Transformation
By DocPaul
***************************************
Part
Three: The Royal Four
“The Royal Four was the reigning family of Antar
including the King’s mate. That defined how many were part of the power
structure. There were four of you, and that is what made you the Royal Four.
Once the King married his Queen, the joining ceremony added her into the Royal
family, and she was able to channel her power with the others.”
“That hardly sounds special or in the least bit
important. I would have thought an advanced society would’ve moved beyond a
hierarchy, especially one with a King.” Liz observed.
“You would think?” Kal laughed. “Perhaps over the
centuries and generations, as individual talents and powers became apparent,
specialized, it was easier to give power to the stronger members of the society.
The Antarian Kings were historically the strongest of all the families on all
the five ruling planets. The Antarian King was destined to marry a mate that was
his equal in power to combine and retain the strength of power in their family
lines. Centuries of careful breeding, and of all the Five Planets, only
Antar’s King remained unchallenged in power … or at least until something
unusual happened.” Kal looked at Michael. “A twin birth, equally strong, but
in different talents. It was a fluke. The King always had the strong eruptive
powers, the power to move energy, focus it and channel it. The Queen was chosen
because she was a capacitor of energy rival to the King, except … it wasn’t
the King that had the active power, but his brother.”
“Me?” Michael said. “My powers are more volatile.”
“Yes. The King was a healer and capable of creating
screens of protection, but the second was the one with the ruling power. It
created dissension in the society. A split in the culture as those who preferred
the King to be strong, to have stronger active powers. They turned to the twin,
supported his rise to the throne, since he was separated from it by mere moments
… an accident of birth.” Kal sneered at Max. “Sometime, the wrong man is
made King.”
“And me?” Isabel asked ignoring the Shapeshifter’s
hatred of Max. There was obviously a history of bad feelings.
Kal laughed. “You were unnecessary. All Antarian births
happen in pairs. The first born is the line that succession follows, and the
second birth is the supporting birth. That would’ve been your position. Your
loyalty will always be to your brother, the King. It is in your nature, and
should he die without issue, you would’ve risen to the throne in his place. Of
course, all that changed when the King was born a twin. The line of succession
automatically went to the next in bloodline … the Commander, and you, my dear
… you became superfluous. It was that bitterness that led you to ruin.”
“And my alliance to Kivar?”
“So you know about that.” Kal shrugged. Who was to say
after all these years? “A mystery. Perhaps because you were out of the line of
succession, you were released from your undying loyalty to your King … upset
that you were out of the line of succession due to the twin. You found a great
love in Kivar, and he used it to his advantage. He used your loss of position to
convince you that your brothers would fight, tearing the world apart in a civil
war. He offered a peace, a way to meld his power to your brother, the King,
saving his throne from those loyalists who supported your second brother.”
“There was no civil war.” Max said.
“No. Kivar preyed on Vilandra’s unrest and unhappiness
at seeing her two brothers forced to be on opposite sides of almost every issue.
She knew that her second brother supported their first brother, but the unrest
was great, and fear created a doubt for Kivar to exploit. He offered an alliance
between his great house and the ruling family, undying support and loyalty to
the King, and the end of all dissension.”
“He lied,” Michael said.
“Yes. For the first time in the history of the Antar
ruling family, the King didn’t hold the active powers, those needed for war,
those that should’ve joined to his mate’s. The brother held them.” Kal
looked at Michael. “You held the
active powers, and you were detained, held from the palace by Kivar’s
Lieutenant.”
“Nicolas.”
“Yes. You were separated from the throne, and whereas the
King was strong, his powers were more towards social forms and a social
awakening. Yours were those of war. Never had the King’s native powers been
split between two, and it was a disadvantage that Kivar exploited.”
“And the Royal Four?” Michael asked.
“There was a way for all those in the ruling family,
those in line to succeed to join their special powers into a unified force. The
joining of the King with his sibling … or in your case, siblings, and the
mate. You were the anomaly, whereas in previous generations there had only been
three, this time there was four. Vilandra was separated by Kivar, Rath was
detained, and the King and Queen together did not have the active powers to
repel a siege since the King’s active powers resided in the Commander, and not
himself.”
“Then by a fluke of birth, we were left scattered in
power.”
