Life In the Stars
(Sequel to Altered Time: Destiny in the Stars)
by Gerry
Short Summary: Life goes on for our heroes on Antar, meanwhile on Earth, life gets hard for Agent Zwolinski, head of the Special Unit, it's discovered that there's something about Liz... and Tess, and the group decides to take all the kids on an adventure filled vacation back to Earth.
Chapter
I “But it’s Buffy!”
Special
Agent Dumas Zwolinski, of the highly secret “Special Unit” of the FBI’s
Alien Task Force paced a frustrated circle around the floor then returned and
pounded his fist down on the counter again.
“Somebody
here has to know how to do something!”
Zwolinski
had grown redder and redder until the veins in his neck stood out, and now one
could actually see the veins throbbing as he screamed. The female clerk behind
the counter seemed indifferent to it all. Zwolinski looked as though he might
have a stroke.
“Sir,
there is nothing I can do. My computer says that is what you owe for your
service. You will just have to talk to a supervisor.”
“Then
get me a supervisor!”
“I’m
sorry, sir, there are no supervisors here right now.”
Zwolinski’s
nostrils flared like those of an angry bull that has just been stuck by the
picador in a bullfight.
“Get
me a supervisor now or I will have you shut down! I mean right now,” Zwolinski
threatened… but it was to no avail. The clerk acted as though all the
advantage here was hers and any threats were irrelevant. She didn’t even bat
an eye. The rampaging agent at her counter became ever more agitated, but the
indifferent clerk replied as though she had lived this scene a thousand times
before…
“Fill
out a complaint form and send it to the address on the back.”
“Complaint
form!”
“There…”
said the clerk, looking up from the daily newspaper horoscope on her desk just
long enough to point to a table in the corner.
Zwolinski
grabbed the telephone off the counter and held the receiver up in front of him.
“You
will get off your lazy ass now and call a supervisor. I want someone here in
front of me in five minutes or there will be Hell to pay!”
The
clerk continued to read her horoscope. Apparently, it said nothing about being
violently murdered today, so she was completely unmoved by Zwolinski’s
threats.
“Are
you people out of your freaking minds! $14,283,569.98 for a month’s cable
service! We don’t use cable service in the FBI! We have… we have other
means!”
“Sir,
my computer says that you are the person it is to be billed to… you
personally… and the company that you head. That is all I know. You can call
billing and talk to them on Monday if you would like.”
“Good
Lord, woman! For that kind of money, you could be providing cable to another
planet!”
“Sir,
just fill out the form…”
“And
send it in…” Zwolinski finished the sentence with her.
“I
can’t believe they let you people do business!” Zwolinski ranted.
“You’re the most incompetent… Oh, forget it!”
Zwolinski
exited the cable service building, slamming the door behind him, then jumped
into the car with his waiting companion and sped off, leaving deep ruts with his
tires in the gravel parking lot. Back at the Special Unit’s headquarters,
Zwolinski was greeted with more woes. The lights -in fact, all the electricity-
had been cut off.
“What
the Hell’s going on here?” yelled Zwolinski.
“Sir,”
said one of his agents, a newer individual, who was obviously intimidated by
Zwolinski, “We have been served with some kind of legal notice that we are
being sued for illegally tapping cable services. They put a lien on our building
and garnisheed our bank accounts.”
Zwolinski
stared at the agent as though he had just said something sublimely ridiculous.
“We
can do that, Agent Smith! That is our prerogative! We are the FBI! …but we
didn’t. For God’s sake, get it fixed now! I’ve never dealt with such
incompetence before! Dumas Zwolinski exited his office and drove to a nearby bar
to calm his nerves.
------------
In
the upscale Berjalya division of Antar’s capitol city, CoruzAntar, Amy DeLuca
was knocking on the door of Alex and Isabel’s house. Mareeya, Alex and
Isabel’s 7-year-old daughter, came to the door.
“Mom!
It’s Aunt Amy!”
“Well,
tell her to come in!”
“You
can come in, Aunt Amy.”
“Thank
you, Mareeya! Hi Isabel! I see you’re watching your Buffy tapes again! How
many times have you watched them now?” Amy laughed. She knew that she had
watched them just as many times herself.
“Oh,
no, Amy! These aren’t tapes,” said Isabel. “This is today’s episode.”
Amy
was silent for a moment. “Today’s episode? You don’t really mean…
‘today’s episode… like today… right now? How…?”
