Michael looked back over his shoulder at Maria as he once again gave her hand a gentle tug to hurry her up. They had seemed to run a lot further from their friends than he had originally thought and if Maria had her snail pace way they weren’t going to get there any time soon. He watched her as she reluctantly quickened her steps just enough to catch up to him only to almost immediately fall behind again.

He kept his gaze fixed on Maria trying to gauge what she was thinking. The increasingly despondent look in her eyes was making him grow more worried with every passing minute. He knew she was withdrawing into herself and a strong sense of guilt immediately began to overwhelm him. “What the fuck have I done to you Maria?” He angrily thought. He hated to admit it to himself but the Maria that had existed pre-Michael had well and truly faded into the background not long after he had entered the picture. “Was it after the first or second time I managed to let her down” he thought to himself “maybe the third.” He didn’t know. “I guess it doesn’t matter now.” The fact was, ‘That’ Maria, the pre-Michael Maria, had slowly but surely disappeared into the shadow of their relationship and all its ensuing problems, be they normal or 'other worldly' long ago. He had to believe that the old bubbly and carefree Maria would one-day resurface to face the world on her own again. He ‘had’ to believe this, not just for her sake, but for his own sanity. The time he would be gone was still undetermined and he didn’t dare hope he might one day be able to return. As much as it pained him to think about it he had to believe she would eventually let him go, find someone else to love and move on with her life. Michael sighed heavily at the thought, before lightly tugging on her hand one more time as they approached their waiting friends.

Maria was abruptly brought back to the present when Michael finally stopped causing her to pull up sharply. She realized that she had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts she hadn’t even noticed they had arrived. Looking around at her friends Maria could see that not much had changed since she and Michael had left. Liz was still surgically attached to Max and Maria more than understood why. She too felt that same urge to be anchored to the one thing in the world she didn’t want to live without, couldn’t live without. She wrapped her arms around Michael’s waist from the side and he instinctively lifted his right arm up and around her back to accommodate her. As she nuzzled into his chest she noticed one thing that had changed in her absence, and that was a now decidedly pissed off looking Alex.

“Does somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Alex half yelled seeing Michael and Maria’s return as an opportunity to speak up. “And I would like to know today, not tomorrow people.” He demanded non-to subtly. “Everyone here bar me seems to be in on this little secret and I’m getting damn tired of being repeatedly left in the dark…especially by my own girlfriend.” He stressed looking at Isabel, at the same time remembering his unsuccessful attempts at prying the details of the meeting out of her earlier. It had only resulted in more tears, increasing his concern and curiosity tenfold. He had to know what was upsetting everyone so much, especially Isabel.

Over the progressive course of 6 months as a couple, both Alex and Isabel had grown to love each other more than either one of them could have imagined. It had taken him a while to penetrate that defense wall she had built around herself for so many years but he refused to give up, and every day of the past 6 months had shown him that it had been worth the fight.

“But if that were true” he pondered, “and she really does love me as much as I think she does, why won’t she tell me what’s going on….?” He was letting his thoughts lead him somewhere he definitely didn’t want to venture.

“Okay, now that we’re all here….."

Finally, I’m going to get some answers Alex thought as Max began to explain.

“….Isabel, Michael and myself have something we need to tell you.” And with that Max began to relate the events of the past two weeks to their friends.

“It all started about a couple of weeks ago when we noticed the communication orbs seemed to be glowing on and off. We didn’t take much notice of it at first, in fact I think we were actually trying to ignore it. Not only because we were scared of what might be on the other end, but because, well….things had just gotten comfortable for us again. There was no one hunting us, Nasedo had taken care of that by shape-shifting into Agent Pierce and our lives were starting to reach a stage of normalcy again. I mean, I guess we were just reluctant to disturb that even though we knew it was wrong and it was probably going against the laws of our so-called ‘Destiny’. In any case we were kind of forced into acknowledging what was happening a couple of days after it had started. The orbs were glowing more frequently and furiously, almost as if…as if they were tired of waiting and were willing us to use them. It was obvious we had to do something, so we did the only thing we could think of, we took them back to the cave.”

**Flashback…

“Alright, are we ready.” Max asked. The moment they had entered the cave, the place of their birth, vivid memories of the very last time they were there flooded his mind. That was the day they had gained a little insight into how the orbs actually functioned and in doing so it had enabled them to see the holographic image of their mother, ‘their real mother’ for the first time.

