is about half a mile past that.» A short distance farther, Michael pulled the van over into a gated driveway. Cameras on top of the gate swiveled toward the van, and a voice issued from a black box atop a post near the driver's side. «State your business.» «Maxwell Evans and company, here to see Kal Langley,' Michael said. «Mr. Langley is occupied at present,' the officious voice said. «Do you have an appointment?» «No, we don't have an appointment. Would you just tell him that Max Evans is ' «I'm afraid you'll need to make an appointment with Mr. Langleys office,' the man said, interrupting Michael. Michael turned to Max. «I thought you said you could make this guy do whatever you wanted?» «I can, but I have to get to him first,' Max said. «It doesn't work on flunkies.» «Screw this,' Michael said. He leaned out the window and pushed his palm outward, in the direction of the iron gate. His palm glowed red for a brief moment, then the gates burst open in the center. Michael drove the Microbus up into the driveway, and the four of them piled out of the vehicle. Max led the way up the steps, expecting to hear alarms or the shouts of security guards any second. Instead, the door was opened by a fiftyish man in a suit. «Good evening, Mr. Evans. Mr. Langley will be down momentarily.» As they stepped into the foyer of the mansion, Michael asked, «Why didn't you just let us in, if you knew Max was okay?» «Because Max is not okay to just drop in on me whenever he feels like it.» The voice came from a balding man with squinty eyes, who was descending the stairway. He was tying a robe closed around his bare, hairy chest. «I'm sorry, Kal, but it's important that we talk to you,' Max said. «Yeah, that's what you said last time, too, and we both know how well that worked out,' Langley said, a sour look on his face. «You completely screwed up my life.» Max sighed heavily. «I'm sorry. I did what was necessary.» «Was it necessary to zap my gate out front just now? On camera?» Langley gestured to his butler. «It's a good thing Belton here knows what's up, or we'd both have some explaining to do.» «If he had let us in, we wouldn't have had to zap it,' Michael said defensively. Langley regarded him for a moment. «Surly attitude. Jumps before thinking. I'd guess you must be Rath's duplicate, huh?» He didn't wait for an answer before turning to peer at the girls. He pointed at Liz, then Maria. «I'm betting that you're Ava, and you're Vilandra. Nasedo must have taught you more about shapeshifting than I realized. You know, you seem a lot shorter than the real Vilandra, but given our average height here relative to on Antar, I guess it's a wash.» Max was astonished, and he looked over toward the butler. «How much does this guy know?» he asked Langley. Langley snorted. «Belton? He's a Krandal. They were one of the races loyal to you back in the Antarian system.» «And he's working for you? On Earth?» Michael sounded incredulous. Langley spread his hands and furrowed his brow, mocking Michael. «Oh, come on. I know you guys have met other aliens. At least the Skins. All Jive planets have 'people' here on the good old third rock from the sun. Some are political refugees, some are here to track you guys down, some are here for reasons of their own. The ones in that last category usually don't survive too long.» Langley paused and gestured behind him. «You guys want a drink? I don't know if you're legal, but if you combined your Antarian age and your age here on Earth you could have fought in the Civil War. America's Civil War.» «We'll pass,' Max said, pointing to himself and Michael. «Alcohol doesn't mix well with our systems.» «Duh,' Langley said. «That's half the fun. Follow me. I think I have some milk or juice in here too.» As they followed him into the kitchen, Liz spoke up. «I'm not Ava, by the way. I'm Liz, Max's wife.» She gave Max a cold stare, and he realized that he should have been the one to make the introductions and correct Langley's initial misimpression. «And I'm not Vilandra,' Maria said. «My name is Maria. And we're both fully human.» Langley regarded the entire group for a moment. «My mistake. Guess I didn't look closely enough.» He studied Liz more intently. «You may have been fully human before, but you're not quite normal now, are you?» «I healed her,' Max said. «She seems to have developed some kind of secondary powers because of that.» «That'll happen.» Langley nodded as he pulled bottles and cans out of one of the several refrigerators in his enormous kitchen. «Didn't Nasedo teach you anything?» He set the bottles down on the counter, then grabbed a couple of containers of Tabasco sauce and handed them to Max and Michael. «Chasers,' he said simply. He poured himself a drink, and then sat down on a stool behind a large, shiny countertop. Gesturing toward the other stools arranged around the counter, he said, «Sit.
