Roswell Fanatics

Disclaimer: Don't Own 'Em

Rating: ADULT, Non-AU; Roswell Universe.

Dedication: To Mama Dee, Happy Birthday.

Author's Note: More Feedback = More Chapters.

Chapters I to XVI can be found here on the bordello or here in the archives.


Please do not publish or distribute without my concent.


Story:

"Man Without Fear"

Chapter XVII

Sex is hardly ever just about sex.
-Shirley Maclaine

"Oh my God Liz are you all right?" Maria sat down next to her best friend on the bed. The young latina had been only been gone a few minutes. She returned to find her previously joyful friend curled into a ball, crying into her hands.

"I don’t know" Liz sobbed, " I j-j-j-just started and I can’t s-s-s-s-stop."

Maria put an arm around her best friend. Her reflex, to search for some alien explanation for Liz’s sudden mood swing served her well, but she had known Liz Parker a long, long time, her whole life. The elven blonde had an inkling of what was going on.

"You and Max" Maria began, choosing her words carefully. "You and Max, alone, in the desert. Did you and he.....?"

Liz sniffed, and nodded, a few tears running down her cheeks. "I’m stupid Maria, a stupid silly school girl, I don’t even know why I’m crying, I was in c-c-c-complete contr-r-r-rol."

Maria hugged her friend tighter. "You’re NOT stupid Chica, you’re the strongest, smartest gitano I know you’re MY best friend."

Liz sniffled and looked up at her girlfriend from behind sweaty bangs.

"You’re human, sister; just like the rest of us. My mom told me, the little death, we all go through it our first time. It’s just taken a while for you because…"

"My boyfriends a freak!" Liz wept, finishing Ms. Deluca’s thought, spiraling herself down into fresh floods of tears.

"Stop that Liz, they’re not and you don’t mean that." Maria chastised. Liz sniffed again.

"Max loves you, with all his heart. Human or alien, No one guaranteed us a smooth ride. Personally I think they’re worth the trouble don’t you?"

"You love Michael?" Liz asked wiping the wetness from her puffy eyes. Maria nodded.

"Are you two gonna...?" Liz trailed off. "You know...?"

A mischievous grin spread across Ms. Deluca’s face.

"After seeing what it did to you and Maxie boy? No way!"

Liz made an "oh yeah?" face and whomped her laughing friend over the head with a pillow. Maria squealed and fought back, swinging high with a pillow of her own.


* * *


Liz and Maria spent the better part of an hour talking on Liz’s bed. Sharing, talking about boys, fashions and giggling girlishly as the situation warranted.

Suddenly Liz sat bolt upright. A gargantuan grin spread across her face. "Max!" she gushed happily sprinting out of the room.

Maria chased after her. "Liz!" she shouted, not knowing where her friend was going but determined to keep her from danger.

She followed the wayward princess down the hall and across the crashdown dining area. Maria, passing Mr. Parker who was still wiping the counter tiles waved and Jeff grunted in greeting; seemingly oblivious to their antics.

The lead human stopped just outside the diner as Maria’s mother’s Jetta pulled into a parking space. Maria watched as Liz ran up to the side door and Max, not waiting for it to open, phased through the closed portal and leaped into the arms of his beloved.

"Ooooh I missed you SO much!" The alien king nuzzled, running his hands up and around Liz’s back. His libidinous consort groaned and gasped into his hair. Not satisfied with the closeness brought from standing plastered against him, she leaped onto his body, wrapping her legs around his waist, grinding into him. "Bed, now" she purred, suckling and teasing her way down her darling’s neck.

Max claimed her lips for an explosive kiss and turned to Maria hastily. "Back in an hour … maybe more" he told her quickly before the couple vanished, most likely up to Liz’s room.

All this romance reminded Maria of her first hot and bothered session with Michael. She blushed at the memory, the feeling of intensity that came from their embrace. Sure, he was loud and scruffy but he was hers, All hers, her big barbarian. The young pixie smiled and began to compile some romantic fantasies of her own.

Ms. Deluca watched her space-boy exit the vehicle. The entire Max and Liz exchange had happened so fast he seemed wholly unaware of their absence. She suppressed a giggle when he walked around to the passenger side door, only to find the car empty. The look on his face was priceless.

"Lose somebody?" she taunted, smirking at the murderous look her boy toy’s face. "They went upstairs", she supplied, "it was quite the show."

Michael grumped and sloughed to her side. "Max knows something", he reported. "And he got real weak up on the hill", her sullen paramour ran a hand through his mane of shaggy hair.

Still in a romantic mood Maria reached behind his neck and drew him down for a quick but steamy kiss. Michael drew back in surprise as her hands remained around his neck and her beautiful eyes locked with his own.

The alien general, stumbled over his own thoughts trying to think of something so say, like ‘how?’ or ‘why?’ Finally he ended up dropping it, knowing a good thing when he had one. He wasn’t about to push his luck by opening his mouth. Figuratively speaking of course.

Pulling her towards him cautiously, his arms around her waist, he tentatively tried for another kiss and found her lips more than willing. The kiss was soft and warm and spoke of possibilities.

"Anything else to report?" Maria teased. Michael tensed and thought hard. "If he came up with something would there be another kiss?". The hybrid noble decided to err on the side of caution and shook his head.

Chapter XVIII

Be tolerant of the human race. Your whole family belongs to it -- and some of your spouse's family does too.
-- Anonymous Human (Twenty First Century)

Max lost control.

Suddenly they were in Liz’s room kneeling, pressed against each other in the center of the bed. Max frantically gliding his hands down and around; kneading, teasing and twisting, worshipping every inch of her delicious body

Liz groaned breathlessly. She needed him, wanted him everywhere, inside of her. She arched into his hands and sucked at his biting lips. Liz needed to find something to break the feral lust they shared. Now!

"Max!" she gasped, his lips nibbling down her supine neck. "My father???" she tried as his hands ran down her back and molded her ripe buttocks up into his palms.

Max forced himself down and looked into her eyes. His princess felt her temperature rise at the ravenous look he gave her, the beads of sweat running down his forehead, his amber eyes aflame.

In an instant she could feel her lover’s NEED for her. Both desires burned within her now. Their lusts fed off each other, driving their minds further and further from control and leaving only their wanton lust. Liz took one last look at her beloved and was lost in the thermo-nuclear explosion of desire that arched between them.

Her lover started to say something but Liz snarled, cutting off his lips with a kiss. Their clothing tore as the winds of passion urged them further. Max gave a parched gasp and Liz squealed in joy as they hit the mattress.

***

"Hey everybody, we’re here!" Alex sang happily as they entered the Parker’s break room. Isabelle haughtily sauntered in behind him, examining her nails.

