what do we do now? “
'Are we open for discussion, or are you just going to make decisions for us all as King Zan?' Michael said sourly.
Max decided not to rise to the bait. 'We're open for discussion, Michael. Always. “
Michael opened his mouth to speak, but Maria interrupted him before he could. 'We need to go on the offensive. Now. We need to stop letting them chase us. “
Michael nodded, as did Isabel. Kyle spread his hands and asked, 'How exactly do you propose we take on the federal government? “
'Maybe it's time we started playing their game,' Isabel said, her voice cold. 'If they want to kill us, we kill them first. No mercy. “
'If we do that,' Liz said, shaking her head, 'then we really will be terrorists. “
'It's not like we haven't done it before,' Isabel said. 'I killed Congresswoman Whitaker, Sheriff Valenti killed that alien hunter and Agent Pierce, Jesse took out that government agent, we've all killed Skins… “
'Not all of us,' Kyle muttered.
'And that's not even mentioning the people who've died because of us. Topolsky, Grant Sorenson…' Isabel's voice trailed off.
'Yeah, how about Alex?' Liz said, sarcasm in her voice.
'And all the people Tess killed on that military base? “
'They probably wouldn't even be after us if Tess hadn't come back,' Michael said. 'It was her spaceship crashing that sicced the Special Unit on us again. “
Max held up his hands. 'Hold on. As much as I hate Tess for what she did… as much as we all hate Tess… there's no way the Special Unit could have mobilized fast enough to come after us when she blew up Rogers. “
'Max is right,' Isabel said, nodding. 'Nasedo might have dismantled most of the Special Unit when he was posing as Pierce, but it couldn't have gone away completely. They've probably just been gathering information and building up their strength, waiting for the right moment to strike. “
A little girl squealed in the water while another child splashed her, and an older woman quickly hurried over to the girl's side. Kyle turned to look, his expression sad. 'You know, we got away, but we left the others behind. How do we know they won't go after our parents? How do we know they haven't already?' He massaged his temple with one hand and added, 'I've been getting some fairly strong impressions that somethings very wrong back home. “
They all fell silent for the moment. Finally, Isabel spoke. 'I can try to dreamwalk them again. “
'Too far away' Michael said. 'You've already tried it. “
'Maybe Kyle and I can figure out some way to amplify my powers using whatevers going on with him,' Isabel said. 'It might give me enough power. “
'We don't know what's going on with me,' Kyle said. 'And until we do, I'd rather not push these new powers of mine along too quickly, thank you. “
Across the highway, on the north side, a train blew its whistle as it approached the scenic stop. They all watched as it whizzed by, boxcar after boxcar moving parallel to the highway.
'How long will it be before somebody else goes public with our pictures?' Maria asked. 'All of our pictures? Yesterday's shopping trip didn't exactly fit into the quiet category. J. Lo and her entire entourage couldn't have made a bigger splash than we did. “
'I still don't think they want our pictures out there,' Liz said. 'The Special Unit guys, 1 mean. I'm betting that they aren't happy about the news leaks. “
'I agree,' Kyle said. 'So what if we took it public? Come out of the alien closet ourselves. “
They all turned to look at him as if he were crazy, but Michael was the one who actually said it. 'You're insane, Valenti. What, do you think the American public is going to just accept that they've got aliens living among them? And exactly what gives you the idea that even if they did, they'd accept that three teenagers are actually alien royalty from another planet? “
Max motioned downward with his hand, looking around at the few people who surrounded them. How much had they heard? 'A little quieter, Michael. “
Maria slapped both her hands onto the table. 'You know what? I'm getting really tired of this. None of us has a normal life now, and none of us are even thinking about a normal life in the future. That is just not acceptable*. They've taken our futures from us! “
The others nodded, and Maria continued. 'We thought we could be the good little aliens and sidekicks, traveling around the countiy in our Mystery Machine, righting wrongs and doing good deeds. Well, that's a load of crap! We're in danger. Our families are probably in danger. The Special Unit isn't going to leave us alone. Your alien adversaries aren't going to leave us alone. So what the heck do we do? Do we keep running, or do we turn around, stand our ground, and fight? “
As Maria sat down, her rage apparently spent for the moment, Max looked around the table at the others. Michael and Isabel, Liz and Maria, Kyle… they were all at a crossroads.
But he could see it in their eyes. He didn't need psychic powers to read what was in their minds.
It's time to fight back.
To be concluded in TURNABOUT
Andy Mangels is the coauthor of the Roswell novels Skeletons in the Closet and Turnabout, coming soon, with Michael A. Martin, as well as a number of Star Trek novels, e-books, and comic book projects. Flying solo, he is also the author of Animation on DVD: The Ultimate Guide, as well as the best- selling book Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters, plus Beyond Mulder and Scully: The Mysterious Characters of The X-Files and From Scream to Dawson 's Creek: The Phenomenal Career of Kevin Williamson.
Mangels has written for Hollywood Reporter, The Advocate, fust Out, Cinescape, Gauntlet, Dreamwatch, Sd -Fi Universe, SFX, Anime Invasion, Outweek, Frontiers, Portland Mercury, Comics Buyers Guide, and scores of other entertainment and lifestyle magazines. He has also written licensed material based on properties of Lucasfilm, Paramount, New Line Cinema, Universal Studios, Warner Bros., Microsoft, Abrams-Gentile, and Platinum Studios. His comic-book work has been published by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, Wildstorm, Image, Innovation, WaRP Graphics, Topps MVCreations, and others, and he was the editor of the award-winning Gay Comics anthology for eight years. He has also written DVD supplemental material and liner notes for Anchor Bay.
In what little spare time he has, he likes to country dance and collect uniforms and Wonder Woman memorabilia. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his longtime partner, Don Hood, and their dog, Bella.
Visit his Web site at www.andymangels.com.
Michael A. Martin, whose solo short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy amp; Science Fiction, is also coauthor (with Andy Mangels) of last year's Skeletons in the Closet and the forthcoming Turnabout, both Roswell novels. Martin and Mangels also cowrote Star Trek The Next Generation Section 31… Rogue; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Mission: Gamma Book Three… Cathedral; the forthcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #30 and #31 (Ishtar Rising, books 1 and 2); and Star Trek The Lost Era; 2298… The Sundered.
Martin was the regular cowriter (also with Andy) of Marvel Comics' monthly Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comic-book series, and has generated heaps of copy for Atlas Editions' Star Trek Universe