“No, you were stronger together than any ruling triad in
your history. The added fourth exponentially increased the powers beyond belief.
It was legendary.” Kal shook his head. “Unfortunately in the time of
greatest need, you were too far apart to activate your joint powers and Kivar
won the advantage. Your family could not see this great power lost for all time,
so they in a flash of insight saw a future need. They had you recreated, and
sent you to Earth. Here you were destined to be born, and realize your full
potential.”
“To liberate them.” Michael said.
Kal laughed shaking his head. “Liberate who? Your line is
extinct. Kivar now rules Antar, and it is his line that stands in succession.
There is no one left for you to liberate. The first thing a conqueror does is
murder all those of blood, and all those remaining loyalists. They have been
gone practically since the moment you were first killed.”
Liz sat up straighter. “If the King and his Queen and
siblings could repel an invasion, then couldn’t that be the need they had for
Tess in the other timeline?”
“More than likely. You can no longer rule on Antar, but
then again, you are human, and it is no longer your world. Perhaps your destiny
was to rule on this planet. Your people gave you a new chance, and a new
world.”
“Tess is gone.” Max said. “It is not possible.”
Maria came back into the room having heard the end of the
conversation. She smiled slightly at Liz before joining Michael. He looked at
her critically. She looked better.
Isabel frowned. “Tess is gone, but Max married Liz, and
she is altered. He saved her and she is showing powers. He died and she brought
him back.” Isabel approached Kal, hoping that not all was lost. “Couldn’t
Liz now be the mate, the fourth in the Royal Four? Can’t she replace Tess?”
“No,” said Maria softly. They all looked at her. “How
can she be? If Liz was able to replace Tess, then in the other timeline she
would’ve done so, since she was married to Max. Obviously she wasn’t the
destined mate since the world ended, and Max was forced to come back in time to
change events so that Tess, the real Queen would be there when they needed
her.”
The others were quiet as what Maria was saying sank in. Of
course, if Liz had been important enough to replace Tess, then the world
would’ve never ended in the first place. They needed Tess.
“Then it’s over,” said Michael. “Tess is gone.
Dead. There is no replacing her. We don’t even have a Granilith to go back in
time to restart the events.” Michael rubbed his face. “Tess was strong.
Stronger than Max. You saw what she did to the Air Force Base. Liz’s little
green energy or premonitions are nowhere close to Tess’s power.”
Kal gestured to Kyle and Liz. “So they are two of those
that you saved?” He said to Max.
“Yeah.”
“And they’re changing?” Kal asked.
“Liz gets premonitions. She had some active powers for a
while, but they seem to be waning. Kyle’s have just started. They seem
volatile and unpredictable.”
Kal sighed standing up and walking the room. “This
should’ve never happened.” He glanced at the others. “How many people have
you changed? How many have you saved?”
Michael glanced at Max and shrugged. “What does it
matter? It’s not important to us. We want to know …”
“Oh you should care!” Kal paced the room. “Without a
real stabilizing effect added to the humans changed, their lives will at best be
explosive and risky.” He pointed to Liz. “She lost her active powers because
she is human, and there isn’t enough energy in her system to sustain the
power. It will take humans at least another thousand years or so to develop to
this level of mental manipulation of matter. Their bodies are a powerhouse of
energy, but they lack the pathways to transfer and direct the energy.”
Liz licked her lips nervously. “At first I used to feel
… plugged in, energized by the use of the power. Now … it tires me to
exhaustion.”
Kal nodded. “That is why you have no active powers. Your
system shut them off, in a form of protection. Otherwise, like a light bulb, you
would burn yourself out. The premonitions will slowly do the same.”
“How do you know this?” Kyle asked, suddenly more than
a little interested since it involved him and his father.
“I saved a woman once. Long time ago.” Kal looked at
his watch. He had other things he needed to accomplish today. “She lived a
short life. Longer than the one she would’ve had had I not saved her. I
watched her life slowly leak away as every time she used the power, she became
weaker until there wasn’t enough energy left in her body to run her internal
organs.”
“Why didn’t she just stop using the powers?” Max
asked, his hand reaching to hold Liz’s.
