PYGMALION

 

by DocPaul

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seventeen: The Dead Woman

 

I do not dare,

I do not dare to write it,

if you die.

 

I shall live on.

 

…

 

If you no longer live,

if you, beloved, my love,

if you

have died,

all the leaves will fall in my breast,

it will rain on my soul night and day,

the snow will burn my heart,

I shall walk with frost and fire and death and snow,

my feet will want to walk to where you are sleeping,

but

I shall stay alive,

 

…

Pablo Neruda, 1972

 

Day Seventeen: Thursday, 12:03 am

 

 

“We should go back over there.” Max couldn’t stop pacing. Liz was strangely silent in the corner. She neither agreed nor disagreed. She was just silent. Disbelief seemed to mar the very lines of her back and face.

 

Tess was crying softly against Kyle, and occasionally Max stopped and stroked her hair in comfort.

 

“The babies. If we get her to the hospital, maybe there is a chance for the babies?”

 

No one was listening.

 

Sean simply sat in a chair, holding Michael’s gun dangling between his legs. Michael had had it in his hand. His intent was apparent. If Maria didn’t make it, Michael had no intention of going on without her. Sean had taken the gun when Michael told them to leave. He took it, and all other guns he could find, closing the door to the nursery.

 

Isabel was leaning against the wall, her arm on it with her head leaning on it crying. Alex was pressed along her back, his arm on the wall next to hers as he leaned his head into her back.

 

Sean sat up, sticking Michael’s gun in his waistband. “Max is right. If the babies are alive, we need to get them to the hospital. Even if they don’t survive, Maria would want everything done for them.” They had probably already left it too long. Once Maria stopped breathing, the supply of oxygen would’ve stopped. That was some time ago, but none of them had the heart to go back earlier.

 

Michael, he…

 

Sean swallowed hard and stood. It was time.

 

Not waiting for the others, he went across the gardens, his feet like lead as he thought of his cousin, how she sat in the garden all those times. He bent over for a moment in pain. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be. Not Maria.

 

Amy. Oh god! How was he going to tell Amy?

 

“Sean?”

 

Sean nodded to Kyle’s voice and wiped his arm across his eyes. He led them back into Michael and Maria’s loft, moving up the stairs, the others following him even more slowly. A funeral procession.

 

Sean stood looking down at the bed. They seemed so peaceful. At rest. Maria’s face no longer had the deep lines of concentration she got when she was trying to rest. Her face looked beautiful and young. Even the dark rings under her eyes had seemed to fade.

 

Michael was still holding her, asleep, his face buried in her hair. One hand was on her chest, covering her.

 

Sean reluctantly started to remove Maria from him, stooping to gently kiss her on the forehead. His cousin. His sister. His family. A tear dropped onto her cheek and remained there, then slowly ran along its curve. He bent over and gently kissed her on the mouth.

 

Sean was surprised how warm her skin felt. What warmth she couldn’t find in life was finally found in death. Death.

 

It was in that moment, that he felt it.

 

A gentle whispering breath on his mouth.

 

Maria?

 

Sean’s hand quickly went to her throat to check the pulse.

 

“She's alive! She’s breathing!”

 

“What!?” Liz joined Sean, and she too checked the pulse. The warmth of the skin and the strong pulse was proof enough. Liz stood up in shock. It worked! But…she was dead. Liz had no doubt - Maria had died.

 

Liz removed Michael’s hand from Maria’s chest. And both Liz and Sean made a sound of shock and stood back. On Maria’s skin, over her heart was a silver handprint. Michael’s.

 

“He…healed her?” Max asked in a hushed tone. He had only seen that handprint associated with death.

 

Liz was too astounded to speak. She just shook her head and then cleared her throat. “No. I think he gave her heart a jolt, a boost. Almost like restarting it. The blood... I…I don’t know.”

 

Liz quickly looked around the room for her bag, the supplies she kept to take their blood. They were still transfusing. She had never taken the line out, and Michael was losing too much volume. Liz quickly ended the IVs. Taking a sample of blood from both of them, she ran downstairs to pack it in ice.

 

“I need to get to my lab! Now!”

 

Max nodded and Kyle followed. Sean stood looking at his living cousin. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight. Not for a while. Maybe never. Michael was just going to have to deal with that.

 

“Liz, what should we do?”

