MICHAEL: So Max, do you think we should just ask Valenti for a background check, or should we try to get him more involved?

MAX: I don’t know. A background check might take some time. Maybe he’ll just take our word for it that he’s dangerous. But we have no choice now but to try the Valenti option. We have to trust him, see what he says.

MICHAEL: I know. But I wish there is some way that we could deal with this ourselves.

Michael and Max were on their way to the Sheriff’s office, trying to come up with a plan of attack for their latest brainstorm.

MAX: Without Nasedo, we have no choice other than to get aggressive. You know that.

MICHAEL: At some point, we are going to have to make that choice. It seems like the only way.

MAX: You don’t know that. We don’t know anything.

MICHAEL: Believe me, I’d really like to believe that we could find another option. It just doesn’t seem possible anymore. I mean, even if Javier isn’ t the real deal, what about the next time. These are beings that are holding our people hostage, enslaved. It doesn’t seem to me like they’d just be nice peaceful folk.

MAX: I know, Michael, I know.

They pulled up to the Sheriff’s office, and walked in. There was a deputy at the desk.

MAX: We’re here to see Sheriff Valenti.

DEPUTY: Well, the Sheriff is very busy. I’m sure you kids can understand.

MICHAEL: Yeah, but it’s really important.

MAX: Just tell him that Max Evans and Michael Guerin are here. He’ll see us.

The Sheriff looked out from his office, and saw them.

SHERIFF: It’s OK, Deputy, I’ll talk to them.

MAX: Good…Sheriff, we better go in your office.

Sheriff Valenti guided the two into his office, and closed the door.

SHERIFF: So what’s up, Max?

MAX: We may have a problem.

SHERIFF: What sort of problem?

MAX: Well, there’s a new guy in town…and we have reason to believe that he’s out to expose us.

Max didn’t really want to let the Sheriff in on the whole intergalactic warfare thing. He wasn’t ready to talk about that with anyone else. The Sheriff had gone through enough these last few weeks without them adding that bombshell, especially when even they didn’t know the fine print yet.

MICHAEL: Yeah, he works with Max at the UFO center. Just moved to town a week or so ago, as near as we can figure…he’s been acting strangely.

MAX: We were wondering if you can check him out; see if his story checks out.

SHERIFF: Well, I’ll be glad to check a few things out for you, but it will take some time. What do you know about this guy?

MAX: Well, his name is Javier Ortecho. He says he comes from New York City, and goes to Columbia. He’s an archeology student. He’s out here for the summer.

SHERIFF: What exactly makes you nervous?

MICHAEL: Well, he’s got a house on the other side of town, much too nice for a college student, and…

SHERIFF: And what?

MAX: He has something, something we saw that day at the cave. We think it may have something to do with us. It’s just suspicious, and we’d prefer to be on top of it before it becomes too late.

MICHAEL: There’s a lot going on. We need to know.

SHERIFF: Well, I can run a background check…that will take a couple of days though. Anything else I can do? I can go talk to him, see if I can find anything out.

MAX: I don’t think that’s a very good idea. We don’t know how he’d react, and no guarantees that he’ll tell you anything different than he’s told us.

SHERIFF: No, you’re probably right. But I’ll have to get some more information before I can place the calls I need, just a name and a description won’t get you very far, you know.

MAX: Well, I picked up some stuff from his file at the UFO center. This should help.

SHERIFF: That should be good enough for a start. I’ll give you a call.

MAX: Thanks, as soon as you know anything…

SHERIFF: Yeah.

SCENE 2

Javier was getting closer to finding what he was looking for. He had spent virtually his entire downtime looking for the center of the signal. He had driven all around, with the homing signal and his light, trying to find out more about the threat. He was making progress, but it was taking a lot more time than he thought it would. New Mexico was a big place, and even though the area around Roswell was definitely the location of the source, it was still a big area; it could be anywhere for 100 miles around according to his calculations. He had been able to narrow it down though, to about a five mile section about 20 miles south of town.