“Can your wife control when she gets premonitions? Could
she control her active powers when she had them?” Max shook his head. Liz’s
powers were spotty and rarely controllable. “Of course not. She is not
advanced enough to handle the powers. You didn’t really change her, but rather
you turned on a genetic switch inside her … one that lives in all humans, one
that will not become active for at least another thousand years.”
“Can it be turned off?” Isabel asked suddenly thinking
of the children Max saved and Valenti.
“No. Once turned on, it replicates along the DNA process.
Nature decides when the body is ready, and your healing interfered with
nature’s balance.” Kal shook his head. Children. Power in the hands of
children. “The only way a person could survive is if their entire body was
altered, if the power of one of you was transferred into the human, melded
inside.”
Max felt a little hopeful. “I died. Liz brought me back.
Her powers were most active around me, and later, she brought me back.”
Kal suddenly became interested. “Really? Hmm, I’m not
sure, but even a short transfer of your body’s powers into her might have been
enough to stabilize her genetics. It’s never been done, so no one can know for
sure.” Kal laughed. “Strange. I always thought that your powers and crest
would’ve transferred to the next in line of succession, your brother, the
Commander.”
The group suddenly became quiet. Michael looked at the
others. “They did. Liz didn’t have Max’s powers. I did. I had the crest. I
was King.”
Kal looked at Liz. “Sorry, don’t know what else to
say.”
Kyle and Liz’s eyes met, both of them feeling their
doomed future awaiting them.
~~~
Maria was packing what little they had brought with them.
They were leaving before they were tracked to
“How are you feeling?”
Maria looked at the Shapeshifter in surprise. He had
searched her out. “A little shaky, but better than I did before.” She smiled
slightly. “Thanks for the room. I really needed the sleep.”
‘The attack, it disoriented you.” Kal came into the
room. “You have no idea how lucky you are to be human. You feel so much. Our
people, they came to Earth time and time again. They took your species, borrowed
from the genetics. There was something in your species, something admirable.
Survival. Innovation. A need to reach further. The powers we added to our own
genetics courtesy of yours were a bonus. What we are capable is nothing in
comparison to what you and your kind will be capable of when nature brings you
to that place … naturally.”
“Is that why they invade?”
Kal sat down on the arm of a chair in the room. “Perhaps.
You as a species are easy to herd and control in your youth, and once you evolve
into power it will be impossible. Our powers in comparison are a mere shadow of
what you will become.”
“So they need to control us now.”
“It is your nature to resist tyranny, to strive to
survive. In a few more generations, our people will not be able to contain you,
use you, and that is perhaps the motivator.”
“What right is it of yours to invade and take our
people?”
Kal shrugged. “What right is it of a people to invade a
continent and call it their own, interning the native people into reservations,
infecting them with disease? What right is it of any people to enslave another,
to annihilate and use at their will? Your history is full of conquerors and
atrocities. To the victor go the spoils. It is in your nature as it is in ours
to fight to be on top, to rule and control. It is in your nature to be as
violent as we are. Why do you think you have been held in fascination by us so
long? Why your genetics are so compatible?”
“That was our history, but we have moved beyond
imperialism.”
“No. You have hid it under other names, but it remains
the same.” Kal laughed. “I envy you. Envy your future children. They will be
born a step forward from you, with the combined advanced genetics of the
Commander and the genetics of their mother stabilizing them unlike anything we
could’ve brewed in a Petri dish.”
“You mean my children? Not Liz’s or Kyle’s?” Maria
sat on the edge of the bed. “They are still human, so what makes me different?
I am less …”
“You are more. Their genetics will always carry an
uncertainty. Maybe it will work out, but more than likely, their children will
be riddled with the same out of control powers, because nature will never see
them as anything but unnatural. Dead things that remain living usually are.”
Kal stood up moving closer to Maria. He never saw Michael come to stand in the
doorway. “This baby, it will be the next step in a natural process, and I
never thought to see this so soon.” Kal’s hand went to touch Maria’s
stomach.
“Get away from her.” Michael ordered his face dark and
malevolent.
“Aw, the father. A natural instinct to protect his
pregnant mate.”
“I’m not pregnant!” Maria moved closer to Michael.
Kal lifted a brow. “You don’t know. Interesting. Your
baby must instinctually realize that its mother has no native powers to protect
him. He gave you your instinctual fear and flight response to being attacked,
and he is keeping you away from the others. I bet the Commander is the only
person you feel comfortable around right now.”
