Pygmalion

By DocPaul

Chapter Forty-seven: The end of the beginning…

Day Seventy-five: Saturday, 10:13 am

Michael was illegally stretched out on Maria’s hospital bed with the twins between him and Maria. They had just been fed, and both were yawning. Michael’s hands seemed to find endless fascination in his children. The softness of their cheeks, their small hands with tiny nails, how Amanda Elizabeth DeLuca-Guerin had a tiny button nose, and Mikey had his father’s hands. They weren’t identical, but they looked very much alike. Male and female versions of the same form, but Mikey was larger, his length more than two inches over Mandy.

DocJim had come by that morning, and he cleared all three of them to go home. They were now wasting time waiting for the release orders to be signed.

“I was thinking….”

“Uh huh...,” said Maria in an amused voice.

“Stop it. Really. I was thinking we should take our kids and run away.”

Maria laughed. The DeLucas. He was afraid of the DeLucas. Sean and Julia had been visiting the family in Florida . When everything exploded, Sean insisted he couldn’t wait, so he dragged Julia with him to Florida to announce their engagement to his family. They had been gone for four days when the twins decided they were tired of waiting to be born, and took matters into their own hands. So once Sean and Julia, and the other family members were informed, Roswell became the Mecca for a mass invasion of DeLucas.

“Run away to where?”

“ Canada ? We could take them to a few hockey games,” Michael said hopefully.

“Uh huh.” Maria bent down and kissed Mandy on the head. She was so tiny in comparison to Mikey. “Do you actually think there is anywhere on this planet we could possibly escape my family at this time?”

“A man has a right to dream, Professor,” Michael answered wistfully. One good thing that had come from the deluge of DeLucas was that Maria’s Uncle Marco had insisted on replacing the sofa and the carpeting in his den. This had been miraculously accomplished in a single day, and it took only the length of time Michael needed to walk into his den and find his in-laws in the middle of a cut-throat poker game with the large screen TV blaring a game for him to understand why .

“They won’t be around too long. I promise. My aunt will need to get home to start the long tortuous preparations for Sean’s wedding. I heard her mention the Pope.”

“No!”

Maria laughed. “They’re determined to give Julia as little wiggleroom as possible. They don’t want her to be able to get away.” She gazed at Michael, her hand coming up to stroke the line of his face. She couldn’t stop touching him. “Strangely enough, my family is convinced Julia will suddenly wake up, take one look at Sean, and run away screaming in fear.”

“Yeah, I can totally understand that. She is a D.A., after all. The concept of the DeLucas could definitely make her think twice.”

“Mr. Guerin!” The nurse came in with the final release orders. “I thought I told you to stay off the bed!”

Michael looked up at the horror with narrowed eyes, “Are those our release papers?” The nurse nodded. “Then good! You can have your bed back. I’m taking my family home.”

Leaving the hospital was blissfully uneventful and quiet. No one in sight. That was because their home had been invaded. The ambush was complete once they entered the loft. Family, friends, and friends of….well, whoever the hell knew. Maria was exhausted.

“Amyyyyy….”

“I know. It’s overwhelming.” Amy patted Michael on his stomach. “Have you always been this selfish?”

“Absolutely.”

Amy laughed. To thine ownself be true. “I’ll do it, but you realize this will happen again at the Christening?”

“I’ll prepare myself mentally.”

Amy nodded, kissed his cheek, and went off to do what no other human on the face of the Earth was capable of. She cleared their home of the DeLuca invaders. Amy DeLuca Valenti was a really scary person at times.

Marco patted Michael’s cheek as he vacated the loft with his entourage of Family.  “You have done well for her, Miko. I am pleased. ”

Michael breathed a sigh of relief at this. You just never knew. He just stood there holding Amanda when the door finally closed. He was gently patting her on her back rocking her to sleep. “Did you see that, Mandy? That’s the power of your grandma. She’s a storm in motion, a port of refuge, and no doubt, the future source of all your civil disobedience. If you grow up to be anything like her, I’ll be exceptionally proud. ”

Maria watched him from the upper loft. Their bedroom was quiet, the shades drawn. She had closed them, lit candles, and turned on the soft light in the nursery. Mikey was on the bed rolled to one side, chewing on his fist.

“Hey,” she called to Michael.

Michael looked upstairs and smiled. “Hey.”

“You coming?”

Michael laughed. “In a moment. Give me a second to activate the alarms from intruders.”

Maria snickered. “Good luck on that.” She lay down on the bed and played with her son, a source of endless fascination. Michael would need more than a simple alarm system to keep out the DeLucas. They had connections, ones that bypassed security like butter. Then there were Michael’s people, able to open locks with a mere wave of their hands. What a family.

“Mikey, you want to see Daddy being silly? Silly man, thinks he can hide behind a door.”

“Stop that,” Michael admonished as he handed Amanda to Maria. Maria giggled and snuggled her sleeping daughter in close. She had a few hours before both of them would want to be fed.

Michael’s hand wandered over the nape of his daughter’s head. “Amanda Elizabeth? I thought we decided on Amanda Theresa after your aunt.”