They stood in the centre of the cave, Max and Tess opposite Michael and Isabel, only a few feet separating them.

“As ready as we’ll ever be Maxwell.” Michael said. “Let’s get this show on the road.” He looked to Isabel remembering how seeing her mother the last time had upset her so much. “You okay Izzy?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine Michael…thanks. Let’s just hope that whatever’s on the other end will be friendly” Isabel replied. She too, was anxious to get things started and wanted to find out why the orbs were all of a sudden glowing after lying dormant for so long. She couldn’t help but hope it had something to do with her and Max’s mother. Any chance to see her again would be welcomed.

“Let’s begin then.” And with that Max held his right arm out in front of himself and Tess, pointing in the direction of Michael and Isabel with his palm facing up.

“Tess,” he said.

Tess looked over at Max and nodded her understanding of his silent command. She reached out as Max had done moments before and lay the back of her left hand flat against his palm. Max then took the orb he held in his free hand and placed it in Tess’s palm, creating a layered effect between the two of them and the orb. This ensured they were both connected to the communication device in some way.

Michael and Isabel followed suite with the second orb. This now meant that the fingertips of the coupled hands holding the orbs on either side were touching in the centre of them so that the orbs were only millimeters apart. Once this had been completed Max and Isabel who were standing opposite each other reached out and clasped their free hands together on one side and Michael and Tess did the same on their side so that they now all formed an unbroken chain. At the exact moment that Michael and Tess completed the link by joining hands the orbs ceased flashing on and off and became fully aglow.

They all exchanged surprised, if not slightly hesitant looks with one another before focusing all their attention and energy on the orbs in front of them.

The only source of light in the cave was now coming from the orbs and it cast an eerie glow over the faces of the Royal Four as they stood linked together, their faces set in stony concentration and their focused eyes unseeing.

The pulsating rhythm of the energy they were creating was soon flowing like an electrical current through their entire bodies and into the orbs. As their minds began to transcend all barriers their concentration deepened even further still and caused the orbs to start vibrating in their hands. The powerful energy current continued to flow and the orbs responded by commencing to make a low humming noise, almost like that of a swarm of bees. They could tell they were getting close to making a connection. Almost instantaneously all assembled began to shake from the energy shock waves that were now passing through them at lightning speed. The humming increased to an almost deafening pitch before reaching a crescendo, sending a blinding bright white light exploding up and out of the orbs to hit the roof of the cave. The force almost sent them flying back and they had to grip tightly to each other’s hands to keep themselves grounded.

All of a sudden the humming stopped its assault on their ears and the air seemed to be sucked out of the cave like a vacuum, plunging them into blissful silence. All that could be heard was the sound of labored breathing as they fought to catch their breath from the exertion of concentrating so hard. The blinding white light then retreated into the orbs a little before slowly transforming into a softer blue light that they could actually look at without squinting.

They stood transfixed as the soft blue light began to take shape in the centre of their circle. It soon resembled a square of approximately one metre in height and width. Almost like a large double-sided holographic T.V screen.

The image seemed fuzzy at first and then started to gain more clarity. As the image came into focus they realized they were looking at some sort of large control room. The walls were lined with what looked like hi-tech computer panels and electrical equipment with thousands of flashing buttons as far as the eye could see. They could immediately tell that these....these machines if you will were far more advanced than anything humans possessed on earth and probably could ever hope to possess.

As they marveled at the image being projected from the orbs their attention was drawn to a woman who suddenly came rushing into the room. Her flowing white and pale blue gowns rustled gently in her wake and gave the onlooker a sense of fluidity in her movement, as if she were almost floating. She wore a three-pointed Tiara that seemed to be made of the whitest melted down pearls. It was laced with shining silver threads and studded with what looked like more large white pearls. Tear shaped crystals hung delicately from the bottom of the Tiara just over her hairline framing her forehead. The woman was clutching a silver necklace around her neck as if it were the most important thing in the world, a look of hope and desperation etched on her face.

“Oh my God…Max, it’s….it’s our…."

“It’s our mother.” Max finished for Isabel just as surprised.

Isabel couldn’t help but notice she looked even more beautiful than the last time she had seen her.

