Roswell Fanatics

Another Path

Disclaimer: I don’t own these characters

Summery: If you came to a fork in the road, would you go left or right. In Other Paths a choice was given to the Pod Squad, this is about the choice they didn’t take – Another Path. Companion to Other Paths.

Author Note: Reading Other Paths would probably help. The link is at the bottom of the page. A segment of the chapter with the choice I’m talking about starts this fic.

Rating: MATURE – just to be safe

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Other Paths - Chapter 61

Classroom, West Roswell High

The lights in the room had dimmed, the image before the group had expanded and imposed itself on the classroom. The face before them each of them knew. The face was considerably older with long greying hair and a hideous scar running down an inch from the hairline, across the right eye and stopped in the middle of the cheek. He had most certainly been through a tough time, a war torn face that was vastly different but the same…the face of Alex.

“Alex, what the hell is this?” Michael asked

“How the hell should I know?” Alex asked as the image began to speak again

“Well junior how do you like the face of your future?” Future Alex said as he indicated to his scar, “Not a pretty picture is it? If you were able to access this message then your time frame has at least some similarities to my own. To understand how to open our little computer means that at some point in your past you were injured and healed by Max or one of the others and that The First decided to upload some info into that brain of yours…just like my reality but I suppose I better fill you in on some things.

No doubt you recognised the Troken as the computer system your building, as time progressed I made modifications to it which is why it looks so different but I’m getting ahead of myself. In my time frame I was injured and Max healed me…his energy caused a slow evolution in me just like whatever happened to you but Kivar. Oh I should have killed that bastard before it came to this.

In my past…roughly thirty years ago from my perspective Kivar killed his Onmiriad master and entered into a metamorphosis like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly…only a butterfly isn’t what came out of Kivar’s cocoon. Kivar became similar to the Onmiriad, powerful, immortal and as he liked to call himself…a god. Alex, this thing tore his way through a thousand star systems before I could stop him. Antar is gone; Earth is gone…now all that remains is a bunch of rocks.

Our little cell group survived…Max was able to track down the ship that brought them to Earth and managed to…eh…liberate it from the U.S. government. Thank god they never found out about us, god knows what they would have done. Anyway, we used our powers to repair the ship and we left. We ran…it was our only choice at the time and on one the screens we watched as Earth shook itself apart from the inside out. We survived all right…for about five days.

Kivar found us. He killed most of us, hell only myself, Liz and Isabel survived the first attack but he kept us prisoner. That was when he realised what I was and it scared him. Kivar thought he was the only one and when he saw me he knew I could destroy him…so he destroyed me…at least a part of me. His abilities allowed him to restrain me, held me against a wall as he vivisected my wife. One after another he removed Isabel’s internal organs while she was awake and with each one he laughed…at least until she died. It was then I found out she was carrying my children. I pray you never find out what that feels like.” He said as a tear rolled from his cheek

“Kivar succeeded. A very big part of me died at the very second I lost her and I lost control. My powers surged and I sent him half way across the universe, it bought us some time. Liz and I just drifted through space…visited a few worlds but Kivar had beat us to them. Little of their cities remained, practically nothing of their culture or population. If there was anyone alive they were slaves to Kivar…we tried to help them but they viewed us as alien and turned us away. It was mainly out of fear; fear of what Kivar would do to them if he found out they had contact with us.

Eventually Liz and I came up with a solution to the problem. There was one place where Kivar could be trapped at least for a moment…at the centre of the three suns that sheltered the Omniriad home world. We knew Kivar wanted revenge so we went there and he followed. We sent a probe into the core, created a holographic projection of the ship and lured Kivar in…that was when we did it. When a star explodes it’s called a super nova, we created a mega nova. Liz and I combined our power and detonated the all three stars in a way that would cause the energy to reach Kivar at the same time and destroy him but it didn’t stop there. The energy was magnified by the release of Kivar’s energy and created a quantum hole. Think of it like a worm hole but with no exit point, anything that enters is either disintegrated or is stuck in a time loop…with my powers protecting the ship, the initial shockwave send our ship flying but the energy explosion from the stars spread to five neighbouring star systems. Within two days we watched as trillions on trillions of people died, their worlds became lifeless…not even a microbe survived.

For a time I didn’t care, I couldn’t feel anything but then I realised that Liz had gotten a dose of the radiation. I tried everything to save her but I was unsuccessful, all I could do was make it painless. Then there was one. I decided to remain alone for eternity…in part it was so that I would not endanger anyone else but also as punishment for the lives I took so for three decades I floated in the wastelands between galaxies.

Eventually I discovered a way out, a way to atone for it by making sure it never happens. So I looked out this old thing, Troken Systems model Alpha zero one. I realised that if I could change just a few specific things then it might not happen. The first thing was that I needed a strong bloodline on Antar. That was my first destination. I opened a hole in time and went back 20,000 years, I used my powers to alter the genetics of a man to give him abilities stronger than that of his other Antarians along with a sense of morality, honour and nobility. Traits that would be passed from each generation to the next…he is the one who then found the granolith and is Max and Isabel’s ancestor. I also took a sample of Liz’s D.N.A and used it to create an Antarian that could potentially see the future, effectively creating a prophetic line that could warn someone.

However, Antar was the victim of hostile aliens throughout its history. Having strong leadership is one thing but to put Kivar down I needed a strong people. So I programmed the Troken with all of this message and sent it back in time…I don’t even know when it landed but with it the Antarians could use it to spy on enemies, locate weak spots and win any conflict. When the Antarian timeline changed I remained unaffected…a little gift from my Onmiriad heritage. It still wasn’t enough and Kivar still gained the power.

My other option was Earth. I went back in time to the earliest of our civilizations, long before Phoenix ever came to us. I altered a few genetics here and there, made our people stronger, smarted than we should have been at that time. I located the Granolith and its Caretaker in ancient Egypt and together we designed weapons…pyramids in the desert. The kings used them as burial chambers, believing that it would bring them closer to the god that built them…me. I had other uses for them. You see I didn’t know it at the time but the Omniriad must of the same problems that we did with criminals but when I found out I began to wonder on how they would deal with them.

I learned that the Omniriad created a pocket dimension, an oubliette - a prison where they could put the worst of their criminals and forget about them. Once in there would be no way out…no matter how powerful they were. The Pyramids when activated would activate another pyramid, one that I built on Mars. In space, at the midpoint between Earth and Mars a vortex will form. If Kivar is anywhere near that location then he will be trapped forever. If I could not stop Kivar’s ascension then I would use it to trap him. Difficult I know but then you can do it…or you can use option 2.

You probably have at least one of the Granolith’s at your disposal. Reprogram it and send Kyle back in time to that first day, the day Liz was shot. Kyle, I chose you because your father would listen to you. You go back and as he leaves the Crashdown after talking to Liz and the others there you go to him and you tell him everything. Show him your powers if you have to, connect with him but stop him from calling his friend at the FBI. That was the first flag that went up. Then you go to Max and Liz in the music room, tell them and then gather everyone else somewhere private…the soap factory will be your best bet. Tell everyone what would have happened, with your father on side at that early stage you can stop Michael from heading out to find Atherton in Texas, you don’t find the pendant with the symbol on it, Liz doesn’t go out to the reservation. This will result in Michael not going out there and getting sick, you don’t get the healing stones and you don’t solve the map. With any luck Nasedo wont come when he did and you can get some time to deal with that but more importantly, out of all of this Valenti will not speak to Hubble. He doesn’t die and Pierce does not come out to Roswell. You will never get access to the second orb and the Skins are not alerted. You live your lives quietly and never, ever attract attention to yourselves.” Future Alex warned

Everyone was seated on chairs. Practically no one could stand after hearing this, especially Alex who kept his head down. The last time a warning from the future came he learned he was going to die, now he was destined to destroy a lot of lives but it could change. They had the information to change it and a potential weapon.

“If I know you kiddo you wont back away from this. If you want to put Kyle on standby, fine but if you go for using the pyramids you’ll need the information. Put your hand on the pad.”

Before the Troken a small green handprint appeared, floating in midair. Alex looked at Isabel and the others and remembered everything he had just been told. The one thing that he focused on was the image of Isabel lying on a table being literally take apart piece by piece. There was no way he was going to allow it. He put his hand on the handprint and all the information he needed was put directly into his head.

“There is no way I’m going to let him touch you.” Alex said as he moved over to Isabel and held her.

“One more thing.” Future Alex said, “No matter what and especially if this all ends up in the toilet you need to warn your past self. Upload another message, duplicate the modifications of this system into your own and send this one back in time again…keep the circle going, the Troken is apart of Antarian history and a part of ours. You cannot interfere with that – send it back. Good luck rookie. Oh by the way, I don’t know if you have hooked up with Laurie Dupree. If you haven’t she is the granddaughter of the guy who donated Michael’s D.N.A, they consider each other to be brother and sister. Basically her guardians are running the family company into the ground and were the subject of a hostile takeover. She lost everything before we could come up with a solution and then the shit hit the fan – have you ever considered Whitman/Dupree Enterprises?” he said with a wink…from his good eye

With that the image faded and the crystal retracted back into the device as it closed. The lights of the room came back on and everyone looked at each other. Each of them was holding on to their significant other.

“How many times do we have to do this?” Michael asked angrily

“This is probably why Kivar has been missing lately.” Max said as he looked at Nashana, “He’s going through this change.”

“No matter what he is I’m tired of this. I want to start living my life and as far as I’m concerned Kivar is going down.” Alex said, “Liz, I think you better start reprogramming the Granolith…just in case.”

“Yeah, I’ll head up there tonight. Max you better come as well, I have a feeling that for time travel it will take both of our consent.” Liz said as Max nodded.

********

Living Room, Dupree Residence, 2 Later

They all sat around the room and it was quiet. None of them could even think of anything to say since they received the message from Future Alex. Laurie and Lonnie had disappeared for a few minutes after they first arrived and returned with glasses of coke for each of them. However, they weren’t drinking. They all just sat around nursing the drinks in their hands.

“Your really thinking about it, aren’t you?” Tess asked as she looked at Kyle, getting all the others to look at him

“Thinking about what?” Kyle asked

“About taking F.A’s other choice.” Tess said

Kyle sighed and looked at each of his friends, “I know it’s kind of a last resort type thing but this Egypt weapon…it’s kinda risky.”

“Well I wish I could deny that but we you do go back in time, you’re erasing everything and putting us back to square one.” Alex said as he held Isabel’s hand

“The last thing I want to do is…I’ve never been happier and I want to be a father and married to Tess but I don’t want her killed by that freak. I don’t want any of us killed and the way things are going…” Kyle said shaking his head

“He’s right.” Max said

“Even if we do go back to change things for us, there is no guarantee that Antar will deal with Kivar by themselves. He could still do everything we’re afraid of and at the cost of ending the lives we have right now.” Liz said

“Well whose to say it would end. Why can’t I cannot with each of you in the past and show you just how happy you are with each other? You could even write messages to yourselves and I could deliver them.” Kyle asked

“What about you and Tess?” Ava asked, “If you follow Future Alex’s plan as he said it then Nacedo wont come here when he did and that means Tess wont be here.”

“Not to mention us.” Laurie said for herself and the Dupes

“We’d be still in a New York sewer.” Zan said

“And I’d be doped up in that hospital.” Laurie said

“Okay. Wait a minute.” Max said, “Alex, honestly, what are the odds of things going the way we want if we use the weapon?”

“I really can’t give you an answer on that. It could happen like we want it to and have good lives after it or a thousand things could go wrong. I can’t predict the future.” Alex said

Everybody then turned to Liz.

“However, I can.” Liz said, “But I can’t control it. I can’t focus in on a time and say, yeah that’ll work.”

“Right now, all I can say, either choice has an equal chance of succeeding.” Alex said

“Then I say we come up with a plan. We cover everything we can think of for dealing with in the past. With my powers to walk through solid objects and go invisible, I can get into anywhere.” Kyle said

“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Max said, “I’m not going to give an order on this, it’s going to be a vote. So, yes or no on the Egypt weapons. Majority yes, we go with it. If it’s no, time travel.”

All nodded their heads in agreement. Five minutes later it was agreed that they’d send Kyle back in time. It had worked in the past and while all agreed they couldn’t keep doing it, that wanted to be able to live their lives without being watched. Over the next few hours they drew up a plan. The one given to them didn’t cover a lot and now that the Dupes were in their lives, they had no intention of letting that go. Laurie also didn’t want to loose Andrew but promised that sooner or later he’d find his way to her.

Granolith Chamber, 21:00

Once everything was ready, Alex, Liz and Max went up to the Granolith to programme the machine for time travel. Liz also went through the archives inside it to find a device she knew Kyle would need. Eventually the others arrived with their families.

“So…tell me why I’m doing this?” Kyle asked as he looked over the Granolith

“Because Liz and I have already done it and can’t go back again without tearing ourselves apart.” Max said

“And I wont listen to anyone else about this.” Jim said as he put his hand on his sons shoulder

“Yeah…” Kyle drew out; “Just don’t tell me what will happen to me inside that thing.”

“You got the details man?” Zan asked

“Yeah. And Serena told me her route.” Kyle said

“Good, then all you need is this.” Liz said. She approached Kyle and placed a thick metal armband around his upper arm. There was an audible continuous beep that signified that it was locked into place.

“And this would be?” Kyle asked

“Temporal stabiliser.” Max said

“Come again?” Kyle asked

“It will allow you to jump between different times but more importantly, any changes in the timeline that you cause wont affect you.” Liz said

“Oh like when you and Max did it, you disappeared when you changed what was going to happen.” Tess said

“Yeah, that wont happen…at least until you remove the band.” Liz said, “But listen, the band ties you to the Granolith. Every jump will bring you back to it no matter where it is. Just remember, whatever changes you make will affect the future your trying to make so don’t jump back and forth through time, go to a timeframe, make the changes and go forward. Always go forward, keep it linear…except for the last jump. It wont affect us or Earth, just Antar. It’s much safer that way.”

