterly unbelievable ALIENS, yeah, right!

Quite unnerved Amy addressed the Granolith “Gramps, I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but I need to know what you are. I mean, are you a giant computer? Or are you more like a wizard? Or, I don’t know, something like that or something completely different?”

The Granolith gave Amy’s question some serious thought and finally answered ”I guess you could say that I’m something like an ‘Antarian-version’ of Merlin the great Wizard!”

A faint noise was coming from the Granolith that confused them all, because it was a sound that nobody had ever heard before, but when the cone continued his explanation, everybody realized that it must be his version of a chuckle because it sounded very much like a loudly purring cat “…you see, I was never born nor did I hatch. I was put together by The Great Goddess herself. You can’t open me like you can open a computer. Neither am I a breathing life form. On the other hand I can do many things that you would call magic, or miraculous? I can move things, myself included. I can travel through space and through time. I can talk to you all telepathically or send you pictures. In short, I can do anything I want to…” Thinking better of his last statement the Granolith corrected himself “well almost anything I want to do.”

Jim, who sat beside a bewildered Amy asked “what can’t you do, Gramps?”

Very seriously the Granolith replied “I can’t interfere in anybody’s life. I have to be asked for help before I can do anything. Without your knowledge, all I can do is nudge you or give you hints. As long as you don’t ask, I can’t give you any counsel. And even if I advice you, you’re always responsible for your own actions because you can accept or refuse my help.” The Granolith waited a moment then he addressed Amy “Does this answer your question, Amy?”

”Yes, for now” Amy answered, but she was regaining her wits rapidly and added “but if I may, I’d like to come back for more information when I’m less in shock!” Just before she settled back into listening mode Amy remembered something else that didn’t add up and loudly exclaimed “and what do you mean when you say that we are ‘Chosen Ones’? Chosen for what?”

Taking a deep breath, Amy DeLuca straightened her sitting position and decisively informed the Granolith “I may be confused, I may be in shock, and I may not be the smartest one in this room, but let me tell you Chosen One or not, I won’t let you pull the wool over my eyes!”
*~~*~~*
Listening to Amy’s rambling two things became very clear to everybody; one, Maria didn’t steal her rambling tendencies, no they were a legacy from her mom; and two, Amy DeLuca was one gutsy lady. So far, nobody dared to speak up the Granolith with anything less then utter respect. But Amy DeLuca told him that she would be watching everything that went on, and everybody that knew her was certain that she’d make good on her threat.
*~~*~~*
Respectfully the Granolith informed them “Amy, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you!” and addressing everybody else he added “from all of you!”

”Now, I would appreciate it very much, if I could just continue. Any questions you have can be addressed later.” Everybody nodded their approval, thinking that everything was confused enough as it was, and they didn’t need to ask anything else. The Granolith seemed set on this idea of cramming more and more knowledge into their befuddled minds.

The Granolith picked up his tale “What the protectors realized too late was that Nacedo, the traitor, had tampered with the pods. He delayed the timing of the King’s hatching because he needed time to prepare for Khivar’s plans. On top of that, the crash of the spaceship somehow damaged the timer and brought further delay. The enemies waited for Zan to hatch a lot longer than expected.”

”Since my programming was working and I couldn’t do anything to help, I decided to get busy and do what I could do and find as much information as possible. While we were waiting, I’ve also been on the lookout for a potential keeper. My first choice was Claudia Parker, and as the years went by and the king didn’t hatch I chose her son Jeff Parker, but I still had to wait and my last choice is Liz Parker” Besides the keeper I had to find helpers for the king.

Riverdog had been chosen by the first visitor, and he in turn had chosen Eddy. Serena was chosen by me, because she is very gifted. She has the gift of visions, and a great understanding to interpret them. Visions only help if you can read them correctly.

”The Evans’ were chosen for obvious reasons, after all they are my King’s family on Earth. Maria was chosen because of her deep friendship with my Keeper Liz. Jim Valenti because he became a very trusted ally to Max and his friends. Kyle because of his relationship with Jim and also because he was healed by Max.

Nancy is here because of her relationship with Liz and of course I had her picked out long before that because of Jeff. As you can see, I looked for all the helpers in Max and Liz’s surroundings because it’s easier to trust people you already know. That’s why Amy DeLuca was brought in too. As Maria’s mother she was an ideal choice, and now that Amy and Jim are what you call an item, Jim doesn’t have keep the secret from Amy any longer.

That Nancy called her brother at this moment was a pure coincidence because the Dubois’ had been chosen quite a while ago, actually right after Nancy. Johnny and Nancy are very close and trust each other, Kathy and Jeff joined in this closely knit relationship because of their spouses.

Claire and Charles Whitman are part of this group because of Alex and now even more so because of baby Zander. They will have the great responsibility of raising him. He is a very special child with a great future ahead. If on top of that they want to work with us, they are very welcome to do it.

Brody was chosen a longtime ago too. I originally found him because he is a genius with all things to do with computers, programming, software, etc. When he became sick with cancer I brought in Larek to heal Brody and prepare him for things to come, meaning being possessed by Larek. King Larek needed a human vessel to contact Max, and Brody became this vessel in exchange for his health, he just didn’t know at the time. I’m sorry, that people reacted badly to your abduction, but at the time I couldn’t reveal anything to you. As it was, we found a new challenge for Milton, one that was big enough for him to sell his much loved UFO-Museum. That was when we were able to bring in Brody all the way from England.”
*~~*~~*
The listeners in the chamber were shocked to find out that they had been observed for such a long time and they never even knew about it! At the same time they were a captured audience as the Granolith unraveled his reasoning’s and the following actions to bring them all into this group of ‘Chosen Ones’.
*~~*~~*
Brody, now Brody was in heaven! He enjoyed the situation to its fullest and stayed quiet. Being afraid that he could miss anything kept him glued to his bench, all eyes and ears. At the moment all he knew was that when he came out of this meeting, he’d either be very happy in the loony bin or he’ll have so many questions that the others would wish he was…
*~~*~~*
The Granolith continued with his narration “Sidney was chosen for two reasons, one of course is that she is Brody’s daughter. The other reason she has in common with the other children here, they all were healed by Max. He was the Miracle last Christmas that healed those kids. Being healed by Max means they are changed, they will develop some powers. Right now I brought them into this group because the children will need trusted people to help them when these powers emerge. Later, when they’re grownup, they can decided if they want to be active members or not, but they are in this for life.”

”And finally Cal Langley. Cal is a member of the Royal Guard on Antar, once you’re a Royal Guard you’re one for life. It doesn’t matter if they’re on Antar or on Earth, even if they quit being an active guard, they will still have to adhere to the rules. On top of that, Cal is one of the King’s protectors, just like Nacedo was.”

”I have to admit, that Cal was in a very difficult situation. Once he realized what was going on he watched his charges from afar. I know his reasoning was, better an absent protector than a dead one. I know for a fact that Nacedo was to kill Cal if he’d try to interfere. Those were direct orders from Khivar. So in staying away, he was able to at least watch over you. But what was not good was the way he treated Max, when he went to Cal for help and answers. Max will have to decide on how to deal with you, Cal, I hope you know that!”
*~~*~~*
Under Diane and Philip Evans’ scrutiny Cal felt like a bug under a microscope. Also the death glares that the original IKAAC-Members were shooting his way enforced that feeling. He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could utter one word, the Granolith stopped him “now we don’t have the time for explanations and we can’t work together if there are sentiments of judgments around! It’s the same situation for Max, Larek and Nicholas, now they have to work as a unit. When everything is over, Max will deal with Cal, is that understood by everyone?”

The listeners weren’t very happy with that verdict and grumbled. Michael glared at Cal and hissed, “you really hurt him with your actions. All you had to do was talk to Max and explain the way things were, and he would’ve understood. But no, you had to teach him a lesson, didn’t you! So, I’m telling you right now, we will deal with you when the time is right, we won’t forget.” Taking a deep breath he added “but if Max can stomach to treat Nicky boy decently and work with him for now, I guess we can do the same with you!”

Michael looked at everybody, silently telling them to agree and was proud when all nodded their agreement and Phil only added “you’re right Michael, we most definitely won’t forget!”


TBC

Thank you very much for reading my fic.

Take care

Chula

[uw51]

here it is...

37b, The Granolith, 08/12/2000, Saturday 7 pm
Tell me why?
After the commotion died down the Granolith picked up his explanations and said “now you all know why I even considered you for this very important task of joining the King’s court. But you weren’t chosen for your contacts alone. There were more people we considered, but we had to look at what talents you could bring us. Remember, Max, Michael and Isabelle already found trusted friends, that helped them, now we needed to expand and bring in people with know-how and connections.”

”Philip Evans as a well known attorney has many connections that could be helpful in the future. He can also help with legal advise when needed.

Jeff Parker, with his easygoing ways, is a very liked member of this community. Jeff is very talented relating with people and tends to stay calm in tricky situations, unless they involve his daughter.

Amy, Diane and Nancy will have their hands full with organising everybody’s schedules and running errands. Moms usually are very talented at keeping everything going smoothly, they have to!

John and Kathy Dubois have been dealing with the big world. John as bodyguard to the president, and now with his own business, knows most everything that there is to know about security and protection. Kathy with her school of protocol and decorum will have her hands full teaching everybody about how to move in the highest circles.”

Everybody heard Michael’s grumbled “why would we need that!”

And the Granolith answered immediately “all of you will need that sooner or later. Soon we will have visitors from the Whirlwind Galaxy. They all are in high political positions, from generals to presidents to royalty. Good manners and decorum are very important to them. Also, in a few years we will contact Heads of states on Earth, because we will have a very big come out!”

Right at this moment everybody grasped the magnitude of the future they faced…
*~~*~~*
Following all the turmoil a very pensive Isabelle stood up and paced in front of the Granolith. All the things they had learned, it was just mind-boggling. Right now it was almost too much to take in. But that was the future and they still had time to discuss it. Right now Isabelle still had some questions concerning the last few months. Deciding it was time to bring the topic to the present Isabelle asked “Granolith, Gramps, if I understood correctly you have been aware of what was going on but you couldn’t actively interfere and help, is that right?” ”Correct!” was the Granolith short reply.

Isabelle was fighting the tears that threatened to drop from her eyes and in a chocked voice she demanded ”You still haven’t answered about Alex, couldn’t you help him either?”

“I’m very sorry to say this, but no, I couldn’t do anything to help Alex. As I said, my programming didn’t allow that. All I was able to do at the time was to nudge Liz in her investigations to prove that his death wasn’t an accident and most definitely not a suicide. Liz did most of the work, and later Maria and even Michael joined her in her quest to prove that things weren’t what they seemed.”

Everybody let this information sink in and even the ones that hadn’t known Alex felt the importance of this last statement.
*~~*~~*
Hearing about her son’s death brought tears to Claire’s eyes and sniffing sadly she cried, “as sad as I am right now, I’m glad to finally know the truth about my son’s death because it never made any sense to me.”

She turned towards Liz and added “thank you Liz, for not giving up on my son. I know that he would’ve done the same for you, for all of you, because he loved you all very much.”

She let her glance move to Maria and then to Michael and smiling sadly added “I’m glad to know that he had such good friends! Thank you!”
*~~*~~*
A sombre silence settled in the chamber, everybody was feeling insecure on how to behave, on how to go on. Also, this information showed the newcomers just how difficult and dangerous this venture could become.
*~~*~~*
After a while Isabelle picked up her inquiries and asked ”well, what I don’t understand is, why didn’t you inform Liz about what was going on? I know she and Max were aware of the mindwarp we were under a lot sooner than the rest of us. Why did you tell them to let things run their course? Didn’t you see that we all were hurting? We weren’t just hurting ourselves but also each other?”

She broke down and cried “especially Michael, the poor guy got the brunt of it. He really got it both ways, you know! His behavior was just completely out of whack, and then he received our reactions to it too!”

”I understand your anger at this situation, so, please let me explain it to you.” The Granolith began speaking in a soothing tone, knowing well that this would be very hard on everybody involved.

”I have observed Nacedo and Tess for quite a while and I have seen just how ruthlessly brutal they are, both of them. Nacedo and Tess always knew where you three were. They also knew of Michael’s living condition with his foster father. They thought that if you all stayed ignorant of your heritage, you would welcome them with arms wide open. As it was, you didn’t make it quite that easy for them. When Nacedo and Tess realized that Max wouldn’t turn to Tess, no matter what she tried, they resorted to mindwarping him.”

”To further push a wedge between the humans and the aliens Tess started to brainwash Michael, letting him know that she was the only one whom he could count on, could trust. She dropped many little remarks; snide comments of how he was supposedly being viewed by his friends; never really anything that would anger him enough to call on his friends, but enough to undermine his self-confidence. That was in preparation for the mindwarp. Anyway, at the beginning Michael was able to ignore it all and he stayed close to the group, but then the group started to fight amongst themselves. Alex’s death broke you all apart and the lines between the humans and the hybrids was drawn, with the exception of Michael and Maria.“

“At that time everybody was fighting with Max who had become really controlling. Michael and Maria were together, stronger than ever, and Isabelle and Kyle spent a lot of time with each other. And Liz was on her quest to find Alex’s killer!”

