Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ten days, twenty-one hours.

I love you, I'm sorry.

Michael gripped his necklace, totally frozen in place. It was cold. Alex? Alex? What happened?

The lack of response scared the shit out of him. Why didn't he insist that he go with them?

Alex, answer me! Please!

"You okay?" Bonnie asked from where she was finely chopping a root. "Michael?"

"Alex isn't answering," he said numbly.

"All the more reason to finish this," she said. "He needs the fuel."

"You don't understand," Michael said, though in his mind he was still calling for Alex. "He apologized. He knows that would make me worry. Something must be wrong."

"Okay, what should we do, then?"

Michael looked up at the tree, strapped down onto his truck. He'd wanted to let the roots steep while they drove to the airlock so it would be ready for Alex when they arrived. But now he was reluctant to let go of his necklace in case Alex reached out again.

"Steep what we have," he said, throwing a tarp over the tree with telekinesis.

Bonnie nodded and gathered all the chopped root bits. They had a pitcher, usually for iced tea, to steep them in, and Bonnie belted it into the middle of the bench seat.

Michael swallowed and took out his phone to call Max as he climbed into the truck. "What happened?" he demanded as soon as he picked up.

"How did you--"

"Alex. Tell me now."

"Oh yeah, telepathy. Um, Clyde appeared with a girl, Vanessa, and Liz went after them, and Alex and Kyle went after her," Max said.

Michael swore.

"Isobel is fighting Tezca to get to them. Izzy is winning," he said. "She told me not to help, to defend the airlock."

"Listen to her, you need to be there to pull up the spelunkers," Michael said. "We'll-We'll be there in less than an hour, Imma floor it."

"Michael--"

He hung up before Max could argue. He couldn't blame him, he would too. And Michael would break and agree if he pointed that out, and then no one would be protecting the airlock.

Ten days, twenty-one hours.

Alex was breathing. That was something. Alex was breathing, but not conscious; his eyes had been sparkly earlier but now they were normal, and so was his prosthetic, and Kyle was sure that meant that the engine was out of fuel.

The only thing on Alex that still glowed was his necklace, and even that was faint.

Liz was screaming at Clyde: "Bring him back! Bring him back!"

"Yeah, that's not how my powers work. Maybe your Empath can bring him back one day. That'll be after you get rid of this tattoo so we can get on the ship and your triad navigates it back to Oasis."

Alex was breathing, and his pulse and blood pressure were good, but Kyle was concerned. Now he even had a reason. The engine was pretty integrated with Alex's body. "Liz, do what he says."

"Listen to your Balance, Navigator," Clyde taunted.

She looked at Kyle, at Alex, nodded, and got to work.

"If you want him to pilot anything," Kyle said, "you're going to have to give up some of that fruit. The engine is running on fumes."

"Nah," Clyde said. "Finish part one and he can have some for part two. Do it quick if you're that concerned."

"This will take time," Liz said. "Even with me and my extremely competent cohort, it'll take time that our pilot may not have."

He shrugged. "Tick, tock."

Kyle carefully left Alex lying with his head on his backpack to help Liz and hopefully get him fuel as soon as possible. Only then could they determine whether their inhalant worked or not.

Ten days, twenty hours, thirty minutes.

The blue Chevrolet kicked up desert sand that furled into the sky like sails. The shapes the dust made would be familiar to any onlookers, circles and triangles.

Michael used to think it was simply pareidolia, recognizing patterns where there weren't any. But now he knew better when he checked his rearview mirror and saw Ophiuchus in the dark clouds.

"Michael!" Bonnie said, pointing out a vehicle, similar dust clouds trailing. "That's ours! I mean, that's Clyde!"

He stopped the truck abruptly and hardly put it in park before he was out.

The other car stopped too.

"Stay there," Michael said.

His breath hitched when he saw Clyde pull a very confused but unbound Alex from the backseat.

"Alex." Where was all his jewelry? It should've been glinting in the sun. Never mind that. "Alex!"

"The star map for your human," Clyde said. "This one is yours, isn't he?"

Michael ignored him and got closer. "Alex, Alex? Are you okay?"

"Star map," Clyde repeated, and he pulled on Alex's arm roughly enough to make him stumble. His leg didn't look right; did they twist his prosthetic?

Michael's rage flared and he flung Clyde into his car as hard as he could with no hesitation. Alex watched him fly away, eyes wide, and began to overbalance.

Michael caught him and hugged him tightly, but Alex was stiff in his arms. "Baby? Did the inhalant work? What do you remember?"

He shook his head, still staring at Clyde.

"Hey, it's okay, I've got you. Are you alright, did they hurt you? Alex, please talk to me, I was so worried."

Michael rubbed his arms, and two things registered at once: this man was wearing Alex's retired leather jacket, and he was wearing Alex's running blade. His reactions Michael could attribute to amnesia, but this wasn't what he was wearing that morning. He checked his neck.

"Hey, baby, where's your necklace?"

"They-They took it." He threw his arms around him. "Michael! I was so scared."

Michael let the imposter hug him even as his skin crawled. That was his voice, but it wasn't Alex. On the bright side, Tezca needed a connection to shapeshift, so Alex was still alive. "Where's--"

"Baby, I want to go home."

"I want to take you home. Well, I want to take Alex home. I don't know where the hell you live."

Tezca pushed him away and overbalanced again; Michael couldn't help but catch her since she looked like Alex. "How did you know?"

Michael had a tendency to go feral and not think things through when Alex's safety was in question, but the fact that it was Alex's face looking at him right now gave him pause. "Tell me where Alex is and I won't blow your skull to smithereens."

"No, you'd wake him up, and we prefer him asleep."

Too much pause. Tezca called his bluff; Michael did not blow her skull to smithereens, couldn't bring himself to harm her at all while she looked like his fiancé. She looked around wildly, then raised her fists to fight him, and Michael knew he wouldn't even defend himself.

Then, there was a noise like a crack, and Michael barely kept his hands away when Alex's face contorted in pain. It's not Alex, he had to remind himself. But he also couldn't stop watching. He felt sick. He never wanted Alex to make that face.

"That's not your skin!" Bonnie exclaimed. "Wear your own!"

Tezca doubled over, slowly morphing back into herself as she hacked.

At the same time, Bonnie tilted in exhaustion. Michael pulled her away, back to the truck so she could sit down. "Gimme a minute, I'll whoop 'em."

She nodded.

But when he turned around, they were gone, as if they were never there. The air shimmered slightly. "What the hell?"

"That's-That's Clyde's power, too. Memory mirage, remember? It's how he showed you Oasis."

Michael frowned and shut his eyes, reaching out with telekinesis in that direction. They had floored it immediately, apparently, because they were already out of his range.

He raised a plume of sand to disrupt the mirage. That way, at least, he could see the dust cloud on the horizon. Alex's blade was laying abandoned in the sand. He summoned it and put it on the floor of his truck reverently.

"M-Michael, do you have any acetone?" Bonnie asked. "It hurts."

"Flask, here," he said, opening the glove compartment for her and trying very hard not to be annoyed. If not for her, he would've let Tezca-as-Alex beat his ass. It wasn't her fault her powers weren't like his.

He got in the truck and started for Grant's Pass.

"How did you do that? Did you know you could do that?"

"Didn't know. But she still had some of my poison, from Liz, and I... reactivated it? It'll probably be dormant again by now, but I couldn't let her hurt you."

"That's amazing," Michael said sincerely, refusing to let his mind run wild with the thought of the viral implications of her powers. "Thank you."

"Of course. I'm gonna take a nap."