They watched in silence as she hurriedly made her way to a table in the centre of the room, which also contained advanced computerized devices unknown to them. Here she took her hand away from the necklace long enough to work on the console in front of her.

As their mother released her necklace Isabel couldn’t help but notice the charm on the end of it.

“Guys, quick, look at her necklace, don’t you recognize that symbol? It’s exactly the same as the symbol on the orbs!”

“Your right Izz, and look, it’s glowing on and off like the orbs were doing earlier as well.” Max added.

After making a few adjustments on the console in front of her, the woman placed her left hand onto a glass panel on the table. A green light under that glass then proceeded to make it’s way from the tips of her fingers down to the bottom of her palm resembling the action of a photocopier.

“It looks like she’s scanning her hand print.” Michael said, never taking his eyes off the hologram.

Once the scanning process was complete a silver oval shaped device, not unlike that of the shape of the orbs rose up and out of the centre of the table in response. They all immediately noticed that the top of the orb had a hollowed out symbol carved into it. The same familiar symbol on their orbs and the symbol hanging around the woman’s neck.

Bringing their attention back to the woman’s face, they heard her speak for the first time. “Please let this work.” She was chanting, “let this be ‘them’ and let this work.”

She quickly unfastened the necklace from around her neck and let the charm symbol slide of the end. The woman then kissed the charm for luck before placing it into its hollowed out twin on top of the silver orb shaped device. The key in lock fit was perfect and the device was activated immediately. As a bright light shot up and out of the top of the silver orb like device, a look of relief washed over the woman’s face. “It’s working,” she said. “Thank the stars.”

This was looking all too familiar to Michael, Isabel, Max and Tess. As they watched the white light retreat half way into the silver orb as theirs had done earlier they half expected to see it fade into a softer shade of blue but the similarities ended there.

Isn’t that basically what we just did with our orbs?” Michael asked, “except her way looked a hell of a lot easier.”

“My darlings, it really is you! Oh, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

Everyone quickly brought their gaze back to the talking holographic image in front of them. The woman now seemed to be staring directly at them.

“It’s almost as if she’s really talking to us, isn’t it Max?” Isabel asked smiling dreamily.

“That’s because I am my child.”

Isabel nearly jumped a mile along with everyone else. “Wh…what did you say?” she managed to stutter out. They had all just thought this to be a programmed image like the last one.

“It’s really me my beautiful Sassiaan. I have been trying to contact you for quite some time now. Did your Sentars not alert you? I had almost given up hope but when the Sentar I keep around my neck and close to my heart…” she pointed to her necklace charm, “began to glow with life, I knew I had finally reached you.”

It was obvious to them that the Sentars she was referring to were the orbs they now held and they all exchanged looks of guilt for ignoring the signal for so long.

“It does not matter now anyway, you are here.” She said as she gazed upon her children lovingly.

“Sassiaan, is…is that my real name?” Isabel asked hesitantly.

“Why, yes child. Oh…I’m sorry. I forgot you are only familiar with your earth names. What names did your earth parents give you?” her mother asked.

“Isabel. And this is Max, Michael and Tess.” She stated gesturing to the others with a nod of her head.

“Interesting these….ahh earth names. If you are more comfortable with these names please do tell me.” She insisted.

“No, no we would love to know our real names.” Max jumped in.

“Of course. Well Max, your name is Marlik. Michael your name is Zoretan and Tess your name is Jesa. Our people are called Deltarians and we are of the planet Nargonia. More specifically we were born and live in the region of Deltaria on Nargonia.”

“And your name mother?” Max asked.

“Is Mearlaan my son. I trust you are not too upset with your real names?” she asked smiling.

“No, just the opposite. It’s great to finally be able to learn something from our past, even if it is just our names. We have so many questions to ask you Mearl….I mean mother.” Isabel said.

“I’m glad that you like your names and I do wish we had more time to speak like this. I promise I will answer every single one of your questions when the time is right. However, right now you must forgive me for being so hurried. I am not sure how long this communication will last so it is very important that you listen carefully to what I am about to tell you. You may even find that what I am about to say will in fact answer many of your questions. This information regards the welfare and livelihood of our people. As the situation stands at the moment our palace could be under attack at any minute and with that knowledge I’m sure you can understand the reason for my haste! For as long as I can remember our race has been the envy of many others and I will come to explain why. First it will help me to know if you have experienced the healing powers you possess yet?”