 

Liz shrugged. “Wake Michael. Get some orange juice down him. And water. He has to be dehydrated. Her skin is warm, so I suggest turning down the heat somewhat. Keep the loft warm though. I need to see what happened…to understand it.”

 

“What if they…”

 

“Call me on my cell phone. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

 

Sean ran down the stairs as they went through the door. Damn. If they weren’t careful, they were going to set off the alarm. A streak of black came through the door before he could shut it and reset the alarm. Mr. B. didn’t even stop. Carrying a headless bird in his mouth, he rushed the stairs to be with his pets. Placing the dead on the bed at their feet, he sat down on Maria's pillow clean himself and kept watch.

 

~~~

 

“Michael.” Sean couldn’t get him to wake. Tiredness. Anxiety. Grief. Or too much blood loss. It was hard to say. With Isabel’s help, they were slowly able to get Michael to drink some orange juice, and get Maria to take a little water. It was slow going, and neither was moving. They slept like the dead.

 

Alex helped Sean strip the bed, with Michael, Maria and Mr. Boo still in it. The bedding was sopping in sweat. Michael and Maria both had skin as hot and dry as parchment. Turning down the heat, Sean actually switched back to the air conditioner. He and Alex covered Michael and Maria with a thinner blanket. Mr. Boo remained on alert.

 

“Are you sure that it's okay to take the covers away?” Isabel was sucking on her nail. “What if Maria becomes chilled again?”

 

Alex kissed Isabel on the side of her head. “Then we cover her up again. It’s really hot in here. If she isn’t cold any longer, then she’ll soon be dehydrated. She’ll be okay until Liz gets back.” Alex took her hand. “Come on. Let’s go make some food. She’ll probably be hungry.”

 

“Alex. It’s after midnight.”

 

“Have you ever known the time of day to make a difference for these two?” Isabel had to give him the point. “The babies, are they…?”

 

“I don’t know. Let’s not worry about it right now. They’re alive. That’s all that matters, that and the fact that it's as hot as a sauna in here.”

 

~~~

 

“This can’t be.” Liz rechecked her findings. Starting over, she prepared a new slide.

 

“What is it?” Max came to stand next to Liz. She took the slide and put into in the larger microscope with a large screen scope attached. She pointed to the overhead screen, and both Kyle and Max looked at whatever she wanted them to see.

 

“That’s Maria’s blood.” Liz took that slide away and put in another one. “This is Maria’s blood.”

 

Max frowned and moved closer. “That’s not the same blood.”

 

“No. It’s not. It is, but it's not. See, there's the normal human hemoglobin. Perfectly normal. But look at these other cells. In a normal bloodscan you can see different blood cells present. There are platelets, leukocytes, basophiles, and others. Maria has the normal complement, but her leukocytes are different. Strange. Her hemoglobin has a human look to it, but it too is different. It looks like...more. The concave configuration remains, but there is more, much more. I think her blood can carry that special binding protein of iron-iodine.”

 

“I don’t understand. How can her blood chemistry just change? Aren’t blood cells made in a special place then dumped into the body just like old blood cells are destroyed?”

 

Liz quickly made another slide and put it under the scope.

 

“This is Michael’s blood.” Liz sat back.

 

Max looked at the two slides. One of Maria’s blood captured on the screen, and now Michael’s. It was the same…sort of. But not quite. The human blood cells in Maria’s blood had been altered slightly to match Michael’s.

 

“What’s happening, Parker?”

 

Liz shook her head. Damn!, it was elegant. Totally fucking elegant! “Her blood is still human, but just ‘more.’ It has an added alien component. His blood flooding her system, is rewriting her genetics, I think. She…I think this is a permanent thing. I can’t be sure. It might revert back to normal later, but for now, her blood is running fast, more efficiently. I had no clue. No idea! This was just so simple. Too simple.”

 

Kyle shook his head. “I don’t understand. You mean she's turning alien, like Michael? That’s what you’re saying?”

 

“No. It’s the marking thing they have going. Leaving marks on each other. Michael just marked her another way.” Liz pointed at the blood smear. “His genetic markers are on her hemoglobin, and they’re slightly altering it so her system can carry that special iodine-iron binding agent, and energy, oxygen…cell fuel faster and efficiently. The babies were getting perhaps only twenty-five percent of the energy Maria’s body created by converting food to energy and separating the building blocks into usable components. This new alteration changes that. Speeds up the system. Her body can process the food faster, cleaner and more efficiently. Now what once only gave up twenty-five percent to use in energy is giving up more…closer to 90 percent. She just took an evolutionary boost upward. She is human…just tweaked for more power.”

