The lights were suddenly thrown on, Max threw his feet to the floor, after yesterday he didn't know what to expect today. He glanced at Kyle across the room and they both had the same look in their eyes. They were mentally preparing themselves for whatever would happened today.

Topolsky entered the room, she was practically glowing. She walked from cell to cell, glancing at all her little caged rats. "I'd like to congratulate all of you. You've helped us complete Phase II of our project. And in celebration I'm giving you the day off. No games today kiddies."

"Go to hell." This from Michael, his face showed exactly what he thought of her.

"Well Mr. Guerin, I can understand your sentiments, I mean Mr. Yeager was a little rough yesterday, but he did help us achieve our goal." She moved closer to him. "And you got laid so what are you bitching about."

She walked to the center of the room. Throwing her arms into the air she said. "You all got lucky last night, so why all the glum faces?"

She turned to Room C, "well sorta lucky, right Mr. Valenti. You're gonna have to work on your approach, but hey, you're half way there. Just because you know what I did, doesn't mean its going to go away. You can both fight it if you want. But in the end she'll give in. I've locked my suggestions into her and Ms. Parker's minds. They can't ignore them anymore than you can ignore me. Well I'm off, I have a very large report to make, telling my superiors all about our wonderful happy existence here in…what did you call it Mr. Guerin… Happy Acres Home for Wayward Aliens."

She turned and walked out through the door.

Max and Liz stepped out of their rooms, Liz heading towards Maria, she didn't know if she wanted to face Max right now, she was a little embarrassed about the way she had acted last night. She had been totally out of control. She hadn't been herself. Halfway there Isabelle saw her and joined her. The walked into the room and saw Michael pulling the blankets around Maria. The girl was awake but she seemed lifeless, exhausted.

"Don't let her get out of this bed, do you hear me. You can talk to her, but she's not getting up." He issued the orders as he headed out the door.

Michael walked into the mainroom, he headed for the chairs lined up against the wall, they hadn't returned the tables to them, but they could still use the chairs. He took two of the folding chairs and set them up. Kyle walked up and grabbed two more, with Max's help they soon had all six chairs sitting in a circle in the middle of the room. The three men sat down. They didn't speak, just sat staring at the floor, the walls, anything but each other.

"So we all did it." Michael finally said. "After everything that's happened to us what the hell could you expect."

"Speak for yourself, Izzy and I didn't exactly do it…we sorta just messed around a bit." Kyle said in his defense.

"What the hell was she talking about, what did she put in Liz and Izzy's minds?" Michael ask.

Kyle sat up, leaning his arms on his knees he said, "suggestions, stuff about wanting to actually…do it. Isabelle and I figured it out last night."

"I thought that's what it was, but I wasn't sure. From some of the things the girls said yesterday I had been wondering." Max said. "And Liz wasn't exactly herself last night."

"So now what, cause I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you, there's only one good thing in this place for me, and she's in our bed right now. I'm not gonna stop being with her. Hell, Max I couldn't stop if I wanted to." Michael said in one long breathe.

"I know, I'm not going to ask you to stop. I think that would be a waste of my time and yours." Max told him, "but I think we should take some precautions. We have to at least think of the consequences here. I don't think we should…complete the act inside of them. Last night a lot of things were going down, we were all caught up in the moment. But from now on we have to think with our heads straight about this."

"I agree." Michael said. They both turned to Kyle.

"Hey, I told you, we didn't do it. We just got a little carried away, I did not make love to Isabelle. We've agreed that it's not going to happen again." Kyle told them.

"Are you sleeping in the same bed with her?" Michael ask.

"Well yeah, but…" Kyle didn't get to finish.

"Your gonna do it. Just give it some time." Michael told him.

Kyle turned to Max, "I swear Evans I am not going to have sex with your sister."

"Kyle nobody is accusing you of anything." Max replied.

"Max!" Liz shouted. "Maria's sick."

The men got up and ran to the cell. Liz was wiping Maria's face with a towel while Isabelle kneeled on the floor cleaning up the mess Maria had made. The girl sat on the edge of the bed, she had the sheet wrapped around her naked body.

"Maria, what's the matter?" Michael skirted his way around the back of the bed and kneeled behind the young girl.

"I feel so dizzy, I think it was the drug, I can't stop my head from spinning." Maria said through clenched teeth.

"What drug?" Max asked.

"Yeager used some kind of oil, he rubbed it on her body, it…made her…excited." Michael replied. "We think it was drugs of some kind."

"Excited? What do you mean excited." Max questioned.

"It made me horny. Ok." Maria shouted. "And he put Michael up on that thing, he made him watch as he rubbed this oil all over me. If I moved he would shock Michael. I tried to stand still but I couldn't. He sent currents of electricity shooting through Michael's body. And…and afterwards the oil made me want…Michael."

"Hey, calm down, I'm alright, I'm not even having muscle spasms anymore. I'm fine. Just calm down." Reaching up he pushed the hair that was clinging to Maria's forehead back off of her face. "You should have seen her, she was so damn beautiful out there, she never let him get to her. She stayed cool, real cool."

Max and Isabelle exchanged looks, they had never heard Michael speak this way, never heard him actually compliment another the way he had just complimented Maria.

"I can imagine the words that were coming out of your mouth. Are Yeager's ears ringing this morning?" Isabelle ask Michael.