“Uh, stupid question.” Kyle said

“Yeah, what else is new?” Michael said

“Ha ha. But this granolith is made from two ones. What’s to stop me from ending up in the chamber under the Crashdown?” Kyle asked

“No, I’ve tied it into the frequency of the Antarian Granolith. The band will always take you to that one.” Alex said

“And my first jump back? Given how far I’m going back.” Kyle asked

“I’ll land you right on the top of this mountain.” Liz said, “Hopefully.”

“Hopefully? That doesn’t make me too confident Liz.” Kyle said

“This isn’t an exact science.” Liz said with a smile, “You might end up a few meters from where I intend.”

“Liz, your sending me to the top of this rock, a few meters could have me falling to the ground…” Kyle said and then paused, “…are you playing with me. That’s it, your playing with me.”

Liz just smiled and walked away.

“Uh, okay then.” Kyle said as he turned to Tess and brushed aside some hair from her face and then held her cheek. “I love you, you better believe that I’m not taking this thing off until I know we’re together.”

“Just like we should be.” Tess said

“Oh…messages.” Kyle said quickly.

One by one everyone held Kyle’s hand and connected with him. All of his friends planted a message in his subconscious, a message that could only be accessed by their past selves. When everyone was finished they all moved off to the side. Rath and Lonnie simply held each other as he kissed her forehead; it was their plan to be married by now and that thought filled them enough to make them hurt.

Liz backed off from the others and opened a case they had brought with her. She brought out the long crystal and inserted it into the base of the Granolith. The system buzzed to life and a swirl of light could be seen inside. Kyle reached out to touch the surface but then his father intervened.

“Kyle wait. Take this.” Jim said as he pulled out a silver dollar coin. It had a big dent in it from a bullet that struck it early in Jim’s career.

“Dad, that’s your lucky coin. That’s one of a kind and one that saved your life, you’re never without it.” Kyle said

“Exactly. In…in case I don’t believe you when you tell me, show me the coin. I wont have a choice in believing you when I see it.” Jim said, “Besides, I think you’re the one who needs luck right now.”

Kyle nodded and put the coin into his shirt pocket. He turned back to the Granolith and touched his palm to the surface. He was taken into the machine and everybody looked at him.

“You were just playing with him, right?” Max asked

Liz lost her smile and looked at Max, “I hope so.”

Then the Granolith surged and tore a hole in time that sucked Kyle into it. From the Granolith, a blinding wall of light spread out and everyone in the chamber vanished as history changed.

Mountain Summit, Outside Roswell, New Mexico, 1947

With a quick flash of light Kyle appeared a foot above the rock and he fell to his back. He cried out in pain as he rolled over to his side and reach around to hold the sore spot.

“Arhh…that’s gonna bruise.” Kyle said as he held a loud boom.

He looked up into the sky and spotted a streak of fire shot across the night sky. Kyle instantly knew what it was and watched as the alien ship crashed into a nearby field. Kyle had imagined this all his life, growing up with the Roswell legend of the crash had put the imaginations of kids in the town into overdrive but he never thought that he would actually see the crash.

“Nice.” Kyle said

Then everything started to happen fast. He could see the headlights of an approaching vehicle and knew that the ranch owner was coming to investigate what he’d seen fly over his home. Then Kyle looked back down to the crash site. He saw two Antarians climb out of the wreckage, pulling bodies of their dead and wounded crewmen with them. As the headlights grew closer, the aliens spotted it and rushed to hide. There was nothing to do for the wounded alien and as much as they wanted to take him with them, he would have slowed them down.

Kyle continued to watch but knew that sooner or later he would be seen so he went invisible. Within minutes the rancher reached the ship. He circled the impact zone and then he froze, he’d seen the bodies of the aliens. The one that was wounded turned its head and saw the rancher; he reached out with his hand for help but the rancher backed away. Kyle saw Serena move to go and help but Nacedo grabbed her arm and shook his head.

In minutes the rancher was back at his truck and speeding off. Kyle couldn’t do anything to help the dying alien or interfere with the next few minutes but his time would come soon. When the rancher was out of sight, Serena and Nacedo ran back out. Nacedo went to the ship while Serena went to the wounded alien but he stopped her.

“No.” the alien said weakly, “Protect the Granolith.”

“But…” Serena said

“The mission. The Granolith…the pods…” the alien said before falling unconscious

Serena just nodded and ran to join Nacedo at the ship. Together they opened the cargo hold and entered the room where they stored the granolith. Once inside, Serena activated the ships scanners and examined the local geology.

“There’s a cave in that rock formation. It’s big enough.” Serena said

“Beginning transport.” Nacedo said. He moved to the Granolith and activated its systems. The granolith vanished in a swirl of energy and appeared a few seconds later in the cave were it started to form its chamber.

“Begin transporting the minerals and gems we mined from the asteroid belt.” Serena said

“Transporting…now. Cycle complete. They’re in an offshoot of the cavern.”

“Oh no.”

“What?”

“Humans, lots of them approaching fast. It looks like their military.” Serena said, “The pods.”

“Forget the pods.” Nacedo said

“Are you insane? Our mission…”

“We can’t get the pods to safety, not with the time we have.” Nacedo said, “We can always retrieve them later. This species can’t stand against us.”

“I’m getting the pods.” Serena said

Quickly she went to the door but Nacedo grabbed her. An electric shock went through her body and she fell unconscious. Nacedo grabbed the two orbs and started to drag Serena out of the ship. He pulled her back out of the ship but as they reached the dirt, Nacedo dropped the orbs onto the ground.

He could hear the helicopters approach but didn’t have time to think so he pulled Serena up the rocky path and into the cave they detected. The doors to the cargo bay closed automatically as they left. Once they were both inside and as the army approached, Nacedo placed his hand on the cave wall and closed his eyes. His hand glowed brighter and brighter and the rock started to grow over the opening.

When it was completely closed and as Nacedo pulled his hand away, all that was left was the silver handprint. Serena started to waken up at that point and held her throbbing head.

“What did you do?” Serena asked

“I saved your life.” Nacedo said

“At the expense of the Royals?”

“We can get them back very easily. They will take them to their nearest base, we can get in and out without being detected.” Nacedo said

“You shouldn’t have done it.”

“We didn’t have time and I have no intention of being cut up by a bunch of primates who haven’t even gotten to their moon yet.” Nacedo said

“What’s done is done. We can track them easily enough but we should wait here for a while until the bulk of their force is gone.” Serena said

“Agreed.” Nacedo said

Up on the Summit…

Kyle was still invisible as he moved closer to the ground. He didn’t want to draw attention so he was careful where he stepped and careful not to cause small stone to roll down the hillside. As he got to the now hidden entrance to the cave, Kyle phased himself and stuck his head through the rock. It was just enough to make sure the two aliens were okay. He would have preferred to kill Nacedo right there and then for his future betrayal but he had something more important to do.

He got down to the ground and sneaked over to one of the vehicles brought by the army. He watched carefully, looking at each team. Then he watched as some soldiers moved over to the bodies lying in the crater. They kept their guns trained on the bodies and kicked them to see if they were dead, then they kicked the one that was still alive. The alien moved and it startled the soldiers jumped back. The commotion drew the attention of the commander. He ran over to the three bodies and looked down as the alien opened his eyes.

“Medics!” he called out.

The medical personnel ran over to him and looked down at the alien. None of them were able to take their eyes off of him.

“I want this…I want it in full containment. Do what you can for it.”

“Yes sir.” Said the medic

He and his team moved around the alien. The medic raised his hands to reach for its wrist but then he stopped. “I…I don’t even know where to start.”

Silently Kyle moved over and he looked down at the alien, and the alien looked back up at him. Despite being invisible, the alien could see through it. Kyle reached down and took hold of his hand.

{It’ll be okay.} Kyle thought to the alien, {The pods will be safe.}

{Who are you?} the alien thought

{Just a friend sorting out some mistakes. Go to sleep. They wont…they wont hurt you, not while your alive.} Kyle thought, hoping that the stories of the alien being taken alive and then dying from its injuries were true. He hoped he didn’t die from anything the military did to him.

Then the alien looked over and saw a soldier moving closer to the communication orbs. {The orbs…they can’t find them…}

{I’ll take care of it.} Kyle thought. That was why he was here in the first place. While one orb was connected to Max and would draw him and Liz to it no matter where it was, the other one, the one that found it’s way in to the military could be taken care of.

He moved over the area, moving as quickly and quietly as possible. As the soldiers approached the orbs he put his hands over them and encased them in his field. After they were invisible he picked them up before backing off as the soldiers got to the spot where the orbs lay. All Kyle could do then was back off to the edge of the rocks and wait.

2 Hours Later…

As troops left with artefacts and fragments that had broken from the ship, more arrived with trucks to help clear the area before the site swarmed with people who witnessed the downing of the ship. It was during one of those shift changes that Kyle managed to get out of the area. He may have been invisible but it would only take one soldier to spot something he disturbed, so the few the soldier the more his chances of getting away increased.

When Kyle was sure he was out of sight of the military, he made himself visible again. He made good time considering he was on foot and he reached the electrical pylon. The decision of what Kyle would do was made before he left, Max and the other aliens wanted something that was brought to Earth with them – just for nostalgia.

Kyle placed the orbs on the concrete base of the tower and went over to the nearby fence. He pulled some of the metal netting off of it and used his powers on it. The metal melted and formed into the shape of a box, identical to the one that Max and Liz would dig up. He retrieved one of the orbs and places it inside before burying the box. Kyle made sure that the surface was completely indistinguishable from the surrounding soil and moved to the other orb.

“Well…at least Pierce won’t get you.” Kyle said

He threw the orb hard against the pylon. The alien device stuck to the metal as electricity sparked all over the tower, the symbol on the orb glowed brightly and cracks started for move out from it. Kyle moved back out of the way and shielded himself with his arm as the orb blew up. It blasted a chunk out of the pylon support and it collapsed, breaking the cables as it fell.

Kyle looked to the east and spotted the sun starting to rise. The night was over and the world would be filled with stories of the alien crash. His only option was to lay low for the rest of the day and wait for nightfall when Nacedo and Serena would breach the army base to retrieve the pods, with a little help from a junior officer.

Grudgingly he walked to the highway and into town. He kept out of sight, just watching the people from the shadows as they walked around town. Kyle wanted to laugh at how much small Roswell was compared to his own time, and he considered his Roswell to be tiny. Then he saw it. He wasn’t expecting it but he should have, right there, pulling up to the Sheriff’s Station was his rookie grandfather.

Kyle almost moved to go over to him but he stopped himself and moved back into the alley. Seeing his grandfather almost made him regret what he was about to do but it needed to be done. He moved to the other side of the alley where a topless black car with flames painted on the front was parked. He made sure that there wasn’t anyone around and jumped into the drivers seat. With a wave of his hand over the ignition the car started and Kyle drove out of town before the owner even knew it was missing.

1 Hour After Sunset…

Kyle hid out at the reservation, staying out of everybody’s way as he waited for Serena and Nacedo to retrieve the eight pods. Serena had told him what he needed to know in the last timeline so when the hour approached he headed out. Out on the highway he waited with the headlights off. After a little while there was approaching headlights and Kyle drove out to the middle of the road.

Serena was in the other car, she had taken on her human appearance and she was on high alert. She didn’t like it when she saw a car in the middle of the road and completely blocking her path. The closer she got she was able to make out someone standing in front of the car, looking at her and smiling. She didn’t like it and Kyle knew she wasn’t going to stop; she would serve around the car after speeding up to get away.

Then, just as Serena could see the whites of his eyes, Kyle raised his hands and sent a pulse of light out. It was nothing dangerous but just enough to get Serena’s attention. The car stopped dead and Serena got out with her hand raised

“Skin.” She practically hissed

“No. Name’s Valenti, Kyle Valenti.” He said, “We need to talk.”

“About?”

“About what Nacedo’s going to be doing and four hybrids you got in the car there. Oh also about the second Granolith your looking for.” Kyle said

“How could you know…”

“I’m from the future. I used the Granolith to come back to change one or two things. One of which is making sure those four stay in Roswell.” Kyle said

“Why? It’s safer for them to be separated.” Serena said

“No, it’s not. If they go to New York then Lonnie and Rath with be infected with Ganderial crystals, they will try to kill Zan if there isn’t any intervention. I’m here to stop them from being infected in the first place.”

“What about Nacedo?”

“Well…he’s a traitor.” Kyle said

“Impossible.” Serena said, “He is a loyal member of the…”

“He will make a deal with Kivar and try to manipulate Tess into seducing Max…that’s the Zan he has, and getting pregnant so that Nacedo can turn them both over to Kivar. In my future, Tess didn’t like that plan and killed him. He was like a father to her and that nearly broke her. I’m going to spare her that pain. I’ve got some work to do in the future but that’s why I’m here now.”

“What about the other Granolith?”

“It’s safe and in Roswell.”

“Oh come on that’s impossible. The odds are…”

“Believe me I know. Let’s just say that it has someone looking out for it. An Omniriad…you call them Progenitors. But you can’t go to it yet. Someone else has that responsibility in about 60 years.” Kyle said

“That’s when you’re from?” Serena asked

“Yes. We got a message from our future telling us what Kivar was really up to. We decided not to take the chance so they sent me back. I’m going to make sure those four stay with their family.” Kyle said

Serena nodded, “Okay…but Nacedo.”

“Look, I know you don’t have a reason to trust me.” Kyle said, “But trust me. It is better that way. In the future they will all be exposed as aliens and they will have to live their lives in the spotlight. Now they adjusted to it but they’d just prefer to live in peace.”

“They got exposed and didn’t get hunted?” Serena asked

“Well we humans do have our virtues and we will change a lot in the next 60 years, with the exceptions of a few. Look, I know you would like to get away from here as soon as possible but Nacedo is going to be reaching that cave soon.”

“Of course. Get in.” Serena said

Kyle got into the car that she had borrowed and just before Serena got back inside, she turned to the car that Kyle hand and blasted it. The explosion obliterated everything.

“Just making sure that there isn’t anything left that can be traced.” Serena said as they drove away.