“Do you mind?” Maria asked.

Liz Parker. She needed something to be for Liz. “No. Not at all. I like it.” Maria smiled. She had her name for Liz. For the longest time she had thought of the name Dianne, but somehow she had come to terms with Dianne’s loss. Not Liz’s. Michael had his son, Michael named Mikey after his paternal grandfather. Life was a mosaic of pieces built upon each other. Those here and those since passed. They left fingerprints on the living.

“Are you okay?” Michael asked, his eyes searching her face for signs of depression or a sense of loss from the delivery. “Can you still feel them?”

“Yes. I can still feel them. Almost like they never left me.”

“Their power?”

Maria shut her eyes. “It’s like right behind my eyes. I can feel it. It extends outward like tentacles along my body.” Maria laughed softly. “Tess said she could feel Zan’s.” Maria’s hand touched Michael’s chest, his heart under the spiral tattoo on his chest. Her mate. “Nice new way to incubate children without podding them.” Maria moved part of Mandy’s jumper aside. “Did you see this?” She showed him a birthmark. It was a small blemish that looked like their spiral. The same mark was on Mikey, but counterclockwise, opposite of Mandy’s. The same spiral mark that joined Michael to Maria the night he and the babies saved her life.

“A miracle. Thinking of them incubated,” Michael shook his head. He ran a finger down his son’s cheek. “Agreed, Professor. I’d hate them living in a pod until they were six. We’d lose so much. So much they’d never experience. This is better. Much better.” He moved his finger over Mikey’s closed fist. “I don’t want to miss a day.”

Maria’s hand moved over his face, her thumb rubbing his cheek bone. “You won’t.”

Michael grabbed her hand, and he kissed the palm deeply. “Thank you.” Maria raised an eyebrow. “Thank you for them. That first time, in the hospital, you refused to let them go, even at the risk of your own health. You risked everything for them. Gave up everything. Thank you.”

Her eyes gentled as she looked down at the sleeping twins. “They’re worth everything.” Maria looked at Michael again. “You’re worth everything.” Had she let go so long ago, he wouldn’t have been there. None of the aliens would. She didn’t know that then, but she knew it now.