"Hold on a second," Michael said. "One more question. Do I still have any of your poison?"

"No, that's why I was surprised," Bonnie said. She shook the flask into her mouth, but she had emptied it. "You and Max both completely expunged it. I think Clyde's blood wasn't enough to get it out of her system since our triad is broken. Thanks for the acetone."

She tried to hand the flask back. Michael said, "Uh, that is yours now, buddy. Poison and all."

"Oh right. Thanks, I'll get you a new one somehow. Good night," she said, and she was out, the flask held to her stomach.

Michael hated the sudden silence because now all he could hear was every corner of his mind demanding that he find Alex, make sure Alex is safe, protect Alex like he couldn't, didn't for so many years--

He gripped the necklace in his fist so hard it left lines on his palm. I'm on my way, baby. I love you. I'll find you.

Ten days, twenty hours.

Michael pulled up beside Max's jeep, quickly assessing the surroundings. Max was sitting in the jeep, hands covering his eyes, and Isobel sat beside him, staring into the distance.

The spelunkers weren't back yet; the rope was still in the airlock and no one else was around.

Max and Isobel both startled when he shouted, "Hey!"

"Oh, thank god," Isobel said.

"No thank god, where the fuck are our humans?"

"Somewhere in the cave system. I... I thought I found Kyle but it was actually Tezca, I chased her and Clyde back to the entrance, but they were just leading me away." She scoffed. "She's a really bad actor. Kyle lights up like the sun when he sees me, and she didn't even pretend to be happy. Plus she didn't have his go bag and he never goes anywhere without it."

"Yeah, yeah, Shapeshifter, Clyde just tried to get me to trade her as Alex for the star map, do you know where in the cave system they are?"

"No. Figured I'd wait for you and we'd search together."

Max said through his hands, "He tried to trade Tezca-as-Liz for me. But I threw both of them as soon as she acted like she couldn't remember anything. I'm that confident in her work. What if it actually hadn't worked and I'd thrown Liz? She wasn't sure!"

"Well, she'd be into it, for one," Michael said, prodding Isobel out of the jeep. "Come on, let's go get them."

Isobel jumped down, but before Max could move, she said, "Uh-uh, you have to stay here until Rosa and Dallas and Maria are back."

"But it's Liz," he said.

"You trust in her, now trust in us," Michael said, not looking at him, antsy himself to get to them and still sure he'd break if Max argued.

"It's Alex and Kyle, too," Isobel said. "We will get them back."

"Bonnie's asleep in the truck," Michael added. "When she wakes up, or the spelunkers get back, we'll guide you to us telepathically."

"Don't negotiate with terrorists," Isobel told him. "They want you, too."

"Oh, wait," Michael said, running over to his truck for the root juice. He hastily poured some into a bottle and put it inside his jacket. It wasn't much, but he hoped it'd be enough until they were back. "Okay, let's go!"

Ten days, twenty hours, fifty-five minutes.

Liz was pissed off. When Tezca had come in, looking exhausted and downing acetone like it was water, they hadn't thought much of it, too busy working on something that Kyle was fairly sure Liz intended to kill them with rather than remove any sort of bond.

(Kyle was not going to say anything and tip off their captor, though he did suggest halving the most fatal-sounding ingredient, to which Liz stuck out her tongue. But she did it.)

Tezca knelt beside Alex, still chugging paint thinner, and touched his wrist.

"Get away from him," Kyle said. "He needs to rest!"

He got all the way to her, intending to pull her away, when she grabbed Kyle's arm and flipped him like it was nothing. The first thing he did when he stopped seeing stars, however, was make sure Alex was still okay.

"Hey!" Liz barked. "I need him!"

"Actions have consequences," Tezca said. She took a long swig and went to Liz next. "Sabotage has consequences."

"You have no idea what I'm doing," Liz said.

"No, we don't. But neither do you have any idea what we're doing out there. What are you willing to risk on that?" Tezca grabbed her chin to tilt her face, and Liz grimaced. "I'm risking a lot for my ally. I don't advise it. Tread carefully, Navigator."

She left, but Clyde remained at his post, watching them.

Kyle rejoined her. "No change with Alex."

"Are you alright?"

"I think so."

They looked at each other, and they swore simultaneously. "Your eyes are blue! God dammit."

Liz glanced toward Clyde, who hadn't noticed their outburst or didn't care, and she ran to another table. "If there's... No, no, there's no-- grr. Check-- Check Alex's eyes."

Kyle went back to him. "Him too."

Liz paced for a moment.

"Hey, let's keep working on the bond thing," Kyle said. "Our people know her powers. They'll figure it out. She didn't even take our clothes."

"They have our clothes," Liz said, rubbing her temples. "They burglarized us last night for exactly this reason! That's why they only hit us!"

"Ohhh," Kyle said. "Still, our aliens know us. Come on, she won't convince them of anything, and she'll be on her own." He waved to indicate Clyde, still watching them. "We'll all be okay. I think the most important thing right now is to get fuel for Alex."

Liz nodded. "Michael was on that. Can you carry him?"

"Um, probably, why?"

"Look at my back pocket," she said quietly.

Kyle leaned away and saw her stun gun. "What are you going to do?"

"Later. Let's finish this."

They continued to work for about twenty minutes, when Liz thought she saw Clyde flicker from the corner of her eye. She looked at him, then did a double take. "He's... not moving."

"Huh?"

"You seriously think we're that unobservant!" Liz shouted.

Clyde didn't even blink.

"Oh my god," Kyle said. "He left another mirage while we were distracted by Tezca."

Liz growled and marched straight up to him, stun gun on, and zapped the projection. It disappeared. "Should've known since he wasn't whining." She turned it off and returned the weapon to her pocket. The tunnel the mirage had been guarding was caved in, as was every other entrance. "Shit, we're blocked in, anyway."

"We'll play dumb," Kyle said, kneeling beside Alex and checking him over again. With relief he said, "Still no change."

"Means he's not getting worse, good. But I'm not sure I can manage playing dumb," Liz said.

"No, you were too busy being chemically brilliant to notice," he said. "Which you were."

"So were you," Liz said.

"Yeah, this is one of the many reasons we need Alex. Point is, pretend we didn't notice at all," he said. "What exactly did you make, anyway?"

"Doubt it'll remove any bonds, but it'll definitely make them damn close to superconductive," Liz said. "Zap, zap."

Kyle rubbed his eyes. "Since when are you into quantum mechanics?"

"I'm not, Michael is. I've been thinking about what he's told me over the years since I bought the stun gun the other day. Among other things."

"Yeah, you've been doing a lot of thinking."

"So many thoughts," she said. "So when they come back, they'll clear the tunnel, we pretend we didn't notice the mirage, do the injections, be like oh, yeah, it'll take a minute to corrode the bonds..." Liz made finger guns, then pointed one at a notepad. "Side note I actually do know how to corrode the bonds, but it'd require a microdose of Bonnie's poison which I don't have here, so! These injections will make their already highly conductive cells more receptive to electricity, and the stun gun will really, really hurt."

"Fabulous."

Liz tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Thank you very much. At that point, you're gonna pick up Alex, and we are going to run."

"They'll be stunned long enough for us to get away?"

"I have no idea," Liz said. "Isn't that terrifying? But I'm hoping, like you said, that our aliens know us. They know we're not the damsels in distress type and they'll be somewhere in the caves looking for us."

"I'd call us pretty distressed right now."