“Alex
got Michael to ask his friends at the lab to find a way to get it for me here on
Antar. Didn’t Varec tell you?”
A
light of sudden understanding came on in Amy’s eyes. “So that’s what he
was talking about! Varec said that he was working on a project on the side to
help Michael get a ‘buffing.’ I didn’t know what he was talking about!”
“Amy,
that husband of yours is a doll! Look at this! Over four hundred channels! I can
watch Buffy, Angel, Farscape, Earth news from all these different cities…
It’s great! When you see Varec, give him a big kiss from us!”
Amy
smiled, “Well… I guess I will! …After he hooks it up for me, too! How did
they do this?”
“I
don’t know, exactly. They called it a ‘virtual link’ or something like
that. As best I could understand, it involves a microns-thin, invisible light
source being aimed at Earth and feeding the transmissions directly through it
from a cable source there.”
“You
think they know someone is getting it?”
“I
hope so! Michael said that he had Varec send a computer message to the cable
company through the same light source to give them Agent Dumas Zwolinski’s
name as the subscriber.”
Amy
gasped… then laughed. “That’s the guy Michael vaporized in the previous
timeline, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,
the one that cut Liz up in the old timeline!”
“So…
won’t the cable company just cut off the service?”
Isabel
shook her head. “They can’t. They would never find how it is being linked.
And Zwolinski can’t cancel it either! I hope the Alien Task Force’s
‘Special Unit’ will have some concerns other than finding innocent people to
dissect for awhile!”
Mareeya
and her younger sister, Ceelya, came back into the den.
“Mom,
when you finish watching Buffy, can we watch more cartoons from Eluymer?”
“Sure
you can, Mareeya! Both of you can!”
Isabel
and Amy both smiled and giggled like two schoolgirls as they watched the rest of
the latest episode of Buffy together.
-------------------End
of Chapter I
“Life
in the Stars”
Amy
DeLuca said goodbye to the girls and kissed Isabel on the cheek. Mareeya and
Ceelya quickly occupied their seats in front of the Antarean version of a
television, which most resembled a plasma screen mounted on the wall. The
biggest difference was that it curved around slightly, giving the viewer the
impression of being surrounded by what they were seeing. Mareeya quickly
switched the channel to find Yogi Bear, their newfound favorite.
“I’m
gonna take a ride up to Jim and Kath’s place in the country,” Amy told
Isabel. “Did you hear about his new ‘pet’?”
“Uh,
uh. What pet?” asked Isabel.
Jim
went hunting in the Nan-Torel last week and came back with a half-grown pawgor.
He’s got it in a pen outside… calls it his new ‘pet’… his little
‘puddy tat!’ He’s been telling everybody about it, so I thought I’d go
over and take a look out of curiosity.”
Isabel
laughed, “Well, leave it to Jim Valenti to try to tame a pawgor! I don’t
think that’s ever been done before. I’ve never seen one, but I remember Max
telling about having to fight them off two or three times while he was wandering
in the Nan-Torel during the Battle for Antar! Even Kivar’s elite soldiers were
afraid of them!”
Amy
pressed the button on her remote ‘car’ key, and the top of her bright green
Fan-Ji II Sports compact slid toward the back, taking the doors with it. Amy
stepped into the driver’s side bucket seat and placed the small crystal that
had been impregnated with her DNA code into a tiny recess in the console. Both
engines purred to life, and the top closed back, along with the doors. Isabel
waved goodbye, and Amy drove off toward Jim and Kathleen’s place in the
country.
The
Fan-Ji II, like most Antarean ‘cars,’ had wheels and could drive on them,
but it normally used them only for parking and generally traveled as a
hovercraft about eight inches off the ground. It also had a very nice feature
that allowed the driver to punch in a code on the console that indicated his or
her intended destination then just lie back and relax. The car would get there
on its own by the shortest route. Amy chose to do the driving.
As
Amy arrived at Jim and Kathleen’s ‘ranch’ estate, she saw Jim sitting
outside on the front porch, wearing his trademark tight jeans, strumming on a
guitar, and chewing a piece of straw. Amy parked her car and walked over to the
porch. Jim had been preoccupied with what he was doing and hadn’t noticed Amy
driving up, which is not too surprising, considering that both engines on the
Fan-Ji II are as quite as a summer breeze. Kathleen had seen Amy coming from the
window and walked out on the porch to greet her. Amy and Kathleen kissed each
other on the cheek, and Jim put the guitar down and gave Amy a friendly hug.
