The Four Faces of Rath - (CC, ALL, YTEEN) -Ch 66-71 - 8/6/05

[roswellkitkat]

Oh man, oh man, this is GREAT! <br><br>My theory on what happened...Michael messed up the past, where Kivar would take over, and the Royal 4's dna would be sent to Earth, so now there is only the true Royal 4 of Antar andnot the royal 4 that grew up on Earth. now..come back with answers!!! <p> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:white;font-family:century gothic;font-size:medium;">Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:olive;font-family:century gothic;font-size:medium;">Rudyard Kipling, English author</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--> </p><i></i>

[vecastone]

WOW !!!!!! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I KNEW IT , I KNEW IT !!!!! THIS IS AWESOME !!!!!! <br><br>THIS WHOLE TRAVEL IN TIME IS VERY DANGEROUS <br>COME HERE SOON !!!! <br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I'm back and I have a ton of <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :read --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/read.gif ALT=":read"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> to do to catch up. I vow, never again to let real life get in the way of fan fic! but I just wanted to let you know I love this. So many exciting things going on. I <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> this story. <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Fantastic...totally and completely fantastic! <p></p><i></i>

[isndbreeze]

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Tracie-</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Thanks for the fb! Glad you like it!<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Roswellkitkat-</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> You're pretty much right on track so far, but there are some twists coming up. Keep a'readin'! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :read --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/read.gif ALT=":read"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Vecastone-</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Yep! You knew it! You were right! But as I said above, there are some twists coming up! Keep reading! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :read --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/read.gif ALT=":read"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Bookwork-</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> RL can never compare with good FF ! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Glad you like the story!<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Buffyrosfan-</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Thanks for the great fb! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :wave --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/wavey.gif ALT=":wave"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Keep readin' <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :read --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/read.gif ALT=":read"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Glad you like it!<br><br>Here's the next chapter. I may post another tomorrow if you want it. I don't know how much you want to read at once, so I try to keep it moderate... so I can keep up with the writing, too, natch! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :ufo --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/ufo.gif ALT=":ufo"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub129.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsr ... dbreeze</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/aim116b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 5/24/03 2:20:23 am<br></i>

[isndbreeze]

The Four Faces of Rath



Ch-Ch-Changes

Chapter 20

XX



A shocked Michael stared at the two who had just entered the room.

“Zan? Is that you? …And Ava?”

Zan nodded… “Ava always believed that one day you would return, Michael. We’ve been waiting for you for… almost seventy years.”

“But this isn’t… this is……… Seventy years?” Michael asked, Zan’s statement just registering with him. “How old are you?”

“We’re ninety-three… both of us. But you don’t look a day older than when we saw you last, Michael. You must tell us your secret!”

“I just left you… seventy years in the past… Where’s Max? …and Liz… and MARIA! Oh my God! …MARIA!” Michael looked around quickly, and all the blood began to drain from his face. “Where’s Zorel… and Kryys, and Jayyd?”

Zan looked at Ava, and she shrugged.

“We don’t know those people, Michael. Are they in your time?”

“Yes. No… I mean… This is my time, Zan! This is the time that I came from. I left them all here when I went back to the past.” Michael collapsed onto a sofa and buried his face in his hands. “They’re gone! Everyone I knew… Everyone I ever loved…”

Zan and Ava sat down on each side of Michael and tried to comfort him.

“If this is the time that you came from, Michael, where was I in this time? Where was Ava? …And where was Rath?”

Michael didn’t look up from his hands at first. It was hard enough for him to say it.

“You were dead, Zan… all of you. Kivar killed you… seventy years ago. Your scientists took your DNA… and Ava’s… and Rath’s and Vilandra’s… and they combined it with DNA from humans on Eluymer. You, Rath, Ava, and Vilandra were reborn as Max, me, Tess, and Isabel. The scientists hoped that we would return and retake the throne one day… and we did.”

Zan and Ava appeared stunned.

“And this Maria and Liz of whom you spoke? I remember Rath saying that Maria was your lady.”

Michael nodded. He decided to avoid explaining Liz. It could not help for Ava to be upset right now, too.

“Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd were… are my children, Zan. I have to find out what happened and somehow find them and Maria!”

“Was Maria reborn from someone, too?”

Michael shook his head. “She was from Eluymer. I fell in love with her and married her.”

Zan nodded. “Well, your… that is, Rath’s… ties with Vilandra were not very strong. I always knew that. I’m not surprised that you chose someone else. From what you’ve told me, Michael, I’m inclined to believe that the past may have been changed.”

Michael’s face became even paler. It wasn’t that he didn’t know this already himself, but hearing it, it seemed somehow harsher… more final.

“Where is Rath,” Michael asked, just realizing that nobody had mentioned his whereabouts in this time.

Zan’s face took on a more somber look. “I guess you wouldn’t know. Shortly after you left, Rath disappeared. We haven’t seen him since.”

Michael looked shocked. “Did you look for him… Were there any clues to what might have happened to him?”

“Yes, Michael, we looked. We searched for more than three years. Sometimes I think that we are still searching! The most likely answer is that Rath was killed. We know that Kivar had a small army that was still loyal to him even when he was locked up.”

“Was locked up?” Michael queried.

“Kivar and Nicholas escaped about ten years after you left. Nothing more was heard from them for several years… then they tried again to take the throne, but we were better prepared this time. Rath had always warned me that I should get out and find out what was going on in my kingdom. I finally took his advice… after he was gone. It saved our lives.”

Ava put her hand on Zan’s arm and patted it lovingly. “Rath saved us even after he was gone,” she said.

Zan nodded. “He was more to us than just a leader of my army, you know… more than just a warrior…”

“I know,” Michael said quietly. He found it somehow unnerving to be talking about himself as though he were dead. And he and Rath were, in a way, the same person, even if they were also different.

“That’s why we’ve been waiting so anxiously for your return, Michael,” Zan said. “We always thought that there was something about you that was like a spark of Rath. You had his spark in you. And, too, we hoped that you might be able to help us discover what happened to him.”

Michael nodded then put his face into his hands again. “I have to find Maria first… and Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd. I have to find the people I knew and loved… still love… here!”

“Have you considered, Michael,” Zan said, “that, if the past was changed and we did not die seventy years ago, then our scientists did not sent our DNA to Eluymer either. So perhaps you never grew up on Eluymer, and your lady, Maria, may have never known you. She may have found someone else and may have a family there…”

“No!” Michael said loudly, shaking his head vigorously. “No…” He didn’t want to accept it, but he knew, in his heart, that Zan was right. Maria… and Liz… would have never known him or Max. They probably would have married, but it would not have been to them.

“Portal!” Michael said loudly.

“Ask.”

“Take me to wherever Maria is in this time. I must find Maria.”

“That may be a mistake,” Zan tried to say, but it was too late. Michael had stepped through the portal and was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael reappeared in the entrance of a small café. He sat down at a table and looked around to see where he was. Spotting a sign outside, he got up again and walked back out to take a look.