"But we're handling it." She sighed and looked at Alex. They'd certainly be handling it better if he was awake, which reminded her of her most recent project. "I've been working something out based on the blue flame. It was the only way I could talk Shivani down from huffing the mist. See, Max brought Rosa back, yes, but how did she get the alien protein? How did she get the Listener's power?"

"From Evans?" Kyle supposed.

Liz shook her head. "Cassandra said that Noah fought the former Listener and killed them. If their remains were in that cave, then..."

"Then I can see why Cassandra didn't want to talk about it," Kyle said.

"Max's powers take from his surroundings, which is why he makes lights flicker, and they also leave him sick when he absorbs bad energy. I think if Max had been a little more practiced with his restoration powers, and hadn't had the stress on his heart from fighting Noah, he wouldn't have died bringing Rosa back."

"So, what? Do you think he could resurrect more people?"

"I don't think his heart will ever be as strong as it was before Noah, and I wouldn't want to put that on him, anyway," Liz said. "But I think we may be able to reproduce the flame in a lab environment in such a way that we can make a restorative, like a potion."

"A potion," Kyle said skeptically. "A resurrection potion?"

"Not full resurrection. That would take way too much power, clearly." Kyle still looked doubtful. "We are in love with literal aliens, but a little revive is too far-flung?"

"Just, I understand what you're trying to do, I get it, but it's still their biology, you know?"

"I know. But I think I can wave this off as something I stumbled into, a genetic folly." She sighed. "When I am finally recognized for my contributions to science, I want it to be for something that helps people."

"Liz, do you have any idea how much the drugs you made for our friends' brains are helping Alzheimer's patients?"

"It's stuck waiting for approval, held up by a corporation that wants the patent," Liz spat. "I'm so glad I quit when I did."

"Hello, I'm part of Deep Sky's medical wing. We don't give a shit about patents when what's in question will help patients. We got approval to go ahead with treatment on fully informed and consenting patients."

"H-How's that going?"

"It's amazing, Liz. Marked improvements and significant changes. I was waiting for the full treatment to show you all the data, but it's really good. We're going to ask the FDA to approve it despite the civil case because of how much it'll improve folks' quality of life. So when you get your first of many Nobel Prizes, Liz, I know it'll be for something that helps people, because that's what you're best at creating."

"Thank you," she said, hugging him quickly. "Everyone I know is so supportive of my work. But I still worry, you know? What if I don't do The Science™ fast enough or well enough this time?"

"Liz, it's already done," Kyle said, indicating the two syringes on the table. "I know we've been in a ridiculous number of life-or-death situations where doing this as fast as possible was important, but that's not normal. Normally you have all the time you need, and if you'll join me full time at Deep Sky, you'll have plenty of funding. This is the last of Ophiuchus, and I believe Guerin's mom: we're gonna win."

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah," Liz said. "We should... work on something else to look busy."

"Okay." Kyle decided to do another check up. Alex would undoubtedly accuse him of hovering. "God, Alex hates being carried."

"Well, we're not leaving him here," she said.

"Of course not," Kyle said, standing up and looking at her again. That eye color change was so disconcerting. "Though I can practically hear him telling us to abandon him."

"Me too."

They both looked at Alex, who was still asleep.

"Guerin would absolutely murder us, so that's not happening, sorry dude. I'll be careful."

Liz and Kyle sighed.

"Now what?" he asked.

She tapped on her chin. "Shall we blow up some tunnels?"

He raised his eyebrows and nodded.

Sadly, they didn't get to blow up anything. Not long after, Clyde and Tezca re-entered noisily, both of them now guzzling acetone. They were yelling at each other between gulps, displeased and frustrated as far as they could tell. Tezca had on a too-large leather jacket that they were fairly sure belonged to Alex.

"Hm," Kyle said.

"Hm," Liz agreed.

They were unceremoniously shoved away from the table toward Alex as Clyde stomped over.

"Category five man moment incoming," the pair of humans mumbled, then looked at each other, and then at Alex on the ground.

"Is it an echo, or is he somehow..."

Clyde was smashing things, including the two syringes Liz had filled, until he found her notepad. "Here we go," he said. "There are other chemists we can use that won't try to kill us."

Tezca scoffed, then eyed the humans who were bewildered by this. "He can hear through the mirages. Did you think there was only the one?"

"Damn," Liz said. "But who the hell do you think is going to be able to synthesize that besides me?"

"You were surveilled," she dismissed. "We know where you live. Where you work. Who you work with."

"Shivani," Liz said. "She's not a chemist."

"She does have a whole bus load of them besides you," Clyde said. 

"Oh yeah. Well, what are you going to do with us, then?"

"Leave you here with Tezca," Clyde said, waving at them and pocketing the notepad. "See ya."

She hissed as he passed, and he raised his arms up.

Liz and Kyle sat in front of Alex protectively.

"Your bait-and-switch plan didn't work, huh?" Kyle said as Tezca shed the stolen outfit.

"Do not speak to me, little Libra."

Liz and Kyle exchanged a glance.

"You speak, then," Liz said. "According to our architect quad's memories, you're a foremost expert on Ophiuchus."

"I don't proselytize."

"No, of course not, of course not."

"Shame Ophiuchus gave you such an incompetent triad."

Tezca slammed a fist on the nearest table. "You may have a Recorder, you may have every single bearer, but Ophiuchus had them first. We will board the ship and make our way home."

Liz leaned on her fist. "What do you think is waiting for you there? You've been on earth for at least seventy years, plus however long it took you to travel here and however long it takes to travel back, who could possibly be there to welcome you?"

"Oasis welcomes their children, always. Trees, soil, they shade us from Ophiuchus. Their children are grown up, though. We belong in the light." She pointed her polearm at them-- at Alex. "The ancient ship, as the modern one, has special capabilities when piloted by the navigation triad. Weapons, terraforming, faster-than-light travel. We will be home within a week, and the people of Oasis will finally live in the light, whatever that takes."

"And that's why you need the blue flame," Liz said triumphantly. "To restore what you destroy."

Tezca made a disgusted noise and turned away.

"You reckon Evans would be able to use it on another planet when he can barely use it here?" Kyle asked Liz.

"Well, who's to say? Jones was shooting red fire in this atmosphere," Liz told him, and they both pretended not to notice Tezca's sharp look. "Maybe they're opposites. Or maybe he'd have to spend twenty years there before he could use it."

Tezca began to pace, mumbling just loud enough for them to hear: "That unbearable liar, didn't want to 'waste the blue flame on this inferior planet'... Is the clone really a necessary passenger if he doesn't have the flame..."

She stopped and leaned against a table, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"This isn't going to work."

Liz and Kyle exchanged a look. Destroying her confidence helped them. Getting them to leave Max alone would help, too. But all they could do now was wait.

Ten days, nineteen hours, thirty minutes.

"Are we lost?" Isobel asked.

"I know exactly where we are relative to where we came in," Michael said. "Other than that, yes."

"They can't be too far in," she reasoned. "Or it would take them too long to go in and out."

He wished his necklace would pull him to Alex, like Alex's pulled him to the engine. Michael thought it was a little brighter than earlier, but maybe that was just the darkness of the cave.

Around the next bend, however, was Clyde. "Uh-oh." He split into four, and each Clyde went a different direction.

"What the fuck," Isobel said, slashing at the one that came too close. It dissipated.

"They're mirages; come on," Michael said, chasing the one that went back the way he thought Clyde came. He didn't care if it was the real one. He was hoping it would lead them to their humans. To Alex.

"Mirages? Shit, that's cool," Isobel said grudgingly. "They even all had the same aura."

Unfortunately, the Clyde they followed ran right through a dead end.