“D’you
come to see the fierce beast?” asked Jim.
Amy
couldn’t resist, especially when someone -like Jim- left the door so wide
open. “No… actually I came to see your pawgor, Jim.”
Kathleen
snickered and covered her mouth with one hand for a moment. Jim gave them both
that sort of endearing, smiling look that he had that seemed to say, “okay,
you got me this time, but don’t think you’re gonna make it a habit.”
“Come
on, I’ll show it to ya.”
Jim
led Amy, with Kathleen, to the back of the house and down to the edge of the
woods. There, in a large pen was a half-grown pawgor. It was about the size of a
full-grown Siberian tiger, and it had two huge front teeth, but no tiger
stripes. Its hind legs were somewhat shorter than its front legs and noticeably
muscular. One would think it would be supremely adapted to pouncing and leaping.
Amy took one look at the pawgor and let out a small gasp.
“Jim,
that’s a damn saber-tooth tiger!” Amy exclaimed.
“Yeah!
Cute, isn’t it? They say he’ll get twice this big.”
“My
God, Jim, you’re going to keep a saber-tooth tiger for a pet?”
“Why
not, Amy? He’s just a cute little kitty! Look at that face! Is that cute or
what?”
“I’ll
take the ‘what,’ said Amy.
Jim
climbed up on the fence and leaned over into the pen, stroking the pawgor on the
head. The pawgor seemed to respond to Jim’s touch. It’s eyes narrowed in
that pleased, satisfied look that a cat gets when it enjoys being stroked. And
it actually made a purring sound.
Amy
shook her head, “okay, Jim, I can’t believe you’re doing this, but good
luck! I’d hate to come back out here and find this… ‘pawgor!’ licking
his chops and using your arm bone as a toothpick on those teeth of his!”
Jim
smiled at Amy as though to say, “you don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be
fine.”
Kathleen
put her arm around Jim and smiled, too.
“How
do you feel about this… ‘pet’ Kath?” Amy asked.
Kathleen
smiled and shrugged, “I’ve seen worse beasts.”
Amy
knew what she meant and couldn’t help but grin, too. “Yeah, we have, I
guess, haven’t we! The agents from the Special Unit! Okay, Kath, Jim…
you’re right! I’d take the pawgor over those bastards any day. The
pawgor’s more likely to have a soul.
Kathleen
reached over the fence and stroked the pawgor on the head then looked back at
Amy and nodded.
----------------
End of Chapter II
Chapter
III Child's Play
As
Amy drove off, 7-year-old James Danyyeel Valenti watched from the window of the
upstairs room where he had been playing. Danyy, as his friends called him, was a
handsome young man with blond hair kind of like his Daddy’s and soulful eyes.
Leaning on the windowsill, Danyy smiled, seeming lost in thought. The pawgor
watched back from its pen. Jim walked into the room and Danyy turned to look at
him.
"Daddy,
why did you save the pawgor?"
"What
do you mean, son?"
"Well,
when you found the pawgor and it's dead mama trapped under that tree that had
fallen on them… and you threw some ropes over some branches and pulled the
tree off of them, why did you bring the pawgor home and feed it and make it well
again? Why didn’t you shoot it?"
Jim
looked at his son, "Who told you that, Danyy? I never told anyone that…
not even your Mama."
Danyy
just looked at the pawgor… "He wants to know."
Jim
looked at his son then at the young pawgor lying on the cool grass in its pen at
the edge of the woods looking up toward his son’s window, and a sudden
realization came over him that made the hairs on the back of his head stand up.
His son had somehow learned this from the pawgor itself.
Jim
sat down on a chair beside his son, “Danyy… can you talk to the pawgor?”
“Kind
of…” Danyy answered. The pawgor wants to know why you didn’t kill him like
anyone else would have done.”
Jim
ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep breath of air.
“Well,
son, the pawgor wasn’t my enemy… It was just, well… an injured… I
don’t know, son! You don’t have to kill every animal just because it’s big
or strong, only if you need to save your life or somebody else’s life or
something. The pawgor… was injured. I felt sorry for him… and his mama was
dead. So I brought him home to make him well.”
“But
you go hunting, Daddy.”