 

Max rubbed his face. He was exhausted. He needed to call Jonathan, and the night was just beginning. “Why did she die?”

 

Liz shook her head. “I’m not sure since I didn’t see it happen, but I think that the dominant alien blood overtook her system and began altering her normal blood, possibly too fast. Her body didn’t know what to do, how to handle the change and the alien substance. It confused her heart, and so it stopped beating. Michael must have given her heart a jolt, like a defibrillator. It jumpstarted her heart. Reset it. Almost like booting a computer. Her whole body restarted with the new altered blood now running where the old blood once was.” Liz looked at Max in awe. “Without even realizing what he was doing, he just saved her life.”

 

Max closed his eyes and thanked whatever higher being it was that guarded and watched over them that his son was safe in Tess, not experiencing what Michael and Maria were. Selfish, yes. But a very human reaction.

 

“There’s more.” Liz quickly cleaned the area and disposed of all blood materials and slide smears. “I think this changes Maria for all time. I think that she can and will have only one mate in her life…Michael. I don’t think she could even get pregnant by another person, because her body is altered now. It would find anything not from Michael, sperm or whatever, as foreign, and it would reject it, attack it, make an immune response.”

 

Kyle didn’t think it was going to be a problem. He couldn’t see Michael and Maria breaking up and her remarrying and trying to have children with another man. It wasn’t in the cards. But the implication was fascinating. “They mate for life. Michael and Maria, they're now genetically joined beyond everything?”

 

Liz nodded. So damn complex. So damn simple. It was so easy to overlook. They thought Michael Guerin was a territorial obsessive fanatic before, now he had even more reason. It was more than his children in Maria, now it was a part of him as well. He could probably feel her across a galaxy. Maybe even over time.

 

Max looked at his watch. “We need to get back. Liz, what else will you need?”

 

Liz was packing up a microscope and supplies. “Nothing. I’ll take blood samples over the next few hours or so to see if her blood remains altered. Tomorrow, I’ll try to locate a female about Maria’s age, pregnant with her blood type.”

 

“I don’t understand?” Kyle looked at Max in confusion, shrugging.

 

Liz looked at the two men. “She can’t have her blood drawn by anyone but us. Not anymore. Her blood has changed drastically overnight. There will be questions. Her doctor would want to investigate, maybe do a paper. Present it at medical societies. She and Michael can’t risk that. If the government is looking for you, since they’re confiscating all materials with silver handprints, then they’ll find this in the literature.”

 

“Shit.” Max rubbed his face again. Michael would have to switch the blood every time hers was drawn. That was assuming that Liz was right, and this was it. This was the solution to making Maria better. “Let’s go.”