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Cave, The Mountain, 1 Hour Later

Kyle and Serena beat Nacedo to the cave and hid in the section containing the wealth that was intended for Max and the others. They waited patiently for Nacedo and eventually he arrived carrying the four pods. He carried each one into the cave and activated them so that their holding frame formed and sealed the entrance to the Granolith.

That was when Kyle ran from his hiding place and quickly moved up behind the alien. Nacedo turned his head just as Kyle sent a punch flying into his jaw. Kyle pulled his fist back quickly after the connection and shook it in a futile attempt to relieve the pain. Nacedo stood up and faced the human.

“You know, that jaw of yours is a lot harder than it looks.” Kyle said

“Stupid human. How did you get in here?” Nacedo asked

“Through the door.”

“Just like I did.” Serena said as she came out of her hiding place.

“Serena? You should be on your way to that city by now. You’re endangering the mission.”

“At least I’m not betraying it.” Serena said

Nacedo looked back and forth between the two. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“This human is from the future. He used the Granolith to come back and one of the things he came back to change was to make sure that you don’t get a chance to betray the royals.” Serena said

“And you believe a human?” Nacedo asked

“He knows of us. He knew where to find me and he has abilities similar to ours. From what I’m picking up, he got them after being healed. The only one with that level of powers is Zan, and since he’s dead that only leaves the embryos in the pods.” Serena said

Nacedo looked around, if he had sweat glands he would be sweating right now. He’d made the deal with Kivar shortly before the attack on the palace. No one knew of it, not even Kivar’s closest aides so the only way for someone to know of it was if they were from the future. That only left him one option. Quickly the alien raised his hands to shoot at Kyle and Serena.

Kyle moved quickly. He phased himself and the energy went right through him before he went invisible. Nacedo was surprised to see that level of control in a human but his eyes lacked the sensitivity of his now imprisoned crewman that could see Kyle.

“Where are you human?” Nacedo asked

“You shouldn’t worry about him. You should worry about me.” Serena said as she shot Nacedo.

The alien went flying back against the wall but quickly got back up, just in time for Kyle to move beside him. He picked Nacedo up and threw him back down to the floor.

“You’re strong.” Nacedo said, continuing to look around for Kyle

“Yeah, 3 or 4 seasons of high school football will do that to a guy. Not to mention all that nice Antarian power flowing through me.” Kyle said

His voice was what Nacedo needed to lock on and he quickly shot in the general direction. He hit Kyle’s shoulder and he fell against a rock. Serena took the opportunity to take another shot at Nacedo. This time she hit his head and Nacedo fell against a rock with a very sharp edge. Kyle got up and moved over to where Nacedo lay, he didn’t want to take the chance that he could live through that kind of head trauma so he aimed his hand and blasted him with everything he had.

After a few seconds the body crumpled and turned into a pile of green dust. Serena moved beside Kyle and looked at him. “Are you okay?” Now that Nacedo was dead, much of the damage he caused went with him, Hubble’s wife and unborn child, the series of bodies he left across the country and Atherton, all were alive.

“Yeah.”

“You know if you want to talk about…”

“No. It’s okay and thank you. After I’ve finished changing what I need to, I wont exist anymore. The time line will be corrected and the new version of me wont know anything about so…”

“Okay. Anyway…” Serena said as she moved to the door to the cave.

She opened it and turned back to the dust. Serena used her powers to pick up the dust and scatter it outside the cave. The winds picked it up and sent the fragments further until there wasn’t anything left that could be regenerated. After that she closed the door, Serena turned back and saw Kyle by one of the pods.

“Hey baby Tess.” Kyle said as he tenderly touched the skin of the pod, “No more problems. You wont ever have to go through that.”

Serena watched and listened intently to the way he spoke and touched the pod, “There’s something you haven’t told me isn’t there?”

Kyle looked around and nodded before he stood up. “She’s…uh…that is…let’s just say that it wasn’t Max you eventually got her pregnant.”

“You’re in love with her?” Serena said

“We were going to get married in a couple of months…well I guess I should add sixty years to that now. I can tell you now that I’ve never been that happy than when I’ve been with her…the connection we have…”

“Believe me I know.” Serena said

“I thought you and Lorat haven’t…you know.” Kyle said

“Doesn’t mean the connection isn’t there.” Serena said, “Hey how did you know about Lor…right, future thing.”

Kyle smiled, “Listen, I don’t know how but for some reason Tess’s pod hatched late or Max, Isabel and Michael’s hatched early, we never found out which. They’ll find there way out of the cave but Tess ended up being raised by Nacedo.”

“Well, I’m bringing the other pods in here in any case. When they hatch I’ll be here to watch.”

“Good, but you can’t interfere. Max, Isabel and now probably Zan and Lonnie have to be found by the Evans. Phoenix’s original plan was for Michael to be raised by the Parkers but they had car trouble that night, I guess if I can correct that one he and Rath will be raised by them.” Kyle said

“Why did he want that?” Serena asked

“He wanted Liz to know about aliens before she did learn about it. Sort of a preparation about what she really is.”

“Liz?” Serena said shaking her head

“You’ll see. Trust me, it’s a good one and she’ll end up with Max.” Kyle said

“Okay but that still leaves Tess. And if there is a problem with her pod then it’s probably duplicated in Ava’s. I can be here to take them and be their guardian.”

“Good. That’s good. They will be raised in Roswell and will be at school with them instead of showing up one day and causing trouble.”

“Tess caused trouble?”

“She was raised by Nacedo, just doing what she was told but it still caused trouble.” Kyle said

For the next ten minutes, Kyle helped Serena bring up the other four pods and placed them into a holding frame. When it was done, Kyle placed the palm of his hand on the surface of each pod, one after the other. His hand glowed brightly and Serena could see a ripple of energy pass through the fluid in the pods. After that the two left the cave and walked down the sides of the mountain.

“Well, I can give the military their dues. They cleaned this place up quickly.” Kyle said

“I’m actually surprised they moved the ship this fast.”

“Ah, doesn’t matter. Gandi is out and about now.”

“Gandi? Ganderium?” Serena asked quickly

“Yeah. Oh don’t worry about it, it’ll be taken care of.” Kyle said

“Oh. I guess I’ll have to trust you on that. So where’s your next stop?”

“Well, I’m done here. If everything is happening like it should then the Skins will land in two or three days. I have to take care of them. Hey listen. If you do decided to stay in Roswell, there is an old farmhouse about half a mile north of the town. Well it was old in my time. If it’s there and not in use you might want to look into taking it over.”

“Thank you. Oh by the way, what did you do to the pods?” Serena said

“Implanted their names. Just to make sure that part of history doesn’t change. Their names will now be the first thing they say when their asked by officials.” Kyle said, “See you around Serena.”

He pressed a button on his armband and he was engulfed with a wave of energy that took him out of the timeframe. Serena blinked. She’d never seen time travel actually happen and was surprised to see it that simply. Now that she was left alone, Serena returned to the car and headed out. She was going to make herself scarce for a while. Serena was going to travel around for a while, stay out of the scene and then return to Roswell.

Granolith Chamber, 20 Years Later

As Liz said, Kyle appeared in the Granolith Chamber. This time his landing was better and he managed to stay on his feet as he entered the room. Slowly he took in his surroundings and smiled as he tapped the surface of the Granolith as if he was happy to see it.

“Yes.” Kyle said as he started to move out of the chamber. Carefully he slipped passed the pods and checked on all eight, especially Tess’s. Once he was sure they were okay he phased and left through the door. It was then that he tapped his armband, “Timeframe?”

“19.98 years from last time co-ordinates.” A voice from the armband came

Kyle looked up at the sun before making his way down the side of the mountain. He knew he was in for another long walk into town but he needed to ‘borrow’ a car again. Then, as he reached the base, he saw a car there waiting for him.

“Serena?” Kyle asked

“Hi Kyle.” Serena said

“What are you doing here?” Kyle asked

“Well. You said you were going to deal with the Skins next. The best way of doing that is taking out their husks at a harvest and that would put it around this time.”

Kyle smiled, “Nice but to be here today?”

“What? You didn’t think I wouldn’t be monitoring. Time travel leaves a very detectable signature that can be tracked by one of these.” Serena said as she pulled out a small cube from her car

“What is that? And where’d you get it? I know it wasn’t among the things you took from the ship after the crash.”

“Well let’s just say I liberated a few things I needed. After that day.”

“You walked into a heavily secured military base? You? An alien?” Kyle asked with disbelief

“Kyle, humans may grew up some by your time but these days…all it takes is an attractive woman and all those little soldier boys stand up and beg.” Serena said

“Wait…I don’t wanna know. You’re kind of like a mother figure to some people I know and that doesn’t need to be heard by me. I’m just guessing you…you seduced them and swiped their security passes.”

“Well I made them disappear for a few days while I took on their appearance and got inside their base.” Serena said

“It’ll work.”

“It has worked.” Serena said, “Now, where are you headed?”

“No.”

“No. What do you mean no?”

“If I tell you then you’ll want to come. I can’t risk anything happening to you, you need to be here in the future. I know what I need to do and I can sneak around easier than if I had someone else with me.”

“So, I’m just supposed to…what? Hand over my car?”

Kyle looked at her with a puppy dog look, “Please?”

Serena smiled and tossed him the keys, “Don’t suppose you can give me a lift to my house?”

“Sure. How’re things anyway?” Kyle asked

“Fine. I’ve repaired the old place, keeping out of sight of the locals. I change my appearance now and then so they thing there is a family living here and I keep monitoring the pods.”

“Well you’ve got until the eighties before the hatch.” Kyle said as they drove off.

“Eighties? I take it that will be another of your stops, got an exact year on that?” Serena asked

“Sure, 8*. Why?” Kyle asked

“I’ll put another car out here. You’ll probably have use for it.”

“Yeah. I need to get into town to do a little repair work on someone’s car.”

“A car?”

“Trust me. It’s important.” Kyle said

They talked for a while until Kyle dropped Serena off at her house. Before he left, Serena handed over her hexagonal unit. She told Kyle that it would be very useful when it was on overload.

Copper Summit, 3 Hours Later

Kyle reached Copper Summit and parked outside of town. He turned invisible and walked into the town, Kyle knew that the second the Skins arrived on Earth they would have headed for a small town, eradicated it population and took on their identities. For a long time he just stayed on top of a hill and looked over the town. All the faces he knew from the last time he was here.

“Hello Nicholas.” Kyle said as he spotted the Skin General, “Time to go.”

He jumped up and dusted himself off before heading into town. Kyle stayed close to the buildings and did his best to avoid any of the Skins. A few were powerful enough to sense his presence but most dismissed it as paranoia. Even when Kyle passed Nicholas, the alien sharply turned his head but saw nothing there.

As much as Kyle wanted to toy with the aliens, he couldn’t take the chance. He headed straight of the museum. It didn’t take long for him to make his way down into the underground lab that was filled with cylinders and in each of them, a different husk.

“Ladies and gentlemen. You’re screwed.” Kyle smiled

Kyle then He broke off the length of pipe. It was tried and proven, and with a powerful swing he bashed the pipe against the control panel. It sparked and then so did the inside of the tubes. Outside, all the skins felt it as the cylinders exploded and as their replacement husks died.

Kyle remained invisible as the Skins gathered above the entrance. Kyle ran out, phasing so that he ran through the army that was gathering. It was his only option to escape the approaching explosion. He made it out in time to see the shower of dust flying out of the hole.

In seconds all the skins pulled out their devices, “Start scanning for unidentified biologics.” Nicholas commanded

“I have a signal…three meters that direction.” A Skin pointed

All Kyle could do was run and hoped that his years on the football field paid off. He did have one advantage; Kyle could take the shortcut and run through walls to avoid the blast of energy that was being sent his way. In one building he pulled out Serena’s device and put it on over-load before dropping it in the corner behind a bundle of sacks. The Skins chased after him, using their devices to track him but Kyle couldn’t leave yet. The car he had brought could be tracked right back to Serena and the Skins had some time left.

Before long he reached the car and phased for a second so that he jumped right inside and landed on the seat. He used his powers to start the car while he stayed down and it drove off by itself. Kyle hoped that he was at least going straight as explosions blasted on either side of the car until he was out of range. When they stopped, Kyle sat up and took hold of the wheel, looking back in the rear-view mirror at the mass of Skins looking at him.

Back at the edge of town, the Skins watched as the car drove out of sight.

“That’s it. We’re finished.” Said one Skin

“How could their protectors have known? Our first Harvest and now we’ve failed.”

“I will contact Kivar.” Nicholas said

“If you do that Kivar will destroy us and send replacements.”

Then there was a blinding flash of light from behind them. A wave of rippling purple energy spread out from the device Kyle dropped and spread outward. The town vanished in seconds and the wave dissipated. The visible energy didn’t reach the Skins but the radiation continued outward and being of extra terrestrial origin, the husks provided no defence. All the Skins collapsed as their husk disintegrated and they died.

Kyle watched as much as he could and mentally checked off the part of his mission. He continued to drive but his destination wasn’t to return the car to Serena. Kyle had something else in mind.

Mercy Hospital, Washington D.C., The Next Day

Kyle arrived at the hospital and went straight to maternity. Coming here wasn’t a part of the plan drawn up with the others but he found himself unable to walk away from it. He was dressed as a delivery guy bringing in some flowers and after he was passed the front desk he ditched the bouquet in a trashcan. In this time, security in hospitals wasn’t as tight and Kyle went practically unnoticed.

Eventually he found were all the newborns were kept in their incubators. Kyle made sure there wasn’t anyone around and phased into the room, he closed the blinds on the windows and looked over each crib until he found one with the name ‘Pierce’ on it. When he saw the name he moved over to it.

“So here you are.” Kyle said, “Hard to believe your going to grew up to be a sick freak. You tortured a friend of mine…just because he wasn’t born around here. God knows what you’d have done to Tess or the others and Liz. Boy I bet you’d have loved to find out what makes her tick. I’m supposed to make sure you don’t get to Roswell and I’m sure I can stop it down the line, but all I have to do to prevent it all together…”

Kyle reached over Infant Pierce to the baby’s head but then Kyle pulled back. He shook his head and reached over again but he couldn’t make his hand touch the infant. Even knowing what he would one day do, Kyle couldn’t bring himself to kill Pierce.