Michael and Maria looked up at them from their chairs. Michael got up and checked outside the door for eavesdroppers before shutting it tightly and motioning the new arrivals to their seats.

Alex perched on his chair eager as a puppy. "So, what’s going on? Why did you want to see us in such a hurry? Is it about those strange things in the sky?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes at his antics and continued working on her nails.

Michael and Maria both tried to answer at once, then simultaneously gave up the floor to the other. Their exchange took place in silence the pair communicating via the hand signals and glances inherent to couples. Michael apparently won the debate giving his amorata an "it’s all yours" gesture. Maria acquiesced and leant forward, hands on her knees.

Not quite knowing where to begin the blonde pixie started with the simplest news first. "Max and Liz are back" she started, struggling with where to go from there.

"They’re back?" Alex chirped. "Well, where are they? Where have they been?"

Michael and Maria just looked at each other, at a loss for answers.

Alex looked at the pair strangely. "It’s not like it was a difficult question," he thought, complaining to himself

Finally Michael began to speak. "They’re upstairs …." he stated slowly, phrasing his words carefully.

"Well, what are they doing up there?" the young human asked, giving both Michael and his long time friend a quizzical look.

"Oh please" asserted Isabelle from the couch. "You know my brother. They’re probably having a big fight about the end of the world, or playing chess or something… Somebody just go up and drag them down here" she commanded, apathetically examining her new color as she spoke.

Maria looked at Michael and Michael looked at Maria. Neither of them was too eager to go up there.

"What?" Alex demanded, clearly missing out on whatever was going between them

***

Max and Liz fell down hard against the pillows. After nearly an hour of volcanic love making their breath was in short supply, a sheen of perspiration highlighted their prone bodies.

"That was ... man … I mean…" Liz panted, blown away by the intensity of what they had done.

Max snuggled closer and put his arms around her. In and instant the sweat and grime vanished from their forms. For Liz, the sheets suddenly became freshly cleaned and pressed, smelling faintly of roses. "Feel like floating love?" Max asked rakishly.

Liz smirked slightly and blushed. "Yeah, a little" she decided. "Max why did we just….?"

Max gave his best sheepish grin and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Okay, I know WHY" Liz relented, smirking impishly, "but why was it so….?" she finished trailing off. Frustrated by her lack of vocabulary.

The Antarian Lord spooned against his darling and whispered into her hair. "Feedback" he murmured seemingly half asleep.

"Feedback?" Liz queried, startled by his odd answer.

***

"Look, why don’t I just go up there?" Alex offered rising from his seat. "NO!" Michael and Maria shouted at once. Alex dropped back into his chair from the force of their objection. Bemused he turned to his snuggle bunny for guidance.

Isabelle raised her eyebrow and glanced from Michael to Maria and back again. Quickly she was out of her seat and up the stairway.

Michael made a mad dash and wedged himself in front of her. He pressed his arms against either side of the stairway blocking her path.

"You can’t do that." the male hybrid told her. Michael shook his hair and smirked at her wryly, attempting to defuse the tense situation with his own brand of humor.

Isabelle nodded at him sarcastically, gave him an enormous false smile and flung his arm out of the way continuing her dash upstairs.

The rest of the gang trailed behind her as she threw open the door to Liz’s room.

Alex, who was last, heard her shriek in surprise and caught up with them just as she slammed the door closed and held her back against it.

"M-m-m-max w-w-w-without p-p-p-pants" she sputtered.

***

Max Evans was fake snoring. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to enlighten his princess, he just thought it was fun when she dragged stuff out of him.

"Max?" his lovely implored sweetly. Her lover pretended to snore louder.

"MAX!" she snapped, flinging the covers off, and climbing up onto his naked body. Liz pressed her hands against his hard pecs and bounced the bed up and down. "MAX!!!" she repeated.

The Antarian lord found it more and more difficult to pretend to sleep. Finally giving up, he grabbed his unclad princess’s arms. "Yes, my sweet?" he inquired innocently.

Liz made a petulant face and bent down to kiss him. As she did, the door of their bedroom flew open. The disrobed pair looked into the shocked eyes of Max’s sister.

Chapter XIX

All the fear has left me now
I'm not frightened anymore.
It's my heart that pounds beneath my flesh.
it's my mouth that pushes out this breath

~ Sarah Mclachlan; Fumbling Towards Ecstasy


Liz quickly pulled some covers over them as Isabelle slammed the door

"Well, that’s it." she stated resignedly, holding the bed spread tightly to her bosom. "I guess we should get dressed now." Sighing, Liz started to get up, the expression on her face impassive.

Max watched as she slowly rose from the bed.

‘Max, what have you done to my shirt?" the young princess pouted. "Look at the collar! Half the buttons are gone!"

Liz felt genuinely upset, until she felt her lover’s tender arms around her. All her troubles seemed to melt away as the warm radiance of their love wrapped around them.

Max nibbled his way down into the curve of her neck and Liz murmured appreciatively. She held his head to just the right spot as he nipped and kissed her problems away.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"It’s Maria" Max told her, sighing. "I’m going to hop in the shower."

Watching her bare bottomed darling leave Liz found herself torn by indecision. Should she greet her friend at the door or follow her love into the shower?


*********


"Oh-My-God, I SO did not just see that." Isabelle freaked. Grabbing some vanilla extract from Maria she began sniffing it frantically.

Alex put a comforting hand on her shoulder hesitantly. His honey-bunny neither shrugged it off, nor gave him any sign that she accepted it there. "Iz sweetie?" he tried.

Max and Liz made a noise in the next room and Isabelle sneezed painfully. "Oh-My-God!" she cried again, and stomped haughtily down the stairs.

Alex looked to his remaining friends. "Sorry" he apologized with an "you know how she is" gesture. Quickly, he followed his blonde paramour downstairs.

Michael turned to Maria. "What do we do now?" he asked her.

"Space-boy is asking ME?" Maria countered, feigning shock.

Michael grunted and muttered something like "well, yeah".

Maria kissed him on the nose. She liked to be consulted. It made her feel valued, it made her feel part of the team. She also liked it when HE consulted her, treated her like he appreciated her mind as well. Naturally, she gave him his due reward and started thinking.


*****

Max turned the faucets and stepped into the spray. Closing his eyes he relished the warm water cascading down his body.

Far away he could picture the alien craft orbiting Roswell. He recognized it’s shape and contour from a previous time, a time before he was called Max Evans. Yes, this was his ship, or at least it had been.

But the impression was different somehow. As if something vile had made this ship it’s own.

