"I think she's a babe and a half."

"Calm down. She's too old for you," said Isabel.

"Don't worry, she's dad's territory," said Kyle.

"Could she be an alien?" said Max.

"There's no way to tell. Courtney stayed undercover for quite a while," said Tess.

Courtney had been another waitress at the Crashdown who had been an alien. No one had suspected her until Michael had caught her shedding her skin. So far Cindy had not done any shedding in their presence.

"We'd better keep an eye on her just in case," concluded Max.

After school Max went to the Crashdown. Isabel was rehearsing for a school play and Michael was on duty in the kitchen, so Max was eating alone. Cindy was his waitress.

She seemed OK and Max had to admit she was very attractive. Maybe Valenti had lucked out. He could understand Valenti's fascination with someone of a different race. Maybe that had something to do with his strong attraction to Liz. . .the lure of the exotic, the forbidden.

"Are you Max Evans?" Cindy asked when she served the food.

"Yes. You're Cindy, the new girl. Right?"

"I'm Cindy. I hear you're into UFOs."

"I work across the street at the Center. Do you believe in them?"

"No," said Cindy, "but I have an open mind on it."

"Why don't you stop by the Center after work. I'll take you on a tour and you can make an informed decision."

"I'll be there," she said.

It had been a long day and Max was tired. He was dozing in the UFO Center office. He sat in a comfortable chair half asleep with his eyelids half closed.

Cindy came into the office. She stood in front of Max, pulled a .38 special from her purse, and pointed it at him.

Max was instantly awake. A burst of alien power sent the revolver flying from her hand. He extended his hand toward her as if warding off a blow.

"Go ahead. Kill me, Max. That's what you're good at," she said nonchalantly.

"I may do that," Max threatened.

"You can't kill me. Nasedo tried dozens of times. All you can do is murder some waitress from St. Louis who doesn't even know she's been possessed."

"Who are you?"

"I am Kivar, the leader of our people."

"If you're really Kivar why didn't you use your alien power on me?"

"I don't have alien power when I am possessing a human. I only have her normal abilities."

It was weird. The words were Kivar's but they came from the mouth of a human female.

"You have nothing to fear from me. I'm not trying to take your throne away. I only want to live a normal life."

"I'm not here to protect myself. I'm here to protect humanity."

"From what?" asked Max. He was genuinely puzzled.

"From you, Max. Sooner or later you will use your alien powers to make yourself the supreme ruler of this planet. I'm here to keep you from becoming the Adolf Hitler of the twenty-first century."

"That's ridiculous. I'm not that kind of person."

"Didn't it ever occur to you to wonder why you were exiled to this planet? Why you were not even allowed to remain a member of our species? Your blood-soaked reign was the worst thing that happened in the history of our people. As far as we know you are the worst person who has existed in the history of the galaxy. Granted, that covers a lot of ground."

"You're lying," Max insisted.

"Then why did Vilandra, your own sister, betray you?"

Max felt a seed of doubt. He had thought about that too.

"If I was so awful why didn't they just execute me?" he asked. He was keeping a close watch on her. He still didn't trust her not to get violent again but so far she had made no move for the pistol.

"There was some sentiment for just such a course of action but in the end we could not bring ourselves to commit regicide. We decided to erase your memory, transform you into a human, and exile you forever to this planet. For technical reasons the transformation could not be complete. You are no longer one of us and you're not quite human either. Face it Max, you're a complete alien. You don't belong anywhere."

"Why were the others sent with me?"

"They volunteered to come. I think Vilandra felt guilty for betraying you. The one you call Michael was your second-in-command. He would have been executed if he hadn't come. Tess was your queen."

"What about Nasedo?"

"He was sent here as your bodyguard."

"Why did he go on killing people when it was obvious it didn't work?"

"Partly because he didn't understand the extent of my power to possess humans but mostly because he liked killing people. He was the commander of your extermination centers. Sort of the Adolph Eichmann of your administration."

"Who were the skins?"

"Not everyone agreed with the lenient treatment you received. When you slaughter billions of people you are bound to make some enemies. The skins were determined to assassinate you. They knew what planet you were sent to but not exactly where you were. The false four, the ones in New York, were a diversion. They were supposed to keep the skins from finding you, but it didn't work. The skins sniffed them out. When you started playing around with the orbs they got a rough fix on your position. After you made your trip to Arizona they knew exactly where to find you."

"What about Courtney?"

"She was a member of your party who infiltrated the skins. Even Hitler had his fans."

It all held together but was it real or just a cleaver tissue of lies? He had no way to know.

"Even if what you say is true, I'm not the same person anymore."