”When Tess finally had you convinced that you had to leave earth because of the baby, she was sure she had it made, because not only did she bring back the late King Zan, with his sister and his second, no she would be bringing me, the Granolith, back to Antar too. When Michael decided to stay behind and opened the cave to find Liz, Maria and Kyle things changed for Tess. The three humans were able to enter my chamber and to inform Max of the fact that Tess had killed Alex. Only the fact that she was pregnant hindered the King in killing her right then and there.”

”Alright, when Tess realized that she couldn’t bring the royals and me along, she had to let you know that she had left in some other way. That was the first big group mindwarp she put on you all, letting you see her take off with me. After you left she returned to Nacedo and together they came up with their next step; mindwarping you all.”
*~~*~~*
After that Tess and Nacedo stayed in the background as observers, everything went the way they wanted it to go, with the exception of Michael and Maria. They didn’t want them together, they wanted Michael alone and vulnerable. Sometimes Nacedo would shift into Maria and start to provoke Michael by flirting with others when he was near, or the shifter let him overhear ‘Maria’s’ phone conversations where she wanted nothing more than to leave Roswell and the whole abyss behind. Nacedo and Tess staged a few scenarios especially for Michael, never really anything that would anger him enough to start an outright confrontation with Maria, but enough to slowly anger him until he broke off their relationship. At this stage, they hadn’t mindwarped Michael yet, that came later.”
*~~*~~*
Shocked the teens looked at each other, this was much worse than any oft hem had ever suspected. Even Michael realized that he had been the perfect victim to be fooled, because even on his best days he tended to be distrustful. On top of that, he had never been able to believe that he was truly worthy of Maria, because she was just too good for him. Yeah, he could really see how, if he saw Maria with other boys, he would begin to accept it as the truth that she had finally found out that Michael Guerin just wasn’t worth her time. So, yes, since he also had a very fragile pride he most definitely would break things off with her before he would give Maria the chance to do it.
*~~*~~*
Seeing everybody looking around nervously had Michael grumble “Gramps, we know all that, we were there!”

Unperturbed the Granolith continued “I know that Michael, but not all present have heard of this and it’s important for them to have all the facts to understand what happened.” The Granolith waited for a moment to see if anybody else had something to add, but everybody stayed quiet.

”The two of them had spent enough time with you all to know your strength and you weakness and they played on it to its fullest. While you were sleeping they would dreamwalk you and use the dream plane to plant their orders and doubts. Their goal was to break the group apart. Whether they planned your meetings with the whole group or just some of you, they were always present or close by. They would steer the talks to strengthen their position. They made sure that the group would come away from those meetings with Michael feeling relieved that everything had gone so well, while Michael was feeling worse and worse, because they let him believe that his friends were suddenly against him.”

”At first I tried to find a way to inform Liz, which would‘ve gone completely against my programming and my orders, but I realized very quickly if they didn’t succeed with this foul play, they would come up with something else. Also, I knew that there wasn’t much time left before the summit. That was why I nudged Larek into talking Max into leaving Michael behind, because as it was, you were very unpredictable, but still worse, Nacedo and Tess would be at part of the meetings too and even if they couldn’t mindwarp you or use their powers, because at my station powers can’t be used unless I allow it, they both are masters in provoking others in the good old-fashioned way. Of course, Michael, in the frame of mind he was in, would’ve reacted and they in turn would’ve demanded the highest punishment possible. I can guarantee you that this would’ve been very bad for Michael and it would’ve really hurt Max in the process.”

“After a while Max and Liz figured out that something was not right, but they didn’t know what. At first they wanted to talk with you all, but I sent them the strong impulses to let everything play out the way it was planned. Nacedo and Tess had invested too much time and energy to just let you walk away. Let me assure you, if Max and Liz had talked with you all, you would’ve behaved differently. This would’ve meant for Nacedo and Tess to come up with something else and I wouldn’t have been able to assist you in any way at all. As hard as it seems, this way was the better way to handle the situation, and I’m truly sorry to know that you all were hurting because of it.”

”As it is, Max and Liz showed their trust in me and proved again that indeed they are the chosen King and Queen and with the help of all of you gathered in this chamber will bring peace to the universe!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
“Wow” was Brody’s first uttered word. This was getting crazier by the moment and he felt right at home. Finally he had other people with the same experience to commiserate with. He was in seventh heaven, absolutely thrilled.

Since he had finally found his voice again he determined to keep on going. Reverently he asked ,and his British accent became very pronounced “Sir Granolith, not to sound disrespectful, but I’m worried about my daughter and the other children. Sir, are the lives of the little ones changing a lot? Are they in any danger?”

“I’m glad you asked me that” the Granolith answered and added “the little ones will be safer now than ever. I’m quite sure that all the adults here will help them when needed. As it is, I will school them in their dreams on the use of their powers. I will teach them when to contact my keeper and when to come to me directly. Also I will protect them, keep them safe from harm. Does that answer your question for now, Brody?”

“Yes, sir, for now. If I may I would like to come back later and learn more about it, sir!” Brody replied.

“You’re very welcome, Brody, and please, just call me Gramps, I’m getting used to it!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Maria was hyperventilating and frantically searching her pockets for her ‘cure all’ cedar oil. Liz noticed her friend’s distress and looked at her closely. Chuckling, she grabbed Maria’s right hand and opened it, bringing forth the little bottle. Rolling her eyes with embarrassment, Maria twisted off the lid and inhaled deeply. “Aaahhh” before asking “Gramps, how could we help bring peace to the universe, we’re just a few people? Don’t you think you’re overestimating us a little bit?”

“Actually, no, I don’t think so!” was the Granolith’s decisive answer and he went on to explain “within the next few hours Khivar’s rule will be brought to an end, and while the people of the Whirlwind Galaxy will be astonished and giddy about their sudden freedom you will have to start thinking about bringing a lasting solution to the war torn planets. It’s true, Max will have the help of the leaders from the summit but he doesn’t know them and they don’t know him as he is now. He’ll need all your support and council, politically and otherwise. He knows and trusts most of you, and that is going to be very important for him.”

Amy began to share Maria’s cedar oil, one sniff here and one sniff there, when suddenly she realized something “Gramps, we don’t know anything about earth politics and even less about the alien one; I think we’ll be more of a hindrance than of a help!”

Hesitantly Cal joined the discussion addressing “Amy, I think I understand the Granolith’s reasoning for inviting you all to be a part of this. He wants to have as many different people working together as he possibly can find. He wants the thoughts and views from the military angle and from the legal angle. Younger and older people think differently too, as do men and women. As do high-tech minded people and nature bound ones and last but not least the human view is very different from the alien one too. A big hindrance of course is that all this has to happen with the utmost secrecy.” Cal looked from Amy to the others and inquired “does that make any sense to you?”

The Granolith let Cal’s words sink in before he continued “thank you Cal Langley, you explained everything very well indeed. But let’s not forget Khivar, Nacedo and Tess with their helpers have to be punished too. They will be accused of high treason against the crown and the commonwealth of the Whirlwind Galaxy, of regicide and genocides. Nacedo and Tess are responsible for Alex’s death and the deaths of other humans.”

“Now you can understand that Max will need as much counselling as possible, for those are very difficult judgments for anybody to decide, much less for a young man. You have to know that even if Max remembers Zan’s life, he still is Max Evans of Roswell!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
I say no!
After hearing about everything that had transpired in the royals past and present life and the great misery that was brought to the Whirlwind Galaxy, Johnny just couldn’t contain himself any longer and he angrily spat, “death penalty, he deserves to be put to death like the bloody mongrel he is!”

After thinking about it for a moment Philip added “I’ll second that!”

Jeff, still a hippy at heart couldn’t agree “I don’t know, I really don’t know. Under normal circumstances I’m completely against it. But then again, this Khivar guy has brought evil to new heights. It would probably be for the best, and the cheapest too.” When everybody stared at him, Jeff defended himself and said, “what? Don’t you agree? Where would you imprison him? Do we even have prisons that could hold him? And anyway, high security prisons cost an awful lot!”

Amy cut in decidedly “I’m against it, I say no!” Jeff, Johnny and Phil yelled unanimously “what?” while Jim just stood there, observing and waiting for the inevitable outcome. He was silently rooting for Amy. He loved to see her all fired up and fighting, especially if he was only the observer and not on the receiving end! And, hhmmm, when she finally came down from her temperamental heights, he often would get to benefit in some very interesting ways!

Diane found her voice and added “I agree with Amy, I say no!” The kids stared at the grownups, fascinated by their behavior.

Kyle was the first one of the teens to react and quietly but very determinedly stated “Buddha is against killing, so I say no too!”

Nancy joined the ring and said “I agree with Amy, Diane and Kyle, I say no!” Seeing the men’s confused looks she explained “I want to see and hear that bastard before I decide on how to punish him. I want to hit him where it’ll hurt him the most, I want him to suffer!”

Jeff was shocked, he had never heard his wife sound so bloodthirsty and out for revenge.

In a reasonable voice Phil asked Nancy “don’t you think a death sentence will hurt him?”

Seriously Nancy replied “oh, sure, until he’s dead! That’s too fast and too merciful. For the last fifty years he’s been a dictator, terrorized Max’s people. He also killed the royal family, he has committed horrendous crimes, and now it’s time for him to pay his dues!”

Amy complemented her friend admiringly ”I’m shocked, Nancy, I never knew you had it in you!” and added full of passion “yeah, I want to see him first too! We’ll nail him where it hurts him the most!”

Suddenly Diane asked “do you think it’s even possible, you know, that we can see that, that… him?”

The Granolith’s answer could be heard by all “of course you can, I’ll let you witness his arrival at the summit!”

Kathy approached the three moms and agreed “yeah, let’s see him, and then we can all sit together and do some serious brainstorming!”

”What is brainstorming?” the Granolith wanted to know. Shocked Maria blurted out “I thought you know everything?” “Well, almost everything, but what I don’t know, I know where to find immediately! I just asked because I thought you might like to teach me something for a change.”

Phil was still mulling over the women’s vengeful reaction and completely missed Maria’s interaction with the Granolith. He’d never come across so much woman power, that was scary. Shocked he exclaimed “you can’t just decide what to do with that monster; it’s not your judgment!”

Jeff, who had uneasily agreed with Phil about killing someone, even if it was a monster, suddenly realized all the possibilities the ladies’ approach to this ‘Khivar-problem’ had, inserted “you’re right Phil, we can’t decide, but we can find as many solutions as possible and when Max is back, we can support him.”

Smiling, Diane added, “Exactly Jeff, that’s what we were getting at. Also, I don’t think that Max wants to speak out any death sentence. I think he would be really glad for all the help he gets, and supplying different solutions would be a great help, don’t you agree, Phil?.”
*~~*~~*
Riverdog, Serena and Eddy observed the goings on. They weren’t really sure if they should take part in these discussions and patiently waited for a sign.

Michael and Kyle, who were standing together, looked over the chamber, both taking their duties as seconds to the King and the Queen very seriously. When Kyle noticed their friends from the reservation, he nudged his companion and nodded their way.

Michael followed this gesture and observed for a moment, then he invited Kyle to come with him and together they approached the three on the sidelines. Speaking up first, Michael addressed Riverdog with a nod and then inquired “What’s your opinion on that? What do you think we should do with the traitors?”

Smiling slightly Riverdog replied “you wish our opinion?”

“Of course” Kyle answered “you’re a part of this madness now too!”

“We will think on it” Riverdog informed the two young men in front of him and Serena continued “When the time comes we will be ready and give our opinions, thank you!”

Eddy added “I think you have some very smart women there. I’m siding with them; I think it’s good to see that enemy before passing any judgment on him!”

Kyle suddenly remembered something that Liz had said back at the house “didn’t Liz say be creative when thinking of any punishments?”

This elicited a quiet chuckle form Riverdog and proudly he said “the little one said that? Good for her!”
*~~*~~*
On the same level…
It was fascinating how old friendships worked, even after a period of time had passed, when everything was in turmoil and nobody really had the time to talk, you still knew the other one. As Liz and Maria watched the adults quibble like a bunch of temperamental teens, they suddenly looked at each other and at the same moment burst out laughing “adults!”

As they stood, side by side, they looked around at all their loved ones and friends, secure in the knowledge that, no matter what, from now on they weren’t alone in this ‘alien venture’ anymore. “What a blessing that is” Maria whispered and Liz agreed wholeheartedly.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
High-level Multitasking…
The Granolith was musing about his existence and realised that now, with all the action going on, he was quite challenged. For the last fifty years all he had done was to garner as much information as possible and keep tabs on the enemy. He wanted to be ready and able to assist his king and his keeper when the time arose.

Now that time had come and he was working on many levels, and he finally was challenged. Just imagine, he had a feeler at the summit somewhere in outer space, and another feeler was on Khivar and his grand entourage, another one was on the quibbling adults in front him, and all the while he sent the sweetest dreams to the peacefully sleeping children…


TBC

Thank you very much for reading my fic.

Take care

Chula

[uw51]

38, Closer and closer and closer, 08/12/2000, Saturday 9.30 pm **Telepathic conversation**
Deciding that enough time had been spent quibbling, the Granolith spoke up again “time’s awaisting, please calm down and listen! I want to be sure that all of you understand the importance of keeping this meeting and everything that is connected to it a secret.”