"Dammit," Michael said, kicking the dirt and making the walls rumble.

"Michael, if you cave this tunnel in while we're in it, I will kill you," Isobel said.

"Let's go another way," Michael said, turning around. "I wouldn't let any cave fall on you."

"I know. And hey, we will find them."

Michael nodded, and they headed down another tunnel.

Ten days, nineteen hours, twenty minutes.

"Bonnie. Bonnie."

"Not yet," she said. She liked the earth's sun as much as the next Oasian, but he always wanted her to wake up so early, and it wasn't even for anything interesting most of the time.

"Bonnie, please, Ophiuchus needs you."

She cracked an eye, frowning. "Yet every time I was offered the brand, it melted away, and I was told I wasn't worthy enough to keep it." She glanced over his shoulder; they were at the airlock, and Max was in his jeep right next to them, but Clyde must've had a mirage up.

"No, that-that was a lie, the brand simply didn't work because of your power." She saw him swallow some pride. "Besides, the Savior feared your power. I don't. I need you now, Bonnie. Your power can help me enter the airlock, get me home. Please, I don't belong here."

Bonnie wanted to believe him. Killing Michael had been Tezca's order, and surely this thing with the navigation triad was too. "I'll help you on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Two thousand years ago the architect triad truncated their ship to go back to Oasis. Do the same, and don't come back."

Clyde nodded, and they got into his car.

Ten days, nineteen hours.

Max had been waiting anxiously and alone for the spelunkers to return for an hour now. He was so distracted and riled up after seeing Tezca-as-Liz that he couldn't even calm down by reading a book. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, then got scared that he might light his clothes on fire.

He had grabbed his phone more than half an hour in, sure he was hearing things but unable to identify them, and he opened the meditation app Isobel forcibly installed after he nearly burned her studio down during their memory trip the other day.

The most useful thing was the app telling him to breathe, in for ten seconds, hold for five, out for ten. Unfortunately, this feature only lasted for a minute, so he'd replayed it about... thirty times now?

He checked the airlock between each one, itching to join Isobel and Michael, hoping, however, that they'd find the navigation triad and everything would be okay without him.

In for ten, hold for five, out for ten.

He wasn't going after them, but he did have to get out of the jeep. If he lit it on fire, he didn't think Michael would be able to bring it back this time, talented as he was.

He also needed it to bring up the spelunkers. Well, he could use Michael's truck for that, he realized as he paced the other way. He really liked his jeep though.

Max came to a dead stop.

Where did Bonnie go? The passenger door was wide open, Michael's flask on the seat.

He tabbed out of the meditation app and opened the dialer, but who the hell could he call? She was always with one of them, so she had refused a phone, even a cheap one. She thought there were more important things to learn about.

Where could she have even gone? Max didn't see any figures on the horizon, though he found tire tracks behind the truck. Had Clyde gotten past him somehow and taken Bonnie?

His hand sparked, so he quickly reopened the meditation app.

In for ten, hold for five, out for ten.

There was nothing he could do about it now. It happened, and he had to deal. This was one of the things he and Liz had talked about: he needed to do better at letting go of the things he couldn't control. He couldn't think of a worse way to practice than multiple kidnappings.

Max paced again, eyes on the app and its concentric circles that helpfully mimicked the fill of his lungs.

In for ten, hold for five, out for ten.

The breeze was nice on the bank of the cosmic quicksand. It even made the sand ripple. No, fissure. No, that was Dallas signaling to pull them up!

Max jumped back into the jeep and reversed slowly.

Rosa was up first, sour and irritated as Max assisted her. She squinted in the sunlight. "What happened?" she asked as soon as she registered the fact that he was the only one there.

"Michael and Isobel are looking for them. I've been waiting for you guys."

"F," she said, and she kicked him in the shin. "Get back in the jeep so we can go find them."

"Yeah! Yeah," he said, doing just that.

Maria was up next, also annoyed. Rosa didn't give her a chance to say a word, though; she scooted to the edge of the pit and shouted, "Leave the stuff for now, we have a rescue mission!"

"That's my stuff," Maria said.

"Thank you for your contribution," Rosa snapped, helping Dallas up. "Our friends are in danger so get over it, we'll get it up when they're safe!"

"Okay, geez," she said, backing off. "How can I help, then?"

"Stay here, guard the airlock," Rosa said, already off.

Max called over his shoulder, "Keep in mind Tezca can shapeshift into Liz, Kyle, and Alex now!"

"What?"

"Stay safe!"

Rosa and Max jogged to the caves.

"So," she said.

"So?"

"What the fuck happened, dude?"

"Clyde had Vanessa, so Liz went after them, and Kyle and Alex went after her, and Izzy told me to stay when she went after them, but Tezca held her up, then got away, and while she was looking for them in the cave Tezca reappeared as Kyle along with Clyde and led her out, at which point they came to me with her as Liz, and I threw them, so they went to Michael with her as Alex, and Bonnie passed out, and he and Iz told me to stay, and Bonnie disappeared, and I'm having difficulty not bursting into flames right now."

"Cool, cool," Rosa said. "Well, don't do that."

"Thanks."

"Look, tranquilo okay," she said. "Uhh, here, listen. It turns out that the central-most room on the ship is essentially a huge greenhouse, with a thick alien glass ceiling with UV capabilities and a reservoir of water beneath the floor that Dallas determined was still good. But the whole system was dormant, like trees frozen over in the winter. No fruit, but Dallas was able to at least start up the water and make it rain."

"Michael made some root juice, I don't know how much he managed," Max said, grateful for the subject change. "But knowing him, it'll be enough to help Alex."

"That's good, Dallas thought it'd take a few days to even wake the trees up, so to speak," Rosa said. She followed the twisting tunnels like she knew exactly where she was going. "Michael and Alex take care of each other. What they have is really beautiful."

"Yeah," Max agreed. "I'm so happy for them, especially Michael, him with Alex is like... another dimension."

"Yeah, no, workshop that," Rosa said. "Makes it sound like you think he's flat."

"No! Uh, it's like, when he's not with Alex he's sort of untethered-- No, more like he's just floating along, like... He's fine, he's said as much. But with Alex, he's at peace."

"Ohhh, there's the winner. Put that in your speech."

"I'm not doing a speech," Max said sadly.

"Why not?"

He opened his mouth, closed it, and frowned. "I'll ask them if I can do a speech."

"Good," Rosa said. "Okay. Izzy and Michael aren't much farther, then I'll track down the others."

Without him realizing it, Rosa had completely calmed Max down. "Thank you," he said. "For distracting me."

"No problem. Liz would be sad if you burst into flames."

He huffed a laugh. "Still."

"Max! Rosa!" Isobel shouted, waving at them.

"Salvation," Michael said. "I can remember which way we've been but it's not doing much good."

"They're shielded somehow," Rosa said vaguely.

"No kidding."

"I was hoping the engine would still be pretty loud, but I think it's dormant now," she said.

"But can you still hear Alex?" Michael asked.

Rosa nodded. "Him, and Liz, and Kyle, yes. I think Tezca is with them."

Michael gave a sigh of relief for Alex and hugged Isobel.

"No Vanessa?"

"I only hear three humans, one alien. No Vanessa."

"I can kick Tezca's ass," Isobel said. "Well, unless she looks like Kyle."

"Then I can kick her ass," Michael said. Isobel ground her knuckles into his skull. "Hey, just trying to help!"

"Thank you. After you, Rosa," she said.

Max took up the rear. "So I think Clyde snuck past me and took Bonnie. Not to the others, clearly."