“The CrashDown! Maria never left Roswell!” Michael went back inside and sat down again, and a young waitress came running over to wait on him.

“I’m so glad you came back! I thought you had walked out. We’ve been kind of swamped today. I’m sorry if the service has been a little slow.”

“No problem,” Michael said.

“What’ll you have?”

“A Monster Alien Burger Combo and a…”

“Whoa, whoa… whoa!” the waitress said, laughing. “How long has it been since you’ve been here?”

“Maybe you’d better let me see a menu,” Michael said.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Didn’t I give you a menu? Here…” The waitress grabbed a menu and laid it in front of Michael opened.

Michael looked at the menu and gasped… not so much at the change in the food but in the prices.

“$49.50 for an eight ounce sirloin? $9.99 for a cup of coffee?”

“It’s Java au crème de lait… and you won’t find better prices around here anywhere, sir.”

“Can I afford a bottle of Tabasco?”

“No charge. What do you want to put it on?”

“Nothing.”

The waitress looked at him.

“Alright… Bring me the chicken cordon bleu… early bird… Can I get the senior…?

The waitress smiled and collected up the menu, shaking her head.

“Okay, just the early bird… Geez! $9.99 for a cup of French coffee with delayed cream, whatever that is, $26.45 for a piece of cheesy Gallic chicken…! And the French called their ancestors the Gauls,” Michael grumbled to himself. “At least the Tabasco’s still free.”

The waitress was back in a flash with the Tabasco sauce. “Did you want something to drink, sir? I don’t think you told me.”

Michael shook his head. “This’ll do.”

The waitress looked at him but didn’t say anything. She just smiled and started to walk back to the kitchen.

“Oh, Miss!”

“Change your mind?”

“No. Uh, I was wondering… Do you know a waitress named Maria… Maria DeLuca?”

The waitress laughed. “It has been a long time since you were here, hasn’t it? Yeah, I know her. But she’s not a waitress. She owns this place.” The waitress turned to walk back toward the back again, which was just as well, because at the moment, Michael couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“Mom! Someone who remembers you from a long time ago wants to talk to you,” the waitress said, as she walked into the back of the café.

A few minutes later, Maria walked out, and the girl pointed out who had asked about her.

“Hi,” Maria said. “I hear you were asking about me. Did we know each other? I’m afraid I don’t remember you. You look like someone I would remember.”

Michael smiled and blushed slightly. “Yeah, but I’m not surprised you don’t remember me. It was a long time ago… apparently. So you own this place now, huh?”

“Yeah! My husband bought it for me…”

“Your husband?”

Maria nodded. “When the Parkers moved out to California…”

“Liz moved to California?”

“Yeah… Liz went to UCLA to study molecular biology. A year after she graduated, she got a position in the biology department at Harvard, and her family moved again. She’s head of molecular biology research at Harvard now. You knew Liz, too?”

“Yeah. You and Liz used to be the waitresses here.”

Maria laughed. “Omigod! That was eighteen years ago… almost… uh, well, maybe not quite…” Maria smiled and pushed the hair out of her face then blushed a bit, too. “I’m just so surprised that you know me and I can’t remember you. My memory is usually pretty good.”

“Did I hear the waitress call you ‘Mom’?”

“Yeah… That’s my daughter, Sydney.”

“You don’t look old enough to have a grown daughter.”

“You’re a sweetheart! No, but she is… well, actually, she’s my husband’s daughter, but since we’re married, she’s mine, too, right?”

“Sydney…” Michael’s mind began to put two and two together. “Her last name… your last name… wouldn’t be ‘Davis,’ would it?”

“Omigod, now I really am going to be wondering where I knew you! I just can’t believe you know everything about me, and I don’t remember you at all. You do look familiar, though… in some strange way… It’s odd. I feel like we knew each other in a previous lifetime or something.” Maria laughed.

“Yeah… I think that’s it,” Michael agreed with a forced smile. What he was actually thinking was, “That son-of-a-bitch! I knew I should’ve killed Brody when I had the chance!” But as he thought about it, he decided that Maria could have married anyone, after all… “Perhaps the enemy you know is better than the one you don’t. And Brody Davis wasn’t such a bad guy really… just a bit too old for Maria,” Michael thought to himself.

“Where did I know you,” Maria asked.

“Oh… I… I went to Roswell High when you and Liz were there… and I used to come into the CrashDown sometimes for the Monster Alien Burger Combo… with Tabasco sauce… and Snapples.” Michael added those last parts hoping that something in Maria might click… that she might have some kind of memories of him somewhere deep down…

Maria shook her head. “That’s so odd! I just don’t remember you at all. What’s your name?”

“Michael… Michael Guerin.”

“No… Doesn’t ring any bells at all. I’m usually so good at remembering people, too. This is going to haunt me now until I figure out who you were!”

Sydney brought the chicken cordon bleu to the table and placed it in front of Michael. Michael proceeded to pour Tabasco over it liberally.

“Ew,” Sydney said quietly, turning away with a grin.

“That’s funny,” Maria said. “I seem to remember knowing someone who did that… but I can’t remember who. Now that’s going to haunt me, too.”

End of chapter 20
tbc…

[majiklmoon]

Darn it Gerry, this is just too good for words! <p><center><i>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</i></center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center> </p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :clap --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/clap.gif ALT=":clap"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[isndbreeze]

Thanks for the fb, Tracie and Bookwork! I just finished writing chapter 23 last night, and I'm a bit ahead, so I'm going to go ahead and post chapter 21. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i></i>

[isndbreeze]

The Four Faces of Rath



The Artist / The Warrior

Chapter 21

XXI



Michael stepped out of the portal and back into the palace.

“Did you find your lady, Maria, Michael,” Zan asked.

“Yeah, I found her.”

“Was everything alright?”

“She married that UFO museum jerk, Brody Davis. How can everything be alright?”

“Is he a bad person?”

“Yeah. He married Maria.” Michael sighed… “No, not really, I guess. But he’s too old for Maria. He’s got to be at least ten years older than her.”

“Does she love him?”

“I don’t know! I guess so… she married him. What does it matter?”

“She wasn’t unfaithful to you, you know, if she never knew you.”

“I know… But that doesn’t make it any easier.”

Zan nodded. “I understand.”

“I’d like to be alone for awhile,” Michael said. “Is there a…”

“A room for you?” Zan finished his question for him. “Of course! Just tell me which room was yours, and it will be yours again… any room you would like in the palace.”

“Thank you,” Michael said. “I wonder what happened to my own house in the country.”

Michael showed Zan and Ava the room that had been his in the palace, and they left him to his own thoughts. Michael closed the door, took off his shirt, and sat down on the bed, putting his head in his hands, but then he looked up again with determination.

“The last thing I need to be doing is sitting in my room moping.”

Michael grabbed his shirt and put it back on then walked back out to the living area.