“You the hell are you?”

Kyle turned quickly around to see a nurse holding a clipboard at the door to the room. Quickly he reached up to his armband

She turned out of the door and yelled “Security!” but as she turned her head back into the room, Kyle was gone.

She moved into the room and looked down between the rows but couldn’t see anyone. As the guards arrived she turned to them.

“Nurse?”

“There was someone here. He was wearing a delivery uniform…flowers.” The nurse said

The guards looked around but couldn’t see anyone. Windows and doors were locked and the only way out was through the nurse. They couldn’t see anything but the floor was searched never the less; eventually the encounter was dismissed.

Granolith Chamber, 1989

Kyle was jumping forward yet again. He was surrounded by swirls of light and colour as he moved through time until he landed. When his vision cleared and the Granolith about in front of him, Kyle looked around and checked the date on his armband. He moved out of the chamber and into the room with the pods to check on their progress. Kyle knew that they would hatch before the end of the day, they were moving inside the pods with their hands pushing against the inside.

Kyle headed out of the chamber and moved up to the top of the mountain. He spotted the highway in the distance and knew that Serena would be arriving soon but that she’d keep her distance until the others had been collected. As expected, there at the base of the mountain was another car placed there by Serena. He climbed down the mountain and checked out the vehicle to make sure that it was okay.

“A Delorian? Oh give me a break Serena, this isn’t Back to the Future.”

However, he didn’t have much of a choice so he opened the door and got inside. After half an hour he was heading into town, doing his best to stay out of sight. It was an hour before dawn so there wasn’t that many people around anyway. He drove to outside of the Crashdown and parked there.

Kyle looked as he saw the Crash and a big green banner on the front saying ‘Grand Re-Opening Soon’. It had been five years since Jeff Parker opened it and by the looks of it he had been doing some remodelling of late. Kyle could see people moving up in the apartment above the café and knew it was Jeff and Nancy Parker. By the looks of it a six-year-old Liz was up early and getting the attention of her parents who would prefer to be asleep.

Kyle decided that he better get to work and headed for the Parker’s car. He’d learned from Phoenix in the last timeline that he planned for the Parkers to find Michael but a broken fan belt caused a delay and they missed the whole thing. It wouldn’t take much to correct that problem. He popped the hood, took off the fan belt and examined it.

The belt did look a little weak so he waved his hands over it. The belt thickened and became stronger. It had lost all the wear and tear that had happened to it over the years. Once he was sure that it was okay, Kyle returned the fan belt into position and closed the hood.

Pod Mountain, 21:00 That Night

Kyle left Roswell and drove out to the mountain. On a small hill near the highway, he ditched the car and walked up it to see Serena sitting on the hood of her car.

“Hey Serena.” Kyle said

“Kyle. Haven’t aged a day.” Serena said

“Benefits of time travel.” Kyle said

“Here. I think you could use a drink of this.” Serena said as she handed him a flask of coffee.

Kyle took a drink from the cup and immediately spat it back out.

“It may be a little strong.” Serena smiled

“A little? Jes…I wont sleep for a month.”

“Antarian taste buds. Your food is a little…weak.” Serena said

“So how’ve ya been?” Kyle asked

“Good. I’ve been keeping myself busy. Oh I met the Parkers 3 years ago.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, they’re good people and their daughter…there is something about her.”

“She’s your future queen. At least she would have been, things are changing.” Kyle said

“She’ll still be with Za…Max wont she?”

“Definitely. But they wont be leaving Earth. They decided in my time, they just want to live their lives and quietly and peacefully as possible. Max has given me a message for your Council, they’re in charge from now on.”

“Uh…I can’t go along with that. The royals and the Granolith must return to Antar to deal with Kivar.”

“Kivar’s mine, Serena. I can deal with him and the Granolith will be returned on the basis that they’re all left alone.” Kyle said

“Kyle…”

“You know, you figured you’d have a problem with this.” Kyle said as he held out his hand, “Connect with me, you’ll understand.”

Serena looked at his hand and took hold of it. The link between their minds formed and images that Serena’s future self gave to Kyle fed from him into her. She learned of everything that happened in the last timeline and her relationship with the young royals.

“See.” Kyle said

“Yes.” Serena said, “Okay, I guess I can live with them staying on Earth. They certainly have good reasons to. I’m glad Tess found someone like you.”

“Thank you.” Kyle said as they heard a noise.

Both looked over to the mountain and watched as the door to the chamber opened. Serena had brought a couple of pairs of binoculars with her and gave one to Kyle. At first Max was the only one that could be seen as he and Isabel held hands. They were both followed by Michael who wasn’t to far behind them and then out came Zan and Lonnie with Rath. All six paused to the mouth to the cave. Michael and Rath were completely on edge, looking around carefully as they started to walk down the path.

“Strange. Ava said her pod hatched at the same time as Zan and the others.” Kyle said

“Maybe it was only a slight delay? If the others stayed in the chamber it’s possible Tess and Ava would be walking out with them.”

Then headlights could be seen. Max, Isabel, Zan and Lonnie stayed on the highway. All four were still holding hands but Michael and Rath moved together behind a small rock off of the road. The car stopped when they saw the four children and out stepped the Evans. While Diane stayed with the four, Philip looked around a little as he looked of their parents.

Diane took blankets out of the car and wrapped them up in them before helping them into the back seat of the car. Philip returned and both got into the car as they drove home to Roswell. Michael and Rath came out after they left, both were scared but they stayed together as the continued to walk along the road.

“Right on time.” Kyle said as he say another set of light moving along the road.

This time Michael and Rath didn’t try to hide. The car stopped and out came the Parkers with Liz sitting on the back seat, her face pressed against the window as she looked out. Nancy got out and like Diane before her, wrapped the two up in blankets. It was after they left that Kyle turned to Serena.

“Your turn.” He said

“I promise I’ll take good care of them.” Serena said

Kyle nodded. Serena moved off the hill and walked across the desert to the mountain. She entered the chamber to see Tess and Ava huddled together in the corner of the room near their pods. The elder alien smiled at the two girls as she moved to them.

“Hello. I know you can’t understand me yet but…I am a friend.” Serena said as she held out her hands

Tess and Ava looked at each other and then to Serena’s hands. Cautiously the two took her hands and they moved to her. Serena picked up both girls and carried them out of the chamber and back to her car. The next day the Parkers and the Evans took the children to the local hospital where Child Services were called. Kyle stayed around for the next day, just to make sure that every thing was going okay but after making sure that the Parkers and Evans would be adopting them he activated his armband and disappeared.

The Evans decided not to separate the four quadruplets; they were all obvious too close so within the month they were adopted. The Parkers decided the same thing for the twin brothers they had found. Serena simply changed some files in the registry of births held in the town hall. Kyle had told her the name so she had become Serena Harding with her twin daughters. As Kyle had hoped, when they were asked the six children spoke their names but that was the only thing they said.

Outside of Time…

Once more Kyle was surrounded by a mass of energy as he travelled through time. The more he was in here the more he got used to it. As the ripples of time passed by him he could see faint images on the outside, images of events that was history and of the many possible futures. This was the place Liz connected to when she had her premonitions.

All of a sudden everything stopped. Kyle wasn’t moving through time and all the images paused. All he could do was look around but then there was a noise from a distant point ahead of him, a loud boom rang out as if the sound barrier had just been breached. A ring of energy spread out, like a ripple in a pond, and as it passed by Kyle he looked back at where it came from.

A large sphere of white light shot out from that spot, moving fast down along through the years. Kyle could do nothing to avoid it, he couldn’t move up, down left or right. He was frozen and place and within the minute the sphere hit him and engulfed him. Kyle thought he was blinded for a minute because he couldn’t see anything, all there was, was the whitest light the went on forever.

“Okay…Liz didn’t warn me about this.” Kyle mumbled as he tapped his armband

“Error.” Was all the band would say

“Great. What the hell is going on?”

“I SHOULD BE THE ONE ASKING THAT!” a voice boomed, almost deafening Kyle

Kyle gulped as he looked around. “Hello.”

A fire appeared before Kyle, a raging inferno that blazed but never gave off any heat. All Kyle could do was stand there as the fire died down, then Phoenix appeared before him.

“Phoenix. What the hell? You scared the crap out of me.” Kyle said

“Good. You should be scared. Messing around with time like this…what the hell are you thinking? My people don’t do manipulations like this and Liz is barely evolved enough to understand how time work. Barely evolved. There is no way she can fully understand all the implications.” Phoenix said

“Yeah, well, the other option wasn’t that great.” Kyle said

“What are you talking about?” Phoenix asked

Kyle looked at him, “Uh…well, you told Liz that your people exist outside of time. That because of what you put in Liz, that’s the reason she can see into the future.”

“Unfortunately we can’t see into our own future. A few things, yes. Like Liz doing her jump back in time. It wasn’t that far so the knowledge I got. Think of it like this, you’re a fish in a river. You can see around you but not far, you can’t see the pebble that fell in that’s changed a section of the river.”

“Okay, time is the river I get that. And your guys would be what? Outside the river?”

“Kind of, we’re in a section of the river that runs the length of your part but it’s cut off with little gaps in it here and there. We exist in an almost independent time continuum and can see more of what’s to come of your time but not ours. Your last time jump was all I could take. Now, what your doing is changing the course of history of an entire people. You could cause irreparable damage.”

“Well like I said, not much of a choice. Does the name H’Ebon mean anything to you?”

“He’s a traitor to my people.” Phoenix said

“Yes, well he’s on Antar right now. In…god know how many years it is now, I’ve lost track…Kivar will do something that will kill H’Ebon and he’ll become Omniriad and it’s major badness.”

“You’re kidding?”

“No, and then there’s what you’re people will get up to.”

“What?”

“Well, there’s this First guy living in the Antar Granolith. H’Ebon put him there…long story short your going to find out that the Core screwed your race and have been lying to you all. There was a whole Omniriad feeding off Omniriad…well their energy at any rate. Your race went insane and became extinct, except that Liz has this feeling that your still out there somewhere…it’s a weird thing that I can’t even begin to explain and I don’t want to. Sorry about that bad news but I’ve got work to do.” Kyle said

“Yeah…I…”

“See, not much of a choice we had.”

“Of course. What are your plans?” Phoenix asked

“Well I’ve got to tie everything up here. I’m going to go to the day of the shooting, I’ve got to stop my dad from calling that FBI guys he knows. That’s what started everything.” Kyle said

“And after that?”

“Well, even if I sort everything out on Earth, things could still get screwed up because of Kivar. I need to take him out.”

“Well, time jumping should certainly provide you with an advantage in getting to him. But your going to need help, H’Ebon is not going to be easy to deal with no matter how weakened he is.”

“Oh, you offering?” Kyle asked

“When your ready. I’ll be waiting.” Phoenix said before he disappeared

The white light of his surroundings pulled away and Kyle was left in the void. There was another loud bang and everything started back up again. He moved forward through time again.

Crashdown, 1999

After Kyle landed in the Granolith Chamber he made his way into town as fast as he could. He made it to Roswell and got to the Crashdown in time for the big event. He made himself invisible and stood by the window to watch. Kyle could see Liz and Maria behind the counter; Max and Zan were sitting with Rath and Michael talking away. Every so often Michael would take subtle looks at Maria, he didn’t know if he wanted to rip her head off or ask her out. It was a toss up at the best of times. Michael wasn’t the only one looking, Max was doing it also.

“You’re staring again.” Zan said to his brother

“No I’m not.” Max said

“Better not be.” Rath and Michael said together

“It’s not like she’s not staring back guys.” Zan said, “Max just ask her out already.”

“Oh like you’ve just been asking out Ava left right and centre.” Max said sarcastically

“Hey, I’m not going to deny I like her a lot. But our…situation makes it difficult.” Zan said

Serena had raised both Ava and Tess but she raised them to keep the secret. She told them both that Max and the others were just like them but not to let them know about it until it was time. She even raised them with the knowledge of Kyle time travelling and what he shared with Tess. As a result, when this time’s Kyle asked her out, she said yes almost before he finished asking.

“Okay, make you a deal, you guys let Max ask out Liz…assuming his greatness here can build up the guts, and I’m pretty sure I can convince Lonnie to go out with you.” Zan said to Rath

“Zan, I don’t need your help with Lonnie. Besides, what makes you think Lonnie and me would care if you wanted us to date or not. If we wanted it, we’d go for it.” Rath said

“Yeah, right.” Zan said, “Like you’d ever really have a shot at Lonnie.”

“Oh I don’t know about that.” Lonnie said as he came into the dinner. She heard the last part of their conversation and moved up to Rath. Lonnie took his face in her hands, tilted his head back and kissed him hard and fast. When she broke the kiss, Lonnie looked at her brothers, “Like he said, he doesn’t need any help getting me…cause, he’s already got me.”

All Michael could do was smile as Zan and Max looked at Rath, neither looked very happy.

“Rath.” Zan said

“How long has this been going on?” Max asked

“About three weeks.” Lonnie said

“We would have told you sooner but you guys are way to protective of your sisters.” Rath said

“Oh like you two aren’t.” Zan said

“Well I guess we should have seen this coming.” Max said

“Oh yeah, you should have. And you gave you the rights to say who I can date?” Lonnie said

Max and Zan tried to look away from their sister, “Where’s Isabel?” Max asked quickly to change the subject

“Shopping with mom.” Lonnie said

Behind the counter, Liz and Maria were moving around each other as they gave people their orders.

“Max Evans is staring at you again.” Maria said

“Max Evans…this…I don’t think so.” Liz said

“Oh come on girl, you like him, he likes you. Accept it. Besides, unlike that jerk brother of yours, he’s a complete gentleman” Maria said

“You and Michael have another fight?”