"Took her? Like she put up a fight?" Isobel asked.

"Like she didn't," Michael guessed. "Because she still thinks of him as her brother and trusts him."

"Yeah, like that," Max said.

"Damn, I hope she knows what she's doing," he said. "She's got a pretty good head on her shoulders, though. Let's get our humans, then we can find her."

Rosa frowned, and she turned around.

"What?"

"They are that way, but there's no way there except through solid stone." She found a tunnel going the right way.

"That's a dead end," Michael said, though they followed. "Cave-in."

She rubbed her eyes. "But that's where they are."

All three of the aliens focused on the rocks. No matter how many they pulled out, Rosa kept shaking her head. "You guys are going to exhaust yourselves long before you reach them."

"I won't," Michael said. "You guys stop, I'll keep digging."

"Carefully," Isobel requested. "I don't like the look of the ceiling."

Just then, a section Michael dug out collapsed in on itself. "I think all this was the ceiling." Nonetheless, he kept going.

"How far are they?" Max asked.

"Really far. At this rate, hours."

"If it takes that long for Michael, this can't be the entrance they're using," Isobel said.

"Unless Clyde said fuck it and trapped them all in there," Michael said. The section he dug out collapsed again. He made a horrible, angry noise.

"I understand your frustration," Rosa said, hands pressed together. "But that isn't what I'm hearing. They're just... chillin'."

"Chillin'?" Max repeated. "They're kidnapped."

"Is this like, like lotus-eaters?" Isobel asked. "Is it because they forgot everything?"

"How the hell would I know?"

"The inhalant works," Max said firmly. "Liz made it."

The tunnel Michael was working on collapsed once again. He hurled a boulder into the other rocks with his telekinesis. "I hate this. I hate this. I hate this!"

"I don't think anyone is having the time of their life here," Isobel said. "We'll look for another entrance."

"No," Michael said. "They're definitely through here. Every other tunnel we found going this direction was also caved in. I'll be more careful, I'll shore up the tunnel I make with the pieces I dig out."

He looked more aggressive than careful.

It was a losing battle, to say the least. But they didn't want to split up again.

Ten days, seventeen hours.

"Pause for a second, Guerin," Rosa said. "Hear something."

Michael stopped digging and wiped his face on his shirt. Isobel gave him a look of absolute disgust, and he shrugged.

Rosa shut her eyes and pointed straight up. "Clyde and Bonnie are arguing."

"About what?"

"Sounds like she helped him conditionally, and he's accusing her of adding more conditions after the fact. She wants him to let the navigation triad go now."

"But he won't," Max said.

"Nope. She's saying... 'If you hurt them, they will kill you.' He told her to just leave then, but she said she's going along to make sure neither party gets harmed."

"Wait," Michael said, also pointing at the ceiling. "They're up there? As in, they're not down here, as in they have another entrance from above?"

"Ten points for Guerin," Rosa said. "They're all going up now."

He grabbed his jacket from Max. "We have to get back to the airlock, then!"

"Oh, shit," the others agreed, and they took off.

"Someone try to call Maria or Dallas, warn them?" Rosa said, getting her own phone out as they ran.

"No service," each of them relayed with a choice swear word.

"I'll try reaching Dallas telepathically," Michael said. "Incoming... outnumbered... hide..."

He kept repeating that, focused on Dallas, until he got a response: we are hidden.

"He heard me," Michael said as they dashed out of the cave system.

"Two more out of the line of fire," Isobel said with relief.

"Great," Rosa said.

"Stay here," Pod Squad told her.

"The hell I will! You think they're gonna leave the Yellow Tape Road intact? You need me!"

"Fine, we'll all go!"

"We can't all go, someone has to pull us back out!"

Dallas popped out from under the tarp in the bed of Michael's truck. "I can do that."

"Jesus! Don't do that!"

"Sorry," he said. "Go get them."

"Where's Maria?" Rosa asked.

"Asleep," he said, jabbing his thumb at the cab.

"She can rest in there, but she's not riding back with me," Michael said, already parting the sand so they could go down. "Alex is and we're going straight home to sleep."

"I'm about to bite her head off so I told her she better not be in the car I'm in," Rosa said. "I don't know what's up with her but I'm tired of it."

"She did just lose her mom," Dallas said kindly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't excuse her behavior, and besides, she's been a bitch way longer than that," Rosa said flatly.

"Well, Alex will be with Michael, so you can come with me and Liz," Max said.

"Barf. Shotgun," she said, and she followed Isobel down.

Max went next, mumbling about how shotgun works. Michael grabbed the rope to make sure there was plenty, and he slid down with a wave to Dallas.

Ten days, sixteen hours.

Kyle didn't know where they procured a stretcher from and didn't much care, because he knew Alex would prefer this to being manhandled, or worse, floated. It did, however, mean that neither he nor Liz had their hands free, and though Bonnie would not stop arguing with them (mainly Clyde), they could tell she also wouldn't physically fight them. At least as long as they weren't physically harming one of them.

Nonetheless, her presence did make them feel a bit better. Once Alex got some fuel, they'd be more or less evenly matched, so long as the inhalant worked. And given Clyde either hadn't tried to use it on Bonnie, or did and failed, Liz and Kyle were operating under the assumption that it did, in fact, work.

They walked for hours. First, up a staircase that had been hidden by one of Clyde's mirages, then through the desert to the airlock, where Clyde and Tezca shot up with whatever Shivani's chemists had made.

Whatever it was, it cleared away their brands, and Liz shortly cursed her own genius.

Clyde went through the airlock first, followed by Kyle, Alex and the stretcher, and Liz. Bonnie slid down, and Tezca took up the rear as Kyle quickly checked on Alex before he and Liz picked up the stretcher.

It was another hour and change before they reached their destination.

The engine room and pod bay were beautiful. The sight even made Bonnie stop arguing with her former triad mid-sentence.

They kept going, to a more glassy pod connected to a large, angular glass object, both completely dim.

"Put the Pilot in," Tezca said of the pod.

Clyde knelt beside the engine and took off the backpack he'd donned for the trip. It was full of alien fruit. There was a small alcove in the engine, and he squeezed out fruit after fruit there, causing it to slowly light up again.

"Won't be long," Kyle said quietly as they carefully placed Alex in the pod.

"We believe in you," Liz said, patting his arm before shutting the door.

Two regular, lit pods floated and landed beside Alex's by Tezca's power.

Liz and Kyle looked at each other. Those were for them, but they weren't going to get in.

Tezca and Clyde hardly put their hands on them when the glassy pod finally lit up, and Alex opened his eyes.

Alex could see all of them.

Liz and Kyle looked terrified, so Alex first smiled at them and made their captors slide away. He prodded Bonnie so she'd stand in front of them.

Then he addressed those same confused captors: Ohhh, you've made a mistake.

Alex's voice echoed through the head of every person on the ship.

"Alex?" Michael said in a hallway. How good to hear his voice.

Instantly, it was like Alex was in front of him. They weren't far from the engine room. Just a minute, babe.

Alex touched Michael's cheek gently, and he shut his eyes and leaned into him. Alex kissed him shortly.

"What's happening?" Isobel asked as she watched her brother kiss thin air.

"The inhalant worked," Max said smugly.

The inhalant worked; Liz and Kyle created a perfect vaccine against alien amnesia. Underestimating them was also a mistake, but not the one I'm talking about. The mistake was putting me back in here. The additional capabilities on this ship, when piloted by the navigation triad? The sound of Alex's tongue clicking. Weapons? When the original architect triad abhorred war, abhorred violence? Please.

