Quarantine r-4 Page 2

  "Thanks!" Liz beamed up at Kyle. "I can't believe I really won it. It's been so long since I even cracked a book."

  Kyle sat down next to Liz, while Isabel slid into the booth next to Max. She grabbed one of his French fries, dipped it into the puddle of Tabasco sauce on his plate, and popped it into her mouth.

  "I can't believe you're so excited about getting a full-time job," Isabel commented. "I mean, the money for college is great, but face it: For this summer, you're slave labor in the Meta-chem labs."

  "But it's amazing experience," Liz pointed out.

  "Isabel's right, though," Max said. "It's a full-time job. Plus you'll still have shifts here at the Crashdown. When are you ever going to have time for anything but work?"

  When are you going to have time for me? he added silently.

  Before Liz could answer, Kyle jumped in. "Well, I'll be right there with you," he told Liz. "Literally. I got a job at Meta-chem too."

  "No way!" Liz cried. "That's great."

  "Not so great," Kyle said. "You'll be working in the lab. I'll be cleaning the lab. I'm a janitor."

  "So what?" Isabel said. "A job's a job."

  "Yeah, well, I still have to put in time at Toby's Garage, too. At least until my dad finds some work."

  Silence fell over the table. Max felt responsible for the fact that Kyle's father had lost his job as the sheriff of Roswell. He knew Isabel did too. If Valenti hadn't spent so much time trying to help the aliens, he wouldn't have been suspended. And Kyle wouldn't have to work two jobs trying to support them.

  "Kyle…," Isabel began, reaching across the table to take Kyle's hand.

  "It's fine," Kyle said shortly. He glanced up at Isabel's sympathetic face and forced a smile. "Really. At least I'll have Parker for company."

  "Right," Liz said.

  Too had I won't, Max thought miserably.

  "I am calm, I am collected, I am in control." Maria stared at her reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink. Through the door she heard the usual symphony of noises from the Crashdown. She was so not in the mood to work today. She took a deep breath and smiled at herself in the mirror. "I am calm, I am collected, I am in control," she insisted to her reflection.

  A loud knock sounded on the door. "Yo, Maria, get out here!" Michael bellowed.

  With a sigh, she pulled open the door and faced her boyfriend. "What?" she said.

  "I need help," Michael told her. "You know I can't deal with customers bitching."

  "And you think I'm in any shape to handle a confrontation?" Maria demanded. "Didn't you hear what my mother

  said to me before? All I want to do is avoid any more arguing today."

  "I know, baby," he said, kissing her quickly. "I just thought you might want to take out some of your aggression on this customer. And besides, I, uh, don't know what to do with her. She's at the counter."

  Michael fled back into the kitchen. Maria rolled her eyes. She grabbed her antenna headband and forced it on over her hair, wincing at how tight it was. Then with one final calming breath, she headed out into the dining room. Michael really wasn't any good at dealing with complaints. This was probably that same little old lady he'd gotten into a yelling match with last week.

  Maria stopped short when she saw the counter. There was only one person sitting there, and it was a little girl.

  "You have got to be kidding me," she muttered. Then she pasted a smile on her face and walked over to the girl. As she got closer she noticed that the girl wasn't as young as she'd thought. She was probably around eleven, though she was tiny enough to pass for a nine-year-old.

  "Hi. Is there a problem with your food?" Maria asked.

  The girl spun around on her stool and stared at Maria. Her light brown eyes were wide, and her mouth hung slightly open, as if she was surprised. She didn't say anything.

  Maria watched her for a moment, then tried again. "Urn, hi. Did you have a complaint?"

  "Ohmygod," the girl said in a rush. "Are you Maria?"

  "Yeah," Maria answered. "Why?"

  The girl kept staring at her, almost as if she was studying Maria's face. "Your hair is long," she said.

  Now Maria was starting to get freaked out. Who was this kid?

  "Yeah, well…" Maria wasn't sure what else to say. She pushed her hair behind her ear.

  The girl pushed a lock of her own shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear.

  "Do I know you?" Maria asked.