Seeking to clarify, he paged though his alien memories. He could only recall one being that equated to this level of evil.

The hybrid lord opened his eyes and brushed a soaking strand of hair away from his face. Troubled, he stepped out of the shower.

******

"WHERE THE HELL IS LIZ?!?!" Max demanded. The door to their room burst open and Michael and Maria jumped.

"What do you mean, Max?" Micheal started but his friend cut him off with a finger.

The hybrid king closed his eyes and appeared to be listening to some unheard music. Then the young ruler jerked his head upwards and began examining an empty spot on the ceiling.

"Maxwell?" Micehal questioned him again, glancing upward to the spot their leader was staring, seeing nothing.

"Christ, they’ve got her." Max swore and spreading his arms, he began ushering the candied pair down the stairs. "Family Meeting" he chanted, "Family Meeting".

****

Max half guided, half pulled the pair into the Parker’s kitchen. Alex and Isabelle were already there. His sister had her head back with a cold rag over her eyes and Alex was rubbing her shoulders.

As Alex caught sight of the approaching trio his hands snapped away, Isabelle looked up surprised, wondering where all the pleasuring had gone.

Catching sight of her brother bearing down on them her cheeks took on another deep hue of crimson."Family Meeting, Family Meeting" Max chanted, Ignoring his sister’s embarassment.

"Oh, I’ll just b-b-be going then…" Alex stammered motioning to leave.

Max reached the table and looked up at him. "No. Stay. You too Maria."

Then the alien lord motioned for his followers to sit around the table. Maria couldn’t help notice the traces of a pleased smile brimming around Alex’s cheeks. Michael squeezed her hand affectionatly. She took that to mean she was sporting a rather substantially satisfied grin herself.

"Okay Maxwell, what the hell is…" Michael began.

"Going on?" Max interrupted. Placing his hand on the table Max willed the it’s wooden surface to writhe and contort, swiftly reshaping itself into a replica of their small town.

"We are here …" Max stated, pointing to a tiny wooden representation of the Café.

With a flick of his wrist a dinner plate sailed across the room and came to a stop above the table. The gathering assembly watched as it began hovering in a tight circle over Roswell.

"…and this is our ship" Max continued indicating the dinner plate. "The ‘KA-San Suu Kyi’; Our ship, the royal family’s ship."

The remaining podsters looked at each other in mystification.

"I was hiding myself pretty well, but Liz …I should have remembered. She radiates just like me now."

"Maxwell?" Micheal tried again, but his oldest friend was going too fast for any of them to follow now".

"We have to get her back." Max stated. "I won’t be able to survive without her".

Chapter XX

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom.
Don't ever count on having both at once.

-Robert A. Heinlein.


It’s really simple" Max sighed wearily. The Antarian lord leant heavily against the transfigured table, his life slowly draining out of him.

Blinking rapidly the young king drew a shimmering circle in the air. "This is a whole right?" he offered and as the gathered family nodded their collective assent, the once and future ruler of Antar drew a serpentine through the circle, cutting it in half. The two yin and yang halves drifted apart, though it was still obvious they were meant to fit together.

"Both halves are separate and unique, but neither is complete without the other." Max explained, wobbling unsteadily on his feet, needing both hands to brace himself now, against the table. "Alone, they are missing parts only the other can provide. You may have noticed that without Liz I am weakening physically?" The remaining family members looked at each other tentatively.

"Right now, I imagine Liz is losing her grip mentally or emotionally…." Max wobbled again and nearly fell over. "It is a form of Antarian bonding, this flare up..." Max said something in Antarian and continued on, "but, that’s not of any relevance right now is it? What’s important is that we rescue Liz!"

Nearly falling onto the table, the young hybrid’s arm shot out to catch himself; crushing half of the tiny Roswell in the process. Max swore."I think I’m about to lose consciousness," he mumbled sleepily. "You’re going to have to do this without me. Just step into one of those shafts of light and your alien signatures should do the rest, remember this was OUR ship" Max said.

Shaking his weary head the young king looked into each friend’s eyes. "I have confidence in you" he told them as he passed out.

***

Liz awoke to the worst headache of her life. Her neck felt wrenched and all the blood had rushed into her skull, making it feel as though she was deep underwater. Hesitantly she opened her eyes.

"Ugh, yes that confirms it, I’m upside-down" Liz complained. Painfully, she began righting herself in the strange curved glass prison that imprisoned her. The bright light that shone from above nearly blinded her sleep addled eyes and the cold glass chafed at her skin as she twisted and contorted herself through several key yoga positions trying to get her body upright.

Finally standing on her own two feet the blood rushing back made her feel dizzy and her previously numb limbs began to prickle painfully.

Liz slouched against the tight tube and squinted against the harsh glaze. It seemed the only place illuminated was her tight enclosure. Outside, she could faintly see shadowy figures milling around in the darkness. The figures seemed oddly distorted through the glass seeming to take great, lurching strides as they attended to whatever it was that they were doing out there.

One of the figures noticed she was awake and gestured to its mates. Another of the figures moved towards her with a cylindrical device. As the figure neared it was illuminated by the ever-present light. Liz gasped, they weren’t human.

***

"Well as I see it, we have two choices, we leave Max here or we take him with us." Maria began stalking back and forth across the Parker’s carpet. The remaining podsters watched her stomp with morbid curiosity.

"I mean, maybe we should leave him here, he’d be safer, and he’s no good as he is, is he?" she added glancing back from Isabelle, to Michael, to Alex and back to Isabelle.. "He’d just get in the way, one of us, maybe all four of us, would have to carry him." the blonde pixie continued.

"Maria?" Michael tried, sounding as though he was encouraging her to be reasonable.

"No, Michael, No!" the errant sprite countered. "We ARE going to rescue Liz, those of us WITH and WITHOUT powers ARE going, and… and ….." Maria glared at him, daring her scruffy space boy to counter her on this one.

"That wasn’t what I was going to say" Michael said softly.

Maria blinked; "Oh" she slumped.

"We should get my brother to Liz" Isabelle interjected, the dainty disgusted expression on her face letting her friends know she was still going to be "Traumatized Isabel" for a long time coming AND that she STILL didn’t approve of her brother and his girlfriend "getting together".

"Max said he had confidence in us." Michael proffered, mulling things over himself.

Isabelle glared as Alex made a loud cough that sounded like "delirious".

Michael glared back. "What if things get whacked up there?" he added thinking aloud, "Wouldn’t it be nice to have Flying Saucer Boy with us? Even if he IS a few fries short of a combo platter?"

Iz and Alex looked at each other for a moment and slowly nodded their agreement.