They continued to talk softly, as they watched their children sleep. It was their time. Theirs alone.

~~~

Max paused. His door was half open. He could feel them. His apartment wasn’t empty. Closing the door, he didn’t bother to turn on the light. “What do you want?”

He waited. Not bothering to ask again, he held his impatience in until Zan and Lonnie emerged from the shadows.

Zan. His Dupe. Interesting. Taking the phone, he dialed Jonathan.

“Whatcha doin’?” Zan asked, advancing in a threatening manner.

Max frowned. “Sit down!”

Zan and Lonnie both sat. They looked at each other in amazement. Max had pushed them without a movement of his hand, but with his very will.

“I need you. I’ve got visitors.” Max didn’t wait for a response. Jonathan would come. He turned to his visitors. Searching his Dupe’s face, he frowned. Zan looked so much like him and yet, so different.

“We don’t mean yah any trouble.” Zan began, shaking his head at Lonnie.

“You broke into my home. That sure sounds like trouble to me.” Max kept a wary eye on the two. He wasn’t like the rest. He wasn’t tied to the Granilith destiny. If he died or was replaced, it wouldn’t have the global effect that it would with the others.

“I figured that som’em happened. Som’em big.” Zan looked at his sister. “We felt ourselves….leaving.”

“Destiny almost broke. The Shapeshifter miscalculated, and killed one of the parent of a harmonic, as yet, unborn.”

“Yah brought ’im back?”

Max shrugged. “It was a joint effort.” Max circled them. “He lives, but the destiny that has been safeguarded for so long is more tenuous than anyone realized. Any interference is a risk.”

Zan smiled, his eyes narrowing. “I heard Rath tried to kill the Commandah’s children.”

Max nodded. He was biding his time until Jonathan showed up.

“That was stupid. We….I’d nevah sanction any actions against the Commandah.” Zan smiled charmingly. Max’s blood ran cold. There was a stillness in his glance. A coldness. Manipulative and hard, like a snake sizing up the kill. So this was Zan of Antar. Max suddenly felt a kinship of sympathy with Michael, who had been horrified by his Dupe.

“It didn’t matter. The Commander’s mate removed him easily.”

That caught their attention. It was time to stop the underbred country cousin routine. Max laughed humorously. “You honestly didn’t think we’d never tap into our powers? Find what you lack, what escapes you?” Max wasn’t above being petty. “Even the Commander’s mate has more power, and it’s more than that. She holds the power of the twins.”

Zan sat up straighter. “Yah…yah powers ah intact?”

Max laughed, shaking his head. “Oh no, this is more. Much more. Zan of Antar was weak in comparison.”

“I don’t believe yah!” Lonnie rushed to her feet. “Don’t believe him, Zan! He’s shining us on. Tryin’ tah control us.”

“Sit down!” Max’s voice boomed out, and Lonnie lost her feet as she hit the chair hard again.

Jonathan slipped into the room, almost unaware. “Max?”

“Here.”

The two Dupes were startled at the inclusion of a human. “What’s he doin’ here?” Zan asked.

“I called him.” Max sat down in a chair across from the two. Jonathan stood behind him tall and quiet. “Perhaps you can tell me why you’ve chosen this moment to approach me?”

Zan seemed to think about it. Weigh his options. He didn’t know if he believed his Dupe, but he didn’t want to test it. Rath hadn’t survived. Ava was still missing. No, better to be upfront.

“Yah have the Granilith.”

Max didn’t respond. Admitting nothing, denying nothing. He was in a position that did not require him to comply or answer in any way, so he remained stony in his regard.

“If there is something you wish of me, you will have to ask. Mind reading, unfortunately, is not one of my gifts.”

Zan nodded. He had no options. “If yah have the Granilith, we’d like to go home. To Antar.”

“Both of you?” Lonnie and Zan nodded. Interesting. Max sat back and looked them over. “From all accounts, Vilandra and Zan were in open warfare. They hated the other with a passion.” Max saw how they sat close together, with a suggestion of intimacy. “They were forbidden to mate, incestuous from the mother’s side.”

Lonnie stood up. “Yah think that matters now? Maybe to them! Not to us. Our human donors weren’t related. The essence means nothing! Not to us.”

“You would never be accepted. Would this increase your warfare?”

Zan stood next to Lonnie. “We’ah allied. There’s no one we can trust but the othah.”

Max stood. “Then God have mercy on you!”

“Yah help us?”

Max breathed deep, his brow furrowing in thought, scenarios moving quickly through his brain. There was only one possibility. “I have to talk to the others.”

“Yor Royals?” Lonnie asked.

“Yes. Them and the others.”

Zan almost spit in disgust. “Yah the King! Yah decree is law! Yah the law!”

Max shook his head. They would not survive. Not this way. Not with this attitude. Sending them back would be a death sentence. “Do not pretend to tell me what it is to be King! A King’s decision is omnipotent, the final decree, but how he gets there is not. You would do well to listen, and learn. A King is only as strong as those who guide him, counsel him, and support him. He is wise to listen to what others have to say, and not his own selfish heart.”

Jonathan stared at Max’s back, his emotions held in check, but a touch of a smile pulled at his mouth. So far had they come. So many light years. So many decades. Finally Max Evans had found the one part of his soul that had escaped him before, the very thing that had led to his ruin. He discovered the secret to being a King. One man ruling with the support of many. The King wasn’t all knowing, but a servant to his people.

Max ignored the Dupes and spoke to Jonathan in a hushed voice, “I hate to do this. Michael and Maria wanted time alone, but we can’t wait, not with Torq’el still out there.”

“You have a plan?”

Max nodded. Yes, but it was missing one component. Ava, Tess’s Dupe. “I need to talk to the others. Can you start calling them to the loft?”

Jonathan nodded. Max took his phone and called Michael. “All of them, Jonathan. The harmonics. The Royals.” Jonathan nodded as Kyle answered his phone.

“Where is the one you call Ava? Tess’s Dupe?” He asked Zan as he waited for what would be an undoubtedly pissy Michael to answer the phone.

Zan shrugged. “She walked a while ago. Bitch didn’t bothah to come back.”

Max shook his head. They needed her. He wanted them all gone. As long as the Dupes remained, they were exposed. Exposed to the FBI and human authorities that might find aliens living as humans interesting. Max looked at his watch. It was after six. It was going to be a long evening. They’d be lucky to come to a conclusion by the end of it.

~~~

“Tess, we can’t keep this a secret.” Kyle still held the disconnected phone.

“No.”

Kyle sighed. “Ava. Ask her. It’s her choice. She should be there.”

Tess was putting Zan into a new jumper, and loading up the baby bag. “No.”

“What is my choice?” Ava asked from the doorway.

Tess stopped, she bit her lip. “Ava! What are you doing here?”

“Wherah else would I be? Ovah a week ago, I felt mah body leave. I waited. Yah nevah came.”

Tess rubbed her face. She had forgotten. Damn. So caught up in feeling herself leave, on top of feeling Zan’s power that she held, also slowly dissolving as Zan was being undone along with her, that she lost track of what she needed to do. She lost track of Ava.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve come, and….”

“No matters. I’m heah now. What should be mah choice? Kyle?”

Kyle ignored the plea in Tess’s eyes. It was Ava’s right. “The other Dupes, Zan and Lonnie, they approached Max. We’re meeting to decide what must be done with them.”

Ava nodded. It had only been a matter of time. The Dupes could only barely live on Earth, and their natures were volatile. They were a risk to the others. If they were caught, it wouldn’t take the human authorities long to trace the unique blood, and the identical appearances.

“I understand. I best come.”

Tess shook her head violently. “No! Ava, you belong here. You belong….to me! To us!”

Ava hugged Tess. “Such a cornball. But, Tess, Zan is mah husband. I hafta do this. I hafta.” Ava smiled at her sister. “Can I hold Zan while yah get ready?”