“Yeah…
well… son, sometimes I bring home something for the table, you know, but most
of the reason I go hunting, just between me and you, is because I like to be out
in the woods with the wild animals, just me and all the wild animals, you know.
It’s like therapy for me. You wouldn’t understand.”
Danyy
smiled, seeming to understand a lot more than his young years betrayed. He
looked back at the pawgor, and the pawgor closed its eyes with that satisfied
cat look and began purring. The pawgor understood; the pawgor was a hunter, too.
------------
Amy
DeLuca had driven straight from Jim’s house over to Michael and Maria’s.
Michael and Maria lived near Jim and Kathleen in the country. As Amy drove up,
six-year-old Elizabeth JoLee ran out to meet her. Maria was right behind her.
“Mommy,
Mommy, can I come back to Maria and Michael's house and play with Zorel and
Kryys and Jayyd tomorrow, too? Can I, Mommy?”
Amy
smiled, and Maria said, “Did I have this much energy when I was this age? I
thought Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd were a handful! JoLee is sweet, but what a
bundle of energy!”
“You
love it, though, don’t you!” Amy asked her, smiling.
Maria
smiled back, “Yeah, you know I do! And I’ll tell you someone else who’s
loving it!” She indicated with her head toward Michael in the side yard
helping the boys, Zorel and Kryys, build a treehouse. Five-year-old Jayyd was
already inside it.
Amy
shook her head. “I admit it, Maria, I had my doubts about Michael when we were
on Earth, but you really picked a good one!”
Maria
beamed. Michael lifted 6-year-old Kryys onto his shoulders and then picked up
Zorel, who had just turned 8, and sat him down inside the door of the new
treehouse with his sister.
------------
Meanwhile,
in Roswell, New Mexico, Agent Smith strolled down the walk by the exhibits at
the local zoo, stopping at a bench across from the monkeys' cage.
“Sir,”
he said to the individual seated on the bench. “Two more of our agents have
resigned."
Agent
Dumas Zwolinski looked up from the bench and grimaced, the veins in his neck
standing out more than usual.
“Smith,
we’ve got to make sure this Unit doesn’t fold. Whatever it takes, you and I
have to hold this Unit together… for the sake of the country.”
“Yes,
sir!”
“They
can take our offices from us… they can take all our money…”
“Uh,
sir…”
“What,
Smith?”
“That
brings up a little matter of… my paycheck…”
“You
weren’t listening, Smith! We’re doing this for the good of the country! My
God, Smith, look at me! They took my offices… all because of this stupid cable
thing! I’m keeping office at the zoo… across from some damn monkeys. And
you’re worried about a paycheck?”
“Sorry,
sir.”
“Yeah,
well, you should be… At least there’s nothing else that could go wrong!”
Just
then a pigeon sitting on the tree limb above Zwolinski relieved itself. The
whitish gob smacked down on Zwolinski’s forehead, right between the eyes, and
ran down the bridge of his nose. Zwolinski sat totally still, but the veins in
his neck were pulsing and his face was reddening.
“Smith.”
“Sir.”
“Have
all these birds killed.”
“Uh,
I’m sorry, sir, but Roswell is a bird sanctuary. I don’t think I can…”
“Of
course it’s a sanctuary! What else could ruin my day!”
At
that moment, a well-dressed man with a briefcase walked up.
“Are
you Dumas Zwolinski?”
“Who
wants to know?”
“I’m
Agent Bernstein with the IRS. Is there some place we can talk?"
"Yeah,
right here!"
"Alright.
There’s a little matter we need to discuss about some unpaid taxes.”
“What
unpaid taxes?”
“Communications
taxes... on $15 million of cable services. Plus interest and penalties…”
Zwolinski
took out his pistol and looked at it then handed it to the IRS agent.
“Here…
Just shoot me!”
----------------End
of Chapter III
“Life
in the Stars”
Amy
DeLuca arrived back at her house in the Berjalya Division with her daughter,
Elizabeth JoLee. Elizabeth ran to her Dad, who came to the door to greet them,
and Varec picked her up and held her with his right arm while giving Amy a kiss.
Then he gave Elizabeth a kiss, too.
“Zan
wants us to have dinner with him and Liz and their family tonight. Would that be
okay?”
“Okay?
An invitation to dinner in the palace? It’s more than okay, Dear! What
time?”
“Six-thirty
PM, the way you keep time.”