When he was assured that he had everybody’s attention, the Granolith opened a new screen on the wall and showed them the most important situations from the last few years:
<> Max healing Liz
<> Alex almost caught by the FBI in the big black car
<> Tupolsky spying on the kids
<> finding Atherton’s house in Marathon and bringing back boxes with documents
<> the FBI breaking into the Evans’ home to get the documents from Marathon
<> Tupolsky’s death
<> Hubble, his crazy search for aliens and catching Max, and how sheriff Valenti had to shoot him to save Max
<> Nacedo killing Hank, Nacedo shapeshifting into Hank, Max, Pierce and the mysterious Lady from the CrashDown
<> Coppersummit and the skins
<> Max held captive and tortured by the FBI
<> Max and Liz jumping off the bridge to safe themselves
<> Laurie Duprée buried alive by a possessed Grant Sorenson
<> Kyle and Alex in the cave with the blue crystals, the Gandarium
<> Larek possessing Brody, talking to the kids

Then the Granolith explained “I wanted you to see all these events to make sure you understand the seriousness of this situation. If you trust the wrong person you can get everybody captured and even killed.”

Next the Granolith explained “you also have to stay watchful and if one of you, or someone you trust, suddenly acts differently, he or she could be mindwarped like the original group, Amy and Brody have been. If one of you suddenly starts to ask questions that he or she should know or you think ‘why does he want to know that?’ ask a ‘trick question’ to assure yourself that you’re not talking to a shape shifter. Also, in this kind of situation you can always call on me directly. It doesn’t matter where you are, or how far away you are, I can always hear you!”
*~~*~~*
Is this what you’ve been doing?
This last information really worried the newcomers. Question after question chased through their minds, followed by worries over worries. How would they recognize a mindwarp or a shapeshifter? How could they tell the difference? Could they pull off the innocent act while asking stupid trick questions? Would they even think to ask those questions? Their heads were spinning and their hearts were pounding with all this excitement, but without realizing it, every last one in the chamber had been hooked. Hooked, line and sinker, by the alien secret.

Overwhelmed, Diane asked the kids ”Is this what you’ve been doing when you went on your so called camping trips? Saving the world?”

Modestly Michael replied “well, I guess most of the time we were saving our own asses or each other’s, but once or twice we did manage to save the world or at least somebody else!” for this joke Michael received a few tired chuckles.

The Granolith waited for the crowd in front of him to calm down and then continued his explanations “also, your own senses, instincts and talents will become stronger. In fact, you will be able to tell the difference in a few weeks. When you’re dealing with people you will be able to recognise their intent almost always. At least you will be able to sense if something is off with that person. In that case you can always call on me for help. And if you wish it, I can help you all to work out the best way for you to support and enhance these changes.”
*~~*~~*
The Granolith saw that his listeners were worried with all they had learned and gave them a few moments to reassemble their thoughts and feelings. He informed them “I realise that you’re being swamped with all of this, but you don’t have to worry about anything. I brought you all together to inform you at the same time and I thought it was important that you meet everyone else involved in this adventure. Also, I thought that you might like to witness Khivar’s tumble first hand. Everything else will work out in time. Just look at this meeting as an introduction class where you learn so much that you’ll forget a lot of it right away, but some of it stays in your mind and sometimes you will only remember that you’ve heard of it and then you can call each other or if necessary me.”

To some this seemed to make sense, but others needed more down time to come to terms with all of it.

After a while the moms started to worry about feeding the masses and the Granolith informed them “While you’re here you won’t need any food or drink and you won’t get tired. I will feed you with my energy and when you leave you will feel refreshed and awake!”
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Granolith Station: waiting, 08/12/2000, Saturday 10.20 pm Earth-time
After the secret meeting Nicholas had left the Royal chamber and Max and Larek moved to the back to the more private and comfortable part of the room. To distract Max from the worries of the coming meeting with Khivar and Tess, Larek recounted stories about their ‘tempi passati’ when Max was still Zan.

To Max, it felt strange and overwhelming to suddenly have these new ‘old’ memories of a past as a different person. The two friends used these moments to relax as much as possible, because they knew that Khivar’s arrival was very close. As soon as Nicholas had all the information he would telepath the last details to Max and Larek.

Max was thankful for Larek’s effort’s to distract him, but in the back of his mind he kept waiting for Nick’s call. At the same time he was wondering about what was going on back home. He assumed that everything was fine, otherwise Liz would’ve contacted him immediately. The old adage of ‘no news is good news’ applied here too, Max thought wisely.

By now Larek knew this new version of Zan quite well and he observed the teen’s attempts to be attentive and calm, but Max couldn’t fool him, no way! Keeping up the pretence of not knowing of his cousins worries, Larek recounted story after story. His own worries started to increase and finally Larek gave up and just sat quietly beside Max, both waiting to hear from Nicholas.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Granolith chamber: word of honour, 08/12/2000, Saturday 10.20 pm
The Granolith had one last assignment before he could connect to his station. He addressed all the grownups “ladies and gentlemen, now that you have as much information as I could possible pass on to you in such a short time, the moment of truth has arrived. Before we go any further, I will ask each one of you if you will be part of this venture.”

Seeing the inquiring glances he received the big cone hastened to shed light on his statement “I know I said you’re The Chosen Ones, and you really are my very first choice, but if you feel uncomfortable with all of this or have no desire to become involved, you are free to go. If you decide to go, you will forget everything that happened today, it will be just another ‘normal’ day for you. If you decide to stay, you will have to stay for life. Even if you stop working for us actively, you will always be a part of this group.”

Pausing for a moment to let the listeners work through this last bit of information. The Granolith picked up his explanations again after a few minutes had passed “Max and Liz are the only ones here that have no choice. Max was created with the Royal Seal implanted in him. The Royal Seal is created of two parts, one for king, one for queen. As long as the ruler hasn’t chosen their partner, they have both parts of the seal. As soon as a partner has been chosen, part of the seal will be passed on. That means when Max chose Liz as his queen he passed her a part of the seal. Also she is expecting the royal heirs. The only choice Liz has is if she wants to be my keeper or not.”

”Isabelle and Michael both can choose. I know they already have some of their past memories, but they were cloned without a seal. Of course, Isabelle will be a part of the royal family, but she doesn’t have to be involved. As for Michael, previously known as General Rath, second hand to King Zan, he too has been given the choice. The Queen felt very strongly about that. She said ‘Rath has given his life for this planet and the royal family. He spent most of his young life working hard, protecting Antar and us. He put his life on hold and then it was cut short by that traitor. I, Queen Leonida of Antar, choose to give our trusted fried Rath the freedom to live his second life anyway he wants to.”
*~~*~~*
Michael was very upset. After hearing that Max and Liz were the only ones with no choice, most of the rest of Gramps’ explanation was lost to him. “What!” he yelled and continued in the same manner “did you just say that I can’t be a part of this any longer? You can’t be serious, that’s just bullshit! I’ve been with Max from the moment we left the pods, I refuse to go, do you hear me?”

Jim moved to stand besides Michael and put his hand calmingly on the young alien’s shoulder, soothingly he said “Michael, you let your temper rule your common sense. It’s clouding your thinking. Just calm down…”

“Calm down! Calm down, why would I do that? Didn’t you hear what that thing just said?”

”I heard” Jim chuckled, and after looking around he continued “everybody in here heard, but you stopped listening after the Max and Liz thing, didn’t you?”

Michael looked around and saw everybody stare at him curiously. There was no pity in their stares, only curiosity and silent mirth. He realised that the sheriff was right, he had stopped listening right after the beginning. Full of embarrassment Michael shuffled his feed on the sandy ground. Silently he looked at Jim, pleading with his eyes, to help him out of this awkward situation.

Quietly Valenti spoke to Michael “Gramps only said that the Queen gave you the choice to decide what you want to do with your life. If you want to stay the second or not, that’s all” and glancing at the Granolith to confirm his explanation Jim asked “that’s what you said, isn’t it, Gramps?” “That is correct.” Gramps confirmed.

After Michael’s outburst, everybody stayed quiet, waiting for someone to continue. Subdued Michael realised that he’d been rash in his reaction, that sometimes it might be better to listen to the end of things. After scratching his eyebrow Michael felled a decision and asked “Jim and emm…” he looked at Johnny Dubois beseechingly because he had forgotten that man’s name and waited. “Dubois, Johnny Dubois, but please call me Johnny!” he obliged.

With a small smile Michael began again “thank you. Emm yeah, Jim and Johnny, I guess I just proved that I might need some help to keep my temper down and not to jump to conclusions.” After this, Michael looked everywhere, just not at two men in question and asked “I’d, hmm, I’d really appreciate it if you could take some time and teach me to that. I mean teach me to control my temper” and as an afterthought he added “hmm and to listen too. I guess I might need that also!”

The two men replied immediately. Johnny said “Anytime son, anytime, I’d be delighted” and Jim simply stated “of course, Michael, just say when!”
*~~*~~*
Touched by that scene Diane and Isabelle discretely dabbed their tearing eyes because no matter what, Michael was family. Liz was feeling very emotional too, damn hormones, and rapidly blinked her eyes to get rid of her tears. Everybody in that room realised just how difficult it had been for Michael to ask for help.

Finally the Granolith took charge of the situation again “Alright everybody, we don’t have much time left, so let’s move along. As I said, everybody except Max and Liz can choose. Do you want to be a part of this exciting adventure or not. I know that Max and Liz will need much help and schooling and just as important they will need friends and moral support. I picked you all because I know you are completely trustworthy.”

”I can assure you that at times it will be very difficult. Sometimes we will have so much work; we won’t know how to handle it. You will hear and see things that you won’t think possible, strange things, out-of-this-world things. On the other hand, you will never again be bored. If you decide to stay and be a part of this very important undertaking you have my work that I, The Granolith, pledge to always protect you and keep you safe. Now I will give you a moment to think everything over and to make your decision.”
*~~*~~*
Zesty, Brody cried “I’m in, I’m absolutely in. I think that’s what I’ve been waiting for, for as long as I remember! I’m most definitely in!” He could barely contain himself with all the excitement that was bubbling inside of him. Finally he found his reason for still being alive. After all the doctors had given him only a few more moths to live, and that was years ago, and he was still going strong.

”Damn straight I’m in too!” Jeff decided after looking at his wife. Nancy smiled and joined in quietly “Of course I’m in too, where else would I be?” Phil and Diana just very devotedly nodded their approval after looking at their daughter. Philip was the one to voice their acceptance “our kids are in this, and that means we are in this too. It’s like Nancy said, where else would we be?”

Amy had been scrutinising everybody carefully, assuring herself that everything was as it should be, but not really sure what that was either. When she was satisfied that everything was in order she said “I’m in too, after all you’ll need somebody who isn’t afraid to speak up, and speak up I will when I think it’s necessary!”

Kathy and Johnny watched all the excitement develop and joined very enthusiastically “we’re in too!” and Johnny, ever the military man, added solemnly “It is a great honour to be chosen for this mission, we will do our best!”

The Whitmans had been sitting quietly, watching everything, knowing that this was what their son Alex had sacrificed his life for. Knowing that, they couldn’t do anything else but join. “We’re in, for Alex.” Claire said and Charles added “It’s what he believed in, so yes, we are in!”

To the side of the excited grownups stood Liz, observing them with a proud smile on her face. Soon she was joined by Isabelle and Michael, and Maria, Jim and Kyle came up right after those two. And so, the original group was back together, minus Max of course, joined for better and for worse.

Quietly, Riverdog joined them, bringing along Eddy and Serena.

The ones that had still been sitting couldn’t sit any longer; they needed to move with all the exaltation in the room. Everybody was talking, nobody was listening, and it was pure chaos. And just as suddenly as it had started, they all quieted down and one by one joined the original group, showing their support.
*~~*~~*
Observing all this commotion was entertaining and confusing at the same time. When all the excitement erupted, Cal had moved to the side, and leaning against a wall, had watched everything. He was amazed, well, more shocked, that all these people that hadn’t even known about the aliens until a few days or hours ago, would just accept everything and find the generosity in their hearts to support and offer help. He was humbled by it all.

After things calmed down, Cal moved away from the wall that had supported him and carefully joined the others. He planted himself in front of Liz, Michael and Isabelle and said “I am honoured to be serving for you, my Queen, my General, your Highness.” Humbly Cal bowed in front of each as he addressed them.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Continued next Post...

[uw51]

Part 38 continued ...


Hmm Max? **Telepathic conversation**
After Liz had accepted the position of ‘The Granolith’s Keeper’, he just informed her that she had to perform her first official duty as ‘The Keeper’ and had to inform Max of the latest happenings on earth. So far she hadn’t had time to tell her sweetheart about ‘The Call of the Granolith’ and about everything that had happened. Gramps had also told her that she only had a few minutes to pass along the information. So, here she was, standing slightly apart from the others but still aware of the curious stares from the new members, and called her King.

**Hmm Max?** Liz tried to keep the excitement out of her thoughts and telepathed as calmly as possible. **Liz!** Max hadn’t expected her call and jumped, especially since he could sense the urgency in her. **what’s up, how are you? Is everything ok?** Max fell easily back into his old pattern of being a worrywart.

**No, no, everything’s fine, Max. I have some very important information for you, and we don’t have much time. Can you just let me say what I have to say?** **Sure, go ahead** was Max’s short reply.