Tess nodded, her eyes worried. This was wrong.

~~~

“In my home??? Around my children???? Dammit, Maxwell….!!!”

“Michael, calm down.” Max pushed Michael against the wall so he could talk lower. “The Granilith is here. There is little else I could do.” Michael’s energy level was running high. “Calm down! There are many of us, few of them.”

“They’re killers. You’re bringing murderers to my home!!”

“I need you to stop, be reasonable and help us get this done. Can you do that?” Michael shook his head. His children. They were asleep upstairs. Maria and Isabel were watching them. His children. His wife. They had gone through enough.

“Yes. He can.” Maria said from the stairs. “It’s okay, Max.” She waited until Max left them before she tried to talk to Michael.

“Don’t ‘push’ me, Professor!”

“I couldn’t even if I tried. You know that.” Maria’s hand went to his stomach. “They’re safe. I promise. We need to take care of this. Now, Michael.” Maria glanced over at the others. Sean and Julia were talking softly, and Isabel came to join Alex. Kyle and Tess were still missing. They were all there. Royals. Mates. Harmonics. And Dupes. Destiny in a room. Jonathan stood apart his eyes never wavering from Lonnie and Zan.

“It’s time. Time for us to make this town safe for our children. They can’t trace you through Rath, not any longer, but if the alien blood is found…” Maria touched his hand. “Max is right. We’ve got no time left standing and guessing in the dark. Destiny guides our hands unconsciously. We have to do what we have to do, and hope that it’s the right path. Wishing it was another way, doesn’t make it so.”

Michael looked up at the loft. His children sleeping in their bassinet, cuddled together. Two that are one. Six that are five. Three harmonics, the Creators, and the One. “I love you, Professor. Never doubt that.” Michael kissed her passionately. “If this is a mistake, tell me that your heart would remember me.”

Maria’s eyes filled with tears. He was afraid. Afraid they would make the wrong choice, and undo everything, including his very existence. Knowing what was to come was a hindrance to him. “My heart knows no one, but you. Now. Through time. For all eternity. I would find you. You are the key to the lock that holds me. Without you, I would be incomplete. Through time. Through space. I would find you.”

Michael pressed his forehead to Maria’s. He had to trust. Trust in Max. Trust in his King. This had to be done. He nodded. Time to work.

Michael and Maria moved to join the others in the new family room, as Kyle and Tess joined them. It was the woman that was with them that made the room quiet immediately. Ava. The twin.

Zan broke the silence. His smile was large and malicious. “Hello, honey! Yah got some s’plainin’ to do!”

Max looked from Tess to Ava and back. They looked identical. Ava was still Ava, but her clothing had changed. Her hair was no longer streaked in colors, but was now more the color of Tess’s, with a different cut. She had removed most of her piercings, and she was dressed in a simple cotton dress, colorful, and elegant. She had spent over a week in the hands of Tess’s family, and in that time, she found a place. A home.

Max shook his head, his disbelief apparent. He looked at both Kyle and Tess. “You knew where she was? For how long?”

Lonnie laughed. “Whoo hoo! Mutiny, King Max? Looks like yah couldn’t keep yah bitch under control any more than Zan could!”

“Shut up!” Tess said to Lonnie, her eyes dark and intense. She straightened herself to her full height, which wasn’t much, but seemed so, her eyes never leaving Max’s. “Don’t put this on Kyle. He knew. True. But, he is my husband. Do you think he would place his friendship above his love for me? I asked…begged for his silence. He tried to convince me to tell you, to turn her over.”

“Why, Tess?” Maria asked. Her voice curious. Why would Tess let a Dupe close to her son, especially after knowing what Rath had attempted?

Tess handed Zan to Ava. The room held their breath. It was a symbolic gesture, telling them that Tess trusted Ava implicitly and completely with her very life, with her son.

“She’s not like them.”

Zan snorted, his derision obvious. “Looks like you pulled the gullible one, brothah.”

“It’s true,” said Jonathan quietly. The group looked at him. “Tess and Ava are not Dupes. They are twins. The three of you were of the same heritage. Antarian. You could be re-engineered. Ava was not. She didn’t take. It is why she was younger. Her DNA had to be introduced into a viable human cell, an ovum. It is her world’s nature to immediately split into twins. One twin for the Dupes. One twin for the Royals. It was chance as to which twin went where. They are identical in every way.”

Tess looked at the group of them, her eyes begging for understanding. “She was placed with these Dupes,” Tess spit out the word like it was something evil and unnatural. “They used her. Cruelly. Brutally. Treated her as less than themselves. Nothing more than property to use and pass around. I won’t give her back to that! I won’t!”

Michael cleared his throat. “You could’ve told us, little bit. We would’ve understood.”

Tess shook her head. “I couldn’t chance it. Not after Rath. Not after all the violence and bloodshed. There was no way to prove to you that she wouldn’t turn.” Tess reached for Ava’s hand. “I can’t lose her again.”

Isabel came forward. She looked from Ava to Tess and then back again. There was so much in their eyes, so much the same. She looked at Ava holding her nephew, and how her protecting hands held him with great care. Isabel had stared into the eyes of her Dupe. The disdain, the ridicule in those laughing eyes spoke volumes. Tess was right. Ava was not the same.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Isabel. “Tess has as much right as any of us to do what she felt was right. You kept Vilandra from me, how long? We can only follow our hearts, and hope that we are not being led astray.”

Sean reached for a cigarette, but then quickly put it away. There was a baby in the room. “Maybe we should table the accusations for another time, and decide what to do with these two, before Michael wears through his considerable patience.”

Max nodded. “Tess, you want to put Zan down in the guest room?”

“I’ll hold him,” Ava said. She looked at her sister. “Go. Make the decision you halfta. It’s okay.” Tess nodded.

Max waited until they were all assembled, and he quickly outlined Zan and Lonnie’s request, namely their return to Antar.

“Can we actually send them?” Alex asked. He, like Sean, was searching for a smoke.

Max looked at Michael and Maria. “I think Michael and Maria can. Together, they are the One. They are the full genetics of their unborn son. With the power of the twins in Maria’s body, and Maria being a focus for Michael, they might be able to activate the Granilith to transport Zan and Lonnie home.”

Maria swallowed. Was this how the Granilith became lost to Earth? Giving it back to the Aliens? It felt wrong.

Michael shook his head. “We can’t send it back to Antar. It belongs to Earth.”

Jonathan had to agree. It had been the instrument of the inequality of power in his solar system for eons. Once it saved their suns, it became an instrument of abuse, a way for one ruling planet to exert its will over the others.

“It doesn’t matter. It will automatically return to Earth. To the Commander.” Jonathan said.

Zan frowned. “How does he know? Who is he?”

Max ignored Zan. Looking at Michael and Maria, he lifted a brow. “Can you do it? Can you activate the instrument?”

“We….” Maria was helpless. She looked to Jonathan for help. He nodded. “Michael?”

“It’s the only way.” Taking Maria’s hand, Michael looked at Jonathan. “You better come with us.” Michael looked at the others. Alex, Isabel, Sean and Julia. They all nodded. It was time to remove the aliens, to separate Earth’s destiny from Antar.

Michael led the way. He touched the brick wall, and it melted into a handprint, and the wall was gone. There stood the machine. Created by his children two decades in the future. Zan and Lonnie both stood up, their mouth agape in wonder. All this time. It had been here all this time!

Michael looked at Maria and then he touched his hand to the translucent cone, an inverted triangle. Maria followed. Jonathan paused and looked back at Max, before he too went inside. The room was silent, as the hum of the machine increased.