“Yes…. well, not all of us.” Max volunteered. “I’ve been able to heal things since I was a child but it’s not the same for the others. They have their own strengths and powers.”

“You all have the power to heal child and Marlik you must help the others awaken this within themselves by teaching from your own experience. Our healing powers are one of the great advantages to being a Deltarian and must not be left lying dormant. These powers must be embraced and practiced into perfection.” Mearlaan said seriously before taking on a lighter tone. “Tell me, have you not yet wondered how it is possible that I still look so young if I gave birth to you more than 50 years ago?”

Isabel had certainly noticed and she was sure the others had also. The fact that Mearlaan looked no older than a woman in her late thirties was a hard thing to ignore. “It was kind of hard not to notice actually, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that we were so happy seeing you at all that we didn’t want to start questioning the how’s and why’s. I guess if our spacecraft crashed landed on earth in 1947 then you should be at least 70 years old or so by now, but how is it possible then that you still look so young?”

“Yes, that’s right. We don’t actually time our lives with years on Nargonia but in human terms that is correct Sassiaan. Think of the healing power that you all possess now being part Deltarian and part Human and what you are able to do with that power, then double that in a full blooded Deltarian. Our healing powers are so strong and so much a part of us that they not only serve to heal others but are also continually working at healing our own bodies. Deltarian genetic material is such that the cells are constantly re-generating which in turn slows the aging process. Do you understand?”

“Yes, we understand. But how will that work with us? I mean, we seem to be aging just like any other human.” Michael questioned.

“Well, being the first hybrids of a human and Deltarian genetic mix I cannot really say. I believe it may depend upon the extent to which you perfect your healing skills. Maybe once this power has been completely activated within you and used to it’s full potential, the aging process of your own bodies will also slow. In saying that though, I should also imagine that your aging process will not be as slow as that of a full blooded Deltarian. It is only guess work at the moment I’m afraid but hopefully with time we will be able to discover the answers together.”

“Together?” Michael questioned. “But how will we do that with you up there and us down here?”

“I shall come to that Zoretan, have patience my child. Now that you are aware of the importance of our healing powers you will understand what I am about to tell you all the more. While I say that our healing powers are a great advantage of being Deltarian, they have also come to be of a great disadvantage. You see, Nargonia is a planet of many races and for the most part, we have lived in harmony with these other races. The Deltarian kingdom itself is very vast and people of many kinds seek us out for the healing powers we possess. We have always been happy to use our healing powers on those we deem worthy and in return we have gained the respect and admiration of many. Unfortunately though, there are those races that are extremely envious of our gift and the riches it has bestowed upon us. One such race is the Montaks. They are horrible heathen creatures who are constantly at war. For several of your Earth years now they have kept us imprisoned, making us slaves to their people and forcing us to constantly heal their wounded. As you can understand it is not the God’s plan that every creature be healed and saved. By us having to heal every wounded Montak, their kind is over populating and our planet will not survive. I am sure you also know the strain the healing process takes on a Deltarian and having to heal constantly is slowly killing our people.” Mearlaan bowed her head in defeat. “I am almost ashamed to admit it but the moment you left our planet for Earth Zoretan, your army of Deltarian warriors just simply fell apart thus making it all the easier for the Montaks to stage there attack on our kingdom. Our warriors were simply no match and they knew that.”

“My army of Deltarian warriors?” Michael breathed out amazed at the fact that he would hold such a great position.

“Yes. When you were at the head of our great army of warriors no one would even think of trying to attack us. Your army was revered as the best in all Nargonia and was feared by all. But once you left your men seemed to lose most of their confidence and lacked the leadership required to be a great defense force. The Montaks immediately saw this as their opportunity to take over our kingdom and succeeded in doing so all too quickly. The whole reason you went to Earth was in anticipation of such an event as this. We had always been aware of the jealousy others had of our people and wanted to prepare for such a time when one of those races did finally attempt an attack. We wanted to find a place we could escape too if need be, so we cloned the genetic make up of each of you and sent you to Earth with samples of this material. Meson, one of our Royal advisors went along to watch over you. Our plan was to mix your own genetic material with that of a human. Your memories of your life on Nargonia were also duplicated for transference. You were to then return and we would monitor the hybrids throughout the Earth years to see if this planet was suitable to inhabit.”

“But you weren’t exactly planning on the ship crashing were you?” Max said.