“Michael …” Maria said biting her lip. She couldn’t
be pregnant! They took precautions! They couldn’t have a baby while on the
run. It wasn’t possible!
“We use birth control.” Michael told Kal.
“Don’t believe me, but you can tell if you want to.”
Kal laughed. “Did you think your alien genetics would let something as simple
as a birth control pill stop reproduction? You’ll reproduce when it is time,
in your cycle.” Maria moved uncomfortably. Her insides were still quaking, and
she didn’t want the Shapeshifter to be right. “The fetus knows when its
mother is in danger, by her hormonal response. It is telling her to flee, to
find safety. There is a reason she is unsettled, and only sleeps when you’re
near. Congratulations.” Kal left them.
Maria looked at Michael, her eyes huge in her face, fear
moving over her face. She shook her head. It wasn’t possible. Their lives
didn’t allow for children. The world, it was … ending.
“Maria!”
Michael followed her quickly into the bathroom as she was
sick.
~~~
“Lie still.” Michael told her.
“I … Michael, we can’t ….”
“Shush.” Michael concentrated. His hand moved over her
abdomen. There was a light on her stomach, and Maria moved under his hand, her
stomach moving upward towards his touch, as Michael smiled. “Oh god!”
“Yes?”
Michael looked at her, he nodded. “I could barely feel
him, but once I knew what I was looking for ….”
“Him? Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Michael moved to lie next to her, his hand
resting on her stomach. “It explains how nervous you are. Why you ran instead
of followed your training to protect yourself. It’s okay to risk your own
life, but not the life of your unborn child.”
Maria moved into him. “I can’t do this. I’m not even
twenty yet. I can’t be a mother. I can’t do this alone.”
“You’re not alone, Maria. I’m here, and I’m not
going anywhere … or at least not anywhere that you aren’t.” Michael moved
his hand up her body in comfort, his hand framing her face. “Don’t you want
a family with me? Children?”
Maria nodded, but the frown remained. “Yes. I don’t
want anything more, but I never expected it now! Not when we’re this young. I
thought we were protected from this. Michael, I wanted us to decide when we were
ready, not have fate take it from us.”
“I know.” Michael kissed her brow. “It’s too late
for that now. Maria,” he said, his eyes meeting hers, “I want this.”
“I know.” She whispered, her hand stroking his face.
“I know, but …” Maria closed her eyes to a nausea rising from fear,
threatening to overwhelm her. “I’m only human. What if I’m not strong
enough? What if I can’t protect myself and the baby, and …”
“That’s why you have me. You heard Kal. I have the
warlike active powers, and nothing is going to hurt you or our baby. Nothing is
going to touch my family.”
Maria moved her arm around Michael’s neck, trusting him
at his word. “My mother. I feel so terrible, Michael. I was her only child,
and she’s alone. Now she won’t know her grandchildren. I … I left her
alone, both her and Sean.”
Michael kissed her, tipping her mouth to his. “We’ll
figure it out, okay? I won’t let anything harm or upset you. Trust me.”
“I do.” Maria’s hand went to her flat stomach, and
she stroked it, a growing wonder moving over her face.
~~~
“Kyle, can you please calm down?”
Kyle stopped pushing his belonging into the bag. Looking up
at Isabel, he made a face. “No. No I can’t!” A lamp next to Isabel
exploded.
“Dammit, Kyle!”
He ignored her as he continued to pack what little
possessions he had in his life. “Don’t swear at me. I’m sick of walking
some damn imaginary line.” He stood up, running shaking hands through his hair
pushing it untidy peaks. “My whole life has been nothing but disrupted for
almost three and a half years. Hell, until I was shot, I was popular, a jock,
and happy! I actually remember being happy!”
Liz bit her lip, looking down. Kyle. He had gotten involved
because of her. She made him suspicious and jealous of Max, and when his father
seemed equally fascinated with Max. It wasn’t his fault. He never wanted this
or asked for it.
“I’m going to die! Did you not catch that Isabel?”