~~~

“This is the main control mechanism.” Jonathan said. He pointed to a display of symbols, ones that no one had ever been able to read. They were the same symbols in the Destiny book.

Michael placed his hand on the panel, and Maria added hers. The symbols altered, changing under their hands. Maria laughed.

“Clever!” She moved her hands over the raised words. Jonathan stood back in awe. He could read it. See it. “They imprinted inverted pictographs, perhaps ones they created themselves into a unique language coded by DNA,” Maria explained.

Michael snorted. “What she said.” He quickly read the panel. “This says it can be used as many things. A time portal, capable of transversing time. Maria...,” Michael pointed at one main panel. “What does that mean?”

Maria frowned. “Time is but a moment, space merely a wink in time. The smallest energy holds the infinite.” Maria frowned, letting the concept move in her mind. “It’s a type of quantum physics. String theory. Advanced concepts, I think.”

“Bending space?” Jonathan asked.

“No. Simpler. Overlapping modalities. Where there is no time, space overlaps into a fold of multiple realities. You can step through from one to the other.” Maria shook her head. “Conception theory. And they made it work?” Maria laughed. “The power! Michael, if atomic energy is the explosion of an atom dropping from a phase difference of one energy shell to another, ripping it from its stable orbit, imagine if the quantum are infinitesimal, but the output is unimaginable! Something as small as a quark could fuel a star. It is all relative to size. Small is indescribably large. The energy relationship would be an inverse one.”

Michael made a hacking noise. “Okay, we blame the twins’ curious nature on you!” He read the other panels. “It can also act as a generator, capable of moving through layers in space. A transporter. Final option. It can actually take off like a ship.”

Maria snorted. “Forget the ship one! It will damage our roof. That’s for the crude and unsophisticated. Let’s use the transporting one. It can, according to this, teleport to a fixed point in space.” Maria looked at Jonathan. “Wouldn’t happen to know the home quadrants for Antar, would you, off the top of your head?”

“Unfortunately, they are ingrained.”

Michael nodded. “Give ’em up. This will take a ten minute cycle to warm up to transport. Whatever’s within the chamber goes for a ride.”

“They will have to phase shift.” Jonathan said.

Michael paused. “Know a lot about that?”

“Some. It is what I am. A shifter. There have been many tradeoffs along the way. The Dupes are closer to alien physiology. I believe they can easily survive it, at least a few journeys. A human? I’d be reluctant to try, not without a stabilizing matrix, or a special shifting ability that allows them to blink, and then shift back into form.”