“No, we weren’t.” She said sadly before going on. “We lost all contact with the spacecraft when it crashed on Earth. Meson finally contacted us using the orbs you hold now and informed us of your deaths. He was the only survivor. Somehow he had managed to obtain the human genetic material required to carry on with the mission so he combined this with your own using his powers and placed the fetus’s in the birth pods we had created especially for this process. Meson advised us that he would return to the pod chamber when the time was right to complete the process of your birth’s with the memory transference. He would then remain on the Earth to watch over you.”

“Meson couldn’t shape-shift at all could he?” Tess asked.

“Why, yes he could Jesa. That is a power only few of our kind are lucky enough to possess. How did you know?” Mearlaan enquired.

“We know him as Nasedo on Earth and he has acted as my father ever since I was born. I didn’t come out of the birthing pod at the same time as the others so I was kind of left behind. Nasedo...or Meson as you call him, came back to get me and he has looked after me ever since.” Tess stated.

“So he still lives? We had no idea. The last and only communication we had with him was after the ship had crashed and he had informed us of your deaths. You must let him know what I have told you as soon as you can so that he will be able to return with you.”

“But how are we going to return?” asked Isabel.

“Well we have been trying to contact you through the Sentars since all this began, not knowing if you ever had them so we decided that even if we couldn’t contact you we would send a ship down to find you. You see the Sentars act as tracking devices also so we thought that if we followed their signal to Earth you would not be far from them. Therefore we have organized for one of our ship’s to go to Earth the day after your planet has been in shadow for approximately 1 earth hour.” And with that she pushed another button on the console in front of her and a hologram of the Earth’s solar system appeared. She pointed to the Earth as the holographic moon covered the holographic sun creating the shadow on the Earth she was referring to.

“The eclipse.” Max thought to himself, remembering something he had seen in the news about it that morning.

“As I said the ship will use your Sentars as tracking devices so I suggest you leave them somewhere that is very unpopulated and will not allow it to be discovered.” The only reason we were able to organize this and I am able to talk to you now is because the Montaks have gone to war with their long standing enemies, the Shragans of Lutarn. The Shragans have a very large army so the Montaks have had to take most of their men to use in battle. We have managed to overcome the few remaining Montaks left behind to watch over us and have barricaded the palace walls physically and also mentally with a mind shield so they will not be able to re-enter without a fight once they return. We won’t be able to keep them at bay for very long if at all but we had to do something. Our people are slowly dying under the rule of the Montaks and the whole region has fallen into disarray. That is why you must return to us. You are greatly needed and may be our only hope for survival. I know this may sound frightening but know that the people of Deltaria and surrounding regions will not let you down. They too are tired of the dictatorial rule of the Montaks and will help you in any way they can. Please ensure you are there to meet the ship..…"

Before she could finish her sentence a man with dark hair in his mid forties, wearing very regal clothing, almost matching the colours of the clothing Mearlaan wore burst into the room. He was huffing as if he had ran all the way. “Mearlaan hurry, they are back!” He yelled before taking a second to regain his breath. “We are holding them off as best we can but I fear it won’t be long before the break through our barricade…

All of a sudden there was a massive explosion behind Mearlaan and the man and they were both thrown forward from the force of the blast, and then there was nothing. The hologram they were viewing immediately disappeared seconds after the explosion and the orbs were once again inactive.

“MOTHER” Isabel screamed. “Oh my God Max, what if she’s dead?” Panic riddled her voice. “We have to try and get through again. C’mon don’t just stand there! Help me make the connection again!” She cried desperately.

“Isabel, please calm down. It’s no use. Whatever happened on their end must have damaged their communications device and if we try to re-establish a connection we might contact something dangerous. Besides we don’t know that she’s dead.” Max said trying to convince Isabel as much as himself. “We have to believe that she is alive, okay?”

“I guess your right.” Isabel managed still unsure.

Michael quickly tried to change the subject. “Okay, well that definitely didn’t happen the last time we did this guys!”

“I know, maybe we were able to reach a deeper level of connection and concentration between the four of us this time around.” Max offered.

“Of course we were Max. There wasn’t a particular human in the cave with us this time was there?” Tess shot out referring to Liz being present in the cave with them the last time they used the orbs.

Even now, she couldn’t help but be spiteful, Michael thought.