Even he didn’t know what he was going to find. Maybe the others were still in their pods, and all he would have to do is transmit their exact location to the rest of his people, wherever they might be. He went back into the deep recesses of his mind, back fifty years ago when his mission was explained. He only had to locate the signal, and then they would send for him. He had been waiting for that day for a half century. He was tired of Earth, wished he could go back to his own kind, not have to hide all the time. He only hoped that they were as good to their word as he had been to his, even after all of the time.

He hadn’t wanted to come. But he had gotten in some trouble, and this was the only way out at the time, or so he thought. Anyway, there was no time to think about that now. He had his eyes on the prize, and didn’t know or care what would happen after he found it. Javier drove his sports car down the deserted road, concentrating on the land near the highway. It had been the fastest way to narrow down the area. He knew that he was eventually going to have to proceed on foot, but knew that it could take weeks. The area would have to be well hidden in order to have survived this long.

He wished that he could have met one of them. Dealing with an enemy that he couldn’t see was too impersonal. He had spent his entire time here following unseen masters, and it had given him so much distance from the cause that he had to work to maintain his focus, especially during the past few decades, where it seemed like nothing would ever change. His whole life had become one long wait. Even the distraction of his ‘human’ life had been little comfort to him. He had liked his last few ‘lives’; being a DJ at least had been fun. But it wasn’t enough; life here could never be enough for him.

He was snapped out of his wallowing by the chirp of his laptop computer, which he had specially modified for the purpose of tracking the signal. He had come to the limit of the area that he had specified. He passed the same rock outcropping that he had passed the other day, where he had actually stopped before. He hadn’t found anything that time, but he hadn’t really gotten a real good look. He had had this nagging feeling that he was being trailed; so he had to cut short his exploration. He didn’t know what would happen when he found what he was looking for, and for anyone to be around was just asking for trouble. But he felt fairly safe today. It was clear and sunny, and it’s really hard to hide in the open desert for very long.

SCENE 3

Max and Michael walked into the Crashdown, and were immediately met by the others. The first words though, were reserved for Mr. Parker, who was behind the counter, cooking.

MR. PARKER: Michael, where have you been? There was no one here to make the food.

Michael all of the sudden remembered that he was supposed to work this afternoon. He had completely forgotten in his interest over the larger issue at hand. But, Liz actually saved the day for him.

LIZ: Dad, I’m sorry…I should have told you. Michael had somewhere else he had to go today. He told me about it a few days ago.

MR. PARKER: Well, then why didn’t you change the schedule, get someone to cover for him?

LIZ: I’m so sorry, Dad, but we have to go…all of us. I think that Jimmy can work...give him a call.

MR. PARKER: Well, it is the last day of school. OK, I’ll forgive you, but Michael, you better be here tomorrow.

MICHAEL: Yes, Mr. Parker.

Max and Michael joined the other five of them at a booth in the front of the café.

MAX: So, where can we go to talk about this?

ISABEL: Mom and Dad aren’t home until later. We could go there.

MAX: Sure, that sounds like a plan. We better get going though. Time may be important here.

MARIA: Why? What are you saying?

MAX: I’ll explain when we get there. Let’s go.

The group all piled into Maria and Max’s cars and took off.

SCENE 4

Javier pulled up next to the outcropping and gotten out of the car. If it were another time, perhaps he would stop and admire the uniqueness of something like this. Things like this only existed in the desert. But, he had work to do. He took out the light, and the homing device, and started scanning. After about thirty seconds, he knew. What he was looking for was definitely here. He got excited, but at the same time, was unsure about how exactly to proceed. Did he need a shovel, a pickaxe, or was it just going to pop out at him? He didn’t know. He had waited so long for this moment, thought about it for so long, and now it was all that he could do to concentrate.

SCENE 5

The group reassembled in the Evans’ driveway, and filed in to the family room.

MAX: OK…I don’t know what all Isabel and Tess told the three of you, but this is what happened. You know that new guy in town, Javier, the one that I work with at the center.

MARIA: Yeah, he was in the Crashdown yesterday. Seemed OK. But…?

MICHAEL: We think he’s not who he says he is. We weren’t sure, but his actions kept getting more and more suspicious.

LIZ: So you went to Valenti?

