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 "Two days from now, Kivar will unleash wartech that will not only kill every living thing on earth, but will set in motion the dynamics to bring about the collapse of the entire universe. Life will cease to exist ... everywhere."
Liz sinks into her chair.
"That's why you're here. It has nothing to do with me."
"No," corrects Max, " it has everything to do with you."
Liz gives an ironic smile. Yes, in a way it did. Her decision to help FMax 13 years ago brought this about ... not just the end of the world, but the universe. It was just too ironic.
"How did you find out?" asks Liz.
"From you, actually," says Max, "but I did come back for you, Liz. You have to believe that."
Liz puts her cup on the table, gets up and turns away from Max.
No, I can't believe you, Max, she thinks. Thirteen years have gone by and not one word and suddenly, here you are, FMax reincarnate and the time is now and the time is short. Back in time to snuff out their future ... again. This is just too much.
"What do you what from me?" asks Liz, her voice suddenly guarded and very calm.
The tone frightens Max. He feels her slipping away from me. He gets up and stops her from leaving.
"I want you to love me," says Max. "More than anything. More than life."
"I wish I could believe that," says Liz.
"Liz," says Max firmly. "I didn't have to come back to Earth. I could have sent someone, but I didn't. Whatever happens, the end of the world ... the future ... I want to be with you, for better or worse."
For better or worse. The words didn't go unnoticed. Had it not been for her decision 13 years ago, they would have said these exact words in a marriage ceremony and they would have had all that time together before the end of the world. Now they have only two days.
"I want you to have what you should have had 13 years ago," says Max.
"We can't get that back again," says Liz.
"Yes, we can," says Max, "We can get it all back, but we have just one more shot to do it. We failed before, but this time, we can make it right."
"What are you talking about?"
"Two days!" exclaims Maria. "What can we possibly do in two days?"
"What's this wartech?" asks Michael.
"I don't know all the specific details," says Isabel. "You need to ask Max. All I know that it can destroy Earth and much more."
"How much more?"
Isabel looks from Maria to Michael.
"The universe."
Liz swipes her card at the university lab. Max follows her in. She heads straight for her office. Inside, she places an envelope on the clean blotter. It's her resignation addressed to Ethan Caleb, soon to be the new department head. She opens her file cabinet and withdraws all her files on regeneration, both living and dead organisms. While she does that, Max starts her computer to access the main frame. He scans for data on Ava and "alien biotech".
"It's here," he says and downloads the info to a CD.
"We haven't got much time," says Liz. "Once you start the download, security will begin a trace."
Liz peeks out the door to keep watch.
An alarm bell goes off as the download finishes.
"Hurry, Max!" says Liz. "We still have to get to the morgue."
He ejects the disk and puts it in his pocket. He blows up her computer and sends a surge through the lines to fry the mainframe as a diversion.
Max slip out of her office, but Liz pauses to take one last look. She realizes just how antiseptic it looks and how detached she feels from it and her work. She would not miss it.
"Liz," calls Max. She closes the door. Max grabs her hand and they head down the stairs to the morgue.
They hear the fire alarm.
Max seals the door while Liz goes to the freezer. She opens the compartment where Ava's body is stored and opens it. The body looks oddly grayish pink. She rezips it.
"Max, I need your help!" she says and she wheels the gurney next to the body.
They each grab an end and lift the body on the gurney. While Liz checks the shelves and removes several marked specimens stored in dry ice, Max finds the cooling and heating systems.
"These connect to the lab?" he asks. Liz nods as she carefully begins to place the specimens on top of the gurney. Max heats the systems to create a fire in the lab to destroy any "alien biotech" samples. Liz grabs a sheet and tosses it over the gurney.
"Let's go!" she says.
Max unseals the door and they unceremoniously bang their way out during the confusion above.
Ethan Caleb spots the envelope on Liz's desk. It lays perfectly placed, meant to be seen. He picks it up and places it in his pocket. The security cameras had picked up nothing. The video playbacks were all mysteriously fogged. But he didn't need to know anything else. By tomorrow, he'd be head of the research lab and Dr. Elizabeth Parker would be a fugitive.
Michael, Maria, and Isabel settle comfortably into Maria's beat-up car. They drive east, towards Roswell, towards the former Crashdown, now owned by Amy Valenti. The plan is to get something to eat, then go to Maria's to wait to hear from Max.