Maria went over to another wall. “Michael, honey, come place your hand here. I want to read this. I think it has to do with harmonics.”

Michael reached above her hand and placed his there. The wall shifted into a readable language. Jonathan laughed. “Letter to Mom and Dad. Looks like your children are suggesting to use the harmonics to balance the power of the Granilith, to failsafe it from one activator, to three, with one main control.” Jonathan looked at Michael and Maria. “Guess the mystery of the harmonics is solved. They sent you a solution to safeguard the device from abuse. No one can hold power. It is divided.” Jonathan read the wall quickly. “Irritating. They suggest it, but they don’t tell you how. Guess they think some things you’ll have to figure out yourself.” Jonathan squatted down to a lower level. “Oh, this is personal! Michael, your son, Mikey would like to ask you to be lenient when he puts a dent in the Mustang. It was an accident.”

Maria laughed. Michael shook his head. Obviously, raising Mikey was going to be interesting. His innocent son, sleeping upstairs, was just beginning a truly fascinating journey.

“They suggest that by dividing the power, the Granilith will no longer need a warm up period, but can instantaneously be able to work.” Jonathan shook his head. “That much power. They broke the bonds of genetics and the basic cellular level of life, and harnessed the energy. They don’t say why it became necessary.”

“Perhaps they were afraid to say too much. At least too much to us. Too much to our younger selves. Maybe they need to make the choices themselves.” Maria suggested. Already they were all feeling the weight of responsibility of this Destiny. The burden was overbearing.

“It’s activated.” Michael motioned for Jonathan to enter the coordinates for Antar. “Let’s get rid of our guests.” They all walked from the central plexus to the chamber from which they entered the device. Touching the wall, they found themselves back in the loft. Maria looked back at the machine. Fascinating.

“Maxwell. They have ten minutes to get inside. We programmed it for Antar.”

Zan stood, as did Lonnie. They couldn’t believe it. All they had had to do was ask. That easy. Zan paused. Nothing was easy. Nothing was free.

“Why? Why are yah saving ourah lives?”

Max moved forward. “Zan, my son, is destined on the Book of Ascension to be the next ruler of Antar. He is the chosen King. I can’t return to Antar. I’m the King. I hold the Crest. My son has the blood of two alien parents. He can survive on both Earth and Antar. He is destined to be a King. I can’t lose my son to a world I have no part of, so I’m sending you in his place.”

Zan looked at Lonnie. “They won’t accept me. Not without the Crest. I know. I tried befoah.”

Max looked at Jonathan. “I am King. It is in my power to pass on my reign to my heir. To Zan. My son is destined to be a King.” Jonathan nodded, confirming Max’s assessment. Max shared a look with Tess. Her greatest fear, and his, was to lose their son to a world not theirs. “I choose...” Max reached out his hand, placing them around Zan’s head, he looked into his Dupe’s eyes. “I choose you!” Michael and the others turned away as the light of the loft increased and Max burned his Crest of Reign in Zan’s brain. He had transferred his rule to his Dupe.

Jonathan was the first to look back. He was astonished. He had never imagined that Max would give away his birthright to another. It was something he never expected. Perhaps all those years ago, Zan of Antar did understand more than the rest. He ordered the making of the Dupes genetically altered in order that they could barely survive on Earth, and able to return to Antar. It had been his master plan.

“Zan of Antar,” said Max. “Return to your world. It awaits you.”

Zan stepped back, stumbling on his feet, the pain still searing in his head. “You….I don’t undahrstand.”

“This is my world. It is my son’s world. The world of his mother. We have no need for Antar. That world has slipped away. Tell them,” Max said. “Tell them that Max of Earth says that there is no more Granilith. After today, it no longer exists. Look to yourselves for power and salvation, you will not find it here. This is our world, our time. We will defend it.”

Zan took Lonnie’s hand. He was King. She would rule at his side, his equal. She had all the ability to rule, and the warrior spirit of Rath in her blood. Together, they would bring Kivar to his knees. This time it would be different. This time, he had something extra. He had Lonnie, and he had a touch of humanity. Zan nodded. He led Lonnie to the Granilith, but he paused and looked back at his wife.

“Ava. Come. It’s time to go home.”

“No!” Tess held tight to Ava’s hand.

“It’s okay, Tess. It’s okay. I belong to them.” Ava hugged her and kissed her nephew’s head. “It’s best I leave. I’ve done things….bad things.”

Jonathan spoke up. “There are second chances, Ava, for anyone willing to take a chance. Give yourself that chance.” Ava looked at him kindly, but continued to follow the Dupes.

“No!” Tess looked at Kyle, desperate. “Kyle?”

He nodded. “Ava, Tess is right. This is your world. You don’t belong to them. You belong to us.”

Ava shook her head. “What has this world given me? Nothing but pain. It’s best go to a world that knows me.”

Ava started to join the others, but Tess pulled her back once again. “You belong here. You are me! Don’t you understand? They kept you from your world, from me. You aren’t them. You can breathe here. Not there. You go, you die!”