“Huh, fights are what normal people have. That thing you call a brother is a nutcase that’s from Mars or something.” Maria said

“You know, I’ve never seen anyone push your buttons like Michael.” Liz said

“Don’t go there.” Maria said starkly as she picked up a tray to take it out

Off to the side, two men were sitting and their argument was heating up. Both jumped up from their chairs, one pushed and then the other pushed back. After that the gun came out and a single shot rang out. Maria looked and saw Liz lying on the floor and then so did her brothers, Zan and Max.

“Oh god.” Maria said

The two men ran out but Kyle moved to the door and held out his invisible leg. One trip over it and the other man fell over him. A could of the customers moved and kicked away the gun while they tried to restrain the two.

Inside, Rath and Michael ran to their sister. Max jumped up and told Maria to call and ambulance but Zan grabbed his brother’s arm.

“What are you doing Max?” Zan asked

Max just looked at him before running to Liz. He pulled open her uniform and placed his hand over her wound and on her head, “You have to look at me Liz.” He said as their first connection started to form and his healing energy flowed into her.

When it was done he broke the ketchup bottle, looked at Michael and Rath who both nodded and ran out with his brother. Liz jumped up and ran to the door.

“Don’t tell anyone…please.” Max told her

..............
.........

.....
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20 Minute Later…

“Like I said, the bullet missed me. I just tripped and fell when I tried to get out of the way and I spilled ketchup.” Liz said to the Sheriff

“Uh excuse me but I’ve looked all around here and there isn’t any bullets.” The UFO guy said

“We haven’t found any bullet holes in the walls Sheriff.” The deputy said

“And what about the guy?”

“What guy?” Valenti asked

“There was a guy sitting with his brother with those two. When it happened one went over, put his hand on her and then ran out.”

“Ms Parker?” Valenti asked

“It was just a couple of guys from school Sheriff.” Liz said

“No, it looked like she knew them a lot more than that. Who were they? What did that guy do?” the UFO guy asked

“Hey back off.” Michael said, getting between Liz and the guy

“Sir, perhaps you should step back.” Valenti said, “Who was it?”

“Max and Zan Evans. You know how Zan gets with situations like this.” Michael said

“Yeah, ever since that guy went nuts and took over the museum with him in it.” Rath said, “Guns just aren’t a good thing around him.”

“Max just left to check on him.” Michael said

“Okay, well I should check on them and get their statements.” Valenti said, “You guys finished here?”

“Yes Sheriff.” his deputies said

“In that case I’ll see you back at the stationhouse.” Jim said and walked out

When all the uniforms had left, Liz turned to her brothers, “I didn’t know that Zan had problems with that.” Liz said

“Oh…uh…well you see…” Rath started

“There’s a lot you don’t know sis.” Michael said

“Better call Max and give him a heads up.” Rath said

Michael nodded and left through the back, Liz just looked back and forth between the two. “In the meantime, you need to chill a little. Come on, let’s get upstairs.” Rath said as he helped Liz out. For a split second, her uniform opened and Rath caught a glimpse of where she had been shot, and the sliver handprint that was now there.

Outside…

Valenti left the Crash and started walking down the street. He paused to look over his notes from the scene when he heard a noise from down in the alley. Jim put his hand on his gun and walked down the alley. He looked around but he couldn’t see anything so he turned to walk back out. That was when two arms came out of the wall and grabbed the Sheriff.

He was pulled through the brickwork and into an enclosed space where four brick walls intersected. The length and breadth wasn’t that much more than a coffin but it was very tall. The Sheriff freaked for a moment before he realised his son was before him.

“Kyle…what the hell…” Jim asked

“Hey dad.” Kyle said

“How’d we…I mean…what’s going on?”

Kyle just looked at his father and smiled. He took a few steps back and disappeared into the wall. Jim moved to the wall and pressed his hand to it several time trying to push trough the wall. Without his father seeing him, Kyle moved around the outside of the wall and came back through behind Jim.

“Dad.”

Jim jumped back around and looked at Kyle.

“Sorry, but you had to see it first hand. Dad. What you’re thinking about what went on in the Crash…it’s true.” Kyle said

“What?”

“Aliens. Granddad was right.”

“Kyle?”

“Dad, I’m not the Kyle you know. I’m from the future, I was sent back to change some things and one of them was you.”

“The future.” His dad smiled, not believing it

“Yes, the future. A couple of years. By the end of this year I will be shot, by you, trying to take out a really bad guy. FBI. He really like torturing high school kids after kidnapping them from their family just because they’re not from this neck of the woods.” Kyle said

“Kyle.”

“Hey you just saw me walk through walls. When I get shot, I get healed and it gave me powers. Besides…” Kyle said and he pulled out his father’s lucky coin

Jim saw it and reached for his own and held the two in his hand. “This is impossible.”

“But real. Dad, the thing I need to change here.”

“Me?”

“More precisely I need to stop you calling your guy at the FBI. It’s the match to the fuse, it starts a lot of bad things.”

“What do you mean?”

“You make the call and after you find Liz’s uniform you give it to them. They find blood on it and they send an agent out. That wasn’t so bad but there is a special unit in the FBI who hunt aliens. Dad, don’t call them.”

“Then I wont. Huuuu…Kyle I don’t know what to say.”

“Believe me I know how freaky this is. It’s happened a couple of times to me and the others.”

“How would Tess deal with this…change?” Jim asked

“Tess?” Kyle asked

“Yes, the girl you’re dating.”

“Oh thank god. It worked.”

“I take it you were dating in the future?” Jim asked

“Actually we were going to get married.”

“Excuse me?”

“Things change Dad. Besides, she’s really close to both of us. I wish I could tell you more but I’ve got a lot to do. Just don’t call them. Besides, it will keep your friend alive.”

“The special unit killed him?”

“Not that we had any proof but yeah. I’ll call you later, you need to be somewhere for a meeting.” Kyle said

Jim looked back down at the coins and nodded his head before handing one back to Kyle. Kyle put his hand on his father’s arm and walked him back out of the space and into the alley.

Music Room, West Roswell High, The Next Day

“I checked the cells Max, they weren’t normal.” Liz said and then showed him the handprint, “And there’s this.”

Max turned away from Liz and walked slightly before turning back.

“What’s going on Max? What are you?”

“I’m just not from around here.” Max said

“Okay where?”

Max pointed up.

“Up north.” Liz said

Max raised his finger up higher and Liz followed it with her eyes, “You’re not…”

“And alien.” Kyle said as he walked in the door, “Actually Max here prefers the term not of this Earth.”

“Kyle.” Both said quickly

“Hi ya.” Kyle said

“What were you talking about?” Max said, hoping to brush it off.

“Max, you’re an alien. Hybrid actually. Half human, half alien. You were made that way so that you could survive on Earth.”

Max was scared now, he didn’t know what to do. Liz sensed it, she couldn’t explain it any more than her healing but she couldn’t stop herself from wanting to help Max.

“Kyle…”

“Oh wait.” Kyle said as he held up his hand and looked at his watch, “3…2…1…”

Kyle made himself invisible just as his past self walked into the room. He caught a ripple in the air but dismissed it as he saw Liz. “Oh hey Liz. I’ve been looking for you. Boy you two look like you’ve seen a ghost. Anyway, Tess and I were wondering if you could borrow you for a few hours to help us. Mr McGregor gave us some homework for the summer, just some math crap.”

“Uh sure.” Liz said trying to run through everything in her head, “But I know McGregor, I’ll give you pointers and nothing else.”

“Okay. Catch you later.” Kyle said and then walked out.

When he was clear, the other Kyle made himself visible again.

“Wa…wa…” Liz couldn’t formulate a sentence

“Time travel.” Kyle said

“Not possible.” Liz said

“If I hadn’t interrupted Max when I came in, you would have told him you didn’t believe in aliens. Time travel is possible with a little bit of alien tech and you.” Kyle said

“Me?” Liz asked

“Let’s just say you’re really important.” Kyle said, “I’m here to change your future.”

“Why?” Max asked

“Things got out of hand, well they almost did. I should really tell this to all of you together.”

“All of us? Who else?”

Kyle looked at her and then Max. That was when Michael and Rath entered the room. They had been looking for their sister to check on her when they realised she was in the music room. They heard Kyle’s voice inside and the word alien so they listened in.

“Guys?” Liz said

Max looked at them as they looked at him. Liz saw it and her eyes became wide with realisation, “Oh my god.”

“Yeah.” Michael said as he moved to Liz

“Your…your…”

“Just like Max.” Rath said

“How could you not tell me?” Liz said

“We don’t tell anyone Liz. Not even my parents know.” Max said

“There have been a lot of times we’ve wanted to tell you.” Michael said

“Yeah but about this future stuff.” Rath said as he turned to Kyle

All were surprised to see him gone and everyone looked around but all they could see were folded pieces of yellow paper, each one carried one of their names. As they unfolded them, all it said was “The Soap Factory, 7pm.”

“I guess we should be there.” Rath said

Out in the Quad, 2 Hours Later

“Oh my god, you told her.” Isabel said

“Didn’t have much of a choice. She checked my cells but then Kyle came in…” Max said

“Kyle, as in Valenti?” Lonnie asked

“Yes but you should have heard his story…at least what he told us about it.” Michael said

“And he was the first one to say alien.” Max said

“And you couldn’t have stopped him playing super hero?” Isabel asked Zan

“Hey you try and control him. Besides, it was the right thing to do.” Zan said

“Even if she wasn’t our sister.” Michael said as he gave a dead stare to Isabel

“Yeah. I kinda like to think that if the roles were reversed, we’d heal you in a heartbeat.” Rath said

“Sorry.” Isabel said

“So what about Kyle?” Lonnie asked

“Said he was from the future. Then he disappeared and these were left.” Michael said as he pulled out his piece of paper.

That was when there was a gust of wind and three other pieces of yellow paper fluttered down and landed in the laps of Zan, Lonnie and Isabel. Everyone looked around and then back at the papers as the three opened them.

“Same thing?” Michael asked

“Yeah.” Lonnie said

“He’s still around.” Max said

“Apparently.” Isabel said

“What should we do?” Zan asked

“I say we meet him at seven. If he’s telling the truth then I don’t think we want to miss it.”

“And if it’s some kind of trick?” Isabel asked

“We’ll see.” Max said

Payphone, Somewhere in Roswell, 15:00

Kyle closed the door to the booth and picked up the phone’s handset. With a quick wave of his hand over it, he fed energy into the line to mask the signal and prevent it from being traced. He dialled a number he was given in the future and after a second there was an answer.

“United States Treasury Department. To which branch may I direct your call?”

“Secret Service please, Agent Andrew Hall.” Kyle said

“One moment please.”

Music played on the line and after a minute it was picked up. “Agent Hall.”

“Agent Hall, listen carefully. Dupree Enterprises. It is currently under the control of two people. Everything, the estate, the company, all of it was left to the owner’s granddaughter but she was too young to take that control. It was all left in the care of her aunt and uncle. They like that power and don’t want to give it up. They have paid doctors at a psychiatric hospital in Texas to keep her doped up and to edit her medical file so that it looks like she’s mentally unbalanced. Help her; get her out of there. She has two brothers, twins; that she doesn’t know about. They don’t know about her either. They were adopted by a family in Roswell, New Mexico. The Parkers, the brother’s names are Michael and Rath.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Hall asked just as there was a click on the end of the line, “Hello? Hello?”

Hall went to do a little research and soon had it confirmed. He may have been new to the job but he was confident and went to his boss. They were curious about why Andrew was called but he was given permission to deal with the matter.

Soap Factory, Roswell, 19:00

Max, Zan, Lonnie and Isabel were waiting in the factory. Then in came Liz, escorted by Michael and Rath.

“Hey Liz.” Zan said

“Zan.” Liz greeted back

“How are you feeling?” Lonnie asked

“Good. So you’re all really…”

“Freak? Monsters?” Isabel queried

“Aliens.” Liz said

“Isabel, calm down.” Max said

“We’ve never trusted anyone with this.” Isabel said

“Uh…what are you guys doing here?” Alex asked as he and Maria came in

“Same question.” Michael said sternly

“Back off grouch.” Maria said as she held up another piece of yellow paper and was followed by Alex

The other just looked at each other just as Kyle and his dad came in. “Hey, what’s the party?” Kyle asked, the others could see yellow paper sticking out from his shirt pocket.

He was quickly followed by Tess, Ava and Serena, each carrying similar papers.

“Uh, okay. What’s going on?” Alex asked

“I guess it’s time.” Serena said

“Time for what?” Kyle asked

“For me.” Future Kyle said as he appeared out of the wall.

Everybody jumped up, but the past Kyle almost fell on his ass.

“Serena, it’s good to see you again.” Kyle said

“You too. I almost thought you’d forgotten about us.” Serena said

“Not quite. Do you want to do the honours?” Kyle asked

Serena smiled and looked to the others. She changed her form back into her original alien one and everyone just stared.

“Max, Isabel, Zan, Lonnie, Michael and Rath, I’d like you to meet your fellow pod born hybrids, Tess and Ava.” Kyle said

“Are you serious?” Michael asked

“Yeah, they came out a little while after you did.” Serena said

“Dude…” Past Kyle said as he approached his double

“Hey don’t touch me.” Kyle said

“Hey chill.”

“Sorry, it’s just…time travel is difficult. You seeing me is…well its not so bad but touching would completely screw everything up, mainly because we wouldn’t exist any more. Liz…sorry…future Liz told me that it’s like matter and anti-matter. Not a good mix.”

“Okay. What’s going on?” Maria said, staying back against the wall

“I’m a time traveller.” Kyle said, “Hence the two of us. Okay, we have aliens and humans, living very happily. One day, we get a message from our future telling us that there is going to be major badness and we have two options. We took this one. Change what happened. Besides, after you went public we were always in the spotlight.”

“We got exposed?” Isabel asked

“Yeah. It happened when you saved Alex from dying.”

“Dying? Me?” Alex asked

“Yeah, oh Isabel; avoid a guy named Grant Sorenson. Trust me on it.”

20 Minutes Later…

Kyle had explained everything to the group, even though it was clumsily done. How do you explain future events and aliens to a bunch of teenagers? He’d lived with it but he still couldn’t explain it all very well, especially when it came to the pregnancies and whom they’d spend the rest of their lives with.