**OK, first I have to inform you that I’m the new Keeper of the Granolith. Second, a lot has happened here since the last time we were connected. ALL the parents know, the Whitmans included. Everybody is very supportive and of course curious. Then the Granolith called all of us and some other people to the chamber and gave us all the information we need, to be able to support you.**

**Wow, when did all of this happen?** Max exclaimed, it seemed like everything was just coming together a lot faster than he had anticipated and his head started to spin.

**I know** Liz cried and went on **by the way, we were all mindwarped, oh, oh and Nacedo is still alive. We saw him, he was disguised as a woman, can you believe that?**

**Anyway, Max, right now all you have to know, that besides all the parents, Gramps also called…** **who is Gramps?** Max interrupted bewildered **the Granolith said we could call him that, but that’s a story for later, when this is over, ok?**

**Yes, yes, I’m on it** Liz said impatiently and Max asked confused **what’s that about? I didn’t say anything.** **I know, Gramps just let me know that I have to hurry up. So, here it is. Brody, Riverdog, Eddy and Serena were also called as were my aunt and uncle, Kathy and Johnny. Cal is here too. Oh, and all the kids that you healed last Christmas are here too. Right now the Granolith is letting them sleep though.**

Shocked Max called out **Cal? Cal is there? What’s he doing there? You have to be careful. And who is Serena?**

**The Granolith called Cal and we hashed out all the problems. Everything is alright for now, you don’t have to worry. You can trust him, he is on our side, ok? As for Serena, she is Riverdog’s granddaughter and Eddy’s wife. She’s very lovely. Gramps called them all to help and support us. I just had to let you know all this so you won’t be surprised unexpectedly later. The Whitmans are very happy to take little Zander and they will also help us.**

Suddenly Liz was quiet in the connection and Max wasn’t really sure if he should talk or wait for her to continue, so he just waited. And just as suddenly Liz was back **the Granolith just informed me that you will get a call from Nick very soon. Now things are progressing fast. Just remember. Nacedo is still alive and we are all out of the mindwarp. Nacedo and co. don’t know that yet, so don’t give them that bit of info. Besides that, there are many people here to help and support you, don’t forget that. I have to go now. Max I love you.**
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Let the countdown begin, 08/12/2000, Saturday 10.55 pm Earth-time **Telepathic conversation**
Max had just gotten out of the connection with Liz and wanted to pass on the latest news to Larek, when he suddenly heard Nick’s voice in his mind. Nervously, Max completely forgot that Nick was telepathing him he yelled “What?” and catapulted out of his seat.

Automatically Larek had followed Max’s action and was now standing beside his friend. After he had been able to compose himself Larek tapped Max arm to get his attention. When the younger man looked up, Larek quietly mouthed “can I connect?” Receiving Max’s nod of admission Larek held on to his cousin’s arm and opened the connection.

Max informed Nick of Larek’s presence asked him to repeat his message. Nervously the little general complied and said **Khivar just contacted me and we have finalised his plans. He will be here in fifteen minutes.**

Before Nicholas could elaborate on that statement, Max yelled again “what?” but this time he was in shock. The long awaited confrontation was suddenly here and his first reaction was to panic. Larek grabbed Max tighter, gave him a good shake and addressed the younger man sharply “Zan, Zan, MAX!” After another good shake Larek saw that Max was calming down and he reassured him “Max, that’s what we’ve been working for these last few days, it will be alright.”

Distractedly the teen answered “yeah, yeah, I know, I know.” To emphasise his statement Larek added “it will be alright because you have King Sero, Queen Kathana, Queen Hanar, General Nicholas Crawford, General Th’ikla and with them their people on your side.”

Giving Max another shake, this time a friendlier one, Larek continued “let’s not forget me and my people, we’re right here with you and of course most importantly you have the Granolith. Until you have been properly instructed in the ways of the Granolith’ you can just follow his advise and all will be well, I promise you!”

Max began to breathe deeply, desperately trying to calm down. He realised that loosing his head now would not be the best thing to do.

After regaining his composure, Max chuckled sarcastically and said “well, I took that bit of news really well, no panic at all!” Larek chuckled along with his friend and added dryly “well, it could’ve been worse!”

Remembering that he had left Nick in the middle of his explanations, Max contacted the little general again and apologised **Nick, sorry, I was just a bit surprised, but I’m alright now.**

Trying to keep his mirth at bay Nicholas telepathed back **don’t worry Max, I didn’t notice anything amiss.** On a more serious note he continued **As I was saying, Khivar will be here soon and he’ll make a big entrance in the conference room.**

Max let that thought run through his mind, looked at Larek, and seeing his cousin’s decisive nod, replied **OK, we’re ready! Why don’t you inform the others of this change of plans? It will give them a few minutes to prepare and get ready for the big event. I’m sure they want to dress in some stately robes or what ever you put on for these occasions.**

Again Larek nodded and Max added on a lighter note **they sure are lucky to be able to change into their robes by wiggling their noses, or whatever kind of magic they do…” he saw Larek’s confused look and clarified his magic statement with one word “Maria” That was explanation enough for Larek and chuckling he nodded his understanding, after all, he had been lucky enough to meet her. Max continued his previous comment “if they couldn’t change fast they would be in a lot of trouble because Khivar would be in a temper before we even started.**

Rightly assuming that Max had ended their conversation, Nicholas announced himself once more and said **Max?** and finding the connection still open he continued **Max, I just wanted to reassure you that I’m completely on your side, you can count on me 100 percent. We’re in this together, ok?**

**I already know that Nick, but thank you, it helped me to hear it again!** Max telepathed back gratefully.
*~~*~~*
”Alright Larek, are we really ready to tackle Khivar?” Max asked his cousin, needing some more reassurance for his peace of mind. Seeing the King of the planet Kias decisive nod let Max exhale deeply and say “ok, lets prepare for the great event!”

”Max, you haven’t changed your mind about wearing casual clothes for this great moment, have you?” Larek inquired. “I don’t see why I should change for him. No, I present the naïve teen from earth, who doesn’t know too much about anything, that includes the protocol. I’ll just stay dressed in my jeans and T-shirt.”

”I too stay dressed casually.” Larek confirmed and added “since I was always open about my dislike of that bastard I most definitely won’t wear any gala. Even if the bastard General Ronar won’t think much of that.”

Giving his young cousin a bright smile Larek informed Max “I won’t change for Khivar, but for you, my cousin and High King, I most definitely will, you’ll see!” Seeing Max’s startled expression let Larek burst out in boisterous laughter. When he was able to talk again Larek chuckled “you’ll see, Max, when the time is right, I promise you, you’ll see!”

On that note the two cousins left the royal chambers to join the other leaders in the meeting room…



TBC

Thank you very much for reading my fic.

Take care

Chula

[uw51]

I'm just finding out that posting today is awfully slow, I have to break the new part into two, maybe three parts, keep your fingers crossed and hope that I'll get done before Sunday, lol



AN: when you come across a link, please click on it, it will show you what I mean!!!!


39, Grand Entrance, 08/12/2000, Saturday 11.15 pm Earth-time
Granolith Station, Three, Two, One…
Max and Larek arrived in the meeting room and calmly strolled in. Most of the leaders chuckled as they saw Max’s more than casual attire, but General Ronar was not amused and voiced his displeasure loudly. “Max, this is no way to welcome your King. The least you should’ve done was to dress more appropriately even if you didn’t wish to wear official garments.” Ronar was incensed enough that he never noticed that he had just blown his cover, that he wasn’t really on Max’s side.

Luckily everybody else was well prepared and could hide their grins. Max just looked at him and coolly answered “I don’t see why I should change my clothes for Khivar”

Shocked Ronar gasped “Max, he’s our King; we have to show him our respect!”

Trying his best to look innocent, Max asked offended “you really expect me to respect that guy? After all, he killed me the last time around! So no, he’ll just have to accept me the way I am!”

“Well it’s your funeral Max! I just hope you know what you’re doing.” Pointing at the other leaders Ronar added “take them as an example. All the leaders changed, they all know that now we’re all done with these talks. Khivar is almost here and he most definitely wouldn’t be interested in talks and changes. He likes the power he wields too much to change anything!"

Suitably impressed Max answered “really? Why am I here then?” and on an afterthought he added, “apparently Khivar has everything he wants, or does he?” Larek had to hide his laughter in a coughing fit, while the others tried their best to keep straight faces.

General Ronar puffed up his chest and angrily threatened, “You’ll see, Max, you’re making a big mistake here, a big mistake!”

This dispute was settled by three times three sharp raps on the door…
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Granolith Chamber, Three, Two, One…
After Liz returned to reality, she found everybody staring at her. Before she could remark on that, Gramps notified them “please, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. In a moment I will open a window to the meeting room at my station. You will be able to observe Khivar’s arrival. Later, when Max moves them to the Granolith Chamber on my station, I want you all to quietly stand up and move over to the window.”

Amy’s curiosity got the better of her and she inquired “why do we have to move over there, Gramps?”

“You’ll see,” was the only answer she received. After everybody was settled and waiting calmly for things to continue, the Granolith asked “everybody ready?” In the room the tension was rising to almost unbearable heights and everybody stared at the cave wall, when suddenly they felt the mountain around them rumble and shake. “Sorry, it hasn’t been used in a very long time. But everything is safe.” Gramps reassured them in a calming voice.

The rumbling intensified and suddenly a window opened in the rock wall. At first it was cloudy and you couldn’t see through it, but suddenly the fog disappeared and they saw Max and Larek walk in to the meeting room and join the others. They witnessed Max’s dispute with Ronar, when suddenly they heard the knocks the door opened…
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Granolith Station...
The door opened and in walked a middle aged man dressed in sombre black. With his long golden baton, the master of ceremonies knocked three times on the floor and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen I present you the ruler of Antar and the Universe, his noble highness King Khivar of Antar, her royal highness Queen Ava, and Prince Zan!”

According the secret agreement the leaders (excluding Ronar) had, they bowed before Khivar and Tess. Since Larek had always refused to acknowledge the traitors he only nodded his greeting.

Max stood besides Larek and tried to look bored and unimpressed, but that was a very difficult undertaking because the moment he saw Khivar, he was overcome with a very strong urge to burst out laughing. Only the knowledge of Khivar’s perfidy let him keep a straight face.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Granolith Chamber...
The whole group goggled open-mouthed at the window. They were in shock; they had never seen a sight like that, never! Kathy was the first one to recover and screeched “oh my GOD! Oh my GOD! Do you see that? Do you? Huh, do you?” And with each ‘do you?’ she poked Johnny in his side, to assure herself that he was listening to her!

That was all it needed to release the tension and at once everybody started to crack up, some just laughed hysterically, other hiccupped or yelled “that’s impossible!” or “how can anybody walk around like THAT!” even an “oh my, how could he…” was heard. Pandemonium reigned in the chamber; even the ever stoic Riverdog cracked a smile.

Once they saw new movement on the screen, they all calmed down and remembered that even if Khivar was good for laughs, he was still unpredictable and dangerous.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Khivar…
A long time ago Khivar had discovered that with power, youth and beauty you had it all. After that discovery he searched the whole Whirlwind Galaxy for the best scientists and hired them to create a remedy to achieve and remain just that, young and beautiful.

His scientists had outdone themselves and discovered the greatest secret of all, the secret of absolute beauty and eternal youth. When they worked with the Gandarium in the cloning process, they found out that it was not just good for the original purpose to protect the hybrids from human diseases. Since the blue crystals were very rare, Khivar had proclaimed that anybody using them for anything else than for Khivar’s good was to be punished with death, no questions asked.

But now the Gandarium reserves were running low. The only other thing he knew with enough power to replace it was the Granolith. Now that Khivar had Max away from his pesky friends, he was sure that he could persuade the boy to give it to him. Ronar and Nicholas had both reported to him how ignorant that boy was, and here, at the summit, the only friend Max had was Larek. Khivar was convinced that the other leaders knew exactly whom they had to be loyal to, so he didn’t expect any troubles from them.

Khivar could smell the sweet smell of victory, and was convinced that shortly the Granolith would finally be his, to do with as he pleased. Sure, he had heard all those old women’s tales that the Granolith wouldn’t work just for anybody, but he most definitely wasn’t ‘just anybody’. Yeah, most definitely, the Granolith was within his grasp!
*~~*~~*
As Khivar strutted along the hallways of the Granolith Station, surrounded by Ava and his followers, he let his thoughts wander to the lovely things he would be able to do once the Granolith was his.

He remembered that right after he had taken the throne and Zan and co. had been cloned and sent to earth, he had made it his business to learn as much as possible about that planet. On his research he had come across the most beautifully, elegantly and tastefully clothed man he had ever seen. He had fallen in love with that image and used up most of Antar’s resources to create and maintain that dream.

In fact, he had dozens of tailors who did nothing else than create his garments, one more precious than the other. And to be sure that they all knew exactly what they had to create, he had positioned holograms of “le Roi Soleil” all over their workrooms. In his mind Khivar could just click on it and see the beauty and elegance, he did his very best to achieve (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... uisXIV.jpg). Louis XIV was a man to his liking, Khivar thought, someone who understood beauty and power. That French King knew how to dress appropriately, and he, Khivar, emulated this dress code to the hilt. He had the tailors copy the French King’s wardrobe, and on garments he wore to official functions he made sure that they added more jewels.