“That
gives us three hours. I’d better get my bath and start getting ready.”
Varec
went to get ready, too, but the truth of the matter is that Amy was a bit
jealous of how little Varec seemed to have to do to look good… a quick run of
a comb through his hair once or twice, a quick shave and brush, and basically he
was as handsome as anyone could ever be. Oh well, she reasoned, life did concede
her one major benefit! She got him; he got her!
Of
course, that’s not the way Varec saw it. To Varec, Amy was the most beautiful
girl he had ever seen or even dreamed of. He would often still pinch himself in
the mornings just to remind himself that his good luck was real and she had not
been merely a dream.
As
Amy walked down the hall with just a towel wrapped around her, a strong arm
reached out and pulled her into the bedroom.
“Wha…”
Amy giggled as Varec picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.
“Varec,
Honey, how do you think we’re going to make it to dinner if you…
if you… Oh, God!”
Amy
saw stars swirling and felt that electrical feeling coursing from the tips of
her toes to the very ends of every hair on her head. It made her toes curl…
literally, and she always felt that she would surely look in the mirror
afterward to find that her hair had been permanently permed. She succumbed
totally, pressing her lips to Varec’s as she floated away to Heaven.
“Dinner
can wait.”
-----------
At
6:32 PM, Varec and Amy presented themselves, with Elizabeth, at the door of the
palace. Kyle Valenti met them at the door and welcomed them then led them to the
living area. There, they met Jeliya, Kyle’s wife. She and Kyle had been
invited to dinner, too.
Jeliya
was a pretty girl, blonde, with medium long hair… In a way, physically, she
looked quite a lot like Britney Spears, but something about her sweet, almost
shy demeanor made her look entirely different at the same time. Kyle knew,
however, that there was a wilder side to this girl, as well… a side that he
had fallen in love with, too.
A
minute later, Liz and Max came into the living room and greeted their guests.
Liz kissed Amy and Varec on the cheek then bent down and kissed Elizabeth (who
had been named in her honor, befitting the fact that Liz had always been
Maria’s best friend). Max took Varec’s hand in his, in the Antarean
tradition, and squeezed it warmly, then did the same with Amy and Elizabeth.
They had already greeted Jeliya.
After
some small talk, everyone was led to the dining room.
The
staff had prepared a meal that began with the always-popular Grelligo soup, the
specialty of the Grelligo region, and a small salad of Ama leaves and kelit with
a special Antarean dressing called “Toro.” The bread was miniature pashita
loaves. The entrée was shebble fillets wrapped and broiled in Ama leaves. The
accompaniments included min-jaht-gojosh (green orb gojos, which were most like
little green peas), serelish-harlat (harlat spears, which were like a wild cross
between asparagus and broccoli), and jir-bada (bada tubors, which were most like
small potatoes). For dessert, there was japo mevanish, the Antarean flaming
flan. To drink, there was an Antarean wine called “jubish,” iced tea, and
coffee. The local scientists had synthesized tea and coffee almost as soon as
the earth group had landed on Antar, and both drinks had swept Antar, becoming
all the rage.
As
usual, Kyle skipped the shebble fillets and loaded up on the vegetables, which
he felt kept him healthy and in top condition. He did, however, enjoy a glass of
jubish and a small pashita bread loaf with his appetizers.
The
children, Elizabeth z’Varec, along with MayaSabriena, AnDasniya, JoLeesa, and
Alyyx, Max and Liz’s children, were prepared a special feast on the patio,
where they could eat and then play afterward while their parents talked grown-up
talk at the table.
After
a bit of small talk and laughter, Max got down to the real reason for this
dinner.
“Varec,
I’ve been thinking about something that needs your input and advice.”
Varec
nodded.
“We
came to Antar nine years ago, the group that is. Of course, Michael, Kyle, and I
came here six years before that, then we went back in time to rescue the others;
so the three of us have been here fifteen years. Everyone in our group has
children now, and I think all of them are between 5 and 9 years old already. I
would like for them to be able to see Earth, but I need to know…
Can
the new granilith be prepared for another trip? Secondly, would there be any
danger to our children or to Jeliya or you if you went with us, because of
Earth’s atmosphere?
I
remember some Antareans that we called ‘skins,’ because Earth’s atmosphere
was toxic to them and they had to grow special bodies they called ‘husks’ to
live in.