  The girl smiled widely. "Nope!" she chirped. "But I think you are the coolest girl ever!" Suddenly her hand shot out and grabbed Marias wrist. She stared at Maria's nails, then proudly held up her own hand. "We have the same nail polish!" she shrieked happily.

  Maria winced. "Mm-hmm," she agreed, pulling her hand away. "We sure do. So, listen, uh…"

  "Sadie."

  "Sadie," Maria repeated. "Well, listen, Sadie. I have other customers to wait on, so was there something you needed?"

  Sadie shook her head, still grinning at Maria.

  "Didn't you tell Michael… the cook… that you have a complaint?" Maria asked.

  Sadie finally seemed to snap out of her Maria-induced trance. "Oh, yeah," she said. "I asked for a banana split and he said there were no bananas, so I said he could make me a banana split hold the bananas, but he said there's no such thing as that because if there are no bananas then how can it be a split… "

  "Gotcha," Maria interrupted. "You want a sundae in a banana boat."

  "Yeah!" Sadie cried. "See? You totally get it. You and I must think exactly alike."

  "Whatever," Maria muttered, turning away. This girl was starting to get on her nerves. It was nice to be hero-worshiped and all, but Maria just wasn't in the mood today.

  "Maria?" Sadie called after her.

  "What?" Maria asked without turning around.

  "Can I wear one of those antenna headbands like yours?"

  Maria couldn't help smiling. Maybe her day was starting to look up. She snatched the too-tight headband off and spun back toward Sadie. "Tell you what, you can have mine," she said, plopping it on the girl's head. "And you don't even have to give it back."

  Liz pushed through the swinging door into the back room. Maria was sprawled on the couch, taking a break from her shift. She took one look at Liz's face and held out her arms. "Come to Mama," she said.

  Liz threw herself onto the couch next to her best friend. "I had to get away from Max," she told Maria.

  "Why?" Maria asked.

  "Because he's all mopey about my new job at Meta-chem," Liz said. "He thinks it will keep me from spending any time with him, so he resents it."

  "He said that?"

  Liz sighed. Max would never say anything unsupport-ive. But she could tell what he was thinking. "No. But he doesn't have to say it. He's right."

  Maria frowned in confusion. "About what?"

  "About Meta-chem," Liz replied. "This job will take up all my time, so I won't be able to see him."

  Maria studied her for a moment. "You don't sound too upset about that," she said. "I'm thinking you want the time away from Max. Am I right?"

  Liz nodded miserably. She loved Max more than anything, but it was just too hard to be with him. "I need some space to think, you know? I need to figure out whether I should start dating Max again."

  "I thought you'd already made that decision," Maria said. "We all assumed you two were back on again."

  "We were," Liz said. "I mean, we had that one date… "

  "And then Max went all freaky-alien on you and started obsessing over his son," Maria finished for her. "So we're back to the King Max and Queen Tess issue."

  Liz sighed. "Max told me he wanted to start over, that he wanted to forget about Tess. But now that he knows his son has been born, he feels he has to go after him. It's his number one priority."

  "And you think he should put you first?" Maria asked.

  "No, of course not," Liz protested. "Max has a child out there, and he's in danger. He wouldn't be the Max I love
if he didn't put his child's welfare above everything else."

  "But…," Maria prompted.

  "But I don't know if I want to be with someone who can't make me his highest priority," Liz admitted. "I love Max, but that doesn't mean it's healthy for me to be with him."

  Liz put her head on Maria's shoulder, and the two girls sat in silence for a moment.

  "So what are you gonna do?" Maria finally asked.

  "I was thinking today that maybe I need to find my own

  life," Liz said slowly. "One that's about what I want and not about some guy and his needs."

  "Sounds like a plan," Maria said.

  Liz sat up straight. "It is a plan. From now on I'm going to concentrate on my new job and my goals for the future. And the Max thing will just have to work itself out."

  She met Maria's gaze. Her best friend was smirking at her.

  "What?" Liz demanded.

  "Your plan is to hide at Meta-chem so Max can't find you and make you all swoony."

  Liz stood up and tossed her hair defiantly over her shoulder. "Exactly. Nothing bad can happen if I'm stuck in a lab all day."

