She looked up from her reading, pressed her lips together, and took a deep breath. She then stared back down at her Chemistry briefly before biting her lip and glancing across the room at her picture shelf. She got up, crossing her room to pick up a frame with a picture of her, Maria, and Alex, and flipping it over to a strip of 4 tiny pictures of her and Max, the kind taken in a photo booth—the ones she had found Future Max looking at so many months ago. She took them out of the back of the frame and passed her fingers over his face.

“Lizzie!” She heard her mother’s voice echoing up the stairs. “Your dinner’s ready.” Mrs. Parker had made dinner early so that Liz could start her shift at the Crashdown on time.

“Coming, Mom!” She called back, quickly replacing the strip of pictures and the frame.

* * *

Her shift went rather quickly and routinely until closing, which she and Maria had been left to do because Liz’s parents had gone to bed early. Maria was sweeping and babbling on about how wonderful “space boy” was as Liz wiped down the counter and all the tables.

Maria looked over at her friend, her eyes twinkling conspiratorially. “So I saw you and Max dancing together and holding hands before we left. Wink, wink.”

Liz smiled. “Mmm-hmm.” Then her smile faded, and she looked directly at Maria. “I almost—he had a flash.”

“A flash?” Maria stopped sweeping. “Does he know about…?”

“No. Well, not really. I mean, when he was getting into a cab to go to the airport, he had a flash of us getting out of the cab, like we had just been married.”

“What did you say?” Maria asked, sharply taking in a breath.

“I—I said—I said that that was weird,” Liz finished lamely, giving the counter one last swipe with the wet cloth for good measure.

“What happened then?”

She paused for a moment. “He told me it felt like a real memory, and then, well, you stopped singing. The song was over, and we left the dance floor and didn’t say anything else about it. Although…well…”

“Although what?” Maria prodded.

“I almost—I really wanted to tell him. I want to tell him.” Liz bit her lip. “But I’m scared.

Maria walked around the counter and hugged Liz.

“I’m so scared, Maria. I don’t want to be the cause of the destruction of the human race.”

“We sound like a B movie.”

Liz blinked and gave a tearful little laugh. “You’re so lucky, Maria. To have Michael, I mean.”

“Babe, he definitely has his share of flaws. I mean, just look at his table manners.”

Liz giggled.

Maria beamed, saying, “There’s my girl.” She paused for a moment and then added, “Look, I know it’s hard, but try not to dwell on this right now. We’ll figure something out. Tess isn’t going anywhere; just look at how she’s been hanging all over Kyle lately.” She put her arm around Liz’s shoulders, walking her toward the back of the café, saying, “Girlfriend, what you really need right now is some sleep.”

* * *

The late afternoon sunlight shone down on Max as he parked the jeep a ways from the entrance of the pod chamber. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out where it was, and he didn’t mind the walk.

The golden sunlight made everything look warm and inviting, even the boulders and crags. He made quick progress to the cave, thinking vaguely that he probably should have told someone where he was going as he waved his hand over the rock to reveal the cave’s entrance.

He walked in and stood for a moment just taking in his surroundings. He had closed the entrance, and the whole chamber was bathed in an eerie green light. Though it was eerie, it was also comfortingly familiar to some part of him, deep down.

He stepped towards the pod that led to the granilith and ducked down to climb through. He walked down a narrow hallway, at the end of which was a door that slid open for him, revealing the granilith. A similarly eerie light emanated from the granilith chamber as Max stepped inside it.