Ava looked at the group, at her sister. “I died. A long time ago.”

“You can have children.” Kyle said.

Ava stopped. She shook her head. “No. I’m sterile.”

Tess grabbed her arms and shook her. “No! That is what I’m trying to tell you! You’re not. They are! You mated with sterile men! You are my twin. You are exactly as I am. I can have babies. You can have babies. Don’t go. Don’t go with them.”

“Ava,” called Zan. “Time. We can’t wait.”

Ava looked between them. Her sister and Kyle, and Zan and Lonnie. Clearing her throat, she stepped closer to Zan and Tess, made a soft begging noise in her throat. “Zan of Antar. I divorce you. I divorce you. I divorce you.”

Tess made a loud shout of happiness and hugged her sister from behind. Kyle joined them, pulling them and the poor jostled baby away from the Granilith. Zan took one last look at his wife, shrugging, he and Lonnie both reached their hand upward to touch the cone.

They were there, then they were gone.

The Granilith seemed to build in power. Michael frowned.

“Um, maybe we should, um….run?” He didn’t get the thought out before in a burst of power and light, a wave radiated outward from the Granilith hitting the group of them in a wave. They all hit the ground, and in a moment that elongated, there was a rush of sound, then peaceful silence.

Sitting up, they all stared at the spot the Granilith had stood. All that was left was an empty circle. Destiny was fulfilled. Zan of Antar had been sent home to rule.

~~~

They all sat in the new family room, sprawled on the recently replaced carpet and sofa, sharing a large quantity of pizza and drinks. No one made a move to leave. The Granilith hadn’t returned, and no one knew when it would. They waited. It was somehow a part of all of them, with the exception of Max and Jonathan.

Michael was talking to the babies, lecturing Mikey about  not messing with the Mustang. It was never too soon to start. Mr. Booboo finally came in to join the fray, having spent the day with Ms. Fluffy and thereby missing all the action. He sniffed both babies’ heads and settled down next to their cot, purring contently in approval. Occasionally he licked his paw, smoothing back a wild hair, and when necessary, he groomed a baby who appeared a little dirty. His new pets had come home. He had already made the perfect nest for them in Michael’s drawer.

Julia was still trying to catch up on everything. She smiled at the large glittering stone on her finger, but there was something she had to know.

“So….” She cleared her throat. “I have to ask, because it’s killing me. This alien sex thing…”

That got a response from the entire group. They all laughed and made loud noises.

Julia laughed them down. “No, really! It was…..fantastic before, but now….” Julia fanned herself.

Sean looked outraged. “Honey! Don’t tell them everything!”

Julia snorted tossing a piece of pizza crust at him. “Yeah, like you weren’t going to take out a full page ad announcing yourself to be a super stud.”

“Well, talent always rises to the top.” Sean ducked from the barrage of bread sticks aimed at him.

Jonathan laughed, as he finished calling in a dessert order for delivery. Max sat down next to him. He  looked at Max with consideration. Things were as they were, but today, Max had called him for help. That meant something.

“So, you gave away your birthright.”

Max shrugged. “It seemed like the thing to do. I like my world. I love my family. I couldn’t imagine anyplace I would want to be more than here. Right now.” That, and he suspected Michael was right. He doubted that aliens had cable TV.

“I’m proud of you.” Jonathan said. “You are…everything. Everything I ever believed you could be, and so much more.”

Max cleared his throat. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“And Zan of Antar? Your King?

Jonathan looked down at his hands. “He is gone. He died a long time ago. There is only you. Only you, Max.”

“How much?” Max keep his face straight and dark, unyielding.

“I’ve loved you for a thousand years, across a galaxy, and waited for you over half a century. You’ve been the one constant fuel of my existence.”

Max nodded. “Then shift into Liz Parker. Be Liz Parker for me.”

Jonathan sat back in shock. That was a solution. He could be Liz Parker. He could be her, and be with Max. No one would question them. It was a simple solution to the missing Liz. One he had never thought of, much less considered.

“I never imprinted her. She was...um....gone before we ever met.” Jonathan licked his lips. “I have none of her memories, her emotions, her dreams, or even her profession. I can look like her, perhaps, but I can’t be her. I can’t give her life. She has long since drifted into dreams.”

“Is that a no?”

Jonathan pondered the question. He could look like Liz. No problem. He might be able to take over her life efficiently. But he was Jonathan. He had been Jonathan for almost forty years. Rubbing his face, Jonathan shut his eyes. “No. Not even for you. I am Jonathan. Jonathan Stiller. I don’t want to be anyone else. Just me.”

“That’s your final answer?”

Jonathan felt the anger rising. “What is this? Who wants to be a Shapeshifter? Yes! It’s my final answer!”

Max nodded. “Good. Then we are finally equals.”

Jonathan looked at Max in wonder. A test? Bastard. “I really hate you, some days.”

“Good.” Max leaned into Jonathan. “I love you too.” Max kissed him. Jonathan could feel his human heart beating out of control, his hand moving along the side of Max’s face.