“Back already, Michael? Have you decided what you’re going to do?”

“I’ve decided what I’m NOT going to do… I’m not going to waste my time sitting around moping about what I’ve lost. I’m going to do something. Is there somewhere around here where I can buy some new clothes and get some things I need?”

“Well, there’s Kyyks. They’ve got about everything anyone could need. You can put it on the palace account for now. I’m sure you don’t have a lot of currency on you, since you were expecting to find something different when you came here.”

Michael nodded. He had forgotten that Kyyks had actually been around before the royals were killed, so it was logical that it would still be here even if some other things might have changed.

“I’m going to see if I can find out what happened to Rath,” Michael said. “Maybe while I’m working on that, something will come to me, and I can figure out how to fix whatever has happened to time and get Maria and the kids back. Tell me what you can about Rath’s disappearance.”

“Well…” Zan said, “He disappeared about six moon cycles after you left, I guess…” Zan looked at Ava, and she nodded. Zan continued…

“Rath had been having strange visions… of places he’d never seen before…”

“And there was a dream about flying,” Ava said.

“Yes.” Zan nodded. “And he couldn’t remember ever having seen the places in his dreams before and didn’t know why he would dream of flying, since none of us remember ever having had wings.”

“I’ve had that dream,” Michael said. “I don’t remember ever having had wings, either. What places did Rath see in his dreams?”

“In one dream, he would be a child, and he would see a man hitting him. In the dream, he felt that the man was his father, but, of course, we know that it was not. He told us of another dream in which the man started to strike him with a bottle, but a being… a powerful and beautiful angel surrounded by a bright light, came in and blasted the bottle apart in the man’s hands with the power of his mind then showed the man what would happen to him if he continued to be evil by setting his feet on fire with a bolt of lightning. Rath said this so affected the man that the man didn’t strike him again for almost two years.”

Michael listened in disbelief. “I thought maybe it would stop him for a week, perhaps a month. But two years! I must have really scared the bejeebers out of Hank when I set his shoes on fire!”

“Hank!” Ava said. “That was the name Rath used for the man in his dreams!”

“Michael?” Zan looked at him questioningly.

“The boy was me,” Michael said quietly. I really don’t know why Rath would have had that dream, Zan. When Kivar killed us in the past and the new hybrids were created on Eluymer… we were placed in pods to incubate in a secret place in the desert. When we emerged from the pods, we were about six years old in Earth years, so the Earth people who found us placed us with adults who would be our parents. But we were not all treated alike. You and Vilandra were adopted by a good family and grew up as brother and sister. I was given to Hank, who became my foster father; and as you’ve heard, he was not so nice. Ava was actually found by her protector, a shape-shifter from Antar, before the Earth people found her. This shape-shifter, whom we knew as Nasedo, never harmed Ava physically, but he raised her to believe that Antarians were far superior to Earth people and should use Earth people or even kill them as necessary. When Max –that’s your hybrid, Zan- and I went back in time… the first time… to save Maria and… some others, we found that our intervention had somehow changed Ava by removing some of Nasedo’s influences.”

“And the angel Rath saw?”

“Me,” Michael said. “When I started this quest to find out who I was, I went back and found Hank about to strike me… I mean, my six-year-old counterpart… with a bottle. I did what I felt would help… short of killing Hank.”

“Somehow, Rath saw this happen,” Zan said, “…in his dreams. He also saw your lady, Maria.”

“Maria?” Michael asked, perking up suddenly. “What about Maria?”

“Different things… Mostly, he was confused and conflicted by the way seeing her made him feel. He found himself being more and more attracted to her and less and less to Vilandra. He fought this, because he knew that she was your lady. He didn’t know why he would have these feelings. I don’t think Vilandra was a consideration. To tell the truth, the two of them were never close… They just thought that they were supposed to be.

And it is interesting that you should mention the shape-shifter, Nasedo,” Zan continued. “I knew Nasedo. It was not common knowledge, but there were a few shape-shifters who came over to our side and abandoned Kivar. A very few of these… I believe there were five in all… were trusted enough to be assigned to protect the royals covertly. They were the perfect choice for this job, because Kivar believed that all the shape-shifters were loyal to him. And, of course, their ability to change their shapes was a factor in their assignment, too. I’m really not surprised that Nasedo or any of the other four trusted shape-shifters would have been sent to Eluymer to protect the royal hybrids. It makes sense.”

“What else can you remember about Rath from that time,” Michael asked.

“That’s about it… just the constant dreams during the last days before he disappeared. We knew that some of Kivar’s old group were remassing to try to rescue Kivar and Nyykto. But after Rath disappeared, we saw no more of them. We always figured that they had ambushed Rath somehow and were either holding him as their prisoner to demand Kivar and Nyykto’s release… or they had killed Rath and had decided to lay low for a time.”

“Yeah,” Michael said, “The hostage thing sounds right in the beginning, but after all these years, it seems unlikely. It’s possible that they took him hostage to trade him for Kivar and Nyykto, then he tried to escape and was killed but managed to kill all those holding him at the same time. I’ve seen Rath work. He’s capable of it.”

“Yes,” Zan agreed. ‘He was indeed. And your scenario sounds very plausible, Michael. The fact that something like that may have happened is what we’ve always feared. You can begin your search by talking to Garandev if you’d like. His father was one of Rath’s most trusted captains, and he also knew Rath. Perhaps he can tell you something that I can’t. He can also give you the names of others you can talk to.”

Michael nodded. “Thank you. I’d best get started right away.” Michael turned and left the palace. His first stop was Kyyks, then he headed for Garandev’s house.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Michael, I can’t tell you what you did to me when you appeared at my door,” Garandev said. “My heart literally leapt into my throat. I was sure that Rath had returned. I’m still in shock over how much you look like him. The differences are so tiny… I don’t think anyone would ever notice.” Garandev laughed. “Actually, I rather imagine that most people wouldn’t believe that you weren’t Rath even if you pointed out the differences to them. You might as well be him.”

Michael smiled but didn’t immediately reply.

“We’re coming up to Rath’s house just ahead. He’s been gone for a very long time now, but his house is still kept up as though he were there. Zan has seen to it.”

Garandev pulled his Xac-Var III into the drive at Rath’s former home and passed his hand over the handprint on the dash. The three engines purred to a halt, and the car settled to a parking altitude of .5 kydarish, about seven and a half inches. The top of the car slid back, and Garandev and Michael stepped out.

“I’m a bit surprised to find the same hovercars that were here when Max and I were here, but I guess I shouldn’t be. After all, Max and I didn’t invent them. The same people who invented them in our time invented them in this time. To them, there never was a change… Zan just never went away, and we never came. Everything else just… well… continued.”

“That must be very strange for you,” Garandev said. “What kind of car did you have… before you came back and found things… like they are?”

“A Fan-Ji IV,” Michael said.

“Fan-Ji IV! That’s the new one… Variable cruising altitude up to… what is it… fourteen Kydarish?”