 

~~~

 

They stayed the night, the group of them, watching as Michael and Maria slept. The few times they approached the bed, the cat hissed at them threateningly, so they backed away and let the couple sleep.

 

The loft wasn’t so hot anymore. It was much more comfortable. Tess and Kyle were asleep in the guest room, and Sean was sacked out in a large chair. Isabel and Alex were at Isabel’s loft, and Parker was still up working on the blood and on her computer. She had taken over the dining room table and there was no talking to her. She just grunted when someone put a fresh cup of coffee next to her.

 

Jonathan showed up around three. Max had called him and left a message.

 

“Sorry to keep you up, you could’ve slept and then came over in the morning.”

 

Jonathan shook his head at Max. “It didn’t matter. I wasn’t asleep. Doing some late night work wondering where the hell you were.”

 

Jonathan searched through the stack of take out containers looking for more food. He found a container of egg rolls. Heaven. Now if there was some pork…

 

“I would’ve called earlier. It was really bad.” Max rested his head back and stretched his back.

 

Jonathan ate thoughtfully, taking in the entire scene. He had come as soon as Max called him. The first thing he did was run up the stairs to check on Maria. On both Michael and Maria. He didn’t trust them to be telling him the whole truth. The thing he noticed first was a silver handprint on Maria’s chest, just barely covered up by the blanket. Michael was wrapped around her from behind, holding her close as their body remained spooned together, unmoving. Staring for a moment, Jonathan reached down and touched Maria’s pregnant stomach.

 

They moved.

 

Damage was uncertain. She had died. Their oxygen had been cut off for however long it took Michael to bring her back. But one thing was certain, the twins were still moving inside their mother.

 

“We need to talk about this. You realize that, right?”

 

Max went and sat on the sofa in exhaustion. Waiting for Jonathan to join him, he was well aware the time had come. How could he avoid it? No new people. Not unless they were becoming part of the family, a permanent part.

 

“I know. I owe you explanations, and you’ve been good about keeping the questions to yourself. It’s difficult. It’s not just my secret though. It’s a secret that belongs to all of us, and letting new people in…it opens doors for mistakes.”

 

Jonathan saw. He knew what Max was saying.

 

“Okay, then tell you what, Max... you tell me when you can. But I’m already in the know. I’ve seen things. You can tell me, or you can let me bumble around figuring it out for myself. Either way. You decide.” That was mean. Jonathan knew it was a no-win situation for Max. Leaving a bumbling Jonathan searching for answers might alert people they would rather not alert.

 

Max sat up on the sofa and turned towards Jonathan.

 

Damn.

 

Closing his eyes, he concentrated. Make a smart decision. His heart versus the safety of the group. The safety of his son and Michael and Maria’s children. So much more at stake here now. So much that could go wrong. He wanted Jonathan in with the rest of them, but he had others to consider.

 

“Jonathan, I love you.” Max paused. Had he ever said that aloud? He had thought it often. Jonathan became still, frozen. Maybe not. Maybe he hadn’t actually said it aloud. Max moved closer, taking a half eaten eggroll from Jonathan’s fingers and putting it on the coffee table. Scooting even closer, he glanced at the man. Jonathan. From the moment he met him, there was something between them. Jonathan was special.

 

Max leaned in and whispered low, his breath just moving across Jonathan’s mouth. “I love you, and I’ll tell you everything. Everything. But only if the others agree.” Max kissed him lightly. “Is that agreeable? If it were just me, then I’d tell you without hesitation. But this is more.”

 

Jonathan licked his mouth, tasting Max on his lips. His eyes darkened and he looked down at Max’s lips. Okay. That was honest. He could live with that. He could wait.

 

“Okay. Tell me when you can, if the others agree.” Jonathan leaned into a kiss, joining his mouth to Max’s, his hand coming up to rest on the firmness of Max’s waist. They never kissed in public, in front of others. Not like this. Not unless they lost control on a smoky dance floor in a gay bar. “I guess I have a few things I need to tell you too, but there’s still time. It can wait. This can wait. I can’t.”

 

Jonathan leaned back on the sofa, taking Max with him.

 

When Max looked up later, as he was trying to untangle himself from Jonathan. It was stop, or go forward. And there was no going forward since the room had a working Liz and a sleeping Sean.

 

He looked up to see Sean’s amused expression. Bastard. He smiled big. Sean had been watching them on the sofa. His eyes twinkled and there was a gleam Max didn’t care for.

 

“Don’t stop on my account. I was just going to undo my pants a little, and…”

 

Max threw a sofa pillow at Sean DeLuca, resident pervert and voyeur. Jonathan looked up over his head from where he was lying on the sofa. It must have struck him as funny because Jonathan just started laughing.

 

~~~

 

“All of you should go.” Jonathan said.

 

Max frowned. It was late. Getting later. He needed to get to work, as did Kyle and Sean. Liz was already gone. She left the borrowed microscope, but took fresh blood samples. It was Thursday. He, Kyle and Tess had a doctor’s appointment later in the day.

 

Michael and Maria were still asleep. They didn’t want to wake them, but they also didn't want to leave them alone.

 

“Look, Max, just go, okay? I have the most flexibility. CEO, remember? I can make calls from here, have my secretary call and reschedule meetings. Crime doesn’t wait. Go.”

 

Jonathan kissed Tess on the cheek. “You can leave me Tess for company, but she looks like a little more sleep might not hurt.”

 

Tess smiled her thanks. She didn’t want to leave her friends, but the bed wasn’t her own and she had a hard time getting comfortable, especially once Kyle started snoring. A nap in her own bed, a shower and getting ready for her doctor’s appointment was just what she needed.