The only thing that Khivar didn’t like, because he thought it was too pompous, and thus omitted to wear, was the wig. He was convinced that the way he wore his hair, full, golden blond and waving down to his shoulders, was far more elegant than those wigs, more becoming to a man of power such as he.

In his eyes, the only thing that marred the beauty of his dream was that his stock of Gandarium was running dangerously low. He already had nightmares about his natural hair growing back; also the color of his skin was rather pale and pasty and possibly quite wrinkly too by now.

His fear of losing all that clouded Khivar’s joy. That and the fact that Antar’s royal crown, crown jewels, scepter, imperial orb, emblem and the official seal magically disappeared after Zan’s death, were the bane of his existence. Of course he wanted the Royal regalia because they came with the job, but more importantly, Khivar was convinced that they would look splendidly beautiful on him and they would’ve completed his wardrobe to perfection.

Yes, he admitted this only to himself, but he really needed the Granolith since the Gandarium was practically depleted. He didn’t have much time left before his naturally thin, muddy brown hair that was also straight as a stick started to grow back. Just thinking about it insulted his sense of beauty and gave him nightmares!

Finally he was standing in front of the summit meeting room and had everybody take their assigned positions behind him. Only one person was allowed to stand before him and that person knocked three times three on the door and opened it, walked into the room and announced him…
*~~*~~*

continued next post...

[uw51]

Part 39 continued...


Zero…
After being announced so grandly, Khivar strode into the meeting room with the certain knowledge that he was looking his very best. He was outshining everybody else, and deservedly so. Condescendingly, Khivar nodded very elegantly, graciously accepting the show of respect from the leaders, as was his due.

Noticing Larek’s lack of respect caused Khivar to wrinkle his brow in displeasure and when he faced Max he almost lost his composure by his uncouth appearance. Stupid boy didn’t know how to treat a king?

Sourly Khivar inquired, “Max, didn’t you have enough time to change into more appropriate clothing? Clothing fit to show your respect when you meet your King for the first time?”

Incredulously Max replied “show my respect for you? You can’t be serious!” after this exclamation he noted that indeed Khivar was very serious and continued sarcastically “do you really expect me to show respect for you? After what you did to me when I was Zan? From what I heard you not only took Zan’s life, no first you started a revolution, then you executed most of his family and friends and now apparently you’re stealing from the people of Antar. I don’t see anything to respect in all of that!”

Suddenly, Tess who had been standing to Khivar’s left interrupted “Max, why don’t you greet your son? Just look at him, Baby Zan has been waiting to meet his daddy!” When she saw how Max’s head swivelled to see the baby, Tess was convinced she could handle him, and a little mindwarp here and there and everything would go her way.

She had been waiting for Max most impatiently, because she couldn’t really stand to be in Khivar’s presence too long. He was just, …eeeww. Just thinking of him gave her goose bumps, but she had persevered and endured Khivar’s advances, had played the wronged queen to the hilt, and the old creep had believed it all. Now Max was within her reach and this time she would play her cards right, and the key to getting Max was the baby. Finally the kid was good for something.

In his altercation with Khivar, Max had completely forgotten everything else. Now he turned to Tess and said “you’re right Tess, I want to see Zan.” He could feel Tess trying her best to mindwarp everybody into seeing a resemblance between Zan and Max that wasn’t there, and it only worked on Khivar, like it always did, and on General Ronar. Everybody else could, with the help of the Granolith, clearly see the resemblance to Alex. He had Alex’s black curls and is blue eyes.

Trying to behave as normally as possible, Max walked to Tess and wanted to reach for baby Zander, when Khivar stopped him and said, “don’t touch him. I want you to officially acknowledge him before you hold him, and be careful what you do, because I’ll be watching!”

”Oh, I understand, alright!” carefully Max stepped back one step, then he addressed Khivar “I can see why you’re scared to let me hold him…”

“Scared! I’m not scared!” Khivar shouted and baby Zan started to cry. “Shut him up, Ava, just make him stop that awful noise, it’s insulting my ears!” Quickly Tess handed the baby to his nanny Leanne and ordered her to ‘keep him quiet!’

After observing this whole scene play out, Max addressed Khivar again “well, the little one seems to be very shy. So maybe we should postpone this whole business of acknowledging him until he has calmed down, don’t you think!” After seeing Khivar’s nod of agreement Max continued and asked, “just what will I have to do to acknowledge him? I mean, I’ve never had to do something like that before and I want to do it just right.”

Smiling patronisingly at Max, Khivar informed him of the ceremony “I understand you Max. Well, we will go to the chamber of the Granolith, there Ava will hand you your son and all you have to do is accept him. Of course, all these good heads of states will be there to witness it, as will everybody in the Whirlwind Galaxy, since it will be transmitted through our official channels into every household.”

Suitably impressed Max exclaimed “wow, that’ll be a real big thing, won’t it?” and as an afterthought he added “emm…, I’m just wondering if it wouldn’t be better if I got the chance to get acquainted with the little one, after all, I’ve never had anything to do with babies. And also, he might cry less if I’ve held him before, what do you think?”

’What an idiot, he won’t know what hit him after he accepts the brat!’ no one could see the nasty thoughts that went through Khivar’s mind. He smiled most sincerely and replied “you’re right Max, maybe you should get acquainted with your son before he has to face the ceremony. But I think we should talk about the Granolith first. I know you have it, and since no one knows how to get it to work, I thought I might take it off your hands. It really is of no use to you, what do you say, Max?”

’Right, like I would hand you anything over just because you ask’ Max thought and loudly asked “if it doesn’t do anything, why do we need to hold the ceremony with the little one by the Granolith? And why do you want it?”

’hmmm, it’s going well, better than I anticipated. Yep, victory is coming even faster than I thought’ Khivar was hard pressed to start singing his own praises with glee “well, the Granolith is like the crown, it belongs to the King of Antar, and the people expect to see all official ceremonies being held in that chamber in the Granolith’s presence. If I remember correctly you don’t want to be king, at least that’s what you told Tess, isn’t it? So you won’t need it, and I think it should be on Antar with its people.”

”Really?” Max looked at Tess for confirmation, which she readily gave with a decisive nod, and then he continued, “Ok, if you say so, but I was told that it was some powerful machine. Well, we’ll see. Before I give the Granolith away I’ll have to think about it, but first I want to hold the little one and get to know him!”

Max’s demand put Tess on the spot. Khivar wanted to get this ridiculous show over fast, but now Max wanted to ‘get to know’ the kid. She glanced toward Khivar and waited for his answer. He gave her a nod that said very clearly, do it, the faster he’s happy the faster we have the Granolith, the faster we can get rid of him!

Max of course ‘didn’t see’ this little interlude and looked towards Leanne, and almost jumped out of his skin, when he noticed the person standing behind her. It was Nacedo posing as the Master of Ceremony, but thanks to the Granolith he looked like a masquerading Mr. Harding. Right now Max was very thankful that Liz had been able to inform him that Nacedo was still around.

Hoping that nobody had seen his reaction, Max turned back to Tess and looked at her expectantly. A very reluctant Tess ordered Leanne to bring the kid to Max.

Carefully Max accepted little Zander. He’d never had anything to do with babies, but he figured that right about now was the perfect time to start to change that fact. At first he didn’t really know what to do, but Leanne showed him the best way to hold the baby.

”When was he born?” Max inquired, after all he needed some information and he doubted very much that they would get it later. “Oh, Leanne, when was he born?” Tess asked the nanny and immediately realised her mistake. She was supposed to be a loving mother, because she was pretty sure that Max wouldn’t accept anything less. Immediately she scrunched up her face and started a mindwarp.

Now she was the gushing and happy new mommy “Oh, Max, you should’ve been there. He was born on June 18. and right from the start he was the sweetest baby you could wish for. But Max, he really missed his daddy!”

Max couldn’t resist and asked “isn’t he a bit young to miss his daddy? I mean he’s just a baby and he’s never seen his father, so how could he possibly miss him?”

”Well he did, on Antar babies are different!” Tess snapped and got herself a warning look from Khivar. She was getting sick and tired of that old ridiculous creep, she really needed to get rid of him soon. Because of him she had to always wear white dresses and was only allowed jewellery that wasn’t as stunning as his, because everything else distracted from his perfection.

By now Nacedo had moved next to Tess and did his best to calm her. It seemed to work because “Oh, Max” Tess sighed and added sweetly “you know, this station is part of Antar and that means that we’re still married. Aren’t you glad now that you’re here with us?” and for good measure she whispered, “I missed you so much.”

Max’s “no shit?” was out of his mouth before he had chance to think about it.

Surreptitiously he glanced at Larek and receiving his nod he let his look wander to Nicholas and to Leanne. Everyone was ready, it was time…
*~~*~~*
The time has come, 08/13/2000, Sunday 1.10 am Earth-time
Suddenly straightening up to his full size, Max changed his image from an uncouth youth to a man on a mission, a man who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get. “Ok, the time has come for me to acknowledge this baby here, so let’s go!”

Khivar was displeased and let Max know it “Who do you think you are, Max? You don’t get to make any decisions here, much less to order us about!”

The younger man just looked back at the traitor and calmly answered, “You want me to acknowledge this baby here, don’t you? Right now he seems to be used to me and quiet, I’d say this is the best time. One never knows when he starts to cry again, so, let’s go.”

Nacedo smirked and whispered to Tess “convince Khivar to let Max handle this situation. That will give him a sense of importance, even though you and I both know that Max is no match for us. At least that way we’ll be done with him fast, and the kid will be ours.”

Smiling evilly, Tess nodded yeah, she understood, she understood perfectly. As always Nacedo knew exactly what to do! Addressing Khivar demurely, Tess said, “Sir, maybe Max is right and we should use this moment when the baby is quiet. The ceremony will be much more beautiful and impressive this way. Just think how your people will adore you for giving them an heir to the throne!”

After thinking over his options carefully, Khivar realized that Tess was right, the kid was behaving and this would give a much better impression to his peers here at the station and to his people. With a nod he accepted Max’s idea and led the group out of the meeting room into the hallway and towards the big, beautifully-carved doors of the Granolith chamber.

When they reached the doors Khivar stepped aside and let Max open them and step into the chamber first. He had learned that lesson the last time, when the doors wouldn’t open for him. He had been ridiculed for weeks.

Max walked into the chamber with Zander in his arms and Leanne on his right side. Khivar followed, and then came Tess and rest of the group.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Earth, Granolith Chamber, 08/13/2000, Sunday 1.10 am
After all the laughter had died down and everybody was calm enough to follow the action on the big window, they were all standing there, transfixed by the show.

They watched every move, every gesture that was made. And even though they still had a hard time looking at that creep Khivar without loosing it, they all were fully aware of the importance of this moment. And when Max suddenly changed his behaviour from an uncouth youth to a man on a mission, they felt like he had grown up in that very moment.
*~~*~~*
The moment the Whitmans had seen the baby they were in tears. “Oh, Charles, he looks just like Alex did when he was still in diapers, doesn’t he?” Charles ignored the tears that were poring down his cheeks; he couldn’t believe what he saw. There was his grandson and he was a carbon copy of Alex as a baby, and the longer he looked at him the lighter his heart became. Finally his life had a new purpose!
*~~*~~*
After observing all the humans’ different reactions to the alien leaders and especially Khivar in his ridiculous attire, Cal took some time to take a good look himself.

There was the man responsible for everything bad that had happened in his life. Because of him, his King and the whole Royal Family had been killed. Because of him he had lost all his friends on Antar. Because of him, he ended up on earth. Cal was shocked to feel so much hatred; just looking at Khivar made him feel dirty.

Right at that moment he swore to himself to do his very best to support Max and all the humans here. Of course he wasn’t so naïve as to believe that all humans were like this lot here. After all he had learned that the hard way. But the people surrounding him were good, honest people. What you saw was what you got!

Yeah, he would accept any punishment coming his way and after that he would be in the middle of any action happening to restore peace in the Whirlwind Galaxy and on Antar. He had lost his way, but now he was back!
*~~*~~*
Diane, like all the others, had observed the whole scenario play out. She was bursting with pride, when she saw how her little boy had become a responsible man. Happy tears trailing down her cheeks, she was just so proud, she could barely contain herself. But suddenly, what was that? What did her son say? “No shit?” Diane was sure she had misunderstood. Her little boy wouldn’t say something like that at such an important meeting, surely he wouldn’t, or would he? Seeing Michael’s proud grin let her know in no uncertain terms that indeed, her little boy would!
*~~*~~*
They all watched as everybody marched out of the meeting room and followed them through the halls to the Granolith chamber on the station. They saw how Max entered first and the others all followed. They all took their positions. Max with Zander in his arms stood beside the Granolith and Leanne was still by his right side. Larek walked towards Max and positioned himself to his cousin’s left and slightly behind him. Khivar and Tess stood a few feet away from Max and faced him. General Ronar and Nacedo stood right behind them. Nicholas was by Khivar’s right side, the other leaders stood behind Nicholas.
*~~*~~*
It was a historic moment, because until now, nobody besides the Royal Family, the Keeper and a very few chosen ones were allowed into this chamber.