“Yeah, ten feet… fourteen kydarish.”

“That’s a nice-looking car. I wouldn’t mind having one myself. But I still like my Xac-Var III better than anything else in the air. Granted, it has one cruising altitude, 2.5 kydarish, and one parking altitude, point five kydarish, but it will still out-perform the best of them.”

“Nothing wrong with a Xac-Var III,” Michael agreed. "They’re sure to become classics. That third engine really kicks!”

“Yeah, it does,” Garandev said. “The thing about the Fan-Ji IV is that, yeah, it has four engines, but two of them are dedicated to the variable altitude control, so only two of them are available for speed.”

“It’s plenty fast enough,” Michael said.

Garandev nodded. “Oh, that it is! Don’t get me wrong… It’s a great car! I just wouldn’t give up my Xac-Var III… even if someone offered me two Dyygitix-Sixteens for it!”

Michael laughed. “You must really love this car! I’m afraid a Dyygitix-Sixteen would have cost me two years of my income.”

“Let’s go in,” Garandev said. “I’ve got a DNA pass.” Garandev passed the DNA card in front of the sensor on the door of Rath’s house, and the door opened for them. Michael and Garandev walked in and looked around.

“You’d never know that he wasn’t here this morning,” Michael said. “It looks so normal… lived in… kept up.”

Garandev nodded. “That’s the way Zan wants it. He still thinks Rath is coming back some day.”

Michael looked down at the floor. “I don’t think Zan’s living in denial. I think he knows the reality of the probability that Rath is dead, but he just refuses to give up hope. I guess that’s not a bad thing.”

“No,” Garandev agreed. “It’s not a bad thing. I hope he’s right.”

Michael walked through the door into one of the bedrooms and gasped. Garandev came running.

“What is it, Michael?”

Michael pointed at an easel beside the bed. On it was a sketch… a very good sketch… of Maria.

“I never knew that Rath was artistic,” Michael said. “Nobody ever told me that.”

“I guess he never told anyone, Michael. I knew it. He had a spark of genius in him. But I think this is far better than anything I ever saw him draw before. Even I didn’t know he was this good. Do you sketch, Michael?”

Michael nodded. “This looks a lot like a sketch that I once did of Maria.”

Michael stared at the picture for several minutes then turned and walked back out to the living area.

“Did Rath mention having anywhere to go, Garandev, or having anything left undone that he might have wanted to finish?”

Garandev shook his head. “I can’t think of anything. Rath lived for the realm. He was warrior… a supreme warrior… with one goal in life… to be the best at what he was and to protect the king and the realm.”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “That I knew. Well, I guess there’s nothing else to see in here. You want to go?”

Garandev nodded. Michael took one last look through the door of Rath’s bedroom at the sketch of Maria. Then he turned and walked out of the house with Garandev. As they were getting into Garandev’s car, six small children approached.

“That’s a nice car, mister.”

Garandev smiled. “Thanks.”

“Who are you,” one of the children asked Michael.

“My name is… Michael,” he answered, but something inside Michael’s head was ringing a loud and very clear warning. It wasn’t something he actually heard… more like a sixth sense. Michael did not smile but watched the children closely. Suddenly all six of the children shimmered then changed into large soldiers. Immediately, they attacked. Garandev was initially caught by surprise, as two of them grabbed him at once. The other four converged on Michael. Michael feigned a left hook then sent a lightning fast jab straight to the jaw of the first soldier, shattering his jaw and knocking him to the ground unconscious. The other three attacked together. Michael sent two of them flying through the air. He easily dispensed the last one with a roundhouse type kick to the abdomen. Michael looked at Garandev. He had disposed of his two adversaries, too. Garandev checked the two that Michael had sent flying…

“Their necks are broken, Michael.”

He checked the one Michael had kicked…

“Dead… multiple internal injuries… broken spine… from one kick to the abdomen!”

The fourth shape-shifter was still alive… barely… with a badly shattered jaw. The two who had attacked Garandev were also in serious condition, but with less extensive injuries overall.

Garandev looked at Michael. “If I didn’t know better, Michael, I’d swear that I was looking at Rath.”

Michael felt uneasy. He looked at the shape-shifters… the broken necks… the shattered jaw… the broken spine with internal injuries. Michael shook his head.

“I… I’ve got to go, Garandev… Let’s go. Can someone pick these guys up and take care of them?”

Garandev nodded. “I’ll see to it. I’ll get on the communicator now.”

Michael looked again at the shape-shifters… then he looked at his hands… “Who am I?”

End of chapter 21
tbc…

[roswellkitkat]

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :jawdrop --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... m/eek2.gif ALT=":jawdrop"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Gerry...you so CAN NOT leave it like that! What the heck is going on? I need to know! <p> <!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:white;font-family:century gothic;font-size:medium;">Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--><br><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:olive;font-family:century gothic;font-size:medium;">Rudyard Kipling, English author</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--> </p><i></i>

[majiklmoon]

yeah, what Melisa said....no leaving us hanging! <p><center><i>It all started with a boy, a girl, and a silver handprint.</i></center><center><a href=http://pub84.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsrealm><img src=http://members.aol.com/majiklmoon/image ... a></center> </p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

I <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> this story so much, but I'm wishing we had a smilie to show me killing you for leaving me hanging like that! <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :green --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... bounce.gif ALT=":green"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :blue --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/boldblue.gif ALT=":blue"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :green --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... bounce.gif ALT=":green"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :blue --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/boldblue.gif ALT=":blue"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :green --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... bounce.gif ALT=":green"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Love it love it love it<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :green --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... bounce.gif ALT=":green"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :blue --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/boldblue.gif ALT=":blue"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :green --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... bounce.gif ALT=":green"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :blue --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/boldblue.gif ALT=":blue"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[isndbreeze]

Thanks, Melisa, Tracie, Bookwork, and Buffyrosfan! I really appreciate the feedbacks! Bookwork, you gave me my laugh for the day. A smilie to show somebody killing someone for leaving them hanging! You hear that, Tracie? That's one we need! Something showing someone being strangled! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :lol --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/lol.gif ALT=":lol"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> Hey, it'd be good when talking about Tess in some of these stories, too! <br><br>Here are the next two chapters. I'll unload them on you together, because, well, I liked how chapter 23 came out and I want to see what you think! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :ufo --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/ufo.gif ALT=":ufo"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><br><br> <p><!--EZCODE CENTER START--><div style="text-align:center"><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/skysymb ... <!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:gold;">Gerry<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br>Hopeless Candy-Coated, Stargazing, <!--EZCODE UNDERLINE START--><span style="text-decoration:underline">Dreamer</span><!--EZCODE UNDERLINE END-->!<br>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--></strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></div><!--EZCODE CENTER END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub129.ezboard.com/bmajiklmoonsr ... dbreeze</A>  <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://users.aol.com/isndbreeze/aim116b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 5/27/03 3:36:21 pm<br></i>

[isndbreeze]

The Four Faces of Rath



I Don’t Need Wings To Fly, Dad

Chapter 22

XXII



After leaving Garandev, Michael called for the portal again…

“Portal, take me to wherever Shag and Maya are right now.”