And
third, do you have any suggestions or advice on how we could protect our
children on Earth -our whole group, actually- from, you know, hostile…
sources?”
“The
Special Unit creepos,” Kyle elaborated.
“Yeah.”
Varec
thought for a few moments.
“Well,
Zan, The new granilith can be easily prepared for a new trip. That is perhaps
the easiest of the problems. We have kept it in top condition.
As
far as the problem with the atmosphere on Earth is concerned, my understanding
was that it was toxic to some Antareans but not to all Antareans. We could test
the children. I think that, since they are part earthling in any case, the
atmosphere is less likely to be a problem for them. But, of course, they should
be tested to know for sure. Jeliya and I… there is no way to know until we are
tested, but we may not have a problem… we just don’t know yet.
Keeping
the children, and our group, safe… well, Zan, I don’t know your planet and
its people that well. I have been told what some of them are capable of, but I
don’t know how resourceful they are. I could devise various means of
protection for us, but without a deeper knowledge of Earth civilization, I
can’t be sure…”
Max
nodded and smiled.
“Zan,
there is something that I need to tell tou, too… something that you, and
especially your wonderful wife, Liz, need to know. It is something that we just
learned yesterday, in fact. You remember that we devised an invisible,
microns-thin beam that we aimed at Earth, bouncing it off several refracting
stars, so that Michael and Isabel could get cable from Earth to watch Buffy?”
“Yes.”
“Well,
you know that, using this light source, we were also able to send a message to
the computers of the cable company.”
“Yes.”
Max remembered that Michael had asked Varec to try to have the Special Unit
billed for the service.
“Well,
Zan, ever since then, we have also been downloading Earth programs and
information through this beam, for… cultural reasons.”
Max
nodded, “I didn’t know this.”
Varec
shrugged, “We wanted to see if there was anything important to tell you before
we mentioned it. Well, we think we have found something important…
One
of the first things that it occurred to us to look for was genealogical records
to see what we could learn -if anything- about the three Antarean girls who left
their camera on Michael’s Moon.”
“I
don’t think Earth records go back that far,” said Max.
“No,
Zan, you are quite correct. However, there are other means as well. It is
possible to trace a genealogy through the mother’s line using DNA. Did you
know this?”
Max
shook his head.
“Well,
this is true. So we set about to determine whether or not it was possible to get
enough DNA from the fingerprints, a hair, or anything we could find of the three
girls on the relics that you brought back to us from Michael’s Moon.”
“Did
you find anything?”
“Yes!
And this is very exciting! We were able to isolate the DNA of all three girls.
Then using medical records, archeological records, historical records, and
sometimes, secret government records from your computers on Earth, we were able
to establish who the earliest known descendents of these girls would have been.
From there, using both DNA records and genealogy lines, we were able to identify
the living relatives of all three girls.”
Both
Max and Liz sat bolt-upright, now totally interested in this information.
“Zan,
you're not going to believe this, but we traced the descendants of MayaSabriena
to…”
"Who?"
asked Max and Liz as one.
Varec
looked at Liz…
Liz
gasped, placing both hands over her mouth, and tears came into her eyes
immediately, “I always felt that there was a connection somehow between those
girls and myself. I just felt it! I don’t know how…”
Liz
paused for a moment then looked up suddenly, almost leaping from her chair with
joy.
“Max!
That means they did get back to Earth then! They didn't die on that moon!”
Max
looked at Varec, “Then… that means that Liz is a direct descendant of…
Maya, so Liz is… Antarean!”
“Yes,
Zan! She is Antarean through her maternal line. But there is more! As we traced
the lineage from MayaSabriena to Liz today, we realized that there was… shall
we say, an abnormality in the line.”
“What
does that mean?”
“At
first… we weren’t sure. But after a lot of discussion, we decided to check
the Antarean genealogical records, too, and what we found left us simply
speechless! It is about the one you call Tess… and Liz.
-----------------End of Chapter IV
“Life
in the Stars”
Chapter
V “Something
About Liz”
Max
and Liz were on pins and needles waiting to hear what had been discovered on
Antar that might in any way have something to do with both Tess and Liz. Even
Kyle had stopped eating and was leaning forward in his seat in anticipation of
an explanation.
“Do
you remember your Antarean history, Zan?” Varec asked him.
Max
nodded.
“Then
you know that Antarean history is very ancient. You know that 23,000 years ago,
Antar was a planet that was dying… Do you remember why?”