"Liz? What's wrong with her?"

"It's ok, Max. This happened the last time, too." Isabel explained. "When you were in New York. As soon as the connection was finished, she passed out." She exhaled shakily. "It scared the heck out of us, but after she'd woken up, she was fine. It was just too much for her, I guess. Right, Michael?"

Michael didn't respond. He just sat on the bed, staring at Liz, holding one of her small hands in his.

"Michael?"

Max sat down on Liz's other side and joined in the staring. "I would never have guessed.... I mean, I knew the Kyle thing was a set-up, and I was sure it had something to do with the granilith, but this... this never occurred to me."

"She never said anything to anyone," Isabel said, amazed that Liz could keep something like this a secret. She was certain that, had she been in her position, after the other Max had disappeared, she would have told Michael, at least.

Max said, "She told Maria..." Some selfish part of him was hurt that she would share this with her best friend but not him. The rational part of his mind understood why. Knew why she'd felt that it was imperative that no one ever know, but still... She should have told him.

"It's not her fault," Michael said, speaking for the first time since the flash ended. His voice sounded kind of strange, faraway like he had something else on his mind. "Maria heard the rumors at school about Liz and Kyle and confronted her. Liz did lie to her at first, but she must have changed her mind. After all, what difference could it make if Maria knew? It's not like it's up to her to stop the end of the world."

"I still can't believe it," Isabel said, her voice climbing higher.

Next to her, Michael closed his eyes and got very still.

Unaware of his frozen posture, she continued, "I mean, other aliens are going to invade, and we're going to die. I mean, what am I supposed to do with that?"

Max reached over and touched her free arm. "Isabel, we don't know that that's going to happen anymore. You heard what he said. The future is to be determined. Anything could happen at this point."

"Uh Max," Michael's voice was uncharacteristically quiet. His eyes opened and found his friend's. "It's time. We gotta go."

It took a moment for that to sink in. When it did, Max's eyes widened. "He's here?"

"Who's here?" Isabel asked at the same time Max said, "Ok. Let's go."

He and Michael stood up leaving Isabel to demand, "Max, what's going on here?"

"The emissary is here."

"The... But I thought we'd decided not to meet with him."

"Isabel, we don't have a choice." Max's soft tone made the words less harsh. "We need some answers. Now more than ever," here he glanced at Liz's still form on his bed.

Michael added, "And if there's gonna be an invasion it wouldn't hurt to have some allies."

Max hugged his sister. "We'll be back soon." With one last look at Liz, the two boys climbed back through his window and headed for the UFO Center.

In less time than they would have liked, they were pulling up in front of the museum. "You ready?" Michael asked worriedly. Both of them still hadn't fully assimilated all of the implications of Liz's revelations, but there was no time. The emissary awaited them.

"Yeah." He slowly climbed out of the Jeep and joined his friend on the sidewalk. "Michael, if anything goes wrong in there, I want you to get Isabel and the others and get out of Roswell."

Michael stared at him in disbelief for a second. "WHAT!?"

"We don't know what he wants, but we cannot pretend that he's here to talk about old times. He wants something. And the only thing we have is the granilith, and no matter what happens, I am not giving it up. Not now, not ever." Max put his hand on Michael's shoulder. "I mean, think about it. They have to know more about it than we do. If they get their hands on it, then we're done. There'll be no stopping them. They could time-travel back to before we even came out of the pods. We'd be helpless." He shuddered at the thought. "If this is a trap, they will try to use you guys against me, and I need to know that you're safe. All of you."

Michael wanted to argue, but he could see the sense in what Max was saying. Mutely, he nodded. The protecting the others and the granilith came first.

Max took a deep, calming breath and said, "Be ready." Then they turned and walked up the steps into the UFO Center. Michael was already stirring up the source of his powers, preparing for the worst. If this was in fact a double cross, he wasn't leaving Max without a fight.

Inside, they went straight to Brody's office, where they found Max's boss waiting for them, only it wasn't. Larek turned at the sound of their approach. "Hello." He stepped closer and gave them a welcoming if strained smile. "Max, wasn't it? Max Evans"

"Yeah." Max's hands remained at his side. It went against his upbringing, but he wasn't going to touch the alien and risk forming a connection with him.

The alien turned to Michael and said, "Hello. We didn't get a chance to meet in New York. My name's Larek."

"Michael," responded Max's second in command.

Larek jump right in with, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I'm aware that people don't just run around requesting meetings with their rulers, but something's happened. Something that concerns all of us."

"What is it?"

"There's no easy way to say this... The other emissaries that you met in New York are all dead, Max. I'm the only one left."

"What happened?" Max asked. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't this.

"Khivar. As long as we all thought he had possession of the granilith, no one was really going to challenge his position as ruler. When word got out that he no longer had it, his claim to the throne could have been overruled. So, he had his men stalk the others while they were in meditation at the meeting. As soon as Nicholas informed Khivar of your refusal to accept his deal, he had the others murdered before they could tell anyone else. The only reason I escaped execution was my nephew. He was there to stop the assassin. I've been in hiding ever since."

Max automatically answered, "I'm sorry," but his mind was awhirl. The other three dignitaries from the summit were all dead - because of him. Because of a decision he'd made. Guilt was singing through him, but he pushed it back. He'd made the right decision, and he would stand by it. Turning the granilith over to Khivar would have been a stupid, costly mistake.

Larek waved away the apology. "It doesn't matter. You were right to refuse Khivar's terms. At the summit we were all upset at seeing our chance of peace slip away, and I said things I shouldn't have. Khivar wasn't offering peace, he wanted only to get the granilith back. My friends who are loyal to me have reported since then that had you accepted the deal he was offering then you and the others would have been killed. Probably within the hour of your return. A nice big public execution. A nice big public display of his powers."

