"Well, this is it," he said, looking up at the dark metallic device, "this is the Granolith."

Liz walked slowly around the chamber, taking it all in.

"It's impressive," she remarked.

"Liz, can I ask you something?" Max moved closer to her.

"Of course," she replied.

"Before I went to New York with the dupes, you warned me to protect the Granolith. You said it was important. How did you know?"

Max could see Liz was suddenly uncomfortable, but he pressed on.

"Liz, if you know something about the Granolith that could help us, I need you to share it with me."

"No, it's not like that," she said, turning her eyes away from him. How long could she keep this a secret? How could she just explain to her soul mate that a few weeks ago a version of Max Evans from fourteen years in the future somehow used the Granolith to travel backwards in time and convince Liz that falling in love with her would eventully bring about the end of the world? And no matter how much she wanted to, how could she tell Max that she staged a love scene with Kyle Valenti just so she could trick Max into falling out of love with her?

When Liz looked back up, she could see the concern in Max's eyes. She wanted to tell him the truth more than anything, but she knew she couldn't. However, Max wasn't giving up so easily. He moved slightly towards her.

"Liz, I know I said I wouldn't mention the incident with Kyle again, but..."

"Max, let's not get into that," said Liz, backing up a bit. As she stepped backwards, Liz bumped gently into the Granolith control panel and reached her hands behind her for support. As she did, her fingers pressed several buttons and the large alien device suddenly came to life. Liz whirled around in time to see the Granolith emit an almost blinding blue light. The light enveloped the entire chamber, and before either Max or Liz could do anything, a blazing flash struck them, followed by complete darkness and an eerie silence.

Max felt as though he were floating, and although he couldn't see anything, he felt as if the world around him were spinning. He tried to call out to Liz, but when he openning his mouth, no words would come out. What had happened? Was he dead? Was he only dreaming?

After what seemed like a very long time, Max was finally relieved to feel the floor materialize beneath his feet. The familiar shapes and colors of the Granolith chamber faded into view, and there before him stood Liz Parker. She appeared to be okay, but probably felt as dizzy as he did.

"Max, what happened?" she asked, putting a hand to her head, trying to shake the cobwebs in her mind.

"I don't know," he replied. Max held Liz by the arms and looked directly into her eyes. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," she said, "Where are we?"

"It looks like we're still in the chamber," said Max, but as he looked around, he suddenly realized things were different than he expected. On three sides, the chamber looked the same as it should. However, on one side, Max could see an openning, leading into darkness. He and Liz exchanged a look, then slowly walked toward the openning. The darkness loomed closer and closer with each step they took. What would they find? Another pod chamber?

Suddenly, a figure came briskly out of the dark. Both Max and Liz screamed at once, and nearly fell backwards. The figure also screamed.

"What are you trying to do, give me a heart-attack?!" screeched the figure. As the being came into the light, Max and Liz could see he was a young man, perhaps in his early twenties. He had a mop of blonde hair and wore a headset. In his hands he held a clipboard.

"I've been looking everywhere for you two," continued the man, regaining his composure. "Now stop fooling around. You're going to get me in trouble if you don't report to the set right away."

The man quickly walked off, leaving a stunned Max and Liz behind.

"What was that all about?" asked Liz.

"I don't know, but let's look around." Max took Liz by the arm and carefully led her out of the chamber. There was a lit exit sign to the right, and they could see a door just beneath it. Max and Liz slowly walked over to the door and openned it. Outside, the place was loaded with activity. People ran around in all directions, and Max reconigzed the place as some sort of movie or television studio lot. A young woman saw them and quickly ran over to where they stood.

"Here," she said, thrusting scrips into each of their hands, "take these and get to the set right away. Everyone else is already there!"

The woman sprinted away and disappeared into the crowd. Max looked at the script in his hand and was shocked to read the title on the cover. It read: TELEVISION SERIES, "ROSWELL", EP#2:19, CODE: Gr.

Liz also looked at the script. She flipped through a few pages and was shocked to discover the story revolved around herself, Max, and their other friends.

"Max, this is insane," she said," This story is about us."

"This has got to be some kind of trick," was all Max could say. He really didn't know how anyone could pull a trick like this, but he had learned not to underestimate the evil cunningness of his enemies, the Skins. Max's thoughts were interupted when he suddenly felt someone poke him in the back. He turned to see the familiar face of his fellow alien and sister, Isabel, smiling at him.

"I thought you two were shooting today," she said.

"Isabel, how did you get here?" asked Max. His sister gave him a curious look.

"Okay - whatever," she said. "I guess I'll see you two later, I'm going to the trailer."

Max and Liz watched as Isabel walked off, occasionally saying "hi" or waving to someone as she went.

"Why is Isabel acting so strange?" asked Liz.

"I don't think that 'was' Isabel," Max gravely replied.

"What do you mean?" Liz looked up at Max.

"I mean, I think we've been taken somewhere where our whole lives are nothing but a TV show, and we're 'played' by actors."

Liz looked around. Maybe Max was right. "But Max, if what you're saying is true, then how do we know which reality is the real one?"

Max was silent for a moment before replying. And when he did, he looked directly into Liz's eyes. "Liz, nothing about the way I feel about you can be unreal. This has got to be an illusion, and somehow we're going to get to the bottom of it."

Max and Liz held each other as many unfamiliar people went about their business all around them. And in the distance, standing on the rooftop of one of the studio warehouses, watched the man behind all of this. He smiled.

"Max, you poor fool," he said to himself, "I knew one day you would fall into my trap."