Making his way over to the couch where they left Max, the swarthy alien hybrid lifted his friend onto his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

Straining slightly he gestured with his head, calling the others to follow him. Isabelle and Alex left their seats and started out the door.

"Wait," Maria cried, "We’re leaving NOW?" Michael, Alex and Isabelle just looked at her, wondering what she was going on about.

"I have to pack!" she piped and bolted up the stairs to Liz’s room. "Okay we’re going to need a nail file, panty hose, hair spray.." Maria paused in her listing and shot back down stairs. "Did anyone notice what Liz was wearing … or not?". Getting blank stares the mighty pixie bolted back up to her best friend’s bedroom. "We’ll need clothes" she muttered.

***

Her captor’s veiny pink skin and long spindly arms only added to the young human’s growing fears. The alien creature extended his arm and with it the mysterious cylindrical device. It penetrated the transparent barrier easily.

Liz shrieked and squirmed away, batting at the device. As her hand made contact she felt a thousand volt shock course though her. Screaming she was surprised as the strange creature withdrew its device and examined it closely. Outside the glass she could see her captor jerking rhythmically. "He’s cackling at me!" she glared.

Anxiously Liz watched the unknown aliens pace back and forth in their eerie darkness. Occasionally one of them would point to her again and gesture emphatically. Liz imagined they were communicating somehow but either their language was too complex for her to understand, or they were talking telepathically, or her cell was just too sound proof.

Eventually, the alien with the mysterious rod lurched toward her again. Glancing down she noticed an old sweatshirt of Max’s on the floor. Dashing it on she shivered as her alien abductor approached.

Chapter XXI

A man may fight the greatest enemy,
take the longest journey,
survive the most grievous wound
-- and still be helpless in the hands of the woman he loves.

~ Zensunni Wisdom from the Wandering
Dune: House Harkonnen


"Max Evans, Zan of Antar; Wake up!" a voice commanded.

"Mmuh," Max floated dreamlessly in the ocean of his own mind. Exhaustedly he focused on the voice, the call he had heard once before.

"You have to get up, to save Liz" it repeated.


**I've never seen the cards fall like this before. The boy, he's different.

Yeah.

He's very important, this boy. A leader.

Yeah, he has this whole other destiny...one that doesn't include me.

No. He chooses love.

What?

He chooses you.

No, no, no, no, see, that's impossible.

The reading is clear. You marry your true love. You have happiness. The card here? Intimacy, ---You will not be left wanting.**


The somnolent lord didn’t remember this either, strangely he felt that this was someone else’s; a memory not his own.

A soft chuckling and then, "Awaken Max, and your beloved will be at your side."

"Tired …" Max murmured and just as before the whirlwind formed before his eyes.

"Power," the voice said, "The power is within you, the power to survive, the power to overcome your instincts."




Still slightly dazed the dream form of the hybrid king wearily opened his eyes. Reaching up, he drew the swirling whirlwind from out of his own heart and considered it. Closing his eyes again, he felt his darling mate’s soul through the swirling essence. The soul he so desperately wanted to touch cried out to him. Max smiled slightly in sleep, even the intangible spirit of his beloved was enough to lend him strength.