There was a noise like air conditioning being switched on, and a breeze swooshed through the ship, lighting up alien glass in the walls and ceilings as it went. The strange wind also wrapped around their allies like a soft blanket.

No, this ship and each one they built have no weapon capabilities, no lasers, no guns. What we do have is an extremely competent team, or crew, if you will. Your so-called titled bearers. The Navigator, the Balance, the Pilot, the Engineer, the Empath, the Encoder, the Recorder, the Listener. And let's move on from this savior title, shall we? We will save ourselves, we will save each other. So let's give a warm welcome to the lightning-god, or... the Ambassador.

Michael shook Max's shoulder. "How's that?"

"A relief," Max admitted. "A weight off my shoulders."

I don't really get this part, but I'm being implored to mention some keepers. I guess because our wonder-keeper is here. Hi Bonnie.

She sniffled. "I'm-I'm not the Plague anymore?"

Nope. Your fellows are auxiliary right now, the sense-keeper Jenna and the light-keeper... Nicole? Who is that?

"Ali and Shivani's daughter?" Liz said. "But she's..."

Later, later. Right now it's time for a trial or two. Follow the lights, my friends.

Pod Squad and Rosa nodded and tracked the pulses in the glass.

"You're treating this like some kind of show!" Clyde said.

This is a show. A dumpster fire shitshow, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

Clyde was a wet feral cat who would undoubtedly be snarling and pacing if not for Alex's telekinetic hold on each of the aliens. Tezca, however, was calm, maybe even smiling.

"What are you so pleased about?" Clyde demanded of her.

"One way or another, I will finally be rid of you," she said simply.

"Right now, this close, this is when you give up?" he said, disgusted.

"We have never been farther from our goal," she informed him.

Pod Squad and Rosa arrived, Max hugging Liz and Isobel hugging Kyle and Rosa pulling each pair together as Michael went to Alex. "Oh my gosh, you all have blue eyes!"

"So weird!"

Beyond them, Tezca shut her eyes and apparently broke the connection with each of them, because all of their eyes returned to normal.

Meanwhile, Michael admired how shiny and pretty Alex looked in the pod. Alex smiled back.

Sup bro.

Michael laughed. "We can't 'bro' each other anymore, we're getting married."

You're damn right we are. Get me out of here.

He did so immediately, and Michael pulled Alex out and kissed him, hard.

Unfortunately, that broke his concentration on holding Clyde and Tezca, the former of whom grabbed Liz by the neck and backed out of range just as quickly.

"Liz!"

"Hmm," Alex said. He could easily throw him without Liz getting hurt, but she seemed to be unbothered.

A moment later, Clyde screamed and fell to the ground. Liz had put her stun gun to his crotch and turned it on.

She pointed it at Tezca, still crackling. "You want some of this?"

"I know when I've lost," she replied. She squatted next to Clyde. "Some don't know when to stop."

"Oasis must be ruled by Ophiuchus," he panted.

"Weren't you listening? They just retired Ophiuchus and the title of Savior. It returns to the stars." She pointed at Max and then Michael. "Cancer, Leo. Without the fire-god, there's no Ophiuchus to rule, because it was never going to be you, or me, or Bonnie."

"They can't do that. They're only human."

"I'm so tired of that line," Liz said. She put her stun gun away. "You're welcome to get off our damn planet."

"That would be merciful," Tezca said, still staring down at Clyde. "I am not so sure we deserve that."

He turned his head and spat.

So she swiftly dropped her elbow on his neck.

"No!" Bonnie said, putting her hands up and twisting just as she'd done when Tezca was pretending to be Alex.

Both Tezca and Clyde hacked.

Alex separated them as carefully as he could. "Don't distract me with making out until this is done," he scolded Michael.

"Yes, sir, sorry, sir," he said, though he kept an arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek when Alex rolled his eyes.

Bonnie swayed dangerously, but the rest of Pod Squad caught her. "Are you okay?"

"The power to control the small amounts of my poison is new to me, it's hard," she explained. "Let-Let me sit down a while. If anyone has acetone, that'd be a big help, too."

Alex shut his eyes. "Some in the inventory. It's coming."

"Two thousand year old acetone? Does it age well?" Isobel asked.

"It's a stable compound," Michael said.

"So," Max said. "What should we do with them? Alex mentioned a trial?"

"It's not like we can provide attorneys," Kyle said.

"We also can't provide a full jury of their peers. There are instructions for an Oasian trial in here," Alex said, indicating the engine. "Well, in the console, which is connected now. It involves the Empath and a few simple questions."

Isobel nodded. "Mindscape truth beam. No problem."

"I'll do that," Tezca said.

"Why?" Liz asked.

"Ancient trials never resulted in physical harm or execution," she said.

"You want to live," Kyle said sympathetically. He took Isobel's hand.

"Clyde," Bonnie said from the floor, a tumbler of alien glass filled with acetone in her hands. "Clyde, please do the Oasian trial, too."

He scoffed. "This isn't ancient Oasis."

"Please, if you ever truly thought of me as your sister, please."

He stared at her for a moment before he said, "Fine."

"Who all is going in?" Isobel asked. "Alex has the questions. Anyone else?"

"Me," Kyle said.

She nodded and waved Alex over.

"Just a second," Michael said, going along with him. He looked at Tezca and Clyde. "If either of you so much as twitch while you're in the mindscape, I'm removing your spinal cord through your throat."

"Metal," Rosa said.

"Try to relax," Isobel said, shooting her brother a glare before shutting her eyes.

The lights twisted, and only the dim pods remained. Unlike Alex's accidental dreamscape, the physical engine was absent. He wondered if it was because it, as well as the lit pods, were somewhat... alive.

For now, there were more important questions.

"Charges," he said. "Tezca, the Shapeshifter. Assault. Identity theft. False imprisonment. Conspiracy to murder. Burglary. Do you contest any of these?"

"No."

"Do you regret any of these?"

She thought for a moment. "I do not regret them, but I would not do them again, knowing what I know now."

Alex hummed. "What did you hope to accomplish?"

"The Alighting."

"Tell us about that."

"Our homecoming, when Oasians would finally live in the light." She tilted her head up, eyes closed. "Perhaps after nearly a century, they found a way, but it was a problem our whole society had been working on for millennia, and only in the last months before we left was the Engineer developing something new. I had hoped to find her plans while we were here."

"Didn't you consider just... asking?" Kyle said.

Tezca, startled, said, "No. Why would you help the enemy?"

"We wouldn't," Isobel said. "But the planet that bore us is no enemy."

"What she was developing was Michael's idea," Alex said. "We saw his memory of it."

"A child came up with it?"

"A creative child who grew up to be the Engineer in his own right," he said.

Tezca looked up at the ceiling in thought. "Then I do regret my order to kill him. In my defense, I was sure Bonnie wouldn't do it when I told her to."

"Noted," Alex said, though he personally wasn't impressed with that excuse.

"It's... not the place to make such a request, but if you found the plans, or the Engineer still knows them, please, send them to Oasis. So much suffering came from our inability to live comfortably on the surface."

"We will," Kyle said.

Alex leaned around Isobel to look at him. "In the nicest possible way, you are such a bleeding heart."

"Missed you too, buddy."

"We will discuss the final decision with the others," Alex said. They turned to Clyde, who had his arms crossed but had at least been silent throughout Tezca's trial. "Charges. Clyde, the Forgotten. Assault. Robbery. False imprisonment. Burglary. Do you contest any of these?"

"Yes," he said.