Michael stepped into the portal and found himself on a balcony overlooking an Emerald sea. He recognized this place… the Emerald Sea… the moons visible in the day sky… It was Xarius, and he was at the palace of Shaqor and Maya. Michael heard footsteps coming; then the doors to the balcony opened, and he found himself face to face with Shaqor-Niseel Vredis Davor, Zasharn of Xarius, affectionately nicknamed “Shag” by Maya, and usually called Shag by the royal family and their friends on Antar.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Shag! I’m Michael… You know me… Don’t you remember?”

Shaqor shook his head. “I don’t know a ‘Michael.’”

“Rath,” Michael said. “I’m called Rath. I’m from Antar!”

“Rath? …from Antar? I know that there was a warrior… a general named Rath… on Antar. He disappeared many years ago.”

“No. Not that Rath… I’m Michael, from Earth…”

“Urth?”

“Earth… you know… Eluymer…”

“The place where my wife lived when I found her?”

“Yeah! That’s it! Don’t you remember? Max and I retook the throne of Antar…”

Shaqor raised his eyebrows. “Antar is at peace. The king of Antar is Zan… has been for almost a hundred years. His father was king before him… You cannot be who you say you are.”

“Then how am I able to command the sphere of the portal,” Michael asked.

Shaqor looked suddenly interested. “My sphere? You cannot…”

“Portal!” Michael called.

A doorway that looked something like a mirror appeared. “Ask.”

Michael looked at Shaqor. Shaqor’s eyebrows had gone up considerably.

“Never mind,” Michael said. “I won’t need the portal right now.”

The portal disappeared.

“Okay,” Shag said. “Come in.” Michael walked into Shag and Maya’s bedroom behind him.

“Now start explaining… Michael… or whoever you are. How is it you are able to command my sphere? Only Maya and I can command it.”

“And Liz,” Michael added.

Shag shook his head. “I know of no Liz.”

“You did,” Michael replied. “She’s Maya’s direct descendent from Eluymer. She’s Max’s wife…”

“Who is Max?”

“Max is Zan… Geez, this is going to be hard…”

Michael sat down on a chair and began to explain everything to Shaqor. When he had finished, Shaqor shook his head and whistled lightly.

“You have a problem, Michael.”

“I think it’s bigger than me,” Michael said.

Shag nodded. “I have to agree. If what you said is accurate, we have to find some way to correct the aberration in time.”

“But how,” Michael asked. “Maria doesn’t remember me at all. She’s married… to Brody of all people!”

“You’d rather it were someone else?” Shag asked.

“Of course not! I’d rather it were no one!” Michael retorted. Then he added, sadly, “I’d rather it were me…”

Shag nodded his understanding. “I don’t know what can be done, my friend, but we will work on it together. Perhaps if we knew exactly what caused the aberration…”

“I guess I did,” Michael replied. “I kept Nyykto from finding Rath, because he found me first and thought I was Rath. So Rath was able to attack Kivar and defeat him, because Kivar thought Nyykto had taken care of Rath… but it was me.”

“Don’t be too fast to blame yourself, Michael. I know something about time. I have lived for 12,337 years after all. It hasn’t been without learning a few things along the way.”

“How can I not blame myself, Shag? The evidence is all there.”

“The evidence you see, Michael,” Shaqor said. “There is usually more than what one sees to everything… and time is not so easily changed.”

“I kept Nyykto from finding Rath, so Rath caught Kivar unaware. Result: The royal family didn’t die, I never met Maria, my children were never born. It seems simple to me,” Michael said.

“It may seem so, Michael, but time is like a river…”

“Yeah, I keep hearing that.”

“Okay, well, imagine this… Nyykto finds you, thinks he found Rath… Does that change everything in time?”

“It looks like it did,” Michael said.

“If you think of time as a river, Michael, imagine that the river is flowing along, and you dip your hand in it. Undoubtedly, you have had an effect, but have you changed the river?”

“No, of course not. It would take more than my hand…”

“Okay, imagine that those little animals that you had on Eluymer with the flat tails built one of their dams in the river… a big river like the river of time… would it totally change the river?”

“Probably not really,” Michael said. “If it was a small river or a creek, it might, but a large river would probably part and flow around the dam and rejoin somewhere downstream. The beavers might create a pond with their dam, but the river wouldn’t be stopped or its course significantly altered except at that spot.”

“Ah, so you agree that the effect to the river would not necessarily be catastrophic?”

“Yeah… I guess so.”

“Then why do you think that Nykkto finding you instead of Rath catastrophically altered the river of time?”

“Because the evidence suggests it,” Michael said.

“What if there were other evidence?”

“I would have to see it,” Michael said, still unsure.

“We shall see,” Shaqor replied. “We shall see if there are any other trails. I’m not asking you these things just to ease your conscience, Michael.”

“Don’t worry, Shag, you haven’t.”

Shaqor smiled. “In order to fix what is wrong, we have to find the true cause of the aberration… and if you are convinced that you are the one and only true cause… then you may be inclined not to look any further, and you will not see any clues that might be there. If you wish to see your Maria again…” Michael suddenly was listening with all his attention… “you must look for any clues… all clues… that would tell you what happened. Only when you know the cause will you be able to fix the problem.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the palace on Antar, in his own room, Michael looked at his shaking hands again and shook his head…

“I know who I am. Why did I act like Rath today? What’s wrong with me?”

Michael thought about Maria… then about Jayyd… and Zorel… and Kryys… As he thought about them, a movement in the room got his attention, and Michael looked up suddenly.

“What? Is it possible? Kryys? Oh my God! If you’re here, where are Jayyd and Zorel?”

“Not born,” Kryys said simply.’’

“But how are you here then?”

Kryys smiled. “I don’t need wings to fly, Dad.”

“What does that mean, Kryys. I’m not a philosopher.”

“Master Drax taught me to become one with time. When everyone else disappeared, my essence remained… just as theirs does, but they’re not aware of themselves. I am here, because I am aware of myself, but I’m not really who I was, and you’re not who you were.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Your DNA was never sent to Earth… You were never born.”

“But I’m here. If I’m here, how can I not have been born?”

“Haven’t you figured that out yet, Dad?”

Michael shook his head.

Six months after you left the past, but before the time you were returning to, Rath disappeared… You ceased to exist at the same moment, because that’s when your DNA was mixed with Earth DNA and ‘Michael’s’ life began… only it didn’t happen… and you never came back from the past.”

Michael turned pale. “No! No, I’m not…” Michael thought back. “You’re saying that I’m really Rath? …that Michael no longer exists? I… I still have my own memories.”

“For now,” Kryys said. “Master Drax said that is a good thing. As long as you have your own memories, too, there is hope that the river can be corrected.”

