His gaze strayed to the clock on his bedside table. It was after midnight. Liz was probably already asleep. He hadn't seen her in two days… she was too busy with her new job. But he needed to see her tonight. Even if it was just to look through her window and watch her sleep for a few minutes…
Max threw back the sheet and climbed out of bed. He would go see Liz. That would make everything better.
"Get down!" Liz whispered.
Kyle ducked, just in time to avoid being seen by the uniformed security guard crossing the hall in front of them. He and Liz were now hidden behind a waist-high cart filled with some sort of scientific machinery. Kyle gestured to the cart. "Torture devices?" he asked.
"Lasers used for precision dissection of cancerous tissues," Liz replied.
Kyle shook his head. "Parker, you are a science nerd," he told her. "But you're a gifted science nerd. How'd you know that guard was coming?"
"I think I've developed a sixth sense for danger," Liz said wryly. "Call it the silver lining of having an alien boyfriend."
"Boyfriend, hmmm?" he teased her.
But Liz didn't smile. She didn't even roll her eyes. "I don't know," she murmured. "Is the security guy gone?"
"Don't change the subject," Kyle said. "I want to hear the dirt on you and Maximus Alienus."
"Kyle, this is hardly the time for gossip," Liz snapped.
Ouch! He had obviously hit a sore spot. Liz and Max were always on and off, as far as he could tell. He didn't know why they felt the need to break up all the time, but since Michael and Maria did the same thing, he figured it was some alien-machismo issue. Luckily, since he'd found Buddha, he was beyond such things. If he was to date someone… even an alien, like, say, Isabel… he would stick to it and not create so much drama all the time.
"Earth to Kyle," Liz was saying.
"You know, that phrase has new meaning to me since meeting the pod squad," he commented. He snuck a peek over the top of the cart. "All clear."
Liz moved out from behind the cart and tiptoed up the hallway. Kyle followed, hoping there really weren't cameras everywhere. If someone saw this little escapade, he'd be out of a job.
"This one," Liz said, stopping in front of a plain metal door. Kyle pulled out his Housekeeping passkey and inserted it in the lock. The door swung open, and they hurried inside.
"You're a lifesaver," Liz told him.
"Yeah, who knew being a janitor would come in handy like this." He glanced around the darkened room. A lab, just like the labs at school. He would never understand how Liz could love these places. They made him think of mad scientists. And chemistry pop quizzes.
"I've looked through all the slides at Dr. Sosa's work station. They're all standard cancer cells, except that one slide I saw before." Liz started through the lab, weaving around tables and large machines.
"So what are we doing here?" Kyle asked, following her.
"Dr. Sosa keeps all the sensitive material in this back room," Liz explained. "He says it's because of corporate spying."
"Huh?" Kyle could think of nothing else to say.
"They're working on a cure for cancer. Every other pharmaceutical company on Earth would like to steal their research and come up with the cure first," Liz explained.
Kyle hesitated. "You don't really think this Dr. Sosa is
going to find a cure for cancer," he said. "I mean, is that even possible?"
"I don't know," Liz said. "But if they've found an alien they think is a cancer patient, it will definitely lead them down the wrong road, research-wise. We need to stop them before they realize what they're actually studying."
"Not cancer, just extraterrestrials," Kyle agreed. "And that is research even the government would want to steal."
"Exactly." Liz stopped in front of another chrome door. "This is where he keeps all the sensitive material. Can you unlock it?"
Kyle pulled out his handy passkey. "Of course. Even secret laboratory closets need mopping, right?"
He stuck the key card in the slot over the doorknob and waited for the beep. Nothing. Kyle turned the key around and stuck it into the slot again. Still nothing.
"What's wrong?" Liz asked.
"I dunno." Kyle tried sticking it in upside down. Nothing. "It's not working." He looked up at Liz's frustrated face. "I'm sorry," he said. "I think you need Max for this."
Liz gave a deep sigh and sank down onto the floor. Kyle, surprised, sat next to her. "What's up?"
"It's Max," Liz admitted. "I don't want to get him involved."
"Uh, Liz, if this is about aliens, Max is involved whether you like it or not. You can't always protect him, you know."
"It's not that," Liz said. "I just don't want… I don't want to see him."
Kyle was stunned. Liz and Max were soul mates, it was clear to everyone who knew them. Something huge must
have happened. "You don't want to see him… ever again?"
Liz shrugged. "I just want to figure out how I feel before I talk to Max. I need to know what I want for myself and my future. As soon as I start talking to Max, it all gets blurry."
"You're only eighteen. Why do you need to know what you want your future to be?" Kyle asked.
"Because Max knows his future. He knows his son is out there somewhere and he has to find him." She leaned her head on Kyle's shoulder. "It's like he just grew up about ten years faster than me. He has a child, Kyle. I don't know if I'm ready for that."
Kyle nodded. "That's a tough one." He didn't know what else to say, but he had a feeling Liz just wanted a friend right now. He slipped his arm around her shoulders. "We'll figure out a way to do this without Max for now," he said. "I'll get Michael to come with me tomorrow and open this lock. Or Isabel."
Liz smiled. "Thanks, Kyle."
Suddenly a bright light shone in their faces. "What's going on here?" a deep voice demanded.
Kyle was struck dumb with fear. This was it, the moment he'd been expecting ever since he'd found out about the aliens. This guy would turn them over to the police… or worse. Maybe he would bring them to the special unit of the government and they would do experiments on him because he'd interacted with aliens. He'd even been brought back to life by an alien…
"What are you, Housekeeping?" the voice boomed.
That didn't sound like a threat. "Uh, yeah," Kyle said. "My friend here works in this lab, and she… "
"You kids should fool around on your own time," the security guard said. He turned the flashlight away from their eyes, and now Kyle could see that the guy was barely older than they were. "Why don't you go make out in your car instead of in here?"
He walked back out into the hallway. Liz shot Kyle a relieved smile, then got up and followed the guard.
"I will never get used to this cloak-and-dagger stuff," Kyle muttered as he pulled the door closed behind them.
Max paced up and down on Liz's rooftop. Where was she? It was after one in the morning, and Liz was not in her bed. She wasn't downstairs in the Crashdown, either. He decided to check out Maria's house… Liz could be sleeping over there.
As he turned to go, he heard a car pull to a stop down in the alley. Max crept up to the edge of the roof and peered over. Below him was Kyle's pickup. Liz sat in the passenger seat, earnestly talking to Kyle.
Why are they out together in the middle oj the night? Max thought. He liked Kyle, but every so often the old jealousy reappeared.
Liz kissed Kyle on the cheek and climbed out of the pickup. Max backed away from the edge of the roof and sat down next to the window that led to Liz's bedroom. She would be up any minute.
He leaned back against the brick wall and stared into the sky. His son was up there somewhere. Tess was there, on a planet he'd never seen but that he was supposed to save. It didn't seem fair sometimes. He couldn't remember being a king. Before Tess, he couldn't remember Antar at all. There would be vague visions occasionally, but no
concrete memories. And now he didn't trust the things that Tess had helped him remember. With her mindwarp powers, she could have planted things in his mind whether they really happened or not.