 

Finally he convinced them. Max looked back as he left, listening before pulling the door closed behind him.

 

“Jonnie! It’s Jonathan Stiller. Yes, look I’m in need of a nice large breakfast, so I was thinking about how you could make me a breakfast buffet? Oh, enough for at least six. I’m feeding hibernating bears, and when they wake, hot food might be needed. What’s on the menu? Kippers! Damn. Okay bring extra of those, and some bagels with lox, capers, and extra cream cheese, the stuff with the chives. None of the pineapple crap. Add in caviar and I’m a happy man. No! Not the domestic crap, the real Russian gold. Eggs Florentine, fresh bread, French toast, lots of crispy bacon….damn, just slaughter a pig. This house doesn’t mind pork. A few urns of hot coffee both leaded and unleaded.” Jonathan ran down a long list of breakfast pastry and specialties he knew Maria loved. They would set it up buffet style on warmers, so it would be waiting. “So how long are we talking here? Hmmm, okay, but you push it and there is a hundred dollar tip in it for your servers.”

 

Max shut the door. Strange people, the DeLucas and Stillers of the world. They talked an entirely different language, but somehow it worked. Things got done and no one went away hungry. Food. It bound them all.

 

~~~

 

“You got it?”

 

Alex stopped and lit a cigarette, nodding to the man in the shadows. He had never been here before.

 

“Nice crib, Freddie. You’ve got taste.”

 

“This place? Not so bad. You live for over fifty years, you accumulate things.” Freddie looked at Alex. He was disturbed. “Alex, this is a good thing. Trust me.”

 

“I’ll trust you, because I’ve known and trusted you a long time. But you burn me on this, Freddie? I’ll kill you myself.”

 

“The little switch in the back. Hard whack across the small of the back breaks the husk.”

 

Alex drew on his cigarette. Reaching in his pocket, he passed Freddie two vials. Blood. Maria’s and Michael’s.

 

“This could be it, you  know. The answer.”

 

Alex just swore and tossed himself into the chair like the traitor he felt. Trust. Hard thing to learn. This could go sour.

 

“What are you looking for, Freddie?”

 

“Answers.” Freddie took two beers from the refrigerator. “We know she's the one. It was obvious. Nothing ever touched the Commander until he met his mate. One look. She was the one. Her blood. It was wrong. It didn’t match what we needed. We thought it was the twins. But the last tests her doctor ran, and the special test they did on the babies - the results weren’t what they should have been. The genetics were wrong. Not what we were expecting.”

 

“You’re going to need to tell me more. You know that, right?”

 

“Alex…”

 

Alex swore. “Don’t pull this shit on me! I swear, Freddie. Just don’t. I’ve held your secret a long time, but this time, you need to give something back.”

 

Freddie rubbed the back of his neck. “Alex, do you understand time? How it’s not a straight line? It doesn’t just run forward. It has an elasticity that folds back on itself, it loops.”

 

“You’re talking String theories, all that Star Trek stuff, right?”

 

“In part. That is part of it. Physicists are guessing it. Perhaps Hollywood is guessing more, and between the imagination and the application of theoretical science, there is more truth than they realize. Time is like a ball of string. It overlaps, runs over and around itself. It is classified only by its mutability.”

 

“Mutability?”

 

“Ability to be changed. There are different realities, but a shifting in the timeline can shift the whole reality. That is why many of us are here. That and the Granilith.”

 

Alex lit another cigarette and took a long draw on his beer. “This Granilith thing again? It always comes down to that.”

 

“Yes. Always. Centuries ago, longer perhaps than your recorded time, our worlds were dying. Our solar system was played out. The three suns of our worlds were expiring. The larger of the suns was fast becoming a Red Giant. The helium and hydrogen wells were depleted and solar flares and other problems were tearing our worlds apart. The outer worlds were becoming colder. They lost plant life. That was when the Consortium was built. It was a signed Federation of all the five inhabited planets of our solar system to find a new home, or a solution. We took to space. Traveled its vastness, looking for something, someplace.”

 

“Earth?”

 

“Yeah, we found Earth. Back when your species were still scratching in the dirt, living in the caves, having barely left that original primordial ooze of colliding amino acids, energized by a lighting strike that made the first primitive proteins.” Freddie stole a cigarette. “We couldn’t live here. Not in this atmosphere, so colonization was impossible, but using husks we were able to manipulate ourselves to sustain our lives for short periods of time.”

 

“Why? We were barely human, you couldn’t use this planet, so why did you stay?”

 

“We didn’t. But we kept returning. There was something here. It was an energy signature far more evolved than the life forms that lived here. It was an anomaly. Unique. Strong. It took some time to find. To locate. Along the way, we watched you grow. Primitive men to primitive societies. Early settlements. There was something in your nature that appealed to us. It was imagination. Innovation. The ability to bend and create, along with a sort of ingrained cruelty and quest for power. We appreciated that. This innate thirst for power and the drive to move forward. It was intoxicating. Our societies were old and stagnant. Dying like our solar system. We couldn’t even imagine creating a solution to our problems, so we went out to look for them.”

 