“Michael?” Maria said, shaking her head

“This is a severe case of Twilight Zone.” Alex said, “I’m a genetically superior human?”

“Yeah. Even now, but the really good stuff got triggered when you got healed.” Kyle said

“And Isabel and I…uh…we…” Alex said trying not to look at her

“Yeah. But Liz does have a pure strain of Omniriad D.N.A in her, you have a variant strain that’s changed because of conditions on Earth. She got a whole whack of powers that you never really look into.” Kyle said to Alex and then to Liz

“Michael?” Maria said shaking her head again

“And what’s wrong with me?” Michael asked

“You’re…you’re…grouchy.” Maria said

“Grouchy?”

“Yeah grouchy.”

“And the only one who can push your buttons.” Liz cut in

“Oh really?” Michael said turning back to Maria with a smile

“Wrong buttons Spaceboy.” Maria said

“Glad to see some things never change.” Kyle said

“You mean they’re always going to be like this?” Max asked

“Pretty much.” Kyle said

“So…just to be sure…Tess and I?” Kyle’s past self said

“Happy. Very happy…which reminds me. And don’t even think about trying to pretend you’re not in love with her.” Kyle said as he pulled out a piece of paper. He folded it into a paper aeroplane and threw it at Tess and Kyle.

Past Kyle and Tess moved closer together and opened the paper. “What’s this?” Tess asked

“Recipe for our chilli. For some reason we could never make it individually but together, you’ll love it. Oh and just make sure that you make it in two batches, one for us and the other for everybody else…we always made it too hot.” Kyle said

“Pregnant?” Isabel asked as she looked at Alex and he looked at her, “I’m not saying that…well no offence Alex but until now I’ve never really considered you as a boyfriend but I’d like to think that we’d use protection.”

“Yeah, we all would.” Liz said

“Not if your hormones are being messed with by the granolith.” Kyle said, “Listen if you don’t believe me, connect with me.”

“Excuse me?” his past self asked

“I got a bunch of messages from your future selves. I can show you those as well as the past timeline from my point of view. Go round in a circle and hold hands.”

Everyone did as they were asked and Kyle closed his eyes to focus. In seconds the private messages found their intended receivers as well as everything that Kyle experienced in the years since Liz was healed to his jump back.

“I eh, wow.” Liz said as she looked at Max

“Yeah.” Max said as he looked back at her

Others experienced similar emotions boiling up in them but they didn’t know how to deal with it. In the future they knew their past selves would have that difficulty and that only time to adjust would help.

“Well. I’m done here.” Kyle said, “I only came to make give you the info. From here on out everything is your choice. I don’t know how things will be but you’ve got the option of being hidden again.”

“And this granolith?” Liz asked

“I will take the Antarian Granolith and return to Antar.” Serena said

“What?” Tess and Ava asked

Serena moved to them, “Oh my beautiful girls. I need to go home, I’ve got a life back there and I need to go. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my family. But you wont be alone and I’ve made sure that you’ll be taken care of, you all will.” She had spent the last sixty years liquidating the minerals and metals mined from the asteroid belt for the financing of the royals. As Philip Evans did in the past timeline, she had set up bank accounts for them all and built it up over time.

“The other Granolith is under the Crash. It’s waiting for its intended Caretaker and it’ll call to you when you’re ready.” Kyle said, “Just tap it lightly and you’ll learn what you need.”

Kyle smiled as he looked at his past self and Tess, he felt that there would be any problems there and walked back out through the walls leaving the others. For a little while they all just stayed there, Serena decided to make her goodbyes with Tess and Ava as quick as possible. All three were sorry about it but knew it had to happen. Later Serena made her way to the Granolith and inserted the crystal after making sure Tess and Ava would be able to locate the funds she had set up. Before the night was out, Serena was in the machine. She activated it all and hovered in orbit for a while, she scanned the planet and retrieved the Ganderium and Ganderial that were on the planet. She left the ship that brought them to Earth, it would give the humans a little leg up on studying the advanced technology but before long she was on her way home.

Balcony, Parker Residence, 21:00

After the gathering in the soap factory, Liz returned home with her brothers. Michael stayed down in the restaurant; Rath stayed around long enough to say hi to his parents before heading back out and Liz went to her room. Their parents could see something different in them and that they had things on their minds but chose to leave them alone for now.

Liz paced back and forth as she went over everything in her head but as she thought over everything she calmed more and more. She felt as everything in her life was settling into place. Even the fact that she was a part of an ancient alien race was beginning to seem less than unusual as she thought. When Liz heard a tapping at her window, she turned around to see Max standing on the other side of the glass. She opened the window and stepped outside.

“Hi.” Liz said

“Hey.” Max said, “I…eh…you know, just wanted to see how you’re doing?”

“I’m good. Thanks to you.” Liz said

“I couldn’t let you die…besides, Michael and Rath would have been even more grumpier if something happened to you.” Max joked

Liz smiled, “Yeah. So how are you doing?”

“I’m doing fine. Just…everything happened so fast. I mean, Kyle and I were never friends but apparently that’s going to change a lot.” Max said

“And Isabel and Alex? He’s one of my best friends but I never expected that to happen.” Liz said

“Oh what about Michael and Maria? There is no way on Earth I ever saw that coming.” Max said

“Maybe you didn’t.” Liz said

“Oh you did?” Max asked

“Let’s just say I had a feeling.” Liz said

Max smiled and moved closer to Liz as she sat on a chair and then he sat down as well. Both looked at each other and both gave shy smiles.

“You know we’re going to have to talk about it.” Max said

“Yes I know.” Liz said

“I’m not even going to pretend that I haven’t been dying to ask you out.” Max said

“So why haven’t you?”

“Well…I…I don’t have an answer for that.” Max said, “But I do know that it was a mistake. I should have asked a long, long time ago. Especially since we’re supposed to be…

“Soul mates?” Liz said

“Yes.” Max answered, “Okay…um, would you like to go out sometime?”

Liz looked up and stared into his deep eyes as he looked into hers. “Yes. How about…”

“The festival?” Max said

“You can pick me up at seven.” Liz said

“Wow, that was easy.” Max said

“Yeah.”

“Too bad I already know what your costume is going to be.” Max said

“Uh? Oh right, the connection to Kyle.” Liz said

“Yeah and the message from my future me. He showed me that festival and what you did for us…as well as other things.” Max said

Liz looked at him, “What other things?” she asked, already knowing the answer since her future self had showed her the same things.

“I…saw us. Together. You know.”

“Yeah, I do know.” Liz said, blushing slightly

“Oh.” Max said

Without either of them realising it, Max had moved his hand over Liz’s.

“Was it our…first time you were shown?” Max asked softly

“Yeah, in that Granolith room.” Liz said as they both looked down at their hands. Their fingers interlocked and then the looked back up to each other’s eyes.

“You looked so beautiful.” Max said

Liz blushed again and tilted her head down but Max put a finger under her chin to raise her head back up. The two inched closer; their breathing became heavier with the sheer anticipation. As the couple felt the other’s breath near their skin they paused, but then they completed their move and they kissed. Their lips pressed together softly but then they couldn’t hold back and it grew more intense.

“Wow.” Liz said

“Yeah…wow.” Max said as he struggled to get control of his breathing again, “I’ve never…Liz…”

“I know.” Liz said just as breathlessly

“LIZ!” her father called out, “Could you come help me out for a second?”

“Sure dad!” Liz called back.

“I guess I should really be going anyway.” Max said

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Liz said

“Seven o’clock.” Max said confirming the time

“Seven.”

“I definitely wont be late. Not even by a second.” Max said

“Oh now that deserves to be tested.” Liz said with a smile

“Oh?” Max asked

Liz took out her watch and compared the time to Max’s, “Okay, you’re two seconds behind mine.”

Max waved his hand over his watch and corrected the time. “Not even a second.”

“We’ll see.” Liz said with a smile

The two looked at each other before kissing again.

“Liz!” Jeff called out again.

“Right.” Max said after breaking the kiss and walking to the fire escape ladders

Liz returned to the window and looked back, the two locked eyes just before Max ducked his head behind the brickwork. He smiled and then left as she smiled and closed the window.

Dinning Room, Crashdown, Same Time

Michael stayed in the Crash. Once he was inside he went straight for the counter and made himself a chocolate milkshake with a liberal amount of Tabasco sauce in it. He did his best to avoid the part where Liz had been shot and lay on the floor, just thinking about it made him feel sick.

In the back of the restaurant Maria struggled to open the back door but she did and Michael heard it. As he jumped up, thinking it was a burglar, Maria pushed open the back doors.

“Maria, I thought you went…”

“DON’T…say one word.” Maria said

“Home.” Michael finished his sentence.

“I was fine, I was doing fine. Liz was going to be a Nobel Prize winning scientist, I was going to be her wacky friend and now everything’s whacked. On top of that there’s you.”

“Me?” Michael said

“Not a word.” Maria said, “I was doing incredibly good there. I mean Liz kept getting on about how much her jerk brother pushed my buttons but I was dealing with that. I was successfully ignoring the fact that you’re good looking…in a ruggishly caveman kind of way. You were always a vibrator…I mean putting out vibes and stuff but now I get messages from the future that show me...stuff and the most intense feelings I’ve ever had and…”

Michael grabbed her body and kissed her hard, their bodies moulded together as both melted into. They wrapped their arms around each other, neither breaking the kiss. Michael lifted Maria up and sat her on the table in the booth, her legs parted and Michael moved between them. His hands ran over her jean clad thighs to her sides and he held her until he moved his head back.

Maria looked into Michael’s eyes and then shook her head before pushing him back and jumping off the table. “Oh now why’d you do that. Why? Why, why, why?”

“Because I wanted to…”

“And?” Maria asked

“And I needed to know. What I got in my message…it felt…right. Just like just now.” Michael said

Maria looked at him, her eyes darting over his face and then she jumped into his arms. Michael fell back onto one of the booth chairs taking Maria with him as they kissed. Maria’s top pulled up slightly and gave Michael access to her skin. His hands caressed her as the moaned softly into each other’s mouths.

“Ugnnn…god, I’m gonna hate the next few days.” Maria said

“Why?” Michael asked before moving onto her neck

“Cause Liz will be all ‘I told you so’.” Maria said

“She wont do that.” Michael said before kissing her again

Maria couldn’t focus on anything other than Michael’s lips against hers, her eyes rolled upward as her pupils became wide. “Uhhhhhhhhh…maybe.” She whispered

A few minutes later they were sitting across from each other, both drinking milkshakes.

“So…” Michael said

“So…” Maria continued

“Are we dating now?” Michael asked

“You need to go on dates to be dating.” Maria said

“That’s a point.” Michael said

Then there was a long pause.

“Okay, Liz, Alex and I were going to go to the festival tomorrow night. How about I meet you there?” Maria said

“That’s good. Yes.” Michael said, “I can meet you there.”

“And you’ll have deniability. If we show up separately then no one can say we’re on a date.” Maria smiled, liking that until she could get used to the idea

“Yes. That is good; we’ll just be Liz’s brother and best friend walking around talking. Our friends will understand that given what we just found out.” Michael said

Both smiled but then Michael’s face became serious.

“This is good because it’ll buy us time…not because I’m ashamed of dating you or anything.” Michael said

“Ashamed?” Maria asked

“Hey, I watch T.V. Relationships being kept secret usually…”

“Oh yeah. So not ashamed?”

“No.” Michael said, “But…needing to get used to actually being with you and not…”

“And not?” Maria asked

“And not…fantasising about being with you.” Michael said

“Really?” Maria asked, “Oh wait…are we talking about that kind of fantasies that guys…” Michael couldn’t look at her. “Oh.” Maria said

“Maria…look. I’m really, really sor…”

“No. Actually it kinda makes me feel better.” Maria said

“You mean…you?” Michael asked

“Yes.”

Michael felt his dick twitch at the thought of Maria pleasuring herself at the thought of him and Maria pressed her thighs together as she felt the same.

“Well.” Maria said simply

“I’ve never really thought I’d be getting this revealing with you.” Michael said

“Ditto, Spaceboy.” Maria said and then sighed, “I think we should probably take this up tomorrow.”

“Yeah. On our…date.”

“On our date.” Maria repeated.

The two looked at each other before Maria started towards the back door.

“Maria wait.” Michael said and Maria turned to him, “The…message I got. Apparently I got you pregnant in the back seat of your car.”

“Yes. I know. It was in my message as well.” Maria said

“Right, well, when it happens next time, it wont be in the back seat.” Michael said

“When?” Maria asked with a curious glint in her eye, “Not if?”

Michael moved up closer and gazed into her eyes, “When.” He said

They kissed each other goodbye and then Maria left to go home. Michael sat back down and finished his shake before he went back upstairs. When he did, Liz was helping their parents move boxes around but when Liz looked at him she smiled. It was a very obvious smile that told Michael she knew about Maria and him downstairs. Liz didn’t know how she knew, just that she did.

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Tess’s Bedroom, Serena’s Residence, Same Time

In the bedroom, Kyle and Tess sat next to each other on the bed.

“So, are you okay with…uh…me?” Tess asked hesitantly

“Uhm…to be honest I don’t really know.” Kyle said

“Oh.” Tess said as she got off the bed and moved over to her window.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s not that.” Kyle said as he got up and moved behind her. “A couple of hours ago I was dating Tess Harding, one of the most, if not the most beautiful girl I’ve seen.”

“And now you’re dating a freak.” Tess said

“NO.” Kyle said quickly, “The fact that your part alien…yes, that’s an adjustment. But I know how I feel about you and even being told what you are…that didn’t change it.”

“So, then what?” Tess asked, “Didn’t future you give you a message through the connections?”

“He did. He showed me everything Tess. When we met, when you moved in, every date, every conversation…”

“Everything?” Tess asked as she turned to face him

“Yes. Everything.” Kyle said as he held her cheek in the palm of his hand.