Kyle held his shaking hands out. They were glowing with a discharge of
electricity, almost a static electricity. His powers. Whatever they were, they
were coming on fast. “This,” he said showing her his hands, “… this is
going to drain my body of everything. All the life in my cells is going to be
leached out until there’s nothing left.”
“Kyle, maybe we’ll find a way …” Max started.
Kyle shot a look of pure vitriol at Max. “What? Now
you’re concerned about me? When we first heard all you cared about was Liz,
and her being okay. Did you think of me? My father? How about those children
from that Christmas? No, of course not. Just Liz! Now she’s dying too, thanks
to you, now you’re concerned!”
“He didn’t mean it that way, Kyle.” Isabel reassured
her friend.
“Oh? Really?” Kyle looked at Max and Liz. “So what
happened to me in the previous timeline, Max? Liz? Anyone? Don’t know, do you?
Because I didn’t rank even an honorable mention, just like Maria and Alex. We
don’t matter because we’re not alien or Liz! So fucking stop telling me to calm down or what is what! I know
what it is!”
“Kyle,” Max’s face was a color of confusion. He
needed to stop Kyle from leaving, but he didn’t know how.
“What’s going on?” Kal asked as he entered the room.
“Oh, what’s wrong with you people? Didn’t your parents teach you anything
about respect of other people’s property?” Kal picked up a vase, cracked. He
quickly repaired it. “This is a Sebastiano ranging over three hundred years
old. Priceless!”
Kyle ignored the Shapeshifter. “In case you missed the
411? It means my father and I are slated to die in the near future, and it
doesn’t matter to me if the whole fucking world goes eleven years later! After
all, my family line will already be extinct, and having King Max die is fine
with me!”
“Kyle …” Liz bit her lip, unhappy. What could she
say? She was faced with the same fate, her parents were gone, and there was
nothing left to hold onto.
“I’m going to get drunk while I still can.” Kyle
walked out not bothering to look back or hear anything.
“Well, that was pleasant.” Kal said to no one
specifically. “I guess I won’t mention that since you changed the future,
instead of altering it completely, you might have just sped up the inevitable.
Eleven years? Next year? Who can say?” Kal started to walk out of the room.
“Where are you going?” Max asked the Shapeshifter.
“Hey, if the world is to end, I want a good seat.”
~~~
“Yo, barkeep. Hit me!” Kyle shoved his glass across the
bar, before turning back to the lovely lady next to him. “Now what was I
saying? Oh, yeah. Beer. It’s a brew of champions, harmonic in the splendor
between hops and barley. Malted brew of the gods. Now Buddha teaches …”
“Hey, college boy, buzz off!”
Kyle looked up at the Neanderthal of a man determined to
live his last days immediately.
“You know, I can take many insults, or even a few
discouraging remarks, but College Boy?” Kyle stood up. “Now them’s fightin’
words! Do I look like a pansy ass pretty boy all weak about the knees with tears
in my eyes over some mealy mouthed lying chick?” Kyle gave the man a shove
before looking over at the girl. “I’ll only be a few seconds. Keep an eye on
my beer.”
Kyle pushed the man through the crowd ignoring his friends.
Outside, he looked at the huge beefy man and his line of friends. Smiling a nice
feral grin, he pushed his shirt sleeves up. Just what he needed, a little
exercise.
“Buddha forgive me, but I’m going to kick your
asses!” It took a while before Kyle woke up. Glancing up at a woman looking
down at him, he recognized one of the cocktail waitresses. “Hey, what
happened?”
“You look to be sleeping in the alley outside a bar. You
okay?”
“Yeah … sure!” Kyle sat up disoriented. “What? What
happened? I was taking care of business and …” Kyle looked around.
“Where’d they go?”
“Hospital most of them. You … well, it wasn’t pretty.
You knocked a few of them around, amazingly tossed one in to a brick wall with
what looked like a flick of your hand, and after they were all down, you just
seemed to collapse. I checked on you before. You were snoring, so I just left
you to sleep it off.”
“Hey, did you get me my last beer?”
“Dora, help me.” The woman gestured to her friend, the
other cocktail waitress. “You got somewhere to go?” She asked Kyle once she
got him on his feet.
“Unfortunately. You know Kal Langley?”
“The producer?”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. There. Don’t wanna go there. He has
boring people staying with him. I really don’t wanna talk to any of them right
now. Except maybe Maria. She’s the only human among those damn bitches.”