“So you found us?”

 

“That and more. We started taking people. Special people with special attributes. King. Leaders. Movers. Scientists. We took them and we stripped those genetics that we admired and integrated them into our own genomes.”

 

“You’re human?”

 

“In a way. We had no special powers back then, but once we added in human nature, human genetics codes, we developed them….fast. Our powers to shapeshift, to move objects and transform matter are all by-products given to us from those human donors. It is what your brains will be capable of as you evolve. Our highly evolved systems were already there, so those powers started showing up a few generations later, and increased with every new generation. We redesigned our social classes based on the power structures. Healers, shapeshifters, dreamwalkers, mindwarpers and pushers.”

 

“Pushers?”

 

“Sub-classes of pushers. Those who can move molecules at will. Explosive. Highly dangerous. We all had every power, just in varying degrees. One specialty will dominate the others. We were categorized by our dominant ability.”

 

“The Royals. What are they?”

 

“The King is a healer. One of the best ever seen. He can create warp fields, shielding, manipulate matter, but his dominant gift is healing. Your Isabel is a dreamwalker. She can manipulate dreams, men’s consciences. Make suggestions. Plants seeds of thought. She can manipulate and alter matter, but her dreamwalking ability makes her mind very strong, therefore her other abilities are equally talented. But it's mental walking that is her gift. The Queen has two main powers. It was why she was singled out as a mate to the King. She is a mindwarper. She can plant illusions in the minds of the waking, unlike Vilandra who could only touch dreams. She is strong. She can bend people to her will. With that comes her greatest power, and combined with her second gift of being a pusher she is very powerful. She can bend energy to her will just like people. She can create huge amounts of fire and energy, enough to incinerate the world.”

 

“Michael? Your Commander. What of him?”

 

“He is a pusher. The highest order. He has the same intensity that the Queen does, but he has something more. The Commander was the first pusher who encompassed all subclasses. He is a generator of energy. It lives in his body. He is a walking nuclear reaction. Harnessed, his power is immeasurable. But it is the most uncontrolled, like a wildfire. His abilities make him see order in chaos, find patterns, and with it comes a propensity towards visions. He needs a tuner. Something to help him channel his talent into a stream. His mate is that focus. She is clarity. Clean. Pristine. A clear crystal. It’s like shining a ray of light through a prism, and having it separate the light into the color spectrum. She can do that with the Commander.”

 

“Maria? She’s an alien?”

 

Freddie laughed. “No. She is very human. But these powers are also human. She is a special class of human, a conductor. A channeling prism. Very pure. Very clean. Why do you think people seek her out for her opinion, or just to talk to? She focuses their thoughts. She can help over time to separate the Commander's power into strands of different colors, and with practice, he can choose which strand to pick up, to use. Once he can do that…he will be more powerful than you can imagine. Once he learns control, his power will be immeasurable.”

 

“That’s why you all protect him? Protect Maria? Because they have a purpose?”

 

“Yes, but there is more. So much more. Perhaps more than you can ever fully understand.” Freddie laughed bitterly. “God, Alex! We made a mistake, so many eons ago. A crucial and very critical mistake.”

 

Alex closed his eyes and nodded, “Tell me. Tell me, and explain why this is important to me, to these people. Tell me why we’re the pawns of some greater game that you aliens are playing.”

 

“This isn’t play, Alex. This is reality. We sit on a hinge of our very existence. What game is playing now will determine whether we live or die. You have no idea.”

 

“And this mistake?”

 

Freddie laughed again without humor blowing smoke into the air as he drew again on his cigarette. “You as species, are incredibly innovative. There is a will, a drive to survive, to go on. I told you, we found it intoxicating, admirable. So we took those aspects of your genomes and integrated them into ourselves. But, Alex, we made a mistake. Our forefathers, those who began this process long ago, made a horrible error. They took all that was ambitious, driven, innovated and inspiring from your people, but they left the esoteric behind.”

 

Esoteric? “I don’t follow.”

 