  2

  Are you ready for Liz Parker to start?" Maris Wheeler asked.

  Dr. Alan Sosa was pacing around the office, looking agitated. "I still don't see why she has to work here. We already have everything we need from this girl."

  "She was the first one healed by the Healer," Maris said. "The guy literally repaired her gunshot wound just by touching her, at least that's the theory. So I'm thinking she must know something about him."

  "Maris, you already have the waitress uniform with Liz Parker's blood on it. That's the most important thing she'll be able to contribute to your search for the Healer."

  Maris regarded him coldly. "The name is Ms. Wheeler," she reminded him.

  He threw up his hands. "Fine. Ms. Wheeler, I respectfully suggest that we're putting ourselves at risk bringing this girl into Meta-chem."

  "I never realized you were such a coward, Alan," Maris remarked. "I'm simply trying to hedge my bets. If she

  knows who the Healer is, maybe we can find out from her. And if not, we can use her as a guinea pig."

  Alan stopped pacing. "What?" he said.

  "I want you to test your serum on her," Maris informed him. "She'll be in your lab every day, so you'll be able to monitor what effect it has on her."

  "That's crazy," Alan said. "We haven't even tested it on actual guinea pigs! We don't even know what it's made from."

  "It's made from the Healer's DNA," Maris said.

  "DNA taken from corrupted cells found on two-year-old fibers lifted from a waitress uniform," Alan said disgustedly. "You have no idea where that DNA came from!"

  "Don't be so dismissive, Alan," Maris snapped. "It took millions of dollars and not a few criminal misdeeds to get that waitress uniform from the FBI. It's the only physical evidence we have of the Healer."

  Alan frowned. "You don't know for sure that it's the Healer's DNA."

  "It's unrecognizable DNA," Maris said. "We don't know what this Healer is… an alien, an angel, I don't care. But he doesn't have the same genes we do."

  "Even if what you're saying is true, we don't know that his healing power has anything to do with his DNA," Alan protested. "We have no reason to think that turning his DNA into some sort of serum will have any healing properties at all."

  Maris took a deep breath. Why did Dr. Sosa have to be so difficult? He was a brilliant genetic scientist, but not much of a strategic thinker. "Look, Alan, my husband is getting older and sicker by the day. I have to face the fact

  that I may not find the Healer in time to save him. So I have to have a Plan B."

  "The serum," Alan said miserably.

  "Exactly. You were kind enough to turn the Healer's DNA into a serum for me. And now you're going to be kind enough to test it on Ms. Parker."

  "You have money for lunch in the cafeteria, right?"

  Liz stared at her father, trying to keep a straight face. "Uh, yeah," she said.

  "And you'll call me when you want to come home?" Jeff Parker added.

  Now Liz did laugh. "Yes, Dad," she said. "It's not the first day of kindergarten, you know. It's just a new job."

  Jeff nodded. "I know. But it's so important! This is the first step to the career you've always wanted. This job could land you an acceptance to any college you want next year."

  Liz kissed him on the cheek and opened the car door. She didn't want to think about next year, about leaving Roswell… and Max. "Bye, Dad," she said, climbing out and shutting the door behind her.

  "Good luck, honey," Jeff replied.

  Liz looked at him through the car window. He just kept grinning at her.

  He's going to wait until I'm safely inside, Liz thought, amused. Her father was treating her like some fragile china doll. If he only knew the things she'd been through in the past two years, he'd realize she could take care of herself just fine. With a wave, she turned and headed into the new building.

  Meta-chem even smelled new. The halls were bare, the

  floors waxed and shiny under the soft fluorescent lights. About twenty feet away, some moving guys were unloading boxes of lab equipment in front of a thick steel door. A few of the boxes were labeled HAZARDOUS.

  Liz wasn't sure what to do. No one had told her where to report, and other than the moving guys, no one was in sight. Taking a deep breath, she headed toward the moving cart. "Excuse me?" Liz called.

  One of the guys… a short man, but solidly built… turned at the sound of her voice. In the process, he banged the box in his arms against the wall. From inside came the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

  Liz winced. "Sorry," she said. "I just… "

  "What's going on out there?" cried an agitated voice from inside the lab.