“And if I forget… my own memories?”

Kryys shook his head. “Then that life will be gone… forever.”

End of chapter 22
tbc…

[isndbreeze]

The Four Faces of Rath



Wedding Itch

Chapter 23

XXIII



As Michael sat on his bed, thinking about what Kryys had said, he had another unexpected visitor… one who entered his room through the portal…

“Shag! What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been working on your problem, Michael. I’ve made some inquiries and found out a few things.”

“There’s something you didn’t know, Shag… after 12,337 years?” Michael asked with a tiny bit of sarcasm.

“I’m still learning new things, Michael. Anyway, here’s what I found out. In the twenty-ninth galaxy, in sector 3Y, there is a small group of beings that are capable of altering the course of time. They can go backward or forward in time at will and alter time in pretty much any way they wish. Fortunately for all of us, these beings have the strictest laws regarding the use of their powers, and none of them has ever gone against their laws… until recently.”

“What do you mean, ‘until recently?’”

“Well, recently to me… not to you, I guess. …Historically recently… like in the last seventy years. Does that ring any bells for you, Michael?”

“Seventy years… right about the time I left the past and things went out of whack…”

“Right. I don’t have any proof, so far, that the Nogi-Ky’a –That’s the beings I was talking about- have actually had any part in your personal situation, but the circumstantial evidence is mounting.”

“What circumstantial evidence?”

“Six of the Nogi-Ky’a decided to go against the laws of their people seventy years ago and use their power to alter time in order to… sort of ‘uncreate’ a planet.”

“Whoa!”

“Yeah. Well, you see, the Nogi-Ky’a are rather unremarkable except for their power to alter time or travel in time. And their planet has been plagued for almost ten thousand years by this other planet…”

“The one that no longer exists?”

“Exactly. The planet was called Roshix. Anyway, the Roshixians were sort of like the Ghors were here, I guess, only worse…”

“There’s something worse that a Ghor?”

Shaqor ignored the comment and continued. “The Roshixians were larger, stronger, and considerably more inclined to violence than the Nogi-Ky’a; and for ten thousand years, they pretty much had their way with the Nogi-Ky’a, showing up whenever they wished and taking Nogi-Ky’a as slaves, killing them for no reason at all, or stealing everything they had.”

“I’d be pretty pissed, too,” Michael said.

“They were ‘pissed,’ as you say, Michael, but they knew that using their power unwisely was potentially even worse than the unbearable situation they had to tolerate.”

“How could it be worse than that?”

“On Xarius, there is a … riddle, I think you would call it. They ask someone if they could choose between a job that paid a million Unsits for a month’s work or one that paid…”

“I’ve heard this,” Michael said. “We had the same ‘riddle’ on Earth. If someone offered you a million dollars for a month’s work or one penny the first day, two pennies the second day, four pennies the third day and kept on doubling it each day for a month, which offer would you take?”

“Right. Same idea.”

“Yeah, the multiplication factor makes the penny the better deal.”

“Exactly. Well, it’s the same thing with changing time. Every action has multiple reactions, and each one of those reactions creates multiple new reactions. Eventually, it is impossible to track down all the reactions in order to contain them or change them back if you need to. So the Nogi-Ky’a can only use their power after an extensive review by the ruling board to determine every possible reaction and make allowances for it. The problem is, the board had consistently refused to allow the planet Roshix to be destroyed –uncreated, I guess, is a better description- because the reactions were determined to be too great to contain or predict. For everyone in the universe, it would be like standing in a lightning storm. Anyone might be hit by a reaction. I think that’s what happened to you, Michael. You were hit.”

“Interesting,” Michael said. “So you’re saying that I didn’t do anything to cause it myself?”

“I didn’t say that,” Shaqor said. “What you did was, lets say, you stood outside flying a Jishkee on a string in the storm… and you got hit. You didn’t create the lightning, but you made yourself a great target for it. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I get your point, Shag. So what do we do about it?”

“That’s the big question, Michael.”

“If these Nogi-Ky’a have the power to change time, couldn’t they just change everything back?”

“I’m sure they would change it all back if they could track all the reactions down, Michael.”

“Couldn’t we just go to them and tell them that this was a reaction, and ask them to change it?”

“It might not do you much good, Michael. They’d have to study your claim for about 300 years then determine all the reactions that would occur if they changed that one reaction without changing the ones that led up to it in the order in which they occurred.”

”So what you’re saying is I’m screwed.”

“I didn’t say that exactly.”

“Okay, 99.99 percent screwed.”

“Something like that.”

“That’s what I thought. Kryys told me that as long as I still have my own memories, there’s still hope of changing the aberration in time.”

“Kryys?”

“Yeah, my son, Kryys.”

“When did he tell you this?”

“Today… a little while ago… He was just here.”

“How?”

“Oh, yeah, you don’t remember him. Well Kryys is… sort of unique. He can change his physical body into streams of billions of molecules and join the river of time. He said that’s the reason he’s still around… because he’s aware of himself and the others aren’t.”

“Makes sense,” Shaqor said.

“I’m glad it does to you, Shag. It took me a really long time to understand all this time stuff.”

“So you still have all your memories, therefore there’s still hope…”

“Right… according to Kryys… and the Drax-ta-Kiya.”

“I’ve heard of him… from Jeroglasst.”

“Right.”

“Tell me again, what were the names of the people you were looking for, Michael?”

“My wife, Maria… and my children, Zorel, Kryys, and Jayyd.”

Shaqor wrote it down. “Who else?”

Max… and his wife, Elis- uh… Elisha, and his children………… I… I can’t think of their names.”

“How many children did he have?”

“Three… No, four… I think… or maybe five…”

Shaqor looked at Michael. “Michael, you told me before that Max’s wife’s name was Liz.”

“Liz! That’s right… Elizabeth! That’s what I was thinking of.”

“You’re forgetting, Michael.”

Michael shook his head at first but then nodded and winced slightly. “Shag… I think I need to refresh my memory… I can’t let myself forget them.”

“Do you remember their faces?”

Michael thought about it. “Maria’s, yeah… and Kryys’… He was just here… and Jayyd’s… I think.”

“You must try to remember, Michael.”

“Shag, I’ve gotta go.”

“Where?”

“To find Li- Liz. I can create new pictures in my mind… in case the old ones fail me. I have to have something I can hold on to and remember them by.”

Michael called for the portal then stepped through.

“Good luck, Michael,” Shaqor said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<<<<>>>>>>>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stepping out of the portal, Michael found himself in a garden where a wedding was about to start.

“Great,” he thought to himself, as he looked around then took a seat. Leaning over to a young lady beside him, Michael asked, hoping to find out who was getting married… “Are you a friend of the bride or the groom?”

“Both,” the lady replied. “James Quigley was my professor of Physical Sciences, and Elizabeth Parker was my professor of Molecular Biology several years ago. I promised her if she ever got married, I would come, and she sent me an invitation.” The young lady smiled. “She really is a great professor. Now she’s head of molecular biology research.”