“Your people built cities, civilizations on the ruins of others. Conquer or be conquered. There is a spirit of conquest, thirst for power and domination, but in all this there is something divine that keeps you from destroying yourselves. The human heart. That part of you that feels compassion, mercy…love. Dictators rise and fall, and the human will for freedom survives. Your history is littered with protectors, warriors, and heroes. Everyman….ordinary men rising to defeat at unconquerable odds. Your ability to love and feel mercy and compassion has tempered the more violent, cruel and raging aspects of your heritage. We took all that was violent, bloodthirsty and cruel….the best and worst that you can be, and we left behind the control.”

 

Alex shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

 

“These gentler emotions keep you from totally destroying each other. You have a sense of morals and rules of conduct and respect for life that tempers out all the harsh aspects of your nature. We didn’t realize that these emotions of compassion and even morals…your basic superstructures of God and life were the checks and balances necessary to keep those raging warrior genes under control. We annihilated ourselves by creating a new breed, a new future of people who knew only a quest for power, a thirst for supremacy. We have been at a stalemated war for centuries, building alliances, destroying them, and building even more. The Granilith is the one thing that is desired by all. It is a quest by all worlds, a desired power base. It is, in our solar system, the closest thing to a holy relic, like your legend of the Holy Grail. And the Antarians have held it forever. It is their fear of its true power and their inability to understand how to control it that has held them back, and forced them to continue to ally with the other planets. There are genetic markers in the Granilith…keys, that turn on and operate the systems. There are four unique DNA’s that combine when activated together, to work as one. They are the true Royal Four. And then there is one master DNA that controls everything, and that is the One. It is comprised of two DNA’s combined into One. The Commander and his mate. As they are, now, today.”

 

“Michael’s DNA, his hybrid DNA was part of the Granilith eons before his birth? As with Maria? Is that what you are saying?”

 

“Why do you think we worship him? His special powers, the first true Pusher ever known or born. That and his special DNA, his genetic genome was integrated in the Granilith. He is a safety key, one of two.”

 

“And the other…”

 

Freddie sighed. He went to get them both another beer. “Is Maria. As she is now, altered.”

 

“I don’t…”

 

“Neither did we. The journal in the Granilith. It told us. We knew that it was the Commander’s mate. We had the DNA signature. We tested her blood. It had elements. It was close, but she wasn’t the one. We were confused.” Freddie held up the vial of blood for Alex to see. “I bet you my life that her blood fits the profile now. He changed her. She didn’t fit before because she hadn’t been changed. It was the same for the Commander. When he lived on Antar, we knew his DNA signature was in the Granilith, but it wasn’t right. It was the same in some ways, but was missing so much more. It was enough that a class of us realized that he had an importance, that he was strong. He was loyal. We started worshipping him.”

 

“His blood. Does it match now?”

 

Freddie laughed and picked up the other vial of blood. “Yeah, it matched from the moment he was re-engineered and came back a hybrid. The DNA signature was his hybrid one. He couldn’t control the Granilith as an Antarian, because he wasn’t human enough.”

 

Alex sat back, his face twisted in thought and confusion. The history. It was flipping between the past, the present and the future. How the hell could they know about Maria? How could they know to look for her?

 

“The Granilith. It’s been yours for centuries upon centuries. How can you have sample DNA from both Michael and Maria in it? That was eons before they were born. Here or even on Antar.” Alex looked into his empty beer bottle. “This Granilith. What is it?”

 

Freddie laughed and hit Alex on the arm. “There is the million dollar question! What is it? We have no idea. It was our solution. A huge energy signal. We couldn’t make it work. Our scientists couldn’t understand it. They were able to manipulate it to tap into some of its power. A miniscule amount. The energy blast rejuvenated our Sun, the main sun, and a generation later, we did the same to our other two. It was as if our solar system was new again. We were saved.”

 

Alex stopped smoking and put down his beer. He was missing something. Something huge. If the aliens didn’t know what the Granilith was, and could only us a small part of its power, then how the hell did Michael and Maria’s DNA signature become part of it?

 

“I don’t understand. Your people didn’t make the Granilith, so where did it come from?”

 

“Earth.” Freddie blew smoke around him. “It was the huge energy signature that first led us to your planet. Generations later, we were able to find where it originated. We found it in a huge artificial cavern, carved by some unknown technology. The Granilith came with a journal which told of its history, but that manuscript was only partially preserved. It contained pictures and stories, and we pieced together parts of the missing history. But there were gaps. Large gaps.”

 

“So who left it here on Earth? Aliens from some other place?”

 

Freddie shook his head. “You’re not understanding, Alex. We found it and took it. The Granilith was created and belongs to Earth.”

 