"Do your parents know you're here?" asks Maria.
"Not yet," says Isabel.
"Are you going to tell them?"
"I don't know. I'm not sure what to say."
Isabel's cell rings and she quickly answers.
"Max?" she asks expectantly.
"Is, Liz and I are on the way to the airport. We have a flight to Las Vegas, but we can't get a flight to Albuquerque until tomorrow. But I need you to do something."
"What is it?"
"There's a coffin being delivered on a separate flight to Albuquerque tonight."
"Coffin?"
Maria slams on the brakes so hard that Isabel's head hits the mirror. She gives Maria a dirty look.
"Yes, it's Ava."
"Ava?"
"Sorry," says Maria, letting her foot up from the brake and stepping on the gas.
"Can you pick it up and bring it to the Granilith?" asks Max. " It's very important."
"Max, what's this all about?"
"Can you do it?"
"We'll be there."
"I'll fill you in tomorrow." He gives her the flight info.
"I have to go, Is."
Max brings a cup of tea to Liz in the airport lounge. It takes her a minute to realize it really is Max because Max has changed their appearance. It's strange to see him blond, with long hair, but probably no more than she in a short red bob with green eyes. She wasn't sure she wanted to look in the mirror after looking at her doctored ID. It's too disconcerting.
"Thanks," she says. A breaking news report comes on about a fire at the Harvard Molecular Lab and the missing files. No mention is made of Ava, but Liz's picture flashes on the screen. Her face tightens as she thinks about how her parents were going to take this one. Max is only referred to as a dark-haired, male companion whose company Dr. Parker had last been seen with.
"Are you okay?" Max asks, sitting beside her. It upsets him thinking of Liz Parker as a fugitive criminal, ruining her career -- even though he knows the world will probably end in two days. If anyone has a chance of surviving, which is doubtful, what will she be remembered for -- her work or destroying the lab?
She nods. She's surprisingly fine, knowing that Boston was finally behind her, that when they get on the plane to Vegas, she knows she's never coming back. It's freeing. Visions of her apartment already begin to fade. What's important in her life is with her now -- Max, her diaries, her photos, her research. If the world ends now, she would be content. She and Max, well, they had hope for another chance and that is what she wants, hope. Liz sips her tea as Max slides her arm around her.
"We'll be boarding in fifteen minutes," he says.
"Is everything arranged?"
"Yes," he says, "Isabel is meeting the plane tonight with Michael and Maria. "They'll come back for us tomorrow."
"Good," she says, settling into Max's arm.
Ethan tears up Liz's letter to him included with her resignation. He hates her for what she has done. Lonnie had warned him, but he never would have believed it. Never did he expect that she would willfully destroy files, certainly nothing as important as the biotech files he had recently acquired from Lonnie. Biotech is not her field, at least, so he thought. All the critical files are irretrievable. The lost technology sets him back years. What can he tell the university, the government contractors? If it had not been for her resignation, Liz Parker would be department head, not him. So why resign? Why give up one of the most prestigious jobs on earth?
Everything alien the lab has collected was missing, including the files on the underground bases housing alien causalities. Liz Parker exclusively dipped into those areas only, so what does it mean? How could see know about which files to take? What is she up to? And who is that guy?
"Flight to Las Vegas now boarding at gate ..."
Liz and Max gather their bags and exit the lounge. They notice the extra security, but pass unnoticed among the crowd. They clear security check without a problem and head straight to the gate. Only when they settle into their seats and the plane is buttoned up do they begin to feel safe, in spite of their disguises. Liz looks out the window, unconsciously taking Max's hand. The stewardess gives out instructions in the event of a crash. The plane moves from the docking bay and begins its taxi to the runway. Ten minutes later they are airborne and Liz relaxes her grip on Max's hand.
Lonnie laughs heartily at the news report. It's sooo Liiizzz! What a cornball. What a bleeding heart!
"She must think she's saving the world. What a cornball!"
"Did you talk to Caleb?" says the devastating handsome man stretched on the bed in the Westin Hotel.
"Yeah, that doofus is a special kind of stupid, ya know," says Lonnie, and as an afterthought, Ava's booked."
"Umm, ummm...things that make me go boom! We're right on schedule."
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