Beside him, Max felt Michael tense up. His energy fairly crackled out of him. Putting a restraining hand on his friend's arm, Max said to Larek, "But we didn't. So, why are you here?"

It sickened him to think of how close he'd come to taking the deal. Of taking the chance that Nicholas and the deal were on the up and up. There had only been four things holding him back: Michael and Isabel to begin with. He refused to consider leaving them behind. And since they were in Roswell while he was in New York with Lonnie and Rath that's what he would have had to do. Then there was the granilith. Liz had told him that it was powerful; that it could be dangerous, and despite the fact that she shouldn't have known any such thing, he had believed her. He couldn't take the chance that the alien device would be used by their enemies. And lastly, the fourth reason he'd refused to leave this planet for the chance to see his own was passed out in his bed right now. Liz Parker. Despite his confusion and heartbreak at the time, he still loved her and couldn't contemplate never seeing her again. So, he'd told Nicholas and Khivar that the terms were unacceptable and that he would not be turning over the granilith to them, and in the process, he'd unknowingly saved both himself and Tess.

Larek turned his back to them as he explained the reason for his visit. "It's my nephew. He's disappeared. You see, ever since he saved me, Khivar's soldiers have been after him. They nearly caught him once, but by some miracle, he was able to get away. If they catch him, Khivar will make his death a public display of his power. It will be horrible." Here Larek shuddered.

"So what do you want us to do?" Michael asked, wishing he'd get to the point.

He turned back to them and looked Max straight in the eye, "Find him."

"Find him? How?" Max asked.

"I think he's coming to Earth. In the last conversation I had with him, he kept going on about looking for the granilith. Now that he's disappeared, I fear that this is the logical place for him to go. If he can find the granilith, then Khivar's hold over him will be over. Khivar himself will be out of power within a very short amount of time."

"Why's that?"

"He who has the granilith controls the planetary system," Larek explained somewhat impatiently. "All five planets will bow to whoever has it."

"Didn't you tell everyone that it's gone?" Max asked.

"No. You don't understand what'll happen, Max. The fighting we're doing now is like children squabbling. If the other governments find out that it's gone, we're looking at an all out massacre for control. There'll be nothing to hold the others in check. They can't know it's gone until it's been returned."

"And if it's not?"

That seemed to stump Larek for a moment. "If it's not?" he repeated a little confused.

"Yeah. What if it's never returned?"

He sputtered, "Well, surely when you return..."

"Your planet doesn't even sound like a nice place to visit. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live there," Michael said.

Max added, "So, if we don't go, then neither does the granilith. What will happen then?"

"Not return? But you are our leaders. You are the royal four. We've been waiting for your return for so long. How can you not come back?"

Max ignored his question by asking one of his own. "Tell me about Nicholas. What is he when he's here? Is he wearing a husk?"

"Yes. Of course. He'd have to be. One of his people couldn't survive for long periods of time on your planet without one."

"How long a period could he survive?" Michael wanted to know.

"A few hours. A day at most."

"How is it possible that we killed him, only to have him show up at the summit?"

"Killed him? I don't understand."

"We incinerated an entire town full of their people after destroying their new husks. We saw Nicholas and the others turned into ashes. Then imagine our surprise when he arrived at the summit. How'd he do it?" Michael asked, going along with the idea that it had been him, not Rath at the meeting.

"I don't know. He must have time shifted back to Ramadon just before his death. The ashes you saw must have been his abandoned husk."

"Ramadon. That's the name of..."

"His planet. Yours is called Sitterna. Mine is Basock. Now, about my nephew," Larek continued, eager to turn the conversation back around, "He could be here already."

"Are we talking his physical body, or is he coming the way you did?" Michael asked.

"He wouldn't have had time to prepare for such a journey, plus he would have needed a husk, too, so no. I believe he's taken possession of a human for the time being."

"How long could he sustain his control over his victim?" Max asked.

"Only several hours at a time, but recuperation is swift, so he could easily take the person back over again and again until he's found what he's looking for."

"Great. He could be anyone." Michael groused.

"On the contrary, normal humans cannot be possessed. Only a human who has been prepared for the coming can be taken over."

"Prepared? How"

"I'm not sure. I only know that the body has to have been changed, like this one. The change makes it possible for me to use it. You guys didn't know that?" They both silently shook their heads. Larek frowned at them for a second, then mused, "If you didn't change this body, then I can only assume that your guardian did. There aren't very many humans that qualify at all. We were lucky to pull together enough for each of the delegates to appear in at the summit. The emissary who certified you had to be changed just for that reason."

"But they still look like normal people. So, as I said, he could be anyone," Michael pointed out.

"Hmm. You are right. That does pose a problem." He thought for a second, then snapped his fingers in sudden inspiration, "I have it. I will send my niece to you. She will be able to help you locate Zelwyn. They have a special connection to each other. With her help you'll be able to find him in no time."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Max started to object.

Larek raised his hand. "I insist. What's important is that we get to Zelwyn before he gets to the granilith and brings Khivar down on all of us."

Michael was still working out the logistics of the problem, so he asked, "Say that we do find him, what's to prevent him from returning?"

"Why, you are. Simply command him to leave off his quest."

"That's it?" Michael asked skeptically. "We tell him to go away and he goes?"

Larek seemed amused as he responded, "Yes. While you may not feel like it, or act like it, you are still our rulers and your word is law to us." Larek had trouble hiding his smile as he said it. Imagine having to explain that to your king.

He assured Max, "He will obey. I am sending my niece to you now. You may not remember her, but she is looking forward to helping you. The two of you were once... close."