“So what’s the problem?” Tess asked

“Thinks move so fast for us in the future. You’re a princess, the closest thing you’ve had to a mother just left and you’ll never meet your father.” Kyle said

“I’ll miss Serena, no question. I’m not a princess; I was but not any more. I’m just a girl who met you…as for my father; in my message I got how he feels for me. That’s enough for me. He knows I’m okay.” Tess said

“Oh, in that case…” Kyle picked Tess up and kissed her as they fell onto the bed laughing

“You really don’t have a problem with me being Antarian?” Tess asked

“No. Future me passed onto me how he got over it and…well, it took about a second. And now I’ve got this overwhelming urge to start reading up on Buddha.” Kyle said

“Oh yeah. About that?” Tess said

“In your message too?” Kyle asked

“Yeah. Along with something about Busty Biker Babes?”

Kyle’s eyes bulged, “Oh well, I…eh…”

“Relax Kyle. I’m fine with it.”

“You are?”

“Yeah, especially the fact that it’ll be in the bin soon.”

“Oh that it will be.” Kyle said quickly

“So are we still on for dinner with you’re dad tomorrow night?” Tess asked

“Yeah. He comes home from work, we have a little dinner and then we go out to the festival.” Kyle said

“Good.” Tess said

The couple then proceeded to get into a heavy make out session on Tess’s bed. Neither were ready for anything further, they’ve known that for a long time and now they’re armed with some future memories they know it’ll happen when it happens. They weren’t in any rush.

Living Room, Serena’s Residence, Same Time

While Tess and Kyle talked in the bedroom, Ava stayed in the living room. She didn’t know what Kyle would do but she thought she better stay close just in case. The only thing she was thankful for was that there wasn’t any yelling but in the long run she didn’t know if that was good or bad. As she sat watching the television, with the volume down low, she did her best not to give into the temptation of listening in.

Zan then knocked the door and Ava answered it. “Zan.” Ava said, surprised to see him

“Hey. I thought we should talk.” Zan said

“Yeah that’s happening a lot tonight.” Ava said

“Got that right. Max sneaked out to talk to Liz, Lonnie’s somewhere with Rath and I know Isabel’s called Alex over.” Zan said

“You must be loving that. Rath and Lonnie, Alex and Isabel…all alone…” Ava said

“Don’t, I’m a brother in pain.” Zan said

Ava laughed slightly, “Come on in.” she said

“Thanks.” Zan said, then the two walked inside and sat on the sofa. Ava reached for the remote and turned the television off as they sat side by side uncomfortably.

“So. You’re like me then.” Zan said

“Yeah. Came out of a little green pod and everything. Just a little later than you guys.” Ava said

“Too bad it wasn’t at the same time. We might have known who you guys were.”

“Yeah. Serena wanted it kept secret just in case something happened. But hey, at least we didn’t grow up in a sewer this time.” Ava said

“Oh you know about that?” Zan asked

“Yeah. I got shown it during my connection. So when are you going to do it?” Ava asked

“Do what?” Zan asked

“You’ve been wanting to ask me out for at least the last 4 months. That’s when I started noticing so god knows how long you’ve wanted to do it for before that. We’re not in the sewer and we both know what the other is, so there is nothing stopping us.”

“No there’s not.” Zan smiled, “The message I got said that on Antar we were going to get married.”

“Yeah. I got that as well.”

“As well as the two of us being practically inseparable.”

“Wanna see if we can *spark* some good times? Maybe even…you know, a little…”

“Fire?” Zan asked

“A great big roaring inferno.” Ava said as the inched their way closer

“Hey guys.” Tess said as she and Kyle walked out hand in hand

Ava and Zan jumped apart, Ava looked with venom at her sister.

“Oh, sorry.” Tess said

“Yeah, bad timing.” Kyle said with an apologetic look.

“Real bad timing.” Zan said

“So are you two…” Tess asked

Zan and Ava looked at each other and then back at the others. “Yeah.” They said together

“And you two? I mean you’re okay?” Ava asked, looking at Kyle

“Yep. Just don’t ask me to time travel, that other me may have liked it but…no way here.” Kyle said

“Good.” Ava said

“So no problem with us being alien?” Zan asked

“None.” Kyle said, “Not everyone’s the bad guy Zan.”

“Yeah. I’m learning that.” Zan said, “So what’s the plan now?”

“Well we came out to see if Ava wanted pizza, you interested?” Kyle asked

“Pizza. I could go for that. A spicy one.” Ava said

“With pepperoni.” Zan said

“With spicy chicken and beef.” Tess said

“4 large?” Kyle asked

“Make the call.” Zan said

Before long, all four were sitting down to their pizzas and talking away. All talked about their messages and what would have been their futures, then they talked about the futures they would make for themselves.

Living Room, Evan’s Residence, Same Time

Isabel had called Alex, something he hadn’t expected her to do. Learning that they had a future together was unusual for them both. Isabel never considered dating Alex and while Alex longed for Isabel, he never thought he had a chance. Then came Kyle from the future and now their heads were filled with images of the two being together and how happy they were. When Alex arrived, he hesitantly knocked the door and Isabel answered it. They briefly said hello and Isabel showed him inside.

“So. How are you?” Alex asked

“I’m fine. You?”

“A little…freaked.” Alex said

“Well you just found out aliens are real. That’s understandable.”

“Actually, you being an alien is a distant second.” Alex said, “Finding out I’m some kind of evolutionary leap forward is number 1.”

“Well…not quite your not.”

“No. Not until I die and end up being healed.”

“Might never happen.” Isabel said

“Yeah. So, why’d you call me over?” Alex asked

“Well, to talk.” Isabel said

“What is there to talk about? I think we both saw the same thing in our message. Us. The only question is, do you want that?” Alex asked, along with the message came the confidence of his older self

Isabel looked at him and smiled, she could feel confidence pour off him and she couldn’t deny the attraction in herself. “Yes. I mean I’d like to see if we could have that. Things are different now.”

“Not completely.” Alex said, “I’m still me and you’re you.”

“True.” Isabel said, “But…eh…”

“Yes?”

“Until that message I’ve never seen a guy naked, let alone one that I’ve never even dated.”

“Oh.” Alex said, “Me too.”

“You mean you’ve seen me…oh god.” Isabel blushed

“Isabel, you’re beautiful.” Alex said as he reached over and brushed aside some hair from her face.

Isabel’s skin tingled at the contact. It was so new and intimate yet at the same time it was very familiar to her. Her future self had passed on a lot and as Alex touched her she couldn’t resist leaning forward and kissing him. For a brief instant their tongues duelled together before they parted and looked at each other.

“I…eh…” Alex said, his new confidence suddenly failing him.

“Do…do you want some coffee or anything?” Isabel asked

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” Alex said

Isabel stood up and headed for the door to the kitchen. As she did so, Alex mouthed, “wow” and leaned back into the sofa. In the kitchen, Isabel quickly closed the door and leaned back against the fridge door breathless.

“Oh my god, that was a kiss.” Isabel said as she looked around.

Quickly she started to make some coffee. When it was done, she placed the mugs on a tray but before she picked up the tray Isabel checked her appearance in the nearest mirror, straightened her clothes and ran her fingers through her hair to make it more bouncy. When that was done, she picked up the tray and returned to Alex.

“Here we go.” Isabel said as she placed the tray on the coffee table

“Thanks.” Alex said as he took a mug and took a sip, “Hmmm…perfect. How’d you know how I like it?”

“I don’t know. I just did.” Isabel said

“Must be the message.” Alex said

“Oh yeah. Makes me wonder what else I know that you’ll like.” Isabel said with a teasing smile

“Yeah.” Alex smiled, “I wonder.”

“Hello?” Philip said

Alex dived up from the sofa and Isabel turned around.

“Hi dad. Alex this is my dad, Dad this is Alex.” Isabel said

“Hello sir.” Alex said with tension

“Alex. Have we met?” Philip asked

“No sir.”

“Alex chill.” Isabel said, “Dad, Alex is my…boyfriend and I’d like him not to be afraid of you when he’s around me.”

“B…Boyfriend? Since when did you use the term boyfriend?” Philip asked

Alex looked down to her and smiled before looking back up at Isabel’s father.

“Since I met Alex and got to know him.” Isabel said

“Isabel. A word please.” Philip said

Isabel stood up and moved to her father. When she was close enough, he bent his head lower and whispered, “He’s not your usual type.”

“And my type is?” Isabel whispered

“Well the last couple of guys, not that I’m happy about that mind you, but they’ve been brain dead morons with more muscle than I.Q. points. And…uh…Alex? Yeah he’s…”

“Got a brain. Daddy, trust me on this. Alex is a really nice guy. You’ll like him.”

“He’s dating you Isabel, liking him is not an option.” Philip said

“Daddy.” Isabel warned

“Okay, okay. I’ll give him a chance by I know two people who will hurt him if he hurts you.” Philip said

“That wont happen. And is Max and Zan even think of interfering…” Isabel said, “Besides, you’ve got something else to worry about.”

“Oh?”

“Lonnie’s dating Rath Parker. Has been for three weeks.” Isabel

“WHAT?” Philip said and stormed off down the hall, “Lonnie!” he called out

“That should get him off our back for a while.” Isabel said as she sat back down on the sofa.

Alex sat down as well and moved their heads closer together to kiss but Alex backed away at the last moment, “Uh…what’s Lonnie going to do when she catches up to you?”

Isabel just smiled, “Let’s just say she owed me one to begin with.”

“And boyfriend? That was fast.” Alex said

“I couldn’t help it, I said it before I knew it but…”

“But it was right.” Alex said

Isabel smiled and the two kissed. Their tongues slipped into each other’s mouth as their hands ran over each other. They broke apart only when they heard Isabel’s dad coming back down the hall. When he came back, Isabel showed Alex out with a goodbye kiss and the promise of seeing him at the festival tomorrow night.

Lonnie’s Bedroom, Evan’s Residence, Same Time

While the others talked with each other, Rath moved up to Lonnie’s bedroom window and opened it with his powers. Lonnie came out of her shared bathroom with Isabel, wearing her robe. Rath smiled was he watched, Lonnie smiled as she saw him watching in her mirror.

“Hello babe.” Lonnie said

“Hey.” Rath said

“Enjoying the view?” Lonnie asked

“Better believe it.”

“You know you’d probably enjoy it more from inside here.” Lonnie said

Rath’s smile grew wider and climbed inside. He moved closer to Lonnie and wrapped his arms around her as he kissed her neck.

“Nice bath?” Rath asked

“Hmm, yes. Nice and hot, steamy with all those soft little bubbles tickling my naked, supple skin.” Lonnie said, teasing her boyfriend.

“Ughnnnn…Lonnie. You don’t know what you do to me.” Rath said

“Yes I do. Believe me I do and I like very much doing it.” Lonnie said as she tilted her head back and Rath captured her lips in a searing kiss. “Did you check on your sister?”

“Yes. Liz is fine.” Rath said with strain

“What’s up?” Lonnie asked as she moved away from him and sat on her bed

“Max is with her.” Rath said

“Oh.” Lonnie said

“They’re going to start dating, they’re going to be intense and then they’re going to…no, I can’t say it.” Rath said

“Have sex?” Lonnie asked

“AHHH…no, you had to say it.” Rath said

“Yes. Because, the odds are very good that someday soon you’ll be having sex with Max’s sister.” Lonnie said

“Nah, I doubt that. Isabel really isn’t my type.” Rath said

“Oh you jerk.” Lonnie said, slapping his arm.

“Uhh…baby, I’m only teasing.” Rath said as he ran his fingers down her cheek and then her arm

Lonnie smiled. She started to lean back on her bed, pulling the tie on her robe as she lowered herself. She exposed a tiny sliver of her body but it was enough to entice Rath who moved over her. They started to kiss when all of a sudden…

“WHAT?” they heard from down the hall, “Lonnie!”

“Dad.” Lonnie said

Rath jumped off of his girlfriend and ran for the window. He didn’t even stop as he jumped and dived out of the room and hide under the windowsill. Lonnie quickly tied the tie to her robe and opened her bedroom door.

“Daddy.” Lonnie said

“You’re dating Rath Parker?” Philip said

“Isabel…” Lonnie muttered under her breath, “Daddy…”

“Don’t daddy me young lady.” Philip said

“Dad, it’s okay. We’ve gone out on a few dates.”

“But…”

“It’s not like he’s a punk or anything. He doesn’t have a Mohawk, not that his parents would let him, he’s from a good family, like me he’s adopted and is a nice guy.” Lonnie said

“I’ve been hearing that word ‘nice’ a lot tonight.” Philip complained

“He just likes leather and motorbikes. Not that I’d ever ride one.” Lonnie said, lying through her teeth since she’d been on Rath’s bike constantly

“And you like him?” Philip asked

“He keeps me on my toes.” Lonnie said, “Yes. I like him a lot.”

Philip gave a deep sigh. “Why do both my girls have to have boyfriends at the same time?”

“Oh you met Alex then.” Lonnie said

“Yes.” Philip said with a gruff tone in his voice. “Okay. You can date him if you want to.”

“Thank you daddy.” Lonnie said as she moved up onto her tiptoes and kissed her dad’s cheek.

Philip then left back down the hall and Lonnie closed her door. She locked it before moving to her window and stuck her head out of it, smiling as she watched Rath curl up in a ball to avoid being seen.

“Hey you great big coward.” Lonnie said

Rath looked up and jumped to his feet, “Not a coward, just scared to death of your dad.”

“Well, yeah that’s understandable for you…and Alex now I guess.” Lonnie said

“So. Now that we know that’ll we’ll be together from now on, what’s the plan?” Rath asked

“You ask me out, I say yes. We set a time and we have dates.”

“That’s good.” Rath said, “And then.”

“And then we have fun, day after day after day.” Lonnie said very slowly and then licking her lips

“You really like doing this to me don’t you?” Rath asked, reaching down to adjust his dick in his pants.

“You better believe it. Now, my dad is around and if he catches you here…”

“Say no more.” Rath said

He and Lonnie kissed each other in the space the open window provided before he said goodbye. Rath headed home and Lonnie closed the window. She dressed in her pyjamas and went back out, the look she gave her sister could have frozen a lake solid but all Isabel could do was smile.