So, where are the queen and your sister today, Max?» «That's partly why we've come here,' Max said. «We sent Isabel, my sister, away. Liz has been having premonitions, and she recently had one where Isabel was being vivisected by Special Unit agents.» «Special Unit. I hate those guys,' Langley said. «But I thought Nasedo shut them down.» «Hardly,' Michael said. «They've been coming after us in a major way for the last year.» «Tess came back,' Max said, explaining. «My son was rejected on Antar, so she came back so they wouldn't kill him. But her ship got shot down above Roswell and crashed. The air force got it, and she barely escaped with our child.» «Boy does this sound familiar,' Langley said snidely. «Why anyone would bring a ship anywhere near Roswell is beyond me.» Liz gave Langley a cool look, then continued where Max left off. «After she gave us Max's son, Tess went back to the air force base and blew it up. Completely. That's when the Special Unit really started coming after us.» «We've been on the run ever since,' Max said. «We've had a couple of scrapes with Skins along the way.» «Not to mention those scaly, pointy-headed uglies with the pointy, nasty teeth,' Maria said, pantomiming fangs by curling her fingers in front of her mouth. «And yesterday,' Max continued, «we almost got caught by government agents.» «Ah, the good old reliable Men in Black,' Langley said. «You know, those movies have more truth to them than most people realize. Except the MiBs aren't friendly to any aliens. Oh, and none of them have the charisma of Will Smith.» «I liked Tommy Lee Jones better,' Michael said. «Yeah, somehow I guessed that,' Langley said, before turning back to Max. «So what are you here for this time? What is it you need now?» «We're tired of running, and tired of fighting. We want to find a way to either get rid of the Special Unit once and for all, or…» Max hesitated. «Or what?» «Or we expose them for what they are and what they're doing. But if we do that, we won't be able to avoid exposing ourselves, too.» Langley didn't say anything, and instead took a quick swig from the Tabasco sauce bottle that had been sitting in front of Michael. «There's more,' Maria said. «The Special Unit guys have taken Max's parents prisoner. And Liz's. It happened early today.» Langley nodded. «Almost ironic that it's humans who are doing the abducting to find aliens, isn't it?» He let the question hang in the air for a bit, then turned to Max. «And you're expecting me to help you get out of this mess?» Max didn't know if Langley was being glib, or if he was looking to blame the ex-king for whatever action Max was about to order him to take. They both knew that Langley was genetically programmed to obey any command Max gave him. He maintained steady eye contact with Langley. «You will help us. You will do everything in your power, use all of your money or your resources.» The kitchen was silent for a moment as Max continued staring into Langley's eyes. Finally, Langley gulped and nodded. «I thought you were going to say that. Since you asked so nicely, I'll sit down and figure out a plan with you. But first, you guys really stink. Go take a shower, and I'll have some new clothes for you.» Inhaling discreetly, Max caught a whiff of himself. He decided that Langley's idea sounded terrific. Maria and Liz were in the bathroom upstairs. Liz dried her hair as Maria stepped out of the twelve-nozzle glass-tiled shower. The marble-floored bathroom was filled with steam, but now that the showers were off, fans were sucking the vapors up and out of the room. «You could fit ten people into this shower,' Liz said, impressed. «I have never been in a place this nice,' Maria said as she toweled herself off. «Maybe I'll look for a place like this after I get my big non-soul-sucking music contract.» Liz was amused. «Is there any such thing?» She remembered when Maria had turned down a recording contract she had been offered in New York because they were trying to turn her into «a prefab, breast-implanted, BritneyChristina-j. Lo clone.» «There's gotta be, girlfriend. P. J. Harvey or Dido or lots of other grrrls are doing what they want,' Maria said. «And they're successful. Why not me?» Liz nodded. «Maybe after all this is over.» «So what about this Langley guy?» Maria asked. «Is he anything like what you imagined?» Liz remembered what Max had told her about the alien protector who had wanted to be human, no matter what the cost. «Yeah, pretty much. Max told me quite a bit. Actually, I was expecting him to be more of a jerk.» Maria snorted. «Do not repeat this, or I will kill you, but he actually reminds me of Michael. Like maybe he's Michael in another twenty years. If Michael had a future, and a lot of money, that is.» Liz moved her thumb and forefinger across her mouth. «My lips are sealed.» She thought that maybe Maria was being too hard on Michael, but now wasn't the time to say it. No, it is the right time, she thought. «Maria, you've really been down on Michael about his future lately, and pretty doom-and-gloomy about yours, too. I know we're all stressed and tense, but we're going to make it through this. And I really need my old bouncy, happy buddy Maria back if I'm going to hold it together until this is over.» Maria looked at her oddly as she wrapped the large towel around herself. Then she walked over and hugged Liz. «Okay, Liz. I'll try to be the one-woman Roswell pep squad for a while. Will that help?» «Just don't do any cheers,' Liz said, grinning. Later, they were all gathered in the palatial study located on the second floor of Langley's mansion. A terrace outside offered a gorgeous view of the city at night, a veritable galaxy of lights. But after some initial oohs and ahhs, the four teens turned their attention to the plans they needed to make. Liz was in much better spirits than she had been just hours earlier, even though she still worried about her parents. At least we're finally making some progress toward freeing them, she told herself. Langley had spread a large map of the greater Los Angeles area out across his expansive dining room table, and Max placed the alien compass on top of
