Kevin Ryan: Nightscape

"I don't know if I can," Max said.

"You'll have to, if you want to save your friends. That's the deal," Nicholas stated.

"What guarantee do I have that you'll keep your end of the bargain?" Max asked.

"Well, I can guarantee that if you don't do as I say, your friends will die," he said. Then he lowered his voice. "Once I have you and the Granilith, I don't need them. Kevar doesn't need them. I'm prepared to leave the non-combatants out of this, but it's up to you."

Max was quiet for a long time, then he nodded and said, "I'll do it."

Max felt defeated. I've failed them again, he thought, looking at Isabel and Michael. He had led them to destruction before, now he had done it again. And this time he'd led Liz there, too, along with Kyle and Maria.

They had all depended on him, whether he had wanted the job or not. Now they were in the hands of an alien who had had one purpose for the last fifty years: to find him. Well, Nicholas could have him. His life was worth Liz's, or Isabel's or any of his friends.

At least then his life would mean something, something more than it had up until now. It seemed like he had done nothing in his eighteen years but protect his secret, protect himself. Was that why he had come here? Was that why he had been re-created and sent halfway across the galaxy, to protect himself while others made the sacrifices that counted? Liz had sacrificed too much for him. Alex had sacrificed his life. Isabel had given up any chance at a normal life of her own.

Well, that would all change now. He didn't trust

Nicholas, but his friends were dead unless he gave Nicholas what he wanted. At least then they would have a chance. If something went wrong, maybe Michael and Isabel would find a way to save them.

"Then hurry, Max. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not getting any younger," Nicholas said.

His friends were calling to him, begging him not to. He ignored them. It would just make it harder for him to do what he had to do. Besides, he wasn't through yet. Maybe he could give Nicholas a surprise. But he couldn't do anything while Nicholas held his friends' lives in his hands.

"Now," Nicholas said, approaching him.

"Lie down," Max ordered. Even if this worked, it would be rough for Nicholas. His body was literally falling apart. If he was lying down, he was less likely to drop the remote control.

Nicholas lay down and looked up at Max. Looking down, Max could see that Nicholas was very close to death, maybe closer than Clayton Wheeler had been. Max had been able to restore Wheeler to youth, but doing it had cost Max his own life. He heard Liz's voice, but tried to shut it out. She knew what he was about to do, and what the effort might cost him.

He did not respond. He knew he couldn't if he wanted to keep his resolve and do what he had to do. It might mean he would not have a chance to say good-bye to her… or to any of them… but he had no choice.

Raising his hands, Max took one last look at Nicholas. A full third of his face was gone, and another major part of it was dead already. Nicholas's eyes stared up at him. They were full of malice.

Max didn't want that to be the last thing he saw. He glanced up at his sister, then his friends, and finally Liz. She was calling to him, but he ignored the sound. Instead, he studied her face, taking in every detail. Then Max closed his eyes and put his hands onto Nicholas's body, one on his head and one on his chest. As his hands touched Nicholas, he felt an instant revulsion. Beneath the clothes, Nicholas's flesh did not feel springy as a normal person's would. It felt tough, more like meat than living tissue.

Max knew he could kill him now, channeling his energy to tear apart Nicholas's body, but he knew he would not, because if he did, he would cost his friends any chance they had.

Taking a deep breath, Max concentrated and reached out with his powers, looking for what was wrong with Nicholas's husk. He was surprised to see that the husk was mostly human. Organs and flesh with an alien brain. There was a small, metal device at the base of the spine. That was where the husks were vulnerable, he knew. A blow there and they would literally turn to dust.

Max concentrated on the human portion of the husk, the decaying and dying part of Nicholas. He imagined the damaged parts of the husk healing, rejuvenating. The thought helped, but the process was not one of thought, it was one of will.

He willed the energy that gave him his powers to course through Nicholas's body. As Nicholas had said, his powers were centered in his cerebral cortex. Agent Pierce had said the same thing, and had used drugs to suppress that part of Max's brain. But Max didn't think that either of them had really understood.

Their brains might control the forces they manipulated, but they didn't create them. Something was working through Max, something bigger than the few pounds of tissue in his head. Maybe it was the power of the Granilith, maybe something else…

And right now it was doing its work on the evil person in front of him. No, not a person, a husk, as skin… a thing, Max thought. But that was all right, if this act saved the others. Max pushed harder. Willed harder. He felt it working.

And he felt it costing him.

He was losing something of himself, some of his power. It happened whenever he healed someone and it usually took some time for him to recover. Still, Max pushed harder, opening himself up. Though his eyes were closed, he could see light coming off Nicholas's body. There were sounds, voices, but he was barely aware of the noise.

As he put more of himself into Nicholas, he saw memory flashes. By now, he recognized them as flashes of home. Max realized he was missing an opportunity here. If he concentrated, he could be probing into Nicholas's mind.

Without breaking the healing connection between them, Max saw Nicholas's malice, his hatred of him and the others. His contempt for humans, and something else… ambition. Ambition that went beyond wanting to control one of the five planets.

He saw that Nicholas was telling the truth about the remote control in his hand. His friends would die if Nicholas let go of it. He looked for Nicholas's intentions toward the others. It was hard to see. His mind was full of twists and schemes.

Then Max felt Nicholas push back. Of course, the connection went both ways. Nicholas was getting stronger now, and probing him. He was seeing things, flashes of Max's life. And he was looking for something… the Granilith.

Max shut his mind, broke that part of their contact. He was almost certain that Nicholas had not seen the location of the Granilith and was grateful. But what else had he seen? Max felt sick knowing Nicholas had seen inside his mind.

He pushed the thought aside and concentrated on the healing. It was working. Max could feel the energy he controlled doing its job. Nicholas was nearly restored, and Max was weakening. The same process had led to Max's death with Wheeler. But it wasn't going to go that far this time. Max was different from how he had been when he had first healed Liz, different from when he had healed Wheeler.

Max was stronger now.

With a final push, Max allowed his energy to finish its work. Finally, he picked up his hands. Opening his eyes, he saw that Nicholas looked like he did in Copper Summit… like a normal, if creepy, teenage boy. He was healed, and it had taken nearly everything that Max had. Nearly everything…

But not everything.

Max felt a surge of hope. Maybe this wasn't over. Maybe there was a chance for him to save his friends and to defeat Nicholas once and for all. He had just survived something that would have killed him as recently as a year ago, so anything was possible.

Lifting his hands off Nicholas, Max sat back on the floor and took a deep breath. He was sweating and he knew he must look awful. Liz was saying something, asking him if he was okay… so were the others. For a second, he couldn't find his voice, so he just raised his hand to signal that he was all right. And he was all right. He wasn't well… he was a long way from that… but he was okay. Hope rose in his chest, faint but there.