The voice chuckled.
~~~


Liz watched as her alien abductor slowly stalked towards her.

Like lightning, the indignity of her experiences; the inner frenzy that sprang from the multitudes of injustices foisted upon them, on her, on Max, on their relationship came boiling to the surface in an explosion of fury.

"DON’T YOU DARE COME NEAR ME YOU PUSILLANIMOUS F%#*!" Liz screamed, her petite body literally vibrating with anger. Tiny hands balled themselves into fists and whaled against her prison’s transparent wall.

In her frenzy Liz threw herself against the barricade, seeing nothing and no one except the blinding hate that consumed her, she needed to make them pay! She needed to KILL! "LET ME OUT SO I CAN SMASH YOUR PATHETIC SKULLS, YOU FOUL SACKS!!" Liz seethed, gnashing her teeth.

Wisely the creature with the metallic device retreated, quickly, to the united safely of his colleagues. Watching their diminutive captive snarl and thrash against her cage, they pondered her strange behavior.

***

"Damn it Maxwell, where the hell are we?" Michael rebuked. He and his three companions had stomped down the early morning streets of downtown Roswell and nothing had happened. "You said it was going to be easy!" he growled, glaring over his shoulder at his supposed, dormant, leader.

"Maybe we’re moving too much," Isabelle offered. "Maybe we should just, you know, stand around."

Michael looked at her, then over his shoulder at her brother, then back to her again. His cheeks burned at how ridiculous he must look with Maxwell over his back. But before he could snap at his semi-sister, Maria stepped between them.

The tiny blonde wore a full field pack and dressed in khakis she would rival any jungle explorer, minus the hat. "Or maybe we’re in the wrong spot" she mused. "Maybe we need somebody to go up high and sort of… direct us."

Michael rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of her statement. "The line of sight problems ALONE", he thought sarcastically, "Good Lord". Maria glared at him. "Did she hear that? She couldn’t have." he told himself. "Did I snort? Maybe I snorted."

Maria continued to glare and he gave her his best tough guy version of an innocent smirk. "What?" he tried.

"You know what." his tiny sweetheart told him, her eyes boring deeper. " We are SO going to talk about it later space boy. But right now, we have more CONSTRUCTIVE things to do."

Michael pouted in a manly way. She used that name in public again.


***


As quickly as it had come, her anger vanished and Liz was left with bruised fists and a feeling of emptiness in her heart. Where was Max? She needed him now more than ever. Fighting back tears, the sweet young dreamer curled into a tight ball on the floor of her cell. "Max? Can you hear me?" she thought. "Please answer me! I NEED you!" Shivering, Liz began to cry. "Where are you?" she tried, straining hard to focus her mind, to reach out across time, to take comfort in her love. "Max?" she tried again.

Seeing her withdraw, the alien with the cylindrical device crept forward.

***

"I didn’t SAY anything!" Michael bellowed as his girlfriend walked haughtily away from him. Max’s body flapped limply over his shoulder, forgotten in the heat of their current tiff.

Alex put his hand down as he watched the two firecrackers go off. Tentatively he brushed Isabelle’s with his own and was gratified when it closed around his. Looking into her eyes he marveled at the sparkle he found there, the sparkle she had just for him.

Maria had just stopped just as suddenly and was tearing into her boyfriend. "It wasn’t what you said, it was how you said it!" she rebuked and continued her march down the street.

As they looked into each other’s eyes the gazers exchanged a silent thank you that their relationship wasn’t as incandescent as their friends.

***

The alien with the cylindrical device jumped as his previously sedate captive leaped towards him inside her cell.

"Hello!" she piped brightly, he nose pressed cutely to the inside of the glass. "You guys look REALLY silly" she giggled. "You remind me of bunnies…. Silly, silly, silly BUNNIES!" she chanted, dancing happily around in the limited space of her confinement area.

Unable to decipher these new noises the alien balked as his subject’s behavior changed just as suddenly as before. Perhaps it was planning to attack? For the second time, the lead alien retreated again to a safe distance.

Liz continued to bounce around happily. "Bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny" she sang as she hopped around, rabbit style.

***

Chapter XXII

I'm in serious s--t, I feel totally lost
If I'm asking for help it's only because
Being with you has opened my eyes
Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise?

~TATU, All The Things She Said


"WHAT?!; I’m not being reasonable?!?!?! Aren’t I the one carrying our fearless leader around like a frickin’ chicken? What the hell else should I be doing?!" Michael whirled in anger, shaking his best friend’s body in the process.

His petite pixie stuck her hands on her hips and glared back at him fiercely, but he paid her no mind.

"What? What else should I be doing Maria? Hey, maybe if I write my "signature" in the air it will make the aliens-or-whatever laugh so hard that they’ll let us onto their spaceship, yeah that’s it," Michael continued, gesturing daintily in the air, writing an imaginary script.

He flung up his hands in mock-defeat. "Oh no, nothing .. Big surprise!" the heated soldier scoffed; sarcasm dripping from every pore.

"MICHAEL GUERIN" Maria warned angrily, but her sweetheart was beyond the point where it would register in time.

"Oh, better yet; why don’t I just wave my hands and MAGIC us onto the spaceship? Huh? Is that what you…."

Michael’s tirade cut off. Suddenly they weren’t in Roswell anymore.

***

Alex and Isabelle stood a few feet away. Watching, with morbid curiosity, as their other two friends cut into each other.

An amused smirk crept its way onto Alex’s face as he watched trashcans tip over, and glass crack from Michael’s outbursts. It was almost poetic how something snapped or went haywire almost in punctuation of his out of control friend’s speech.

Then out of the blue he felt it. Like a surge of static electricity passing through his body on an angle. Following it’s invisible trajectory Alex guessed it was heading for Michael and Maria. Still gripping his imperial sweetheart’s hand he raced toward the arguing pair.

As they reached their compatriots the strange static surge washed over them again and the earth disappeared from under their feet. Alex whistled.

"Michael!" Maria squeaked as she catapulted into the arms of her stalwart lover. Michael glared around at his new surrounding suspiciously, taking in the details of their new alien environment with a practiced eye.

Isabelle’s grip tightened around her boyfriend’s hand, and though she had avoided crying out herself, the sudden shock of being transported away from earth, their home had still touched her. In silence she appreciated the solace brought by her love’s presence. She gave her lover another squeeze and smiled at him.

Alex gave her a wink and a smile, he knew they were both afraid of what was to happen next, but in this alien vista, he couldn’t help but feel the exhilaration of a brave new world, "this is all so exciting" he thought, the possibilities rolling around in his imagination.

Realizing who she was hanging onto and who was hanging onto her, Maria shoved her startled boyfriend away. "What the hell happened Michael? What did you do?"

Michael looked back at her in confusion. "What do you mean; what did I do?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean space-boy" Maria glared. "You did your Czechoslovakian thing, and poof, here we are in this… this, Area."

The tiny fireball gestured dramatically to their new surroundings. The room, if you could call it that, was cramped and dark. The walls were veinous and slippery and the pale green light that illuminated the questing aliens seemed to emanate from cracks in the low ceiling.

"I didn’t do it" Michael informed her, crossing his arms across his chest. His anxious darling mimicked his ineffable posture and turned her back to him. She made a little sniffing sound, making sure he knew she didn’t believe him.

Alex had crossed the room and touched the slimy wall. As he felt it’s warm, slick surface the surrounding walls seemed to shudder. None of the other walls had the same incline as this one, in fact the entire room seemed to be built without parallel lines.