“So I heard,” Michael said, a bit stunned. “Why’d she decide to get married now?”

The young lady smiled. “Who knows? Maybe she loves him.”

“Maybe?” Michael asked.

“That’s him coming out now with his best man,” the young lady said.

“Which one is Quigley?”

“The shorter one. Haven’t you ever met Quigley?”

“No. I’m a friend of Liz’s.”

“Liz? You know Elizabeth pretty well, huh?”

“Yeah,” Michael said. “What does she see in Quigley?”

“He’s just one of the biggest molecular biologists ever. He won a Nobel last year for something he was working on with Elizabeth.”

“Didn’t she win it, too, then?”

The young lady shrugged. “I guess not. He published it in his name. Her name wasn’t on it.”

“Well, that sucks,” Michael said.

“Shhh!” several people from the row in front of him said at once. Michael noticed that an usher had just finished seating the mother of the bride, Nancy Parker, in the front, and the groomsmen were taking their places next to the groom and his best man.

In a few moments, the bridesmaids appeared, followed by the maid of honor, a ring bearer, and a flower girl. These last two appeared to be about five years old. As “Here Comes the Bride” began to play, Liz appeared on her father’s arm. She was beautiful. She walked slowly down the aisle, wearing a traditional long white wedding gown, as the flower girl threw rose petals in front of her. Liz was radiant.

The bridesmaids, flower girl, and bride took their places on the right side of the preacher, which was to the left of the audience. The groom, his best man, and the ring bearer stood on the preacher’s left.

Michael couldn’t stop staring at Quigley. He appeared to be perhaps a few years older than Liz. His exact age was hard to determine. But what bothered Michael was that Quigley kept looking at his watch, he never once smiled, and most disturbing of all, he never looked at Liz. Michael wondered what in this man’s life could be so important to him that he couldn’t wait to get back to it… on his wedding day.

We’ve come here today… the preacher was saying.

“Quigley doesn’t look like he’s happy to be here,” Michael whispered to the young lady beside him.

“Well, it’s not like it’s his first time. I imagine he’s happy, though. He begged Elizabeth to marry him forever before she accepted.”

“Not the first…? He was married before?”

“Three times,” the young lady said quietly, holding up three fingers. “This’ll be number four. It’s the first for Elizabeth, though.”

Do you take this woman to be…

“Something’s not right here,” Michael said. “I don’t know what it is, but something’s just wrong with this.”

in sickness and in health, in joy and in sadness…

“Elizabeth has been working on something that’ll probably get her her own Nobel,” the young lady said.

Michael looked at the young woman. “Not if Quigley takes all the credit.”

“I hear she hasn’t let anyone see her research on this one… even him. It’s supposed to be big.”

A chill of foreboding ran up Michael’s spine.

If anyone knows any reason why this…

“What kind of research?”

“Well, the rumor has it that she’s working on proof that alien life exists. But she’s keeping her research tightly guarded.”

let them speak now…

“So Quigley would really love to see that research.”

The young lady nodded. “I’d say he’d give up ten years of his life to see it.”

…or forever hold their peace.

“THEY CAN’T GET MARRIED,” someone shouted from the back of the audience.

Every face turned to look at Michael. The preacher stood in stunned silence, his mouth open as though time had just caught him in mid sentence. Liz looked like she might faint, and Quigley looked like he’d like to commit a murder. For a moment no one spoke, then Michael said,

“James Quigley is already married… to my… sister.”

There was a collective gasp in the audience, and the preacher looked as though he might also faint. Liz put her hands over her face and started to sob then ran down the aisle and out of the garden.

“I’m sorry, Liz,” Michael whispered under his breath. Then he turned and walked briskly from the garden in the direction Liz had gone. He hadn’t gone far before Jeff Parker caught up with him.

“You’d better start explaining yourself right now,” he said to Michael. “And if I find out what you just said back there isn’t true, there’s not going to be any hole anywhere deep enough for you to hide in!”

“Liz was making a mistake,” Michael said quietly to Jeff Parker.

“Then it was her mistake to make!” Jeff said. “For God’s sake, I know Quigley’s not a shining trophy, but my daughter is thirty-five, and she’s never looked at another man before. The only thing that’s ever interested her was her work. Let her get married!”

“She was supposed to fall in love and marry for true love… not marry some guy that just wants to use her… steal her life’s work.”

Jeff seemed slightly taken aback. “I… I don’t know that he has the wrong motives. He says he loves her.”

“She’s not supposed to love him. She’s supposed to love… someone else.”

“Oh,” Jeff said, nodding. “And that, I suppose, would just happen to be you, right?”

“No! No! …No way! Not me! …Max!”

“Max? Who’s Max?”

Michael sighed and looked around. So far no one else had found them.

“Max is someone she met in high school. He’s, uh… an alien.”

“An illegal Mexican?”

“No. Further away.” Michael pointed up at the sky. Jeff huffed. “Is that what this is all about? You’re one of those UFO freaks? Can’t you leave us alone? I thought we got away from you guys when we left Roswell.”

“When you sold Brody Davis the CrashDown?” Michael asked.

“How’d you know about that?”

“I lived there, too. You see, I’m also… one of them.”

“You’re going to tell me you’re an alien?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, sweet mother of God! What did I ever do wrong in my life to deserve this,” Jeff said with resigned desperation, throwing his hands in the air. Michael reached over and passed his hand over Jeff’s tuxedo top, turning it into chain mail. The extra weight of the metal almost dragged Jeff down, but he managed to regain his balance.

“How the heck did you just do that?”

“Like this,” Michael said, touching Jeff’s pants and turning them into chain mail, too.

Jeff looked at his metal tuxedo, and his eyes grew noticeably larger. “You… you’d better change this back before someone finds us and sees this… Besides, I can’t move my legs or arms!”

“You’re not going to hit me are you?”

“I’m thinking about it! I’m really thinking about it!” Jeff looked at his tux again and tried to move one leg. “Alright, I won’t hit you. Change it back.”

Michael passed his hand swiftly over Jeff’s tux, changing the top and the pants back to their original fabric.

“Mister Parker, I know you don’t understand why I just did what I did, stopping this wedding back there and all, but there really was a good reason. It’s just… very hard to explain.”

“Try.”

Michael nodded. “Time got screwed up somehow. I’m not sure myself exactly how it happened… I may have been partly to blame. All I know is, in the correct time, Liz married Max, and they were very, very, very happy together and had four children, and if I am to ever have any chance at all of getting Max and Maria and my children back, somehow I’ve got to make everything right again.” As Michael pleaded, he realized that he was remembering things that he had forgotten. It was all coming back to him.

Jeff looked at Michael’s face, and he saw real desperation.

“They were really, really really in love, huh?”

“More than you could ever imagine. In our time, Liz and Max practically lived for each other. I’ve never seen a greater love! …Except mine and Maria’s.