~~~

 

Jonathan stayed the entire day. At different times throughout,  Max and the others stopped in to see how  Michael and Maria were doing. Sean came and helped Jonathan force the sleeping couple to drink, but they both soon returned to sleep. Mr. Boo had not left their side.

 

The breakfast Jonathan ordered was eaten by everyone, and later he ordered lunch, and finally dinner. It was the knock on the door that interrupted his latest phone call. More than likely the set up waiters from the restaurant.

 

No.

 

It was Amy and Jim. Amy took one look at Jonathan and easily went into his arms. Jim watched Jonathan hug his wife, and looked over noticing that Max was there as well. He quickly went over to talk with Max while Jonathan and Amy talked.

 

“Max, what is going on? Sean came to pick us up. He said that Maria…”

 

Max looked at Jonathan, and led Jim away. “Maria died. Her heart actually stopped.”

 

Jim swore. “Is she…” Max quickly shook his head.

 

“Something happened. Michael did something. Put his hand on her chest, and we think his power shocked her heart.”

 

Jim shut his eyes. “How is she?”

 

“We don’t know. Neither of them has woken up for any length of time, just long enough to drink juice.”

 

Jim gave a quick glance at Jonathan, “Does he know?”

 

“No. But he knows there’s something going on. He knows and has observed enough to have questions. I haven’t told him, but I want to.”

 

“There seems to be so many of us that know. It is getting confusing who knows and who doesn’t. Sean wants to tell Julia. He doesn’t like keeping her out of it.”

 

“I know how he feels.” Max looked over at Jonathan and Amy. “Maybe Amy should be the one to tell the secret?”

 

Jim looked at his wife, standing in Jonathan’s arms with her crutches. Maybe.

 

“Maria?”

 

“She's sleeping. Has been all day.”

 

Amy’s frowned in concern. “She can’t. The babies need…”

 

“They’re fine. I think they would wake her up if they were hungry. She needs sleep more than anything.” Jonathan put Amy from him, but kept his hand on her arm. “Let me take you upstairs. When you see her, you’ll feel better.” Amy nodded and a sound of surprise when Jonathan picked her up in both his arms and easily carried her up the stairs.

 

“Oh! Wow, you’re so strong. Sure I’m not too heavy?”

 

Jonathan laughed at the idea that Amy or even Maria could weigh more than a feather. “I’m fine. Don’t take away this pleasure for me. Max won’t let me carry him anywhere.”

 

Amy laughed in delight. “Silly boy. Should I have a talk with him?”

 

Jonathan just laughed on his way up the stairs. glancing at Amy critically, he took in her pale appearance and the cast on her leg. “Are you supposed to be walking? I don’t think you look ready to be out of the hospital.”

 

“Now you sound like the doctors. They tried to keep me in a wheelchair, but once my legs woke up I could walk just fine. Just a little weak. I stop when I’m tired. It’s been almost three weeks.  I think both Jim and I really need to be home, start getting back to normal.”

 

Amy looked down as Sean came in the door with a group of servers from the restaurant.

 

“Did you order food?”

 

“All day long. I wanted there to be hot food when they woke up.” Jonathan got to the top landing, and paused. “The loft has been a revolving door all day. People in and out, checking on the sleeping beauties.”

 

Amy looked down from her perch in Jonathan’s arms at her peacefully sleeping daughter. Michael was wrapped completely around her, holding her so close and tight,