Kyle suddenly looked miserable. “God, I miss being human!”
Jackie looked over at her roommate Dora and shrugged. Dora
looked at the pathetic man. He was actually pretty cute, in a totally unkempt
way.
“Yeah, you can bring home the stray.”
“Thanks, Dora.”
“Yeah, yeah, but if he pisses on the carpet, you clean it
up.” The two waitresses struggled to get Kyle into their car.
~~~
“What’s going on?” Michael asked as he and Maria
entered the room watching Max, Liz and Isabel pacing the floor, with Liz
frantically calling the hospitals and police departments.
“Kyle’s gone missing.” Isabel told Michael while
chewing on a nail.
“Missing?” Michael didn’t understand. “You mean
someone abducted him?”
“No.” Max said passing Liz the directory for another
hospital. “He got upset and said he was going to get drunk. We searched for
him, but no luck.”
“He went on walk-about, and you just let him?” The room
was empty except for the few of them. “Where is the shifter?”
“Getting a good seat for the end of the world,” said
Max in disgust. “Maybe you and I should go hit some bars in the neighborhood
to find him?”
“Maybe. His powers are a little uncertain. Who knows how
alcohol will affect him.” Michael hated his experience, and personally
didn’t plan to go down that road again. He was in a dilemma. “I really
can’t be away from Maria right now.”
“She can stay with me and Isabel, Michael.” Liz
offered, frowning at the thought of Maria feeling sick still.
“That won’t do much good,” said Kal entering the
room. He was dressed outlandishly. They all stared at his attire. “Hey, Red
Carpet tonight! I’m entitled.” Kal looked at the group. “Thought you were
going to relieve me of your company before my place becomes a swarming haven for
Skins.”
“Kyle is missing. We’ll leave after we find him.” Max
told the Shapeshifter.
Michael looked at the others. “After we find him and you
arrange for us some cash.”
“Oh great! Now you’re going to rob me?”
Michael made a face. “You can afford it, and it will be a
nice way to make sure we get as far from you as possible, that and a nice
car.” Michael gestured to Max. “The King could order it.”
“No need. It would be my pleasure to get rid of you.”
Kal looked at the group. “Have you considered just altering ones into
twenties?”
“Sure. Tried it when we were younger, but it never
worked. There are too many hidden security measures. Our fake ones keep getting
found and it leaves a nice trail straight to us.”
Kal laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that. It’s been
years since I altered money, of course I stuck with precious stones, and that
was back before they were registered. I guess the new colorized bills are a
little difficult.”
Max sighed. Times had been tough since they couldn’t
afford to create their own cash supply. They only did it in extreme conditions.
It left too big a trail for the Treasury Department Agents, which was a little
to close to Special Unit Agents. They tried ATM machines, but it seemed like
every place was under video surveillance. “We considered gold or precious
metals, but even they come with registry numbers and ownership papers. Diamond,
the same. You can’t just show up with a necklace or diamonds expecting to sell
them for cash.”
“Yeah, too young to have real experience. No education.
Unable to use your own names or social security numbers.” Kal shrugged. It was
good to see the King struggling. It felt … justified. “Yeah, it must suck to
be you.”
“Well, we’ll let you give us a little help.” Max
said, appreciating Michael’s suggestion. They had hit casinos, but there was
too much surveillance, and a big winner drew attention, especially one without a
social security number. “You take care of that, and Michael and I’ll go hit
some bars looking for Kyle. Hopefully, we’ll be out of here by tomorrow.”
“I don’t think the Commander is wanting to leave the
wife alone right now.” Kal suggested as he smiled at Maria. A visual shudder
when through her body.
“Okay, he is creeping me out.” Maria told Michael.
“Stop it!” Michael warned the Shapeshifter as he looked
at Maria. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and since entering the
room, her color paled to a nice nauseating paste with a tinge of grayness.
“You okay if I go?”
“I’ll go back upstairs.”
The room was quiet as they finally took into account
Maria’s physical condition. Liz stood up and went to touch Maria. No one liked
to think of her being attacked, and especially since it appeared to be worse
than she was admitting to, or Michael was saying.
