Without even making the decision he found himself driving on the road to the Pohlman ranch. He switched the jeep into four-wheel drive and carefully made his way up the muddy roads. To the left of him the normally dry arroyo had become a raging torrent. The rain began leaking through the holes in the canvas roof. He pulled up against the sandstone cliffs into a small wind depression that would partly shield the jeep from the worst of the weather and slowly made his way up the bluff.

He had expected the cave to be dark and was surprised to find a faint glow coming from the pod chambers. Veins in the amniotic gel pulsed and glowed. He touched it and the glow spread to his hand, the blood from his hand turning it red and making his bones visible through the skin. Suddenly the glow spread around the walls of the cave until pinpoints of light were sparkling in every direction. Startled, Max jerked his hand away, then stopped as he realized that breaking the connection might cause all this to disappear. Thankfully, the lights didn't flicker out. He looked down at his hand. The gel had curled in thin tendrils around his finger. He could feel the pulsing now, it seemed to feed something into his body. He felt strong and awake.

The glowing veins around the chambers thickened and spread until the chambers were rings of light. Max watched as the glow spread quickly up his arm in thin, jagged lines under his skin, following the patterns of his veins. Suddenly he was blinded by a bright light that seemed to explode behind his eyes. The light faded and Max was aware again of pinpoints of light surrounding him. This time they were moving slowly around him. He realized that he was not seeing the inside of the cave but was floating through the emptiness of space. He could see the shimmering colors of gaseous nebulas and tired glow of dying red giants.

The stars began flying faster and a bright star in front of him grew until it looked like a glowing cloud, then split into many stars, curling to form the arms of a spiral galaxy. Out of the galaxy, one star grew brighter, and as he drew closer to it he could see planets swirling around it. In an instant he was standing in a field of tall grass with jagged mountains reaching up to the sky around him. A city of glowing domes and crystalline spires stretched out into the distance in front of him. Max had a feeling of happiness and belonging like he had never felt in his life. The happiness slowly changed into fear and sadness. He looked again at the city and this time saw the spires falling down, yellow smoke spewing out of the broken, burning domes. He looked up at the stars and they shifted until they were clustered together into a broken circle with three triangles meeting together at their points. Max stood transfixed as the weird symbol burned in the night sky. After a minute the symbol faded, and when Max looked around again he was once again in the cave. The glowing pods pulsed erratically a few more times, then we! nt dark.

Michael carefully made his way across the room. The rain beating against the window made it hard to sleep, the clouds blocking out the moon made the dark room unfamiliar. The only light was the frequent flashes of lightening that left him with disconnected images. Plus he had the added challenge of all the knickknacks and weird shit that Tess had insisted on bringing over with her. His foot hit some sharp corner and only his hand accidentally coming into contact with the counter stopped him and some undoubtedly priceless object from falling to the floor. Cursing under his breath, Michael replaced the odd porcelain figure on it's pedestal.

He hated having to sneak around like this in his own home. It reminded him too much of living with Hank, always creeping around to avoid waking Hank from his drunken stupor. To be fair, walking around barefoot was overall less hazardous now than when he was living with Hank or alone. Along with her assortment of figurines, Tess had also brought cleaning supplies and a vacuum cleaner. He had thought that Isabel's comments about needing to clean the place up had stemmed from her own incessant compulsion for neatness. Now he wondered if this was just the way all women were. Although Maria had never mentioned anything. Maybe she was different. Then again, maybe she just wanted to be with him enough it didn't matter.

Michael left that thought and turned back to the reason he had gotten up. Peering into the harsh light of the refrigerator, he realized that the cleanliness level is not the only change Tess had brought. The once half empty shelf of Crashdown leftovers was now crowded with fruits, vegetables, and neat little plastic boxes holding the remains of what ever Tess ate when he wasn't home. He peeked into a couple of containers. Not recognizing anything he grabbed a yogurt, peeled back the foil lid, added a shot of tobasco, and stumbled his way back to the couch. Just as he was congratulating himself for getting back in one piece, someone started pounding on the door.

"Oh, screw it." Michael reached over and turned the light on. If someone was going to wake him up this late, there was no reason Tess shouldn't be woken up too. The knocking continued, a little louder. "Hold on, I'm coming."

He opened the door to find Max looking shaken and feverish.

"Max, what happened?"

In a daze, Max walked in and sat down on the couch. "I was out at the pod chamber."

Michael looked past his friend at the water pouring in sheets down his window. "Tonight? Why?"

"I hadn't planned on it. I went to see Liz." Max paused as he met Michael's disapproving gaze. "I know what you're thinking. But I had to try to talk to her. We talked. She told me she's leaving."

"Liz leaving, really?" Tess stepped out of the bedroom, groggily rubbing her eyes. Max looked in astonishment at Tess, then accusingly at Michael. "I guess the Crashdown will need a new waitress. I was looking for a job, maybe I should apply there."

Max rose to his feet. "No."

Tess pouted. "If I work there, maybe Ill actually get to see you once in a while."

"If you do..." As Max took a step toward Tess, Michael put a restraining hand on his shoulder. They both froze. The storm outside suddenly seemed to invade the room. Tess could feel the electric charge in the air. A flash of light arced between the two men as the images from that night flowed from Max to Michael.

"What was that?" Michael looked at Max in confusion.