“Can I make a request?”

“What?” Max said huskily. He really had missed Jonathan.

“That thing Zan, your Dupe, had going…you know...beard and long hair? It was very….um, arousing.”

Max sat back, his eyes narrowing. “Arousing? You were turned on?”

Jonathan shrugged. Who knew something unkempt and unwashed could be so….stimulating? Max made an angry jealous sound, and Jonathan laughed. Max caught the amusement, and reluctantly joined in. Turnabout was fair play.

Michael was watching the twins as they nursed. Amanda was done, but Mikey was a little glutton. Watching his son nurse was…powerfully arousing.

Maria seemed to read his mind. “Don’t even try to kid me. You find everything ‘arousing’.” Michael laughed at that. He did. He was sort of a horny guy.

“Something has been bothering me,” Michael said absentmindedly. He had meant to think it through, but the thought kept getting overshadowed by other things.

“What?” Maria asked. “About the babies?”

“No, they’re great.” They really were. Mikey, his father would’ve loved them. “No, about Max, or specifically, about Zan.”

“Zan who?” Maria asked. So many  to choose from. “Zan the baby? Zan the King? Or new Zan, the Dupe?”

“Zan the King, or specifically, Zan the baby.” Michael tried to order his thoughts. It had been a long day, a long week, and a long life. He was tired. “Stay with me here. All our children. They’re the Destiny. Our Destiny was to conceive them. Correct?”

Maria nodded. Hard to realize that the most wonderful thing you could do was breed, but looking at her children, she decided that it wasn’t that much of a hardship. “All our genetics were in the Granilith because of the our children. They must remain close. Raised together.  Friends. In the future, they remain close and strong.”

“I get that.” Michael’s eyes narrowed. “That’s the problem. Why isn’t…..or wasn’t, shit! What tense is correct? It has happened, but it happened in the past, and it is the future. Crap. I’m trying to say, that if all their genetics were in the Granilith, why not Max’s? Why not Zan’s?”

Maria sat up a little. “I understand. Zan will be raised with Tess and Kyle, and Max. He will be brother to Tess and Kyle’s child that is part of the Granilith, so why were his genetics missing?”

“Exactly.” Michael seemed to be thinking about it. “Unless….”

“He wasn’t there.” Maria looked at Michael in horror. Zan wasn’t part of the Granilith’s Destiny, because by the time the Granilith was created, Zan was gone.

Michael and Maria were talking low, trying to understand what it all meant when Ava stood up to take Zan. He was sleeping.

“I’ll put him to bed.” She hugged her nephew and walked him into the other room, into the dark living room to put him into the baby bed set up in the guest room. It happened so fast, she didn’t register the hands that ripped the baby from her. Nothing made sense except the scorching pain on her shoulder as she hit the dining room table to lie in a heap. Ava never registered her own scream.

They ran into the living room, Michael turning on the lights. Liz/ Pierce/ Torq’el, the Shifter stood there, holding baby Zan. Max advanced on him….her, his hand coming up.

Jonathan screamed. “Max, no! Not while she has the baby.”

“Listen to your boyfriend, Zan. There is no link to Destiny for either you or your son. I can easily kill him.” Liz Parker laughed, her laugh high and insane. “I can easily kill you!”

Maria quickly gathered the twins with Julia’s help, and took them into the den. They pulled Isabel in there with them. Julia was already a target, and nothing was more important than protecting the twins.

“What is it you want?” Michael had a hard time looking at him…at her. It was Liz, but it wasn’t. The Shifter was smart. He knew they would have a hard time harming the image of Liz Parker.

“My reward! He promised me. We had a deal.” Pierce shifted through Liz Parker to Pierce and back again, altering the image into something surreal. “I want the Granilith! I want the power that is mine!”

Max stepped forward, motioning the others back. He wasn’t part of Destiny. He was the more expendable. “There is no deal. You made a deal with a King who died over half a century ago, halfway across the known galaxy. I don’t owe you anything! Unhand my son. He is of no use to you. There is no Granilith. We sent it back to Antar, with my Dupe. Zan. I transferred my Crest to him. He is now the King. You missed your ride home, Shapeshifter.”

Pierce screamed in rage, his form shifting quickly between Liz and Pierce, and another, Nasedo. Zan started to wail, and Tess reached for her son. “Tess, no!” Kyle pulled her back.

“You did this?!” Liz screamed at Max. “You betrayed me!”

“Yes, I did this. I spit on your existence. There is no power here for you. Nothing.”

Jonathan felt the increase in the rage. He tried to warn Max, but he was too late. Liz raised her hand and a stream of power burst through the room. “You bastard!”

Jonathan moved into Max, pushing him aside. Hard. He felt the direct hit of the power stream in his back. Years. It had been years since last he felt his life drain, and death greet him. It was like a bright light, and the heralding of angels, either that or the last movement of blood through his ear cannels.

“Jonathan!” Max dropped, holding Jonathan as they collapsed to the floor. Tess froze, her brain unable to synthesize what happened, but as soon as time began to move in real time, one thing was apparent. Zan and Liz were gone.

“Zan! She has my baby! Zan!”