Since no one had ever seen the Granolith at the Station, they were all very curious about what to expect. Covertly they all glanced at the big cone and were surprised by the size and elegance of it.

But Max and the observers in the chamber, who had seen the Granolith on earth, were surprised to see the one from the Station. It was exactly the same as the one on earth, just upside-down, and it was sitting in the middle of the room.

Max was surprised that he hadn’t noticed the difference when he arrived a few days ago, but guessed that he had been too overwhelmed with all of it.
*~~*~~*
The tension was mounting, it was clear to all of the observers that the time had finally come…



TBC

Thank you very much for reading my fic.

Take care

Chula

[uw51]

here we go....


40. Up there, 08/13/2000, Saturday 1.20 am Earth-time
Earth, Granolith Chamber, 08/13/2000, Sunday 1.55 am
Long before they were supposed to stand in front of the window all the grownups were standing there, waiting for whatever the Granolith had planned. When they looked at Max and all the conspirators against Khivar, it became very clear that things were ready to go down and they were about to witness a ‘high noon’ of their own.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
The Station’s Granolith Chamber, 08/13/2000, Sunday 1.55 am Earth-time
Max stood beside the Granolith, holding Zander tightly in his arms, listening deeply within himself. Right now he was functioning on his memories as Zan and he waited for the sign that set everything in motion. And then everything became clear and simple. He stretched his hand towards the Granolith, placing his flat palm on it. The energy of the Granolith began to flow into his very core and Max was filled with a sense of rightness.

While looking at Khivar, Max began to recite the words of acknowledgement, using the very formal speech as used in Zan’s time “Oh Great One, Granolith of Antar, hear me!”

”What are you doing?” Khivar hissed, upset by the show Max was putting on, he didn’t appreciate Max’s efforts, because the kid was trying to usurp his own role of importance. After all, Khivar was very aware of the fact that this little gathering was transmitted to all the households in the Whirlwind Galaxy! As he thought more about Max’s attire and behavior, as hard as it was to think of something as utterly tasteless and atrocious, he was convinced that the boy didn’t do himself any favor at all, but ultimately it was another proof that he just wasn’t fit to be king.

Waiting a moment before squaring his shoulders, Max looked at his adversary and explained “don’t you think this should look real? Like a real ceremony? The people of Antar will appreciate it!”

As irritating as it was to admit, the kid was right and so Khivar replied sharply “alright, but hurry up, we have more meetings to go to.”

Khivar’s sharp tone managed to scare Zander and he started to whimper. With a mean look at Khivar Max handed the baby to Leanne, secretly glad to have received the perfect reason to do so. Leanne’s quiet demeanor calmed the little boy immediately and Zander went back to sleep.
*~~*~~*
“Oh Great One, Granolith of Antar, hear me!” Max repeated his earlier words when suddenly a rumble went through the room, the walls seemed to be shacking and cracking and the noise intensified.

Trusting the Granolith completely let Max and the accepted ones stayed calm and composed, while Khivar, Tess and the others had turned an interesting shade of green and looked scared out of their whit’s.

”Max, what the hell are you doing?” screeched Tess quite incensed. “Are you mindwarping us?” she demanded to know. “Why would I do that?” Max inquired and added venomously “and anyway, that’s’ your power, isn’t it?”

Not giving Tess a chance to reply to that, Max turned back to the Granolith and stood there, just looking at it, waiting for he wasn’t really sure what, but waiting. A few more minutes passed, where everybody was busy trying to stay balanced and not to stumble, as the shacking and the noise grew stronger. And as suddenly as the rumbling and shacking had started, as suddenly every thing was eerily still…
*~~*~~*
Coming together…, 08/13/2000, Sunday 2.20 am Earth-time
At first when the rumbling and shacking started nobody thought much of it, after all it had been doing exactly that before, when the Granolith opened the screens on the wall. But after a few minutes everybody realized that this was different, stronger, louder, and most definitely scarier. The strange thing was, the Granolith sent them all calming impulses and they knew everything was as it should be.

When things calmed down again, they automatically took in their assigned positions in front of the window. Liz was in the front row with Michael to her left and Isabelle on his other side. Kyle positioned himself on Liz’s right side, thus officially showing his position as her second in command for the first time.

Maria, Jim Valenti, Riverdog and Cal stood right behind, followed by the parents, Eddy, Serena, Johnny, Kathy and Brody brought up the end. The children were still sleeping peacefully, dreaming sweet dreams provided by the Granolith.

While they all stood in front of the window, waiting for whatever was to come, Isabelle suddenly exclaimed, “wow, look!” and everybody looked.

The window became cloudy, you couldn’t recognize anything anymore, but you could sense movement and a change of scenery behind it.

Everybody stood there, silently waiting, strung to breaking point, wondering what else the Granolith would bring. It was way beyond their imagination what they had seen so far and now it seemed like all they had seen might be topped by what was coming. It turned out exactly like that, unbelievable but true…
*~~*~~*
…right now, 08/13/2000, Sunday 2.35 am Earth-time
The cloudy screen turned a blinding white and for a moment everybody in the chamber squeezed their eyes shut. When they felt the light dim down to a more agreeable tone, the Chosen Ones started to peek through half closed eye lids and received the next shock, that had them all standing their, frozen to the spot, open-mouthed!

After the first wave of astonishment ebbed away, Kyle prayed “Oh, Buddha, help me!” Maria began to franticly search for her cedar oil, mumbling all the while “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!” Liz had a hard time to stay in place but called “Max!” and Diane cried proudly “just look at him, that’s my boy!” The men stoically swallowed deeply and suppressed any unwanted tears.
*~~*~~*
The Station’s Granolith Chamber...
After the rumbling stopped, Max locked eyes with Leanne, signalling her to be ready, the time had come. Afterwards he looked at Larek just as intently, from there he let his gaze wander to Nicholas, General Th’ikla, Queen Hanar, King Sero and Queen Kathana and he could see that everybody was ready, when suddenly he heard his mom’s voice cry “just look at him, that’s my boy!”

Momentarily loosing his concentration, Max’s could feel his ears heat up and turn bright red, a sure sign that he was embarrassed. But it didn’t last long, because he realised that he had heard other voices beside his mom’s. He turned on the spot and stared at the wall behind him. Well, the last time he had looked that way, there had been a wall, now he could see the Granolith chamber from earth, with many people inside, some he knew, some he didn’t, but thanks to Liz’s message he was prepared for them all.
*~~*~~*
Khivar was incensed! Did that little twerp think he was impressed? Hell no! Mindwarp, why would that idiot try to mindwarp him? As if HE, Khivar, King of Antar, Master over life and death to his peasants, would fall for such a badly and ridiculously executed mindwarp! No, he was far too smart and strong to be impressed by this, the kid would pay for playing tricks on him, most definitely, he would pay, and he would pay dearly!
*~~*~~*
Tess was shocked, she was now more convinced than ever, that Max had somehow learned to mindwarp. Well, she was sure that even if things were a bit more difficult than they had expected, they would be victorious, after all she was on the stronger side, she was with Khivar. Tess knew that she had played her cards well, because the old fool trusted her and as long as she was ‘nice’ and scratched his itch, she was confident that she and Nacedo would come out of it as the winners!
*~~*~~*
Nacedo was glad he was on the stronger side, on Khivar’s side. Because everybody on Antar knew just how unpredictable the king could be if things didn’t work out the way he wanted. Pityingly he looked at Max and shook his head, that boy just didn’t know when to stop. After all he had told him about Khivar, Max still decided to fight him. ‘Ahh, well, poor sod, he’ll learn soon enough!” Nacedo wondered how Max was going to react, when he showed him who was behind the costume of the master of ceremonies. He was looking forward to that moment, finally after all the efforts he had put into teaching Max and the others on how to be good aliens, he would have the last laugh!
*~~*~~*
General Ronar actually did laughed out loud. Well as uncouth and juvenile Max was, he knew how to be very entertaining. He hadn’t laughed like this in very long time. And imagining how the little impostor would be taken down a peg or two, made him laugh even harder. He knew exactly how Khivar was going to enjoy punishing the kid, yeah; Ronan knew he had something to look forward to!
*~~*~~*
After the first excitement had died down, Khivar looked and found that Leanne wasn’t beside Max anymore. He did a quick search for the baby and didn’t find him with Max or Larek. “Max, where’s the child? You still haven’t acknowledged him. So, would you get the baby and get on with the ceremony?” Khivar demanded angrily.

With a soft smile Max answered, “Zander is where he belongs, he is with his grandparents!” Tess looked across the room towards the Evans’ and said, “no, he’s not. What did you do with him?”

“Well, Tess, you’re looking at the wrong people, I said with his grandparents.” In a dangerous voice he added, “you do know who your sons grandparents are, don’t you?”

”Whatever do mean with that, Max?” the blonde asked, and seeing Max’s angry expression she tried to hide behind Khivar.

Khivar didn’t understand this conversation between Max and Ava, but he realised it didn’t bode well. Taking matters in his own hands the traitor turned to Nick and ordered him “General, go find the baby and bring him back, now!”

This was it; Nicholas accepted the order as usual and turned towards Max. On his way over he looked at General Th’ikla and the leaders from the Whirlwind Galaxy and gave them a slight nod. Once he reached Max’s side Nick bowed deeply in front of him and then he bend down on his left knee, holding his right hand over his heart, and looking Max straight in the eyes he offered “Max, my King, I come to you offering my oath of undivided loyalty and my services. I know that I have committed grave injustices against the crown of Antar and it’s people and I am prepared to accept any punishment you deem fair.”

Regally nodding at his new and repentant subject, Max, with his ears still shining brightly, answered, “thank you General Crawford, I accept your offer. The punishment will still have to be determined later. Now rise and join my people!”

As Nicholas was standing up, Khivar came out of his shock and screeched “Traitor! You can’t do that, General Crawford, I forbid you to leave my services!” When Khivar noticed that nobody paid him any heed, he started to rant “you just committed high treason against your king and the crown of Antar and that is punished with death! “ and for good measure he added “a very slow and extremely painful death!”

And while Khivar was still raving about all the punishments he would heap on Nick, the other leaders crossed the line and stood proudly before Max, one after the other bowed and then kneeled down in front of him and offered their loyalties and services to an overwhelmed Max. Humbly the young King accepted their oath of loyalty and their services, while Khivar was beside himself and ordered the leaders back, threatening them with dire consequences.

continued next post...

[uw51]

continued part 40...


General Ronar cursed his bad luck. He had been absolutely sure of having chosen the stronger party. After all the years of hard work, fawning and bootlicking he saw his chances of a great future dwindle down to nothing at a frightening speed. Ronar never really cared whose ass he had to kiss, no, all he cared about was that he had a position of power and wealth. Damn that boy, with his uncouth and naïve ways he had played him for a fool, and now he risked loosing it all Damn, damn, double damn!!!
*~~*~~*
Nacedo was livid, how could he have misjudged that kid so badly. He’d been convinced that Max, separated from the others of his group, would cave and give up, but no, suddenly that little idiot decided to become unpredictable and grow balls.

There he stood in his jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, and had Generals and Kings bow before him. How the hell did that happen? And now he was even mindwarping and he was holding the warp a lot longer than Tess ever could! And then there was Tess, yeah, that useless chit, but better not go there right now, he had to see how he could get out of this in one piece…
*~~*~~*
Tess was absolutely shocked, mind-bogglingly shocked. She couldn’t find a word strong enough to describe just how shocked she was, and she didn’t like it, not one bit. But whatever else she was, Tess knew she was a survivor. She’d do anything needed to come out on top of it.

After the first wave of shock had lessened, she started to plot and plan and realised that here was her chance to get rid of Khivar once and for all. Max was a malleable boy and would surely appreciate her help against that old creep.

While those thoughts were racing through her mind, she eyed Max up and down and gleefully thought that she’d kiss his sweet ass any time he’d wanted her to. She’d even kiss other places if he asked her to, yeah; she surely would and enjoy it too.
*~~*~~*
Khivar finally came out his temper tantrum and, after looking around, realised that only three more people were standing with him, the bitch Ava, the useless old fool Nacedo and the greedy idiot Ronar. Amazing how one mindwarp could fool all these leaders, but not him, no never him. He knew better than to fall for such an idiotic ruse.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Michael wasn’t sure if he was coming or going to be honest he wasn’t sure of his where about. But it looked like his dream was finally coming true. He was learning more and more about his origins and the more he thought about it, the stronger his sense of unreality grew. Very conscious of his status as the kings second, he tried to keep a cool front, but on the inside he was shacking. It was awesome, just awesome, not in his wildest dreams, and he’d had some pretty wild ones, had he come even close to what was going on.

As he looked across the Granolith chamber (or was it chambers, as in more than one? Heck who cared, not he?) he wasn’t sure at first if this was another window, but now after he had calmed his racing heart, he was able to hear Nicholas surrendering to Max and then the other leaders offered Max their loyalty. He couldn’t find any words to give justice to his feelings right at that moment, it was just awesome, more than awesome!
*~~*~~*
Isabelle, on Michaels left, could feel his emotions rolling off of him and combined with her own, it was almost too much. But right now she didn’t want to dwell on her or her brother’s emotions, because she was afraid she might miss something. She looked at Max and was surprised and shocked at how grownup he suddenly seemed. Isabelle didn’t know this Max, this strong and self-assured man who was facing his nemesis courageously. And then she saw his brightly shining read ears and almost cried with relieve. There was her brother, he hadn’t changed that much and she was glad about it.