“We’re even now.” Isabel said

“For what?” Lonnie asked

“For me covering your little trip to the Eraser Room with Rath.” Isabel said

“You knew about that?” Lonnie asked

Isabel nodded, “And covered for you with Mr Adams.”

“Okay…even.” Lonnie said.

The two sisters sat down and watched television as their brothers arrived home. All sat down next to each other, neither saying a word but all knew that they had spent the last few hours with their future partners. The smiles on their faces gave it away.

Parker Residence, Noon, 2 Days Later

Kyle stayed around for a couple of days to make sure that the final part of his mission in this time were dealt with. He monitored a phone call from the secret service to the Parkers informing them of the situation with Laurie. While Jeff and Nancy were surprised, Kyle had informed Liz, Michael and Rath. All were more than eager to help Laurie get back on her feet while her guardians were being prosecuted.

Rath and Michael were nervous as hell when Laurie arrived but Liz helped calm them down. From a distance, Kyle watched as Agent Hall arrived with Laurie and as expected, the same gleam in their eyes was there as when they first met in the future. That was all he needed to see and tapped his armband. Soon he was engulfed with energy and vanished out of the timeframe he was in.

“Hello Laurie.” Nancy said

“Hi.” Laurie said a little shyly, she had only been out of the hospital for a few hours and still had a long way to go before all the drugs were cleaned out of her system. She then looked at her brothers, “You guys look like our granddad.”

“Really?” Michael asked, feigning surprise because Kyle had already told them of the D.N.A donors.

“Yeah. I’ve got a photo…well I had a photo. I guess it’s still back at that hospital.” Laurie said

“Well, I’m sure we can get it back for you.” Jeff said, “We’ve set up the spare room for you, the secret service brought some of your clothes from Texas.”

“Thank you.” Laurie said to Andrew

“My pleasure, Ms Dupree.” Hall said, trying to keep himself in check. “Mr and Mrs Parker, I’ll leave now. I’ve got to help the Texas D.A. build a case against Ms Dupree’s guardians.”

“Of course.” Jeff said

Hall turned to leave through the door.

“Wait.” Laurie spoke out, “Will I…you know…”

“I’ll be around.” Andrew smiled and then left

“So Laurie, how about I show you to your room and you can get some rest?” Liz said

“Yeah, thanks. I feel like I could sleep for a week.” Laurie said

Liz showed her into her room. Laurie was exhausted, much of the medication in her blood was intended to keep her calm and sedated. Laurie got changed out of her clothes and collapsed onto the bed asleep.

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Royal Palace, Antar, During Kivar’s Attack

In the temporal field, as the energy moved around Kyle during his journey back, Phoenix joined up with Kyle. The two arrived behind the Granolith and quickly made their way into one of the many hidden passages that honeycombed the palace. Everything rocked as Kivar’s weapons struck the city, everyone was running around and a few people came into the Granolith’s resting place to move the machine to the transport ship.

During the initial volleys, the Royals had been killed but the medical personnel were nearby and extracted their essence. As soon as the Granolith was on board and there was a window in the attack, the ship launched. Eventually the defence forces crumbled and Kivar moved in.

“At last.” Kivar said as he made his way straight to the Granolith chamber

On the route his forces dispersed throughout the palace and secured every room and everyone in the palace. As he got to the doors to the chamber, he swung them open and went inside. “What? WHERE IS IT?” Kivar yelled

Then from the shadows H’Ebon appeared. “What did you think, they’d make it easy for you?”

“Where is the Granolith?” Kivar asked

“It left the solar system 25 minutes ago. Your attack was sloppy, your strikes were inaccurate…I should have chosen the Hilans instead your family.” H’Ebon said

Kivar let it slide, he knew better than to go against the powerful alien. Just then there was a knock at the door and H’Ebon vanished before the doors opened. “What?” Kivar yelled

“My Lord, we’ve found the bodies of the Royal Four…including Princess Vilandra.” The soldier said

“Where?” Kivar smiled, eager to see the body of his enemy Zan.

“In the throne room, My Lord. But Sir, a significant amount of genetic material is missing.”

“What?”

“It’s more than enough for complete genetic reconstruction and cloning.”

Kivar had never been angrier and raised his hand to the soldier. There was a blast of black light that shot out and sent the soldier flying back out to the hall where his body deteriorated into dust.

“And so the Caretaker’s link to the Granolith will remain in tact.” H’Ebon said as he reappeared, “Aside from being in this place I’d say this mission was a complete failure. Even that woman you’re obsessed with is dead.”

“I had planned to clone her if something happened to her.” Kivar said

“Well that would be happening.” Kyle said loudly enough to be head through the masonry.

He and Phoenix then emerged from the passages and stood before the enemies, “Hello H’Ebon.”

“You.” The dark Omniriad said

“Yeah.” Phoenix said

“Hello Kivar.” Kyle said

“And you are?”

“Name’s Kyle. From Earth and several decades down the line.”

All four looked at their opponents in the eyes before moving. Kivar quickly raised his hands to strike but Kyle phased to avoid the energy before he turned invisible. He would move around, make himself visible for a few seconds to allow Kivar to move to strike and then return to his invisible state. He kept doing it, being unseen and then seen in random locations and making sure that Kivar attempted to kill him with his powers.

Kyle knew that it would help tire Kivar out so he did it as much as he needed to. During this, Phoenix and H’Ebon ran to each other and shifted into their natural forms of pure energy. The two beings met, their energies collided with the sole intent of dominating the other and cancelling it out. With each push to that goal there was a blast of light outward that started to melt the stone the walls were made of. The sound was almost deafening and could be heard throughout the palace.

It was during one of those pushes that Kyle took the opportunity. He made himself invisible one last time and moved close to Kivar. Kivar kept turning, waiting for his opponent to make himself seen once more but Kyle was drawing it out. Kyle moved so close that he could almost hear Kivar’s heartbeat. Eventually, he became visible and was standing right behind Kivar. Kyle used his strength and pushed Kivar into one of the light beams coming from the two Omniriad.

In seconds Kivar was completely engulfed. His screams went everywhere as the flesh from his body melted away. There was nothing left of Kivar, but all Kyle could do was watch as one being that had been seen as a god battled another. Ripples of energy crawled over their surface; their shear power shook the foundations of the city as the flashes of light pulsed out of the windows in the room.

Everyone in the city gathered at the palace gates and looked up to the window. Even the damage done during the attack could prevent people gathering, the wounded even came to watch. The power drew them, as the city quaked under them. Antarian and Skorossian soldiers, Kivar’s troops, watched on together as the light got more intense.

Kyle watched, shielding his eyes with his arms. He couldn’t tell who was winning as colours spread back and forth over them but he didn’t have long to wait. All of a sudden the shapeless mass of energy became one colour and a wall of light blasted outward. Kyle phased to avoid the physical impact but as the wall continued outward, everyone in the city was knocked off their feet to the ground.

As the remaining mass stopped moving, it drifted down to the floor where it rested before. Slowly it reformed and Kyle could clearly see Phoenix’s face but the alien was completely exhausted.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kyle asked as he knelt by his side

“Yeah. That was hard.” Phoenix said

“I thought that to kill one of you guys you had to pierce the heart that sever the head?” Kyle asked

“Only works if we’re corporeal.” Phoenix said, “Are you finished now?”

“No. I’ve got one more thing to do.” Kyle said, “But I guess you better get going back. You’ve got a Caretaker to prepare for.”

Phoenix nodded and vanished. He returned to the exact moment he left and returned to a state of sleep within the Earth Granolith while he awaited Liz to become of age and take up her role as Caretaker. Kyle on the other hand stayed. He waited in the room as word spread throughout all five worlds in the Antarian system of the enigmatic events in the palace after the attack.

Within a matter of hours the council of nobles had reassembled. They had initially gathered before the wedding of Zan to Ava but evacuated as word of the approaching army came. On mass, the council along with a large contingent of soldiers entered the city and arrested Kivar’s troops. Then they moved on to the palace. None of the enemy put up a fight; all knew it would be suicide given the sheer number of military approaching. Besides, no orders came from Kivar.

Once in the palace, the council made their way to the former Granolith Chamber and entered to see Kyle lying back on the floor, his arms folded under his head and whistling away. When Kyle say the council he jumped up and stood before them, he bowed and greeted them as an Antarian would.

“Who are you?” Larek asked

“My name is Kyle Valenti, Lord Larek. I am a human from Earth and a friend, or rather will be a friend of your sister Lady Serena.” Kyle said

“Human?” Lorat asked as he came in

“My lords, I’m from the future and I came to deal with Kivar.”

“Where is Kivar?” one his Kivar’s allies asked

“Uh…he’s dead. I would like to show you his body but there really isn’t much left. I’ve come back with a message from your king Zan, or rather who he will become – Max Evans. He made a decision. He and the others are now on route to Earth, which will not be hampered with. Once there they will stay, live their lives and eventually die. In sixty or seventy years, Serena will return with the Granolith but not before. In the meantime, he has decreed that the council of nobles will rule over Antar and all associated planets until such time as his plans for reform in the way your peoples are governed are implemented.”

“And you expect us to believe this?”

“If you think I will allow my daughter will stay on Earth…” Thrall, Tess’s father said angrily

“She’ll be well taken care of.” Kyle said softly as he extended his hand.

Thrall looked at the young man and knew he was offering a connection. The elder accepted it and looked into Kyle’s mind and saw everything about Kyle’s relationship with his daughter and Zan’s with Ava, even the memories of Kyle’s interactions with Thrall in the future came through.

“See.” Kyle said

“I understand.” Thrall said

“It was their choice.” Kyle said before turning to Larek. “I assume you have your doubts as well Larek.” Kyle then extended his hand and Larek took it.

Larek connected and saw images of Max; he saw everything that happened after Max’s encounter with Larek at the New York Summit. In that instant, Larek knew that Kyle was telling the truth and broke the connection.

After that, Kyle reached up to his armband and took it off. He looked at it for a second before deactivating the system and then became surrounded with yellow light before vanishing. That version of Kyle Valenti no longer existed as the future history of the Antarian Empire changed.

Seer’s Residence, Antarian Capitol, Same Time

The second Kyle arrived in the granolith chamber, the Seer collapsed in pain. She clutched her head as the agony shot through her brain. When it passed she looked around at her surroundings.

“The vision…it changes.” She mumbled.

Once before she saw the destruction of Skoross and the resulting annihilation of the Antarian system. She saw the mass evacuation and the settling of a new seat of power on Mars but now it was all different. Due to that, a plan she helped set in motion had to be changed. She went to her mirror and reached beyond the surface, her hand passing right through it and pressing her palm to the activation controls of the communication grid.

At the same time as the launch of the Royal transport ship, Zan’s mother Nashana left for the old space station at the distant edge of the empire where Kivar wouldn’t think to look for her. By activating the signal now, it would reach the station before Nashana got there and she’d make contact to investigate. After that she’d return home to the palace.

Earth…

In the months that followed Kyle’s visit, the young group accepted what they had been told. Each settled into their relationships, it was slow at first but eventually everything got on course. Andrew was a frequent visitor to Roswell and the Crashdown; Laurie always lit up when she saw him in town, much to the dismay Michael and Rath, and the delight of Liz.

Liz couldn’t help but get Maria and Lonnie involved in getting the two together. Isabel was rarely out of Alex’s company and upon his discovery of Ava being like him, Zan and she couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Before long everything was as it should be, and nice and quiet. Each of them lived their lives as normal teenagers, at least until Liz turned 18.

On that day she was drawn to the Granolith under the Crashdown and became it’s Caretaker. With it’s help, Liz’s studies got more intense but at the same time it was easier. She graduated the first in her class and became a doctor. With the Granolith Liz was able to make new medical developments. It was nothing like the innovations Alex made in the previous timeline.

Max also became a doctor; he and Liz weren’t at the same university but two that were nearby. They lived together in an apartment and the week after their graduation the two were married. Their first born was born a little later and he became Caretaker after Liz. By the time they were 35, Max and Liz’s four children from the other timeline were born into this one. Soon, after they had become fully qualified in the professions they returned home to live.

Alex never went through the accelerated evolution but that didn’t stop him from going to MIT. Liz gave him access to Granolith files and was able to make significant improvements in computer technology. He and Isabel discovered they were going to have their first twins before the end of their final year and nether could have been happier. When they told Isabel’s parents, the look on Philip Evan’s face could have scared Alex into marrying Isabel there and then. Luckily he had been planning on asking her for three months before she told him of being pregnant…he could just never think of a way of asking her that would have been perfect.

Michael and Maria went to the local college, as did Zan, Ava, Rath and Lonnie. None of them wanted to be far from their home. Zan and Rath were able to use their money to open up a nightclub. The idea was fed in when Future Kyle connected with them and told them about it. Ava and Lonnie joined them in helping with the club while dividing their time to Michael and Maria’s project. They opened their own restaurant in Roswell with Michael being head chef and Maria as a hostess. It wasn’t too fancy but it was aimed at the adults of Roswell who wanted an nice, elegant night out and wasn’t a burger and fry place.

Tess and Kyle both went into law. Kyle followed in his father’s footsteps and soon became the newest deputy in Roswell and eventually the Sheriff. Tess became a lawyer and hooked up with the District Attorneys office. She prosecuted the cases Kyle brought in and were careful not to screw up their cases. Eventually she got the attention of several big name law firms after getting her reputation as never loosing a case but ignored their offers and stayed in town. Kyle was also offered similar promotions to other police departments but he and Tess always wanted to remain in Roswell.

Laurie eventually took up control of her grandfather’s company. With it’s offices spread out, she spent a lot of time in Washington D.C. with Andrew. They were married and had children before they moved back to New Mexico together. At one point all the couples and their children returned home to Roswell where they raised their families.

The Antarian Council did everything they were requested and stayed away from Earth and the Royals. Max and the others never saw their home world but they didn’t mind. They had each other and the people they loved were all the home they needed. None had to worry about the Special Unit as a congressional group shut it down as wasting money with very little return. As the years rolled on, as far as anyone was concerned the Roswell Crash was nothing but a myth. A myth the group and their children ever knew the truth about.

The End.