MAX: Yeah. We asked him to check him out, you know? Michael and I took his picture and his application to work at the center, and anything else we could find out about him to the Sheriff.

TESS: This was after I saw him searching the desert for something. It seemed to me that he might be looking for the cave.

ALEX: So, wait a minute, do you think that he knows who you are?

MAX: We don’t know. He could know everything, we just don’t know.

MARIA: But don’t you think that he would have done something more direct, confronted you or something?

ISABEL: Maybe he’s just the first. Maybe they’re all out there, waiting for him to find out that we’re really here now.

ALEX: So how do we stop him now? I mean, can we confront him? I think we need to think about that now. We were waiting for him to do something, and now he definitely seems like trouble.

LIZ: Was Javier supposed to be at the center today, Max?

MAX: No…he worked this morning. Someone had to cover for everyone during finals you know.

LIZ: So he could be out there right now?

MICHAEL: Yeah.

MARIA: Tess, how close was he when you saw him, you know, to where the cave is?

TESS: He stopped right in front of it, but he took off right after that.

MARIA: Maybe he saw you.

MICHAEL: We have to find him. We should drive out there.

ISABEL: But wouldn’t that just be leading him right to us?

MAX: Michael’s right. We don’t know what he knows.

LIZ: But can we afford to sit around and wait? What if he finds it? What happens after that?

With Liz’s words, the whole room got quiet. No one knew what would happen, but everyone knew that it wouldn’t be good.

SCENE 6

While the others were decided what to do about him, Javier was completely engrossed in the light. Now that he was here, the light started getting stronger and stronger, blinking continuously, almost blinding him as he gazed into it. It almost seemed to jump out, spreading all around him, even in the light of day. He started his way up the slope, walking slowly, making sure not to miss anything. About a third of the way up, he stopped. The light was causing a weird shimmer in the rock. It almost looked like, a handprint, or something. He stopped and concentrated it on the spot. It was there, wasn’t a trick or a mirage. It looked like a handprint. Well, he thought, maybe it was the way in. It made sense to him. After all, a place like this would need to be well hidden, and with an entryway obscured to any human technology, and in the middle of nowhere, it seemed to be perfect. He took his hand and placed it on the print.

A force knocked him backwards, and he almost fell down the hill. It was like a massive amount of electricity had just reached out and shocked him. Javier had just grabbed to the outcropping and was a few fingers away from plunging the couple hundred feet back to the desert floor. It had been a near thing.

Then, he slowly levitated back over the precipice. If anyone had seen him, they would have checked their sight, done a double take. Javier had floated back to the area right in front of the area near the handprint within a few seconds. The response of the rock wall had surprised him, but his reserves had helped him to survive it unscathed. He couldn’t say the same for the light he was carrying though. It had plunged down the mountain, and seemed lost, at least for the time being. Javier didn’t know if the light could be destroyed. He had always treated it like an invaluable relic. He thought about going after it, but decided against it, at least for a few minutes. It took a lot of energy to levitate, and so he was pretty exhausted.

The homing device in his pocket was still beeping, and so he took it out to look at it. Suddenly, it sent out a beam of purple light toward the rock face. The rock face started to shimmer, and then grow translucent. After about thirty seconds, the rocks started to crumble…

SCENE 7

The group was still reeling from Liz’s statement when Max spoke up.

MAX: Liz and Michael are right. We have to go out there, or at least find Javier, talk to him.

ISABEL: But if he knows who we are?

MICHAEL: Not knowing what he’ll do is worse…we have to stop him before he stops us.

MARIA: But what’ll happen? What if he’s some sort of super alien? What if we get hurt?

TESS: We’ll be able to stop him with all four of us.

MARIA: How can you be so sure of that?

MICHAEL: We’re wasting time. He could be out there finding the cave this very second. We have to move.

MAX: OK…let’s go.

The group went to leave, but before they got to the door, they heard something.

MARIA: Max, what was that?

ISABEL: It’s coming from your room.

Max ran up the stairs, and the rest of them followed. When they got to the door, the saw the light, sitting on Max’s dresser. It was going crazy, flashing bright beams of every conceivable color, making loud, high-pitched tones.

LIZ: What does that mean?