  The moving man took a step back, and a man in a lab coat appeared in the doorway. Liz recognized him immediately. It was Dr. Alan Sosa.

  "Do you realize these are extremely delicate materials?" Dr. Sosa moaned. "You may have just undone months of work."

  "I… I'm sorry," the moving guy mumbled.

  "It's my fault," Liz said quickly. "I'm sorry, Dr. Sosa. I didn't know where to go, so I was about to ask this man. I distracted him."

  Dr. Sosa glanced at Liz, then sighed. "Ms. Parker. Starting off your tenure here rather badly, aren't you?"

  He turned and disappeared back inside the lab, leaving Liz horrified. She couldn't believe she'd made a bad impression already. And she couldn't believe how rude he'd just been to her!

  The moving guy shot her a sympathetic smile as she squeezed past him into the lab. Dr. Sosa seemed to have forgotten about her already. He was busy arranging a complicated system of test tubes and jars on a lab table. Liz waited quietly just inside the door, not wanting to risk his anger by interrupting his work. After about two minutes, though, she felt she had no choice. "Um, Dr. Sosa?" She was dismayed to find her voice little more than a squeak.

  "What?" he said without turning around.

  "I was wondering what I should be doing," Liz said. "Can I help you with anything?"

  Dr. Sosa whirled about so quickly that Liz jumped back in surprise. His graying hair was too long, and flopped when he moved, making him look like a mad scientist. He stared at Liz in silence, his eyes boring into hers as if he was trying to read her mind.

  "Why do you want to work here instead of lying by the pool all summer?" he asked in a low voice.

  Liz, taken aback, could think of nothing to say.

  "You're young, you're free. Why don't you just leave right now?" he went on.

  Liz felt awful. Did he think she was unqualified for this job? He seemed to believe she was some bubblehead with nothing on her mind but getting a tan. Or maybe he'd checked over her grades lately. Maybe he'd realized the wrong student had gotten this work-scholarship.

  Liz opened her mouth to speak, but another voice cut her off.

  "Liz!" Maris Wheeler floate
d into the room. She was wearing a gorgeous business suit, and Liz smelled expensive

  perfume. She immediately gave Liz a warm smile and a little hug. "Welcome to Meta-chem!"

  Liz forced a smile. "Hi, Ms. Wheeler."

  "Maris, please."

  "Maris," Liz corrected herself. She didn't really know what to make of Maris Wheeler. The woman was beautiful, and she seemed to belong in a mansion somewhere, not running a pharmaceutical company. But her steely blue eyes held a great intelligence.

  Maris turned to Dr. Sosa. "Good morning, Alan," she said. "Are you helping Liz get settled in?"

  His eyes shot down to the floor, and his cheeks turned white. He didn't reply. There was a strange, awkward pause.

  Finally, Liz couldn't stand it. "I just got here," she said. "We haven't really had time to settle in."

  Maris nodded. "Well, I'll give you the overview while I'm here. Obviously I'm no scientist like Dr. Sosa, so he'll have to fill in the details once you get to work."

  Liz glanced at Dr. Sosa. He had turned his back to them, and his shoulders were hunched up as if he was stressed. There was something weird going on here.

  "Dr. Sosa is doing some very important work for us," Maris was saying. "He's a cancer researcher, as I'm sure you know."

  "Yes," Liz said.

  "Most cancer treatments are designed to deal with the cancer once it occurs. But here at Meta-chem, we're working on a treatment that will attack the cancer at its source," Maris said. "Cancer, of course, is a mutation."

  "Right," Liz said. "Regular cells mutate into cancer cells."

  "Exactly. And what we want to do is prevent the mutation from ever occurring."

  Liz frowned in confusion. "How is that possible? We don't know what causes the mutation."

  "True. But we do a lot of work with DNA here. Our goal is to make human DNA resistant to mutation. Strengthen the resistance, protect the DNA… and the cancer never happens."

  Liz knew this conversation was oversimplifying things, but she couldn't help thinking that it all sounded like a pipe dream.

  "But if you make human DNA resistant to mutations, it could also be harmful," she pointed out. "Some mutations are good. Evolution is a history of mutations."