Turning back to his beloved, his heart went out to her. The scared and lost expression on her beautiful face ignited his protective instincts and tugged him, by the heart, across the space between them and into her arms.

In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, Isabelle buried her face into the crook of his arm; sobbing. Her loving boyfriend rubbed along her back in comfort and nuzzled her hair. "It’s okay Izzy, it’s not the end of the world. We’ll get Max back. Shhhhh, it’s okay" he told her.

"No, it’s not" his radiant love muffled into his shoulder. "Oh Alex, I’m so sorry, you don’t know…"

"Shhhhh, it’s all right, tell me about it."

"Oh Alex, I’m Vilandra. I’m the one that betrayed our family to Kivar. This is our family’s ship, if anyone doesn’t belong here it’s me. Oh Alex!"

Alex needed a moment to process this. Inhaling the sweet smell of her hair, he hugged her closer. "It’s not your fault sweetie, you weren’t there. It wasn’t you. Please, shhhhhhh"

"It was" Isabelle snapped, turning her tear stained eyes to her beau.

"It wasn’t" Alex told her resolutely. "Whoever this Vilandra person was, you’re not her. They took a part of her and made you, but that doesn’t make her you any more then it makes you your mother.

Isabelle sniffed and looked at him.

Alex smirked. "Okay, it doesn’t make you her anymore then it makes ME MY mother, are you happy?"

His darling princess smiled in spite of herself and let her hands slide to new and exciting places.

"I mean, you’re probably not even half her. A hybrid of two different species rarely resembles either parent, take mules for example they…" Alex’s biology speech cut off. "What?" he demanded; annoyed at her amused expression.

"Mules?" she giggled, despite her red and puffy eyes. Obviously she was thinking of a hybrid other than her brother, her friend or herself.

Alex caught on almost immediately. "Yes sweetie, "mules"; that would be you. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with it, I’m sure even real mules have their uses."

Before she could counter, Alex slid his hands and squeezed in a place he never would have squeezed, if her brother had been conscious.

Isabelle twinged but tugged him closer, a sinister smile brightening her face. "Uses?" she purred innocently. "What kind of uses Oh Master…of science?" she queried.

But, her lanky darling had suddenly lost the whole thread of their conversation. Mainly because of the countering massage she was performing.

"Too bad mules are sterile huh?" she pouted, and with a light slap to his face, retreated to the far side of the room, her naughty smile illuminating the entire area.

Alex just stood there sweaty and stunned. Michael and Maria had ended their argument and were staring at them curiously. How long had they been standing there?" Alex blushed internally. "What?" he demanded and grumped at the resulting laughter.

Chapter XXIII

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep;
The more I give to thee
The more I have,
For both are infinite.

~Shakespeare


"Ugh, Maxwell, you gotta lay off the Crash-burgers man" Michael mumbled. Slowly he eased his slumbering friend off his shoulders and into a sitting position against the alien wall.

Alex was saying something but the rebellious youngster really didn’t care. While Max was out, HE was in charge and…

His peppery concubine nudged him. "What?" he demanded, but his girlfriend’s only response was another elbow in the ribs. "Hey!" he yelped back indignantly; then he saw the look on Maria’s face …THAT look he understood.

"Err, Alex what were you saying?" he asked politely. Her lovely, delicate elbow looped around his own, and she put her silky cheek against his shoulder. As his paramour snuggled her approval Michael decided not to knock the sudden change of attitude, though he couldn’t help wondering what a trained seal felt like.

Alex, however, was oblivious. "I think it’s alive" he mumbled, running his fingers along the slick veins that ran along the chamber walls. He pinched one and the wall shuddered.

"See, look at this" he piped, motioning for his friends to join him. "This room must collapse, see. Maybe all the rooms do this, yeah, for saving space. They don’t need the room right? So it’s all closed up."

Michael visually scanned the wall over his friend’s shoulder. Alex was way too excited over this. "That’s real great dude, but how does it get us out?" he asked.

Maria was about to give her libertine another glare, then thought better of it. It was a legitimate question.

"Uhh …" that one had the observant human stumped. "Maybe we should all take a wall and just start to, you know, poke it?"

The three remaining rescuers snickered at his word-choice but decided to give it a go. Cautiously they divided up and hesitantly started prodding the walls with their fingertips.

"Alex sweetie, it’s not working" called Isabelle almost immediately. Enamored with her true princess-like helplessness Alex reached around her. "It’s not supposed to open like a door" he told her. "It’s supposed to, you know, fold."

The extra-terrestrial princess and her near-consort’s eyes locked. Alex’s arm extending under her shoulder forced his front and her back to press together, his scent was all around her and to him her hair smelled like spring flowers and sunshine. Entranced, the pair’s world became soft and warm; lips descended toward each other’s slowly.

"A-hem" Michael’s voice snapped them out of it quickly. Blushing Alex removed his arms from around her. There would be time, he promised himself, without an audience, later.

The feral general raised an eyebrow at them quizzically but decided to let it drop. Leaning smugly against a wall he rolled his eyes. "Damn it dog, you can’t expect the frickin’ thing to open just-YAH!" Michael promptly fell flat on his face as the wall supporting him folded in on itself.

Isabelle, Alex and Maria, peered over him, through the now open portal. "Must have been something he said" Alex quipped.

"Maybe he said the magic word?" Isabelle giggled finishing her brilliant boyfriend’s thought. The pair smiled at each other amusedly.

***

Far away and several levels up, Liz sniffed and pulled herself resolutely to her feet. "C’mon, girl" she told herself. "You don’t need Maxie to get you out of this, you’re your own woman. There HAS to be a way out of this."

Delusionally Liz began searching the contours of her prison. Far from her beloved, however, the sweet personage’s stability of mind was fleeting.

"There watching me aren’t they?" she thought. "Who said that? Did I say that or just think it? Maybe they’re making me think things? Maybe they just made me think that. Do they know that I know that they know that they’re making me think things? Maybe I should distract them from what I’m really doing. Maybe I should take off my shirt. GOD that’s what they want me to do! Those sick bastards! Or maybe, I’m just thinking that, or maybe they’re just thinking that, no I was right."

Once more the alien with the mysterious device crept forward. "DAMN IT! YOU GET AWAY FROM ME YOU SICK PERVERTS!!!" Liz exploded and the creature retreated once more.

***

Maria rolled her eyes and started helping her space boy. "C’mon graceful, let’s go get fearless leader."

Michael wavered unsteadily on his feet. Feeling along his head he winced as his fingers brushed the goose egg at the back. "Ouch" he cringed.

"Oh poor baby, let me see." Maria cooed, dragging his neck down and poking his sensitive spot painfully.

"Ow! Damn it Maria!" Michael glared at her reproachfully. But his glaring only made her pout more prettily. The recreant hybrid had to remind himself to be annoyed with her. "F*&$, where did the Florence Nightingale shtick come from? She’s so hot when she pouts too, damn it; don’t look man, stay cool, stay cool" he thought.

Michael looked. "Argh" Groaning internally at his own ineptitude, he gave up and bent down to give her a better look at his ‘injury’. Thankfully she was more gentle this time. Her soft touches were beginning to get to him as she started blowing softly on his bruise.

When she was done, he did his best to look at her levelly. "Well!?" she demanded, suddenly touchy, fiery Maria again.

Michael grumbled something that might have been thank-you, and cleared his throat. "A-hmm Maxwell." he grunted, changing the subject as if reminding himself what he was doing here.