"Which?"

"The assault was self-defense," he said.

Isobel raised her eyebrows. "Show us."

It was true for almost every instance, except for the most recent, when he grabbed Liz and got stunned in the dick for it.

"Upheld, reduced. Do you contest any others?"

He opened his mouth to try to cough up a yes. But he finally said, "No."

"Do you regret any of these?"

"No."

"Would you do them again?"

"Yes."

"What did you hope to accomplish?"

"I wanted to restore our Savior to his seat of power over Oasis," Clyde said. "I wanted to be his right hand."

Beside him, Tezca rolled her eyes.

"Did your hopes change when you found out he died?"

"Bring him back."

"And when his body was incinerated?"

"Carry on his will and become Ophiuchus in his place."

Tezca scoffed.

"What? Like that altered clone could ever take his place?"

"At least he had the proper title, the correct power. You are just shadows in the mist, forgettable as your power."

"Oh, you wanna experience my power again?" Clyde turned to attack her, but Alex froze him in place. Tezca was completely unconcerned.

"You know," Isobel said. "Don't you? You know you used to be someone else."

"I know I didn't spring out of nothingness," Tezca said. "Obviously I worked with the rebels, or I would've had to change shape to spy, to steal the clone. You, in particular, treated me as though I was dead. It was irrelevant to my goal and my survival. The Dictator may have held a title, nominated himself head of religion, but he was a liability. Smart, a good actor, but unhinged, and ultimately his idea of comfortable surface living was to cull all who suffered there."

"If that's not what you wanted to do," Kyle said, "Why did you need Max Evans?"

"I didn't. He simply would've been easiest for people to accept as a leader whether or not the rebels had lost. Besides, the blue flame is a useful power to have when building."

"I thought this was my trial now," Clyde said.

"Your sentence is beheading, now shush," Isobel said.

"Izzy," Kyle said.

"The final decision will also be discussed with the others, but it's not looking good for you, pal," she said.

"So what are you trying to say?" Alex asked Tezca.

She shook her head. "What I do or don't remember, what I did or didn't know is not relevant. My methods and actions were wrong, clearly, even if what I wanted in the end was right."

Alex nodded. "Any other closing remarks?"

"Whatever my punishment is, I will accept it, so long as I may pay it as far away from this asshat as possible," Tezca said.

"Yeah, you're no thrill, either," Clyde said. He scowled. "May as well execute me while you have the chance."

Tezca raised her hand. "I can and will happily execute him for you."

"Alright, quit it, no one is getting executed," Kyle said.

"Eh," Alex and Isobel said.

"Worked with Noah."

"Worked with my dad."

"Worked with Jones."

"Seriously? Come on, we'll discuss this. Unlike them, these two didn't actually murder anyone."

Isobel dropped the mindscape. "Well, we're missing two crew mates to discuss this with, so shall we head up?"

"Oh, hey," Max said, "You guys are back."

"Hey," Alex said, gladly accepting Michael's full body hug. Wow, babe, you smell very sweaty.

"I was digging to you," he said gruffly.

"Aww. Thank you." Alex rested his head on Michael's shoulder. "So, it turns out there's actually like... a ramp for boarding. So they could come here. However, I'm sure this discussion will be very, very long, and it's already... Christ, it's eleven."

Nobody liked that.

"Alright, so... These guys?" Max said, jabbing his thumb at Clyde and Tezca.

"Can you guys be cool until tomorrow?" Kyle asked.

"That is not gonna fly," Alex said.

"Where are the cuffs?" Liz said. "Then we can leave them in regular holding cells until tomorrow."

Alex frowned and looked around for his bag; Kyle was wearing it. "Kyle."

"Huh?"

"My bag, please."

"Oh, yeah, here man."

"Thanks. Scoot, babe," he said to Michael, who kissed his shoulder and gave him enough space to dig through his bag. "We only have the one."

"Wh-- You had that the whole time?"

Alex passed the cuffs to Michael when he held his hand out for them. "Yes? Since yesterday, that is. I like to be prepared."

"It's just one, though," Liz said, looking at Clyde and Tezca.

"Please don't handcuff us together. Please," Tezca said.

"I think that'd fall under cruel and unusual punishment," Kyle said.

Michael hummed and stepped away. "Excuse me, baby, lighting up." He ignited his fist and then, with his pointer finger, divided the cuffs in two.

"Wow," Max said. "I didn't know you had that much control over it."

"Me neither," Michael said, shaking the fire off his hand. "But did you guys feel it? Alex turned on the lights, and it's like... a light also turned on in my head."

"Yes," Rosa said. "It was more like a little chime for me."

All their other allies nodded in agreement.

"I was thinking everyone needed a morale boost," Alex said. "I guess it actually did something. Neat."

Tezca held out her wrist for the cuff when Michael crossed to her. "Thanks for cooperating. This isn't permanent, it's just so you guys don't run rampant until we have our discussion. If you don't know the nature of the glass, breaking it will blow your hand off, so don't try it."

Bonnie got up and took the other cuff from Michael to put on Clyde. He asked, "Aren't you having a trial as well?"

"Am I? That sounds fair," she said. "I'll do it too."

"She defected," Michael said. "She's unlearning all the cult stuff you introduced her to. Maybe she can help you out with that."

"I'd be happy to," Bonnie said. "I'm getting help too. Dallas is giving me lots of resources about brainwashing, and we switch off between that and Oasian history."

Clyde made a face.

"Well, you two first, let's head back to the airlock," Alex said, checking his watch again. "God, it's gonna be one am by the time we get home."

Michael offered his hand, which Alex took. "We'll sleep in."

"Oh yeah," Rosa said. "What time should we meet up tomorrow for our discussion?"

"And where?" Liz asked, covering a yawn as she and Max took up the rear.

"Noon," Isobel said.

"Junkyard," Michael said.

"Great, we'll drop those two in the drunk tank, then," Max said.

"Ugh," Rosa said. She caught up with Alex and Michael and leaned on Alex's free shoulder. "Say, friends, you wouldn't happen to have room for me on your couch, would you?"

"Uh, sure," Alex said. "You don't want to go to the station?"

"She doesn't want to get in the van with Maria," Michael said.

"That's why I rode here in the jeep," Alex said, nodding.

"Yeah, well I just had to spend like three hours listening to her flirt at Dallas, who is genuinely good-natured and nice but has absolutely no idea about her intentions. You ever try to tell a straight cis woman to put her dick away so we can get stuff done? Doesn't fucking work."

Michael snorted. "As it happens, yes I have. The same one in fact."

Alex eyed him, but he only shrugged.

"This was while Dallas was turning the trees back on, so she goes 'but all our other friends get an alien' like that's some kind of prize! Like you're not people," Rosa added.

"Tracks," Michael said, nodding.

"Uh-huh," Alex said. "Maybe we should tell him? He said he doesn't do relationships like that."

"No," Rosa said. "That would make it his problem and it's not. Plus!" She lowered her voice. "She hasn't broken up with Greg!"

"Ooof, Godspeed to my brother," Alex said. He felt bad for Greg, but he'd felt bad for Greg the last six plus months, so he didn't really feel different about it.

"I was like, are you trying to do some polyamory or open relationship thing because I know some folks back in New York who have resources for all the communication that takes, and she was like, 'no, I'm just laying the groundwork...' for what? Cheating on that poor man while he's off at college? Just break up with him if you don't want to be with him!"

"That also tracks," Michael said.

"Yeah, that's how she was with Michael. What was it she said your relationship was for her? Non-exclusive--"

"'Non-exclusive trial basis,'" Michael said, and though he knew what was coming, Alex still made a disgusted face.