From the safety of the sidelines Isabelle carefully observed the leaders offering their oaths of loyalty to her brother, and suddenly she was reminded of events of Vilandra’s life. Life at court, she didn’t really remember, but the feelings where overwhelming her. She turned to Michael and recognized his own similar reactions and they both smiled at other, it was a homecoming of sorts, a strange one, but a homecoming nonetheless.
*~~*~~*
Liz’s emotions were kicking up a storm, and were working overtime. The feelings in their group were running rampant too and with her rollercoaster hormones it was almost too much to bear. She was so proud of her sweetheart she was ready to burst. It was amazing, just plain amazing. The tears running down her cheeks were irritating her because they obscured her view and she didn’t want to miss anything.

Remembering how Kyle’s breathing exercises had helped her calm down, she discreetly repeated them and she could feel herself calming down.

This was Max’s moment, history was being written in this chamber right now. As soon as she noticed that the group around Max had grown quiet, she pulled Michael down to whisper in his ear “Michael, you’re his second, the time has come to stand by his side.” Motioning with her head in Isabelle’s direction she added “take Isabelle and join Max, this is your moment too!” Seeing Michaels shocked countenance Liz smirked, raised her eyebrows and said “or don’t you want to be there, in the middle of everything?”


For a moment Michael looked intently at her, then the biggest and brightest grin Liz had ever seen on him, spread across is face. He unceremoniously grabbed her by her shoulders and smacked a kiss on her cheek, and then he grabbed an unsuspecting Isabelle’s hand and dragged her along to stand with his brother, his friend, his king!
*~~*~~*
Kyle observed the scene in front of him and remembered the words Alex had spoken in the cave with the Gandarium; how he was proud to be a part of the alien secret. And right now in this very moment Kyle felt it too.

Liz whispering with Michael distracted him and when he saw Michael kiss her, and then drag Isabelle over to Max, he was speechlessly surprised. Yeah, that was his Liz and he was proud to be her friend. This action was so typically her, helping others, making sure they were comfortable, letting them take the limelight, of course that was only the case when her hormones weren’t out of whack and she wasn’t steeped in the alien chaos.

As he watched Michael and Isabelle take their place beside Max, he suddenly remembered his own status as second to the queen and he started to wonder if he was really the right person for it. “Oh, Buddha, what did I get myself into?” he asked worriedly.
*~~*~~*
Maria was holding it together thanks to her cedar oil, until she realised that something was off. Why did she see Max and the others this near, and she didn’t just see them, no she heard them too. After some serious thinking she came to a very strange conclusion, but hey, she’d been dealing in strange for quite some time now and thus she knew, nothing was too strange not to be possible. When she finally reached her limit and she couldn’t keep her conclusions to herself any longer, she started to pant nervously and stuttered “are we up there now? You know, up there?” and to make sure everybody understood exactly what she meant she pointed her index finger heavenwards.

When she didn’t receive any answers because everybody else was too busy staring at Max and the others, she realised that they probably hadn’t thought that far ahead and decided to try and enjoy the moment, the very strange moment.

When she saw Liz and Michael whispering together she was curious about it but didn’t have to wait very long, and then suddenly Michael kissed her, grabbed Isabelle and strode across the room to join Max.

Oh, boy, Maria could feel herself dissolve in tears, it was almost too much to handle. In that moment Liz turned around and faced her. As she saw Liz loosing her fight against her tears she decided enough was enough and took the step needed to join her in the front row. Once there the two girls fell into each other’s arms and held on for dear life. After a moment Kyle decided to join them, of course not in the crying (that wouldn’t be very manly, now, would it?), no he joined them in the group hug.
*~~*~~*
The parents had been watching very carefully, lest Khivar decided to play dirty. Of course they weren’t quite sure what they’d do if that bastard started to do what ever it was that he did, but they were very determined to stop him anyway they could.

After they had heard the stories of all the craziness and danger the kids had had to deal with in the last few years, they felt very guilty. They couldn’t understand just how the youngsters had been able to hide everything and leave them so completely in the dark.

Diane and Philip were unable to hold back their worries, when they saw Michael drag Isabelle over to join Max. Would Max, Isabelle and Michael decide to move to that planet? Would they just go for a visit? Would they be safe up there?

Nancy and Jeff had very similar worries, and a few on top of those. Would Liz go with them? Would the babies be safe up there?

Amy had thought about all the possibilities and decided that Maria wasn’t going anywhere, period! If Michael wanted to have Maria, he had to go through her. She was already formulating exactly what she would tell him, because nobody, and that included alien/human hybrids too, was taking her girl to another planet! If he tried she’d put the fear of Amy DeLuca in him, so that he’d tiptoe around her for the rest of his life!
*~~*~~*
Jim was beaming with pride, his kids outdid themselves, yeah, quite a while ago he had started to think of them all as ‘his’ kids, of course one was more his kid then the others, but right now he was in no frame of mind to be picky about it.
*~~*~~*
Brody was over the moon with bubbling excitement, correction, over the Galaxy, and he had to chuckle at his own weak joke. And then he had to really work hard and managed to turn an outright loud burst of laughter into a snort when the irony of all this home; when he remembered that the young alien King of a whole planet used to work for him at the UFO-Museum.

Brody could just imagine the reactions of his old so called friends who ridiculed him after he told them of his abduction by aliens. Yeah, he could just see it play out when he’d say “Oh, by the way, you know the kid that used to work for me at the UFO-Museum this last summer? He is in reality an alien king from the Planet Antar in the Whirlwind Galaxy!” Yeah, that surely would go down well; this time they wouldn’t ask him to sell his part of the company, no, they’d have him committed in a straightjacket, that’s what!
*~~*~~*
Cal was humbled; now that was something new to him. Who would’ve thought that one day he’d feel that way, most definitely not him! Nicholas’ surrender really shocked him. Yes, it was true, the Granolith had mentioned it, but he surely had not believed it. Even he had been afraid of the little General, because he had been unpredictable and with his enemies even deadly with no qualms about it.

Like everybody else in the Whirlwind Galaxy, he too had heard the stories of how Khivar had chosen Nicholas, who at the time had been a young boy; actually he had been the age that his husk still portrayed, a young teen. Khivar had brought the boy into the palace and shown him the high life, showered him with gifts and attention and Nick had become Khivar’s man in no time at all. It was hard to accept this flabbergasting change, but if you could believe ‘Gramps’ the little man was serious.

As Cal studied the group of leaders on the other side of the chamber, he was impressed to see just how supportive his charges were of each other. Since Michael and Isabelle had joined Max, the red of his ears had toned down considerably. The kids most definitely were growing into their roles and into adulthood.

After that he let his eyes swerve to the group in front of him. Liz, Maria and the boy were hugging; it seemed to be a very emotional moment for them too. And not just for them, Cal saw, as he observed the grownup go all emotional. Looking at the sheriff he had to suppress a chuckle, he looked so proud he was almost bursting at the seams and Cal was tempted to bring out the cigars.

As unsure the future now was one thing was certain, all would be better and that was good…
*~~*~~*
Riverdog, Eddy and Serena were observing everything closely, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The old shaman was proudly beaming at the young people. He had always known that if the things that the first visitor had told him came to pass during his lifetime, he would be right smack in the middle of it. Only his twinkling eyes gave away his amusement as Riverdog remembered the first time one of his grandkids had brought home that expression. Now he realised that it was the perfect way to describe his situation, right smack in the middle of it, which he most definitely was. But as the years went by and nothing happened he had started to teach his pupil Eddy everything he knew, to prepare him for the great moment. And in the last years he had given up all hope to witness this event himself.

And then, suddenly, out of the blue the little one showed up at the reservation, had even faced him personally, scared but determined. To their next meeting she had brought Max along. When Riverdog had realised that Max was a visitor too, he began to hope again. Maybe, just maybe he might be lucky enough to witness this great, prophesised event. And now, here he was, right smack in the middle of it and he was savouring every bit of it. Finally his labour of love and trust was carrying fruit and was ready to be picked. Life was good indeed…

Eddy and Serena had never felt like this before. Only a day ago they had received this vision and now here they were and it was exactly how they had seen it. This vision had been strange and unsettling, they hadn’t know how to interpret it, turned out they didn’t have to. It was a first time for both of them that a vision showed a future happening exactly as it would be and they were amazed...
*~~*~~*
Johnny was watching all this very carefully and had felled a snap decision, now all he had to do was convince his wife. He wanted to move to Roswell, the sooner the better, into the heart of such incredible action.

Amazingly enough just a day ago he would've chuckle benevolently when even talking about this sleepy little one horse town. He had always wondered how his lively sister and her outgoing husband could stand that place and not go crazy, now he knew.

Kathy was daydreaming, all the things she could teach here and it would be used in the highest levels. It wouldn’t be like it was with her debutants. Some of them were very nice young women, but then there were the others, the bitches with ice in their veins. She wanted to move to Roswell, the faster the better, now all she had to do was convince her husband!
*~~*~~*
The Whitmans were standing on the sidelines, very distracted by Leanna who had brought them Zander. The little one already had a tight grip on their heartstring and pulled them with each smile he send their way.

The moment Leanne had reached them, Claire held out her arms and received her grandson. It was a very bittersweet moment. Zander resembled his father strongly, but not strong enough to remind Claire and Charles of what they had lost. They could look at him and see their grandson, and that was as it should be…

As they stood there on the sidelines, they fell deeper and deeper in love with their little boy, and almost forgot everything else around. From time to time they would look around, but it was Zander who held their interest the most.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Max was standing in front of all those leaders and was overwhelmed. He could feel the excitement behind him and threw a glance over his shoulder. He was humbled and immensely gratified by all the support his family and friends offered him.

At the moment he was very glad to have Zan’s memories. They seemed to pop up as needed. That and the help of the Granolith gave him a sense of security, but what helped him the most were Michael and Isabelle standing by his side.

Thinking of what he had to do in the next minutes gave him a nervous stomach and he almost had to hurl his last meal, as good as it had been.

Max opened his connection to Liz and asked her to join him and to bring Maria, Kyle and Jim along too. He felt very strongly that they had been a part of this madness from the beginning, now they deserved to stand with him for the last act; the facing down of the terror they’d had to live with for a long while, named Tess, Nacedo and Khivar…


TBC

Thank you very much for reading my fic.

Take care

Chula

[uw51]

here is the first part, the rest will be in the next post!

enjoy...


41. And so it begins… 08/13/2000, Sunday 3.15 am Earth-time
Antar and the Whirlwind Galaxy, 08/13/2000, Sunday 2.35 am Earth-time
By now the population on Antar and the Whirlwind Galaxy was deeply confused. Early that morning Khivar had passed on the order that everybody had to watch this transmission. First they had seen the summit members in all their finery, with the exception of Larek and the young man nobody recognised. Larek was just dressed in his casual garbs and many of the watchers saluted his courage for openly disrespecting Khivar. As they observed the young man who wore the strangest things imaginable, they felt sorry for him, afraid that the King would show him his wrath for insulting him.

The people witnessed Khivar’s pompous arrival in his ridiculous getup and the subsequent greetings. What they had a hard time to understand was why they were even talking of King Zan. Their beloved King had died a long time ago along with most of his family, so why were they talking about him now?

On the upside of things everybody was glad to see that Khivar was running into trouble. They were sure he had not expected that, otherwise they wouldn’t be transmitting this meeting. They weren’t really sure as to why Khivar hadn’t stopped the transmission, because after a while they all could see that he was on the loosing side. Most of the viewers deducted that the dictator plain forgot the running transmitters, and hoped that finally the day had come where Khivar would go down...
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Confrontation...
As Khivar faced Zan, he felt an immense jealousy grow within him - it was so strong, it almost scared him. Looking at his enemy, the older man realised that Zan had almost everything he craved, and the stupid kid didn’t even know how to appreciate it. Zan had those killer amber eyes that were highly valued on Antar. That color was very rare; about as rare as the Gandarium, and so far only a few members of the Antarian Royal family had been born with them. Also the kid had youth, strength and beautifully full and strong hair. But what did that ungrateful lout do with all his gifts? Zan didn’t even get a civilized haircut, bumbling idiot that he was.
*~~*~~*
When Khivar saw Rath and Vilandra join Zan, he was almost impressed with how real this mindwarp looked. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve believed their presence here, but just before the meeting Nacedo had assured him that the royals on earth were fighting amongst each other, and even their human friends had distanced themselves from the group, especially from Rath. And now Zan, knowing full well that he was no match for Khivar, started with his pathetic mindwarping.

Evilly smirking at the younger man, Khivar showed him exactly what he thought of him. Trying to intimidate Zan, he pinned him with a cold stare and sneered, “you can stop your mindwarp, Zan. You’re just wasting my time with these games and they don’t impress me at all!”