“Did Liz continue to study and make something out of herself?”

Michael nodded.

“Was she head of molecular biology research at Harvard?”

Michael shook his head. Jeff nodded.

“You don’t seem upset,” Michael said.

“Not really. I’m very proud of Liz. Don’t get me wrong. What she’s accomplished has been a miracle. But what she’s given up for it… her life, her family, marriage, children…”

“I remember in Roswell you used to run Max off when he’d come to see Liz sometimes.”

“A man always wants the best for his daughter,” Jeff said… “And there is one inalienable fact in life: No guy is ever good enough for another man’s daughter.”

“You seemed all too ready to accept Quigley.”

Jeff cringed slightly. “Just between you and me, whoever you are…”

“Michael.”

“Well, just between you and me, Michael, I never really liked Quigley. He’s a pompous ass, and he doesn’t know how to treat a woman.”

“Why’d you let him marry Liz, then?”

“She’s thirty-five, Michael! She doesn’t need my permission anymore. Don’t think I haven’t let my feelings be known. Look, we need to find Liz. She’s upset. She’s gonna need me. I hope Nancy’s with her.”

Jeff turned and walked toward a nearby building, and Michael followed. Jeff found Liz in the church’s social hall and hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her. Michael felt terrible as he watched Liz sob with her face buried against Jeff’s chest. Then Liz noticed Michael.

“What are you doing here? Did you come to rub it in?”

“Rub it in? No! I didn’t want to hurt you… Believe me! Please!”

Liz turned her face back against Jeff’s chest and sobbed again.

“He wasn’t good for you, Lizzie,” Jeff said. “You know that as well as I do.”

“Dad!” Liz exclaimed. Then she settled down unexpectedly. “Maybe you’re right, but I’ve never met anyone I was interested in before. And James was special… He knows more than I do about molecular biology.”

“You know, somehow I doubt that, Lizzie,” Jeff said.

Liz smiled slightly. “Aw, Dad… You know… I… I don’t think I ever really loved James. All my life, I’ve never loved any man… well, except you, of course! That’s the problem, Dad. I’ve always felt like the right guy was out there somewhere… just waiting to find me. But he never showed up. I knew that I’d know him when I saw him… But I never saw him. I’m thirty-five, and I’ve never even looked at another guy… well, except for Kyle when we were in high school, but Kyle was just a fun guy to be with. I didn’t ‘love’ him. You know what I mean?”

Jeff nodded. “I think I do.”

“Is it wrong to feel like that special someone you’ve waited for all your life is just lost somewhere, and you really want him to find you, but he’s just lost in some other dimension or something?”

Jeff looked at Michael, and Michael nodded.

At that moment, Quigley walked in, but he did not seem inclined to talk. He grabbed Michael and pummeled him in the jaw. Michael barely moved.

“Well… Rath you’re not,” Michael said sarcastically. “But you’ve got my attention.”

“How dare you stop my wedding,” Quigley raged. “I have a very busy day ahead, and my morning’s just been wasted!”

“What’s so important that you can’t wait to get back to it on your wedding day,” Michael asked.

“That’s none of your business! Elizabeth, are we doing this or not? I don’t have all day. Either let’s get out there, and you tell them this guy was some lunatic and we get married, or I’m out of here.”

“Bye,” Liz said simply.

“Oh, no… No! No! No! You are not getting out of this that easy!” Quigley raged on… “You agreed to get married. You can’t just back out just like that.”

Jeff stepped in front of Liz. “She can back out any time she wishes. You heard her. Leave her alone.” Without warning or reason, Quigley swung, catching Jeff in the jaw. Jeff went down. Michael ran to his side to help him, and Liz cracked a vase over Quigley’s head.

“Is that answer good enough for you, James? Get out!” Liz bent down to check her Dad. He seemed to be alright and was already getting back up.

Quigley pointed at Michael. “I promise you this! I’m getting someone here arrested before this day is out! Count on it!”

“Quigley,” Michael said, walking up to him from the side and brushing his arm with both hands, “You’ve got some lint on you.” After brushing Quigley’s arm quickly, Michael let his hands drop, “accidentally” letting one hand brush lightly across the front of Quigley’s pants and the other across the back of his pants. Quigley’s eyes opened wide.

“Perv! Geez, Elizabeth, is this who you listen to? When you get your senses back, look me up. Maybe I’ll forgive you and we can set a new date. Don’t expect a fancy wedding this time, though.”

“Out!” Jeff yelled, pointing at the door. Quigley turned and left.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Liz said.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry about, Lizzie,” Jeff said. “Nothing at all.”

Hearing a commotion outside, Jeff and Liz walked to the door and looked out. Quigley was running around outside with both hands down inside the front of his pants, scratching vigorously. People were starting to gather to watch, and many of them were laughing. After a few moments, a police car drove up, and two officers got out.

“Come on, buddy… Get your hands out of your pants! You can’t act like that in public!”

“It itches!” Quigley exclaimed, removing one of his hands and sticking it down the back of his pants while the other hand stayed down the front.

“I don’t care if it itches! Get your hands out! People are watching. Kids are watching!”

Quigley pulled his pants off, dropped down to the ground, and started to scootch across the grass on his butt. A good number of the guests were laughing now. Others were just standing with their mouths open.

“Mommy,” a little boy asked… “Why is that man acting like a dog?”

“Don’t look, Billy. He’s a pervert,” she said, turning the boy away from the scene.

“Alright, guy, we gave you a warning,” the first officer said. He motioned to the other officer, and they picked Quigley up by each arm and stuck him in the squad car, still scratching vigorously.

Michael noticed that Liz was smiling now. He smiled, too. “Well, Quigley was truthful about one thing,” Michael said. “He did get someone arrested today.”

End of chapter 23
tbc…

[roswellkitkat]

Gerry...that was magnificent! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :thumbsup --><img src=http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/server- ... humpup.gif ALT=":thumbsup"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><br>Poor Michale has to piece everythign together..but he seems to be doing a bang up job!<br><br><br>Please hurry back with more! <p></p><i></i>

[vecastone]

WAIT !!!!! <br><br>I´ve just finished reading chapter 19 and you´ve already posted until chapter 23.<br><br>Gime some time and I´ll be back with my Fb , but in the mean time ....I loved chapter 19, and the way María remembered something from Michael.<br><br>and please, I beg you, bring him back soon , his nothing but doing such a mess with his traveling time thing !!! <br><br>Awesome !!! <br>I´ll be back with fb on chapter 20-23 <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :slinkie --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/slinkie.gif ALT=":slinkie"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[vecastone]

That was awesome !! Oh My Oh My !! jejejejeje !!! <br><br>Poor Liz !!!She will help Michael I know !! , she´s the mind that he seems to need this time <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... /smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Come quickly !!!! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :love --><img src=http://www.majiklmoon.com/ezboardsmilies/love.gif ALT=":love"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/im ... s/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>