As the wild-hared crossbreed bent to pick up his dormant friend, his sprightly companion smiled a knowing smile. "You’re so welcome space-boy" she thought brightly.

Chapter XXIV

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem
unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must
make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe
we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush
him."

(Sun Tzu's "The Art of War")



Liz huddled quietly in her little glass tube. Sweat and grime tainted her exposed skin and hair. The gritty floor irritated her bare bottom and Max's shirt was getting way stretched out of shape. She had pulled it over herself to hide her legs. Furthermore, she had the faint impression those aliens or whatever were still leering at her in a repulsive voyeuristic way. Liz pulled the sweatshirt down tighter. Now even her feet were covered.

"Is this what psychotic BUNNIES paranoia feels like?" she wondered to herself. "Do the insane truly know they are PURPLE SEMBLENCE insane? Am I in some hospital, ranting about handsome aliens in a rubber room?"

Back at home, when she had first felt this madness start, Max hadn’t felt so far away.

That feeling, when they had leaped into each other's arms,

like two lovelorn actors in a cheesy movie. She had felt-

-whole again. Not like now "

Max, where are you?" she deplored.


***

Far away, their alien king asleep, his friends and family argued over what to do about him.

"If you feel so strongly about it, YOU carry him! He's &%# heavy!"

"You know I can't Michael, isn't this YOUR job, aren't you supposed to be his bodyguard or something?"

"It's General, princess candy-ass and he's YOUR brother. If you want him moved, sashay your lily white ass over there and drag him YOURSELF!"

"MIC-HAEL!"

"IZ-ZEE!"

***

Maria rolled her eyes and bent down to examine Maxwell. She felt it was about time someone gave him a proper physical; maybe he was sick? They shouldn’t just accept at face value whatever Max had told them. Her mother had taught her to never take anything for granted.

Taking on her nursely duties, Maria paid close attention to his chest as it rose and fell in a gentle, shallow rhythm. Finding nothing amiss the young sprite put a hand on his forehead to check for a fever and picked up his wrist to find his pulse.

Not being a medical professional Miss Deluca couldn’t tell if the soft thumping she felt was normal, but at least it didn’t feel odd to her. Finally she pried his eyelids open to check his pupils and jumped back in shock. Behind his lids, his ocular orbs glowed with bright bluish light.

"P-p-p-eople!" she stammered, darting back to where her friends were arguing.

****

Alex held his head. They had been going at it for fifteen solid minutes now. It was giving him migranes. But the young human knew better than to get in the middle of his close friend’s "domestic" disturbance. Alex smirked at his own sneaky joke. What was Maria doing over there with his majesty? Playing doctor? Alex smirked again. Then he was nearly bowled over as Maria came charging towards them.

"Oh M’God! Blue! Alien! Light! Get your asses in gear!" she shouted, dragging as many people as she could get her hands on over to where their sleeping comrade lie.

"Look! Look!" she chirped, violently prying his eyes open and flooding the dark room with cerulean light.

"Damn it Maria, bugger off, that hurts." Max snapped, swatting at her none too gentle hands.

Maria jumped up and his remaining friends gaped at him.

"What?" he asked rubbing his glowing pupils groggily.

***

A kilometer away Liz sat bolt upright. Her head twitched and her ears perked up like an antelope listening to a distant sound. "Max" she cooed gratifyingly.

***

"Oh yes sweetie, I’m here." Max said aloud, smirking despite his fatigue.

"No, no sweetie, we’ll be right there. Yes, the gang’s all here too Michael and Maria and Alex and Isabelle. No, just the regular aliens, he-he-he. Those bastards! Wait, just a sweatshirt? Which one?" Max grinned naughtily and motioned for some help getting up.

"Yes, I’m coming sweetie". Then his Royal Highness looked at Maria for a second. "Yep, I think Maria brought you some spare clothes, Mmm-hmm.

"What did you get her Maria? The pink hello kitty and the blue dungarees?" Maria nodded, stunned as Michael and Alex walked him forward.

"Yes, we’re moving sweetie. I feel the love too." Max smiled. "Don’t go anywhere" he replied, laughing. "Ha, ha, no I just sensed that you needed me so I asked ship to lend me strength." Max blinked his glowing irises at Michael a few times before smirking broadly again. "No, they’ve been here for while, I think the ship likes Michael" Max laughed. "Yes he does have a thing when it comes to fiery females, he-he-he."

Maria twigged at his comment being mentioned, sort-of, by name. "Max?" she asked. "Are you.. talking to Liz?"

Max gave her his boyish charm smile and winked. But then, just as suddenly the blue fire in his eyes extinguished. The shimmering blue light was replaced by boundless darkness and his face lost all semblance of levity.

"Turn left here" his voice said, ancient and deep. Michael and Alex stopped.

"What the f*&% was that?" the rebel champion mouthed to his pixie princess. But, when he turned back, his leader’s eyes were glowing bright again.

"No, no sweetie" the hybrid royal continued, "just a little bump. I can feel you too, that’s right. We’ll kick but together when we get there sweetie The four other members just looked on in bewilderment as they were privy to only their leader’s half of the conversation.

Then Max was gone and the voice returned. "Stop here" it said.

Chapter XXV

“What do you despise?
By this are you truly known.”

"Manual of Mua’'Dib" by the Princess Irulan. Dune



“Max is that you?” Liz asked the darkness. Words could not describe the joy when her darling pinged on whatever radar she had grown in the brief time they had been separated.

“Are you close?” Liz blushed, reddening as she realized Max could hear and feel all the thoughts she usually kept private. “It’s been so long” she rationalized to herself. She didn’t normally think THAT way.

The brown haired beauty could almost see her boyfriend’s sneaky smirk. Squinting cutely, Liz sent a mental picture of what she was going to do when she got a hold of him.

But Max’s next message cut her off in mid dream, “The gang? They’re here?” The tiny human blushed. Of course she wouldn’t do that with Michael and Alex standing there, she smirked. She’d get him later, in private. She could practically feel Max wiggling his eyebrows.

As she guessed what Maria was wearing, or what inappropriate footwear Isabelle had brought, it made her very aware of her current habiliment. She began to fret.

******

Far away, the dark and mysterious voice had vanished and Max, with his glowing eyes, had returned. “Okay, everyone see these little pipes with the caps on them?” he instructed.

His remaining friends look at him strangely but nodded in agreement. “Everybody take a hold of these little caps and pull them off, like this”. Max wrapped his fingernails under the oozing surface and pulled the seal from its holder. The callow monarch, jumped back as a font of ooze gushed forth, followed by a slow trickle onto the floor. “Okay everybody, this isn’t a spectator sport, yank ‘em off”.

Still looking at him like he had grown an extra eyeball (on the back of his head), his friends and family set themselves to the task of removing the other plugs.

“ACK!, My SHOES! MAX!” Maria cried. She hadn’t jumped fast enough and the initial flush of slime had scored on her footwear. Their king just shrugged his shoulders, trying to hide the amusement on his face.

When the remaining pipes were dripping happily onto the hallway, Max put his hand on the wall and called to his friends. “Come on everybody, lets get a move on” he said, beckoning for the group to follow him through the darkness.

Max could walk without the aid of Michael and Alex now, albeit wearily. He was dizzy but his hand on the wall helped his balance.

Michael came jogging up next to him. His friend wasn’t hard to find, the light from his eyes was brighter than the ship’s. “What was that deal about?” Michael asked, trying to keep the macho in his voice.