“You think this is a mindwarp?” Max found this idea funny and laughed; Isabelle and Michael couldn’t contain their mirth either. Turning serious again Max coldly stared at his nemesis and informed him “if you think this is a mindwarp then you really don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

As Khivar stared at the people in the background of the mindwarp, he saw that they were laughing too! And like many people who take themselves too seriously, he couldn’t stand to be the laughingstock. With eyes that could freeze hell, Khivar coldly asked “Really?” In that short answer you could sense his cruelty. “Let me warn you, boy, you are no match for me. I can do things that you can’t imagine, that’s why I advise you to tread carefully and stop your insubordinate behavior, otherwise you will get to know first hand just what I can do with you!” And for good measure Khivar added icily “I will not tolerate your boorish manners any longer, otherwise I’m done with you!”

Suddenly Max straitened his stance and with a steely glint in his eyes he replied “I can see why you think this meeting will be like all the others before, and if I were alone it might’ve worked that way too. But let me tell you, today you don’t have all the facts, that’s why I advise you to give Zan’s throne back to now and we might solve this situation quietly!”

”Give back the throne to you? Why would I do something as stupid as that?” Khivar started to become seriously pissed and spat “you think just because you have those weaklings of kings on your side you can take me on? Think again, boy, all of you together are no match for me. My powers are far stronger than all of yours combined!”

Max watched Khivar carefully, noticing that he was loosing his patience, and decided to inform him of some of the changes “it’s possible you used to be the strongest one here, but that was before things changed. You have to know that we have the Granolith and his powers on our side...”

”Is that supposed to scare me?” Khivar asked enraged and with his next breath he threatened “I have all the armies of Antar on my side, with all their high-tech weapons...”

This time Max interrupted his adversary and calmly stated “well, I’m sure you can try, but you won’t get anywhere with your threats because your army is actually the army of the Royal house of Antar, which makes them ‘my army’. Michael as my second will lead them in time!”

”You think they’re going to listen to you or to Rath?“ chuckling condescendingly Khivar replied, “You think they will let boys lead them? The army needs men to lead them, men, you understand?”

”I understand, don’t worry, I understand more than you think. By now I have most of Zan’s memories, Michael and Isabelle are starting to receive Rath and Vilandra’s too. On top of that I have all these good leaders on my side, who have pledged their loyalties to the House of Antar, and promised all the help we need. And then we have all these good people standing over there” at this Max pointed towards his family and friends in the background “...helping and supporting us. And let’s not forget the Granolith and his Keeper are on our side too!”

Finally Max was ready to challenge his biggest enemy and spat “are you sure you still have Antar’s army? From what I’ve heard they only worked for you because you threatened them. Now that threat doesn’t exist anymore, what do you think they will do?”

Loosing all control of his reasoning Khivar lifted his hand to blast Max, but nothing happened. He tried again with the same result. He turned to Tess and ordered her to mindwarp his adversaries, and then he ordered Nacedo to support her. He needed the distraction, because he wanted to secretly leave. He realised that he had seriously underestimated the kid and his band of helpers.

At hearing Khivar’s order to mindwarp Max, Tess panicked and broke one of Khivar’s cardinal rules, she talked back “and just what will you do, while I mindwarp them?”

Khivar’s hand was fast, too fast for Tess to see it coming, but she felt the sharp pain of his slap “how dare you question my orders and my motives?” he hissed and insisted “mindwarp now! Or I take your kid!”

Turning on Nacedo he coldly inquired “and you, do you question my orders too?” For the first time in his life Nacedo was afraid. As he went to stand beside Tess to support her mindwarp he demurely replied “no, Sir, no questions.”

While Tess and Nacedo did his bidding, Khivar motioned to General Ronar to follow him outside. They needed a change of plans immediately.
*~~*~~*
Here we stand united at last, 08/13/2000, Sunday 3.35 am Earth-time
By now Liz and the others had reached Max, Michael and Isabelle. Liz positioned herself at Max’s right side, with Kyle on her right too. Isabelle let Maria steppe between herself and Michael who was on Max’s left. Jim Valenti stepped up to stand on Isabelle’s left side.

The rest of the ethnic group from earth followed and stood behind the original members of the ‘IKAA-Club’ and the podsters, thus showing their support.

As they all stood on their assigned spots, a sense of calmness and quiet pride swept through them all. Everything was as it should be, and the Granolith was watching over them, keeping them safe…
*~~*
When Nacedo concentrated his attention on Tess, who puckered up her face to start her mindwarp, Max and co stayed quiet, not letting them know the warp wasn’t working, and they waited for things to come.
*~~*
It was strange, like watching two movies at the same time. On one hand they saw the supposed mindwarp of Khivar talking to Max; on the other hand they saw the reality, Tess and Nacedo’s attempt at mindwarping and Khivar trying to sneak out of the chamber with Ronar.

They were all hard pressed to keep straight faces, because Khivar in all his finery looked utterly ridiculous. Max let Khivar almost reach the door before he called him “ever the coward, aren’t you, Khivar?”

The mindwarp Khivar blustered and started to yell, while the real one tried to sneak more stealthily away. When he tried to open the door it was locked and didn’t budge. That was the moment that Khivar realised that he had seriously underestimated Zan and Ronar started to lament his wrong choice. By now two things were for certain; one, they would go down and they wouldn’t make it easy; two, they could kiss everything they had worked (more like cheated and killed) so hard for goodbye!

Max looked at Tess and instructed her “stop your stupid mindwarp, it’s not working! Did you forget that we’re in the Granolith’s chamber? Your powers won’t work here.”

Coming out of her mindwarp Tess stared at Max wide-eyed, wondering how the hell she had manoeuvred herself into this hopeless situation. ‘Ah... the kid! Her kid, yeah, that might do the trick.’ She knew Max was a softie at heart, too human for his own good, and too stubborn to see the wrong of it. But now that might actually be a big plus for her. All she had to do was go all teary eyed and tell him a sob story, yeah, that was it. He’d fall for it for sure, and then she’d gladly dump Nacedo and Khivar. Those conceited fools, they didn’t know their station in life, they wanted way more than they deserved. They wouldn’t order her around any longer, oh no, she wasn’t queen Ava of Antar for nothing. But first she had to win Max over. With this in mind she threw herself at Max’s feet and cried, “thank god you’re finally here Max. You don’t know all the things Khivar and Nacedo forced me to do, really you don’t know.”

When she noticed the lack of compassion Max was showing, Tess upped her story and tearfully wailed “you know, Liz war right when she said Alex had been killed by aliens. Nacedo did it, but I couldn’t tell you, I was too afraid, of course not for me, but for my unborn baby. He threatened to kill me you know, and then my baby would’ve died too. That was why I didn’t say anything!”
*~~*~~*
General Ronar wasn’t really sure if the sob-story Ava had told was true or not, and quite frankly he didn’t care. Right now he had to re-evaluate his situation. If Ava managed to get back into Zan’s good graces he would just kiss her ass and hope to be accepter by her. He was fully aware that that was his only chance to come out of this unscathed. Later, when the situation had calmed down, he could start to plot again, but until then, he had to blend in.
*~~*~~*
Nacedo was shocked by Tess’ turnabout, thankless female. After all he had done for her. He had raised her, taught her everything she knew, fed her, kept her safe for years. Even let her play the queen, and now that! Unbelievable, you just couldn’t trust anybody these days.

He was more realistic than Tess and knew that they had no chances to be accepted back into Max’s good graces. No, too much had happened for that. As calmly as possible he accepted his nearing end. He knew the sentence for treason was death. He decided to go down as gracefully as possible and fantasising about Tess’s downfall helped him enormously towards that goal.
*~~*~~*
By now Khivar was fuming, he had come to the conclusion that maybe, mind you, just maybe the myth of the Granolith might not be just a myth, but hard fact. True, he had wanted that thing for his own uses and he had believed strongly that his scientists could get the cone to produce his much-needed Gandarium. But, until this very moment, he had been convinced that the rest of the wild stories about the Granolith and his immense power were just that, stories. But now that his own powers weren’t working and that stupid door didn’t open, Khivar started to rethink his situation and found himself quite at the disadvantage and he didn’t like it one bit, no, not one bit!

He wasn’t really surprised to see Ava, the ungrateful chit, betray him. That was to be expected, after all, she was just a female and they didn’t know any better. On top of that, she had always been a self-centred bitch, so no surprise there. What surprised him more was that Ronar, his general, was sidling up to Ava. Khivar assumed that that bastard thought that siding with her was a safer way to survive this fiasco.

When finally his eyes landed on Nacedo he received his greatest shock. There he stood, quietly smirking, waiting, and giving none of his thoughts away. Khivar almost envied that bastard.

Suddenly Khivar was jolted back into reality and was faced with a sea of calm faces, faces that gave nothing away, faces that just looked right through him, like he wasn’t worth the effort to acknowledge him. It was unnerving, even those weak humans stared him down. For a very short moment Khivar contemplated Ava’s trick to throw himself at Zan’s feet and beg for mercy, but his damn pride wouldn’t go for that. With one more look at Nacedo, Khivar figured that he had the right idea, face death with a smirk and go down gracefully; after all, he had always been graceful, why not now, in death?

Trying hard to put his fears of his nearing end away, his smirk was more a grimace of fear, Khivar looked at Max and sneered, “well, I guess you can’t win them all!”
*~~*~~*
Huh?
For a moment Max and his companions were at a loss. What had just happened? Huh? What did Khivar mean with his last sentence? And through it all they could still hear Tess crying and begging? And that Ronar guy, why was he sidling up to Tess? What of Nacedo? He just stood there quietly and smirking, did he think he looked brave, didn’t he realise that in this kind of situation a smirk just showed how scared you really were and didn’t want to show it? And then Khivar in all his finery emulated Nacedo? Crazy aliens, didn’t they know how to go down gracefully?
*~~*~~*
After shaking himself out of his strange musings, Max took stock of the people in front of him. By now he could feel Tess grabbing his left leg and holding on tightly. Her touch made him feel dirty and thus he tried to shake her off like a mangy dog that has his teeth in his pants. This only intensified her efforts and Tess’s cries grew more pitiful by the second.

Thinking that now was about the time to show strength, Max raised his voice and forcefully told her “let go of me, it won’t work. We know exactly how our friend Alex died, and Nacedo wasn’t anywhere near. You were in Kyle’s room and then you used Kyle to help you dispose of Alex’s body.”

Shocked Tess let her arms drop to her sides, realising that it wouldn’t be as easy as she thought. Turning a helpless face towards Kyle she sadly asked, “are you telling these stories because I had to leave? I mean we were like brother and sister and that hasn’t changed. Why don’t you tell Max the truth? You know, how it really was?” by now Tess tried desperately to mindwarp Kyle. She just couldn’t accept the theory of her powers not working because of that stupid cone.

But Kyle stood fast and after looking at Max and Liz, he answered, “forget it, you look ridiculous when you try to mindwarp. It’s not working anymore.”

Thoroughly enraged, Tess jumped to her feed and addressed the sheriff “Jim, you were like my father, you know the father I never had…” and she let a few tears trickle down her cheeks. Just shaking his head Valenti responded “not working, Tess! Give it up, you lost. Now the time has come to pay the penalty!” and after saying his piece Jim stared disgustedly at her and then turned away.

Desperately Tess looked searchingly at all the humans before her, debating whom to approach next. But one by one, they all shook their heads at her and turned away. Fear shot through her, realising for the first time that she had truly lost. She looked one more time at all the stupid humans, idiots, all of them.

Before giving up for good and capitulating, Tess had to try one more time. Sadly she looked at Max and whispered brokenly “Max, what about your son? You still have to acknowledge him; will you at least do that?”

After studying Tess for a moment, Max turned to the Whitmans and smilingly asked “Claire, Charles, would you two please come to front and bring Leanne with Zander.” After they all had joined Max, he picked up the baby and held him carefully in his right arm. Liz joined him and together they touched the Granolith and this time the words he spoke came from his heart “Granolith, I bring little Zander to you and I ask you to accept him as Alex Whitman’s son. I ask you to help Claire and Charles raise their grandson, to guide them and to protect them.”

Hearing Max’s speech, which was very different than she had planned, let Tess finally understand that somewhere along the line she had made a big mistake and now all was lost. She was too shocked to even cry. Finally she found her voice and asked very subdued “how did you find out? Was it Nick, did he betray me?”

By now Max was too disgusted with Tess and ignored her question. Surprisingly enough it was Liz who answered, quietly informing her archenemy “no, Tess, we knew before Nicholas contacted us. After Max and I reconciled, we started to break through your mindwarps and we knew that he wasn’t the father. Later we found out just who was. Also Zan’s memories started to come around the same time.”

Pityingly looking Tess in the eyes Liz asked “Why? Why Tess, couldn’t you just be a friend? All of this wasn’t necessary; all you needed to do was be a little patient and give us time to get to know you and we would’ve accepted you as a friend!”

Tess opened her mouth and began “Destiny…” but Liz cut her short, “forget destiny! There was no destiny involving you. You, Nacedo and Khivar decided that with you as queen, you all could do as you pleased. So, just shut up about destiny, we all know better than that!”

Liz stopped her conversation with Tess; it just wasn’t worth it. Even now the gerbil couldn’t admit that she had done wrong. With a smile she let Max know that she was done.

Coldly, Max told Tess that he wasn’t interested in what ever she had to say, it was much too late for that and then he ordered her to step back and stand beside Nacedo, Khivar and Ronar. Reluctantly she did as she was told.

continued in next post...