“Maria …”
Shocked filled the room as Maria cringed in fear, her body
recoiling from Liz’s touch. There was a silence.
“Like I said, I don’t think the Commander wants to be
too far from the Mrs. right now.”
“What is going on?” Max asked.
Michael pulled Maria close, his hands hugging her as he
circled her body protectively. “Maria’s pregnant.”
Isabel stood up slowly and Liz’s face frowned at her
friend. The shaking in Maria’s thin body was more than morning sickness. Liz
was afraid to ask, but Maria’s reaction and fear since being attacked made it
a possibility.
“Whose baby is it?”
Michael exploded. “What the hell is that supposed to
mean?! Mine!” Maria put a calming hand on him. She looked at her friend.
“Liz, I wasn’t raped by the Skin. Really. I wasn’t.
It’s Michael’s baby. He’s the only person I sleep with, the only person
I’ve ever slept with.”
“I’m sorry.” Liz glanced at the upset man. “I
didn’t mean anything by it, Michael. I’ve just been so afraid since the
attack, because Maria seemed so traumatized, and …”
“It’s you.” Kal said cruelly, smiling when Liz
flinched. “All of you. Me. Anything or anyone alien.”
“I don’t understand,” said Liz. “Maria knows none
of us would ever harm her baby! We … all of us consider ourselves her family
and her child, her and Michael’s child would be ours too.”
“She knows that, but the baby doesn’t. He is acting on
instinct by giving her a natural need to flee, to be away from anyone alien
except the father.” Kal made a scoffing noise. “Let’s just say that on our
home world we don’t put too much care into others’ offspring, and actually
see them as a weakness to be exploited.”
“Exploited?” Max asked. “You mean killed.”
“Yes. Sending your son to Antar was a death sentence. You
have more to thank your Queen for than her giving up her life to take the
interest off you. Not that it worked, and god knows confessing to the world
hardly was worth her giving up her life. She risked everything to save her
child.”
“She killed an entire base of soldiers,” Liz pointed
out in anger, hating the way the Shapeshifter seemed to admire Tess, and hate
everything about her and Max.
“More will die before this over,” Kal told her.
“There is nothing you and your puny powers can do to stop that. The time to
change it passed with the death of the Queen and the loss of the Granilith. The
Royal Four is lost, and even if they weren’t … I can’t say whether they
had the power to stop a full scale invasion, not without the Granilith. Now
there is nothing but the slow march to death.”
Michael moved forward. “The Granilith? It was a device to
send us home … a one way trip. The Destiny book, we translated it. That was
all it said with some information about the healing stones.”
“Who do you think wrote that book in your native
language?” Kal asked. The group was quiet for a moment.
“Our mother,” said Isabel. The phrase made Michael
startle. His mother too. He had a mother.
“She’s dead, as are the others. They died so long ago.
The other shifter created the book with the information he wanted you to have,
to use … and nothing else. You think Kivar would spend so long searching for a
simple transportation device? The other Skins? In all these years, they
could’ve sent a ship to retrieve the Skins on Earth.”
Max felt a deep foreboding. His future self had the
Granilith, and they used it to send him back in time. Even with the Granilith in
their possession, they were unable to stop what happened, and now he was looking
at a future not only without the Granilith, but without Tess, the Queen.
“Perhaps you should tell us exactly what this Granilith
was, and why it was sent with us.” Max ordered.
“I thought you were leaving.”
“The sooner you tell us what we need to know,” said Max
to the unhappy man, “the sooner we leave, but not before.”
Kal looked at the group, all of them staring at him and the
resolve on their face was daunting. He gave a deep sigh. “Fine. I better order
us food, this could take a while.” Kal made a face at Liz. “Did it never
occur to you and this Future idiot King that he could’ve hung about longer,
just stayed away from his present self. He could’ve been a big help.”
Michael rolled his eyes. “Not hardly. No matter what he
was … he was still Max.”
Kal looked at Max sourly and then nodded at the Commander.
“You win the point. He wouldn’t have been any help at all. Look at what he
told you. The world ended and he honeymooned in Vegas. Shockingly helpful.”
“I’m saying.” Michael looked down at Maria when she
pinched him. There was enough blame to share all around, but it hardly mattered
any longer. This was their time, and nothing was going to change that or help.