"The fuck," Rosa said.

"Honestly, it's insane to me," Alex said. "She's been doing the same thing over and over with the same results since high school. Do you think she knows that she is the Chad she so hates?"

"If I have to ride in the same car as her I'm gonna tell her," she said. "In front of everyone, with receipts, no survivors."

"You can sleep over," Michael said. "No need to take half our people off the map."

"Thank you," Rosa said. "You guys are the best." She fell back to talk to Bonnie about art therapy.

"Would it be cowardice to have someone else kick her out of my truck?" Michael wondered.

"She's in your truck?" Alex stuck his tongue out. "I don't like that."

"Me neither, but she's not coming with us," he said. "To be fair, it's a pretty comfortable bench seat, and I left the door open in my rush to get to you."

Alex smiled and patted Michael's cheek. "Thank you." He shut his eyes. "I heard you."

"You did?"

"Far away, but yes. Between you coming for me, and Liz and Kyle taking care of me, I knew everything would be okay."

Michael paused their trek to hug him tightly, and Alex melted into him. He was right. Everything would be okay.

Ten days.

The discussion was relatively pleasant. Kyle immediately took execution off the table, and despite what Isobel and Alex had said in the trial, everyone agreed easily.

Rosa had statistics about imprisonment and its failures on hand, and Liz backed her up, impressed by her research. Bonnie defended her brother, too, saying there was kindness in him.

Thus, their goal was to rehabilitate the two aliens, work on disassembling the cult beliefs ingrained in them, and then...

"They will want to return to Oasis, so we should help Oasis, too," Max said.

There was agreement, but the question was, "How?"

Alex squeezed Michael's shoulder. "We did want to do some space travel. Tezca got the faster-than-light capability right, so it wouldn't take too terribly long to get there and back."

"But part of the ship is under Roswell," Dallas pointed out. "Plus, something that big would definitely get a UFO sighting."

"Viral videos abound."

"Terraforming is how they buried it in the first place, I think the same can unbury it safely. I would practice, of course. Several of us have government connections, and, supposing Clyde is willing to help by then, he could put up a mirage to hide it from onlookers."

"Were you thinking about this?" Michael asked, staring at him.

Alex smiled. "Since the moment they put me in the pod and I figured out the ship's capabilities."

"Ooh," Liz said. "We could all take a hiatus and go together! That sounds fun. I wonder what sorts of science we could collaborate on..."

"Yeah, I'd love to see art from another planet," Rosa said.

"And literature," Max said.

They chatted about the possibilities for a few minutes.

"Yeah, that sounds so super fun and all, but I have a bar to run," Maria said.

"I have funds," Isobel said. "Like, a lot. Definitely more than enough to shutter it for as long as we're gone, or hire folks to run it for you if you want to go."

"Nope, I wouldn't trust anyone else to run it," she said.

"I get that," Dallas said, nodding. "If I owned a small business, I wouldn't leave either."

"You're welcome to stay with me."

"Ah, no, I'm very interested in learning more about the history of Oasis. Bonnie said some Recorders carved into stone!" He looked to Bonnie for confirmation; she nodded but looked uncomfortable. "What's wrong?"

"I... I'm not sure it'd be a good idea for me to go back. Poison and all." Bonnie looked down at her hands sadly. "I don't want to hurt anyone, even accidentally, so I don't want to be around a bunch of Oasians."

Michael and Dallas, on either side of her, patted her shoulders sympathetically. "We'll miss you, but you have to do what's best for you."

"Hey, it'll take a while to deprogram your brother, maybe you could gain enough control over your power to prevent accidents by the time we go," Michael said kindly.

"And if not, I always need more bartenders," Maria said.

"Oh, no thank you, I actually asked Mr. Sanders and he said he'd let me apprentice here!" she said cheerfully.

Michael blinked and found Sanders leaning against a wall. He shrugged. Michael shook his head in disbelief.

"She's gonna be a mini-you," Alex whispered.

"I'll believe it when she starts wearing gaudy belt buckles," Michael said, leaning back, but not at all mad about it. "Hey Bon, just remember, when he says 'not bad kid' that's actually the highest honor he bestows in this junkyard."

"Shut up, kid," Sanders said.

"Wow," she said, nodding. "I'll remember. I hope one day I'll receive it."

They all chatted a while longer, then Max said, "How long do we leave the cuffs on them?"

"Until we trust them," Liz said.

"Sure, but like, all of us, or a majority of us, or..."

"If we're planning to eventually do intergalactic travel with them, I think it should at least be everyone who'll be on the ship with them."

"That sounds fair."

"Then there's the issue of where they are going to live," Max said.

"Not to be all Ms. Moneybags over here but uhh, I have a massive house," Isobel said. "Four bedroom three bath. Alternatively, I could buy one or two more."

"Your wealth disgusts me," Michael joked.

"I've donated tens of thousands, I can't get rid of it," she lamented.

"The human preoccupation with money is fascinating," Bonnie said.

"Does Oasis not have currency?"

"Nope," she said. "Not like here, anyway. All would contribute what they could, but anyone who couldn't contribute, or couldn't contribute adequately, was at risk of getting left on the surface to fend for themselves. Only exception was children. Well, they were supposed to be."

"Sounds like a nightmare," Alex said softly, kicking his leg out. There were certainly humans who thought disabled people like him couldn't contribute adequately.

"Isn't that what society is for, though?" Rosa said. "To catch the people who fall through?"

"Not according to Ophiuchus," Bonnie said. "Now that I think about it, it's an odd, conflicting belief. I mean, Clyde came from the surface, and he recognizes similar poverty on this planet, but he still--"

"Disregards and ignores it," Dallas said. "I spoke to the homeless man who saw you two at the restaurant. Actually got him into a program, he's pretty cool."

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "Earth is about three times the size of Oasis, with about eight billion more people, and yet, our societal issues run parallel. So... I hope we can improve upon both."

"That sounds like a great goal," Liz said. "I definitely think we can work on improving this planet until we go to Oasis, and when we return."

"Yeah! Everyone who is an American citizen better vote," Rosa said. "Or I will personally kick your ass."

A chorus of "yes ma'am" went around the table, even one from Sanders, who may have winked at Rosa. Difficult to say.

The meeting seemed to be over, and Michael rested his head on Alex's shoulder. "Clyde said he thought of Jones as his father... Can you imagine how fucked up and shitty I could've been if he had me instead of my mom?"

"Fundies are practically if not literally cultists, and you still turned out alright," Alex mused. "We're not our fathers. Even Flint, who Dad had his claws in pretty good, is... Oh!"

"Hmm?" Michael asked as Alex got his phone out to text his brother.

"Maybe Flint can help Clyde. The circumstances are kind of similar, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Huh," Michael said. "You think he would?"

"I'm asking. I think he really could help him."

"I love you," Michael mentioned.

Alex smiled broadly. "I love you too." He put his phone away and snuggled back into Michael. "It's that old seeing-the-best-in-people-thing again, isn't it?"

"I never stopped loving you for it," he said. "Alex, every time I've talked about how I loved you in the past, I want you to know, okay? That I love you in the present, too, and I always will."

"I know," Alex said, looking up at him. "And you know too, right? It's the same for me."

"Yeah, I do," Michael said, bonking his head into Alex's.

"Save it for the wedding," he teased.

"No! You get all my love and affection now!" Michael pressed a dozen, no, a million kisses to his face as Alex laughed.

Nine days, twenty-three hours.