Max blinked his sleepy eyes and stopped. “Oh, that. Yeah, sorry man. I owed the ship a favor, she gave me a little boost, so we’re helping her get back at Kivar for all the crap he put her through.” Michael looked doubtful. “Everybody has their own agenda brother.” Max continued. “The cap thing? That’s what she wanted. I didn’t ask what it was for, out of respect for her privacy.”

The once-and-future-king of Antar smirked, he had never seen Michael look that thoughtful before. “What’s up with that thing with your eyes?” he finally asked.

“My eyes?” Max responded, genuinely bewildered. Michael looked uncomfortable and grunted something like “glowing”. Michael sniffed and cleared his throat, the former general was unaccustomed to asking so many questions.

Max held up his hand to examine the azure light emanating from his eyes. He stared at it for a second then smiled as it abruptly cut off. There was chorus of “heys and arghs” as their friends collided in the dark.

Their kind king turned the eye lights back on. “Sorry guys” he smirked, then to Michael; “This light, it’s the seal of Antar glowing from behind my eyes.” Before his friend could object the young king put up hand. “No no, that’s not all it means Michael, it means something else, something great” he smiled. “But, I’ll save it for a surprise later, it’s not at all dangerous.”

As his royal majesty continued his wobbling trek down the hall, the spiky haired rebel, returned to his girlfriend’s side.

“That was very good baby” she cooed, kissing him on his cheek and lips. Alex and Isabelle made fun and he tried to glare at them from burning cheeks.

“That’s okay sweetie” Maria purred, slipping a hand into his back pocket. “Now, what did his kingly-ness say?”

Michael made a sour face at reporting, but swallowed it. “Mark of Antar” he grunted, “behind his eyes”. Pointing to his own orbs he glanced over at his bob-headed darling. “Oh, and there’s a surprise” he added smiling.

Maria gasped and rolled her eyes.

***

Liz took in her surroundings with the trained eye she had become accustomed to before all this madness started. There were two large concave windows facing out into the stars, and wall size control panels encircling the perimeter of the room.

Her alien captors moved in an unsteady gate, as if uncomfortable. Their eyes seemed deep set and their skin was overly bulgy in some places, hanging off slender bones. Their movements were slow and precise, walking and gesturing with an uncontrolled grace that Liz somehow found familiar.

As she watched her guards milling about in the near darkness a thought struck her; without her illness blocking her it was as if a veil had lifted from her cognitive perception. “Oh my boyfriend,” she thought. “These guys are wearing LIVING suits, they’re wearing extra SKINS.”

One of the aliens turned and looked at her.

“Now that the subject was at rest, the time had come to resume experimentation.” Retrieving the sparking metal rod, it lurched forward.

Chapter XXVI

If all else perished, and he remained,
I would still continue to be;
And, if all else remained and he were annihilated,
The universe would turn to a mighty stranger

~Wuthering Heights, Chapter Nine.


Several moments later his friends gaped in wonder as Max stopped in his tracks. It was as if his ears could pick up some distantly faint sound that none of the others could hear.

Maria remembered the same expression on her best friend’s face once before, back in Roswell. But before the tiny blonde could tell the others their monarch broke into a run.

Taken by surprise the team soon sprinted after him, Alex was the first to catch up.

"M-Max" he puffed" W-where’s the f-fire?"

Eyes blazing azure light Max glanced at his wheezing friend as they ran.

"She needs me" he answered, as if to himself. "I need to go faster. Straight up ahead, okay? Catch up"

Their regal king then put on a burst of speed and rocketed away from his gasping friends. In a flash, the telltale glow from his eyes shrank and vanished in the murky distance.

Alex had to stop for breath. Huffing, on his hands on his knees, he waited for his slower friends to arrive.

****

"He left us AGAIN?!?! G*$ D*& it!" Maria swore as she showed up.

Michael marveled at her ability to curse while out of breath and smirked at the reverberation in the deck plates when she stamped her foot; His little pixie was mighty.

Isabelle was similarly unimpressed with her brother’s antics. " I suppose he told you his reason for abandoning us in this ship of the insane?" she demanded.

"S-said ‘she’ was in troub-ble" Alex puffed.

Breathing heavily through her nostrils Isabelle rolled her eyes. Of course, she could understand, but she didn’t have to like it.

The quartet looked up as they heard a huge crash in the distance.

****

Liz wasn’t going to take this threat lying down, when the menacing alien pushed its nasty rod through the shell of her prison she struck. Her fist collided with the glass near its face and in surprise, the slimy figure dropped its device.

Quickly the ingenious beauty snatched it up and brandished it at her jailers warningly.

The aliens backed away cautiously, studying her … before a tremendous explosion interrupted their tableau.


***

Erupting through the chamber floor Max barely noticed the other aliens as they were blown skyward; papers caught in an unseen wind. With a single intensity of purpose Max strode through the fallen lackeys and easily passed through the barrier that separated him from his beloved.

As their hands touched a bright, golden light spread out from their bodies. It illuminated the surrounding laboratory and enveloped the pair in a blinding glow. Liz’s spartan sweatshirt became the regal rainment of the empress that she was, her hair rearranged itself and a day’s worth of grime vanished from her body in an instant. "Max" she said happily. "Liz" he whispered into her hair, embracing her softly.

So intent they were in each other that they barely noticed the light intensifying around them. The pair seemed to freeze in time as the illumination pulsed and swirled in tempo with the lover’s heartbeats.


***

"D@*$ it Maxwell! Where the he&& are- OH SH^#!" Michael swore as he tripped over something as he ran blindly in the darkness.

Catching up with him, his fellow members of their little club helped him to his feet as he cursed a blue streak.

Dusting him off playfully Maria took on a mother-knows-best tone. "Don’t you use language like that young man, it’s not the ship’s fault you tripped over your own two feet."

Her inammorato was about to object but she cut him off; "Now, what did you trip over baby?"

Michael glared, but said nothing. She called him ‘baby’.

Alex swept around with his foot in the darkness eventually discovering a chunk of fleshy metal. It’s edges looked like it had been ripped or torn away from something. Holding it up for his friends they examined it together.

"Where did it come from?" Isabelle asked. Though dark, it appeared that the walls and ceilings were whole.

"Great" Michael spat sarcastically, "the one piece of scrap on the whole ship and somebody has to leave it in the middle of the road!!"

Maria squinted and smacked him gently but Michael ranted on.

"Maxwell leaves us stuck on this *(&^ forsaken ship, tells us to follow him, but what does he leave us to let us know where you went? A *&#%$ piece of broken--" the angry rebel’s tirade abruptly cut off as a golden light blindingly shone down on them from above.

Squinting painfully from the glare the foursome gazed upward. Above them was a vertical shaft extending, seemingly for miles. Its ringed ridges looked excellent for climbing.

"I think we’re supposed to go up sweetie pie" Maria patronized. Michael looked as though he was about to explode with frustration but slowly began to climb.

"Well, you asked for a sign" Alex teased. "I’d like a coke!" he shouted, his voice echoing up the vertical passage.

"Diet!" Isabelle yelled after him. The pair smiled cutely at each other enjoying their mutual joke.

Maria giggled, but Michael scowled and continued his ascent without comment.

***

As they climbed Maria finally remembered what the shaft reminded her of. "Hey, this looks like a throat" she cried.

Above her Michael choked, "Thanks, I really wanted to know THAT!" he yelled and below him the trio smirked.

"Don’t worry, we’re going in the opposite way of the stomach" his darling pixie toyed with him.

"Yeah, but we’re going in the right way for the TEETH" he shouted back.