"No, he never said a word to him. He didn't lose his temper at all. He was more calm than I was."" Maria said, the dizziness was almost gone, and her stomach had finally settled down.

Max couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You never said a word to him?"

Michael looked at his friend and replied. "Hey, if she could hold it together, so could I. Bit a hole threw my lip trying to keep my mouth shut."

Maria stood up and told Isabelle she would help her remove the soiled towels. Isabelle pulled the towels out of her reach. "Just forget it, I'll take care of these, you just get back into bed." She left the room to dispose of the towels. She figured she would put them in the shower room.

Maria didn't like that idea at all. "I'm fine now, I don't need to….OH MY GOD! She fell to her knees clutching her lower abdomen, the sheet shifted and her breast were exposed. Moans came pouring out of her mouth. "Awww….awww"

"Maria!" Michael dropped to his knees beside her, he pulled her into his arms. "What's the matter?"

Liz knelt down on her other side, she didn't know what to do. She gathered the sheet over her, covering her back up. She turned to Max, "what's the matter with her?"

Kyle turned and yelled for Isabelle.

The main door was suddenly thrown open and Topolsky entered with three technicians; two of them were pushing a gurney.

"Everybody back to their cells, immediately. NOW, get the hell out of the way." The woman shouted as she pushed her way into the cell. Pushing Liz out of the way she dropped to her knees beside Maria. "Where does it hurt, tell me."

"My stomach," Maria yelled. "God, it feels like I'm being ripped apart."

"Mr. Guerin please, get out of the way." Topolsky screamed at him.

Michael had no intentions of leaving Maria. Two of the technicians grabbed him under the arms and pulled him away from the girl. The other tech picked Maria up off the floor and started to carry her to the gurney. Isabelle came running out of the shower room. Kyle grabbed her and pulled her behind him. Max stepped in-front of the man carrying Maria.

"Where are you taking her?" Michael screamed from the cell.

Topolsky faced Max. "Mr. Evans, we have to take her to Dr. Hanson, if you would kindly inform Mr. Guerin that she has to see the doctor."

"Why can't he come here?" Max demanded.

"If you care about this girl at all, you will get out of our way and let us do our job." Topolsky told him. "Believe me, we aren't going to hurt her, if I'm correct in my suspicions, she's the most important thing in this whole damn experiment right now."

"What is it, what's the matter with her?" Michael screamed.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Liz said.

"I think she's pregnant." Topolsky stated. "Now please if we don't get her to Dr. Hanson immediately we may lose her."

Max stepped out of the way. "If anything happens to her…"

"I'm in full agreement with you, nothing will happen to her. We'll protect her with our lives." Topolsky said as she helped the technician place Maria on the gurney. They started pushing her towards the door.

"MICHAEL!!" Maria screamed.

"No, don't let them take her Max, don't let her take her." Michael shouted. He struggled to get away from the men who were holding him. But they were stronger than him. Having been tortured hours before he was still too weak to fight them.

As Topolsky and Maria disappeared through the door, the technicians let Michael go and ran to follow them. The door shut with a resounding bang.

Michael dropped to his hands and knees. "She can't be pregnant, it was only a few hours ago, how can this be happening."

"Michael we don't know anything about our species, nothing about conception, birth, nothing." Isabelle said quietly as she watched him rock back and forth on his knees. She wanted to go to him, wrap her arms around him, but she didn't think he would accept it. Not in the mood he was in. You could feel the anger pouring off of him, anger and fear. He was scared for Maria. They were all frightened for her.

-*****-

Maria didn't return, no matter how much Michael yelled and screamed no one came to answer his pleas. After a few days his shouting ceased. After a few weeks he stopped talking.

A black cloud hung over the five young people in the holding cells. Michael stayed in his room, he ate his meals sitting on the side of his bed. The tables had been returned to them, Max, Liz, Kyle and Isabelle ate their meals at the table, but very little was said.

Michael didn't sleep much. He just lay on the bed that he had shared with Maria, staring at the ceiling. Waiting, hoping they would return her to him. If someone spoke to him he didn't answer, he couldn't. He only showered when they turned the lights off at night.

After lights out you could hear the whispers, the quiet voices in the dark as Max and Liz held each other through the long nights, they spoke of things that they didn't understand, of better days and walking in the sunlight again. They stroked and petted each other to completion, but they never succumbed to the need to be together again.

Kyle and Isabelle tried to fight Isabelle's cravings, but they always returned, especially in the darkness when they lay side by side in their bed. Kyle always treated her gently, slowly removing the ache with his hands or mouth, but never did he take her, not even when she begged him too.

They knew it was too dangerous. They had given in once, but never again.

Topolsky never came to see them anymore, no mind games where played on them, Yeager and his tools weren't seen again. As the weeks went by no one even missed them.

-*****-

Zane Shearer sat at his monitor watching the five young people in the holding cells, he turned to another monitor and watched the young girl thrash on the bed, she had monitors hooked up to her, she looked like she had sprouted cords and wires from her body. She had been unconscious for two days now. For weeks she had courageously fought off the pain that continuously racked her small body. The pain only lessened when they drugged her, but Dr. Hanson had told Topolsky today that it couldn't go on, they were losing her, and losing the child she carried. Zane knew she was only six weeks pregnant, but her swollen body told another tale. Ultrasounds had shown that the fetus was approximately four or five months along. Topolsky argued that if they could keep the child alive for another two weeks they could probably save it. The mother was a forgotten issue. She was expendable.